Erich Mühe

Erich Mühe was a German surgeon, born on 23 May 1938 and died on 20 November 2005, who is credited with performing the first laparoscopic cholecystectomy, the removal of a gallbladder through small incisions with a camera instrument. He finished medical school in 1966, completed his surgical training at the University of Erlangen in 1973 and in 1982 became head of surgery at a hospital in Böblingen. Inspired by the laparoscopy work of Kurt Semm, he designed his own instrument, the Galloscope, in 1984 and used it for the first operation of this kind on 12 September 1985. He presented his results in 1986 after 94 successful operations, but colleagues disliked the method, and he faced a manslaughter charge after a patient died in 1987, from which he was cleared in 1990. The German Society of Surgery gave him its Anniversary Award in 1992, and the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons recognised him as the first in 1999. French surgeons Philippe Mouret and François Dubois also performed early operations of the kind.