A flexible endoscopic surgical system: first report on a conceptual design of the system validated by experiments.

BACKGROUND Surgery is a standard diagnostic and therapeutic procedure. However, its technical difficulty and invasiveness pose problems that are yet to be solved even by current surgical robots. Flexible endoscopes can access regions deep inside the body with less invasiveness than surgical approaches. Conceptually, this ability can be a solution to some of the surgical problems. METHODS A flexible (surgical) endoscopic surgical system was developed consisting of an outer and two inner endoscopes introduced through two larger working channels of the outer endoscope. The concept of the system as a surgical instrument was assessed by animal experiments. RESULTS Gastric mucosa of the swine could be successfully resected using the flexible endoscopic surgical system, thereby showing us the prospect and directions for further development of the system. CONCLUSION The concept of a flexible endoscopic surgical system is considered to offer some solutions for problems in surgery.