Seeing his own mother suffer alone and misunderstood in the prime of her life from what was most likely undiagnosed endometriosis, a severe case that left her bedridden and passing out from pain, Dr. Camran Nezhat witnessed 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 gynecological disorders. From the outset, his life transformed into a singular and all-consuming obsession to end endometriosis’s crushing reign over so many lives, a journey which led him to become the original inventor and pioneer behind videoendoscopy, sometimes referred to as Band-Aid, keyhole surgery, or minimally invasive surgery; or, more precisely, the revolutionary change that overturned centuries of surgical conventions that were sometimes causing more harm than the patient’s original illness.

With his new videoendoscopic method leading the way, Dr. Nezhat became the first to perform the most complex surgeries in a minimally invasive manner, surgeries once considered only possible with large incisions. In fact, Dr. Nezhat was the first in the world to treat severe, stage IV, multi-organ endometriosis, completing excising deeply infiltrating disease that had invaded the ureter, bladder, bowel, liver, and diaphragm, and restoring normal anatomy through reconstructive surgery, all in the least traumatic and most organ-sparing manner possible. When his unprecedented work was finally accepted for publication several years later in 1986, most of his colleagues remained in a state of disbelief for years finding it impossible to believe that anyone could perform such complex surgeries through tiny port holes. As they say, no one is ever actually ready for the future; yet there it was, the radical new future of surgery had arrived, with Dr. Nezhat leading the way, demonstrating that the only limiting factors for minimally invasive surgery were the skill and experience of the surgeon and the availability of proper instrumentation. 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 castration was once the only choice offered, where debilitating, multiple laparotomies were once so normalized that the excruciating pain and more severe complications they caused were somehow viewed as acceptable outcomes. And, just as importantly, 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

Far from being a welcomed change, this new surgical approach was initially considered not only a dangerous deviation from accepted norms for most of the 20th century, but was called "bizarre" and "barbaric" even just a few years ago. Indeed, because Dr. Nezhat’s new surgical philosophy went against centuries of established norms, he fell under intense scrutiny and criticism from those within mainstream medical establishments and later from national newspapers. Given such a slew of suspicions still marring the minimally invasive movement from just a few years ago, what a curious irony it is that, today, those same minimally invasive surgical procedures, first pioneered by Dr. Nezhat nearly 3 decades ago, are now recognized as the ones that ushered in the era of modern-day, minimally invasive surgery, considered the gold standard in essentially all surgical disciplines and the change that has led Dr. Nezhat’s colleagues to call him 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, 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 have changed the practice of medicine”, and which others say has been as “revolutionary to this century as the development of anesthesia was to the last.
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 finally lets you know for sure that someone actually cares and is actually listening. Unlike in some teaching hospitals, those who are private patients of the Endoscopy & Fertility Center are also pleased to discover that Dr. Nezhat – and not surgical assistants - personally performs their surgery, remaining accessible both before and after any medical care, to help ease fears and provide answers to difficult questions. And, with his early childhood exposure to both Eastern and Western medical traditions, Dr. Nezhat offers a truly unique approach to healing, characterized by a convergence of holistic principals with cutting edge minimally invasive techniques and technologies. As for surgical experience, to our knowledge no other living and practicing surgeon has performed as many laparoscopic surgeries for the treatment of gynecological disorders.
What Dr. Nezhat's colleagues are saying

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 to be the work of Dr. Nezhat.

Dr. Yana Tadir wrote "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 Jacobson said "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,” and, "…the introduction of videolaparoscopy and videolaseroscopy by Nezhat allowed the involvement of the entire operating team in the surgery.”
Additional Background

Camran Nezhat, MD, FACS, FACOG, is an internationally renowned laparoscopic surgeon, scientist, and innovator at Stanford University Medical Center, in Palo Alto, California. 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 executive 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 Endoscopy & Fertility Center in Palo Alto, California. For his outstanding contributions as a 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 view 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 post-graduate 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 fore-runner 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 procedures for congenital abnormalities of the uterus, such as septate uterus, uterine myomas, and endometrial ablation.
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.
Determined to find a cure

After years of witnessing not only his mother, but now patients suffering the often devastating effects of endometriosis, Dr. Nezhat is determined to help find a cure. To this end, Dr. Nezhat has set up a charity foundation at Stanford University called “Center for Special Minimally Invasive Surgery Fund” as a way to provide research and education for young physicians and scientists across the world, in order to assist in expediting a "cure" for these debilitating disorders that affect millions of women.