Endoscopic Papillectomy in the Treatment of Adenomas of the Papilla of Vater: Excision Is Exclusively for Experienced Experts

Excerpt

In November 1968, Hiromi Shinya, a Japanese endoscopist and pioneer in fiberoptic colonoscopy practicing in New York, and a Japanese engineer, Hiroshi Ishikawa, working for a well-known endoscope manufacturer, developed a technique to endoscopically resect polyps in the colon. They baptized it “Shinya’s electro cauterizer”. The concept of snaring polyps was born. They made drawings of this primitive snare (actually very similar to the snare we currently use) and sent the whole project to Tokyo. A few months later, in January 1969, the company replied: “this whole idea is very dangerous: cancelled !”. Fifty years later, the GI community acknowledges that endoscopic polypectomy not only has revolutionized the management of early neoplasia in the colon, modifying the natural history of colon cancer, but is applied throughout the gastrointestinal tract, from esophagus to colon. …