Flexible endoscopes in thoracoscopic surgery.
Standard endoscopes for laparoscopy and thoracoscopy are rigid telescopes with a direction of view of 0 degree or 30 degrees. Because of the rigidity of the chest, a hybrid version combining a flexible and a rigid scope offers a possibility for a good view of the whole thoracic cavity. However, the image quality is inferior to that of rigid endoscopes.
Biomechanical Phenomena↗