Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are rare tumors representing 0.1%–3% of all gastrointestinal cancers with an estimated incidence of 15/million. These tumors are characterized by the overexpression of the tyrosine kinase receptor KIT (CD117). The diagnosis of GIST has dramatically increased since 1992, and survival has greatly improved since 2002 when the Food and Drug Administration approved imatinib mesylate. Surgical treatment is the only chance of cure for patients with primary localized GIST. There is no surgical consensus about laparoscopic or open surgical treatment. However, the role for laparoscopy in the resection of GISTs continues to expand. The laparoscopic approach for gastric GISTs offers significant advantages in terms of postoperative pain, surgical trauma, and hospitalization, with the same oncological results obtained with open surgery while today it is considered the gold standard of treatment only for small gastric GIST. Controversy surrounds the maximum diameter of GIST for laparoscopic resection. We present our experience of 33 cases of GIST at Sant'Anna Hospital (Ferrara) in a period between 1999 and 2017 with a literature review.

Background: The optimal method of hernia repair in children is still debatable in spite of a large number of clinical trials comparing open and laparoscopic repairs. Aim: The aim of this study is to compare laparoscopic versus open herniotomy with regard to a patient's perspective in terms of immediate postoperative recovery and comfort and long-term satisfaction with the procedure. Settings and Designs: This is a retrospective study from January 2014 to 2016 conducted at a tertiary care center. Materials and Methods: A total of eighty consecutive patients (forty open and forty laparoscopic) who underwent inguinal hernia repair were included in this study. Postoperatively on follow-up, which ranged from 6 to 20 months, the patient and/or parent were interviewed by a questionnaire. This included documentation of postoperative pain which was assessed by visual analog scales and face, legs, activity, cry, consolability scoring system according to the age of the child, time of discharge from hospital, postoperative complications and time taken to return to normal activities, recurrence of hernia or hernia on the opposite side, cosmesis, and problems associated with scars. Results and Conclusions: Patients in the laparoscopic group fared better than the open group in terms of postoperative pain, return to routine activities, and cosmesis. However, there was one recurrence on the same side in this group. No recurrences on the operated side were observed in the open group; however, three contralateral hernias were operated in this group.

Robotic surgery is a high technology minimally invasive system. Morgagni's hernia is a rare congenital diaphragmatic hernia subtype that occurs in relation to the sternum anteriorly. Classically, symptomatic Morgagni's hernia is repaired by open abdominal approaches to reduce the hernia contents and suture the defect primarily or by patching large defects with a synthetic mesh. Recently, authors advocate the use of laparoscopic surgical techniques to repair such hernias especially the elective ones. This case discusses Morgagni's hernia repair using robotic surgery.

Laparoscopic surgery, though considered to be an ambulatory procedure, is associated with many unanticipated complications. We encountered a case of drain site hernia in a 40-year-old woman who presented with abdominal distension with pain with features suggestive of intestinal obstruction on the third postoperative day in a case of primary infertility patient admitted for Hysteroscopy and Laparoscopy (Diagnostic and Therapeutic) for left-sided dermoid cyst excision.