Pioneers in laparoscopic solid organ surgery

Excerpt

Himal’s [15] article failed to recognize the important contributions of pioneers in the field of laparoscopic adrenalectomy, pancreatectomy, hepatectomy, and splenectomy. First, in the field of laparoscopic adrenalectomy, Gagner et al. reported two cases of laparoscopic adrenalectomy (for pheochromocytoma and Cushing’s syndrome) in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1992 [5] without knowledge of Higashihara’s work. Simultaneously, Higashihara et al. [13] from Japan reported a case of laparoscopic adrenalectomy for an aldosterone-producing tumor of the left gland in a 47-year-old patient. Their article was published in Japanese and was not translated to English until 1993, when the team reported three cases of the same disease (including the 1992 case) [14]. Gagner et al. described a lateral decubitus technique, whereas Higashihara et al. described a steel plate traction technique. The lateral decubitus technique as described by Gagner et al. has been the most popular technique for the past decade. Two landmark presentations were made at the American Association of Endocrine Surgery [6] and the American Surgical Association [7] that gave a stamp of approval for this technique. The work of a pioneer is not only to describe the technique but also to convince the world surgical community that these changes are significant. Furthermore, the second most used technique was not discussed in the article. In 1995 Mercan et al. [17] reported cases of endoscopic retroperitoneal adrenalectomies, including three patients with bilateral disease (Cushing’s disease). …