Gastrointestinal Endoscopy - Without Cutting In: Case Histories of Transformational Advances

Posted: 1 Aug 2019 Last revised: 28 Dec 2024

See all articles by Amar Bhide

Amar Bhide

Columbia University - Mailman School of Public Health

Srikant Datar

Harvard University - Accounting & Control Unit

Katherine Stebbins

Harvard University - Business School (HBS)

Date Written: May 31, 2024

Abstract

This case history describes how endoscopy transformed the diagnosis of ulcers, cancerous polyps, and other alimentary canal diseases and enabled “minimally invasive” surgeries to treat such diseases. Specifically, we chronicle how: 1) flexible glass fiber endoscopes developed in the 1950s and 1960s provided the foundation; 2) technical advances – promoted by evangelical innovators – in the 1970s and early 1980s enabled new diagnostic techniques and minimally invasive abdominal surgeries; 3) radical and incremental improvements through the end of the 20th century sustained growth – although they did not enable many new procedures; and, 4) capsule endoscopes containing miniaturized cameras that patients swallowed provided another breakthrough in the first decade of the 21st century.

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment, Technological Innovation, Innovation Strategy, Technology Adoption; Collaborative Innovation and Invention, Innovation and Invention, Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

Suggested Citation

Bhide, Amar and Datar, Srikant and Stebbins, Katherine, Gastrointestinal Endoscopy - Without Cutting In: Case Histories of Transformational Advances (May 31, 2024). Harvard Business School Accounting & Management Unit Working Paper No. 20-005, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3429986 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3429986

Amar Bhide

Columbia University - Mailman School of Public Health ( email )

600 West 168th St., 6th Floor
New York, NY 10032
United States

Srikant Datar (Contact Author)

Harvard University - Accounting & Control Unit ( email )

Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
United States
617-495-6543 (Phone)
617-496-7363 (Fax)

Katherine Stebbins

Harvard University - Business School (HBS) ( email )

Soldiers Field Road
Morgan 270C
Boston, MA 02163
United States

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