Abstract
About 30 years ago the first laparoscopic cholecystectomy was performed. I remember as a chief resident holding the camera for two attending surgeons who used to take 4–5 hours to complete the operation.
At that time, no one could have foreseen that minimally invasive surgery would forever change surgical practice, relegating open operations to a few patients only. Initially it was reserved mostly for benign pathologies, such as a myotomy for achalasia, a Nissen fundoplication for GERD or a gastric bypass for morbid obesity. But eventually it became evident that the minimally invasive approach was able to fulfill the same oncological criteria as open surgery. Since then, different cancers, from esophageal to gastric, from lung to colorectal have been approached with the same oncological results, but with a shorter hospital stay, faster recovery, and faster return to daily activities.
In this issue of JLAST we have collected a series of different minimally invasive procedure performed by experts, stressing the technical elements that are key to success. Residents and fellows in training, as well as junior attending surgeons, will enjoy reading the articles that are based on color pictures.