ABSTRACT
Until comparatively recent years, major operations have usually involved making a large incision through the body wall in order to expose the diseased or damaged organ or tissues and to enable the surgeon to deal with the underlying condition. Advances in technology in other fields of science have enabled surgeons to devise new, more effective and less aggressive methods of treatment. By 1913, Hugh Young, surgeon of Boston in the United States, had devised a cystoscope with a punch attachment, which allowed the surgeon to excise the protruding portion of an enlarged prostate cystoscopically under direct vision. Fibre optic surgical instruments were first taken up by gynaecologists, who were already familiar with the use of the rigid metal instruments for procedures such as tubal surgery. An extraordinary development is taking place in the surgery of major blood vessels with the development of intravascular stenting.
