Laparoscopy, Endoscopy, and Minimally Invasive Colorectal Surgery

James E. Duncan, MD, FACS, FASCRS

The past three decades have witnessed a remarkable evolution of minimally invasive approaches to colon and rectal surgery. The present state of our surgical “know-how” and technology offers an exciting time for surgeons, adapting and applying new techniques in an ongoing quest for better and safer outcomes for our patients. Future applications of emerging, improving technologies—some in development, others yet to be designed—in the hands of creative, innovative surgeons promise a new frontier in our approaches to surgery for colorectal diseases. The articles contained within this issue offer both a comprehensive review of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) as it applies to colorectal surgery and a glimpse of new and emerging MIS approaches that further the pursuit of advancing surgery while minimizing the impacts on our patients.

I am thankful for the opportunity provided to edit this issue for Clinics in Colon and Rectal Surgery, and I am likewise extremely grateful for the generous, knowledgeable contributions of the authors. I am fortunate and proud to have such talented colleagues willing to volunteer their expertise by composing timely, informative articles spanning the spectrum of minimally invasive colorectal surgery. I found each article to be both a concise and authoritative topical summary, and I hope that readers will find these contents useful and informative as I do. In contemplating the arc of MIS approaches in our field over time, it is indeed remarkable to reflect upon the past, understand the present, and imagine what the future may hold.