TLS is safe and feasible in patients with nonpalpable spleens. A concomitant laparoscopic procedure for treating coexisting abdominal pathology may be performed without additional morbidity. The HALS technique may be preferable in patients with splenomegaly (palpable spleens), as it appears to offer intraoperative advantages for retraction, dissection, hemostasis, and organ retrieval.

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is the current gold standard for the management of cholelithiasis. As experience with laparoscopic cholecystectomy has increased, contraindications to the procedure have started decreasing. Kyphoscoliosis with fixed rigidity is considered as a relative contraindication to laparoscopic surgery. Ankylosing spondylitis is a challenge to the anaesthesiologist because it is associated with difficult intubation, restrictive ventilatory defects, and frequent cardiac involvement. The benefits of laparoscopic surgery can be extended to this group of patients with severe kyphoscoliosis due to advances in anesthesia and surgical expertise. We report a case of laparoscopic cholecystectomy performed in a patient with severe ankylosing spondylitis with fixed rigidity of the cervical spine and marked thoracolumbar kyphosis with severe restrictive lung disease. The purpose of this report is to describe the difficulties encountered in anesthesia and operative difficulties due to altered body habitus in terms of patient positioning and surgical access.

Lumbar hernias need to be repaired due to the risk of incarceration and strangulation. A laparoscopic intraperitoneal approach in the modified flank position causes the intraperitoneal viscera to be displaced medially away from the hernia. The creation of a wide peritoneal flap around the hernial defect helps in mobilization of the colon, increased length of margin is available for coverage of mesh and more importantly for secure fixation of the mesh under vision to the underlying fascia. Laparoscopic lumbar hernia repair by this technique is a tensionless repair that diffuses total intra-abdominal pressure on each square inch of implanted mesh. The technique follows current principles of hernia repair and appears to confer all benefits of a minimal access approach.

Laparoscopic diagnosis and treatment of recurrent small bowel obstruction is feasible, safe, and can be performed electively in selected cases.

Of the various traumatic injuries associated with blunt abdominal trauma, traumatic hernias form a rare and small group. We present a case report of a hernia in the psoas muscle in a 26-year-old lady diagnosed during extraperitoneal repair for inguinal hernia. The hernia was managed laparoscopically by reduction of contents and mesh placement over the defect. This is the first such case reported in the literature till date.