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Slovenian Society for Endoscopic Surgery

The beginnings of laparoscopic and other minimally invasive surgery in the early 1990s led to the establishment of the Section for Endoscopic Surgery within the Slovenian Medical Association, which was presided over by Vladislav Pegan for many years. In 1991, the first Slovenian Congress of Endoscopic Surgery with international participation was held. In addition to general and abdominal surgeons, specialists from other professions, such as urologists, gynecologists, otorhinolaryngologists, neurosurgeons, thoracic surgeons, and orthopedic surgeons, also participated in the work of the section. Minimally invasive techniques were carried out in all areas. In addition to the congresses held every two years, the journal Endoskopska revija / Endoscopic Journal was published from 1996 until 2012. As the successor of the Section for Endoscopic Surgery, the Slovenian Society for Endoscopic Surgery was founded in Ljubljana on September 9th, 2009. The founding members of the association were Alojz Pleskovič, Mirko Omejc, Dragan Stanisavljević, Franc Jelenc, and Aleš Tomažič. Alojz Pleskovič was elected president and he led the association until 2017. The association gradually became run solely by abdominal and general surgeons, with other specialists more active within their specific associations. Its 13th congress was held in Maribor in 2015, but later the association almost ceased its work. In 2017, abdominal and general surgeons from most Slovenian hospitals recognized the need to preserve the association and continue its work. All members of the association are also members of the European Association of Endoscopic Surgery (EAES). This year we have already held the first workshop for residents, and in the coming year we plan to hold the association’s 14th congress. Moreover, thanks to both editors-in-chief, Jan Grosek and Tomaž Jagrič, a new journal called Surgery and Surgical Endoscopy is preparing for launch.

            I sincerely hope that with the aid of younger colleagues we will slowly increase the number of activities of the association at least to the level of the initial years, when minimally invasive surgery experienced its expansion, and perhaps we can reach even higher. We are also grateful for the support of our sponsors, without which professional events and the publication of the journal would not be possible.

Assoc. Prof. Aleš Tomažič, MD, PhD