Covering for a medical scoping device

A cover for a medical scoping device shaft, the cover comprising an elongate tubular member and being arranged for application over the medical scoping device with the cover extending along at least a part of a length of a distal end of the medical scoping device shaft, the tubular member comprising an inner surface at least a part of which grips the shaft and holds the cover in place and a plurality of spaced apart projecting elements having a tip and a base connected to the cover, wherein the projecting elements are flexible and resiliently deformable along their entire length, wherein the projecting elements are sufficiently flexible to be movable between a resting position to a first position wherein the tips of the projecting elements are substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the tubular member and the medical scoping device shaft whereby the tips point toward a proximal end of the cover and to a second position wherein the tips of the projecting elements are at an angle approximately perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the tubular member and the medical scoping device shaft so that the projecting elements fan out to thereby contact with, provide support for and to dilate a lumen wall of a body passage into which the medical scoping device shaft with the cover has been inserted,

• wherein at least some of the projecting elements are positioned in one or more rings extending circumferentially about the cover, and wherein the projecting elements in a distal ring of the one or more rings are moveable to a third position to have a curvilinear configuration extending outward from the tubular member whereby one or more of the tips of the projecting elements of the distal ring point towards a distal end of the cover.

A medical scoping device comprising:

• a medical scoping device shaft having an air suction conduit for removing air from a body passage into an orifice of an individual under investigation;
• and
• a cover releasably attached to the medical scoping device shaft and covering at least a part of the shaft at its distal end, wherein the cover grips the shaft and holds the cover in place, and wherein the cover comprises a plurality of spaced apart projecting elements that extend outwardly therefrom,
• the medical scoping device configured so that when advancing the medical scoping device into a patient's body passage, the projecting elements deflect to a first radially inward position to facilitate advancing the medical scoping device,
• the medical scoping device being configured so that, when partially withdrawing the medical scoping device toward its proximal end, such withdrawal causes the projecting elements to deflect to a second radially outward position at which at least some tips of the projecting elements extend distally further than a distal end of the cover and the distal end of the medical scoping device in response to contact with a lumen wall to dilate the lumen while holding the medical scoping device in position for visualization of the lumen and to evert and engage folds in the wall of the body passage that are more distal than the distal end of the cover and the medical scoping device whereby visualization is allowed as the folds in the wall of the body passage revert to their normal anatomical position permitting a light from the medical scoping device to emit across a mucosa of the lumen providing visualization of at least a portion of a surface of the mucosa, and
• the medical scoping device being configured so that when withdrawing the medical scoping device, the projecting elements deflect so that at least some of the tips of the projecting elements extend distally further than the distal end of the cover and the distal end of the medical scoping device to facilitate withdrawal of the medical scoping device.