Abstract
In this issue of the Journal of Laparoendoscopic & Advanced Surgical Techniques (JLAST), we focus on the image-guided surgery (IGS) techniques that cover a wide range of minimally invasive procedures, including percutaneous (needle-based), laparoscopic, robot-assisted, and flexible endoscopy approaches. All these procedures are performed under an imaging guidance.
IGS can be defined as any planned invasive therapy (preoperative period), guided and performed (intraoperative period), and controlled (postoperative period) with the help of detailed images of the organ to be treated to obtain more accurate and better results.
The soul of IGS is the use of intraoperative images to guide the different surgical procedure; these images should be performed in a hybrid operating room. The implementation of hybrid operating rooms dates back to when we needed to perform a surgical procedure needing simultaneous intraoperative diagnostic images. This was created for cardiac, urological, and endovascular surgeries. Nowadays we are applying the latest technology of images to guide our procedures in a minimally invasive way.
In this issue, we dissect how to apply the IGS in percutaneous, laparoscopic, and endoscopic procedures and also describe how to teach and learn IGS during the COVID-19 time.
Finally, we thank Marco Fisichella and all his editorial team for allowing us to share our experience on IGS through this prestigious journal.