Background  

Laparoscopic surgery has continued to gain popularity in almost all fields of abdominal surgery, and robotic systems have been introduced in general surgery. Naviot is a new remote-controlled laparoscope manipulator system controlled by the operator’s hand. This study assessed its introduction into clinical practice.

Methods  

A group of 10 consecutive patients with cholelithiasis underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy assisted by the Naviot system (Naviot group). Another group of 41 patients who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy with a conventional human camera holder (human camera group) were selected for a comparison of their operative results with those of the Naviot group.

Results  

The operative time of 89.3 ± 27.1 min for the Naviot group was significantly longer than that of 74.8 ± 28.1 min for the human camera group (p < 0.05). However, when the setup time for the Naviot system was excluded, the operative time was not significantly different from that for the human camera group. Other operative results showed no significant difference between the two groups.

Conclusions  

The authors believe that the new Naviot system is feasible for clinical use, and that it enables surgeons to perform solo gastrointestinal surgery.