A history of endoscopic surgery

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy has become the procedure of choice for the treatment of symptomatic gallbladder disease. This had led to a flurry of activity and a widespread interest in laparoscopic and thoracoscopic procedures. Both surgical endoscopy and gallbladder surgery had their beginnings in the 1800s. "Modern" surgical endoscopes were first developed in the early 1800s, and cholecystotomy was first performed in Indianapolis, Indiana by Dr. John S. Bobbs. A brief history of endoscopes, endoscopic surgery, and of the first gallbladder operation in the world follows.