Congress report of the 23 rd AGE annual meeting from 26 th - 28 th April 2018 in Hamburg

The Study Group of Gynecological Endoscopy (AGE) has a growing number of members each year. This is an acknowledgment as well as a challenge for the study group. The challenges were faced in the form of exemplary cooperative work by the core members of AGE, the Velen Study Group for Ambulant Surgery (VAAO), the Foundation of Endometriosis Research (SEF), the Study Group of Urogynecology and Plastic Pelvic Floor Reconstruction (AGUB), the Study Group for Robotic-assisted Surgery in Gynecology (ARCGyn ), and the Study Group of Gynecological Oncology (AGO). More than 1500 AGE members have been able to create significant effects preemptively by designing a Congress program that was prepared interactively. The program of live surgery was designed in the course of two days on the basis of an online inquiry. The first transmission of laparoscopy on a body donor and anatomic demonstrations on formalin-fixed specimens were especially significant in this context. Sessions of general gynecology, including myoma therapy, endometriosis and infertility treatment, and gynecologic oncology and urogynecology covered the entire spectrum of minimally invasive surgical techniques. Individual topics were addressed in specific courses. The Congress was preceded by an optional certified basic course (MIC I) of the AGE. Far more than 500 congress attendees from all German-speaking countries were spirited away to a paramedical steep face, which was ascended together with a renowned German extreme climber. The keynote lecture was especially impressive and held by the pioneer and founder of the neuropelveology. The world’s leading expert in this field described the responsibilities of our specialty in a visionary manner and motivated all of the listeners strongly in regard of their actions and efforts.