Patent ID: 8231523

Claim:
An endoscopic system comprising: an endoscope having an inserter section to be inserted into a body cavity of a specimen, an air and water supply device that supply air and water outside of the inserter section, an air delivery path through which air is supplied to a distal end of the inserter section, and a switch manually operated to allow the air to pass through the delivery path; an illumination device for providing illumination to the distal end of the insertion section; and an insufflation gas supply apparatus that supplies a predetermined type of insufflation gas to the body cavity via the air delivery path, wherein the insufflation gas supply apparatus comprises: a determination unit comprising circuitry for determining whether or not the insufflation gas supply apparatus needs to supply the insufflation gas to the body cavity, based on a signal received from the illumination device verifying whether the illumination device is in an operative state and a signal received from the air and water supply device verifying whether the air and water supply device is in an operative state; and a control unit that automatically controls supply of the insufflation gas from the insufflation gas supply apparatus to the body cavity, depending on a determined result of the determination unit, wherein the control unit includes stop means that automatically stops the supply of the insufflation gas from the insufflation gas supply apparatus to the body cavity.