These data indicate that laparoscopic colorectal surgery is feasible and effective in both obese and nonobese patients. Obese patients who are thought to be at increased risk of postoperative morbidity have the similar benefit of laparoscopic surgery as nonobese patients with colorectal disease.

Numerous surgical procedures have been suggested to treat rectal prolapse. In elderly and high-risk patients, perineal approaches such as Delorme's procedure and perineal rectosigmoidectomy (Altemeier's procedure) have been preferred, although the incidence of recurrence and the rate of persistent incontinence seem to be high when compared with transabdominal procedures. Functional results of transabdominal procedures, including mesh or suture rectopexy and resection-rectopexy, are thought to be associated with low recurrence rates and improved continence. Transabdominal procedures, however, usually imply rectal mobilization and fixation, colonic resection, or both, and some concern is voiced that morbidity, in terms of infection or leakage, and mortality could be increased. If we focus on surgical outcome, our own experience of laparoscopic resection-rectopexy for rectal prolapse shows that the laparoscopic approach is safe and effective, and functional results with respect to recurrence are favorable. However, the controversy "which operation is appropriate?" cannot be answered definitely, as a clear definition of rectal prolapse, the extent of a standardized diagnostic assessment, and the type of surgical procedure have not been identified in published series. Randomized trials are needed to improve the evidence with which the optimal surgical treatment of rectal prolapse can be defined.

The advantages of laparoscopic stoma creation are low morbidity and reoperation rates, and no procedure-related mortality; our results suggest that laparoscopic stoma creation for fecal diversion is safe, feasible and effective. Therefore, at our institution, laparoscopic stoma creation is the method of choice for fecal diversion.

The frequency of gallbladder cancer in Europe is less than 1% of all gallstone operations. With the introduction of laparoscopic surgery and the higher acceptance of this technique, patients with gallstones have gallbladder removal much earlier in their gallstone history. So the percentage of gallbladder carcinomas will decrease in the future. We report on our surgical procedures in patients with suspicious gallbladders having laparoscopic gallbladder removal, and how to proceed after the diagnosis of gallbladder carcinoma. From June 1990 to December 2001, we have performed 7,130 cholecystectomies in a single department. 47 of these patients (0.66%) were identified as having carcinoma. There were 40 females and 7 males, with a mean age of 70.6 years. In 17 cases (36%) there was a preoperative suspicion of malignancy. Most commonly, in 30 cases (64%), malignancy was suspected intraoperatively or diagnosed postoperatively after pathological examination of the resected gallbladder. We recommend removal with a bag for all gallbladders with a suspected wall or scleroatrophic calcified gallbladder area. In stage Tis or T1 laparoscopy + cholecystectomy is sufficient. For T2 and T3 we perform reoperation with liver bed resection and lymphadenectomy.

These data indicate that laparoscopic sigmoid and anterior resection can be performed with acceptable morbidity and mortality for both diverticular disease and non-diverticular disease. The results show in particular that laparoscopic resection for inflammation is not associated with increased morbidity.