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The endoscope in medicine is used to examine and study the state of health of the internal organs of a person, as well as to carry out some medical manipulations. This device is introduced into the human body through natural or surgically made holes.
Device characteristics
Based on what exactly the device will be used for in each case, endoscopes are divided into viewing (help to examine the internal systems and organs), operating (help to perform various surgical manipulations), biopsy (help to take biomaterial from the area of the human body being studied) .
All endoscopes are for children and adults. In children’s devices, the surface of the working area is quite small, corresponding to the size of the internal organs in children. Devices are also divided, depending on the method of fixing the information received, which is used in each specific model of the device, for example, photoendoscopes are able to provide the result of the study on film, thanks to their equipment with microphoto cameras, teleendoscopes – on a television screen, film endoscopes – on film, projection models of devices help display the received information on the screen.
By design, endoscopes can be rigid or flexible. Rigid endoscopes are like a small metal tube complete with a light bulb and a magnifying eyepiece. The size in this case is decisive for the high accuracy of the transmitted data (long tubes can distort this data). However, it is impossible to reach distant parts of the body with a short tube, which is a significant disadvantage of rigid endoscopes. In such cases, it is rational to use flexible endoscopes that can bend and thus reach any hard-to-reach places in the human body. For example, in the total diagnosis of the gastrointestinal tract, only flexible models of devices are used. Their disadvantage is the low accuracy of the transmitted image, in comparison with rigid models of devices.
Flexible and rigid endoscopes are used in medical practice, depending on what exactly needs to be checked in the body. Most often in the practice of doctors for various purposes there are rigid endoscopes of such functional subspecies as:
- laparoscope – used for minor surgical interventions in the gynecological area;
- proctoscope – a small thirty-centimeter diagnostic device used in research of the rectum;
- esophagoscope – used to extract large foreign bodies from the esophagus;
- cystoscope – used for retrograde catheterization of the ureters in the urological field.
Flexible endoscopes are divided according to their functional characteristics into:
- gastroscope – used to conduct a biopsy of the organs of the gastrointestinal tract, as well as to determine the presence of bleeding in them and take measures to eliminate them;
- colonoscope – used as an instrument for large-scale examinations of the colon due to its large length (160 centimeters);
- bronchoscope – a device with a small diameter, used to examine the bronchial tree, as well as to eliminate mucous residues from the bronchi after surgical interventions;
- cystoscope – used to detect tumors and stones in the bile ducts, as well as to eliminate them;
- arterioscope – is used as the most important tool for eliminating blood flow problems and for diagnosing the condition of the vascular walls.
Disinfection of the device in question
Before each use, any endoscope, along with other surgical instruments, must necessarily undergo disinfection, which consists of several mandatory steps. Its preliminary cleaning occurs already at the moment when the next procedure using the endoscope ends. All visible dirt is removed from the device in manual mode, the part that was directly used for the examination is washed with soapy water and wiped with a napkin. Be sure to check the device for leakage after each procedure. To do this, it is disconnected from the electrical network, special protective caps are put on the connectors, and the entire endoscope is immersed in a container of water. With the formation of bubbles, a conclusion is made about the violation of the integrity of individual places on the device.
All removable parts from the device are removed and washed in a timely manner, as well as all holes and slots in the endoscope. At the same time, immersion in a soapy solution each time should not last more than 4-5 minutes, after which all parts are carefully worked out with brushes. After manual cleaning, everything is washed with clean water and wiped dry.
Before using the endoscope, it must be disinfected at a higher level, for which hydrogen peroxide, glutaraldehyde or peracetic acid are added to the washing apparatus. Sometimes high-level cleaning is also done manually – all parts are placed in a water tank, and then the disinfectant is added to it. The total soaking time in preparations always depends on the agent that is currently used for disinfection. After the device is thoroughly processed, it is rinsed with clean water and dried. Air blowing is used so that the inside of the appliance can be dried well. Outside, the endoscope is wiped with a towel, and then placed in a special cabinet in an upright position.
Varieties of cameras of medical endoscopes
In addition to structural differences of a general nature, various types of cameras can be installed in modern endoscopes. Typically, devices of this kind are equipped with fiber or lens optics, each of which has its own characteristics, advantages and disadvantages in terms of diagnostics. Optics of a certain plan is selected, based on the purposes for which the endoscope is applicable, and the part of the body where it will be used.
The advantage of the fiber optic part is that it is able to transmit information through a tortuous data path. This feature perfectly helps to cope with endoscopy in the gastrointestinal tract, in the lower respiratory tract or urinary tract. The disadvantage of such optics is the low quality of the information received, which can lead to the fact that the specialist will not see any serious pathologies in the resulting image. Completion of fiber optics is inherent in flexible models of endoscopes today.
Lens optics are usually completed with rigid devices for multiple magnification of an object viewed in the body. Thus, it is very easy to identify the most serious pathological processes at the earliest stages of the disease. This advantage helps lens endoscopes to be used in the diagnosis of various organs. The disadvantage of such models of the devices under consideration is that all images from lens endoscopes are transmitted only along a straight path and they are clearly limited by the distance to a specific organ.
Modern medical practice is unthinkable without certain equipment for diagnostic and manipulation procedures. In this case, endoscopes are a common and very important tool for doctors of various specializations, since they allow not only diagnosing during the procedure, but also taking various material for biopsy, as well as performing some medical (sometimes surgical) manipulations.