The role and future of endoscopic imaging systems

Visual perception is the main sensory input from the environment in most si tuations of daily life. It is the only sensory input from the operating fie ld in endoscopic surgery, and thus the qualities of the optical imaging sys tem have a considerable impact on the course of the surgical intervention. Significant improvements have been made recently in various fields of scien ce and engineering, influencing endoscopic imaging systems in experimental and clinical use, Among these are technologies that improve the endoscope i tself in terms of providing new visual features, such as fogging prevention and plastic images, using new illumination techniques. Other developments concern the improvement of image resolution and color fidelity through new charge-coupled device (CCD) sensors or alternative techniques for image cre ation. Finally, the combination of endoscopic technologies with robotics pr ovides for intuitive and more efficient direction of the line of sight.