[Review of clinical investigation in minimally invasive gastrointestinal surgery in 2017 and future prospects].

Clinical investigation in minimally invasive gastrointestinal surgery has been developed by leaps and bounds in 2017. Standardizations of port placement, surgical approaches, lymphadenectomy, reconstruction, total laparoscopic surgery, incision-free technique, 3D laparoscope, as well as robotic surgeries, have been established. In the treatment for gastric cancer, the first-hand data of the laparoscopic technique for advanced gastric cancer will be released soon. Therefore, the research hotspots have been moved forward to lymphadenectomy, resection range, and reconstruction in laparoscopic advanced gastric cancer surgery. In the treatment for colorectal cancer, the lymphadenectomy range (complete colorectal excision and D3) and the effect of various of surgical approaches persistently become the research areas in laparoscopic colon cancer surgery. While the research interest of laparoscopic rectal cancer surgery still focus on the oncological effect evaluation of laparoscopic technique, duo to the recent evidence-based data challenging the usage of laparoscopic technique in rectal cancer treatment. What worth to notice is that trans-anal total mesorectal excision, as a new surgical approach, has undoubtedly become the most popular research field in 2017. Last but not least, the domestication of 3D instrument, laparoscope positioning robot, and surgical robot are the pop areas in the surgical instrument and equipment innovation area. In a word, with the 30-year development of minimally invasive surgery, represented by laparoscopic technique, it has become a mature technology, but still with some burning questions. The future trends of clinical investigations will focus on standardization of traditional laparoscopic techniques, development of new laparoscopic techniques, as well as the development of innovative digital equipments and instruments.