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May this Christmas season be memorable for all the members of the World Association of Laparoscopic Surgeons and their families! Enjoy the season with love, laughter, and cherishable moments. Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!

Despite repeated concerns regarding potential aerosolization in laparoscopic surgery, no evidence exists to compare this with open approaches. Laparoscopic surgery should not be treated as more or less aerosolizing than open surgery. Several techniques to minimize aerosol spread have been proposed, including tightening port sites, minimizing pneumoperitoneum, minimizing the use of energy devices, and using filtration systems and controlled deflation. Despite the COVID-19 crisis, in settings with sufficient resources, laparoscopy continues to represent an appropriate surgical modality that may offer benefits to the individual patient and healthcare system.

Since viral load is very high in respiratory secretions, intubation and extubation pose the maximum risk. In laparoscopic surgery, there have been concerns raised about the possible generation of aerosols contaminated with COVID-19 from leaked CO2 and smoke generation after energy device use 

The competitive landscape of the robotic surgery market is heating up as Medtronic’s Hugo robotic-assisted surgery (RAS) system secures three new regulatory approvals in Europe, Japan, and Canada.

The general surgery indication in Europe and Canada and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare approval for use in gynecologic and urologic procedures in Japan bolsters Medtronic’s strategy to drive robotic surgery adoption worldwide, tapping into a lucrative market that has been dominated exclusively by Intuitive Surgical for almost two decades.

Our finding that only 12 of 24 enlarged lymph nodes identified by preoperative imaging were histologically positive for metastatic disease fits with findings by Langhans et al.

Most patients and physicians would agree that minimally invasive surgery is preferred over traditional open surgery techniques. But we have to now compare laparoscopic and robotic surgery.