Abstract
Although Sir Ronald Belsey once called the year 1904 “annus mirabilis,” it is actually
the year 1913 that stands out as the true milestone in esophageal surgery. Within
a year, Torek performed the first transpleural resection for cancer in the thoracic
esophagus, Zaaijer successfully resected the distal esophagus through the transpleural
route, Heller performed the first myotomy for achalasia, and it was also the year
of Ach's pioneering transmediastinal esophagectomy. Previously, in 1912, after a series
of animal experiments by Beck and Jianu, Roepke successfully used the greater curvature
of the stomach as a presternal conduit. Other previous approaches included reconstruction
with jejunum (Roux—1907), colon (Kelling—1911), and skin tube (Bircher—1907). Several
technical advances made these operations possible, most of all were the giant leaps
in the perioperative medicine.
Keywords
esophageal surgery - historical article - thoracic surgery
