Medica 2007: endoscopic advances make the unimaginable possible
3 October 2007
Whether in lab technology, electromedicine or medical IT, the latest
developments are enabling things that seemed unimaginable just a few years
ago.
Take, for example, the latest innovations in imaging, specifically in
endoscopy. The smallest endoscopes have now shrunk to under a millimetre in
diameter, enabling them to be inserted into the most delicate passageways of
the human body. Whether to remove stones from the bile duct or to clear
strictured salivary ducts, the mini endoscope can be used in even the
tiniest of spaces.
The progress made in endoscopy in just a few years is highlighted by the
range of accessories with which a mini endoscope can be fitted relative to
its size. Today’s endoscopes feature light sources, lenses and two working
channels through which, depending on requirements, forceps, a drill, a
brush, a basket or a laser filament can be passed. Each piece of equipment
is less than one millimetre in size — smaller than the diameter of a
matchstick.
Professor Johannes Zenk, an ENT specialist at the University Hospital of
Erlangen, who routinely handles such treasures of the precision and optical
industries, expects these instruments to enable “new discoveries about the
progress of disease.” The method used by Zenk, when he ventures into the
0.5-1.5 mm wide passages of the facial salivary glands with the help of a
micro-endoscope, is known as 'small-caliber endoscopy'.
The ENT endoscopy specialist is particularly interested in the disease
pattern of obstructive sialadenitis, an inflammation of the salivary glands
caused in this case by stones which block the excretory duct of the major
facial salivary gland. It is imperative that such stones are removed.
Zenk turns to endoscopic removal of stones in cases where it is not
possible to break them up from the outside using bundled sound waves. He
uses a mini hand-powered drill to hammer away at the stone until he can
retrieve the fragments with a miniature basket. While Zenk uses an elastic
device to expand strictures caused by other factors, he also uses the drill
to remove tissue. The result of this operation is that more than 80% of
patients remain symptom-free for many years.
Information about new products and exhibitor offerings, including the
latest developments in endoscopy, is also available online before the start
of Medica 2007, the 39th global medical forum and international trade fair
and congress.
For more on Medica, go to www.medica.de
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