This publication of the papers presented at the Workshop on Laparoscopic Colorectal Surgery that took place on 27-29 November 1995 in the European Surgical Institute in Norderstedt, Germany, is effectively a snapshot of the current state of knowledge in both the theory and the practice of minimally invasive colon surgery. This snapshot is a mosaic made up of the varied ex­ periences of individual surgeons. After a long period in which nothing much seemed to be happening, the recent growth in the use of minimally invasive surgery or video-controlled operative procedures in surgery of the abdominal and chest cavities has been unparalleled. More difficult operations have become increasingly possible as more and more new techniques have become available. Cholecystectomy should be regarded as the pacesetter for video-controlled procedures. Under defined conditions, it has now become the standard operation. Other operative procedures such as appendicectomy, hernior­ rhaphy, overs ewing of a perforated gastric or duodenal ulcer, vagotomy and fundoplication, operations on the spleen or adrenal, staging operations., and thoracic surgical procedures are becoming increasingly widely performed. Minimally invasive operations on the small and large bowel are currently still at the stage of individual reports.