Endoscopic surgery is characterized by its non-invasive and minimally invasive nature, resulting in less trauma, reduced pain, and rapid wound healing. It has been widely used in human medicine for a long time. However, due to the high requirements for equipment and technology, it is still a relatively advanced surgical method in the veterinary field worldwide. For animals, due to their large or small size, complex structure, and easy transition to stress, conventional surgical procedures may face difficulties in wound healing. Therefore, the use of endoscopy for surgery or examination plays an irreplaceable role. It has a wide range of applications, from wild animals in the field and captive wild animals to marine mammals, as well as our familiar pets such as cats, dogs, and exotic pets.
Endoscopic surgery refers to the general term for procedures that use endoscopic equipment to inspect, biopsy, or surgically treat animals. From the perspective of equipment morphology, it can be divided into two main categories: flexible endoscopes and rigid endoscopes, each with its own advantages, disadvantages, and focuses.
Flexible endoscopes typically refer to gastrointestinal endoscopes and nasopharyngeal endoscopes, which can be used to examine the ears, nose, throat, esophagus, stomach, duodenum, large intestine, etc. They come with integrated light sources, cameras, and instrument channels, allowing for the examination of the trachea and esophagus, biopsy sampling, injection, tumor removal, and retrieval of foreign objects. The advantage is that they can be inserted through the natural cavities of the animal to perform non-invasive procedures. However, the disadvantage is that they require high technical skills from the operator, and with only one instrument channel, complex surgeries cannot be performed.
Rigid endoscopes include the endoscope itself, a camera, a light source, a display monitor, air and water insufflation equipment, trocars, and various surgical instruments. They can be used for the exploration of the abdominal and thoracic cavities, biopsy of intraluminal organs, cutting and suturing surgeries, bladder stone surgeries, and urological surgeries. Depending on their functionality, they are further classified as thoracoscopes, laparoscopes, cystoscopes, otolaryngoscopes, and uroscopes. Like conventional surgical procedures, rigid endoscope systems also have a range of surgical instruments adapted for different functions. The advantage of rigid endoscopes is that they can perform various complex surgeries, but the disadvantage is that they have high equipment requirements and require minimally invasive surgical access.
Endoscopes can also be classified based on the area of use into gastroscopes, colonoscopes, uroscopes, cystoscopes, laparoscopes, thoracoscopes, otolaryngoscopes, arthroscopes, and so on.
The high-definition animal endoscopy system employs an image processor and cold light source system that are fully compatible with both electronic flexible and rigid endoscopes. This can significantly reduce costs for animal hospitals that are exceptionally busy on a daily basis but still desire a diverse range of endoscopic services.