Fiberscope

From ArticleWorld

A fiberscope is any tubular fiber optic bundle that is generally flexible and has both a lens for inspecting something inaccessible and an eyepiece for the actual visualization of the area viewed in the lens.

Types

Fiberscopes used in medicine generally are flexible and are attached via a wide angle lens to a camera or video recorder. While the operator runs the fiberscope, the options to take specific pictures or generate an overall video recording exist.

Some scopes are actually relatively or absolutely inflexible and made of steel. They can be used to bore into the abdominal cavity or into the uterus without bending excessively. The limitation to the rigid scope is that only certain views are possible.

Some fiberscopes can be fitted with long thin additional parts that not only can move things around at the end of the scope but can actually grab and biopsy areas of interest.

Uses

There are many uses for fiberscopes in medicine. Fiberoptic scopes can be used by ear, nose and throat specialists to look inside the nose at the sinus openings, abnormal tissue or look further down into the throat at the vocal cords. Upper GI endoscopy involves using a fiberscope to look into the esophagus, the stomach and sometimes the duodenum for ulcers or other abnormalities. There are specialized sigmoidoscopes or colonoscopes that look into parts of the colon for polyps and other problems. Biopsies and polypectomies are possible with these kinds of scopes.

Scopes that are more rigid are used in laparoscopy so that areas of the abdomen are visualized and instruments can be passed through them in various kinds of abdominal surgery. Fiberscopes can also be used in obstetrics for fetal surgery. A hysteroscope is a fiberscope that can visualize the inside of the uterus and evaluate the uterine lining for malignancies or polyps. A fiberscope can be placed into the space around the uterus to inspect it for masses, fluid or endometriosis.