PORTABLE ARTHROSCOPE WITH DISPOSABLE PROBE

摘要

A hand-held portable arthroscope has a housing (130) and a disposable cap (76) removably attached to the distal end of the housing (130). A probe (30) which includes a fibre optic image guide (32) and a plurality of optical illuminating fibres (34) is mounted on the cap (76), and is insertable into a body (14) for imaging the internal structure of the body (14). The illuminating fibres (34) extend through the cap (76) and are connected in light communication with a quartz halogen lamp (20) for illuminating the internal body structure being imaged. To gather light from the illuminated internal structure of a body into which the probe (30) has been inserted, a GRIN rod (38) is attached to the distal end (40) of the image guide (32). Focusing optics (98) are mounted in the housing (130) in light communication with the image guide (32). These focusing optics (98) are axially movable within the housing (130) for focusing the image from the image guide (32). Light which passes through the focusing optics (98) enters a camera head (102) which is also mounted in the housing (130). The camera head (102) is in turn electrically connected to a video display device (26,28) for producing an image of the internal structure of the body.