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World J Gastroenterol. Feb 14, 2016; 22(6): 1975-2004
Published online Feb 14, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i6.1975
Laparoscopic and robot-assisted laparoscopic digestive surgery: Present and future directions
Juan C Rodríguez-Sanjuán, Marcos Gómez-Ruiz, Soledad Trugeda-Carrera, Carlos Manuel-Palazuelos, Antonio López-Useros, Manuel Gómez-Fleitas
Juan C Rodríguez-Sanjuán, Marcos Gómez-Ruiz, Soledad Trugeda-Carrera, Carlos Manuel-Palazuelos, Antonio López-Useros, Manuel Gómez-Fleitas, Department of General Surgery, University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla, 39008 Santander, Spain
Juan C Rodríguez-Sanjuán, Marcos Gómez-Ruiz, Soledad Trugeda-Carrera, Carlos Manuel-Palazuelos, Antonio López-Useros, Manuel Gómez-Fleitas, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Cantabria, 39010 Santander, Spain
Author contributions: All the authors equally contributed to the writing of the manuscript and approved the final version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare they have not any conflict of interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Juan C Rodríguez-Sanjuán, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of General Surgery, University Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla, Av/ Marqués de Valdecilla S/N, 39008 Santander, Spain. cgdrsj@humv.es
Telephone: +34-94-2203458
Received: April 29, 2015
Peer-review started: May 7, 2015
First decision: June 3, 2015
Revised: June 20, 2015
Accepted: November 30, 2015
Article in press: December 1, 2015
Published online: February 14, 2016
Processing time: 269 Days and 16.3 Hours
Abstract

Laparoscopic surgery is applied today worldwide to most digestive procedures. In some of them, such as cholecystectomy, Nissen’s fundoplication or obesity surgery, laparoscopy has become the standard in practice. In others, such as colon or gastric resection, the laparoscopic approach is frequently used and its usefulness is unquestionable. More complex procedures, such as esophageal, liver or pancreatic resections are, however, more infrequently performed, due to the high grade of skill necessary. As a result, there is less clinical evidence to support its implementation. In the recent years, robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery has been increasingly applied, again with little evidence for comparison with the conventional laparoscopic approach. This review will focus on the complex digestive procedures as well as those whose use in standard practice could be more controversial. Also novel robot-assisted procedures will be updated.

Keywords: Laparoscopy; Robotic surgery; Colectomy; Esophagectomy; Gastrectomy; Obesity surgery; Liver resection; Pancreatectomy; Laparoscopic training

Core tip: Laparoscopic surgery is increasingly used in the treatment of digestive diseases. New procedures are performed and novel technologies are applied. In addition, robot-assisted laparoscopic surgery has appeared as a useful tool for the digestive surgeon. The aim of this paper is to up-date the recent advances and scientific evidence supporting clinical practice.