Patent ID: 6692429
Filing Date: 2004-02-17
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
An endoscope system for imaging an object in a living body, comprising:a light source for radiating irradiation light to said object to produce reflected and flourescent light; an endoscope having an elongated insertion part capable of being inserted into said living body; a solid-state imaging device having a variable amplification factor being variable without loss of resolution and provided to said endoscope for receiving said reflected and fluorescent light and outputting a variable amplitude related signal; a signal processor for processing said output signal from said solid-state imaging device and producing a video signal; a display device for receiving said video signal and displaying an image represented by said video signal; a controller for controlling said amplification factor in said solid-state imaging device in response to said reflected and fluorescent light to provide greater amplification for said received fluorescent light than for said received reflected light; a variable light diaphragm in an optical path linking said light source means and said object and controllable based on said output signal from said solid-state imaging device to pass greater or lesser amounts of light from said light source means, and further comprising: a switching device for switching said irradiation light from said light source to provide a first spectrum to excite a fluorescent substance contained in said object and a second spectrum including at least a part of a spectrum of visible light; and a wavelength limiter in an optical path linking said object and said solid-state imaging device for preventing transmission of light with wavelengths in said first spectrum and permitting transmission of light with wavelengths in at least a part of a fluorescent spectrum of said fluorescent substance and in at least a part of said second spectrum.