History and Future of Transanal Minimally Invasive Surgery

Transanal minimally invasive surgery first began with the introduction of transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEM) by Buess and colleagues in 1985. Although mostly restricted to specific centers during the following two decades, advances in laparoscopy, natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES), and single-incision surgery paved the way for a more accessible platform with the transanal minimally invasive surgery (TAMIS) platform by Atallah and colleagues in 2010. In that same year, Sylla and Lacy described the first transanal total mesorectal excision (TaTME). In the years that followed, hundreds of surgeons would seek out advanced training to learn this exciting technique, and international clinical trials are currently enrolling patients to compare the oncologic and functional outcomes of this technique to established methods of rectal cancer surgery.