Re: The early history of endoscopic correction of vesicoureteric reflux: the Dublin contribution.
Endoscopic correction of vesicoureteric reflux (VUR) is now the most common therapeutic intervention for the condition. Although much of the impetus for its use has emanated from Dublin, Ireland, there is some uncertainty about the origin of the innovation. Matouschek described the use of Teflon injected endoscopically under the ureteric ostium in 1981, in German and Spanish journals [1,2]. In 1984, O’Donnell and Puri, while unaware of the previous publications, described a similar technique [3,4]. O’Donnell’s original concept of the endoscopic deposit of a bulking agent under the ureteric orifice was developed by Puri, who proposed Teflon (Polytef) as the agent. Experimental work on piglets was carried out but none of this was done endoscopically. The agent was introduced via a porcine cystotomy. The first endoscopic corrections of VUR in Dublin were not done on pigs but on human patients by O’Donnell, on 5 March 1984, and it was he who coined the acronym STING (Subureteric Teflon INGection). A series of successful clinical interventions followed and were reported in English [4]. We, the undersigned, were, with O’Donnell, the only three consultant paediatric surgeons on the staff of Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, Dublin, at the time of the development of the procedure. Guiney was also Professor