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World J Gastrointest Surg. Sep 27, 2021; 13(9): 941-952
Published online Sep 27, 2021. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v13.i9.941
Role of minimally invasive techniques in gastrointestinal surgery: Current status and future perspectives
Shan-Ping Ye, Wei-Quan Zhu, Zhi-Xiang Huang, Dong-Ning Liu, Xiang-Qiong Wen, Tai-Yuan Li
Shan-Ping Ye, Dong-Ning Liu, Tai-Yuan Li, Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
Shan-Ping Ye, Tai-Yuan Li, Institute of Digestive Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
Wei-Quan Zhu, Zhi-Xiang Huang, Xiang-Qiong Wen, Jiangxi Medical College of Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
Author contributions: Ye SP and Zhu WQ wrote the paper; Ye SP and Li TY proofread and revised the manuscript; Liu DN, Huang ZX, and Wen XQ collected the data and conducted the analysis of pooled data.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.
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: Tai-Yuan Li, MD, PhD, Chief Doctor, Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, No. 17 Yongwaizheng Street, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi Province, China. litaiyuanyfy@sina.com
Received: February 7, 2021
Peer-review started: February 7, 2021
First decision: April 6, 2021
Revised: April 15, 2021
Accepted: July 27, 2021
Article in press: July 27, 2021
Published online: September 27, 2021
Abstract

In recent years, the incidence of gastrointestinal cancer has remained high. Currently, surgical resection is still the most effective method for treating gastrointestinal cancer. Traditionally, radical surgery depends on open surgery. However, traditional open surgery inflicts great trauma and is associated with a slow recovery. Minimally invasive surgery, which aims to reduce postoperative complications and accelerate postoperative recovery, has been rapidly developed in the last two decades; it is increasingly used in the field of gastrointestinal surgery and widely used in early-stage gastrointestinal cancer. Nevertheless, many operations for gastrointestinal cancer treatment are still performed by open surgery. One reason for this may be the challenges of minimally invasive technology, especially when operating in narrow spaces, such as within the pelvis or near the upper edge of the pancreas. Moreover, some of the current literature has questioned oncologic outcomes after minimally invasive surgery for gastrointestinal cancer. Overall, the current evidence suggests that minimally invasive techniques are safe and feasible in gastrointestinal cancer surgery, but most of the studies published in this field are retrospective studies and case-matched studies. Large-scale randomized prospective studies are needed to further support the application of minimally invasive surgery. In this review, we summarize several common minimally invasive methods used to treat gastrointestinal cancer and discuss the advances in the minimally invasive treatment of gastrointestinal cancer in detail.

Keywords: Gastrointestinal neoplasms, Laparoscopy, Minimally invasive surgical procedures, Robotic surgical procedures, Therapeutics

Core Tip: The incidence of gastrointestinal tumors is high. Minimally invasive surgery has changed the traditional treatment of these patients. Minimally invasive surgery is a revolutionary treatment for gastrointestinal tumors that can reduce surgical complications and accelerate postoperative recovery. Here, we discuss the role and prospect of minimally invasive surgery in the treatment of gastrointestinal tumors.