[Laparoscopy. State of the art in Italy: the surgeon's point of view]

The aim of the study was to evaluate the practice of laparoscopic surgery in Italy. An audit on laparoscopic surgery was carried out through a written questionnaire sent to 600 institutions in Italy. The questions concerned the diffusion of laparoscopic surgery over the last 10 years, surgery-related morbidity and mortality rates, indications, and impact on the day-to-day surgical work of the individual centres. A total of 64 institutions (10.6%) participated in the current audit. Laparoscopic surgery is performed in 96.8% of institutions, with cholecystectomy (98.3%) and appendectomy (72.4%) as the major surgical procedures performed with a laparoscopic approach. Laparoscopic procedures with miniaturised instruments (< or =3 mm) are performed by 15.5% of the surgeons interviewed. The low response rate of the present survey does not allow us to estimate the real extent of laparoscopic surgery in Italy, but only enables us to assess its use in centers routinely performing this kind of surgery. The impact of laparoscopy on day-to-day work is unquestionably positive and there is an increasing tendency by surgeons who become familiar with laparoscopy to use such an approach more frequently in different abdominal pathologies and in different situations (emergency/urgent and scheduled).