JPH02218329A - Endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an endoscope which possesses the superior operation performance by fitting a reinforcing member which is freely bendable over the whole length of the operation part of an insertion part and reinforcing the hardness of the operation part. CONSTITUTION:The flexible pipe 9 in an insertion part 3 consists of a spiral pipe 13 as core member for preventing collapse which is formed by winding an elastic thin strip 12 made of metal into spiral form to form a tubular form, and a screen pipe 14 which is formed by braiding a thin wire made of metal or resin into a tubular form is fitted onto the outer periphery of the spiral pipe 13. A tape-shaped reinforcing member 18 which is formed by an elastic material over the nearly whole length is fitted onto the operation part 17 of the flexible pipe 9. The outer periphery of the reinforcing member 18 is formed into tapered form which becomes thinner on the top edge side, and the softness on the top edge side is gradually increased. Therefore, when the insertion part 3 of an endoscope 1 is inserted into an uterus 19, the flexible pipe 9 is prevented from curving by the reinforcing action of the reinforcing member 18, and bending and slackening are prevented, and easy operation is permitted.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to an endoscope having a long flexible insertion section.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, an endoscope having a long flexible insertion section has a bending section on its distal end side, which can be bent by remote control from a hand control section. The insertion section is formed with an approximately equal outer diameter from the tip to the vicinity of the hand operation section. Further, the length of the insertion portion is made to be long enough to prevent the entire length of the insertion portion from being inserted into a body cavity when used in most organs for which the insertion portion is intended.

The reason why the endoscope is made long enough to have a sufficient length that is not inserted into the body cavity is because it is necessary in the usage situation of the endoscope. That is, in a normal method of using an endoscope, the operator holds the operating section with one hand and grasps the insertion section with the other hand to assist in insertion. For this reason, the length of the insertion portion is determined so that even when the insertion portion is inserted to the deepest point into the body cavity, a length sufficient for grasping remains outside without being inserted. Another reason is that if the operator operating the endoscope and the patient are too close together, it will be difficult to operate the endoscope, so the insertion section is made long to maintain a certain distance.

However, the surgeon does not always hold the insertion tube while using it.For example, when operating a treatment instrument, the operator often releases his/her hand from gripping the insertion tube. In this case, force is transmitted to the operating section through the operating section by the hand that was previously grasping the operating section, and the insertion tube is inserted or twisted. The endoscope has a problem in that the part exposed outside the body cavity that is not supported from the outside easily bends or loosens, making it difficult to follow the movement of the operating section.

Therefore, as a means to solve this operational problem, several methods have been proposed to improve the followability by making the proximal portion of the insertion section, which is not inserted into the body cavity, particularly hard. . What is shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 61-68026 and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. B8-162929 adjusts the hardness of the member constituting the flexible tube of the insertion part to change the hardness,
Furthermore, in the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-162929, a method is adopted in which the thickness of each member is changed to make the flexible tube thicker.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the methods shown in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-68026 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-162929 do not adjust the hardness of the members constituting the flexible tube of the insertion portion. Since the hardness is changed by changing the hardness, it is generally difficult to adjust the hardness to the desired hardness, and the properties of the flexible tube are likely to be greatly affected by variations in the hardness of the resin used as the raw material. Furthermore, since there is a limit to the hardness of the resin, the range of adjustment of the hardness is narrow, and it is not always possible to obtain the desired hardness. Furthermore, if only the proximal portion of the flexible tube is made thicker, as in the case of JP-A No. 61-162929, the internal configuration must be changed from the middle of the flexible tube, which naturally complicates the structure. Become.

Furthermore, in each of the above conventional devices, the manufacturing process of the flexible tube of the insertion portion is complicated, and special manufacturing equipment is required. This also caused an increase in costs.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to eliminate the need to particularly change the structure of the insertion part side, and to make the proximal part of the insertion part hard enough to easily operate with a simple structure. The object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope that can be set and has good operability.

[Means and effects for solving the problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an operation portion that performs a grasping operation without inserting the proximal end portion of a flexible insertion portion connected to an operation portion into a body cavity. In this endoscope, a bendable reinforcing member is fitted over substantially the entire length of the operating portion of the insertion portion. The reinforcing member reinforces the hardness of the operating portion of the insertion portion, and also makes it easier to grip and improves operability.

[Embodiment] FIGS. 1 to 3 show a first embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, an endoscope vL1 for uterus is shown as an example of a small-diameter endoscope. This endoscope 1 consists of an operating section 2 and an elongated insertion section 3, and a light guide cable 4 is connected to the operating section 2. Further, the operating section 2 is provided with an eyepiece section 5 and an operating lever 6 for performing a bending operation, which will be described later.

Further, the insertion section 3 has a flexible tube 9 disposed on its proximal end side,
A distal end portion 11 is connected to the distal end of the flexible tube 9 via a curved tube 1o. The bending tube 10 is remotely operated to bend by operating the operating lever 6.

The flexible tube 9 of the insertion section 3 is constructed as shown in FIG. This flexible tube 9 is formed into a tubular shape by spirally winding a metal elastic ribbon 12, and a spiral tube 13 is used as a core material to prevent crushing. A mesh pipe 14 made of thin wires knitted into a tubular shape is fitted.

The outer periphery of the net pipe 14 is covered with an outer skin 15 made of flexible synthetic resin or the like. The proximal end (that is, the end on the operating section 2 side) of the flexible tube 9 configured as described above is fixedly attached to the connection base 16 on the main body of the operating section 2. That is, the base 16 is fitted onto the outer periphery of the overlapping portion of the spiral pipe 13 and the mesh pipe 14, and these are fixed with solder or adhesive. Further, the base end portion of the outer skin 15 is fitted onto the outer periphery of the cap 16 and fixed with an adhesive or the like.

Furthermore, the portion of the proximal end portion of the flexible tube 9 of the insertion section 3 that is not inserted into the body cavity serves as an operation section 17 that is grasped by the operator to operate the insertion section 3. and,
A tubular reinforcing member 18 made of an elastic material such as rubber is fitted over almost the entire length of the operating portion 17 of the flexible tube 9.
The insertion section 3 is designed so that the operator can grasp it and operate the insertion section 3.

Therefore, the length of this reinforcing member 18 is quite long, for example, in the case of this type of endoscope 1 for uterus, the length is 7 to 10C.
It is M. Note that the outer diameter of the insertion section 3 of this endoscope 1 is 2.
It is 5 to 5.5 mm. Further, considering the general body position and posture of a patient, the most suitable length of the reinforcing member 18 is 10 to 20 crx, which is 30 times or more the outer diameter of the insertion section 3.

Moreover, as shown in FIG. 3, this tubular reinforcing member 1
8 has an outer periphery formed in a tapered shape with a tapered end, and its flexibility gradually increases relatively toward the end. Further, the base end of this reinforcing member 1t can be detachably attached to the main body side of the operating section 2 by means of a connecting fitting 17a embedded in the end portion.

Next, how to use the endoscope 1 will be explained. As shown in FIG. 2, when inserting the insertion section 3 of the endoscope 1 into the uterus 19, the operator grasps the operating section 2 with one hand and inserts the tube-shaped reinforcing member with the other hand. 18, push the insertion section 3 into the uterus 19. At this time, the reinforcing action of the reinforcing member 18 prevents the flexible tube 9 from unnecessarily bending, bending, or loosening, making it easy to operate. In addition, when using a treatment instrument, its reinforcing member 1
Even if you take your hand off the body cavity 8, the portion of the flexible tube 9 outside the body cavity will not break or loosen. can be improved.

Particularly, in the case of the insertion portion 3 having a small diameter and high flexibility, this effect is particularly achieved. In addition, since the reinforcing member 18 becomes thinner and more flexible toward the distal end, even if the flexible tube 9 is bent in various directions during use, the reinforcing member 18 will always bend with a smooth change in curvature. 9 will not bend or break sharply. In addition, since the reinforcing member 18 is the softest near its tip, the insertion portion 3 does not buckle near this tip, providing an excellent breakage prevention effect.

In addition, in a normal patient position, the height of the uterus 19 is lower than the height of the operating section 2 held by the operator, so the reinforcing member 18 fitted into the flexible tube 9 of the insertion section 3 is It is used in a bent state as shown in Figure 2. It is necessary to move the insertion section 3 forward and backward in order to inspect the body cavity of the uterus 19, but this operation is smooth because the forward and backward movement of the operating section 2 is reliably transmitted to the distal end side by the transmission of the operating force described above. can be done.

Further, since the outer diameter of the reinforcing member 18 is larger than the outer diameter of the insertion section 3, it is easier for the operator to grasp it, and as described above, even if the outer diameter of the insertion section 3 is small, it is easy to operate. Insertion part 3
The reinforcing member 18, which increases the outer diameter of the reinforcing member 18, does not enter the body cavity but is located outside the body, so that the thicker part does not reduce insertability or cause pain to the patient.

Moreover, the reinforcing member 18 can be used in an optimal state by preparing a plurality of types of reinforcing members with different material hardnesses and wall thicknesses, and selecting and using them according to usage conditions.

In this configuration, the stiffness of the operating portion 17 in the insertion section 3 is changed by a reinforcing member 18 that is different from the configuration of the insertion section 3 of the endoscope 1, so that the structure on the insertion section 3 side can be simplified. Moreover, the structure of the reinforcing member 18 is also simple. Therefore, these manufacturing methods are easy and can significantly reduce cost.

FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, the structure of the reinforcing member 18 is different, and a core material 22 made of a spiral metal member is embedded in the inner surface of a tube body 21 made of an elastic material. The core material 22 in this embodiment is made of wires made of a metal material (for example, mild steel wire) that can be easily plastically deformed and arranged so that the pitch gradually becomes coarser from the proximal side to the distal end side. Therefore, the flexibility of the core material 22 itself increases toward the distal end, and the effect of securing the insertion portion 3 is improved.

According to this embodiment, the reinforcing member 18 can be bent at any angle and held in that state. In other words, the reinforcing member 18 is used for the operation portion 17 of the insertion portion 3
It can be used by keeping the shape in the required bent shape. Other configurations and effects are the same as those of the above embodiment.

Note that the shape of the wire of the core material 22 is not limited to a round shape, but may also be a rectangular shape as shown in FIG.
As shown in Figure (B), a crushed wire rod may be used. In addition, the following Table 1 shows the total length of the insertion section, the outer diameter of the insertion section,
and the length of the operating portion into which the reinforcing member is fitted (which approximately corresponds to the length g of the reinforcing member) is shown for each type of endoscope.

Table 1 [Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the present invention provides an endoscope in which the proximal portion of the flexible insertion portion connected to the operation portion is used as the operation portion for performing grasping operations without inserting into the body cavity. , an elastic reinforcing member is fitted over almost the entire length of the operating portion of the insertion portion;
Since the insertion tube can be operated by grasping this reinforcing member, there is no need to change the structure of the insertion tube side, and the simple structure makes it easy to operate the proximal side of the insertion tube. It is possible to achieve various special effects such as being able to set the endoscope to the desired position and improving the operability of the endoscope.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a side view of an endoscope according to the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
The figure is also an explanatory diagram of the use state of the endoscope, FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the main parts of the endoscope, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of main parts of the endoscope according to the embodiment. 1... Endoscope, 2... Operation section, 3... Insertion section, 9
. . . Flexible tube, 17. Operation portion, 18. Reinforcement member. 1. Indication of the case Patent Application No. 63-244850 Person amending the name of the invention Relationship with the case Patent applicant (037) Olympus Optical Industry Co., Ltd. 4 Agent 3-7-2-7 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo , Contents of correction (1) In the 20th line of page 2, "to the operating section through the operating section by hand" is corrected to "to the insertion section via the operating section by hand." (2) From page 7, line 6 to line 12, “For this reason, this reinforcing member is the most suitable.” is 2.5-5
．． The length of the part inserted into the body cavity is 7 to 10 mm.
cm. Considering the general body position and posture of the patient, the length of the reinforcing member 18 is set to 3
The most suitable distance is 10 to 20 cm, which is 0 times or more. ”. Procedural amendment (method) Indication of the case Patent application No. 1983-244850 In the title of the invention Person making the amendment Relationship with the case Patent applicant

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an endoscope in which the proximal portion of the flexible insertion section connected to the operation section is used as an operation section for grasping without being inserted into a body cavity, the operation section of the insertion section is bendable over almost the entire length. An endoscope characterized by being fitted with a reinforcing member.