Veterinary endoscopy began in the early 1970s. O'Bnen reported in 1970 the endoscopic evaluation of the lower respiratory tract of dogs and cats. The use of endoscopy for the assessment of liver and pancreatic disease was first reported in 1972. In 1976, the application of gastrointestinal endoscopy in the diagnosis and treatment of small animals was reported for the first time. Later, bronchoscopy was also widely recognized, and other endoscopy procedures were gradually developed.
Veterinary endoscopes are divided into two categories: flexible endoscopes and rigid endoscopes
1. Soft endoscope
Flexible endoscopes can be advanced along a tortuous path and are typically used in anatomical sites with tortuous or tortuous tubes or lumens (gastrointestinal tract, respiratory tract, male urinary tract, etc.).
There are two types of flexible endoscopes: fiber endoscopes and video endoscopes. Fiberscopes transmit images through glass fiber bundles, while videoscopes utilize computer technology for image transmission. Video images from both endoscopes can be sent to a monitor, but fiberscopes require an endoscopic camera. Most veterinarians choose fiberoptic endoscopes because they are inexpensive and have a removable endoscope camera that can be used with other rigid endoscopes, etc.
2. Rigid endoscope
Rigid endoscopes are high-quality medical-grade endoscopes that cannot be bent; however, they have different viewing angles and fields of view, and operators can observe from different directions with different types of endoscopes. It is used to detect body cavities (abdominal cavity, thoracic cavity, joints, oral cavity, body cavity of birds, reptiles, etc.)
In the diagnosis and treatment of small animals, the most used rigid endoscopes are: otoscope, cystoscope, laparoscope, thoracoscope, arthroscope, and rhinoscope.
Also used for bronchoscopy, esophagoscopy, gastroscopic endoscopy, colonoscopy, colposcopy, hysteroscopic insemination, and other less commonly used tests.
Rigid endoscopes have a wide range of outer diameters ranging from 1 to 10 mm, can be viewed directly or at an angle, allow viewing away from the axis of the endoscope, and increase visibility by rotating the instrument.