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World J Gastrointest Surg. Jun 27, 2021; 13(6): 529-536
Published online Jun 27, 2021. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v13.i6.529
Special surgical approaches during peri-COVID-19 pandemic: Robotic and transanal minimally invasive surgery
Luis Sánchez-Guillén, Rosa M Jimenez-Rodriguez
Luis Sánchez-Guillén, Department of Cirugía General, Hospital Universitario de Elche, Elche 03201, Spain
Rosa M Jimenez-Rodriguez, Department of Surgery, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocio, Unidad de Coloproctologia, Sevilla 41013, Spain
Author contributions: Sánchez-Guillén L and Jimenez Rodriguez RM were responsible for the design, analysis of the data and final review of the manuscript; Jimenez Rodriguez RM and Sánchez-Guillén L have read and approved the manuscript; Jimenez-Rodriguez R and Sánchez-Guillén L wrote the manuscript on behalf of the ESCP Guidelines committee.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Luis Sanchez-Guillen and Rosa M Jimenez-Rodriguez declare no conflicts of interest, financial relationship or financial support.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Rosa M Jimenez Rodriguez, MD, PhD, Doctor, Staff Physician, Surgeon, Department of Surgery, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocio, Unidad de Coloproctologia, Avda Manuel Siurot S/N, Sevilla 41013, Spain. ros_j_r@hotmail.com
Received: December 28, 2020
Peer-review started: December 28, 2020
First decision: January 25, 2021
Revised: January 26, 2021
Accepted: April 9, 2021
Article in press: April 9, 2021
Published online: June 27, 2021
Abstract

During the peri-coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the need of special care has raised, not only for our patients but also for health care workers. These needs are different regarding the procedure and the approach performed. This is a dynamic review in the use of robotics and transanal approaches for colorectal diseases. We searched PubMed and KSREvidence.com for studies related to coronavirus disease and robotic surgery/transanal mesorectal excision/transanal surgery (primary and systematic reviews). From 147 results in PubMed, 11 were selected for full text screening, and 11 were included in this paper. From 3 results in KSREvidence, no relevant systematic reviews were identified. We also checked the references in identified papers for further relevant studies. European Society of Coloproctology guidelines were including as part of the recommendations available. Robotic and transanal MIS can be performed safely during the pandemic, but particular characteristics of these procedure need to be taken into consideration.

Keywords: Robotic surgery, Transanal mesorectal excision, Pandemic

Core Tip: Despite most European countries have already passed the first coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, new cases are now increasing and many countries in the world continue suffering this critical situation and could benefit from teaching from previous experiences. Global cooperation and shared information will help in a second wave of the pandemic which could need well-established guidance for better patient outcomes protecting healthcare professionals. This paper reviews and unify recommendations for robotic and transanal surgery in the peri-COVID-19 era including European Society of Coloproctology guidelines.