A RADICAL approach to abdominal surgery is gaining ground. Pioneered in India, it is being touted as one of the most significant developments in surgery for decades. Patients are left with no visible scar simply because surgeons go in through the mouth, reaching the abdominal cavity via incisions in the stomach wall.
Natural orifice translumenal surgery or NOTES has other potential benefits: it could reduce post-operative pain and the need for a general anaesthetic, speed up recovery times and cut the risk of infections (see “Scar-free surgery through the mouth”). So not surprisingly it has attracted a growing band…
