Abstract

Last two decades have seen some revolutionary changes in the field of surgery as a whole, and more so in abdominal surgery. This era has not only seen a quantum leap in instrument development, but also in its applications. Since Eric Mauhe [1] and Philip Mouret [2] did the first laparoscopic cholecystectomy in the late 1980’s, Minimal Invasive Surgery has established itself as the preferred mode of treatment for most benign diseases. However, application of Minimal Invasive Surgery to gastrointestinal malignancies including colorectal cancers has been rather snail paced. I would like to discuss the era of laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer in three phases. In early 90’s it was ridiculed because of high incidence of port site metastasis reported in the literature up to 21% [3]. In the mid 90’s its use beyond trials was violently opposed.