The vale knot - An intracorporeal slipknot

Mastering intracorporeal ligation and suturing is an essential skill for th e performance of most advanced endoscopic surgical procedures. Although man y disposable instruments have become available for various tasks necessitat ing the construction of sutures and knots; issues of performance, safety, a nd cost-efficiency remain to be settled. The authors believe that training should aim at the development of manual skills that could realize the clini cal and cost-efficiency benefits of using conventional surgical tasks in th e endoscopic setting.