Kurt Semm, Laparoscopy Pioneer, Dies at 76

Kurt Semm, a gynecologist and engineer who developed the first instruments and procedures for performing minimally invasive surgery called laparoscopy, died July 16 at his home in Tucson, Arizona (USA), of complications caused by a form of Parkinson's disease.

Kurt Karl Stephan Semm was born in Munich, Germany, where he later kept a home. In 1951, he received a medical degree from the School of Medicine at Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich. A specialist in obstetrics and gynecology, he became the chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Kiel (Germany). Dr. Semm began to work on his ideas for less-invasive surgery as early as the 1960s. He was aided in his work by his father and a brother, owners of a medical instrument company called WISAP GmbH (Munich, Germany).

Among Dr. Semm's early achievements were developing instruments for the manipulation of the uterus without the need for a large incision in the abdominal wall, and developing the loop-ligature procedure for stopping heavy uterine bleeding. At medical meetings, his innovations were often found shocking or unethical by many attending doctors. Still, he continued to develop new instruments and applications, including laparoscopic removal of the gallbladder and what is now known as the Semm hysterectomy. Colleagues estimate, in all, he developed or improved more than 1,000 laparoscopic instruments.


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