The Original Catalyzing Moment

After witnessing his own family and friends suffer from endometriosis, Dr. Camran Nezhat knew first-hand just how devastating this dreadful disease can be. This was the original catalyst behind Dr. Nezhat’s decision to dedicate his life to helping women with endometriosis and other disabling disorders. From the outset, his life transformed into a singular and all-consuming obsession to end endometriosis’ crushing reign over so many lives. Ultimately, this journey led him to become the pioneer and innovator in techniques of operating off the video monitor or video assisted endoscopy.

Performing some of the most advanced procedures with these techniques for the first time. (bio…) And by doing so he opened the path for surgeons all over the world . These techniques are sometimes referred to as Band-Aid, keyhole, Robotic, laser, laparoscopic or minimally invasive surgery. Today Dr. Camran Nezhat’s innovations are cited as the revolutionary change that overturned centuries of surgical conventions (like the one that said ‘the bigger the incision, the bigger the surgeon) that were sometimes causing more harm than the patient’s original illness. (bio….)

Surgical Firsts

With his new methods and techniques leading the way, Dr. Camran Nezhat became the first to perform some of the most complex procedures in a minimally invasive manner, surgeries once considered impossible to perform laparoscopically. In fact, Dr. Camran Nezhat was the first in the world to treat severe, stage IV, multi-organ endometriosis, that had invaded the ureter, bladder, bowel, liver, and diaphragm, and restoring normal anatomy through reconstructive surgery. (bio….)

As a result of these groundbreaking innovations, millions of women all over the world no longer have to face a life imprisoned in a state of unbearable pain or infertility, where removal of the uterus and ovaries were once the only choices offered, where debilitating, multiple laparotomies were once so normalized that the excruciating pain and severe complications they caused were viewed as acceptable outcomes. By performing surgeries in the least traumatic and most organ-sparing manner possible, today’s patients can regain their quality of life a few days after surgery instead of a few months later.

The Era of Controversy: The Great Scalpel-Scope Showdown

When Dr. Camran Nezhat’s unprecedented work was finally accepted for publication in 1986 (having been rejected for several years), many of his colleagues found it impossible to believe that anyone could safely perform such complex surgeries through tiny port holes. Indeed, far from being a welcomed change, this new surgical approach was initially considered not only a dangerous deviation from accepted norms, but was called “bizarre” and “barbaric” even just a few years ago. Because Dr.Camran Nezhat’s new surgical philosophy went against centuries of established norms, ultimately he became the target of immense criticism from those within mainstream medicine. Given such a slew of suspicions still marring the minimally invasive landscape even from just a few years ago, what a curious irony it is that, today, those same procedures pioneered by Dr. Camran Nezhat and his team 2 to 3 decades ago are now recognized as the ones that ushered in the era of modern-day, minimally invasive surgery, the changes that has led Dr.Camran Nezhat’s colleagues to now refer to him as the father of modern operative laparoscopy. (bio….)

In the final analysis, by introducing medical breakthroughs that so drastically reduced surgical morbidity and mortality on such a global scale, Dr. Camran Nezhat’s work has indirectly saved countless lives and profoundly improved millions of others. In fact, his innovations are one of the few true advances in medicine that our world has witnessed for generations. Authorities such as the New England Journal of Medicine now recognize the advent these methods and techniques as a viable surgical discipline, a change that is said to have revolutionized the practice of surgery, just as antibiotics and anesthesia have changed the practice of medicine.

Medical Care of Uncompromised Excellence

While Dr. Camran Nezhat’s uncanny surgical ability is considered the stuff of legends, equally fabled is his commitment to providing medical care of uncompromised excellence, the kind of service that lets you know for sure that someone actually cares and is actually listening. And, with his early childhood exposure to both Eastern and Western medical traditions, Dr. Camran Nezhat offers a truly unique approach to healing; a synthesis of holistic principals with cutting-edge minimally invasive techniques and technologies. As for surgical experience, to our knowledge no other living surgeon has performed as many minimally invasive surgeries for the treatment of endometriosis.

What Dr. Camran Nezhat’s colleagues are saying

The acclaimed general surgeon Dr. William Kelley observed that “The single most important technological advancement for complex laparoscopic surgery would be the advent of video laparoscopy, an innovation Kelley acknowledged had been introduced by Dr. Camran Nezhat..

The internationally renowned gynecological surgeon Dr. Yana Tadir noted that “If there was a single factor that contributed to this increased interest in laparoscopic surgery, it was undoubtedly the incorporation of video equipment as an integral part of the standard endoscopic set which was pioneered and promulgated by Dr. Camran Nezhat.

Dr. Mary Lake Polan, Stanford’s highly regarded chair of the department of OB/GYN, observed that “Nezhat’s contribution was and is almost unique. He has developed such facility with the technique in the operating room that he serves as a mentor for other physicians, challenging us to learn the new technique by showing us not only the art of the possible, but the tremendous advantage minimal-access surgery offers. When you watch him operate, you have to cast off the excuse, ‘This procedure can’t be done using video laparoscopy.

Additional Background

Camran Nezhat, MD, was recruited to Stanford in 1993 by Linda Meier and Ken Bloom, Stanford’s former Chair of the Board and CEO, respectively. Since then, Dr. Camran Nezhat has been practicing medicine and surgery in the San Francisco Bay Area. By sharing his knowledge in minimally invasive and robotic surgery with different disciplines of surgery (such as general, gastrointestinal, urology, cardiothoracic, neurosurgery, oncology, etc), Stanford was transformed into a center now recognized as one of the leading surgical institutes in the country. In the past, he was also elected by his peers at Stanford to serve as Deputy Chair, Department of OB/GYN, and also Chair of the Association of Adjunct Clinical Faculty.

Dr. Camran Nezhat is also Clinical Professor of OB/GYN at the University of California in San Francisco, California, and Director of his own private practice at the Nezhat Institute and Center for Special Minimally Invasive and Robotic Surgery in Palo Alto, California. For his outstanding contributions as the pioneer and leading practitioner in the field of minimally invasive and robotic surgery, specializing in the treatment of severe endometriosis involving multiple organs, management of infertility, myomas of the uterus, and other pelvic diseases, Dr. Camran Nezhat has received numerous awards from the most prestigious medical societies – such as the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, American College of Surgeons, American Society of Reproductive Medicine, and Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons – all of whom have commended his surgical skill, pioneering surgical techniques, research, and educational activities. (Please see the most recent awards and videos). As a result of his pioneering work and inimitable expertise, thousands of surgeons from all over the world have traveled to attend his courses and lectures.

Advocacy for early detection of endometriosis

With a particular interest in endometriosis, Dr. Camran Nezhat is an especially vocal advocate of its early detection and treatment. Early detection is crucial, as endometriosis can worsen over time and spread throughout the body, leading to the extreme condition of extragenital endometriosis, in which the disease invades other vital organs, such as bowel,bladder,ureter diaphragm and lung. Such cases may result in significant internal damage, rendering the anatomy so delicate and often so severely distorted with adhesions that few surgeons in the world are experienced enough to treat patients with this advanced stage of the disease. It was not long ago, in fact, that such severe cases were considered operable only through the large incision of a laparotomy. Dr. Camran Nezhat was not only the forerunner to successfully treat these difficult conditions minimally invasively, he was also the pioneer who insisted that it was possible. (bio….) Dr. Camran Nezhat also has extensive experience in hysteroscopic surgery and routinely performs hysteroscopic surgical procedures for abnormalities of the uterus, such as septate uterus, uterine myomas, and endometrial ablation for treating heavy menstrual bleeding.

Publications

With an abiding interest in the academic side of medicine, Dr. Camran Nezhat and his team have co-authored eight text-books and over 500 book chapters, articles, abstracts, and editorials. His research interests include understanding infertility and its relation to endometriosis, uterine myomas, and congenital abnormalities of the uterus.

Determined to find a cure

After years of witnessing so many women suffering the often devastating effects of endometriosis, Dr. Camran Nezhat is determined to help find a cure. To this end, he has launched a charity foundation to provide funding for awareness and research and educational outreach to help find a cure for debilitating disorders that affect millions of women.