Endoscopy- The Optic Revolution

With its signature manoeuvrability and its optimal visualisation, it continues to emulate a hallmark deep within the practice of modern medicine. Deeply rooted within the core of the minimally invasive  movement, it conquers the unconquerable, seizing the likes of the most intricate of anatomical structures to the elaborate nature of the intercranial cavity. A methodology that grasps the very interests of the physician while keeping the moral and ethical interests of the impaired at heart. While rapidly establishing itself as both a practical and ethical feat, it has become an increasingly critical part of a the repertoire of the medical practise. Whether rigid and ventriculoscopic or flexible and steerable, endoscopy is the culmination of an optic revolution, rewriting the literature and retraining the technique and tactic of that of the physician. Finding its noble direction into some of the most respected and revered institutions, it establishes itself as a discipline, versatile and compatible, yet restricted and finite. Limited to the hands of those of those pioneering, instigating and practising it, the advent of endoscopy has weel proven the individual capacity of optics and their properties of illumination, resolution and versatility. One that employs a marriage, one of intimate proportions of the prerequisites of minimally invasive practice and the need for maximum manoeuvrability, while leaving surrounding, eloquent structures unscathed. Endoscopy is analogous to that of being a part or component of the landscape rather than a spectator of it. While the boundaries of modern medicine were being ever extended by the advent of the operating microscope, endoscopy was being fabricated and crafted from a simple and trivial, yet critical and decisive principle. To be a part of the anatomical structure, to gain first hand the nature of disease and to execute a successful procedure with as minimal as possible complications. The role of optics can be vividly illustrated through that of the application of lenses to spectacles, to correct and refine vision with a minimally invasive approach. Endoscopy continues to be the mainstay of physicians seeking a minimally invasive approach to some of the most infiltrative and invasive diseases and disorders swarming throughout the anatomy and physiology of the body. To gain unprecedented access with minimal trauma and fluid loss, to establish a radically profound advent of medicine. Endoscopic procedures are sky-rocketing with an exponential rise in the education of physicians, most encouraged by the steep learning curve instigated. An art, a specialty where techniques and protocol are directed towards innovation and medical mastery, one that provokes the flowering of prowess and competence. The immediate and successful progress attained by the endoscopic establishment is questionable, in relation to the innovation that is encouraged. It becomes increasingly and excessively challenging on a technical and cognitive level to formulate innovation where almost all complications have been adressed. It becomes the critical role of the physician, regardless of the extents of their expertise to push the envelope further than ever and establish innovation that produces an impression lasting for an incalculable period. Endoscopy, is essentially an innovative stance within that of optics and the movement for a minimally invasive approach, one that continues to elevate in reputability and credibility with the passing of generations of physicians. The visual and optic factor remains the predominant property of an endoscopic procedure, for it has institutionalised a methodology throughout the practise and the annals of medicine. A flexible yet steerable practise, tangible and accessible, a minimally invasive yet maximally effective approach.