THE APPLICATION OF OPERATIVE LAPAROSCOPY TO GYNECOLOGIC ONCOLOGY

The application of operative laparoscopy to patients with gynecologic malignancy is in its infancy, but promising findings have been demonst rated for surgical end staging after cytotoxic therapy for ovarian can cer, laparoscopic lymph node sampling for cervical cancer, and laparos copic staging, vaginal hysterectomy and adnexectomy for corpus cancer. The most significant difficulty in integrating operative laparoscopy with gynecologic oncology, at this time, is the lack of controlled stu dies to demonstrate the ability of endoscopy to improve the contempora ry management of these diseases. Further study will be necessary by su bspecialists in gynecologic oncology to demonstrate the proper applica tion of these new techniques.