[How endoscopy has changed in recent 60 years].

Abstract

Sixty years ago only semi flexible instruments were used for the endoscopic examination of the gastrointestinal tract. They were developed by the German physician Rudolf Schindler together with George Wolf, the producer of medical instruments in 1932. They construct optical gastroscope with a system of lenses in the flexible distal end and with the rigid metallic proximal part. Those instruments were used in gastroscopy till the sixties when the era of fibroendoscopy with the use of glass fibre optic has started. In 1957 Basil Hirschowitz with his co-workers introduced a flexible gastroscope--a fibroscope. The next years brought improvement in the size of image, its brilliancy, possibility to control the distal end and a bioptic channels was added. Working length was elevated and since 1970 the instrument has been used as ezofago-gastro-duodenoscope. At the end of millennium a new technology was developed--videoendoscopy. Experience with the prototype of videoendoscope was published in 1984 (Sivak a Fleischer, Classen a Phillip). In the nineties of the previous century Paul Swain constructed the first prototype of wireless endoscopic capsule. A single chip camera with low electricity consumption was presented in 2000. Endoscopy has developed in recent years considerably and its progress will definitely continue.