Surgery – Endoscope – With camera or solid state imager
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-04
2002-07-30
Leubecker, John P. (Department: 3739)
Surgery
Endoscope
With camera or solid state imager
C600S167000, C600S133000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06425857
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an endoscope, in particular a video endoscope, having an endoscope shaft and having a mount for attaching an optical imaging device, for example a video camera, and having an endoscope housing between the endoscope shaft and the mount, the mount being rotatable relative to the endoscope shaft, via a rotary joint, about the longitudinal axis of the endoscope, an optically imaging arrangement, which is at least partially positionally displaceable by way of an adjusting device for focusing the image transmission, moreover being received in the endoscope housing.
An endoscope of this kind is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,450.
In the field of endoscopy, increasing importance is being gained by those endoscopic systems in which the inspection field or surgical field in the human body that is observable through the endoscope is not observed directly by the operator through the endoscope eyepiece, but rather is made visible by way of an optical imaging device connected to the endoscope, for example a video camera, on an optical reproduction device, for example a monitor.
The endoscopes provided for this kind of use have, for this purpose, a mount at their proximal end for attaching the imaging device.
Various types of mounts, specifically bayonet or threaded mounts, are presently in use. These mounts are subject to standards in order to guarantee good compatibility between the available lens mounts, and the corresponding mounts of the imaging devices.
According to one DIN standard, for example, in the case of a camera lens mount referred to as a “C-mount,” the flange distance, i.e. the distance between the camera's imaging plane and the surface at which the camera housing is mounted on the lens side mount, is defined.
Since the image plane is thus defined in the camera, focusing of the beam path in the lens must be performed.
If a C-mount of this kind is used in an endoscope for the video endoscope, it is therefore necessary to integrate the focusing system, i.e. the system by which the optical image is focused, into the endoscope. For this purpose, an endoscope housing, in which an optically imaging arrangement (generally a lens system) is received, is arranged between the endoscope shaft and the mount. For focusing purposes, the optically imaging arrangement is positionally displaceable via an adjusting device that can be controlled by the operator. The present invention is not, however, limited to a mount of this kind.
In such endoscopes for video endoscopy, it is also necessary for the video camera attached to the endoscope to be rotatable about the longitudinal axis of the endoscope relative to the endoscope shaft, so that in the case of a side-looking optical system, as large a region as possible of the surgical field can be optically detected, and different image locations can appear on the reproduction device. Since the video camera is joined nonrotatably to the mount, this means that the mount must be configured rotatably relative to the endoscope shaft.
In the endoscope known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,450 cited initially, the rotary joint necessary therefor is implemented by the fact that the endoscope housing between shaft and mount is configured in two parts, i.e. has an interruption, the mount being joined nonrotatably to the one housing part, and the endoscope shaft joined nonrotatably to the other housing part.
The endoscope housing is thus open at the joining point between the two housing parts; in the known endoscope, a seal for the interior space of the endoscope housing containing the optically imaging arrangement is effected by way of an O-ring between the two housing parts.
This kind of arrangement of the endoscope cited initially is, however, disadvantageous, since the O-ring seal cannot withstand sterilization conditions in an autoclave over the long term. In an autoclave, the endoscope is sterilized in pressurized and saturated steam at more than 120° C. Signs of wear on the O-ring can occur under these conditions even when a suitable material has been selected for the O-ring, so that following multiple sterilizations in the autoclave, the sealing effect can weaken and moisture can penetrate into the interior space of the endoscope housing; this either results in impairment of the optically imaging arrangement in the endoscope housing, for example due to fogging of the lenses, thus making the endoscope unusable, or at least entails increased maintenance effort.
It is thus the object of the invention to develop an endoscope of the kind cited initially in such a way that the endoscope can withstand the conditions in an autoclave over the long term.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention this object is achieved, in terms of the endoscope cited initially, in that the endoscope housing is configured in continuously hermetically sealed fashion, and that the rotary joint is arranged outside the endoscope housing at said mount.
In contrast to the split configuration of the endoscope housing of the known endoscope mentioned earlier, in the case of the endoscope according to the present invention the endoscope housing is configured in hermetically sealed fashion. “Hermetically sealed” means that no openings or interruptions sealed with sealing elements, such as joints, are provided in the endoscope housing. The interior space of the endoscope housing is thus completely hermetically sealed with respect to the exterior in terms of contamination, so that even when sterilization with steam in an autoclave occurs, no moisture at all can penetrate into the interior space of the endoscope housing. The hermetically sealed endoscope housing can be of one-piece or multi-piece configuration. In the case of a multi-piece configuration, the various pieces are joined in immovable and sealing fashion to one another, for example by welding, soldering, or the like, in order to meet the conditions of hermetic sealing tightness of the endoscope housing. The endoscope according to the present invention thus withstands the conditions in an autoclave over the long term, since no seals (such as O-rings) that can weaken over time are used. Provision is also made, according to the present invention, for the rotary joint necessary for rotatability of the mount relative to the endoscope shaft to be configured outside or beyond the sealed housing. In contrast to the known endoscope, the rotary joint is thus not integrated into the endoscope housing in the form of a two-part configuration thereof, thus achieving the advantage that the sealing tightness of the endoscope housing is not impaired by the rotary joint.
The underlying object of the invention is completely achieved in this fashion.
In a further embodiment, the rotary joint is arranged in the region of the proximal end of the endoscope housing.
The fact that the rotary joint is arranged at the proximal end of the endoscope housing yields the advantage that the image transmission systems arranged in the endoscope shaft and the endoscope housing can be configured nonrotatably with respect to one another, since only the mount, which usually does not itself contain any imaging system, is rotatable. Imaging defects possibly caused by rotation of the image transmission systems relative to one another are thereby advantageously prevented.
In a further preferred embodiment, the mount has at its distal end a sleeve that is arranged circumferentially and mounted rotatably on the endoscope housing.
This feature creates, in an advantageously mechanically simple manner, a rotary joint configured outside the sealed endoscope housing that in no way impairs the sealing tightness of the endoscope and that is easily operated by the operator; the advantage is additionally created that the endoscope is axially short, since the sleeve partially axially encloses the endoscope housing.
In a further preferred embodiment, the endoscope housing is joined nonrotatably to the endoscope shaft.
This feature has the advantage that when the camera is rotated relative to the endoscope shaft, the
Kehr Ulrich
Rudischhauser Jürgen
Karl Storz GmbH & Co. KG
Leubecker John P.
St. Onge Steward Johnston & Reens LLC
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