Potential for globalization of laparoscopic and endoscopic cooperative surgery

[Background and Study Aims]Laparoscopic and endoscopic cooperative surgery (LECS) holds promise as a minimally invasive surgery for the management of localized gastrointestinal neoplasms. To disseminate this methodology worldwide, we conducted an international survey on the feasibility of LECS among overseas experts in the field of therapeutic gastrointestinal endoscopy.
[Methods]In February 2016, a web-based survey was administered to 35 overseas endoscopists who had given or organized international live demonstrations or had conducted endoscopic training courses. The questionnaire included 22 questions mainly related to the respondent's opinion on and experience in performing LECS as well as other related issues. The responses were collected within 1 month and assessed thereafter.
[Results]A total of 25 endoscopists (71%) responded to this survey. The concept of LECS was known among 96% of respondents. Although LECS was considered to be technically accessible or doable in 92% of cases and to be beneficial in 92%, only 40% of respondents had direct experience in performing LECS. Although all respondents considered that the introduction of LECS would be welcome or acceptable (100%), 80% considered an acceptable procedure time to be no more than 2 hours and 52% considered the minimum estimated fee to be USD 3,000.
[Conclusions]LECS was considered feasible, beneficial, and acceptable but currently has limited availability. In the globalization of this procedure, the issue of cost-effectiveness remains to be addressed.