Security aspects of modern endoscopic surgery—the 12 golden rules

Laparoscopy has become a common tool in modern gynaecological surgery. Almost 30 years have passed since the first laparoscopic appendectomy was performed by Semm in 1983. Basic standards are missing though laparoscopic interventions are performed worldwide. The objective of this paper was to report on our experience in laparoscopic surgery and education of young trainees. During 16 years of laparoscopic surgery, we have performed about 15,000 interventions. Inspired by the possibility of videotaping operative sequences, we built up an internal school of laparoscopy. As a function of the result of steady work and education in laparoscopic surgery, we have worked out a common security standard which is to be considered at any intervention performed at our centre. We call this standard ‘The 12 golden rules’. We now report for the first time on our security aspects the 12 golden rules publicly.