Introduction
Contamination of healthcare professionals (HCPs) during surgery has been known for many years and is well described. Before the laparoscopy era, the source was essentially surgical fumes produced by heat-producing techniques such as electrosurgery (mono- or bipolar), lasers or ultrasound [1]. These peroperative risks have been abundantly addressed in the literature, which we need not detail here. Depending on the case, surgical smoke can contain water vapour (95%), inorganic pollutants (CO, CO2), organic pollutants (hydrocarbons, hydrocyanic acid, aldehydes), and biological pollutants such as cells (some cancerous), bacteria and fragments of viral DNA. Laparoscopy has added a further source of airborne pollution, namely aerosols generated by pneumoperitoneum gas flow. This article specifically concerns the risk of viral contamination during laparoscopy in the setting of the current Covid-9 epidemic. Our purpose here is to analyse the literature data on the viral contamination risk for HCPs by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus responsible for the Covid-19 epidemic and discuss means of protection and prevention.