The present disclosure relates generally to devices and methods for use in conjunction with an endoscope for performing laparoscopic surgical procedures. In particular, techniques for heating the distal end of an endoscope are disclosed to avoid from fogging of or defog optical elements of the endoscope during surgery.
Laparoscopic surgery is a minimally invasive alternative to conventional “open” surgeries and provides the benefits of reducing post-operative pain, decreasing hospital stays and periods of disability, and lowering costs for both hospitals and patients. Generally, these procedures utilize an endoscope to view interior areas in the body that would not otherwise be visible, allowing access to desired locations within a patient's body. Over 7.5 million laparoscopic surgeries are performed worldwide each year in a variety of interventional and diagnostic procedures, including cholecystectomy, appendectomy, bariatric surgeries, gynecological surgeries, and urological surgeries for example.
During the laparoscopic surgery, the abdomen of the patient is typically inflated with a gas, e.g. carbon dioxide, to provide sufficient operation space to ensure adequate visualization of the structures and manipulation of instruments. A typical laparoscope features an elongated shaft with an objective lens located at the distal end. During the surgical procedure, the distal portion of the laparoscope is inserted into a patient's body while the proximal portion of the laparoscope remains outside the body to allow manipulation by the surgeon. However, the inner environment of patient's abdomen is usually warm and humid relative to the ambient environment. Thus, when the laparoscope is inserted into a patient, fogging of the objective lens may occur due to temperature and/or humidity differences between the ambient environment and the patient's body. In addition, it is sometimes necessary to supply water or air to the body cavity to remove foreign matter. The addition of water or air to the body cavity may lower the temperature of the objective lens, creating conditions that may contribute to lens fogging.
Conventional approaches to laparoscope fogging may require the surgeon to remove the instrument from the body cavity and warm the distal end to defog the lens. For example, hot water may be used to warm the lens. The surgeon may then clean the lens by wiping it with a cloth. As will be appreciated, these operations increase the amount of time required to complete the procedure, particularly if the defogging operation needs to be repeated. Further, withdrawing and reinserting the laparoscope may elevate the risk of introducing infectious materials into the patient's body or cause additional trauma.
Correspondingly, what has been needed, therefore, is an endosope heater and method of heating endoscope for anti-fogging on the lens. The endoscope heater is an accessary element for endoscope which is detachable, easy-use, and no need to be removed from patient's body to defog during surgery.
This disclosure includes an endoscope heater, which may have an elongated body configured to be attached to an endoscope shaft, wherein a surface of the body conforms to an outer profile of the endoscope shaft, a heating element disposed on the body and a power supply electrically coupled to a controller, wherein the controller operates the heating element.
In one aspect, the body may have a transverse axis with a radius of curvature to conform to the outer profile of the endoscope shaft. At least a portion of the body may define an interior diameter of greater than 180°. The endoscope heater may also have a retaining element configured to be attached to the endoscope shaft. Alternatively, at least a portion of the body may form a lumen through which the endoscope shaft may be advanced.
In one aspect, the body may be mounted to a substrate and the substrate may have a transverse axis with a radius of curvature to conform to the outer profile of the endoscope shaft. At least a portion of the substrate may define an interior diameter of greater than 180°. The endoscope heater may also have a retaining element configured to be attached to the endoscope shaft. Alternatively, at least a portion of the substrate may form a lumen through which the endoscope shaft may be advanced.
In one aspect, the endoscope heater is configured to be releasably attached to the endoscope.
In one aspect, the controller may be configured to maintain the heating element at a predetermined temperature.
In one aspect, the endoscope heater may also have a temperature sensor. Alternatively or in addition, the heating element may function as a temperature sensor.
In one aspect, the heating element may have a pattern formed from at least two materials.
This disclosure is also directed to a method for performing a procedure with an endoscope. The method may include providing an endoscope having an attached endoscope heater with an elongated body secured to a shaft of the endoscope, wherein a surface of the body conforms to an outer profile of the endoscope shaft, a heating element disposed on the body and a power supply electrically coupled to a controller, operating the controller to energize the heating element to warm the endoscope above ambient temperature and introducing the endoscope with the endoscope heater into a patient's body.
In one aspect, the controller may be operated to energize the heating element after introduction of the endoscope with the endoscope heater into the patient's body to avoid from fogging.
In one aspect, a temperature of the endoscope may be sensed, such that the controller receives feedback regarding the sensed temperature and selectively energizes the heating element to maintain a predetermined temperature.
In one aspect, the endoscope heater may be secured to the endoscope prior to operating the controller to energize the heating element to warm the endoscope above ambient temperature.
In one aspect, the endoscope heater may be detached from a first endoscope and secured to a second endoscope.
Further features and advantages will become apparent from the following and more particular description of the preferred embodiments of the disclosure, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and in which like referenced characters generally refer to the same parts or elements throughout the views, and in which:
At the outset, it is to be understood that this disclosure is not limited to particularly exemplified materials, architectures, routines, methods or structures as such may vary. Thus, although a number of such options, similar or equivalent to those described herein, can be used in the practice or embodiments of this disclosure, the preferred materials and methods are described herein.
It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments of this disclosure only and is not intended to be limiting.
The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure and is not intended to represent the only exemplary embodiments in which the present disclosure can be practiced. The term “exemplary” used throughout this description means “serving as an example, instance, or illustration,” and should not necessarily be construed as preferred or advantageous over other exemplary embodiments. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the exemplary embodiments of the specification. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the exemplary embodiments of the specification may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the novelty of the exemplary embodiments presented herein.
For purposes of convenience and clarity only, directional terms, such as top, bottom, left, right, up, down, over, above, below, beneath, rear, back, and front, may be used with respect to the accompanying drawings. These and similar directional terms should not be construed to limit the scope of the disclosure in any manner.
Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one having ordinary skill in the art to which the disclosure pertains. Notably, aspects of this disclosure are described in the context of an endoscope used to perform a laparoscopic procedure. However, different terms may be employed for procedures depending on the location of interest. As illustrations, endoscopy may refer to visualization of the digestive tract, colonoscopy may refer to visualization of the colon, arthroscopy may refer to visualization of a joint, laparoscopy may refer to visualization of the anatomy within the abdomen, thoracoscopy may refer to visualization of the anatomy within the chest, urethroscopy may refer to visualization of the urinary tract, bronchoscopy may refer to visualization of the respiratory tract, and other terms may be used depending on where the procedure is performed. Similarly, the instrument used for visualization may also be named in accordance with the location being viewed, using terms such as a gastroscope, pharyngoscope, laryngoscope, laparoscope, colonoscope. It should be appreciated that the techniques of this disclosure may be applied in conjunction with any instrument having an optical lens used to visualize the interior of a patient's body. Therefore, as used herein, the term “endoscope” is meant to include any viewing device or medical telescope that is inserted into the body of a subject and used to view internal structures.
Finally, as used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms “a, “an” and “the” include plural referents unless the content clearly dictates otherwise.
Referring to
A partial cross sectional view of the heating element 1 without the endoscope 2, taken along line A-A in
In another embodiment, as shown in
As shown, the heating element 11 may be formed at one end of the body 10. Correspondingly, the heating element 11 may be positioned so that it is adjacent the distal end 211 of the endoscope 2. Thus, the heat generated by the heating element 11 may more readily increase the temperature around the distal end 211 of the endoscope 2, including the lens 17. Alternatively, the heating element 11 may be deployed longitudinally along the body 10 and be configured to distribute heat substantially evenly along the shaft 21.
Referring back to
The heating circuit of the controller 12 may be designed to control the heating element 11 to ramp up to a desired temperature according to the intended use. For example, the heating circuit controls the heating element 11 to approach and then maintain a predetermined temperature ranging from about 33° C. to 41° C.
The endoscope heater 1 may also include a temperature sensor 24 electrically connected to the controller 12 by conductors 22. The sensor 24 can be placed in a variety places of the endoscope heater 1 to coordinate with predetermined thermal control. As shown in
The power supply 13 may be electrically connected to the heating element 11 as noted above and may be a battery or a AC converter as desired. In addition, the endoscope heater 1 may also include a switch 25 electrically coupled to the heating circuit to actuate the heating element 11.
In use, the endoscope heater 1 may be attached to the endoscope 2. The operator powers on the heating element 11 to ramp up to a predetermined temperature in a range of about 33° C. to 41° C., before surgery. The controller 12 may power off heating the heating element 11 when the temperature is above the predetermined temperature, e.g. 41° C., to maintain the lens 17 at the desired temperature. During surgery, the sensor 24 may detect a change of temperature and transmit the signal to the controller 12. The controller 12 then reenergizes the heating element 11 to provide heat when the temperature falls below the predetermined temperature. Alternatively, the sensor 24 may be omitted to save expense and the controller 12 simplified to energize the heating element 11 continuously. By employing an endoscope heater 1 having the features of this disclosure, an endoscope, such as the endoscope 2, may be warmed above the temperature of the ambient environment so that when introduced into the patient, the temperature differential between the endoscope 2 and the patient's body cavity may be minimized, avoiding the tendency of lens 17 fogging. Moreover, the ant-fogging effect may be maintained through use of the controller 12 to monitor and keep the temperature of the endoscope 2 in a desired temperature range as described above.
It is generally desirable to have the body 10 attach securely to the endoscope 2 so that it is not dislodged during introduction into the patient's body as well as to improve the transfer of heat from the heating element 11. As shown in
In the embodiment shown in
In another aspect, the body 10 may have a tubular configuration as shown schematically in cross section in
To help illustrate another aspect of this disclosure,
In another embodiment as shown in
Described herein are certain exemplary embodiments. However, one skilled in the art that pertains to the present embodiments will understand that the principles of this disclosure can be extended easily with appropriate modifications to other applications.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/221,860 for “ENDOSCOPE HEATER AND METHOD OF HEATING,” filed Sep. 22, 2015, the contents of which are incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/US16/52882 | 9/21/2016 | WO | 00 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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62221860 | Sep 2015 | US |