Page 17 - Clinical Manual of Small Animal Endosurgery

Rigid Endoscopy 5

When only one telescope is being purchased, a long (30 cm) 2.7 mm
scope is preferred. This long endoscope, often called the universal or
multipurpose telescope, can be used for numerous endoscopic tech-
niques. When choosing a scope, it is also important to check its compat-
ibility with ancillary equipment purchased from another manufacturer.
Older rigid endoscopes are not suitable for sterilising other than by
soaking in a proprietary cold sterilising solution or by exposure to eth-
ylene oxide gas. Newer scopes have been manufactured to allow them
to be sterilised in an autoclave. However, care must be taken to use the
correct cycle (typically 121° rather than 134°). Additionally, bench-top
autoclaves used in veterinary practices heat up and cool down very
rapidly, which may damage even those scopes designed to be autoclav-
able. For this reason, many clinics choose to use cold sterilisation. Vari-
ously using sterilising solutions and autoclaving is not recommended
because this may damage the seals on the equipment.

Video system

Although endoscopic images can be observed directly through the eye-
piece (oculus), video systems are preferable for most applications of rigid
endoscopy, as they allow the operator to work more comfortably, to see
a magnified image and to benefit from the help of assistants. Further-
more, with a video system there is the possibility of documenting the
procedure and using it for educational purposes.
An endoscopic video camera system consists of camera head with
integrated video cable (Fig. 1.5), camera control unit (CCU; Fig. 1.6)
and monitor.

Fig. 1.5 Camera head with integrated video cable. This model is suitable
for sterilising by soaking but not by autoclaving.