title: Innovative technique for gastric retraction during laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy: the marionette.
abstract: Laparoscopic distal pancreatectomies became more common in the past few years as a safe and effective treatment option for benign and low-grade malignant tumors of the body and tail of the pancreas. Adequate exposure and wide operative field are crucial to perform this procedure, and this is achieved by retraction of the stomach with an angled liver retractor or a grasper through a subxiphoid trocar, that is usually used only to this purpose. We developed an innovative technique to retract the stomach during laparoscopic distal pancreatectomies that provides excellent operative field and frees the subxiphoid trocar to be used in other tasks during the surgery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of São Paulo, Medical School, São Paulo/SP, Brazil medrod2003@yahoo.com.br.
authors.forename: Rodrigo C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Surjan
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of São Paulo, Medical School, São Paulo/SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Tiago
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Basseres
authors.affiliation: Department of Digestive Surgery, University of São Paulo, Medical School, São Paulo/SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Fabio F
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Makdissi
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of São Paulo, Medical School, São Paulo/SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcel A C
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Machado