Detachable shaft flexible endoscope

A flexible endoscope system comprising:

• a flexible shaft having a distal end and a proximal end, said flexible shaft having a sealed enclosure for internal components of said flexible shaft;
• a coupling mechanism releasably attaching the proximal end of said flexible shaft to one of a plurality of handles, wherein each handle has a sealed enclosure for internal components of said handle;
• an illumination unit in the sealed enclosure of said flexible shaft providing light to an area in front of the distal end of said flexible shaft;
• an imaging unit in the sealed enclosure of said flexible shaft generating image data of the area in front of the distal end of said flexible shaft;
• and
• a check valve mounted directly on said proximal end of said flexible shaft such that said check valve is part of said flexible shaft, said check valve being configured to communicatively connect an interior of the sealed enclosure of said flexible shaft having said illumination unit and imaging unit to outside and indicate a presence of fluid in the interior and release said fluid;
• wherein said coupling mechanism includes an electrical channel for transmitting electrical power to said illumination unit and said imaging unit, and a data channel for transmitting the image data from said imaging unit to said handle;
• wherein each of said plurality of handles is adapted to communicate said image data to an auxiliary device;
• and
• wherein said sealed enclosure of each of said plurality of handles and said sealed enclosure of said flexible shaft respectively seal off fluid-tight said internal components of said respective handle and said flexible shaft from outside, in a coupled state and a decoupled state of the endoscope system.