Laparoscopy - Minimally Invasive Surgery: Case Histories of Transformational Advances

Abstract

We describe how operations through laparoscopes – tubular instruments inserted into abdominal cavities – revolutionized gynecological and other surgeries inside the abdomen, such as gall bladder removal. Specifically, we chronicle the 1) foundational contributions of gynecologists in France and Germany in the 1960s; 2) the development of female sterilization and infertility treatments (that used laparoscopes) in Britain in the 1970s; 3) the transformation of gall bladder removal surgery in the US in the late 1980s, which set the stage for other “minimally invasive” surgical procedures and, 4) geographic dissemination of these procedures.