Wolf Falope Ring Applicator
name: label: inventor
content: Yoon, InBae
label: maker
content: Richard Wolf Medical Instruments
notes: label: Description
content: Dr. InBae Yoon (July 15, 1936-December 30, 2014) physician and inventor was born in Japanese Occupied Korea (1910-1945). He attended the Yonsei University School of Medicine, earning his medical degree in 1961. From 1961 to 1964, Dr. Yoon served as an officer in the Korean Navy where he spent time on submarines, and became interested in the engineering mechanics of periscopes and their ability to “see.” Throughout his career Dr. Yoon was a prolific inventor of surgical instrumentation, amassing over two-hundred patents.
label: Description
content: In 1964, Dr. Yoon participated in a program developed to match Korean medical doctors with U.S. medical schools. Yoon was selected to conduct a general surgical residency at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. During his residency, he changed his focus from general surgery to surgical Obstetrics and Gynecology with a strong interest in laparoscopy, more familiarly known today as minimally invasive surgery.
label: Description
content: In 1972, Dr. Yoon joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as a professor in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, and as Director of the Laparoscopic Sterilization Clinic. From 1972 to 1978, Yoon would develop one of his most significant inventions, a device for sterilizing the human female or male by ligation known as the Falope-Ring®, United States Patent 3,870,048 in 1975.
label: Description
content: Laparoscopy or minimally invasive surgery dates from the early twentieth century using endoscopes for diagnosis. By the 1970’s surgical Laparoscopy became practical and more common with the help of fiberoptic endoscopes. Now sixty years later almost all surgical specialties utilize some form of minimally invasive techniques, including Orthopedics, Urology, and, Cardiology.
label: Description
content: The impact of Dr. Yoon’s Falope-Ring® to the armamentarium of gynecology is significant. As Yoon was developing the Falope Ring®, the United Nations declared 1974 to be World Population Year. Concerns regarding over population had become a popular political movement in the late 1960’s and 1970’s. The Falope-Ring® not only became common in the United States, but was heavily marketed to third world counties where other forms of birth control such as the use of condoms were considered taboo.
label: Description
content: Prior to tubal ligation, sterilization relied on the cauterization of the fallopian tubes. The main drawback to this type of procedure was inadvertent burns by the cautery. Yoon’s Fallope-Ring® procedure proved to be a reliable alternative to other forms of tubal ligation and birth control.
label: Description
content: The Laparoscopic silicone ring applicator invented by Dr. In Bae Yoon between 1972 and 1974, was designed to be used with local anesthesia, and as an out-patient procedure. Significantly less carbon dioxide gas was needed for insufflation for easier visualization and access. This Laparoscopic procedure can be accomplished by one or two small punctures, or by a direct vaginal approach.
label: Description
content: To begin, the silicone band is picked up with the dilator and placed into the distal end of the applicator. Dr. In Bae Yoon and Theodore M. King, M.D., Ph.D. describe the application of the silicone band in a 1975 publication “A preliminary and Intermediate Report on a New Laparoscopic Tubal Ring Procedure” in The Journal of Reproductive Medicine. (Volume 15, No.2): “this device is fitted with a standard laparoscopic lens system and fiber optic source and consists of two cylinders [one inside the other]. The inner cylinder has within it a grasping forceps for lifting a segment of fallopian tube. The outer surface of the inner cylinder is fitted with a stretched silicone ring…The grasping forceps is exposed as the handle is moved forward. In moving the handle backward, after grasping a segment of fallopian tube, the tube will be drawn into the inner cylinder. Simultaneously with this action the silicone ring will be forced onto the fallopian tube.”
label: Description
content: On February 11, 1975 Johns Hopkins Medical School held a news conference to formally announce Dr. Yoon’s Falope-Ring® system. The system was well received catching the attention of national and international newspapers and organizations. More clinical trials commenced with good results, and praise for the system. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) had been involved with the development of safe and reliable female sterilization for over a decade. In 1975 USAID established a center at the Johns Hopkins for the training of developing country physicians in laparoscopic procedures.
label: Description
content: Dr. Yoon was a strong advocate of physicians and scientists working together in teams to develop new products and procedures. Collaboration was the focus of an article “From Idea to Product” Dr. Yoon wrote in 1999 for the Yonsei Medical Journal. In his article Dr. Yoon encouraged his fellow alumni to do “… work for the purpose of developing new ideas and concepts to carry out practical techniques and procedures in the development of new drugs, devices, instruments and equipment for better quality patient care throughout the world”.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Gynecology
label: Subject
content: Surgical instruments
label: Subject
content: Surgery
label: Subject
content: Birth Control/Contraception
label: Subject
content: Women's Health
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Kyung Joo Yoon
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2017.0024.03
label: accession number
content: 2017.0024
label: catalog number
content: 2017.0024.03
objectType: label: Object Name
content: applicator, falope ring
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (sheath material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (handle material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3.2 cm x 40.1 cm; 1 1/4 in x 15 25/32 in