title: Advances in balloon endoscopes.
abstract: In September 2003, a double-balloon endoscope (DBE) composed of balloons attached to a scope and an overtube was released in Japan prior to becoming available in other parts of the world. The DBE was developed by Dr. Yamamoto (1), and 5 different types of scopes with different uses have already been marketed. In April 2007, a single-balloon small intestinal endoscope was released with a balloon attached only to the overtube as a subsequent model. This article presents a detailed account of the development of these scopes up to the present time.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Graduate School, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8510, Japan, araki.gast@tmd.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Araki
authors.forename: Kiichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsuchiya
authors.forename: Mamoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Watanabe
mesh_terms: D058582:Double-Balloon Enteroscopy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans