The ISGE News October 2003 Volume 10 Issue 2

	October 2003 Volume 10 Issue 2 Editor: Togas Tulandi, MD Editorial Board: Alan Alperstein, Michelle Nisolle, Robert O’Shea, Kazuo Satoh
Inside this Issue: Editor's Corner President's Message Obituary: Kurt Karl Stephan Semm Report of the Federation Steering Committee Letter to the Editor Position Paper for the Boards of AAGL and ISGE

Underreporting complications
In minimally invasive surgery (MIS), complications can occur due to faulty instruments, surgical technique, or inadequate patient election. Surgeons who routinely perform MIS rarely encounter complications. Conversely, practicing gynecologists at large often find that certain procedures or techniques are not as safe as previously reported in the literature by the "experts." One of the reasons is that complications tend to be underreported.

As expected, equipment companies tend to be biased and would downplay complications related to their product. For example, a short time ago an instrument company approached me. Upon questioning, the risk of bowel perforation due the device was very briefly mentioned. It was not revealed that in the past year only there have been at least 4 bowel injuries related to this device in Eastern Canada. Undoubtedly, this is a high rate of device-related injury.

Recently, Milad and Sokol (2003) reported that they were unable to find any morcellator-related injuries in the literature, but found 17 cases in the FDA database. Over the years I have progressed from using a manual morcelator, to a battery-operated one and then an electric morcelator without a single complication. However, during my visit to Asia a few years ago, I was informed that a patient died following an unrecognized morcelator-related bowel injury. Contrary to the above device-related complications, morcelator-related injuries are operator-dependent.

Complications are not always reported and I would encourage all of us to publish our experiences with complications. We have a responsibility to inform our patients and the medical community about the safety and risks of a procedure or device. Patient safety should be our priority. Medical companies and physicians have an obligation to publish their results, both positive and negative.

For this issue of ISGE NEWS, Lilo Mettler has written an obituary of Kurt Semm. Kurt is no longer with us, but his legends and his inventions stay.

In this issue, you can also read a position paper about the World Federation of Societies of Gynecologic Endoscopy, as well as a committee report prepared by Jack Sciarra.

I would like to start this message by remembering Professor Kurt Semm who recently passed away. He was certainly one of the pioneers in endoscopic surgery. For many years, he tried to convince gynecologists to use endoscopic techniques to perform different types of gynecologic operations. Initially, his views were met with scepticisms. Today, 25 years later, all these techniques have become routine practices among gynecologists of the third millennium. In our Cancun meeting this year, he became an honorary member of the ISGE. I would like everyone to remember him and cherish his memory.

The Society is doing well. Among our sponsors, Storz has agreed to become our platinum sponsor. Increasing membership is one of the goals of the Society. However, in order to attract new members, we have to provide high quality scientific activities. It is for this reason that the Vice-President and Chairman of the Scientific Committee, Harry Reich is planning two excellent meetings with outstanding speakers from Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and South Africa. In our meeting in April 2004, endoscopic surgery will be demonstrated and discussed. Another meeting in South Africa in September 2004 will be devoted to endometriosis.

Simone Wamsteker recently informed me as the president of ISGE that last August Kees Wamsteker was ill and he is now recovering
slowly. On behalf of all ISGE members, I wish him a speedy recovery.

Sincerely yours,