JPS649009B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to an endoscope having a light guiding member.

An endoscope is a device that inserts a light guiding member into the body from outside the body to directly observe the inside of the body with the naked eye or to view images on a screen using electronic means. A gastrointestinal endoscope that is often used as an endoscope is inserted through the oral cavity to observe the inside of the stomach, and FIG. 1 shows the structural principle of this gastrointestinal endoscope. A conventional gastrointestinal endoscope 1 has an objective lens 2 placed at a predetermined position, and a first lens 2 that is arranged to irradiate light onto an observation target 3.
A tip portion 5 in which the end of the light guide member 4 is arranged in the opening.
and a curved portion 7 that is freely curved with a second light guide member 6 located between the first light guide member 4 and the objective lens 2 and the eyepiece 8; An operation unit 1 having an operation dial 9 for bending the eyepiece and focusing the eyepiece 8
0, an eyepiece section 11 that houses an eyepiece lens 8, and a light guide section 13 that houses a first light guide member 4 that transmits light from a light source section 12 and is coupled to an operation section 10. In the gastrointestinal endoscope 1 configured as described above, the light generated by the light source section 12 is transmitted into the first light guide member 4, and the end of the first light guide member 4 located at the distal end portion 5 is The object to be observed 3, for example, the inner wall of the stomach, is irradiated with light, and the light from the inner wall of the stomach is irradiated through the objective lens 2, the second light guiding member 6, and the eyepiece 8, and the light from the inner wall of the stomach is imaged on the observer's retina. can be observed.

However, the conventional endoscope having the above configuration has the following problems. That is, since both the first light guide member 4 and the second light guide member 6 are inserted through the curved portion 7 inserted into the body cavity, the outer diameter of the curved portion 7 becomes large. Then, the oral cavity,
When the distal end 5 of the curved portion 7 is inserted into the stomach via the esophagus, the patient will experience extreme pain when swallowing the curved portion 7. On the other hand, the number of first light guide members 4 is usually approximately several thousand, and the number of second light guide members 6 is approximately 1,000.
Usually, about 10,000 optical fibers are bundled together, so in order to reduce the outer diameter of the curved part 7 and reduce patient pain, it is possible to reduce the number of optical fibers to be bundled. Conceivable. However, as long as both the first light guide member 4 and the second light guide member 6 are inserted through the curved portion 7, the number of optical fibers may be reduced as much as necessary to clearly observe the stomach wall, for example. Therefore, there is naturally a limit to reducing the outer diameter of the curved portion 7.

This invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and includes a first light guide member and a second light guide member that are connected to a third light guide member via an optical branching coupler and inserted into a body cavity. By inserting the third light guide member into the curved part that is formed, and by making the third light guide member have both the function of transmitting light from the light source part and the function of transmitting an image of a predetermined part in the body cavity, the curved part The object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope whose outer diameter can be reduced to eliminate patient pain.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a principle diagram showing the structure of an endoscope that is an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, an endoscope 20 includes a cylindrical endoscope main body 21, an eyepiece section 24 connected to one end of the main body 21, a light guide section connected to a side surface of the main body 21, and a light guide section connected to the side surface of the main body 21. It has a flexible curved part 22 which is connected to the other end of the main body 21 and has a smaller diameter than the main body 21, the tip of which becomes an objective part. A light source section 25 is provided at the tip of the light guide section. A first light guide member 26 is arranged between the light guide section and the inside of the main body 21, a second light guide member 27 is arranged between the eyepiece section 24 and the inside of the main body 21, and a second light guide member 27 is arranged between the eyepiece section 24 and the inside of the main body 21. An optical branching coupler 29 is disposed therein to connect the tips of the first and second light guiding members 26 and 27, and the output end of the optical branching coupler connects the inside of the small diameter flexible curved part 22. A third light guide member 28 is disposed throughout. As shown in FIG. 3, for example, the light source unit 25 includes a xenon lamp 25A as a light source, an infrared cut filter 25B for preventing heat rays from being applied to the subject, and a first guide by converging the light rays from the xenon lamp 25A. It is equipped with at least a lens 25C that guides light to the light member 26, and after the infrared rays of the light emitted from the xenon lamp 25A are removed by a cut filter 25B, the light is passed through the lens 25C.
The light is converged and projected onto the first light guide member 26. The first light guide member 26 is composed of, for example, a bundle fiber made by bundling a large number of optical fibers, and one end of the bundle fiber is arranged so that the light beam converged by the lens 25C in the light source section 25 can enter. The other end of the bundle fiber is connected to an optical splitter coupler 29. The second light guiding member 27 is a bundle fiber similar to the first light linking member 26, and one end thereof is disposed in the eyepiece 24, and the other end is connected to the optical branching coupler 29. The third light guide member 28 is also a bundle fiber similar to the first light guide member 26 , and one end thereof is connected to the optical branching coupler 29 and the other end is arranged at the opening of the curved portion 22 . There is. The light branching coupler 29 guides the light beam from the light source section 25 transmitted by the first light guide member 26 to the third light guide member 28, and also guides the light beam transmitted by the third light guide member 28 to the body cavity. The second image inside
It has a function of guiding light to the light guiding member 27, and can be configured as follows, for example. That is, all the optical fibers forming the first light guide member 26, all the optical fibers forming the second light guide member, and the optical fibers forming the third light guide member are shown in FIG. An optical branching coupler 29 is constructed by connecting them as shown in FIG. More specifically, a part of the cladding is removed at the intermediate portion of each of the two optical fibers 35 and 36, and the cores to be exposed are fused or bonded with a suitable adhesive to form two optical fibers. 35 and 3
Consolidate 6 into one. A large number of optical fibers joined as described above are then bundled to form a bundle fiber. In this case, the light guide members extend symmetrically in two bundles with the light branching coupler 29 as a boundary, and the two bundles of light guide members extending in the same direction are connected to the first light guide member 26 and the second light guide member, respectively. The light guide member 27 is used as the light guide member 27, and one of the two bundles of light guide members extending in opposite directions is used as the third light guide member 28. Since the remaining light guide member is unnecessary, the light guide member 27 is used as the third light guide member 28. Cut and seal.

The curved portion 22 has a third light guide member 28 inserted into a pipe formed of a flexible member, and the third light guide member 28 is inserted into an opening at one end of the curved portion 22 through a protective glass (not shown). The end face of the member 28 is arranged. Note that the curved portion 22 may also be configured to allow insertion of forceps, a balloon, or the like.

The eyepiece section 24 has various lenses 24A disposed at the end of the second light guide member 27, and has a dial (not shown) for focusing the lenses, so that light is transmitted by the second light guide member 27. The image can now be viewed through lens 24A. Note that a camera may be attached to the eyepiece section 24 so that images of the inside of the body cavity can be photographed.

Next, the endoscope 2 for the gastrointestinal tract having the above configuration
The effect of 0 will be described.

First, the curved portion 2 of the endoscope 20 for the gastrointestinal tract
2 is inserted into the stomach 30 of the subject through the oral cavity and esophagus, as shown in FIG. At this time, the curved portion 22
Since the third light guide member 28 is inserted as a light guide member, the outer diameter of the curved part 22 is much smaller than the outer diameter of the curved part 7 in the conventional endoscope 1. The pain caused when the subject swallows the curved portion 22 can be significantly reduced. When the light source section 25 is operated after the opening of the curved section 22 reaches a predetermined position within the stomach 30, the light beam output from the xenon lamp 25A is filtered through the infrared cut filter 25B and then passed through the lens 25C.
The light is converged and enters the first light guide member 26.
The incident light beam is transmitted by the first light guide member 26 and further transmitted by the third light guide member 28 via the optical branching coupler 29 . The light beam is emitted from the end of the third light guide member 28 located at the opening of the curved portion 22 and illuminates the stomach wall. The light beam reflected by the stomach wall enters the end of the third light guiding member 28, is transmitted by the third light guiding member 28 as an image of the stomach wall, and is further transmitted to the second guiding member via the light branching coupler 29. The light is transmitted by the optical member 27. The operator is
The image of the stomach wall transmitted by the second light guide member 27 is viewed, for example, in an enlarged manner through the lens 24A.

The endoscope 20 for the gastrointestinal tract having the above configuration is as follows:
Since the outer diameter of the curved portion 22 can be made small, the pain caused to the subject can be reduced, and the following effects can also be achieved. That is,
The light guide member that transmits the light that illuminates the inside of the body cavity is usually a bundle fiber made up of several thousand optical fibers, but in order to transmit the image inside the body cavity, about 10,000 optical fibers are used. Since the third light guide member 28, which is a bundled fiber, also transmits the light to be irradiated into the body cavity, the efficiency of light transmission is significantly increased, and the light source section 2
The output wattage of the xenon lamp 25A in No. 5 can be reduced. Further, since only the third light guide member 28 is inserted into the curved portion 22 as a light guide member, the outer diameter of the curved portion 22 can be made small, and the third light guide member 28 If the optical fiber is made of highly flexible synthetic resin, the flexibility of the curved portion 22 can be increased, making it easy to insert the curved portion 22 into a small-diameter gastrointestinal tract, such as a child's gastrointestinal tract. can do.

Although this invention has been described in detail above, this invention is not limited to the above embodiments.

Another example is an endoscope having a configuration as shown in FIG.

The difference between the endoscope in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5 and the endoscope in the embodiment shown in FIG. Among the light members, the light guide members other than the third light guide member are connected to the light quantity measuring section 33 to be used as the fourth light guide member without being cut and sealed near the optical branching coupler 29. The light amount measurement section 33 includes, for example, a photoelectric conversion element, and is configured to convert, for example, the amount of light transmitted by the fourth light guide member into a voltage and output it to the light source control section 34. . The light source control section 34 includes a light amount measuring section 33
The output of the lamp in the light source section 25 is controlled based on data inputted from the light source section 25. According to the third embodiment, the light output from the light source section 25 is irradiated to a predetermined region in the body cavity via the first light guide member 26 and the third light guide member 28 formed of the same optical fiber, a third light guide member 28;
The image inside the body cavity is transmitted to the eyepiece section 24 via the light branching coupler 29 and the second light guide member 27, but the amount of light output from the light source section 25 is simultaneously transmitted to the fourth light guide member 27. The light is transmitted by the member and detected by the light amount measuring section 33. Then, the light amount measured by the light amount measurement section 33 is converted into a voltage and outputted to the light source control section 34 . Light source control section 34
For example, the reference voltage and the input voltage are compared, and an operation command is output to the light source section 25 to adjust the brightness of the lamp within the light source section 25 according to the comparison result. If the endoscope is configured as in this embodiment, the amount of light transmitted by the third light guide member 28 via the fourth light guide member can be detected, so the amount of light irradiating the inside of the body cavity can be detected. , the amount of light transmitted as an image to the eyepiece section 24 can be automatically and appropriately adjusted.

According to the invention described in detail above, the following effects can be achieved. That is, since the outer diameter of the curved portion inserted into the subject's body cavity can be reduced, the subject's pain can be significantly reduced. In addition, the third light guide member is made up of approximately 10,000 optical fibers bundled together to transmit images inside the body cavity, so the third light guide member transmits the light from the light source into the body cavity. The efficiency of light transmission during this process is significantly increased, and the output of the light source can be reduced accordingly.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a principle diagram showing the structure of a conventional gastrointestinal endoscope, Fig. 2 is a principle diagram showing the structure of an endoscope that is an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the light source section. , FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the connection state of optical fibers in the optical branching coupler, and FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an endoscope according to another embodiment. 20... Endoscope, 21... Endoscope body, 22...
...Curved part, 24... Eyepiece part, 25... Light source part, 2
6...First light guide member, 27...Second light guide member, 28...Third light guide member, 29...Light branching coupler, 33...Light amount measuring unit, 34...Light source control Department.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A cylindrical endoscope main body, an eyepiece connected to one end of the endoscope main body, a light guiding part connected to a side surface of the endoscope main body, and the other end of the endoscope main body. In the endoscope, a first light guide member is disposed between the light guide part and the inside of the main body, and the first light guide member is arranged between the eyepiece part and the inside of the main body. A second light guiding member is disposed across the interior,
An optical branching coupler is disposed in the main body to connect the respective tips of the first and second light guide members, and the curved portion is made smaller in diameter than the main body, and the output end of the optical branching coupler is connected to the optical branching coupler. A third light guide member is provided within the curved portion, and the light branching coupler joins the intermediate portions of the two light guide members to each other, and the two light guide members extend in the same direction centering on this joint. Place the book's light guide member on the first
and a second light guide member, one of the two light guide members extending in opposite directions is used as a third light guide member, and the other is cut and sealed near the joint portion. Characteristic endoscope.