Background:
Laparoscopic surgery has widely prevailed, resulting in the coming of age in which trainee doctors need to perform LA as first experience of laparoscopic surgery. Thus, we evaluated the feasibility of LA for them.

Material and Methods:
From April 2011 to August 2012, consecutive 55 cases were conducted appendectomy be trainee doctors in our hospital, including 31 cases of open appendectomy (OA group) and 24 cases of LA (LA group). Although trainee doctors had their first experience of laparoscopic surgery through LA, all of them had kept in practice using the dry box in advance. We made a comparative review of background factors and surgical outcomes between the two groups. A survey on attitudes toward LA was also carried out.

Result:
Between OA and LA groups, there were no significant differences in patient backgrounds. Likewise, no significant differences were noted in the operating time, postoperative hospital stay, and the incidence of surgical site infection; 71.0 min vs 65.5 min, 4 days vs 3 days, and 4 cases vs 2 cases, respectively. A questionnaire survey showed that LA had the advantage of securing the operative field and anatomical understanding compared to OA.

Conclusion:
When trainee doctors undertake LA as the first experience of laparoscopic surgery, the training with the dry box in advance allows for performing LA safely without prolonging operative time compared to OA. In addition, LA is thought to be beneficial in learning surgical anatomy.