Minimally invasive surgery of the pancreas in progress.

Background: Laparoscopic pancreatic surgery should be considered as an advanced laparoscopic procedure and should be performed only in institutions with experience in pancreatic surgery by a team with advanced laparoscopic skills.

Aim: This review discusses the current status of the laparoscopic approach for inflammatory pancreatic diseases and for benign-appearing pancreatic tumors.

Results: Laparoscopic surgery has been shown to be beneficial in patients with inflammatory tumors located in the body-tail of the pancreas for chronic pancreatitis. Furthermore, patients with pancreatic pseudocysts may be managed with laparoscopic internal drainage (to the stomach, duodenum, or jejunum). Also, laparoscopic or retroperitoneoscopic necrosectomy has been used with success in patients with necrotizing pancreatitis. At present, laparoscopic surgery has proven to be beneficial in patients with cystic pancreatic neoplasms and neuroendocrine pancreatic tumors.

Conclusions: The laparoscopic pancreatic approach was recently shown to be feasible and safe. Laparoscopy may contribute to reduced operation time and perioperative blood loss, and reduces surgical stress because of developments in devices, improvements in procedures, and advanced techniques.