JPH0546405Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed explanation of the idea] [Industrial application field] This invention relates to improvement of the curved portion of an endoscope.

[Prior Art] In the insertion section of an endoscope, a bendable curved section is formed at the distal end of a flexible tube by remote control, and a hard distal end main body is connected to the distal end portion. The insertion section of this endoscope must be as thin as possible to minimize pain to the patient. However, with the current state of technology, charge-coupled devices (CCDs)
It is difficult to make a solid-state imaging device as thin as an image guide fiber bundle. Therefore,
The tip body of an endoscope that incorporates a solid-state image sensor becomes thick to some extent.

However, if the flexible tube (a concept that includes a curved portion) is made thicker to accommodate this, the pain inflicted on the patient will increase. Furthermore, since the signal cable for the solid-state image sensor is not very thick, space inside the flexible tube is wasted. Therefore, in endoscopes with a built-in solid-state image sensor in the tip,
Generally, only the tip body is made thicker than the flexible tube.

FIG. 14 shows the tip of such a conventional endoscope. FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line XV-XV. In the figure, 51 is a hard tip body. Reference numeral 52 denotes a curved portion formed at the tip of the flexible tube and can be bent by remote control. In the figure, 53 is an objective optical system. Reference numeral 54 denotes a solid-state imaging device disposed at the imaging position of the objective optical system 53, and a forceps channel 55 for inserting treatment instruments such as forceps is inserted into the tip body 1, avoiding the solid-state imaging device 54. It is placed on the upper edge side. 56 is a light guide bundle for illumination.

16 to 18 show the mechanism of the above-mentioned bending portion 52, and 61 denotes a plurality of joint rings connected by rivets 62 so as to be rotatable in the vertical direction.
63 has one end fixed to the most advanced node ring 61a,
A pair of upper and lower operation wires whose other end is towed remotely. 64 is a guide for guiding the operating wire 63. Bronchial endoscopes and the like must be extremely thin, so they are generally configured to curve only in two directions, up and down. In that case, one operating wire was placed along both the upper and lower edges within the curved portion.

[Problem to be solved by the invention] However, in the curved portion of the endoscope configured as described above, as shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, the upper edge The forceps channel 55 disposed in the holder interferes with the operating wire 63 for bending the bending portion 52 upward. Therefore, the forceps channel 55 could not be inserted straight through, and the forceps channel 55 was bent at the connecting portion between the tip body 51 and the curved portion 52. As a result, problems such as breakage of treatment tools such as forceps occur, and some types of treatment tools may not be able to be inserted at all.

However, in order to deal with this, the curved portion 5
If the diameter of the tip part 2 is increased or the length of the tip body 51 is increased, the pain caused to the patient will increase.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a distal end portion of an endoscope that eliminates such conventional drawbacks and allows for improved insertion of treatment instruments without increasing pain to the patient.

[Means for Solving the Problem] In order to achieve the above object, the curved portion of the endoscope of the present invention is provided with a forceps or the like attached to the curved portion that can be bent only in two symmetrical directions across the tube axis. By inserting the forceps insertion passage through which the treatment instruments are inserted, connecting a pair of bending operation wires to the distal end portion of the bending part, and remotely selecting and pulling one of the bending operation wires, In the bending portion of the endoscope, the bending portion is selectively bent in one of the two directions, and the bending operation wire disposed on the forceps insertion path side is bent at least in the vicinity of the distal end thereof. , is characterized in that it is formed of a plurality of wires arranged at substantially symmetrical and distant positions across the bending direction.

In addition, the tip body containing a fixed image sensor is connected to the curved portion that can be bent only in two symmetrical directions across the tube axis, and a forceps insertion passage for inserting treatment instruments such as forceps is provided in the tip body. by inserting the wire into the bending part, connecting a pair of bending operation wires to the tip of the bending part, and remotely selecting and pulling one of the bending operation wires.
In the bending portion of the endoscope, the bending portion is selectively bent in one of the two directions, and the bending operation wire disposed on the forceps insertion path side is bent at least in the vicinity of the distal end thereof. , is characterized in that it is formed of a plurality of wires arranged at substantially symmetrical and distant positions across the bending direction.

[Function] The operating wire disposed on the forceps insertion path side is formed of a plurality of wires, at least in the vicinity of its tip portion, and is disposed at positions separated from each other across the bending direction. Therefore, even if the forceps insertion passage is laid out at a position in the curved direction, the forceps insertion passage does not interfere with the operating wire.

[Example] Examples will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side cross-sectional view of the tip portion of the curved portion of the endoscope and the tip body, and 1 is a hard tip body.
2 is a curved portion that can be bent freely by remote control;
It is formed at the tip of a known flexible tube that forms the insertion section.

The tip main body 1 is formed to have a larger diameter than the curved portion 2 in order to accommodate the solid-state image sensor 10 and other built-in components. Since the signal cable 10a connected to the solid-state image sensor 10 is much thinner than the solid-state image sensor 10, the curved portion 2 through which the signal cable 10a is inserted can be formed thin. As shown in FIG. 2, the tip main body 1 is formed by cutting the side surface of a material with a circular cross section into flat surfaces at three locations at 90 degree intervals. This is to reduce the pain caused to the patient as much as possible by cutting out a useless part of the part that is enlarged to house the solid-state image sensor 10 inside.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a tip body frame that forms the outer peripheral surface of the tip portion of the tip body 1, and a metal element frame 12 for fixing the solid-state image sensor 10 is attached to an insulating tape 13.
The distal end portion is fixed within the main body frame 11 via.
As the solid-state image sensor 10, for example, a charge-coupled device (CCD) or the like is used.

In front of the solid-state image sensor 10, an objective lens 14, which is an objective optical system, is arranged and housed in a metal lens frame 15. It is fixed to the frame 11. 17 is a spacer. 18 is O for sealing
It's a ring. In this way, the solid-state image sensor 1
The image receiving surface of 0 is arranged so as to match the image forming surface of the objective lens 14.

A forceps channel 21 is a forceps insertion passage through which forceps and other treatment tools are inserted, and is arranged in the tip body 1 in parallel with the element frame 12. The forceps channel 21 is formed thinner within the tip body 1 in order to make the tip body 1 as thin as possible. This takes into consideration that since the forceps channel 21 is not bent within the tip body 1, buckling will not occur even if the wall thickness is reduced.

The upper edge of the tip main body 1 along the forceps channel 21 is formed to have a circular cross section.
As shown in FIG. 2, illumination light guide bundles 25 are arranged along both sides of the forceps channel 21.

Returning to FIG. 1, 30 is a metal connecting tube that connects the tip body frame 11 and the node ring 4 of the curved portion, and the rear side of the connecting tube 30 is as shown in FIG. It is fitted onto the outer surface of the most advanced node ring 4 and fixed to the node ring 4 by soldering or the like. The front side of the connecting tube 30 is arranged so as to sandwich the tip body frame 11 from both sides, and the front side of the connecting tube 30 is arranged so as to sandwich the tip body frame 11 from both sides.
It is fixed at 1. The tip main body 1 and the curved portion 2 are eccentrically connected to each other by this connecting tube 30. This eccentricity is in a direction that causes the forceps channel 21 within the tip body 1 to approach the tube axis of the curved portion 2, thereby relaxing the bending of the forceps channel 21.

In the bending section 2, reference numeral 4 denotes joint rings rotatably connected to each other by rivets 3, and the tip of the bending operation wire is inserted into a hole drilled in the most advanced joint ring 4 with a silver rod. It is fixed by attaching etc.
6 is a known reticular tube. 7 is an outer skin made of a highly elastic rubber material or the like.

The feature of this invention is that the arrangement of the bending operation wire 5 is devised. That is, in this embodiment, the downward bending operation wire 5c is
As in the conventional case, it is arranged at a position that coincides with the bending direction, that is, at the lower edge of the bending part 2. However, two upward bending operation wires are provided, and these two upward bending operation wires 5a and 5b are shifted from the vertical axis by, for example, 45 degrees to the left and right, and are placed at separate positions. installed symmetrically.

3 to 5 show the relationship between the node ring 4 and the operating wire 5 that constitute the curved portion 2. FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the curved portion 2 is constructed by rotatably connecting a number of joint rings 4 to each other by a pair of left and right rivets 3. The bending section 2 is bent upward by pulling the two upward operation wires 5a and 5b evenly from the operation section (not shown), and bent upward by pulling the downward operation wire 5c. bend in the direction Do not bend in other directions.
Further, the guides 9 of the operating wire 5 are formed at several locations by partially recessing the node ring 4.

Since this embodiment is configured in this manner, the forceps channel 21 does not interfere with the operating wire 5 at all, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, the forceps channel 2
1 can be arranged in a shape that is almost straight.

In the two-direction bending mechanism as in the above embodiment, the upper and lower bending directions are determined by the position of the rivet 3 with respect to the node ring 4. Therefore,
The arrangement of the two upward operating wires 5a and 5b is as follows:
It does not necessarily have to be exactly symmetrical with respect to the vertical axis (that is, the bending direction of the curved portion). However, if the deviation in the mounting position becomes large, stress is applied that twists the rivet parts, resulting in poor durability and twisting in the curved shape. Therefore, the two upward operating wires 5a, 5b
It is desirable that the angles are as close to symmetry as possible with respect to the vertical axis. In other words, in Fig. 5, θ≒
It is desirable that θ' be the value.

6 to 10 show a second embodiment of the present invention, in which a downward bending operation wire 5c,
5d is also provided in a pair on the left and right, similarly to the upper direction. By doing this, the solid-state image sensor 1
The signal cord 10a for 0 also no longer interferes with the bending operation wire 5. The other parts are the same as the first embodiment described above. In this case, as shown in FIG.
and θ' are approximately equal, and it is desirable that the mounting angles α and α' of the downward operating wires 5c and 5d are also approximately equal. However, it is not necessary that θ=α.

11 to 13 show a third embodiment of the present invention, and only show the relationship between the node ring 4 and the operating wire 5. FIG. In this embodiment, the operating wire 5 is divided into left and right parts in a Y-shape in both the upper and lower directions only near the tip portion, and behind the operating wire 5 is connected to the upper edge or lower edge within the curved portion 2 via a connecting pipe 5p. It is connected to one wire 5m, 5n passing through the section. The distance L between the connecting pipe 5p and the guide 9 is set to be larger than the maximum operating stroke of the operating wires 5m and 5n. Even with this configuration, the forceps channel 2
1 can be placed almost directly without interfering with the operating wire.

Note that the present invention can also be applied to a curved portion of an endoscope that uses an image guide fiber or the like instead of a solid-state image sensor.

[Effects of the invention] According to the curved part of the endoscope of the present invention, even if the forceps insertion passage is arranged at the periphery within the curved part, the forceps insertion passage and the bending operation wire do not interfere with each other, so that the tip body The forceps insertion passage can be arranged in a shape that is almost straight at the connecting part between the curved part and the curved part. Therefore, forceps and other treatment instruments can be inserted and removed smoothly, and the operability and durability of the treatment instruments are significantly improved, which is an excellent effect.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of the first embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the - line, Fig. 3 is a side sectional view of the mechanism of the bending part, Fig. 4 is a partial perspective view thereof, Fig. 5 is a front sectional view thereof, and Fig. 6 is a sectional view of the present invention. A side sectional view of the second embodiment, FIG.
8 is a side sectional view of the mechanism of the bending part, FIG. 9 is a partial perspective view thereof, FIG. 10 is a front sectional view thereof, and FIG. 11 is a third embodiment of the present invention. A plan view showing a part of the mechanism of the bending part cut away, 1st
Fig. 2 is a side sectional view of the same, Fig. 13 is a partially cutaway perspective view, Fig. 14 is a side sectional view of the conventional example, Fig. 15 is a sectional view taken along the line XV-XV, and Fig. 1
6 is a side sectional view of the mechanism of the bending portion, FIG. 17 is a partial perspective view thereof, and FIG. 18 is a front sectional view thereof. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Tip body, 2... Curved part, 4... Joint ring, 5... Operating wire, 21... Forceps channel.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] (1) A forceps insertion passage for inserting treatment tools such as forceps is inserted into a curved portion that can be bent only in two symmetrical directions across the tube axis, and the curved portion is A pair of bending operation wires are connected to the tip portion, and by remotely selecting and pulling one of the bending operation wires, the bending portion is selectively bent in one of the two directions. In the bending portion of the endoscope, the bending operation wire disposed on the forceps insertion path side is at least near the distal end portion of the bending operation wire.
A curved portion of an endoscope, characterized in that it is formed of a plurality of wires arranged at substantially symmetrical and distant positions across the curved direction. (2) Connect the tip body containing a fixed image sensor to the curved portion that can be bent only in two symmetrical directions across the tube axis, and connect the forceps insertion passage for inserting treatment tools such as forceps to the tip. The bending portion is inserted into the bending portion from the main body, and a pair of bending operation wires are connected to the distal end portion of the bending portion, and one of the bending operation wires is remotely selected and pulled. In the bending portion of the endoscope that is selectively bent in either of the two directions, the bending operation wire disposed on the forceps insertion path side is at least near its distal end portion,
A curved portion of an endoscope, characterized in that it is formed of a plurality of wires arranged at substantially symmetrical and distant positions across the curved direction.