Abstract
The era of bronchoscopy began in 1876 with Gustav Killian inserting an esophagoscope into a farmer’s airway to remove a piece of a pork bone. Today that procedure of bronchoscopy has evolved into a super-specialty of interventional pulmonology. Several innovators, scientists, and physicians have made invaluable contribution in bringing the procedure of bronchoscopy to its current eminence. Flexible bronchoscopy has opened the doors for number of minimally invasive procedures improving the welfare of our patients. Interventional pulmonologists and the thoracic surgeons are teaming up to expand and exploit the boundaries of bronchoscopy to innovate safe and cost-effective diagnostic and therapeutic modalities. Today there remains no single pulmonary ailment that cannot be either diagnosed, palliated, or cured with the help of a bronchoscope. In this chapter we describe the odyssey of bronchoscopy, highlighting its historical milestones and current status, and make humble predictions on the future potentials.