2nd Hungarian NOTES Congress

The 2nd Hungarian NOTES Congress was held on the last Saturday of February, at the 1st Dept. Of Surgery of the Semmelweis University in Budapest. (A Hungarian report can be found here.) The organizers, the Hungarian Invasive Flexible Endoscopy Association has been promoting the Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) for a couple of years, and managed to bring together around 200 professionals and observers for the congress. The first half of the program consisted of 15 min lectures, presenting the state of the art of NOTES techniques and devices. Then, Hungarian clinics presented their results in NOTES: the Dept. of Surgical Research and Techniques at Pécs University performed the first animal trial in October 2008. Also, animal trails were performed at the Semmelweis University in December, experimenting with newly developed flexible endoscopes and magnetic camera anchoring system.
I was given a chance to present the most recent advancements in robotic NOTES, providing a snapshot to the most advanced automated tools and devices. The organizers also invited skeptic professionals, presenting their doubts and fears in connection with the new operational techniques.
In the coffee breaks, invited manufacturers presented their endoscopic equipment. The Immersion Medical brought two laparoscopic trainers, and Balazs Lengyel demoed with his training box. In the afternoon, a special hands-on training session was organized, including transgastric abdominal explorative flexible endoscopy, invasive endoscopy and submucosus dissection on biosynthetic model. Altogether, it was a great event bringing together the potent people of the field, and giving hope to see significant development on the NOTES area even in Hungary.