Balloon Endoscope Device

Baystate Health, Inc
posted on 03/09/2009

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The invention is an improved tool for endoscopic surgery that provides the surgeon with greater maneuverability and powerful dissection capabilities, particularly useful for surgeries involving small incisions. The device is an endoscope shaft that includes a number of separately inflatable balloon chambers that alone or together with exterior functional channels (e.g., instrument channels, air channels, water channels) circumferentially surround the end of the shaft. This novel configuration of inflatable balloons enables the endoscope to be manipulated in more powerful ways than is currently possible. The device is smaller than conventional endoscopes, and has the ability to safely dissect tissue planes, regardless of the location—subcutaneous, subfascial, intraperitoneal, intrathoracic and intracranial— while allowing the planes to be directly visualized in a video image. Using the instrument channels, the device also has the capability to apply clips, irrigate, suction and to cut vessels in small and inaccessible areas. For most proposed uses, its small diameter and maneuverability allows for near incision-less and potentially scar-free procedures. Although sharing features with other endoscopic devices, this invention is expected to have broader capabilities than other devices now on the market. This device would allow maneuverability that other devices do not provide, particularly for surgery involving small incisions, and may also allow certain endoscopic surgeries to be performed without distending the area to be operated on, which in some cases may avoid the need for general anesthesia. Its applications are varied and include the following: in thoracic surgery, use of this device will avoid the need to deflate and stop ventilation to the side of the lung one is operating on; in abdominal cavity surgeries, pneumoperitoneum (distension of the abdominal wall) can be avoided and thus the need for anesthesia and paralysis would be unnecessary; and in plastic/reconstructive surgery, subcutaneous tissue and fascial planes can be elevated without the need to make large incisions, leading to the possibility of incision-less and thus scar-free cosmetic surgery. Baystate Health, Inc. has filed a U.S. patent application claiming this invention. Baystate Health, Inc. is offering a worldwide exclusive license to this technology.