Endoscope

endoscope

[′en·də‚skōp]

(medicine)

An instrument used to visualize the interior of a body cavity or hollow organ.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Endoscope

 

a medical instrument for the examination of hollow organs (for example, the esophagus, stomach, and bronchi) and the abdominal and other body cavities. Endoscopes have optical and illumination systems. There are two basic types: rigid endoscopes (for example, proctoscopes), which use optical systems of lenses, and flexible fiberscopes (for example, esophago-gastroscopes), which use fiber optics. Fiberscopes make possible the examination of organs that cannot be seen with rigid endoscopes (for example, the duodenum). The optical systems of flexible endoscopes consist of numerous glass fibers (light guides), which measure 0.01–0.02 mm in diameter.

The use of endoscopes not only has made possible the examination of various organs but also has aided greatly in the visual guiding of biopsy procedures and in surgery (removal of foreign bodies and polyps, coagulation of bleeding vessels). Modern endoscopes permit complication-free examination.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.