Overview of the ISGE Congress of Gynecological Endoscopy and Innovative Surgery

Audio/Video Link  *requires RealPlayer - free download

Hugo Verhoeven, MD: "Good morning, my name is Hugo Verhoeven and I'm from the Center for Reproductive Medicine in Dusseldorf, Germany. I'm on the Editorial Board for OBGYN.net, and I'm reporting from the 30th meeting of the AAGL in San Francisco, California. I'm sitting here with Professor Rudy de Wilde from Oldemburg in Germany and he is the Secretary General of the forthcoming meeting of the International Society of Gynecological Endoscopy in Berlin. Professor de Wilde is also a very good friend of mine; we've known each other for a long time. He is one of the leading experts in endoscopic surgery in Germany but that's not what we are going to talk about now. Rudy, we're going to talk about the meeting of the International Society of Gynecological Endoscopy, you called it a meeting on minimal invasive surgery so tell me what is planned for this very important meeting?"

Rudy deWilde, MD: "Thank you very much, Hugo, for these nice words. The meeting we're discussing right now will take place in Berlin from April 25th-28th of next year in 2002. As Dr. Verhoeven said, it's a meeting on minimal invasive surgery. It is not only the annual meeting of the International Society of Gynecological Endoscopy, it is also the annual meeting of the European Society of Gynecological Endoscopy and the German Society of Gynecological Endoscopy. These three societies will hold their annual meeting at the same place at the same time; therefore, we have the possibility to have a very, very big meeting for Europe. We have more than 400 invited speakers and there are people coming from more than 60 countries."

Hugo Verhoeven, MD: "It's always interesting to note for our listeners and readers, the International Society for Gynecological Endoscopy isn't an old society, it's the 11th meeting so this is quite a young society. What was the idea behind that society?"

Rudy deWilde, MD: "The idea was to promote minimal invasive surgery in gynecology but not only in a few countries, the idea was to promote it all over the world, and nearly every country has taken part in this society during the last ten years. It's grown into a big society with the normal annual congresses; and there are nearly 1,000 experts out of more than 50 countries taking part in this Congress. There are many patients looking forward to this Congress because there are many new points coming out of this Congress and many new therapeutic approaches."

Hugo Verhoeven, MD: "You already stated there's something coming out that's very important, what will be the main topics in this meeting?"

Rudy deWilde, MD: "There are always some important topics coming back every time, namely the topic - do we have to extirpate the womb of the woman when there are problems with bleeding or with a myoma or are there possibilities to keep the woman in place and to take the myoma out or take the cause for the bleeding out. Other topics are, for example, infertility, endometriosis, oncology, and urinary incontinence will certainly be brought up."

Hugo Verhoeven, MD: "So the complete field of minimal invasive surgery. Berlin is not the worst spot to go to; in the last five years quite a lot has changed in Germany so it's not only from the medical view that it's interesting to come to see us in Germany but also people should see what happened in the last ten years and what changed since communism disappeared. OBGYN.net will make it possible for our readers and listeners to register online so that I think is important. Do you have any requirements or any advice for the readers?"

Rudy deWilde, MD: "No, I should say just come to Berlin, we'll be happy to see you there." 

Hugo Verhoeven, MD: "Thank you very much and see you in Berlin."

Rudy deWilde, MD: "You're welcome."