Medical endoscope is a common medical equipment, through which the operator can directly observe the tissue morphology of internal organs, and can also clamp part of the tissue out for biopsy when needed in diagnosis, which is a reliable tool for medical diagnosis. The invention and development of endoscope has gone through a long process, which can be roughly divided into three stages: rigid endoscope stage, optical fiber endoscope stage, electronic endoscope stage.
The rigid endoscope was first invented by Philipp Bozzini, a doctor in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1806, when it was called a light guide, and the scope of application was also relatively narrow for bladder and urethra examination. It was cased in a metal tube with internal components such as prisms, lenses, and reflectors, and used candlelight for illumination. However, this rigid endoscope has low illumination, unclear images, many blind spots for observation, and poor diagnostic results. For patients, rigid endoscopes often cause great pain due to the difficulty of inserting them into the body cavity.
Edison invented the light bulb, so that the endoscope has a great development, Rosenhein invented the rigid endoscope by three tubes were set in concentric circles, the center tube for the optical structure, the second layer of the lumen is installed with platinum wire ring made of bulbs and water-cooled structure, the outer wall is engraved with a scale reaction to the depth of entry into the mirror. Elsner improved the Rosenhein type gastroscope by adding a rubber tip at the front end for guidance, but the inability to observe the lens when it is dirty has become a major drawback.......
While endoscopes are full of flaws and inconveniences, the invention of medical products is often accompanied by scientific and technological development. British physicists Hopkins and Kapany invented fiber-optic technology, which led to the innovation and development of endoscopes.
Hirschowitz showed the first fiber-optic gastroduodenoscope he invented at the American Gastroscopy Association. This is a fiber-optic fiber as a light guide and image transmission elements, the use of external strong cold light source illumination, good light guide, but also for video, photography. As the optical fiber is a flexible element, and in the lens part of the bending mechanism, you can control the direction of its bending, easy to insert into the human body, undoubtedly reduces the patient's pain, and become a real soft medical device products.
The birth of the charge-coupled device (CCD), not only can sense light, but also the image can be converted into digital signals, and further prolonged the invention of endoscopy. 1983, the United States Welch Allyn company invented the world's first electronic endoscopy, and applied to clinical. Electronic endoscopes are mainly composed of endoscopes and light sources, video processing centers, video display systems, image and patient data recording systems and ancillary equipment, the most important feature is the use of CCD components will be observed in the object image by the conversion of optical signals into electrical signals, and then transmitted to the video center for processing, to achieve the purpose of the final display.
Electronic endoscopes have richer functions than fiber-optic endoscopes, which is undoubtedly a great progress of endoscopes. With the development of science and technology, all kinds of advanced technology are penetrating into medicine, and so far the development and application of endoscopy is still unabated, ultrasonic endoscopy, laser endoscopy, three-dimensional endoscopy, capsule endoscopy and so on, and these inventions and products which are in line with the times have provided a powerful service for human medicine.
And, with the advancement of technology, many medical endoscopes are not only used for medical diagnosis, but have been gradually incorporated into the treatment system, in addition to endoscopic foreign body removal, endoscopic hemostasis and other "minor surgery", in the esophageal stent placement, gastrointestinal polyps and early tumor resection, etc., the endoscopes can also be used to show their skills.