Balloon-equipped endoscopic devices and methods thereof

1. An endoscopy system for use in colonoscopy comprising:

an endoscope comprising a detector at a forward portion thereof;

a balloon mounted on said forward portion of said endoscope, said balloon being mounted entirely and completely rearwardly of said detector of said endoscope, said balloon configured for generally circumferentially uniform axial slidable frictional engagement with an interior wall of a colon, at a pressure lower than anchoring pressure, rearwardly of said detector of said endoscope, and axial stretching of said interior wall and unfolding folds in said interior wall of the colon forwardly of said detector at a location viewable by said detector when said endoscope is displaced axially rearwardly along said colon and said balloon slides rearwardly along said colon; and

a balloon inflation subsystem to selectably inflate said balloon, wherein said balloon inflation subsystem comprises:

input controls, said input controls comprising a first user-activated input control to allow a user to select a predetermined anchoring pressure range and a second user-activated input control to allow a user to select a predetermined slidable frictional engagement pressure range; and

a controller, wherein said controller is programmed to:

upon a user selection of said predetermined anchoring pressure range, automatically inflate said balloon to said predetermined anchoring pressure range and maintain said balloon at said predetermined anchoring pressure range; and

upon a user selection of said predetermined slidable frictional engagement pressure range, automatically inflate or deflate said balloon to said selected predetermined slidable frictional engagement pressure range and maintain inflation of said balloon at said selected slidable frictional engagement pressure range when said endoscope is displaced axially rearwardly along said colon and said balloon slides rearwardly along said colon.

2. An endoscopy system according to claim 1 and also comprising visual inspection functionality operative for visual inspection of said interior wall when axially stretched.

3. An endoscopy system according to claim 1 and an endoscope operative for visual inspection of said interior wall when axially stretched.

4. An endoscopy system according to claim 1 and, wherein said predetermined slidable frictional engagement pressure range comprises a pressure range at which said balloon is in generally circumferentially uniform slidable frictional engagement with said interior wall of said colon, and wherein said predetermined anchoring pressure range comprises a pressure range at which said balloon is in anchoring engagement with said interior wall of said colon.

5. An endoscopy system according to claim 4 and wherein said predetermined anchoring pressure range is at least 60 millibars.

6. An endoscopy system according to claim 4 and wherein said balloon inflation subsystem is operative for manual switching between said predetermined slidable frictional engagement pressure range and said predetermined anchoring pressure range at any time during operation thereof.

7. An endoscopy system according to claim 4 and wherein said predetermined slidable frictional engagement pressure range is not higher than 35 millibar.

8. An endoscopy system according to claim 4 and wherein said predetermined slidable frictional engagement pressure range is selected based on a location of said balloon within said colon.

9. An endoscopy system according to claim 4 and wherein said balloon and said balloon inflation subsystem are operative to enable systematic visual inspection of said colon while each portion of said colon being inspected is in a stretched state.

10. An endoscopy system according to claim 4 and wherein said predetermined slidable frictional engagement pressure range is manually selectable from multiple selectable slidable frictional engagement pressure states.

11. An endoscopy system according to claim 10 and wherein said multiple selectable slidable frictional engagement pressure states include at least three slidable frictional engagement pressure states in corresponding pressure ranges of 3-15 millibars, 15-23 millibars and 23-35 millibars.

12. An endoscopy system according to claim 10 and wherein said balloon inflation subsystem is operative for manual switching between said multiple selectable slidable frictional engagement pressure states at any time during operation thereof.

13. An endoscopy system according to claim 4 and wherein said predetermined slidable frictional engagement pressure range is automatically selectable from multiple selectable slidable frictional engagement pressure states.

14. An endoscopy system according to claim 4 and wherein said balloon inflation subsystem is operative for inflation of said balloon in an open-loop inflation sequence.

15. An endoscopy system according to claim 4 and wherein said balloon inflation subsystem is operative to automatically maintain inflation of said balloon at said predetermined slidable frictional engagement pressure range at various balloon locations along the length of said colon, notwithstanding variations in the cross sectional area of said colon at such locations.

16. An endoscopy system according to claim 4 and wherein said predetermined slidable frictional engagement pressure range is configured to provide axial stretching of at least 35% of said interior wall.

17. An endoscopy system according to claim 4 and wherein said predetermined slidable frictional engagement pressure range configured to provide axial stretching of at least 60% of said interior wall.

18. An endoscopy system according to claim 4 and wherein said predetermined slidable frictional engagement pressure range is in the range of 15-30 millibar.

19. An endoscopy system according to claim 4 and wherein said predetermined anchoring pressure range is in the range of 65-80 millibar.

20. An endoscopy system according to claim 1 and also comprising a gas reservoir in inflation propinquity to said balloon, adapted to provide inflation pressure buffering for said balloon.

21. An endoscopy system according to claim 20 and wherein said gas reservoir comprises at least one of an interior volume of said endoscope and an air reservoir.

22. An endoscopy system according to claim 20 and wherein said gas reservoir has a selectable volume.

23. An endoscopy system according to claim 22 and wherein said selectable volume of said gas reservoir is variable in the range of 0-900 cc.

24. An endoscopy system according to claim 20 and wherein said balloon is configured to have an inflated balloon volume which is less than one third of the volume of said gas reservoir.

25. An endoscopy system according to claim 1 and wherein said balloon is made of polyurethane type Elastollan 1185A.

26. An endoscopy system according to claim 1 and wherein an outer surface of said balloon is configured for enhanced slidable frictional engagement with said interior wall of said colon.

27. The endoscopy system of claim 1 , wherein the ratio between a pressure value within said predetermined anchoring pressure range and a pressure value within said predetermined slidable frictional engagement pressure range is from 1.3-7.

28. The endoscopy system of claim 1 , wherein the user-activated input controls allow a user to select between the predetermined anchoring pressure range, a first predetermined slidable frictional engagement pressure range, and a second predetermined slidable frictional engagement pressure range.

29. The endoscopy system of claim 1 , wherein the first user-activated input control and the second user-activated input control comprise a dial.