Timeline of successful transplants

1905: First successful cornea transplant by Eduard Zirm[9]
1954: First successful kidney transplant by Joseph Murray (Boston, U.S.A.)
1966: First successful pancreas transplant by Richard Lillehei and William Kelly (Minnesota, U.S.A.)
1967: First successful liver transplant by Thomas Starzl (Denver, U.S.A.)
1967: First successful heart transplant by Christiaan Barnard (Cape Town, South Africa)
1981: First successful heart/lung transplant by Bruce Reitz (Stanford, U.S.A.)
1983: First successful lung lobe transplant by Joel Cooper (Toronto, Canada)
1986: First successful double-lung transplant (Ann Harrison) by Joel Cooper (Toronto, Canada)
1987: First successful whole lung transplant by Joel Cooper (St. Louis, U.S.A.)
1995: First successful laparoscopic live-donor nephrectomy by Lloyd Ratner and Louis Kavoussi (Baltimore, U.S.A.)
1998: First successful live-donor partial pancreas transplant by David Sutherland (Minnesota, U.S.A.)
1998: First successful hand transplant (France)
2005: First successful partial face transplant (France)
2006: First jaw transplant to combine donor jaw with bone marrow from the patient, by Eric M. Genden (Mount Sinai Hospital, New York)
2008: First successful complete full double arm transplant by Edgar Biemer, Christoph Höhnke and Manfred Stangl (Technical University of Munich, Germany)[citation needed]
2008: First baby born from transplanted ovary.
2008: First transplant of a human windpipe using a patient’s own stem cells.

Long story short:
1983: Appendectomy took 15 minutes to do through open incision
2008: Laparoscopic appendectomy takes 45 minutes to 90 minutes, or longer to do.

As per KP, laparoscopic surgery good for patient.
Per snoozie, laparoscopic surgery not good for anesthesiologist at 2 AM.

Bottom line; patient always comes first. Buy your anesthesiologist a strong cup of coffee, and go for the laparoscopic technique. You'll be glad you did.

Long story short:

1983: I had my appendix removed. 2.5 in (7 cm) incision in my lower abdomen, and 6 weeks before I fully recovered, i.e., was able to lift heavy objects without risk.

2008: A coworker of mine had his appendix removed. Two small holes in lower abdomen, and just a 2-week recovery period.

Go laparoscopic surgery, go!

Dr. Steven Palter created a new laparoscopic technology that enables surgeons to "see" tumors and other pathologies as if they had x-ray vision:

The new “keyhole” surgery technique enables surgeons to see tumors and other pathologies, including endometriosis not otherwise visible. In traditional laparoscopy, the telescope provides the same view as would be seen with the naked eye. In the new method, highly specific filters are incorporated into the light system and telescope so that surgeons can see the tiny amounts of fluorescent light that all living human tissues give off when illuminated, a phenomenon called “autofluorescence”.

Normal and diseased tissues give off different amounts of light. Areas of disease that block fluorescence are seen as dark indigo areas, whereas those that emit fluorescence glow like a firefly. With this new surgical technique I can see disease that is otherwise invisible and treat the patient more effectively.