Endoscopic Illumination Sleeve

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025072723-A1
Application number	US-202318458981-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 30, 2023
Priority date	Aug 30, 2023
Publication date	Mar 6, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

An endoscopic illumination sleeve includes a housing holding a plurality of LED light sources (LEDs) for providing light to respective light fibers, the housing forming a chamber sized for encircling an endoscope shaft. A flexible sleeve is coupled to the housing and including the light fibers, the flexible sleeve adapted to be placed around the endoscope shaft such that a distal end of the sleeve is positioned toward the distal end of the endoscope shaft and the light fibers extend from the housing to the distal end to illuminate a scene. The flexible sleeve and housing are adapted to be secured around the endoscope in a working position for a medical procedure, and to be removable therefrom. A kit may include multiple sleeves providing different lighting capabilities.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An endoscopic illumination sleeve comprising:
a housing holding a plurality of LED light sources (LEDs) for providing light to respective light fibers, the housing forming a chamber sized for encircling an endoscope shaft; and a flexible sleeve coupled to the housing and including the light fibers, the flexible sleeve adapted to be placed around the endoscope shaft such that a distal end of the sleeve is positioned toward the distal end of the endoscope shaft and the light fibers extend from the housing to the distal end to illuminate a scene, wherein the flexible sleeve and housing are adapted to be secured around the endoscope in a working position for a medical procedure, and to be removable therefrom.

2 . The endoscopic illumination sleeve of claim 1 wherein the flexible sleeve is created as a single use item attachable and detachable from the housing.

3 . The endoscopic illumination sleeve of claim 1 wherein the flexible sleeve is made of latex or nitrile.

4 . The endoscopic illumination sleeve of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of LEDs provides light of a different spectrum than at least one of the other LEDs.

5 . The endoscopic illumination sleeve of claim 1 wherein a first one of light fibers has a first numerical aperture and a second one of the light fibers has a second numerical aperture, different from the first numerical aperture.

6 . The endoscopic illumination sleeve of claim 1 wherein the light fibers are glass fiber bundles.

7 . The endoscopic illumination sleeve of claim 1 wherein the light fibers are plastic optical fibers (POFs).

8 . The endoscopic illumination sleeve of claim 7 wherein:
the plastic optical fibers are constructed with plastic selected for use with a fluorescence imaging (FI); and
the flexible sleeve includes a distal faceplate constructed with at least one filter for filtering fluorescence excitation light.

9 . The endoscopic illumination sleeve of claim 1 wherein:
the flexible sleeve includes at least three LEDs; and
at least one of the LEDs provides light outside of the visible spectrum for FI imaging; and
at least another one of the LEDs provides light in the visible spectrum.

10 . The endoscopic illumination sleeve of claim 1 wherein:
the flexible sleeve includes at least three LEDs;
the endoscopic illumination sleeve provides illumination for multi-spectral imaging (MSI);
at least another one of the LEDs provides light in the visible spectrum.

11 . The endoscopic illumination sleeve of claim 1 wherein the distal end of the flexible sleeve is constructed so as not to obstruct a working channel of the endoscope.

12 . The endoscopic illumination sleeve of claim 1 wherein distal end of the flexible sleeve is constructed with elastic material adapted for holding the distal end of the flexible sleeve in a desired position relative to a distal end of endoscope.

13 . The endoscopic illumination sleeve of claim 1 , wherein the distal end of the flexible sleeve is terminated by faceplate.

14 . The endoscopic illumination sleeve of claim 13 , wherein the faceplate is transparent.

15 . The endoscopic illumination sleeve of claim 13 wherein the faceplate comprises at least one of: a dichroic filter and/or a polarization filter.

16 . The endoscopic illumination sleeve of claim 13 , wherein the faceplate is keyed to align with an endoscope on which the flexible sleeve is placed and includes an opening to allow access a working channel of the endoscope.

17 . The endoscopic illumination sleeve of claim 16 , wherein the faceplate includes one of: an opening or door in the faceplate to access a working channel of the endoscope; and an opening wherein the key comprises a distal extension surrounding the opening on the back side of the faceplate keyed to fit in the working channel of the endoscope.

18 . The endoscopic illumination sleeve of claim 13 , wherein the faceplate is keyed to align with an endoscope on which the flexible sleeve is placed and includes multiple filter elements to filter respective regions of the faceplate.

19 . The endoscopic illumination sleeve of claim 13 , wherein:
the faceplate is an annular element that is positioned, when the flexible sleeve is placed in the working position, along a distal face of the endoscope; and the faceplate includes at least one spread lens coupled to at least one of the light fibers.

20 . The endoscopic illumination sleeve of claim 1 , further comprising a wireless transceiver coupled to the LEDs and configured to enable wireless control of the LEDs from an endoscope, camera head, or camera control unit.

21 . The endoscopic illumination sleeve of claim 20 , further comprising an identifier configured for communicating at least an identifying code to an endoscope, camera head, or camera control unit for identifying capabilities and properties of the endoscopic illumination sleeve.

22 . The endoscopic illumination sleeve of claim 1 , wherein the housing includes proximal lenses and/or filters coupled to at least some of the light fibers.

23 . The endoscopic illumination sleeve of claim 1 , wherein the housing includes a plurality of lenses each focusing light from a respective one of the LEDs onto a respective one of the light fibers.

24 . An endoscopic system comprising
an endoscope; and a plurality of endoscopic illumination sleeves, each endoscopic illumination sleeve comprising a housing holding a plurality of LED light sources (LEDs) for providing light to respective light fibers, the housing forming a chamber sized for encircling an endoscope shaft and a flexible sleeve coupled to the housing and including the light fibers, the flexible sleeve adapted to be placed around the endoscope shaft such that a distal end of the sleeve is positioned toward the distal end of the endoscope shaft and the light fibers extend from the housing to the distal end to illuminate a scene, where the flexible sleeve and housing is adapted to be secured around the endoscope in a working position for a medical procedure, and to be removable therefrom; wherein each endoscopic illumination sleeve has a different illumination attribute from the other endoscopic illumination sleeves.

Assignees

• Storz Karl Imaging Inc

Inventors

• Watkiss Kent
• Bormet Jonathan
• Duckett Iii George E

Classifications

• A61B1/0655

  Control therefor · CPC title

• A61B1/00128

  mechanical, e.g. for tubes or pipes · CPC title

• A61B1/00059

  provided with identification means for the endoscope · CPC title

• A61B1/00167

  Details of optical fibre bundles, e.g. shape or fibre distribution · CPC title

• A61B1/0676

  at distal tip of an endoscope · CPC title