27th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society for Endoscopic Surgery

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

It is my great pleasure to announce that the 27th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society for Endoscopic Surgery will be held in Iwate Prefecture during October 2–4, 2014. It is an honour for us to host this meeting of the Japan Society for Endoscopic Surgery, whose members now number over 10,000 people. The locals are also very enthusiastic about this meeting to be held in Morioka City.

The coastal areas of Iwate Prefecture suffered severe damage in the Great East Japan Earthquake. Morioka is the centre of Iwate Prefecture’s economy, and it is very significant that such a large-scale conference is to be held in the city for the first time since the great earthquake. This could help the reconstruction of this severely damaged area.

The first endoscopic surgery in Japan was performed in 1990, and since that time, the technique has become widely used as a less burdensome surgical approach for patients. I believe there are two reasons for this trend. First, patients have naturally requested surgery that is less invasive to their bodies. Second, there has been a need for surgeons to acquire advanced skills and provide surgery of high quality. Thus, it is only natural that the number of members of the Japan Society of Endoscopic Surgery has increased every year, as has the number of endoscopic surgeries. However, as the number of facilities that can offer difficult endoscopic surgery is still limited, endoscopic surgery has not yet become universal.

I believe that the high quality surgical approach can be used safely only after it has been standardised. From the surgeon’s viewpoint, the advantage of endoscopic surgery is that the magnifying effect enables elaborate operations, while its disadvantage lies in the operational restrictions arising from remote operation via trocar. Advances in imaging technology such as 3D and 4K/8K have emphasised the advantages of endoscopic surgery. In addition, the use of robots to eliminate operational restrictions has been preferred in daily clinical practice. This meeting has the following aims: One is to standardise endoscopic techniques with a high level of difficulty to enable many surgeons to perform endoscopic surgery at an adequate level. Another is to combine the outcomes of technical developments in various fields by discussing necessary training methods and devices to make surgery gentler for both the patients and the surgeons. I hope that this meeting can lead us in new directions. The main theme for this meeting is:

Improving the Quality of Endoscopic Surgery:
Overcoming operational restrictions and exploiting the benefits of a magnified view

We are earnestly preparing to ensure that the 27th Annual Meeting of the Japan Society for Endoscopic Surgery can contribute to the development of this field and that the participants will have a memorable time during the meeting. October is the best time to enjoy delicious Matsutake mushroom in Morioka. We welcome you to the natural beauty, delicious food and sake Morioka has to offer. We look forward to seeing many of you in October.