Hans Christian Jacobaeus (29 May 1879 – 29 October 1937) was a Swedish internist born in Skarhult. In 1916 he became a professor at the

Karolinska Institutet The Karolinska Institute (KI; sv, Karolinska Institutet; sometimes known as the (Royal) Caroline Institute in English) is a research-led medical university in Solna within the Stockholm urban area of Sweden. The Karolinska Institute is consist ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. From 1925 until his death in 1937, he was a member of the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

Committee. Jacobaeus was an important figure in regards to modern

laparoscopy Laparoscopy () is an operation performed in the abdomen or pelvis using small incisions (usually 0.5–1.5 cm) with the aid of a camera. The laparoscope aids diagnosis or therapeutic interventions with a few small cuts in the abdomen.Medli ...

and

thoracoscopy Thoracoscopy is a medical procedure involving internal examination, biopsy and/or resection/drainage of disease or masses within the pleural cavity, usually with video assistance. Thoracoscopy may be performed either under general anaesthe ...

. In 1910 he is credited with performing the first thoracoscopic diagnosis with a

cystoscope Cystoscopy is endoscopy of the urinary bladder via the urethra. It is carried out with a cystoscope. The urethra is the tube that carries urine from the bladder to the outside of the body. The cystoscope has lenses like a telescope or microscope ...

, being used on a patient with tubercular intra-thoracic adhesions. In 1910, he published an article titled ''Über die Möglichkeit die Zystoskopie bei Untersuchung seröser Höhlungen anzuwenden'' (The Possibilities for Performing Cystoscopy in Examinations of Serous Cavities) in the journal ''Münchner Medizinischen Wochenschrift''. He also did pioneer work involving abdominal endoscopy, which he called laparoscopy. The term "laparoscopy" was introduced into clinical medicine and is used up to now although Jacobaeus initially called the procedure "cystoscopy" of the serious cavities. He understood the possibilities, as well as the limitations of the procedure, and was an advocate of

endoscopic An endoscopy is a procedure used in medicine to look inside the body. The endoscopy procedure uses an endoscope to examine the interior of a hollow organ or cavity of the body. Unlike many other medical imaging techniques, endoscopes are insert ...

training for medical personnel. He also stressed the need for specialized instruments for optimum performance during laparoscopic examinations. Jacobaeus' initial experience with abdominal endoscopy (laparoscopy) as described in Münch Med Wochenschr in 1910, was basically limited to the patients with ascites (17 patients), he reported only about two cases without ascites. In 1912, Jacobaeus published in Germany an extensive work on new technique - he gave an exact description of the patients' conditions and the 97 laparoscopies performed between 1910 and 1912 in Stockholm's community hospital. In 1901

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

physician

Georg Kelling Georg Kelling (7 July 1866 – 14 February 1945) was a German internist and surgeon who was a laparoscopy pioneer and in 1901 performed the first laparoscopic surgery on a dog. He studied medicine at the Universities of Leipzig and Berlin. ...

(1866–1945) performed a cystoscope-aided intervention of a dog's abdomen. Kelling also claimed to have performed two successful laparoscopic examinations on humans prior to Jacobaeus, but nonetheless failed to timely publish his experiences. Hans Christian Jacobaeus was the father of Christian Jacobæus, a Swedish electrical engineer.

References

Journal of Endourology
Hans Christian Jacobaeus: Inventor of Human Laparoscopy and Thoracoscopy
Minimally Invasive Surgery, Department of Surgery
History of Minimally Invasive Surgery *Jacobaeus HC. Ueber die Möglichkeit die Zystokopie bei Untersuchung seröser Höhlungen anzuwenden. Münch Med Wochenschr. 1910; 57: 2090–2092 *Jacobaeus HC. Über Laparo- und Thorakoskopie. Beitr Klin Tuberk. 1912; 25: 185–354 {{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobaeus, Hans Christian 1879 births 1937 deaths Swedish internists Karolinska Institute faculty Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences