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‘Crushing the stone’: a brief history of lithotripsy, the first minimally invasive surgery
Author(s) -
Herr Harry W.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
bju international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.773
H-Index - 148
eISSN - 1464-410X
pISSN - 1464-4096
DOI - 10.1111/j.1464-410x.2008.07639.x
Subject(s) - lithotomy position , lithotripsy , bladder stones , ingenuity , medicine , surgery , cystoscope , cystoscopy , urinary system , anatomy , alternative medicine , neoclassical economics , pathology , economics
OBJECTIVE To trace the history of lithotripsy, marking the start of minimally invasive surgery. METHODS Primary and secondary sources describing the development of lithotripsy as a method to treat common bladder stones were reviewed. RESULTS Lithotripsy emerged in the early 19th century as an alternative to the morbid and frequently fatal perineal lithotomy practised for thousands of years to relieve sufferers of bladder stones. Lithotripsy developed in stages, first by learning how to pass a straight hollow sound, then drilling stones to break them up, later by crushing them, followed by means to evacuate the fragments, finally by integrating the lithotrite with the cystoscope, permitting surgery under direct vision. CONCLUSIONS Lithotripsy evolved as the first minimally invasive surgical procedure owing to the ingenuity and skill of our urological forebears.