Balloon endoscope and methods of manufacture and use thereof

1. A balloon endoscope comprising:

an endoscope body having a camera and an illuminator located at a forward end thereof,

said endoscope body defining a selectably pressurizable non-expandable interior volume, which generally fills the interior of said endoscope body and communicates with a leak test port,

said interior volume having an instrument channel and an illumination facilitating bundle extending therethrough and communicating with said illuminator,

said endoscope body including a bending section at a forward portion of said endoscope body, said bending section comprising:

a reinforcement mesh operative to maintain the interior volume at said bending section against collapse during bending thereof, said reinforcement mesh permitting fluid communication thereacross between said interior volume and an outside of said endoscope body; and

a bending rubber sheath retrofitted over and surrounding a portion of said reinforcement mesh and having formed therein at least one aperture; and

a selectably inflatable balloon retrofitted over said bending rubber sheath and defining a sealed balloon volume externally of said endoscope body in between said bending rubber sheath and said selectably inflatable balloon, which sealed balloon volume communicates with said selectably pressurizable non-expandable interior volume through said reinforcement mesh and through said at least one aperture for selectable inflation of said balloon by selectable pressurization of said selectably pressurizable non-expandable interior volume via said leak test port, thereby effecting selectable pressurization of said balloon volume through said reinforcement mesh and said at least one aperture.

2. A balloon endoscope according to claim 1 and also including a fluid flow discriminator at a forward portion of said selectably pressurizable non-expandable interior volume which prevents passage of liquid but permits passage of gas therethrough.

3. A balloon endoscope according to claim 1 and also comprising a balloon inflation/deflation control system communicating with said selectably pressurizable non-expandable interior volume and with said selectably inflatable balloon and being operative to provide automatic leak testing of at least one of said selectably pressurizable non-expandable interior volume and said selectably inflatable balloon.

4. A balloon endoscope according to claim 3 and wherein said balloon inflation/deflation control system has at least two modes of operation including:

a positive pressure leak testing mode; and

a negative pressure leak testing mode.

5. A balloon endoscope according to claim 1 and wherein said selectably inflatable balloon comprises:

generally cylindrical rearward and forward ends having a fixed inner cross-sectional radius R 1 ;

a central cylindrical portion having a fixed inner cross-sectional radius R 2 , when inflated to a nominal pressure, slightly in excess of atmospheric pressure; and

circularly symmetric tapered portions extending between said central cylindrical portion and each of said rearward and forward ends, whose inner radius changes from R 2 to R 1 where:

cos(Alpha) is approximately equal to r/R 2;

r is the inner radius of said balloon at a given location between said central cylindrical portion and one of said rearward and forward ends; and

Alpha is the angle between a tangent to said balloon at said given location and a longitudinal axis of symmetry of said balloon.

6. A balloon endoscope according to claim 1 and wherein said selectably inflatable balloon is generally coextensive with said bending rubber sheath.

7. A method for balloon endoscopy comprising:

providing an endoscope including an endoscope body having a camera and an illuminator located at a forward end thereof, said endoscope body defining a selectably pressurizable non-expandable interior volume, which generally fills the interior of said endoscope body and communicates with a leak test port, said interior volume having an instrument channel and an illumination facilitating bundle extending therethrough and communicating with said illuminator, said endoscope body including a bending section at a forward portion of said endoscope body, said bending section including a reinforcement mesh operative to maintain the interior volume at said bending section against collapse during bending thereof, said reinforcement mesh permitting fluid communication thereacross between said interior volume and an outside of said endoscope body, and a bending rubber sheath retrofitted over and surrounding a portion of said reinforcement mesh and having formed therein at least one aperture, and a selectably inflatable balloon retrofitted over said bending rubber sheath and defining a sealed balloon volume externally of said endoscope body in between said bending rubber sheath and said selectably inflatable balloon, which sealed balloon volume communicates with said selectably pressurizable non-expandable interior volume through said reinforcement mesh and through said at least one aperture;

selectably inflating said selectably inflatable balloon by selectable pressurization of said selectably pressurizable non-expandable interior volume via said leak test port through said reinforcement mesh and said at least one aperture.

8. A method for balloon endoscopy according to claim 7 and wherein said selectably inflating comprises enabling passage of gas but not liquid between said selectably pressurizable non-expandable interior volume and said selectably inflatable balloon.

9. A method for balloon endoscopy according to claim 7 and wherein said selectably inflating comprises providing automatic leak testing of at least one of said selectably pressurizable non-expandable interior volume and said selectably inflatable balloon.