Laparoscopic surgery of the liver and biliary tract

The liver, gallbladder, bile ducts, and spleen are the least mobile organs in the upper abdomen. Thus, the laparoscopic approach is commonly used to m anage a variety of pathologies related to these organs [5, 10, 60, 78]. Com pared with conventional "open" surgery, minimally invasive surgery reduces postoperative pain and discomfort, lowers morbidity rates, promotes early m obilization, decreases recovery time and length of stay, and improves cosme tic results. In addition, the surgical results of laparoscopic surgery are as good as or better than those of conventional surgery [5]. This paper rev iews the advances in laparoscopic surgery, and describes current patient se lection practices and laparoscopic surgical techniques for benign liver cys ts and tumors and biliary tract diseases.