Minimally invasive endoscope

Abstract

An endoscope in which a reusable portion is inserted nearly all the way into a hollow, pistol-grip handle of a single-use portion and the protruding part of the reusable portion and an adjacent part of the handle are covered with a flexible and resilient cap. The same cap covers the open end of the handle when the single-use portion is shipped from a manufacturing site. At a user's facility, a health professional tears the pouch, removes the cap from the handle, inserts the reusable portion, and covers the distal end of the reusable portion and an adjacent part of the handle with the same cap. Typically, a remote display connects to the endoscope wirelessly or through a cable, with a connector that fits through a hole in the cap configured to keep fluids from entering around the connector. The wireless transmission preferably uses a proprietary protocol to preserve medical data confidentiality.

1 - 13 . (canceled) 
     
     
         14 . An endoscope comprising:
 a single-use portion comprising an elongated housing that extends along a cannula axis, a fluid hub that extends distally from the housing along the cannula axis, and a cannula that extends distally from the fluid hub along the cannula axis and has an imaging module at a distal end, and a handle that extends from the housing along a handle axis that is transverse to the cannula axis and is hollow and has an open distal end:   wherein said single-use portion further comprises:
 a proximal port at a proximal end thereof, an intermediate port at said fluid hub, and a distal port at the distal end of the cannula; 
 an internal lumen in fluid flow communicating with said proximal, intermediate and distal ports; 
 a first electrical contact inside said hollow handle, at a proximal end thereof, that is operatively connected with said imaging module; 
 a cap that is made of a flexible and resilient material and is configured to removably close said open distal end of the handle; and 
 a sterile pouch enclosing said single-use portion, with the cap closing the open end of the hollow handle; 
   a reusable portion configured for insertion into said hollow handle after said cap is removed from the open end of the hollow handle;   wherein said reusable portion comprises a second electrical contact configured to make electrically with said first electrical contact and further comprises electronics configured to control said imaging module and to receive and process image data from said imaging module through said first and second electrical contacts when the reusable portion is inserted in said hollow handle and provide resulting image data for display; and   said cap is configured to cover the open end of the handle and an adjacent part of the reusable portion after insertion of the reusable portion in the handle to assemble the endoscope.   
     
     
         15 . The endoscope of  claim 14 , wherein the reusable portion received in said hollow handle after manual removal of said cap from the handle has a distal part protruding from the handle along said handle axis such that more than half the length of the reusable portion is within said hollow handle. 
     
     
         16 . The endoscope of  claim 15 , in which the hollow handle is configured to accept more than two thirds of the length of the reusable portion, so that less than one third of the length of the reusable portion protrudes distally from the handle. 
     
     
         17 . The endoscope of  claim 15 , in which the hollow handle is configured to accept more than three quarters of the length of the reusable portion, so that less than one quarter of the length of the reusable portion protrudes distally from the handle. 
     
     
         18 . The endoscope of  claim 14 , further comprising an external processing/display unit having an image display and connected with the reusable portion wirelessly or by cable to receive and display image data from said imaging module. 
     
     
         19 . An endoscope comprising:
 a single-use portion comprising an elongated housing that extends along a cannula axis, a cannula that extends distally from the housing along the cannula axis and has an imaging module at a distal end, and a hollow, funnel-shaped handle that is integral with the housing, extends from the housing along a handle axis that is transverse to the cannula axis, and has an open distal end:   wherein said single-use portion further comprises:
 a proximal port at a proximal end thereof, a distal port at the distal end of the cannula, and an intermedial port between said proximal and distal ports, and; 
 an internal lumen in fluid flow communication with said proximal, intermediate and distal ports; 
   a reusable portion configured for manual insertion of a proximal part thereof into the hollow handle through said open distal end of the handle such that a protruding distal portion of the reusable portion protrudes distally from the handle;   wherein said reusable portion comprises electronics operatively coupled with said imaging module when the reusable portion is inserted in the handle and configured to control said imaging module and to receive and process image data from said imaging module and provide resulting images for display;   wherein said proximal part of the reusable portion is more than half the length of the reusable portion along said handle axis;   a cover made of a flexible and resilient material, configured to fit over the open end of the hollow handle before insertion of the reusable portion in the handle and to cover the protruding part of the reusable portion and an adjacent portion of the handle after insertion of the reusable part in the handle.   
     
     
         20 . The endoscope of  claim 19 , in which the handle is configured to accept more than two thirds of the reusable portion's length such that less than a third of the reusable portion's length protrudes distally from the handle. 
     
     
         21 . The endoscope of  claim 19 , in which the handle is configured to accept more than three quarters of the reusable portion's length such that less than a quarter of the reusable portion's length protrudes distally from the handle.