Single-incision laparoscopic surgery for ileocolic resection in Crohn's disease.

Background: Single-incision laparoscopic surgery is a development in the field of minimally invasive surgery that is being increasingly used for colorectal procedures.
Objective: We report on the short-term results of single-port laparoscopic ileocolic resection in patients with ileocecal Crohn's disease.
Design: This investigation is a retrospective matched-pair control study. Data were obtained from a prospectively maintained single-institution inflammatory bowel disease database.
Settings: This study was conducted at a tertiary care university hospital.
Patients: Twenty consecutive patients receiving elective single-port ileocolic resection between April 2010 and May 2011 were included (6 male, 14 female; age, 31.6 ± 10.8 years; BMI, 21.5 ± 2.6 kg/m). Their data were compared with the data of 20 individually matched patients who had undergone standard 3-trocar laparoscopic-assisted ileocolic resection between 2007 and 2010 (6 male, 14 female; age, 31.7 ± 10.7 years; BMI, 21.2 ± 2.5 kg/m). All patients had medically refractory stenosis of the terminal ileum in histologically confirmed Crohn's disease.
Interventions: Single-port laparoscopic-assisted or standard laparoscopic-assisted ileocolic resection was performed.
Main Outcome Measures: The primary outcomes measured were the surgical details and early outcome.
Results: : The mean length of the paraumbilical single-port incision was 3.8 cm (range, 2.5-5.0 cm). Conversion rates were similar in both groups (1/20 vs 2/20, p = 0.55). Additional strictureplasties or short-segment small-bowel resections were performed in both groups. The overall complication rate was 20% (4/20) in both groups. There were no observed differences in postoperative pain scores and hospital stay duration.
Limitations: The limitations of this study were as follows: this study was a comparison of 2 different time points with possible selection bias, there was no prestudy power calculation, and the study might be underpowered.
Conclusions: Single-port ileocolic resection is a safe procedure for the surgical treatment of stenotizing Crohn's disease of the terminal ileum. Avoidance of additional trocars was the only identified benefit.