“Hands free for intervention”, a new approach for transoral endoscopic surgery

Abstract

A standard method for transoral diagnostic and dissection of tumour is the endoscopic examination plus microscopic and laser supported surgery. For endoscopic examination a set of rigid endoscopes with different angles of view are on the market and in use. To simplify the diagnostic examination, a first idea was to use an endoscope with flexible angles of view. A further step of this approach is the electrical angulation of the endoscopic view to enable an adaption on the surgery site without using the hands. Thus the hands are free for intervention. This paper shows a first implementation of a prototype of an electrical operated endoscope for a free hand imaging in transoral interventions.

Keywords

• endoscopic surgery
• movable camera
• ear nose and throat (ent)
• transoral
• free hand imaging