Abstract Background: In laparoscopic surgery with CO2 pneumoperitoneum, serious complications often occur for elderly patients and those who undergo long operations. These complications mainly include respiratory and circulatory system changes. In patients with tumors, release of free tumor cells into the abdominal cavity is believed to be possible. Gasless laparoscopic techniques can avoid these complications of CO2 pneumoperitoneum. Currently, the main shortcoming of gasless laparoscopic techniques is inadequate operative space. Because of this shortcoming, gasless techniques have not been widely applied in clinical practice.
Materials and methods: We herein describe a new technique of gasless laparoscopic cholecystectomy in pigs using a self-designed umbrella-like abdominal wall-lifting device. This device lifts up the anterior abdominal wall by opening the umbrella leaf in the abdominal cavity.
Results: Five pigs underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy using this technique. The operation times were 85, 40, 28, 21, and 24 minutes. The corresponding bleeding volumes were 11, 20, 5, 2, and 8 mL.
Conclusions: These preliminary outcomes suggest that the umbrella-like abdominal wall-lifting technique is safe and feasible in gasless laparoscopic surgery and can provide sufficient exposure of the operative field. Further study in the form of randomized controlled trials is needed to investigate the advantages of this new technique.