ABSTRACT
Laparoscopy has been utilized in the management of gynecologic conditions for decades. In performing laparoscopic sterilization, gynecologists recognized that this surgical approach accomplished the technical goal of contraception with a reduction in surgical morbidity relative to standard open sterilization. Since that time, laparoscopy has been recognized as a means to accomplish a surgical goal, rather than a separate end itself. It is the concept of laparoscopy as a surgical tool that has led to the expansion of the procedures in which this technique has been employed.
