Laparoscopy in the diagnosis and treatment of female infertility

Abstract

Phillip Bozzini is credited with the first description of endoscopy in 1805, as he attempted to view the urethral mucosa with a simple tube and candlelight. Pantaleoni used a cystoscope to identify uterine polyps in 1869, thus accomplishing the first hysteroscopy. Jacobaeus of Sweden performed the first laparoscopy in 1910, when he placed a Neitze cystoscope and used a candle to illuminate a hollow tube placed into the peritoneal cavity. Eventually, Semm of Germany reported advanced operative laparoscopic procedures, such as salpingectomy, myomectomy, oophorectomy, ovarian cystectomy, and salpingostomy, in the 1970s. These pioneers of endoscopic surgery and many others have forged the way for the rest of us who now routinely perform endoscopic surgery. This chapter is to review safe and effective techniques and principles of laparoscopic surgery. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010.