In may 1997 the faculty of surgery from the university of athens and elsewhere gathered with colleagues in athens for the third time in 6 years to continue our discussions on the progress, problems, realization, and future of laproscopic surgery. the topics were rather inclusive with regard to the issues that defined the field, and the assembled investigators, educa tors, and clinicians brought a rich experience and clear vision of the field in the coming years. the decision had been made months before to collect our thoughts and experience as a colloquium of the state of laproscopic surgery in the tenth year following the report of mouret on laparoscopic cholecy stectomy, not as the proceedings of the specific meeting. at the end of a decade of mercurial advance, heated debate, professional turmoil, and very little science, it was clear that general surgery would never be the same. laproscopic surgery is now fully established and requires accommodation in the curriculum, practice, and research of surgery for the foreseeable future. this book is called a colloquium on laparoscopy because it collects the thoughts of many workers in the form of consensus presentations. it is offered to any surgeon who is ready to survey this field with clear eyes, absent of emotion or hyperbole, in our evolution of a better standard of care for surgical patients.