The role of laparoscopic surgery in gynecologic oncology

As a result of recent technological advances, laparoscopic lymphadenectomy is becoming the standard method for the staging of pelvic cancer. More extensive procedures, such as para-aortic lymph node dissection and radical hysterectomy, have also been demonstrated to be feasible by advanced laparoscopic surgery. This new approach appears to be very promising. In the future, because of its well documented advantages, laparoscopic surgery may appear as a way to decrease the morbidity of cancer treatment in patients with low-risk tumors and to propose more aggressive treatments of patients with tumors associated with a poor prognosis. These new techniques should be reserved for surgical teams trained in oncologic and major laparoscopic surgery. More clinical research is required before this approach can be proposed as an alternative to laparotomy, and guidelines have to be established. Training in oncology is essential to ensure optimal patient care and to avoid the consequences of inadequate laparoscopic management with regard to cases of tumor dissemination reported after laparoscopic biopsy or resection of undiagnosed ovarian cancer.