Ronald Levine, MD

:  “I’m       Dr. Demco reporting from Orlando at the 29

 Conference of the       AAGL.  I’d like to interview       Dr. Ronald Levine, a past President of the AAGL, and the topic we’d like       to discuss is the international members here at the Conference.  Dr. Levine, the AAGL has always been a World Congress, could       you give us a little idea of the number and scope of the international       members here?”

:  “As       you know, Larry, we truly are a World Congress and that we have increased       essentially our numbers of foreign attendees.        We have represented at this Conference people from more than forty       countries, and probably forty-percent of the attendees at this Conference       are from out of country so that’s about where we’re at.”

:  “International       members have always had a great contribution.        Is there any breakdown as to the percentage from, say, Europe and       Asia?”

:  “I’m       not aware of the exact percentages but we have a large number of people       here from Italy, Germany, France, from all over Europe, and we have       members coming from the Middle East.        I think we have about twelve representatives here from Israel, and       as always a large number of people from South America and Mexico.        I don’t have to talk about here, but we have a lot of Americans,       North Americans, and Canadians certainly.        We have people from the Pacific Rim countries, Koreans, Chinese,       and Japanese.  I don’t have       the breakdown of the numbers but it’s significant.”

:  “One       of the common concerns has been that although there’s always been a       large proportion of international members, they had little say at the       Board level of some of these societies.        Has this society addressed this problem?”

:        “Yes, we have.  We       now have made a change in our bylaws to allow the International Advisory       Committee to have an election or put up representatives and they can be       elected to the Board.  For       instance, this past year we’ve had Dr. Dubison from Paris and he has       been our representative, and we now have that slot to have a foreign       representative sitting on the Board because of this large representation       from foreign countries.”

:  “Great,       one of the events here at the AAGL that in the past has been a major event       is that the AAGL makes strides to recognize some of the work that some of       the people have done.  A lot       of the people may not be aware of the various awards and competitions that       the AAGL has at this meeting.  Could       you briefly review some of the awards for people that may want to go in       for the competition for next year?”

:  “We       have a number of awards; we have one starting at the lower level which is       best resident paper or best resident fellow paper, and certainly anyone       who’s listening to this who is in the position of being either a       resident or fellow we certainly encourage to submit their papers for a       prize.  We have a best video       award, a best and outstanding hysteroscopic award, and an outstanding       laparoscopic award where they award a golden laparoscope and a golden       hysteroscope.  There are       several other awards that are available for people to get prizes.  The outstanding video is always a very interesting       competition so there are a number of awards out there for people       presenting their papers.”

:  “I       think this is important because there is recognition in just presenting       and publishing but I think it’s important that a society recognizes that       extra work for the people that do this.        What other directions is the AAGL going or are you making strides       to move to other countries with programs?”

:  “We       always have had and we co-sponsor programs around the world and, in fact,       we are now going to co-sponsor a new program of the First World Congress       in Croatia in 2002 in Dubrovnik.  We       have people here from Croatia who brought information regarding that and       we have conferences that we co-sponsor around the world so, yes, we’ve       been really active with these countries and especially in getting new       countries like Croatia involved.  This is going to be the first Croatian Laparoscopic Society       and so we’re very proud to help these people to spread the word so to       speak.  We will also be sponsoring a meeting in Rome in June 2003.”

:  “One       of your successes has been in Russia, could you give us a little idea of       what’s happened in Russia?”

:  “Certainly,       through Dr. Leila Adamyan and her interest in AAGL, she came here and then       we had meetings there and then through her expertise and her interest and       with the help of AAGL, laparoscopy is now going through all of Russia       whereas just a few years ago it really was nonexistent there.”

:  “That’s       great, I really appreciate you taking this time to give us an       international flair to the meeting here, and I’d like to thank you very       much.”

:        “Thank you very much for having me, it’s my pleasure.  We       would like to invite everyone to attend our next World Congress, November       15-19, 2001, in San Francisco.”

Articles

OBGYN.net Conference CoverageFrom American Association of Gynecological LaparoscopistsOrlando, Florida, November 2000

International Members of AAGL

The file you requested will begin playing automatically.  If it does not, press the 'play' button.   If you experience playback problems, make certain you have the latest version of Windows Media Player, available 

Caution, Investigational Device Limited by Federal Law to Investigational Use. ACMI

OBGYN.net Conference CoverageFrom the 31st Annual Meeting of the American Association of Gynecological Laparoscopists (AAGL)

Laploop Supracervical Hysterectomy * Video

Click             here for Audio/Video Version

   I’m Doctor Ronald Levine, I’m director of GYN Endoscopy at the  University of Louisville and this is my colleague, Doctor Resad Pasic who is the Associate Professor of OB/GYN at the University  of Louisville.  We are doing a procedure called a laploop supracervical  hysterectomy and we have been doing that at the University of Louisville  for the last one-year.  Dr. Pasic will describe what we do.
 
 

 One of the critical  aspects of supracervical hysterectomy is detachment of the uterine  corpus with the cervix.  This can be performed either with an open  unipolar scissors, a sharp dissection, or a unipolar scissors with  electricity or a harmonic scalpel.  All of these procedures are quite  time-consuming and complex.  We are using laploop unipolar cutting  electrodes to detach the uterine corpus from the cervix.  The electrode  fits to a 10mm introducer and is passed into the abdominal cavity  through a 10mm trocar.  It is passed then around the cervix, it forms a  loop and this loop or noose is tightened around the cervix and when we  apply electricity, usually about 100 watts of cutting current, we can  safely detach the uterus from the cervix. Thank you.