JP3333574B2 - Endoscope - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a rigid end portion of an endoscope (including a catheter) which can be operated at an angle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An endoscope is easy to be inserted into a bent body cavity, and it is required that the tip of the endoscope be arbitrarily changed with respect to an observation point during observation. I can do it. For this purpose, the tip of the angle operation wire is attached to the front end of the bending portion, and the angle operation wire is operated at the rear.

[0003] Therefore, the structure for attaching the tip of the angle operation wire to the tip portion is so rigid that the attachment portion does not easily come off and the fixing portion becomes large, so that the diameter of the tip portion does not increase. Various ingenuity has been devised, and there are techniques such as Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 3-52483, Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-10327, and Japanese Patent Publication No. 3-72291.

In the above-mentioned technique, as shown in FIG. 12, a stopper 8 is attached to the tip of an angle operating wire 7, and the stopper 8 is fixed to a concave portion 10 formed on the outer peripheral surface of a tip main body 9, so that the most advanced node ring is provided. Is fitted to the rear end of the distal end body. Next, as shown in FIG.
A stopper 12 protruding laterally is formed at the distal end of the angle operating wire 11, and the distal end portion of the angle operating wire 11 is fitted into a groove 14 formed on the outer peripheral surface of the distal end body 13, and the stopper 12 is moved forward. This is a structure in which the outer peripheral surface of the section main body 13 is protruded, the foremost node ring is fitted to the rear end of the tip section main body, and the stopper section 12 is brought into contact with the front end of the node ring.

[0005] Next, as shown in FIG.
Cut-out grooves 16a and 16b are formed in the pipe wall of the tubular member 15 constituting the leading end, and the cut-out grooves 16a and 16b are formed.
b, the angle operating wires 17a, 17b and at least one end of a wire guide for guiding the angle operating wires 17a, 17b are fitted into the notch grooves 16a, 16b.
Is filled with a fixing agent 18 and fixed.

[0006]

However, according to each of the above prior arts, the prior art and the prior art require a stopper at the tip of the angle operation wire, and the mounting structure strongly pulls the angle operation wire during the angle operation. In addition, there is a problem that the stopper must be attached firmly so that the stopper does not come out, and furthermore, a fine and elaborate work is required that a concave portion must be formed on the outer peripheral surface of the small tip portion main body. There is.

[0007] Furthermore, since the stopper portion is provided, the fixing portion becomes large and the distal end main body becomes thick, resulting in a problem that the endoscope becomes large in diameter. In addition, the technique also has a problem that a fine and elaborate work is also required that a notch groove must be formed in the tubular member, and the tip of an angle operating wire or a wire guide fitted in the notch groove is also required. There is a problem with the rigidity of the installation because it has to be fixed with a fixing agent, and in order to increase the fixing area, an unnecessarily thick wire will be used, and a wire as thick as necessary will be used Cannot be performed, which results in a problem that the diameter of the endoscope becomes large.In addition, if the fixing point is small and weak, the angle operation wire may come off, and repair work of the endoscope may be difficult. This is a difficult task because it involves dismantling.

[0008]

Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention is wound a plurality of times A Packaging <br/> Le operation wire helically, the anchoring member is formed by fixing it at both ends of the angle operating wire operation Dress
In this fixed body, the distal end of an image guide, a solid-state imaging device, a light guide, various tubes, etc. is fixed to form a rigid distal end portion .

[0009]

According to the above construction, the distal end of the endoscope is formed by fixing the distal ends of the image guide, the solid-state image pickup device, the light guide, various tubes, and the like in the fixed body constituted by the angle operation wires. The endoscope can be made thinner, and the angle operating wire itself constitutes the rigid tip portion, so that the angle operating wire does not come off or come off.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing an example of a state in which an angle operating wire is spirally wound, FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a first embodiment formed into a cylindrical body, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a state of a rigid tip portion. FIG.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an angle operating wire, which is wound a plurality of times in opposite directions as shown in FIG. 1 and wound into a spiral, and the spiral is fixed as shown in FIG. To form In addition, the method of forming the screw portion 1a by the angle operation wire may be any winding method, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, two screws may be wound together in the same direction. As shown in FIG. 6, a plurality of wires may be wound together in the same direction, or as shown in FIG.

The cylindrical fixed body 2 may be formed by any method. For example, when the fixed body 2 is formed, the fixed body 2 may be directly formed into a cylindrical shape, or a columnar body may be formed by molding or the like. Alternatively, the columnar body may be hollowed out and finished into a cylindrical shape. The material of the angle operation wire 1 is metal such as stainless steel, artificial fiber, natural fiber, or the like, and the spiral state is such that adjacent spiral lines may or may not be in close contact with each other. The method of holding varies depending on the material, such as molding, adhesive,
The fixed body 2 having a predetermined shape is finished by soldering, brazing, welding by laser or the like.

The fixing body 2 does not necessarily have to be a cylindrical body having the same diameter up to both ends as shown in the figure, but may have a shape such as a truncated cone or a spindle having different diameters at both ends. Further, a desired shape such as a square shape or a flat shape as shown in FIG. 7 may be used. By inserting the tips of an image guide, a solid-state image sensor, a light guide, various tubes, etc. into such a fixed body 2 and integrally forming them by molding, an adhesive or the like, as shown in FIG. At the same time that the portion 3 can be formed, the distal end of an image guide (including a solid-state imaging device), a light guide, various tubes, and the like are mounted in the rigid distal end portion.

In this process, an image guide,
When it is desired to accurately position the distal end of the solid-state imaging device, light guide, various tubes, etc., it is necessary to appropriately shape the tip, for example, the image guide, solid-state imaging device, light guide, various tubes, etc. as shown in FIG. Positioning can be performed by performing processing with the spacer 5 having the storage portion formed therebetween.

The rearmost portion of the fixed body is fitted with the foremost node ring 4 of the connected node rings constituting the curved portion, and furthermore, the flexible tube portion is continuously connected integrally. Both ends extend to the handle of the endoscope and are connected to a normal operating device (not shown). Then, the fixed body 2 and / or the curved body except for the fixed body 2 is covered with the outer cover 6 on the outer peripheral surface of the flexible tube portion to complete the bending.

As described above, the ends of the image guide, the solid-state image pickup device, the light guide, various tubes, and the like are simply fitted and fixed in the cylindrical fixed body 2 of a predetermined shape formed by winding the angle operation wire 1. Thus, the distal end rigid portion of the endoscope can be formed, and the angle operating wire 1 is integrally formed with the distal end rigid portion. Next, FIG. 9 is an explanatory view showing the second embodiment. The fixing body 2 is not a cylindrical body as in the first embodiment, but a columnar body packed to the center by molding or the like, and extends along the axial direction. Holes 2a for inserting image guides, solid-state imaging devices, light guides, various tubes, and the like, as shown in FIG. 10, the image guides, solid-state imaging devices, light guides,
The distal end rigid portion 3 is structured by inserting and fixing the distal portions of various tubes and the like.

According to this structure, the image guide, the solid-state image pickup device, the light guide, and the various tubes can be fixed at desired positions by accurately positioning the positions of the holes 2a. The hole 2 of the fixed body 2
The formation of a is the same even if a punching die is used so that the hole 2a is formed in advance when the fixed body 2 is formed.

Although the above embodiments have been described for the case of a two-directional angle, the four-directional angle can also be constructed in exactly the same manner by combining angle wires. Although the above description has been made with reference to the endoscope, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, a catheter can be configured in exactly the same manner.

[0019]

According to the present invention described in detail above, the middle part of the angle operating wire is spirally wound a plurality of times and fixed to form a fixed body, and an image guide,
By fixing the tips of the solid-state imaging device, light guide, various tubes, etc., it has the effect of eliminating the need for small and sophisticated tip components made of metal or synthetic resin, which were required in the past. Since the angle control wire is integrated, in an endoscope which is particularly required to be thin, there is no extra component other than the components such as the image guide and the light guide, so that the space for the extra component is reduced. This eliminates the need, and thus has the effect of making it possible to finish the whole body with a small diameter without increasing the mounting position of the angle operation wire.

Further, since the rigid portion at the tip and the angle operating wire are integrated, there is an effect that there is no danger of coming off even if a strong tensile force is applied, and as a result, a thinner angle operating wire can be used. And the endoscope can be made thinner. Moreover, there is no need for precise parts for attaching the angle operation wire, and there is an effect that the angle operation wire installation work itself is eliminated.

Further, since there is no need for soldering when attaching the angle operation wire, it is possible to use a stainless steel wire which cannot be used conventionally and has an effect of improving durability.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a state in which an angle operation wire is spirally wound.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a first embodiment formed in a cylindrical body.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a state of a tip rigid portion.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of how to wind an angle operation wire.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of how to wind an angle operation wire.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of how to wind an angle operation wire.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of how to wind an angle operation wire.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a spacer.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory view of the assembly of the second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory view of an embodiment used for a catheter.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional example.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing another conventional example.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing another conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Angle operation wire 2 Fixed body 2a hole 3 Tip rigid part

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Fields surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A61B 1/00-1/32

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A wound several times A Single operation wire helically to form a fixing body by fixing it, the angle operation
Both ends of the wire are connected to the angle operating wire operating device
And things, the fixed body to the image guide, the solid-state imaging device, a light guide, by fixing the distal end of various tubes previously
An endoscope comprising an end rigid portion . 2. The fixed body according to claim 1, wherein the fixed body is formed in a cylindrical body, and an image guide, a solid-state imaging device,
An endoscope wherein a distal end of a light guide, various tubes and the like is inserted and fixed by molding or an adhesive to form a rigid distal end portion . 3. The fixed body according to claim 1, wherein
It is formed into a columnar body that is packed to the center by machining, etc., and holes for inserting image guides, solid-state imaging devices, light guides, various tubes, etc. are drilled in the fixed body, and image guides, solid-state imaging devices, a light guide, the distal end of various tubes were inserted fixed endoscope is characterized in that constitutes the distal end rigid portion.