[Laparoscopic colorectal surgery: 499 interventions]

Laparoscopic colorectal surgery hasn't been generally accepted yet. We present here our experience of 449 operations performed with this method. More than a quarter of the indications were for malignancy. Conversion rate was 9.3% for the benign diseases and 14.1% for the malignant ones. Operating time was longer compare to open surgery. Postoperative complications were 9.9% for benign and 23.6% for malignant diseases. Of those complications 7.1% concerned anastomotic leakages. Four patients presented with port-site metastases and this in the beginning of our experience. Mortality rate was zero for the benign group while it was 1.6% for the malignant one. According to our experience we believe that laparoscopic colorectal surgery offers a satisfactory minimal invasive alternative. Technological advances such as the harmonic scalpel or new visual techniques give more possibilities for better application of the method. Randomised studies, running actually, should allow us to say in the following years, if this method could be a widespread standard.