Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) Transvaginal Cholecystectomy

Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) describes a new field of investigational surgery which uses the endoscope as the primary operative tool. The insertion sites for the endoscope include natural orifices such as the mouth, anus, vagina, or urethra. Multidisciplinary teams of surgeons and gastroenterologists collaborate to develop safe and effective surgical techniques via the natural orifice route in order to avoid surgical incisions. Early studies have focused on transvaginal surgery as the access route to the abdomen as it sidesteps troubling questions about infection and closure of the organ. This study is a pilot study to test the feasibility to NOTES transvaginal cholecystectomy using conventional surgical and endoscopic tools.