 Patients who undergo elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy for gallbladder disease or laparoscopic inguinal hernia repair will be recruited to the trial. Patients will be randomized to either the current standard control group or to receive an intervention to remove residual CO2. In the intervention group the pneumo-peritoneum will be removed, at the end of the operation, by placing the patient in the Trendelenburg position and utilising a pulmonary recruitment maneuver consisting of two manual inflations to a maximum pressure of 60 cm H2O. In the control group residual pneumo-peritoneum will be evacuated at the end of the procedure by passive decompression via the open operative ports. 