1933 – 2024 born in Bordeaux, France
Dear EAES Family,
It is with great sadness to announce that our founding member, past-president and pioneer of laparoscopic surgery and dear friend Prof Jacques Périssat has passed away.
Jacques Périssat, born in 1933, was inspired by Francois Dubois from Paris, who borrowed instruments from the gynaecologists to perform the first laparoscopic cholecystectomy in Paris in 1988. Dubois followed Philippe Mouret from Lyon, who was in private practice with a gynaecologist in Lyon and did the first electronic (!) laparoscopic cholecystectomy in March 1987. Jacques Périssat was working in those years on extracorporeal shock wave therapy lithotripsy (ESWL) of gallbladder stones. In the 1980s, ESWL and removal of gallstones through mini incision cholecystostomy were explored as alternatives to open cholecystectomy which required a hospital stay of several days. The advent of laparoscopic cholecystectomy brought an abrupt stop to these techniques.
Jacques Périssat began employing laparoscopic techniques as early as 1965. He performed laparoscopies in patients with possible ectopic pregnancy or liver disease in a time without ultrasonography or CT. Périssat mentioned later that ‘These diagnostic imaging technics made us forget laparoscopy’ illustrating the limited applicability of laparoscopy in the 1960s and 1970s.
These surgical breakthroughs in France were swiftly noticed across Europe and in North America. Many surgeons visited Paris and Bordeaux to watch Mouret and Périssat performing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Jacques Périssat presented the technique of laparoscopic cholecystectomy at a SAGES meeting in Louisville in April 1989.
In October 1990, Jacques Périssat, Hans Troidl, Alfred Cuschieri, Jack Jakimowicz, Christian Klaiber, Elizabeth Vincent-Hamelin and Ernst Eypasch founded the European Association of Endoscopic Surgery in Paris. Professor Jacques Périssat was the founding president of the EAES from 1990 until 1993.
Professor Jacques Périssat was the Pater Familias of the EAES family, for young and old. He was a pioneer, inspirator and warm friend. Always present with scientific interest and grace at the EAES gatherings. When his health interfered with attending the meetings, Professor Périssat would write a warm and friendly letter to the congress president, sending his best wishes for a successful meeting.
Jacques Périssat was widely loved. He will be missed by all members of the EAES family.
