Early experience with the ARTISENTIAL(®) articulated instruments in laparoscopic low anterior resection with TME

BACKGROUND: The notion of articulation in surgery has been largely synonymous with robotics. The ARTISENTIAL(®) instruments aim at bringing advanced articulation to laparoscopy to overcome challenges in narrow anatomical spaces. In this paper, we present first single-center results of a series of low anterior resections, performed with ARTISENTIAL(®). METHODS: Between September 2020 and August 2021, at the Department of Surgery, St. Marienkrankenhaus Siegen, Siegen, Germany, patients with cancer of the mid- and low rectum were prospectively enrolled in a pilot feasibility study to evaluate the ARTISENTIAL(®) articulated instruments in performing a laparoscopic low anterior resection. Perioperative and short-term postoperative data were analyzed. RESULTS: Seventeen patients (10 males/7 females) were enrolled in this study. The patients had a median age of 66 years (range 47–80 years) and a median body mass index of 28 kg/m(2) (range 23–33 kg/m(2)). The median time to rectal transection was 155 min (range 118–280 min) and the median total operative time was 276 min (range 192–458 min). The median estimated blood loss was 30 ml (range 5–70 ml) and there were no conversions to laparotomy. The median number of harvested lymph nodes was 15 (range 12–28). Total mesorectal excision (TME) quality was ‘good’ in all patients with no cases of circumferential resection margin involvement (R0 = 100%). The median length of stay was 9 days (range 7–14 days). There were no anastomotic leaks and the overall complication rate was 17.6%. There was one unrelated readmission with no mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Low anterior resection with ARTISENTIAL(®) is feasible and safe. All patients had a successful TME procedure with a good oncological outcome. We will now seek to evaluate the benefits of ARTISENTIAL(®) in comparison with standard laparoscopic instruments through a larger study. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10151-022-02588-y.