A member of SAGES will perform the first ever laparoscopic surgery in Afghanistan. Surgery to be broadcast live from SAGES Exhibit Hall Friday, April 28, 2006, 10:30 am CST.

Dallas, TX, April 27, 2006 – The Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) takes minimal access surgery global at the 2006 Surgical Spring Week Meeting to be held at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas Texas, April 26-29, 2006.

The first laparoscopic operation ever performed in Afghanistan will be take place Friday, April 28, 2006. The surgery will be performed by a SAGES member and will be broadcast live into the SAGES meeting exhibit hall, allowing SAGES meeting participants to view this historic operation.

SAGES member, Dr. Ross Segan is currently deployed with the 14th Combat Support Hospital. He will perform a laparoscopic cholecystectomy (minimally invasive gall bladder removal) on a U.S. Soldier, who normally would have been flown to Germany for this relatively common procedure.

A laparoscopic cholecystectomy (often called lap choly) uses small incisions to remove the gallbladder. It is one of the most common procedures performed on women and is performed in the United States more than 700,000 times annually. Removing the gallbladder laparoscopically reduces post-operative pain and decreases the recovery time.

Dr. Adrian E. Park, SAGES member and Head of General Surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore will moderate the broadcast live from the SAGES exhibit hall.

“This historic event is important because it paves the way for our U.S. troops and coalition forces serving in Afghanistan to have access to advanced, minimally invasive surgical techniques that will enable them to recover much faster,” says Dr. Park. “Dr. Segan has worked hard to bring this capability to the troops serving in Afghanistan and this will certainly be a significant milestone.”

Meeting attendees will be allowed to ask questions of Dr. Segan live. Dr. Park will take questions from the press after the operation. Television crews will be able to connect directly with the live feed.

The 2006 SAGES Annual Meeting will be held at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas, April 26-29, 2006 and will include multiple educational components that will advance minimally invasive surgery world wide. For more information about the SAGES Annual meeting please visit the SAGES web site www.sages.org.

More than two decades ago a group of pioneering surgeons formed a new surgical society to address the need for education, guidelines, and research in endoscopy. They embraced emerging technology and new techniques on behalf of their patients. That group of 50 surgeons known as SAGES held their first meeting in Williamsburg in 1986 with 110 attendees and 11 exhibitors. SAGES now boasts over 5,000 members. The organization hosted more than 1,800 surgeon registrants at its last meeting. For more information, please visit www.sages.org.

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