Diagnostic pure transgastric NOTES in an intensive therapy unit patient

Natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) is a natural consequence of evolution in minimally invasivesurgery. It allows one to reduce surgical trauma and the number of complications and to improve cosmetic outcomes.It also shortens the patient’s recovery time. So far there have been only nine NOTES procedures performed in Polandand around 200 NOTES interventions performed worldwide. In this paper a transgastric diagnostic NOTES procedurein a critically ill patient is described. A 60-year-old male patient with multi-organ failure (circulatory, respiratory andrenal insufficiency, with co-morbid hypothyroidism and diabetes mellitus) hospitalized in the intensive therapy unit(ITU) with unknown cause of his condition was qualified for transgastric diagnostic NOTES procedure. This interventionrevealed the diagnosis of metastatic neoplastic disease and allowed persistent therapy to be avoided. DiagnosticNOTES in selected patients seems to be a very useful. It provides fast diagnosis with relatively small perioperativetrauma. It is an easy procedure that requires a regular or operative endoscope, one surgeon and an endoscopic nurse.It can be done anywhere, including at the patient’s bedside. It provides specimens for histopathology and speeds updiagnostics and decision making, especially in terminally ill patients.