future of minimally invasive surgery in veterinary medicine and who are pushing forward the boundaries of what the field will offer patients and owners in the future. Second, we asked the many clinicians and practitioners in far flung corners of the world, who are practicing minimally invasive techniques to bring a truly global perspective to this book. Great breakthroughs in veterinary surgical care are happening in Chile and Japan, in the Netherlands and in Canada and in countless other parts of the globe. This book has contributions from veterinarians all over the world, many of whom are brought together by their common interest and their membership of the Veterinary Endoscopy Society, as well as other societies with an interest in the field. In many countries around the world, local societies dedicated to the improvement of veterinary minimally invasive surgery have now sprung up that will further fuel investigation in the future, and this represents an exciting time to be involved in this subspecialty. On a more personal note, the editors have been hugely gratified by the community that has arisen based on a shared passion to develop minimally invasive surgical interventions for our companion animal species. This has led to the development of many wonderful friendships and many fruitful collaborative relationships that make professional engagement in the field so much more enjoyable.
The chapters in the second edition of this book have been comprehensively updated. The early chapters describe the principals of skills acquisition, minimally invasive suturing, and the latest information on medical technologies and devices used in laparoscopy and thoracoscopy. Subsequent chapters describing anesthetic principals and surgical techniques have been updated with the latest data on the topic, results of recently published research, and lots of tips and tricks from the preeminent experts in the field from around the world. New chapters have also been added covering thoracoscopic anatomy and diagnostic thoracoscopy, laparoscopic hiatal hernia repair, the use of exoscopy in small animal surgery, and natural orifice translumenal surgery. Other chapters have been expanded to describe newly published techniques such as laparoscopic liver resection, retroperitoneal adrenalectomy, and intraoperative cholangiography and laparoscopic common bile duct exploration.
We sincerely hope that veterinary students, interns, and residents in training, veterinary practitioners, and specialist clinicians will find this textbook equally useful, be it as an interesting introduction to the field for those at the start of their learning curves or, perhaps, as a trusted reference for those already incorporating minimally invasive surgery into their clinical practice. It was a great pleasure to assemble such an incredible group of skilled and passionate colleagues to collaborate on this project, and we look forward to seeing the field of minimally invasive surgery go from strength to strength throughout the world in future years.
Boel A. Fransson, DVM, PhD, DACVS
Professor of Small Animal SurgeryWashington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
Philipp D. Mayhew BVM&S, MRCVS, DACVS
Professor of Small Animal SurgeryUniversity of California‐Davis, Davis, CA, USA
Acknowledgment
We are indebted to our medical illustrator Chrisoula Toupadakis Skouritakis whose outstanding work was always performed with great patience even when the requests for revisions seemed endless. We also would like to extend a special word of gratitude to the companies that play a huge role in driving forward the development of the minimally invasive surgery in veterinary medicine through innovation and education. In particular, Karl Storz Endoscopy and Medtronic Inc. have been ever present supporters of both the Veterinary Endoscopy Society and other hands‐on educational offerings in the field.
Finally, we want to express our gratitude to the ACVS Foundation, who in collaboration with Wiley‐Blackwell made production of this book possible.
About the Companion Website
The companion website for this book is at
www.wiley.com/go/fransson/thoracoscopy
The website contains –
Video Clips (indicated by an “eye” icon in the margin)
History of Small Animal Laparoscopy and Thoracoscopy
Veterinary minimally invasive surgery (MIS) as a surgical technique is unique, as it had its origin in human application. Other biomedical techniques were traditionally developed in animal models and later applied to human patients. Therefore, the history of small animal laparoscopy has to start with the overall history of laparoscopy. Parallel with the developments in laparoscopy were work in the chest cavity, but as much of the development were driven by urologists and gynecologists, the text below will often use the term laparoscopy interchangeably with MIS.
Endoscopy in the Nineteenth Century
A variety of opinions exist on who should be credited the invention of endoscopy. Some suggest to go back to Hippocrates (460–377 BCE), who was performing rectal examinations with a speculum [1, 2].
More consistently, the German physician Philipp Bozzini (1773–1809) has received credit for clinical use of his invention the “Lichtleiter,” or “the light conductor,” a primitive endoscope for inspection of ears, mouth, nasal cavity, urethra, rectum, bladder, and cervix. The Bozzini family came from a well‐to‐do Italian family, but they had to leave Italy for Germany due to a lost duel by the father. Bozzini dedicated the last five years of his life, which was cut short by contracting typhus from his patients, to development of his instrument; a vase‐shaped, leather covered tin lantern using a wax candle light source (Figure 1) [3]. Though the Austrian contemporary health authorities were satisfied with the instrument, a second opinion by the Wien medical school, likely negatively influenced by the church, concluded that such an instrument should not be used.
In the latter nineteenth century, the interest was again renewed into using endoscopy. A French urologist, Antoine Jean Desormeaux (1815–1882), modified Bozzini's lichtleiter such that a mirror would reflect light from a kerosene lamp through a long metal channel, referring to his instrument as an “endoscope.” Desormeaux is considered a leader in early endoscopy development and perhaps the first to successfully employ the new technology for diagnostic and therapeutic use in clinical practice. Desormeaux's endoscope was certainly not without its flaws – the required positioning of the device entailed risks of burning the face of the physician or the thighs of the patient. Also, as catheter systems were not yet in use, urine would often “extinguish the flame, ruining the examination” [2].
1930s: The Glory Days
The twentieth century saw rapid technology development, which led to more widespread promotion of endoscopy. Paralleled with this development was the improved safety and possibilities of surgical procedures provided by antibiotics, better anesthesia, and blood transfusions. By the 1930s, endo‐urologists had embraced the endoscopy technology with giddy enthusiasm, but surgical application was still lagging behind. Inadequate optics has been stated as one of the major reasons for this stall in progress.
