to facilitate certain surgical procedures , a flexible endoscope may more readily be passed through body vessels and tubular organs , especially when those organs assume a tortuous path . however , a difficulty arises in steering a flexible endoscope through internal body orifices . in accordance with the present invention , a rigid introducer is used in combination with the flexible endoscope to facilitate targeting of such an orifice and once the distal end of the introducer is made to enter the orifice , the flexible endoscope can be advanced through the introducer and there beyond to the point in the body where an item of interest is to be viewed .