Today's Veterinary Practice provides comprehensive information to keep every small animal practitioner up to date on companion animal medicine and surgery as well as practice building and management.
Today's general practitioner needs to be aware of the tremendous innovations currently taking place in veterinary surgery.
I
n both animals and humans, minimally invasive surgery has revolutionized modern surgical practices; it has significantly changed modern surgical thinking, surgi- cal techniques, and patient care.1 with similar open procedures,2
Compared these new tech-
niques are readily available for companion animals with proven advantages, such as: UÊ iVÀi>Ãi`Ê«oÃÌo«iÀ>ÌiÛiÊ«>in3 UÊ m«ÀoÛi`Ê«oÃÌo«iÀ>ÌiÛiÊÀiVoÛiÀÞ°Ê As the number and variety of minimally inva-
sive procedures increase and become proven as safe alternatives to open surgery, practi- tioners should ensure that they continually educate pet owners about the entire range of treatment options available for their pets.
REDUCED PORT SURGERY ÕiÊ ÌoÊ ÌhiÊ«Ào}ÀiÃÃiÛiÊ in}inÕiÌÞÊÜiÌhinÊ ÌhiÊ
laparoscopic environment, efforts in human and veterinary surgery are now directed at further minimizing morbidity. One of the emerging concepts is a platform called reduced port surgery. This platform has led to the development of new techniques, devices, and instruments that allow laparoscopic procedures
to
be performed through a small single skin incision 1- to 2-cm in length (often hidden within the umbilicus of human patients).
Development This platform is an advanced minimally invasive operative approach that may be consid- ered a bridge between conven- tional multiport laparoscopic surgery and natural orifice transluminal endoscopic sur-
gery (NOTES),4 which uses natural orifices,
such as the mouth, anus, and vagina, for access into the abdomen to avoid making a skin inci- sion. NOTES may represent the ultimate goal of avoiding external incisions completely in minimally invasive major abdominal surgery. Reduced port surgery was pioneered in *hil>`il«hi>Ê LÞÊ *>ÕlÊ -Ìi«h>niiÊ in}]Ê
°Ê ÕÀVillo]Ê
group deemed the technique single port access (SPA).5
The SPA technique enabled the reduced
port surgical platform to enter mainstream human laparoscopy and gain widespread acceptance as a safe and viable platform for laparoscopic surgery. Seeing an opportunity to extend the breadth of this new platform, a collaborative effort between human surgeons (Curcillo and King) and a veterinary surgeon ,Õn}i®ÊinÊÓä£äÊin>Lli`ÊÌhiÊ-* ÊÌiVhniµÕiÊÌoÊ be adapted for clinical veterinary laparoscopy (Figure 1).6
]Ê >n`Ê ]ÊinÊÓääÇÆÊ>ÌÊÌh>ÌÊÌimiÊÌhiiÀÊ
Figure 1. Single port access (SPA) technique in a 20-kg dog January/February 2012 Today's Veterinary Practice 15