Set of instruments for innovative, safe and sterile sigmoid access for natural-orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery.

One of the current main challenges in transluminal surgery is in obtaining sterile and secure access to the peritoneal cavity. Since the transgastric approach has not fulfilled these requirements up to now, a new transcolonic surgical approach was developed to achieve these objectives and enhance the potential of transluminal surgery. A new set of instruments comprising an endoscopic trocar, a flexible obturator and a modified transanal endoscopic microsurgery device was designed to permit sterile sigmoid access for transcolonic surgery. The set of instruments has already been successfully tested in an experimental in vivo survival study that confirmed safety and sterility as objectives during surgical intervention. The suitability of the instruments for use in the human anatomy was confirmed by a cadaveric study.