ABSTRACT
Colectomy is termed an advanced laparoscopic technique because the colon is a large, mobile organ, spanning each abdominal quadrant, a specimen must be removed intact, and an anastomosis is often required; therefore, the visualization and dissection of the colon must move from abdominal quadrant to quadrant. Advocates of laparoscopic colectomy believe that the shorter hospital stay and better quality of life clearly qualify as advantages, but equipment is clearly more expensive, and an exact evaluation is often difficult because of the sometimes-perverted calculations that may involve actual cost or charges to patients. Hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery is a technique that involves the intra-abdominal placement of a hand or a forearm through a minilaparotomy incision while pneumoperitoneum is maintained. The identification of small neoplasms or areas presenting lesions associated with previous endoscopic polypectomy is one of the major problems in laparoscopic colon resection.
