Patent attributes
An endoscope comprises an elongated shaft, a headpiece at a proximal end of the shaft, the headpiece having a housing, at least one light source which is arranged in the shaft in a distal area thereof, and produces lost heat, and a passive cooling which has at least one heat pipe which is arranged in the shaft and is thermally coupled to the at least one light source in order to lead away the lost heat in the proximal direction. The at least one heat pipe extends into the headpiece, and a heat sink body is arranged in the headpiece, to which heat sink body the at least one heat pipe is thermally coupled, and which absorbs the lost heat from the at least one heat pipe and emits the lost heat to the environment directly or via the housing of the headpiece.