JPS6314622B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an endoscope that enables accurate and stable treatment of affected areas.

The principle of treating an affected area such as a malignant tumor in a living body by heating it to kill the cells is already known. However, it can be said that there is still no effective therapeutic means based on this principle. For example, the following methods are known as means for thermally treating an affected area within a body cavity. first,
Using the air and water supply ports and suction ports provided at the tip of the endoscope, blow hot air or hot water from the air and water ports to the affected area within the body cavity, and also blow the warm air or hot water from the suction port. There is a way to collect it and heat treat it. However, although this method can be expected to be effective to some extent when the malignant tumor is exposed on the surface of the body, when the tumor is located deep within the body, blood circulation in the normal tissue on the surface side prevents the temperature from rising. Since the body controls itself, the heat is not transmitted deep into the body, making it ineffective.

In addition, using a conventional high-frequency scalpel or laser scalpel for endoscopy has been considered as another method, but these instruments are originally used for surgically removing the affected area, and they may accidentally remove normal tissue. If it comes into contact with tissue, it is not practical because there is a risk that even the normal tissue will be killed. Moreover, even if the output could be reduced, it would not be effective against deep affected areas for the same reason as mentioned above.

On the other hand, when treating the affected area within the body cavity,
The presence or absence of an affected area and its location must be detected in advance. However, in the past, it has not been possible to continuously detect the affected area and perform treatment using the various means described above. That is, after detecting the affected area by inserting the detection means through the channel of the endoscope, the detection means is extracted from the channel, and then a treatment means such as a high-frequency scalpel or a laser scalpel is passed through the channel for treatment. Therefore, it takes a lot of time and effort from detecting the affected area to treating it, and not only is the operability extremely poor, but it is also difficult to treat the affected area detected by the detection means using the therapeutic means. There was a risk that the scope could shift within the body cavity, making it impossible to reliably treat the affected area.

This invention was made based on the above circumstances, and its purpose is to
In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide an endoscope that can detect a diseased part occurring in a deep part and then reliably perform heat treatment.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. 1 in Figure 1 is an endoscope,
This endoscope main body 2 has an insertion section 3 inserted into a biological cavity.
and an operating section 4 on the hand side. The insertion section 3 is formed by connecting a distal end component 7 to the distal end of a flexible tube section 5 via a bending section 6, and the bending section 6 is bent by rotating the angle knob 8 of the operating section 4. , the orientation of the tip component 7 can be selectively operated. Further, a downwardly flexible light guide cable 9 is connected to the operation section 4, and a connector 12 that can be attached to the socket section 11 of the illumination light source device 10 is fixedly attached to the tip of the light guide cable 9. There is. A light guide (not shown) made of, for example, an optical fiber bundle is inserted across the insertion section 3, operation section 4, and light guide cable 9 of the endoscope body 2, and this light guide provides illumination. Illumination light from the light source device 10 is guided to the tip component 7, and the illumination light is emitted from an illumination window, also not shown, formed in the tip component 7. In addition, the insertion section 3 and the operation section 4 of the endoscope main body 2
An image guide 13 made of, for example, an optical fiber bundle is inserted inside each of the parts, and an observation window 14 formed in the tip component 7 and an objective lens 1 are inserted therein.
5, the optical image obtained through the eyepiece section 16 of the operation section 4 is
It is now possible to observe the field of view inside the body cavity. The illumination window and the observation window 14 are arranged side by side on the distal end surface 18 of the main body 17 of the distal end component 7, and constitute a so-called direct view type endoscope 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, the distal end component 7 has a heater 1 located on the distal end surface 18 of the main body 17 and emits microwaves to heat the affected area within the body cavity.
9 is embedded. This heater 19 consists of a pole-shaped antenna 20 that emits microwaves and a reflector 21 that directs the emitted microwaves forward and provides directivity. A rotating parabolic reflector is used. The reflector 21 is made of a metal material to prevent side radiation, and its front opening is covered with a protective film made of a material with a low dielectric constant, such as vinyl chloride, to prevent bodily fluids from entering the interior. 22 is attached. The antenna 20 is not limited to a pole type, but may be a dipole type, and its shape is not limited. The outside of the heater 19 is covered with a cover 23 for prevention of side radiation heat and insulation. That is, the heater 19 is placed in the cover 2 in the recess 24 formed in the main body 17.
It is installed via 3. This cover 23 is made of flame-retardant insulating material such as epoxy resin or ceramic.
Moreover, a material with high strength is used, but if the main body 17 itself is made of such a material, the cover 23
is not necessary.

Further, the antenna 20 of the heater 19 is connected to a transmission path inserted into the endoscope body 2, such as a transmission line 25 for transmitting microwave current. That is, the transmission line 25 is provided across the insertion section 3 and the operation section 4 of the endoscope main body 2, and the antenna 20 is attached to the tip thereof. Further, the rear end of the transmission line 25 is led out from an insertion hole 27 formed in the operating section 4, and a connector 2 is attached to this end.
8 are connected and fixed. And this connector 2
8 is connected to a microwave oscillation power supply device 29. The transmission line 25 is composed of a so-called coaxial cable, which, as shown in FIG.
Consisting of

As shown in FIG. 1, the microwave oscillation power supply device 29 includes a power supply section 33, an oscillation section 34 provided with an oscillation tube (not shown) that sends a microwave current to the transmission line 25, and a cooling section that cools the oscillation tube. It consists of 35.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the distal end component 7 has a housing chamber 36 formed in its main body 17 adjacent to the heater 19. The front opening of the storage chamber 36 is liquid-tightly closed by a membrane 37 made of an elastic material, and the liquid L is stored inside the storage chamber 36, and an ultrasonic device 38 is provided therein. This ultrasonic device 38
A vibrator 40 attached to a damper 39 made of a vibration absorbing material is provided so as to face one side of the housing chamber 36, and a reflecting mirror 41 is installed in the housing chamber 36 facing the vibrator 40. A mounted mounting base 42 is rotatably provided. An operating wire 43 is connected to one end of the mounting base 42, and the other end of the operating wire 43 is led to the operating section 4.
Therefore, by moving the operating wire 43 forward or backward using the operating section 4, the reflecting mirror 41 can be opposed to the vibrator 40 at an arbitrary angle. Further, a signal cable 44 is connected to the vibrator 40. This signal cable 4
Reference numeral 4 denotes an insertion hole 2 provided across the insertion section 3 and the operation section 4 of the endoscope main body 2, and formed in the operation section 4.
7 and connected to the pulse generating circuit 45. This pulse generating circuit 45 has
An amplification/detection circuit 46 and a display device 47 such as a cathode ray tube are sequentially connected.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be explained. First, the insertion section 3 of the endoscope main body 2 is inserted into a body cavity and the pulse generation circuit 45 is activated. Then, an ultrasonic beam is emitted from the transducer 40, reflected by the reflecting mirror 41, and propagated through the human body tissue. The ultrasonic waves that propagated through the human body are reflected within the body and are reflected by the reflecting mirror 41.
The vibration is received by the vibrator 40 via the oscillator 40 and converted into an electric signal. This electric signal is amplified and detected by an amplification/detection circuit 46 and then input to a display device 47 . Therefore, when emitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, by changing the angle of the reflecting mirror 41 by operating the operating wire 43, tomographic images at different distances in front of the heater 19 in the vertical direction can be displayed on the display device 47.
The location of the affected area can be known by displaying the image on the screen.

In this way, once the depth and size of the affected area in front of the heater 19 are detected, the oscillating section 34 of the microwave oscillation power supply 29 generates a microwave current with a wavelength suitable for the depth of the affected area. transmission line 25
The microwave is sent to the antenna 20 of the heater 19 to oscillate microwaves. Then,
The microwaves are reflected by the reflector 21 of the heater 19 and emitted forward to heat the affected area detected by the ultrasonic device 38, but the microwaves vary depending on the wavelength and the structure of the living body. Although it is different, it is permeable to about 10 cm, so it is possible to heat treat not only the affected area on the inner surface of the body cavity but also the lesion deep within the surface.

That is, once the depth and size of the affected area are detected by the ultrasonic device 38, the heater 1
9 emits microwaves with a wavelength corresponding to the affected area to perform heat treatment on the affected area, so the heat treatment can be performed safely, reliably, and quickly.

FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, an ultrasonic device 38 is installed near the heater 19, and its transducer 40 is connected to the main body 17 of the tip component 7.
It was provided so as to face the distal end surface 18 of.

According to such a configuration, the direction in which the affected area is detected by ultrasonic waves and the direction in which the affected area is heated and treated by microwaves are the same, so that the affected area detected by ultrasonic waves can be detected by microwaves. Can be quickly heated.

4 and 5 show a third embodiment of the present invention, in which a heater 19 and an ultrasonic device 38 are applied to a so-called side-viewing endoscope. That is, while the vibrator 40 of the ultrasonic device 38 is provided facing the side surface 18a of the main body 17 of the tip component 7, the main body 17 has a side surface 18a thereof.
An open recess 48 is provided in the recess 8a, a heater 19 is provided facing the inner wall of the recess 48, and a reflecting mirror body 49 is rotatably accommodated in the recess 48. The rotation angle of this reflector 49 can be adjusted by an operating wire 50.
0 is derived to the operating section 4. The operating wire 50 is connected to the operating knob 51 and the shaft 52 in the operating section 4.
It is wound around a pulley 53 that is connected to the pulley 53 and rotates as a unit. Therefore, by operating the operation knob 51, the angle of the reflector 49, that is, the direction of emission of the microwave emitted from the heater 19 and reflected by the reflector 49, can be changed via the operation wire 50. It is becoming possible to do this.
Further, the operating knob 51 is provided with a click 55 which is biased in the projecting direction by a spring 54, and the click 55 has a plurality of clicks formed at a predetermined angle on the surface of the operating section 4 facing the operating knob 51. It is adapted to engage one of the click grooves 56.
Further, a mark 57 is provided on the surface of the operating knob 51, and a scale 58 is provided on the side surface of the operating portion 4 in correspondence with the pitch of the click groove 56. Therefore, the angle of the reflecting mirror body 49, that is, the direction in which the microwave is emitted, can be determined by adjusting the position of the operating knob 51 on the scale 58.

According to such a configuration, if the affected area A is found by the ultrasonic device 38 as shown in FIG.
By adjusting the angle of the reflecting mirror body 49 according to its position and depth, determining the output of the microwave according to the size of the affected area A, and emitting microwaves from the heater 19, the affected area A can be heated. Accurate heat treatment is possible.

As described above, the present invention includes an ultrasonic device that detects the affected area by emitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, and a heater that treats the affected area by emitting microwaves, in the insertion section of the endoscope. Therefore, microwaves of appropriate output can be emitted from the heater according to the depth and size of the affected area detected by the ultrasonic device, and safe and reliable treatment can be performed. In addition, since the affected area can be treated continuously while detecting the affected area and without moving the endoscope, this also makes it possible to perform treatment reliably and quickly, which is extremely useful in practical terms. .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an overall view showing a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the main parts, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the distal end of an endoscope showing a second embodiment of the invention. 4 is a sectional view of the distal end of an endoscope showing a third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a side view of the operating section. 3... Insertion section, 19... Heater, 20... Antenna, 21... Reflector, 38... Ultrasonic device, 4
0... vibrator.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An endoscope characterized in that the insertion portion of the endoscope is provided with an ultrasonic device that detects the affected area by emitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, and a heater that treats the affected area by emitting microwaves. mirror.