Origin of laparoscopy: coincidence or surgical interdisciplinary thought?

Abstract

The history of laparoscopy illustrates the interaction between the many areas of medicine and technology; in fact, the development of that technique is a cumulative effort of internists, gynecologists, and surgeons. At the beginning of our century, however, neither group was particularly open to the idea of scholarly exchange. In this respect, an early pioneer of laparoscopy, Georg Kelling (1866-1945) of Dresden and the story surrounding the invention of the laparoscopy are interesting exceptions. Although Kelling regarded himself a surgeon, he devoted a great deal of energy to the development of "nonsurgical" methods of treatment. He spent a great part of his life determining stomach capacity, constructing a semiflexible tube endoscope (straightened after the insertion), and attempting to alleviate gastrointestinal bleeding by means of high-pressure pneumoperitoneum (lufttamponade). To observe the effects of insufflation on abdominal organs, Kelling introduced a cystoscope into the abdominal cavity. In fact, the invention of "celioscopy" or laparoscopy (1901) can be called a synthesis of Kelling's work with insufflation and his fascination with endoscopy.