As you know, Lee Swanström has recently performed the first transgastric cholecystectomy in Portland. In your opinion, what are the advantages of NOTES over open and laparoscopic surgery?

In 2007, Whiteford et al. described the first transanal NOTES radical sigmoidectomy in human cadavers. Currently, the transition on human application is increasingly observed. Although instrument and platform limitations are still a barrier to pure applications of transanal NOTES resection, ongoing work has resulted in worldwide human clinical case reports. In this video, Dr. Patricia Sylla presents a clinical case of a pilot study of laparoscopic-assisted transanal endoscopic rectal cancer resection.

Authors expose their pure NOTES transanal TME for early rectal cancer using oncologic dissection. The rationale, steps, tips and tricks to perform this new surgical procedure (called PROGRESS by authors) are clearly exposed using outstanding HD video pictures. This video completes the publication of the first world no-scar NOTES transanal TME in JAMA Surg (No-scar transanal total mesorectal excision: the last step to pure NOTES for colorectal surgery. Leroy J, Barry BD, Melani A, Mutter D, Marescaux J. JAMA Surg 2013;148:226-31).