A panoramic endoscope design and implementation for Minimally Invasive Surgery

Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) is a current major technique for surgery. Compared to traditional methods of surgery, MIS can reduce the post-surgical recovery time, cost and pain to patients due to surgery. It is therefore in the interest of doctors and patients. There are several MIS techniques that have been widely accepted for diagnosis and treatment in most hospitals, such as hysteroscopy, laparoscopy, and colon endoscopy. The major problem of MIS is a narrow field of vision. We develop and validate a MIS Panoramic Endoscope (MISPE) to provide doctors with broad fields of view. MISPE features a combination of image overlapping and image stitching. The panoramic image apparatus has two side-by-side endoscopic lenses that provide wide-angle inputs for image stitching. MISPE can provide doctors with panoramic images, so that doctors can easily discriminate the organ´s positions between surgery operations. Experimental results show that MISPE can enhance the image size up to 155%. The whole system is validated by personal computer. The animal vivo experimental videos have been successfully validated.