The development of urological endoscopy in America

Abstract

This article deals with the history of medicine in American urology, where endoscopy is a very important subject. The development of endoscopy in America unrolled in three phases: the acquisition of European techniques and instruments, realization of the ideas of American researchers, and original creations that forwarded endoscopy considerably. European instruments were acquired in the nineteenth century, culminating in the instruments developed by Max Nitze. When Wappler started the production of endoscopes in 1905, they were the basis for the development of numerous modifications and innovations such as electrosurgery, developed by Beer in 1910, with the Resonator created by Wappler; the resectoscope, invented by Stern and McCarthy in 1931; “cold light” using glass fibers for illumination, described by ACMI in 1960; the flexible fiber ureterorenoscope, described by Marshall in 1960; and fluorescence cystoscopy, introduced by I. M. Bush and W. F. Whitmore in 1964.