A needle otoscope. An instrument of endotoscopy of the middle ear.

A side-viewing needle otoscope, which facilitates visual inspection of the inside of the middle ear, has been devised. The instrument consists of a Selfoc rod lens for observation and a glass fiber bundle for illumination. Prisms, attached to the tip of the lens and the glass fiber bundle, facilitate the examination of a 90 degrees lateral region within the middle ear cavity. Through an existing eardrum perforation, the tip of our otoscope is safely introduced into the middle ear by using a self-illuminating otoscope. The ossicles and walls of the tympanic cavity are clearly visualized. The instrument facilitates locating lesions and diagnosing middle ear diseases. Our otoscope can be used without anesthesia in the outpatient clinic, as well as during surgery. By videotape recording, the image can be used in determining the clinico-pathological situations. As the view presented by our otoscope differs from the routine one, the anatomy of the middle ear structures must be conceptualized differently before clinical application of our needle otoscope.