A brief historical review of Ukrainian laparoscopic surgery (a dedication to the 25th anniversary of laparoscopic surgery in Lviv region)

Abstract

The end of the twentieth century was marked in the history of medicine by the birth and rapid development of endoscopic surgery. However, the path to this technological explosion lasted for over two millennia - from the first rectal endoscope constructed by Hippocrates to the first operation using videoendoscopic equipment, which was successfully conducted by P. Mouret in 1987. Introducing the doctors' inventions into practice was not always easy, but dozens and hundreds of surgeon innovators gradually improved the equipment and techniques for endoscopic interventions. Since 1992, endoscopic surgery has been developing in Ukraine. The first laparoscopic operations conducted in Lviv by I.V. Lukavetsky and O.I, Mohylyak with the help of the doctors from Belgium served as a powerful impetus for the introduction of an endoscopic technique in the treatment of many surgical diseases in Ukraine. Today, in nearly every hospital in Lviv, laparoscopic equipment is being employed in surgeries on various organs of the abdominal and chest cavities. Surgeons of the Lviv region have beem the first in Ukraine to perform many laparoscopic interventions, and now fruitfully continue to work on improving endoscopic methods of treatment.

Keywords

• history of endoscopy, laparoscopy