Endoscope system with plasma flushing and coaxial round jet nozzle for off-pump cardiac surgery.

Background: To develop a new endoscope for performing simple surgical tasks inside the blood-filled cardiac atrium/chamber, that is, "off-pump" cardiac surgeries.

Methods: We developed the endoscope system with plasma flushing and coaxial round jet nozzle. The "plasma flushing" system was invented to observe the interior of the blood-filled heart by displacing blood cells in front of the endoscope tip.