Patent ID: 7998062

Claim:
An endoscope for guiding a medical tool to a target location, the endoscope comprising: (a) a sheath having a lumen extending from a proximal insertion opening to a distal opening; (b) a guide element configured for insertion through said proximal opening of said sheath to an inserted position extending along said lumen to said distal opening, said guide element including at least part of an imaging system deployed for taking optical images of a region beyond said distal opening; and (c) at least one steering mechanism for co-deflecting said sheath and said guide element, wherein said guide element is retractable from said lumen to leave said lumen available for insertion of a medical tool; wherein the guide element includes a position sensor element, the position sensor element being part of a position measuring system measuring a position and a pointing direction of a tip of the guide element relative to a three dimensional frame of reference; and wherein at least part of said position sensor element is formed from translucent material, the endoscope further comprising an illumination arrangement deployed to direct illumination through at least one region of said translucent material so as to illuminate at least part of the region beyond said distal opening.