Laparoscopy for Malignancy: Current Status

The acceptance of laparoscopy for the management of onco-logic disease has been slow because of initial fears regarding the effect of this new approach on the interaction between the patient and the tumor. Since the initial attempts at la-paroscopic resection, experience and technology have im-proved in parallel, facilitating improvements in this area. Laparoscopic oncologic surgery has a role in the manage-ment of oncologic patients at all stages of disease. Good ev-idence exists that laparoscopy has become an invaluable staging tool in many upper gastrointestinal cancers as well as lymphomas. The specter of port-site recurrence has loomed over the use of a laparoscopic approach for curative resections. However, it is clear from many reported trials that the initial prevalence of port-site metastases was more a technical issue rather than a problem with laparoscopy