Method and apparatus for tracking insertion depth

摘要

Methods and apparatus for tracking insertion depth of endoscopes are described herein. One method for determining endoscopic insertion depth within a body is to utilize a fully instrumented endoscope configured to determine its depth of insertion. Another method uses a datum device which interacts with the endoscope to determine how much of the endoscope has passed by a reference boundary. A fully instrumented endoscope can poll the status of the entire endoscope and then determine its position relative to anatomical boundaries, e.g., the anus. The polled information is obtained by sensors or transponders located along the length of the endoscope. When using an endoscope with a datum, the datum can read positional information by polling the status of sensors or transponders located along the body of the endoscope as the endoscope passes through the anus. The datum can be affixed to the patient or to another fixed reference point.