[Laparoscopic surgery of the upper gastrointestinal tract]

Laparoscopic surgery of the upper gastrointestinal tract is nowadays associated with little morbidity and mortality. Cardiomyotomy with semifundoplication for management of achalasia and the various forms of fundoplication for treatment of reflux syndrome have proved beneficial and have largely replaced conventional surgery. Independent of the operative approach, it has not yet been established with certainty whether gastroesophageal reflux can best be prevented by 360 degrees fundoplication or semifundoplication. A perforated peptic ulcer can be treated effectively by laparoscopic overstitching of omental patch-plasty, although the superiority of the laparoscopic method has yet to be proved. Benign lesions and early malignancies are currently resected laparoscopically, but the role of laparoscopy in the curative treatment of advanced gastric carcinoma remains to be clarified. Diagnostic laparoscopy is used to avoid unnecessary laparotomy in inoperable cancer and to ascertain whether neoadjuvant therapy is indicated in advanced gastric carcinoma.