Rigid Endoscope, A Doctor's Friend
One of the doctor's greatest tools is the rigid endoscope. It is a diagnostic tool that is almost as common as a stethoscope is in the modern office. For all intents a purposes it is a borescope. It just changes names when used in a person or on an animal like a ridgid seesnake is a borescope used on pipes (the type in walls or in the ground, not your “pipes”, that would be an endoscope again). It is a device that gives a doctor or vet a view inside that they would not normally have. In the case of a rigid endoscope it is because it is either too small or too dark. In the case of a flexible endoscope it is because there is not a direct line of sight. The rigid endoscope can be “snaked” back to the area that needs viewing.
The endoscope is a catch all term fore any of the borescopes used in a person or animal but there are many different types and models depending on its use. Each model has its own tools to get its specialized job done. There are bronchoscopes that examine the air passages and the lungs. Then the colonoscopes that examine the colon that is a fun one). Gastroscopes start with the throat but also are used on the stomach and small intestines. Arthoscopes cover the joints. Hysteroscopes are for the uterus but hysterscopes are used as well and has other uses as well, many in men. Cystoscopes are used on the blatter. The use of endoscope, generic called endoscopy, can also be done by swallowing a pill that has a small camera on it. It of course use to see acid reflux or problems through the intestines or colon. The camera records for about 8 hours before it is passed and the camera recovered. When preparing a rigid endoscope or a flexible endoscope a tray is used so that the pieces may be accurately aligned. That tray is then mounted to a stand that sits on the floor. All this is needed because despite being a common diagnostic tool it is also a delicate piece of fiber optic technology.
Not only are these scopes used of diagnostic procedures but also the surgery its self. One big example of this is the hysteroscope. It can be used to enlarge the urethra in both men and women ( a process called tunneling), to give vasectomies or castrations to men, to give tubal ligations in women or used to remove fibroids before the cause infertility. Another procedure, fetoscopy, can be used to exam the fetus. No man need to be told where the will be looking during a proctoscopy. For women they might need a colposcopy. In that procedure the cervix and tissue of the vagina and vulva are checked.
In the wold of modern medicine, fiber optics have become an invaluable tool. It also the patient to go through far less invasive features than the would have just a few years ago. The rigid endoscope, the flexible endoscope, and the pill endoscope each have there place in patient care.
