ENDOCRANIAL ENDOSCOPE

摘要

An endoscope particularly suited for endocranial procedures and a method of using the endoscope. In some examples the endoscope is rigid except for a bend/tilt portion near a distal end of a rigid tube that is inserted in a patient's cranium, which distal end is controlled in a degree and direction of tilt with a finger operated controller at the endoscope's handle. Some examples use telescoping tubes that allow customizing the endoscope size for specific procedures. A distal portion of the endoscope can be disposable, supplied in a sterile package for a single procedure, thus taking into account contamination dangers that are particularly high for intracranial and certain other interventions and the fact that it can be difficult or impossible to effectively autoclave heat-sensitive components of certain endoscopes or effectively sterilize them using other techniques.

主权项

1. An endocranial endoscope comprising:
an internally threaded, rigid outer tube having proximal and distal portions; an externally threaded middle rigid tube threaded into the outer tube for relative rotation therewith to thereby telescope between extended and retracted positions; a sleeve sliding in the middle tube between extended and retracted positions relative to the middle tube, and a bias biasing the sleeve to its extended position; a stopper at a distal portion of the sleeve to move therewith relative to the middle tube; an inner tube that has a proximal portion partly in the sleeve and a distal portion that is shaped, dimensioned, and configured for insertion into a patient's cranium; wherein the inner tube has a bend/tilt portion adjacent a distal end thereof, and the sleeve moves relative to the inner tube as the sleeve moves between its extended and retracted positions relative to the middle tube; a suction/irrigation tube sliding in the inner tube between an extended position and a retracted position; an imaging module and an illumination module at a distal end of the inner tube, wherein the illumination module is configured to illuminate a field of view inside the patient's cranium and the imaging module is configured to take and supply images of the field of view for display to a user; a handle configured to be grasped by a user's hand and having a distal portion coupled to a proximal portion of the outer tube, and a proximal portion, said handle comprising:
(i) a suction port coupler and an irrigation port coupler at a proximal portion of the handle,(ii) finger-operated suction and irrigation controller configured to control flow between the suction/irrigation tube and the suction and irrigation ports, respectively,(iii) a finger-operated tilt/bend controller operatively associated with the tilt/bend portion of the inner tube to control direction and degree of tilt/bend thereof; and(iv) a finger-operated extension-retraction controller operatively associated with the suction/irrigation tube to control a degree by which a distal end of the suction/irrigation tube protrudes distally from the inner tube.