Staging Laparoscopy

Laparoscopy in combination with laparoscopic ultrasonography is a new staging procedure for tumors of the abdomen. Accurate staging also improves the treatment of several other tumor entities, such as pancreatic and gastric cancer, lymphoma, ovarian cancer, and liver malignancies. Laparoscopic staging helps prevent unnecessary laparotomies, provides much less trauma to the patient, gives maximum information on tumor spread, and enables palliative procedures to be performed during the staging procedure. This book discusses the pathophysiological aspects and risks of laparoscopic staging and provides detailed guidelines on the aims and techniques of laparoscopic staging.

Basic Aspects.- Technical Aspects of Pneumoperitoneum and Gasless Laparoscopy.- Equipment and Strategies of Staging Laparoscopy.- Pathophysiological Aspects of the Pneumoperitoneum.- Risk of Port Site Métastases.- Results and Strategies of Clinical Applications: Gastrointestinal Tract.- Staging Laparoscopy for Esophageal Cancer.- The Role of Laparoscopy in the Staging of Gastric Cancer.- Extended Diagnostic Laparoscopy in Gastric Cancer.- Laparoscopic Staging for Pancreatic Malignancy.- Laparoscopic Ultrasonography for Staging of Gastrointestinal Cancer.- Further Results and Strategies of Clinical Application.- Contribution to Initial Staging and Assessment of Treatment Results in Gynecologic Cancers.- Indications in Urologic Tumors.- Is There Any Role for the Laparoscopic Staging of Urologie Malignancies?.- Impact of Laparoscopy in Malignant Lymphomas.

From the reviews:

"This multi-author book has been championed by the authors who are from Berlin and New York respectively. It is probably the most comprehensive book on staging laparoscopy. ... The strength of the book is the wealth of collated experience from dedicated surgical oncologists and their multi-disciplinary teams. ... The information presented in this book is the best we have. Those surgeons running mainly GIT oncological practices should read it and try to apply what is relevant to their practices." (D. B. Bizos, SAJS - South African Journal of Surgery, Vol. 41 (3), 2003)