1921

1920-1922

The treatment of colloid cysts has evolved rapidly since the first successful excision of a colloid cyst via the transcortical transventricular approach by Walter Dandy in 1921 ¹⁾. This was followed closely by a transcallosal approach by Greenwood in 1949 ²⁾.

German physician Saemisch introduced compound lens magnication to medicine in 1876. In the early part of the 20th century, Carl Nylen, a 30-year-old Swedish otolaryngologist, inspired by Maier and Lion’s observations of endolymph movement, conceived and built the world’s first operative microscope. In 1921 he used his monocular microscope for humans for the first time in a case of chronic otitis media. Gunnar Holmgren, Nylen’s chief at the Stockholm clinic, improved on Nylen’s monocular design and attached a light, creating the first binocular surgical microscope in 1922. The original surgical microscopes were crude, usually requiring fixation to the bony structures of the skull ³⁾.