Surgical Access System for Frugal Bariatric Surgery

Bariatric/metabolic surgery has become popular for weight reduction. In 2011, 340,768 bariatric surgeries were performed worldwide; 101,645 of these operations were performed in the United States and Canada [1]. In addition, in emerging counties, overweight and obesity are rapidly increasing [2,3]. Bariatric surgical procedures are mainly performed by two modalities: open surgery or minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery with single and multiple points of entry. Both approaches generally require patients to be subjected to intubation and general anesthesia. Moreover, in the laparoscopic surgery, patients require carbon dioxide insufflation of the abdomen as well, and from one to multiple incisions for access points to deploy all endoscopic instrumentation. Therefore, conventional surgical procedures require the use of a general anesthesia equipment system, and an expensive laparoscopy platform. These systems cost hospitals millions of dollars. Besides, in terms of safety aspect, several problems are pointed out. Laparoscopic insufflation with CO...