How advances in light technology have shaped ENT

Abstract

The development of light technologies, allowing anatomical visualisation of otherwise hidden structures, led to significant advances in ENT in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Natural light from the sun, and from candles, was initially harnessed using mirrors. Later, the invention of limelight and electricity preceded the emergence of the modern-day endoscope, which, in tandem with the discovery of coherent fibre-optics in the 1950s, significantly expanded the surgical repertoire available to otolaryngologists. This study aimed to trace the rich history of ENT through the specialty's use of light.

Technology and ENT

“…One constant need to allow good surgery to be undertaken is illumination. Mozaffari and colleagues review how advances in light technology have shaped the development of ENT 1 . They describe early methods of illumination that utilised light from the sun and from candles, and bring this up to the present day where we depend on high-powered illumination to facilitate the use of our operating lights, headlights, endoscopes and operating microscopes.…”

Nuevos enfoques en Otorrinolaringología: Aplicación de la tecnología, terapias mínimamente invasivas y mejoras en la calidad de vida del paciente

“…Los avances científicos ayudan a curar las enfermedades con mayor rapidez, no solo por la evolución de nuevos métodos y técnicas, sino también por el desarrollo y la invención de nuevos dispositivos médicos. No obstante, "los ciclos de invención y demanda de nuevos dispositivos generalmente son engorrosos; la mayoría de estas nuevas piezas de última generación pueden no ser tan útiles o rentables, a pesar de que muchos se están introduciendo de manera inevitable" (Mozaffari, Fishman, & Tolley, 2016).…”