Erich Mühe

Erich Mühe (23 May 1938 – 20 November 2005) was a German surgeon known for performing the first laparoscopic cholecystectomy in 1985.

Biography Erich Mühe completed medical school in 1966 and finished his surgical training at the University of Erlangen in 1973. He moved to Böblingen in 1982 to take a position as the head of surgery in a local hospital.

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy Inspired by Kurt Semm's pioneering use of laparoscopy, a minimally invasive surgical technique, Mühe designed his own surgical laparoscope, which he called the "Galloscope", in 1984. He first used it to remove a gallbladder (in a procedure known as cholecystectomy) on September 12, 1985, marking the world's first laparoscopic cholecystectomy. He first presented his work in April 1986 at the Congress of the German Society of Surgery, after performing 94 successful surgeries using his technique. The following year, the president of the society's 1986 congress apologised to Mühe, describing his work as "without a doubt one of the greatest original achievements of German medicine in recent history". The Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons formally recognised Mühe as the first surgeon to perform a laparoscopic cholecystectomy in 1999.