ABSTRACT
The development of the microscope in 1676 by Antonie Leeuwenhoek has had a significant impact on our healthcare development. The continued developments within the microscopy field are an exciting journey in itself. The saying that “seeing is believing” is certainly true. It was a revolution when we could see how a bacteria looked like. Seeing into a specific cell and into the cell nucleus from our body defined another dimension of knowledge. The newest developments in microscopy with the STED microscope are continuing a fantastic development.
Diagnosis and therapy are coming closer, and many new techniques are developing in the operating room to be used for real-time analysis of surgery results. There are also developments where the diagnostic equipment can be integrated with a therapy unit, making it possible to follow therapy development in real time.
The 20th century was, to a great extent, focused on technological developments but with a clear clinical focus.
In the 21st century, the questions very much came from clinical issues waiting to be resolved. The development pace increased, and technology became a natural pilar of medicine. Many new treatment methods came into clinical practice and led to considerable improvements when it came to the survival of many from common heart diseases. Another disease where survival as well as improved diagnostic and treatment took a giant jump forward is within the cancer field. Today, approximately 50 of the people who get a cancer diagnosis will survive. This was not the case when I worked at the Oncology Department’s Radiotherapy Section at the University Hospital in Lund, Sweden. We treated patients with all types of cancer, and very few of them survived longer than some months. In fact, very few of them survived longer than a year. Breast cancer patients were excluded, as they were, most of the time, radically operated on and only had radiation therapy after their operation.
