BACKGROUND. The rigid endoscope developed by Karl Storz in 1961 led to a great advance in diagnosis and surgery and nowadays it is the gold standard in routine ENT practice. In addition, the development of video cameras has enhanced the surgical abilities as well as teaching opportunities in endoscopic sinus surgery.
OBJECTIVE. We developed a new prototype endoscope using the “chip-on-the-tip” technology. The aim of our non-clinical study was to observe and discuss the experimental data collected from laboratory tests on plastic models.
MATERIAL AND METHODS. The prototype rigid chip-on-the-tip endoscope has two parts - inner and outer. The inner part includes the chip-on-the-tip camera, light source and the cable. The outer part is a metal tube ending with a 0-degree lens. We performed laboratory tests of the rigid chip-on-the-tip endoscope for rhinosurgery and diagnosis.
RESULTS. We have observed technical parameters of the rigid chip-on-the-tip in order to compare them to conventional endoscopes connected with camera head units that are standard equipment for rhinosurgery and diagnosis.
CONCLUSION. Its advantages compared to the conventional Hopkins endoscope, connected to a standard camera head, are the smaller size, weight and the necessity of only one cable instead of two, allowing easy handling.
