Laparoscopic approach to gastrointestinal malignancies: Toward the future with caution

Table 1 Recommended approach to gastrointestinal malignancies

District	Open surgery	Laparoscopic surgery	Robotic	Level of Evidence1
Esophagus	Standard	Accepted	Pioneeristic	LE 2
Stomach (proximal)	Standard	Being accepted	Pioneeristic	LE 3
Stomach (distal)	Standard	Accepted	Pioneeristic	LE 2
Liver (major resection)	Standard	Pioneeristic	Pioneeristic	LE 4
Liver (minor resection)	Standard	Being standard	Pioneeristic	LE 3
Gallbladder	Standard	Pioneeristic	Pioneeristic	LE 5
Biliary tree	Standard	Pioneeristic	Pioneeristic	LE 5
Pancreas (head)	Standard	Pioneeristic	Pioneeristic	LE 4
Pancreas (body-tail)	Standard	Being standard	Pioneeristic	LE 3
Small bowel	Standard	Being standard	Pioneeristic	LE 5
Colon	Accepted	Standard	Pioneeristic	LE 1
Rectum	Standard	Being standard	Pioneeristic	LE 2

¹Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine. Levels of Evidence Working Group. "The Oxford 2011 Levels of Evidence". Availble from: URL: http://www.cebm.net/index.aspx?o=5653.