The atlas of supine single port extraperitoneal access.

Abstract

Introduction: The introduction of Single-Port (SP) platform opened the field to new surgical options, allowing to perform major urological robot-assisted procedures extraperitoneally and with a supine patient positioning (1-3). Nevertheless, a comprehensive description of different supine access options is still lacking (4-6). In this light, we provided a step-by-step guide of SP extraperitoneal supine access options also exploring preliminary surgical outcomes.

Materials and methods: Transvesical access was performed by a transversal incision 3cm above the pubic bone, after the anterior abdominal sheet incision, the bladder was insufflated with a flexible cystoscope and the detrusor muscle was incised at the level of the bladder dome. Similarly, the extraperitoneal access was carried out with a 4cm incision above the pubic bone, once visualized the preperitoneal space the prevesical fat was gently spread. The Low Anterior Access was performed with a 3cm incision at the McBurney point, the abdominal muscles were then spread. A gentle dissection was used laterally to develop the retroperitoneal space.

Results: Overall, sixteen different procedures were performed with supine extraperitoneal access on 623 consecutive patients. No intraoperative conversions occurred. The median access time was 16 (IQR 12-21), 11 (IQR 7-14) and 14 (IQR 10-18) minutes in case of transvesical, extraperitoneal and low anterior access, respectively. Notably, 81.5 % of patients were discharged on the same day with a postoperative opioid free rate of 73%.

Conclusion: The Atlas provides a comprehensive step-by-step guide to successfully perform all major urological SP procedures extraperitoneally and with supine patient positioning.