Progress in surgical science has been characterized by a continuous cycle of innovation from bedside to bench and back to bedside. Beginning 30,000 years ago with the first bone needles to the current armamentarium today, each quantum leap has resulted from the convergence of technical advances and creative surgeons.

Some surgical capability has been enhanced by relatively simple or more complex tool manufacture or modification, usually for a single purpose. Kocher's addition of a tooth to a straight clamp facilitated the grasping of a thyroid goiter; the more modern fixed-ring retractors have added considerable utility in abdominal retraction.

A few very special tools or techniques revolutionize our work. The development of the simple balloon catheter by Fogarty was the seminal event in initiating the concept of all endovascular procedures, beginning with the procedure of intra-luminal thrombectomy. It has expanded to balloon dilatation, angioplasty, stent placement, and now drug delivery systems in the form of drug-eluting stents.

Dr. Camran Nezhat's creative and ingenious contribution to the field of laparoscopic surgery has been similarly revolutionary. Operating off the video monitor during endoscopic surgery by the addition of a video camera to the laparoscope as developed by Camran Nezhat was a critical step in facilitating the entire field of minimal access surgery, moving it out of its initial realm in gynecologic and pelvic surgery to the entire abdomen, the chest, and beyond.