Flexible fibre-optic endoscope
Endoscopio flexible de fibra óptica
- Date
- 1957 · confidence high
- Place
- University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States
- Credited to
- Basil Hirschowitz, Larry Curtiss and Wilbur Peters (Michigan); fibres by Harold Hopkins and Narinder Kapany (London, 1954)
- People
- 👤 Basil Hirschowitz1925–2013
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
A flexible instrument with bundles of glass fibres that transmit an image from inside the body. It made it possible to see and treat the digestive tract without surgery.
What it led to
- Minimally invasive surgery and laparoscopy
- The early detection of colon and stomach cancer
- The capsule endoscope and surgical robots
Built on
- Coherent optical-fibre bundle (fibrescope)1954
- Low-loss optical fibre1966-1970
- optical fibre (Hopkins and Kapany)
- rigid gastroscope
Made possible
- Video laparoscopic surgery1985-1987
- Capsule endoscopy2000-2001
- laparoscopy
- colonoscopy