The lateral laparoscopic approach

Although experience was gained from the anterior approach during laparoscopic cholecystectomy, this seemed a reasonable method to apply to other upper abdominal solid organ extirpation procedures. However, difficult operating angles in the vascular region of the splenic hilum led other researchers to pursue different approaches to the splenic hilum. This report describes the experience gained from more than 230 splenectomies performed by a lateral approach.