ABSTRACT
In 1962 I developed the concept and instrumentation for soft-tissue microsurgery (1). This work was directed toward endoscopic surgery because of my clinical involvement in this area. Microsurgical techniques had been used in ear surgery since the early 1950s, but most of this effort involved bone microsurgery. In the early 1960s soft-tissue microsurgical techniques were also being developed for anastomosing small blood vessels and for procedures in the eye. Magnification to improve detection of pathological changes in vivo were first used in otology and then in gynecology. This latter application led to the development of clinical colposcopy. In 1960, Kleinsasser (2) used a monocular magnifying microscope with direct laryngoscopy to improve detection of laryngeal pathology. Following my work in soft-tissue microsurgery of the larynx, Kleinsasser became a major proponent of this technique in Europe—contributing new techniques and instrumentation.
