Surgery – Endoscope – With chair – table – holder – or other support
Patent
1997-11-06
2000-08-22
Leubecker, John P.
Surgery
Endoscope
With chair, table, holder, or other support
600174, A61B 100
Patent
active
061064564
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
DESCRIPTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a device for examining cavities, in particular, in the bodies of humans and of animals.
2. State of the Art
A device for examining cavities of the type on which the invention is based is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,039,198.
The known generic device is intended for stereoscopic observation of cavities, in particular, in microsurgery, and is provided with a special endoscope comprising two separate, independent endoscope components. Each endoscope component is provided as practically a complete endoscope and has, in a known manner, a light guide for illumination of the cavity as well as a lens for imaging the object field of the cavity, an image transmitter for the lens image and an eyepiece for observation of the transmitted image. Furthermore, a headband, to which the eyepieces of the two endoscope components are attached in such a manner that the eyepieces are positioned in front of the right respectively the left eye of the examining person, is provided as a head holding means. In order to enlarge the stereo base, the distal ends of the two endoscope components are held on a carrier which maintains the necessary distance of the lenses of the two endoscope components.
However, the carrier impedes the entry of the stereo endoscope into the cavity in which the examination respectively the treatment procedure is to be conducted.
However, above all, due to the use of a special endoscope comprising two separate endoscopes, the device known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,039,198 is very complicated.
The aforementioned drawback ought to be the reason that there is no commercially available device for examining cavities constructed according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,039,198.
Furthermore, holding conventional endoscopes on a mechanical holding means, such as by way of illustration a stand or tripod, in order to have the hands free for the treatment procedure is known. This holding means can be designed in such a manner that it simultaneously offers certain protection against damage to the endoscope and, in particular, to a thin endoscope, by way of illustration due to accidentially coming into contact with the image transmitting component.
However, the known mechanical holding means have the disadvantage that the examining person cannot move his/her head without adjusting the holding means, without losing eye contact with the object of examination.
This is especially the case if the endoscope is an ultra thin endoscope, i.e. an endoscope with a diameter of about 1 to 2 mm or less and with an correspondingly small aperture. Such types of endoscopes are needed for a number of examination procedures in technology or in human respectively in animal bodies.
Ultra thin endoscopes are usually flexible endoscopes, in special cases however, they are fabricated as so-called rigid endoscopes.
In any case, the ultra thin endoscopes have to be handled with extreme care due to their small diameter and therefore only little stability. A holding means for ultra thin endoscopes, which distinctly reduces the risk of damage, is hitherto not known.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide a device for examining cavities, in particular, in the bodies of humans or of animals using an endoscope, which permits observation of the cavity with normal, conventional endoscopes without using an expensive special endoscope and without the examining person having to hold the endoscope in his/her hand giving the examining person's head a certain amount of freedom of movement without losing eye contact with the eyepiece.
The invented device is provided with a head holding means on which the eyepiece of the, conventionally designed, endoscope is attached in such a manner that it is positioned in front of the eye of the examining person. Due to the head holding means, the endoscope follows the movements of the examining person's head in such a manner that eye contact is not lost in the eyepiece even if the aperture is small.
An element of the present invention i
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Karl Storz GmbH & Co. KG
Leubecker John P.
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