Patent ID: 6747281
Filing Date: 2004-06-08
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
A method of displaying a fluorescent-light image comprisingirradiating a target area with an illuminating light and a excitation light emitted from a excitation light emitting means and a reference-light emitted from a reference-light emitting means and which have been guided to said target area, obtaining, by use of a single image obtaining means provided with separate image obtaining portions for obtaining a fluorescent-light image, a standard-image, and a reflected-light image, respectively, a fluorescent-light image formed of the fluorescent-light emitted from the target area upon the irradiation thereof by the excitation light, a standard-image formed of the reflected-light reflected from the target area upon the irradiation thereof by the illuminating light, and a reflected-light image formed of the reflected-light reflected from the target area upon the irradiation thereof by the reference-light, and displaying a fluorescent-light image based on the obtained fluorescent-light image and the obtained reflected-light image and a standard-image based on the obtained standard-image, further comprising detecting that an operational irregularity has occurred in at least one of the excitation light and reference-light emitting means, and in response to a detection signal thereof, emitting the illuminating-light, switching the image obtaining means to a standard-image obtaining mode, obtaining the standard-image, and displaying the standard-image.