[One hundred years of the Association of Surgeons in the Netherlands. III. Gastrointestinal surgery].

On 27 February 1989 the Nederlandse Vereniging voor Gastro-Intestinale Chirurgie [Netherlands Association for Gastrointestinal Surgery] was founded. The aim--improvement of quality by integrating scientific and clinical work--was already formulated 10 years previously by the Gastrointestinal Surgery Working Group. The integration proceeded carefully; the Netherlands Association for Gastrointestinal Surgery began as a chapter of the Association of Surgeons in the Netherlands and as a working group within the Dutch Gastroenterology Association. Meanwhile new techniques have been investigated and introduced and surgical oncology is a growing area of collaboration with the Dutch Association for Surgical Oncology. In the future minimally invasive interventions and robot surgery will come to the fore, reflux disease and inflammatory bowel diseases will decrease as an operative indication and early diagnosis will play a greater role.