30, 20, and 10 Years Ago in OPN

“During the last 30 years, modern lasers have gradually penetrated the medical arena, and they are being used for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. At the same time, there has been rapid progress in the development of low-loss optical fibers for communication systems. This served as the basis for the use of optical fibers in medical applications such as endoscopic imaging, fiber optic sensing, and laser power transmission … The outlook is that laser and fiber optic techniques will replace numerous traditional procedures that involve major surgery and thus revolutionize many areas in medicine.”