Single-Incision Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy: Initial Report From the Turks and Caicos Islands

Abstract

There has been no prior report of single-incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS) from the Caribbean island of Turks and Caicos. We report our initial experience with SILS cholecystectomy to show that SILS in this environment is feasible with minimal change to the existing hardware. It is a safe alternative to conventional multi-trocar laparoscopic cholecystectomy in this setting.

History of Laparoscopic Surgery in the English-Speaking Caribbean and Progress Amidst a Mix of Challenges and Opportunities

“…During this time, very little MIS was performed throughout the region. There were few nations where MIS was performed in small, highly selected pockets, but the majority of LMICs had no real access to this service [1,6,1011,12,13,14].…”

“…Currently, there are many published reports of MIS being used across the region, but they are still mostly originating from the more populous LMICs [1,3,11,12,13,14,15], and there is not widespread availability of MIS to the population at large in the English-Speaking Caribbean.…”

“…Another example of inter-island collaboration is to utilize workshops [1,12,13,14]. In this model, we have invited experts from the region to import expertise, rather than exporting a patient in need.…”

“…By doing this, the entire healthcare system can improve their skill sets and results for a long-term investment. We have found that the industry is keen to support this and they have actively organized and funded training workshops in the region, with funding by Medtronic Latin America [12,13,14], Ethicon, and Karl Storz [1,47]. These workshops were invaluable to mentor entire surgical teams to develop MIS in their environments [1,12,13,14,47].…”