title: Current status of laparoscopic surgery for patients with Crohn's disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Minimally invasive surgery is increasingly utilized in treatment for refractory or complicated Crohn's disease, and new developments aim at further reducing the abdominal trauma and improving the outcome. This review evaluates current literature about minimally invasive surgery for patients with Crohn's disease, latest advances in single-incision surgery, and methods of specimen extraction.
  
  
  METHODS
  Literature was reviewed with focus on the following topics: indications, surgical procedures, conversions, complications, and short- as well as long-term outcomes of laparoscopic compared to open surgery for refractory, complicated, and recurrent Crohn's disease.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Short-term benefits such as shorter hospital stay and faster postoperative recovery are accompanied by long-term benefits such as better cosmetic results and lower treatment-associated morbidity. Single-incision surgery and minimally invasive methods of specimen extraction help to further reduce the surgical trauma and are gradually implemented in the treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In experienced centers, laparoscopic surgery for Crohn's disease is safe and as feasible as open operations, even for selected cases with operations for complicated or recurrent disease. However, accurate analysis of the data is complicated by the heterogeneity of clinical presentations as well as the variety of performed procedures. Additional long-term data are needed for evaluation of true benefits of the new techniques.
authors.affiliation: Department of General and Visceral Surgery, University Hospital Muenster, Waldeyerstr 1, 48149 Muenster, Germany.
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Neumann
authors.forename: E J M
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Rijcken
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bruewer
mesh_terms: D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D010535:Laparoscopy / Q000639:trends*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome