the current role of laparoscopic surgery in the treatment of benign gastroduodenal diseases backgroundaims the impressive breakthrough in laparoscopic surgery has urged several authors to adopt such an approach in the treatment of both benign and malignant gastric diseases even though laparoscopic gastric resection has not yet met with widespread enthusiasm the current work is aimed at illustrating the feasibility and assessing the efficacy of laparoscopic lgrs and laparoscopicassisted lagrs gastric resections in the treatment of nonmalignant gastric conditionsmethodology as of april 1997 we performed lgrs or lagrs on a total of 24 patients mf 159 mean age 43 years range 1965 years among whom 8 presented with chronic gastric ulcer 4 had benign pyloric stenosis 8 were affected with recurrent duodenal ulcers no longer amenable to treatment and 4 with persistent symptomatic biliary reflux preoperatively all patients underwent blood tests upper gi endoscopy coupled with biopsy and barium swallow postoperatively all patients were administered saline solution and water dextrane for the first 5 days antibiotics cefuroxim 4 g iv daily and analgesics paracetamol 6 g iv daily for the first 48 hours a hydrosoluble swallow was scheduled for the 5th postoperative dayresults the surgical procedure consisted of a billroth ii distal gastrectomy in 13 cases and total duodenal diversion with rouxeny gastrojejunostomy in 11 among such patients 18 underwent a totally laparoscopic procedure whereas 6 had laparoscopicassisted gastrectomy with the use of a dexterity device in 1 case the mean duration of the procedure was 150 min range 120200 and blood losses were not remarkable no intraoperative complication ever occurred postoperatively we observed one case of retrogastric collection and incisional hernia in 1 patient who underwent a laparoscopicassisted procedure the abscess was drained percutaneously and hernia conventionally repaired 5 months postgastrectomy postoperative hospital stay was 7 days on the average range 525 one patient was lost to followup in the remaining cases no major functional sequelae were observed at a mean followup of 19 months range 241 apart from 2 cases of transient diarrheaconclusions laparoscopic surgery appears to be an invaluable tool for the treatment of gastric diseases and lgrs are a valid option in experienced hands and in selected centers allowing patients to benefit from a less cumbersome hospital stay and fewer functional sequelae the economic impact of such a practice however needs better clarification