Complications in laparoscopic surgery

Abstract

In the last decade, the popularity of laparoscopic surgery has exploded, as evidenced by the dramatic increase in the number of laparoscopically performed urologic procedures. This has been driven by the potential of laparoscopic surgery to achieve the same goals as a standard open approach while offering the patient distinct advantages with regard to perioperative morbidity, length of hospital stay, and convalescence. However, there are also disadvantages to the endoscopic approach. Typically the learning curves for laparoscopic operations are long and there are a number of pitfalls that potentially complicate these procedures. Even for very experienced open surgeons, it is difficult to translate skills and knowledge directly to the endoscopic technique. © 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.