Impact of Laparoscopy in Malignant Lymphomas

Abstract

Staging laparotomy was initially advocated from the late 1960s for patients with Hodgkin’s disease (HD), and some patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL), to identify those patients who were potentially curable with radiotherapy and to accurately plan radiotherapy fields [1]. These procedures provided considerable information on the patterns and distribution of these diseases, altering the clinical staging in a significant group of patients [2–5]. However, the role of laparotomy has been reduced with the introduction of computerized tomographic (CT) scanning and CT-directed percutaneous biopsy, the development of combination chemotherapy, and the increased use of combined modality therapy..