Development of Laparoscopic Surgery

Laparoscopic surgery, also called minimally invasive or keyhole surgery, is performed in the abdomen or pelvis through small incisions typically half an inch to an inch and a half long, using a laparoscope, a fiber optic camera system, to view the operative field rather than opening the body with a large incision. German surgeon Georg Kelling performed the first laparoscopic procedure on dogs in 1901, and Swedish physician Hans Christian Jacobaeus carried out the first human laparoscopy in 1910. The technique remained a minor diagnostic tool for decades until computer chip television cameras let surgeons view a magnified operative field on a monitor while keeping both hands free to operate, and the first video-assisted laparoscopic cholecystectomy in 1987 marked the technique's breakthrough into widespread surgical use well beyond its origins in gynecology.