Computer integrated endoscopy

Endoscopic examinations of the inside of the human body have been known since Hippocrates. Nevertheless, the breakthrough of endoscopy came not until the development of Bozzinis "Lichtleiter". Further progress and advancements in diagnostic endoscopy were reached by the use of electric light for illumination as well as glass fibers for the transmission of light into and image information out of the human body. By the integration of video sensors at the proximal or distal end of rigid or flexible endoscopes, it became possible in the last quarter of the last century to observe the inside of the human body not only via the ocular, but also to capture and use still images and video sequences for documentation, research and education, independent from the presence of the patients. Furthermore, the meanwhile well advanced age of digital technologies facilitates the possibility, not only to transmit and store endoscopically acquired images and sequences from inside the human body in real time through the internet towards almost every arbitrary computer, but likewise opens the currently unused possibilities, to manipulate these images for a modified view for the operator, and furthermore condition, evaluate and analyze them using computers. Specifically, the new possibilities to automatically analyze the content of endoscopic imagery and the application of the extracted information for enhanced documentation, diagnosis and treatment shall be sketched out in this contribution. The field of application of such new methods of digital image processing and analysis include automatic image enhancement such as the intelligent removal of honey comb patterns in fiber-scopic images, temporal image filtering, as well as the rectification of rotated images; new possibilities of view extension (augmentation) using panorama endoscopy and the overlay of endoscopic views with preoperative imagery and planning data; and computer aided detection of dysplasia and tumors (CADe) as well as computer-assisted diagnose (CADx). As these possibilities of endoscopy are inherently coupled with the use of computers, these methods and applications can be referred to as new endoscopic "computer-integrated" endoscopy