Flexible endoscopes in thoracoscopic surgery.
Standard endoscopes for laparoscopy and thoracoscopy are rigid telescopes with a direction of view of 0 degree or 30 degrees. Because of the rigidity of the chest, a hybrid version combining a flexible and a rigid scope offers a possibility for a good view of the whole thoracic cavity. However, the image quality is inferior to that of rigid endoscopes.
Lüdtke
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Olympus Optical Co. (Europa) GmbH, Hamburg, Germany.
D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D013525:Surgical Instruments; D020708:Thoracoscopes