Editorial

Historical notes needed in laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Bárbaro Agustín Armas Pérez^{1  *} 

¹Hospital Universitario Amalia Simoni, Camagüey, Cuba.

The purpose of this editorial is based on the fact that the reading of the historical account on laparoscopic cholecystectomy in Cuba and on completion of residency in surgery and related publications, may or may not satisfy the reader in relation to who were the pioneers of the proceed in the country and not because they were surgeons or not, but because the authors can demonstrate misinformation. In primary records and national bibliography these references appear and if not, inquire until they are found. As a Cuban surgeon I have kept up to date with this story from the beginning until today, I have talked with some specialists of experience in this field of medicine, as well as reviewed documents and photos. The first laparoscopic cholecystectomy was performed in Cuba 28 years ago; we recognize the achievement and its protagonists.

The first worldwide cholecystectomy was performed by Carl Johann August Langenbuch on July 15^th, 1882 at the Lazarus-Krankenhaus hospital in Berlin, since then it is performed by the open method, now also by laparoscopy. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy was performed for the first time in pigs by the German surgeon Frimberger E, in 1978 and reported in 1987, ¹ Erich Mühe, on September 12^th, 1985 in Germany, was the first one who performed laparoscopic cholecystectomy in humans. On March 17^th, 1987 Philippe Mouret in Lyon France was the pioneer in practicing a laparoscopic cholecystectomy but this time video assisted (VA), then, in 1986 the television camera was added to the laparoscope and spread as a minimally invasive method. ^1,2,3

It is of main interest to know that the procedure and proposal correspond to the South American surgeon Aldo Sergio Kleiman from Concepción Uruguay, who without knowing anything about Mühe, had already been doing this for a long time ago in 15 sheep with only two conversions and, that was his postgraduate thesis in the Universidad Argentina de la Plata presented on October 15^th, 1985 and again on September 28^th, 1987; he presented it to the Argentine Congress of Surgery on October 16^th, 1986 and published in 1987 in the Argentine Journal of Surgery; but dismissed by his colleagues who refuted: "It is impossible to remove the gallbladder through a tube." In 1985 Filippi et al., According to an aforementioned report, ¹ also performed the procedure on a dog. John Barry McKernan with gynecologist William B Saye in Marietta, Georgia performed the first laparoscopic cholecystectomy in North America on June 22^th, 1988, it is inferred they were unaware of European work. ^1,2,3

In Cuba, on February 14^th,1991 the gastroenterologists (GE) Jorge Luis García Tamarit and Alfredo Gabriel Felipe Rodríguez performed the first laparoscopic cholecystectomy and occurred precisely at Camilo Cienfuegos Hospital in Sancti Spíritus, where they are both native, it was a 17-year-old young woman, white skin, Carmen Santos Alonso with symptomatic vesicular lithiasis, and a single channel laparoscope was used, although they filmed images connecting the television press camera to the viewfinder. Before they tried it on an older patient at the Miguel Enriquez Hospital in Havana, together with the surgeons Zamora Almeida and by then the resident Zamora Santana, but it was converted by finding dilatation and lithiasis within the cystic duct. They did not have the VA technique at that time; it is also important to say that they had done that in seven pigs during practical days in the Census, there they found the necessary support together with anesthetist and veterinarians. They knew about the certain hemostatic power in the pig that tends to stop the bleeding; the first attempt was unsuccessful and incorporated surgeon Pedro Álvarez. Part of the instruments used was built by Alfredo Gabriel and the electro-medical technician José R Valdés. ^1,2,4,5

José Díaz Calderin et al., on October 18^th, 1991, performed laparoscopic cholecystectomy for the first time, but this time VA at the Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital. That same year on December 1991 and in the Cimeq Hospital it was practiced by Roberto Millán Sandoval et al., As well as by GE Julián Ruiz Torres at the Cira García Hospital in 1993. In Camagüey and Santiago de Cuba it starts on July 1996; in Cienfuegos on August 10^th, 1997; in Manzanillo Granma it was in 1999; in the year 2000 in Matanzas and so on, in the rest of the provinces of the country. ^1,2,5

In Latin America, Leopoldo Gutiérrez Rodríguez in Mexico did that on June 29^th,1990, and at the end of that year he taught practical theoretical course in Havana on laparoscopic cholecystectomy in pigs and humans; that same year in Sao Paulo Brazil it was done by Thomas Szego; in Chile it was on August 1990 by Sepúlveda and Lizana; in Venezuela Luis Arturo Ayala and Eduardo Souchón simultaneously also in 1990. In Peru Mario del Castillo and Manuel Rodríguez in 1990. In Colombia it was done in 1991 by Cuellar C and also in Argentina and Ecuador. In Costa Rica it was carried out in mid-1996. It is clear that Cuba was a pioneer of this proceeding in America and even worldwide when it was achieved in early 1991. ^1,3,6

REFERENCIAS BIBLIOGRÁFICAS

1.  García Ruíz A, Gutiérrez Rodríguez L, Cueto García J. Evolución histórica de la cirugía laparoscópica. Cirugía Endoscópica [Internet]. 2016 [citado 2018 dic 20];17(2):93-106. Disponible en: Disponible en: https://www.medigraphic.com/pdfs/endosco/ce-2016/ce162i.pdf 1.

2.  Pérez Martínez CJ. Historia de la cirugía laparoscópica: particularidades de su introducción y desarrollo en Cuba. Univ Med [Internet]. 2014 [citado 2018 dic 20];55(2):200-10. Disponible en: Disponible en: https://revistas.javeriana.edu.co/index.php/vnimedica/article/view/16300/13088 2.

3.  Roque González R, Anido Escobar V, Remigio Montero AC. Vinculación ciencia, innovación y sociedad: experiencia del Centro Nacional de Cirugía de Mínimo Acceso. Rev Haban Cienc Méd [Internet]. 2016 [citado 2018 Ago 14];15(4):651-9. Disponible en: Disponible en: http://scielo.sld.cu/pdf/rhcm/v15n4/rhcm16416.pdf 3.

4.  Reguero Muñoz JL, González Moya I, Camacho Álvarez N. Colecistectomía laparoscópica. Informe de 1 100 pacientes operados. Arch méd Camagüey [Internet]. 1999 [citado 2018 jun 12];3(2). Disponible en: Disponible en: http://scielo.sld.cu/pdf/amc/v3n2/amc030299.pdf 4.

5.  Castro Pérez R. La cirugía laparoscópica en la cirugía general: retos actuales y perspectivas de desarrollo. Rev cuba cir [Internet]. 2010 [citado 2018 jun 12];49(4):94-108. Disponible en: Disponible en: http://scielo.sld.cu/pdf/cir/v49n4/cir13410.pdf 5.

6.  Guevara O. De la colecistectomía laparoscópica a la hepatectomía laparoscópica: 30 años de evolución quirúrgica en beneficio del paciente. Conferencia honorífica “Rafael Casas Morales, 2016”. Rev Colomb Cir [Internet]. 2017 [citado 2018 jun 12];32:12-21. Disponible en: Disponible en: http://www.scielo.org.co/pdf/rcci/v32n1/v32n1a2.pdf 6.

Received: March 01, 2019; Accepted: May 24, 2019

^*Autor para la correspondencia. Correo electrónico: [e-mail]

Los autores declaran no tener conflicto de interés en esta investigación.