[History of biliary surgery. Apropos of the centennial of the first cholecystectomy].

Hundred years ago, in July 1882, Carl Langenbuch, chief surgeon in the Lazarus Hospital of Berlin, has performed the first cholecystectomy. The opportunity is given to do a general picture of the history of biliary surgery. We can distinguished five periods: a prehistorical period ending with the beginning of the XIVth century; an ancient period from the XIVth to XVIIIth century, caracterised by the multiplication of anatomical schools, chiefly italian. A medieval period caracterised by the birth of the asepsis, the anesthesia and the beginning of the radiology (XIXth century). A modern period expanding after the first World War with the great figure of Mirizzi. Finally the contemporary period prevailed by technology. The future is unknown but we can say that at that time, the anesthesia and the radiology with all their applications, have played the biggest part in the progress of the biliary surgery.