Fiberoptic endoscopy is used in human medicine in the field of gastroenterology and pulmonary disease. The fiberoptic endoscope permits the operator to see and work within the human body without having to cut into the body from outside. A fiberoptic endoscope is essentially a long flexible conduit having parallel, adjacent channels or tubes. The endoscope, or flexible conduit is inserted into the body through, for instance, the mouth opening. Some of the tubes within the conduit contain treated spun glass fibers through which light can be transmitted around bends. Suction, air and water can be applied through other channels. Additionally, a tube or channel within the endoscope can receive any one of a variety of accessory instruments. These accessory instruments consist essentially of a thin long flexible cable up to seven feet in length, having a forward, or tip, end to be inserted into the body and an end which remains outside the body. A wide assortment of accessory instruments is now available to biopsy, wash, brush, coagulate, snare, cut, and retrieve various lesions and conditions. The tip end of the instruments may have mechanisms operated from a handle at the opposite end. Such mechanisms include, variously, biopsy forceps, scissors, brushes, snares, catheters, clamps and other mechanisms.
The accessory instruments are inserted and used selectively in the endoscope, and when not in use are stored outside the instrument.
The present methods of accessory instrument storage are makeshift systems which are merely developed by the medical assistants in each laboratory. These are usually either one of two types.
In the first type, the equipment is simply hung from wall pegs. This method has several disadvantages including sloppy housekeeping, tangling of instruments, breakage of tips, and difficulty in finding the proper instrument in a dimmed endoscopic operating room. Furthermore, the accessory instruments are difficult to transport and must be loosely coiled up on the portable endoscopy cart.
In the second storage method generally used, the accessories are coiled and enclosed in manilla or plastic envelopes. This has the disadvantage of great difficulty in finding the appropriate instrument during an endoscopic examination in a dimmed room. Additionally, there is no ability for the equipment to air-dry. Also, there is tattering of the manilla envelope or the polyvinyl envelope, and breakage of the equipment.
The average cost of each accessory instrument is very high. The accessories are delicate and fragile instruments with high breakage and replacement rate. The typical gastrointestinal endoscopic suite has thousands of dollars invested in accessory instruments, with a substantial annual replacement and repair cost. Yet, the equipment is stored by methods which are most inefficient and, as noted, such methods contribute significantly to equipment deterioration and breakage.