The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 09, 1999
Filed:
Jun. 16, 1997
German Borodulin, San Francisco, CA (US);
Gary E Leach, Rowland Heights, CA (US);
Alexander Shkolnik, San Carlos, CA (US);
Abstract
A cystoscope of the invention comprises a main portion (10) and a tubular sheath (12, 110) that carries on its distal end a balloon (22, 114, 214) inflatable from the outer side of the cystoscope for spreading apart the prostate lobes in the prostatic part of the urethra and thus improving conditions for observation and operation on the prostate. The invention also provides a cystoscope convertable into a resectoscope which consists of a sheath (12, 110) and an outer sleeve (112), slidingly guided over the sheath. On the outer side of its distal portion, the sliding outer sleeve (112) carries an inflatable balloon (114) which is connected to an air-feed tube (118) located inside the sheath. The outer sleeve is connected to an inner sleeve (116) which slides inside the sheath. The distal end face (110b) of the sheath is inclined at an acute angle to accommodate the inclined optical portion of the cystoscope, whereas the distal end face (116a) of the inner sleeve is arranged substantially at 90.degree. to the longitudinal direction of the instrument to define the resectoscopic end of the instrument. Thus, the instrument is inserted once and can be used both for observation and operation by shifting the inner sleeve forward or backward and replacing the optical system, thus converting the instrument into a resectoscope or a cystoscope. At the same, time, by supplying air into the balloon (114) via the air-feed tube (118), which also functions as a pusher for the moveable part of the instrument, it is possible to inflate the balloon (114) and thus to move the prostate lobes apart and to improve observation conditions in the operation site.