Camran Nezhat, MD - Endometriosis Expert
Doctor Camran Nezhat is the world's best endometriosis surgeon
A few words from James Carter M.D. Ph.D.
The Great Scalpel-Scope Showdown
The Original Catalyzing Moment
After witnessing his own mother suffer alone and misunderstood from what was most likely undiagnosed endometriosis, a severe case that left her bedridden and passing out from pain, Dr. Camran Nezhat knew first-hand just how devastating this dreadful disease can be. This was the original catalyst behind Dr. Nezhat's decision to dedicate his life to helping women with endometriosis and other disabling disorders. From the outset, his life transformed into a singular and all-consuming obsession to end endometriosis' crushing reign over so many lives. Ultimately, this journey led him to become the original inventor and pioneer behind videoendoscopy, sometimes referred to as Band-Aid, keyhole surgery, or minimally invasive surgery. Today Dr. Nezhat's invention of videoendoscopy is cited as the revolutionary change that overturned centuries of surgical conventions that were sometimes causing more harm than the patient's original illness.
Surgical Firsts
With his new videoendoscopic method leading the way, Dr. Nezhat became the first to perform the most complex procedures in a minimally invasive manner, surgeries once considered impossible to perform laparoscopically. In fact, Dr. Nezhat was the first in the world to treat severe, stage IV, multi-organ endometriosis, by completely excising deeply infiltrating disease that had invaded the ureter, bladder, bowel, liver, and diaphragm, and restoring normal anatomy through reconstructive surgery.
As a result of these groundbreaking innovations, millions of women the world over no longer have to face a life imprisoned in a state of unbearable pain or infertility, where removal of the uterus and ovaries were once the only choices offered, where debilitating, multiple laparotomies were once so normalized that the excruciating pain and severe complications they caused were viewed as acceptable outcomes. By performing surgeries in the least traumatic and most organ-sparing manner possible, today patients can regain their quality of life a few days after surgery instead of a few months later.
The Era of Controversy: The Great Scalpel-Scope Showdown
When Dr. Nezhat's unprecedented work was finally accepted for publication in 1986 (having been rejected for several years), many of his colleagues found it impossible to believe that anyone could safely perform such complex surgeries through tiny port holes. Indeed, far from being a welcomed change, this new surgical approach was initially considered not only a dangerous deviation from accepted norms, but was called "bizarre" and "barbaric" even just a few years ago. Because Dr.
Nezhat's new surgical philosophy went against centuries of established norms, ultimately he became the target of immense criticism from those within mainstream medicine. Given such a slew of suspicions still marring the minimally invasive landscape even from just a few years ago, what a curious irony it is that, today, those same videolaparoscopic procedures pioneered by Dr. Nezhat more than 3 decades ago are now recognized as the ones that ushered in the era of modern-day, minimally invasive surgery, the change that has led Dr. Nezhat's colleagues to now refer to him as the father of modern
operative laparoscopy.
In the final analysis, by introducing a medical breakthrough that so drastically reduced surgical morbidity and mortality on such a global scale, Dr. Nezhat's work has indirectly saved countless lives and profoundly improved millions of others. In fact, his invention is one of the few true advances in medicine that our world has witnessed for generations. Authorities such as the New England Journal of Medicine now recognize the advent of videoendoscopy as the crucial catalyst responsible for inaugurating minimally invasive surgery as a viable surgical discipline, a change that is said to have revolutionized the practice of surgery, just as antibiotics and anesthesia have changed the practice of medicine.
Medical Care of Uncompromised Excellence
While Dr. Nezhat's uncanny surgical ability is considered the stuff of legends, equally fabled is his commitment to providing medical care of uncompromised excellence, the kind of service that lets you know for sure that someone actually cares and is actually listening. And, with his early childhood exposure to both Eastern and Western medical traditions, Dr. Nezhat offers a truly unique approach to healing; a synthesis of holistic principals with cutting-edge minimally invasive techniques and technologies. As for surgical experience, to our knowledge no other living surgeon has performed as many laparoscopic surgeries for the treatment of endometriosis and other gynecological disorders.
What Dr. Nezhat's colleagues are saying
The acclaimed general surgeon Dr. William Kelley observed that "The single most important technological advancement for complex laparoscopic surgery would be the advent of video laparoscopy, an innovation Kelley acknowledged had been introduced by Dr. Nezhat.
The internationally renowned gynecological surgeon Dr. Yana Tadir noted that "If there was a single factor that contributed to this increased interest in laparoscopic surgery, it was undoubtedly the incorporation of video equipment as an integral part of the standard endoscopic set which was pioneered and promulgated by Dr. Camran Nezhat.
Dr. Mary Lake Polan, Stanford's highly regarded former chair of the department of OB/GYN, observed that "Nezhat's contribution was and is almost unique. He has developed such facility with the technique in the operating room that he serves as a mentor for other physicians, challenging us to learn the new technique by showing us not only the art of the possible, but the tremendous advantage minimal-access surgery offers. When you watch him operate, you have to cast off the excuse, 'This procedure can't be done using video laparoscopy.
Additional Background
Camran Nezhat, MD, FACS, FACOG, is the internationally renowned laparoscopic surgeon, scientist, and innovator at Stanford University Medical Center, in Palo Alto, California. Doctor Camran Nezhat is the inventor and pioneer of Minimally Invasive Surgery. Recruited by Linda Meier and Ken Bloom, Stanford's former Chair of the Board and CEO, respectively, Dr. Nezhat has been practicing medicine and surgery at Stanford since 1993, earning the rare distinction of being appointed two professorships, as Adjunct Clinical Professor of Surgery and Adjunct Clinical Professor of OB/GYN. Over the years, Dr. Nezhat's peers at Stanford have elected him to serve in many roles, including as Deputy Chief of the Department of OB/GYN for both the 1999-2001 and 2008-2010 terms. Stanford colleagues have also sought his expertise for several committees, including the Care Improvement Committee, and the Technology, SHC Medical Executive, Quality Assurance, and Operating Room committees. By sharing his knowledge in laparoscopic surgery with different disciplines of surgery (such as general,
gastrointestinal, urology, cardiothoracic, neurosurgery, oncology, etc), Stanford has transformed into a center now recognized as one of the leading laparoscopic surgery institutions in the country.
Dr. Nezhat is also Clinical Professor of OB/GYN at the University of California in San Francisco, California, and Director of his own private practice at the Center for Special Minimally Invasive and Robotic Surgery in Palo Alto, California. For his outstanding contributions as the pioneer and leading practitioner in the field of laparoscopic surgery, specializing in laparoscopic treatment of severe endometriosis involving multiple organs, management of infertility, myomas of the uterus, and other pelvic diseases, Dr. Nezhat has received numerous awards from the most prestigious medical societies - such as the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, American College of Surgeons, American Society of Reproductive
Medicine, and Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons - all of whom have commended his surgical skill, pioneering surgical techniques, research, and educational activities. (Please see the most recent awards and videos). As a result of his pioneering work and inimitable expertise, thousands of surgeons from all over the world have traveled to attend his courses and lectures.
Advocacy for early detection of endometriosis
With a particular interest in endometriosis, Dr. Nezhat is an especially vocal advocate of its early detection and treatment. Early detection is crucial, as endometriosis can worsen over time and spread
throughout the body, leading to the extreme condition of extragenital endometriosis, in which the disease invades other vital organs, such as the lungs, fallopian tubes, and ureter. Such cases may result in significant internal damage, rendering the anatomy so delicate and often so severely distorted with adhesions that few surgeons in the world are experienced enough to treat patients with this advanced stage of the disease. It was not long ago, in fact, that such severe cases were considered operable only through the large incision of a laparotomy. Dr. Nezhat was not only the forerunner to successfully treat these difficult conditions laparoscopically, he was also the pioneer who insisted that it was possible. Dr. Nezhat also has extensive experience in hysteroscopic surgery and routinely performs hysteroscopic surgical procedures for abnormalities of the uterus, such as septate uterus, uterine myomas, and endometrial ablation for treating heavy menstrual bleeding.
Publications
With an abiding interest in the academic side of medicine, Dr. Nezhat has also co-authored six text-books and over 500 book chapters, articles, abstracts, and editorials. His research interests include understanding infertility and its relation to endometriosis, uterine myomas, and congenital abnormalities of the uterus.
Other leadership roles
It's been especially meaningful to Dr. Nezhat to have earned the esteem of his fellow colleagues, who have nominated him to serve as reviewer for several of his discipline's most respected academic journals. Based on the votes of his peers, he was also among only a hand-full in the nation chosen to direct a fellowship program in advanced operative videolaparoscopy for training future laparoscopic surgeons, a program sponsored jointly by the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists and the Society of Reproductive surgeons. As well, for the 2004 term year, Dr Nezhat's colleagues elected him
President of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons (SLS), the largest multi-disciplinary endoscopy society in the world. Over the years he has also served as a delegate for the constitution and bylaws reference committees for the American Medical Association.
Determined to find a cure
After years of witnessing his mother and so many other women suffering the often devastating effects of endometriosis, Dr. Nezhat is determined to help find a cure. To this end, he has launched a charity foundation at Stanford to provide funding for research and educational outreach to help find a cure for debilitating disorders that affect millions of women.
Camran Nezhat, MD, FACOG, FACS is a laparoscopic surgeon, reproductive endocrinology and infertility sub-specialist who has been teaching and practicing medicine and surgery as an adjunct clinical professor of surgery, and obstetrics and gynecology at Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto, California since 1993. Nezhat is also a Clinical Professor of OB/GYN at the University of California, San Francisco.
Dr. Nezhat is a pioneer and leading practitioner in the field of laparoscopic surgery, also referred to as minimally invasive, endoscopic, keyhole, and Band-Aid surgery. READ MORE ON WIKIPEDIA
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