Insufflation involves injecting air or gas via a machine into the abdominal cavity to create a tent to allow for visualization of the operative field and manipulation of instruments used during the procedures. A recent multi-site study had shown that the use of low pressure insufflation provided better operative and post-operative outcomes for patients when compared with traditional open surgery. Patients in the study, who underwent surgery for early-stage endometrial cancer, experienced shortened lengths of stay in the hospital and reduced complications. Moreover, low-pressure procedures showed better overall control of post-operative pain as well as shoulder pain. These results were significantly lower than those obtained with the standard insufflation system and hastened patients’ discharge.

Now, UC Davis Health (Sacramento, CA, USA) has also adopted low pressure insufflation as the standard for all surgical laparoscopic procedures, utilizing CONMED’s (Largo, FL, USA) AirSeal System. By offering a low-pressure insufflation option for every laparoscopic procedure, UC Davis Health surgeons can safely operate at lower intra-abdominal pressures. This has been shown to improve patient outcomes and promote patient safety. Additionally, by shortening a patient’s length of stay in the hospital and reducing their complications, UC Davis Health can prevent bottlenecks in surgical recovery rooms and serve more patients.

Low pressure insufflation has also proved to reduce procedural time for surgeons, resulting in increased operating efficiency. ConMed's AirSeal System utilized by UC Davis Health provides surgeons a stable pneumoperitoneum, the presence of air or gas in the abdominal cavity. It also has a valveless system which maintains optimal exposure of the operative field even with a lower pressure of insufflation and while allowing the continuous emission of surgical smoke, a product of many surgeries. By providing these capabilities, the system has been shown to reduce procedural time, resulting in increased operating efficiency.

“Since 2016, we have been utilizing low pressure insufflation for our robotic surgery procedures and have found success in improving patient outcomes and improving operating efficiency for our robotic surgeons,” said Bahareh M. Nejad, director of Robotic Surgery and clinical professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology. “The faster we can get people out of recovery - even if it is just minutes - it helps our surgeons be able to proceed with our next procedure and provide more care to our patients.” 

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