History

The Asia-Pacific Association for Gynecologic Endoscopy and Minimally Invasive Therapy (APAGE) was officially formed in 2003 by a group of committed endoscopists from the Asia-Pacific region (Chyi-Long Lee, Bao-Liang Lin, Pong Mo Yuen, Lee Keen Whye, Joo-Hyun Nam, Felix Wong, C.Y. Liu, Prashant Mangeshikar), who recognize the need to share research achievements and further professional training in gynecological endoscopy.

APAGE represents over 15 associations in the gynecologic field in the Asia-Pacific region. APAGE provides various scientific and educational activities for doctors; for example, workshops for Laparoscopic Gynecologic Oncology Surgery & Hands-on Animal Workshop, Single Incision Surgery, and Robotic Surgery. The APAGE Annual Congress is also the largest gynecologic meeting in the Asia-Pacific region. It also holds congresses in conjunction with its affiliated societies, which are becoming increasingly popular within this region.

Gynecology and Minimally Invasive Therapy (GMIT) is the official peer-reviewed journal of APAGE in 2012, and publish quarterly and indexed in Science Direct.  GMIT publishes original research and review papers on minimally invasive therapies in women's health and related scientific fields of study.  In 2015, GMIT began working with APAGE ASurg to provide a collection of medical and surgical videos online, searchable and categorized. GMIT is indexed and abstracted in Emerging Sources Citation Index(ESCI) since 2016 and PubMed Central (PMC）since 2018. This journal allows practical physicians to view or share the latest innovation and operative instructions with high-quality multimedia content of clear practical and educational value.

APAGE also endeavors to promote the educational exchanges between hospitals and countries; more than hundreds of doctors have completed the training course of APAGE. In addition, we have eight training centers in the Asia-Pacific region for all the doctors to have more opportunities to obtain and share the most current knowledge and the latest skills.

It has started it Annual Congress since 2004 and launched it's Laparoscopic Gynecologic Oncology Surgery & Hands-on Animal Workshop from 2006 for providing all experts in this region with practical training and a platform to exchange their experiences. In 2007, the idea of Regional Meeting was brought out for meeting the diverse professional interests and need of different regions. Also, this association has started the Single-Incision Laparoscopy Surgery Workshop and Robotics Master Course in Gynecology in 2011. The 1^st NOTES Live Hands-on workshop has also started in 2018 in APAGE regional training center.

Over the past 21 years, APAGE has gathered a number of inspiring topics and expertise since our goals are to provide a platform for the gynecologist who desired to enhance their surgical skills and knowledge. Gynecologic endoscopy and minimally invasive therapy is a field that develops fast, always has the newest technologies and equipment. As for the continuous research and practical practice, Laparoscopic gynecologic surgery has gained popularity due to developments in illumination and instrumentation that led to the emergence of laparoscopy in the past decades as a credible diagnostic as well as a therapeutic intervention. APAGE is horned to share some of the responsibilities to make contributions to both the medical field and the public. The progress is non-stopped; we welcome everyone to join us, to make APAGE an acknowledged association.