Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 13
Claim 1
Independent Claim
108 words
A hand-held diagnostic arthroscope (10) for examining an internal structure of a body, which is characterised by comprising: a camera assembly (100); an image guide (32) having a distal end and a proximal end, said image guide (32) defining a first axis; an illuminating means joined with said image guide (32) to establish a probe (30) rotatably mounted on said camera assembly (24) for insertion into the body; a camera head (118) positioned in said camera assembly (100) in light communication with said proximal end of said image guide (32) for generating a visual display signal of the internal structure of the body illuminated by said illuminating means.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
37 words
A hand-held diagnostic arthroscope (10) according to claim 1 or 2 characterised in that the image guide has a proximal segment (38) and a distal segment (36) oriented at an oblique angle to said proximal segment (38).
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
55 words
A hand-held diagnostic arthroscope (10) according to claim 1 or 2 characterised in that it further comprises a lens (48) attached to said distal end (50) of said image guide (32) for gathering light from said illuminating means, said lens (48) defining an optical axis oriented at an oblique angle relative to said first axis.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
46 words
A hand-held diagnostic arthroscope (10) according to any one of claims 1, 2 or 3, characterised in that said probe further comprises a hollow tubular needle (56) surrounding said image guide (32) and said illuminating means for supporting said image guide (32) and said illuminating means.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
82 words
A hand-held diagnostic arthroscope (10) according to claim 4, characterised in that said probe (30) further comprises a hollow tubular cannula (64) having a lumen, said needle (56) being positioned in said lumen coaxially with said cannula (64) to establish an annular fluid passageway (66) between said needle (56) and said cannula (64), and said arthroscope (10) further comprises a source of liquid attached in fluid communication with said passageway (66) for bathing said internal structure of said body with said liquid.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
119 words
A hand-held diagnostic arthroscope (10) according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that said camera assembly (100) has a distal end and said arthroscope (10) further comprises a light focusing means (116) positioned in said camera assembly and a disposable scope assembly (80) removably and rotatably attached to said distal end of said camera assembly (100) for supporting said probe (30) and connecting said probe (30) to said camera assembly (100) and for rotating said image guide (32) relative to said camera head (118), said image guide (32) extending through said scope assembly (80) and juxtaposed with said focusing means when said scope assembly (82) is attached to said distal end of said camera assembly (100).
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
35 words
A hand-held diagnostic arthroscope according to any one of the preceding claims, characterised by comprising a video device (26,28) electrically connected to said camera head for generating a video display representative of said video signal.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
54 words
A hand-held diagnostic arthroscope according to any one of claims 2 to 7, characterised in that said lens (48) is a gradient refractive index (GRIN) rod, said image guide (32) is an optical fibre, and said illuminating means includes a plurality of optical illuminating fibres (34) in light communication with a light source (20).
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
20 words
A hand-held diagnostic arthroscope according to claim 8 characterised in that the light source (20) is a quartz halogen lamp.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
53 words
A hand-held diagnostic arthroscope according to claim 8 or 9 characterised in that the image guide (32) substantially defines a first axis and the distal segment (36) of the image guide (32) includes the GRIN rod which defines a second axis, said second axis forming an acute angle relative to said first axis.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
32 words
A hand-held diagnostic arthroscope according to claim 6, characterised in that said light focusing means (116) is axially movable within said camera assembly (100) for focusing light from said image guide (32).
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
35 words
A hand-held diagnostic arthroscope according to any one of claims 5 to 11 characterised by further comprising a cannula assembly (206) surroundingly attached to said cannula (228) and rotatably engaged with said scope assembly (204).
Claim 13
Independent Claim
168 words
A method for examining the internal structure of a body, which comprises the steps of: electrically attaching a video display (26,28) to a device which comprises: a camera assembly (100); and image guide (32) having a distal end and a proximal end, said image guide (32) defining a first axis; and illuminating means joined with said image guide (32) to establish a probe (30) rotatably mounted on said camera assembly (100) for insertion into the body; a lens (48) attached to said distal end of said image guide (32) for gathering light from said illuminating means, said lens (48) defining an optical axis oriented at an oblique angle relative to said first axis; and a camera head (118) positioned in said camera assembly (100) in light communication with said proximal end of said image guide (32) for generating a visual display signal of the internal structure of the body illuminated by said illuminating means; and inserting said probe (30) into said body to examine the internal structure thereof.