Laparoscopic Surgery 1981 – The Second Step in Exploring the Body with a Camera

Laparoscopic surgery is also called  keyhole surgery  or  minimally invasive surgery  and is performed through small incisions.

An endoscope is a tube-shaped device that allows specialists to look inside the body, usually through an existing opening such as the mouth. In abdominal or pelvic surgery, a  laparoscope  is often used; it contains digital electronics such as a charge-coupled device at its tip to capture video images. A fibre-optic system also provides illumination inside the body. 

In endoscopic procedures, instruments are generally passed through small channels in the endoscope itself, whereas in laparoscopic surgery they are usually passed through trocars (sharp-tipped surgical shafts) used as entry points into the body. These provide separate channels for manipulating surgical instruments. Laparoscopic surgery has several potential advantages over conventional surgery:

• Less bleeding,
• Faster patient recovery,
• Less pain 
• Less scarring
• Fewer infections

Pioneers of laparoscopic procedures include:

• Swedish physician Hans Jacobaeus, who performed early procedures beginning around 1910.
• In 1981, German surgeon Kurt Semm performed the  first  laparoscopic appendectomy. 
• German surgeon Erich Mühe (in 1985) and French surgeon Philippe Mouret (in 1987) performed the first laparoscopic cholecystectomies (gallbladder removals). 

However, laparoscopic methods were integrated into general surgery in 1986 after the development of a video computer chip that allowed enlarged images to be displayed on television screens.

Dr Shelly Spaner and Dr Garth Warnock wrote: "The rapid acceptance of laparoscopic surgical technique by the general population is unique in surgical history. In the field of general surgery, it has brought change more radically and rapidly than any other surgical milestone."

Historical figures mentioned in the article: Georg Kelling (1866–1945), Hans Christian Jacobaeus (1879– 1937), Kurt Karl Stephan Semm (1927–2003), Philippe Mouret (1938–2008), Erich Mühe (1938–2005)

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