STRASBOURG, France, Sept. 17 -- Transvaginal cholecystectomy
heralds the next stage in surgical evolution, offering the
potential for pain-free surgery and "invisible mending,"
surgeons here proclaimed after doing their first procedure.
Using standard endoscopic instruments, a surgical team gained
access to and removed the patient's gallbladder through a
colpotomy, Jacques Marescaux, M.D., of Louis Pasteur University,
and colleagues reported in the September issue of Archives of
Surgery. The patient had an uneventful postoperative course,
reported no pain, and was discharged on the second postoperative
day, the surgeons said. The transvaginal cholecystectomy
represents the first clinical endeavor using natural orifice
transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES). "Will NOTES generate a
major paradigm shift in surgical care?" the authors asked. "We
know that laparoscopic surgery was just the beginning of the
minimally invasive evolution of surgery." "We have come to an
even more critical juncture in the history of