History of the development of choledochoscopy

In 1923, Bakes invented the laryngoscope-like “choledochoscope”, which is recognized as the earliest form of choledochoscope.
In 1930, Barlet successfully inserted a cystoscope into his gallbladder.
In 1941, McLver published a rigid choledochoscope designed jointly with WappLer, but this scope could only observe but not treat, so it was not paid much attention by later generations, as shown in Figure 1.
In 1965, the American doctor Shore and ACMI Company successfully developed the optical fiber choledochoscope, that is, the soft choledochoscope, as shown in Figure 2.
China’s fiber choledochoscopy technology began in 1978, although the start was late, but the latter came first, invented the famous “comet sign”, and reached the world’s advanced level in terms of the number of cases and technical level.