The innovative technique described here is safe and appears to ease the patient's postoperative course. Data recovered from the multicenter study, which is now in its preliminary phase, should help answer numerous questions. We expect the procedure to be reproducible in other university centers that are participating in the trial.

Our experiment shows that the 3-D system allowed significant improvements in the execution of the evaluated parameters. Also noted were significant differences among participants in term of visual and motor skills.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) resection is a major surgical procedure performed frequently. As a minimal access procedure, laparoscopy has been shown in the field of general surgery to improve a patient's postoperative well-being and to shorten hospital stay. The same benefits could be expected from a laparoscopic approach for AAA repair. We report what we believe to be the first totally laparoscopic AAA repair performed according to the principles of endoaneurysmorrhaphy.

We report our experience with a novel combined laparoscopic-endovascular procedure to treat endoleaks and graft migration. The operative procedure consisted of the following steps: laparoscopic exposure of the aorta, clipping of lumbar arteries and of the inferior mesenteric artery, incision of the sac of the aneurysm without clamping the aorta, and removal of thrombus material. Laparoscopic sutures were placed externally to attach the endograft to the aortic neck. Laparoscopy was performed a mean interval of 20.2 months after endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair in four cases and immediately after endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm exclusion in eight consecutive patients. We have yet to prove whether this combined approach is superior to a purely endovascular technique.