Beijing Chaoyang Hospital begins solo single-incision laparoscopic appendectomy

Beijing Chaoyang Hospital has begun performing solo single-incision laparoscopic appendectomy, according to its October 19, 2026 report. The Acute Abdominal Surgery Department of its General Surgery Centre uses a single-port device placed through a small incision at the navel. One operating surgeon completes the laparoscopic appendectomy without a dedicated assistant for exposure and traction. The report identifies attending surgeon Dong Jiale performing the procedure.

One access point, with specific operating techniques

Appendectomy is an established treatment for acute appendicitis. The hospital describes how this approach differs from conventional multiport laparoscopy: instead of three or four abdominal ports, an approximately 1–2 cm incision at the navel admits the laparoscope and instruments through one channel.

The surgeon adjusts the patient's position, uses the natural gravitational movement of abdominal organs and works with dedicated instruments and exposure aids. Exploration, dissection, ligation, removal of the appendix and extraction are completed through the same access. In this context, “solo” describes the organisation of the laparoscopic surgical steps.

The incision lies within the navel's natural folds, which can conceal its appearance after healing. This is still an operation with an incision; a description of a concealed scar should not be read as a promise that every patient will have no visible scar.

Patient assessment and the limits of the reported result

The department says it introduced the technique cautiously after assessing patient indications, studying technical standards and making preoperative preparations. These steps matter when considering whether the approach is appropriate for a particular patient; the announcement does not make it a universal option for all appendicitis cases.

The hospital illustrates the report with a photograph from one patient's three-week postoperative review, showing an almost invisible small abdominal incision. It explicitly labels this an individual case that does not represent all patients. The photograph therefore documents that patient's wound appearance at that time, rather than proving a general recovery result.

For people seeking information about appendicitis surgery in China, the report provides a concrete account of an already performed approach, its access route and the assessment behind its use. It does not establish an individual patient's expected pain, complication rate, length of stay or cost. Those outcomes cannot be inferred from the incision count or the single follow-up photograph.