The Society For Surgery Of The Alimentary Tract/ Digestive Disorders Week (SSAT/DDW) Conference

On May 19-21^st2012, I attended the SSAT/DDW conference where I presented 2 surgical videos: one was of a single very small incision (via the belly button) laparoscopic resection of the body and tail of the pancreas, as well as the spleen for pancreatic cancer and the second video, was of the standardization of single incision laparoscopic removal of gallbladder. The latter video is the product of a special committee, which formed in lieu of surgeons' complaints of increased complications rate with single incision laparoscopic gallbladder operation (which are the most common operation in the US). The purpose of the video was to provide a specific surgical approach, which is agreed upon by over 20 top leaders of minimally invasive surgery from around the world. This approach follows the same steps and principles of a conventional laparoscopic removal of gallbladder operation and is found to be a safe, easily adoptable method, which results in reproducible outcomes. The surgeons in the audience very well received the videos. They found them to be useful tools for those surgeons who choose to undertake single incision laparoscopic operations and add this approach to their laparoscopic armamentarium. I enjoyed the conference very much and learned about new innovations from around the world.