Prospect of transanal minimally invasive surgery for rectal neoplasm

Transanal minimally invasive surgery (TAMIS) is a kind of minimally invasive surgery that local resection or total mesorectal excision for rectal neoplasm is performed through the use of multichannel port(single port) transanally. Compared to transanal endoscopic microsurgery(TEM) approach, TAMIS offers an alternative to TEM for rectal neoplasm, and shows the advantage of lower cost and shorter learning curve. TAMIS approach has been used not only in the local resection of rectal neoplasm but also in transanal total mesorectal excision (transanal TME), which is also called TAMIS-TME, in recent four years. The safety and efficacy of TAMIS approach has been shown in the currently published literatures. However, TAMIS approach has to wait for more evidence-based data with larger-scale and longer follow-up to get its validation.