JP3426336B2 - Ultrasound endoscope - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an observation window for obtaining an optical image of the surface of an object and an ultrasonic probe for obtaining an ultrasonic tomographic image of the object. The present invention relates to an ultrasonic endoscope attached to the end of an endoscope insertion section. 2. Description of the Related Art In order to obtain a good ultrasonic tomographic image in an ultrasonic endoscope, a balloon filled with a fluid for transmitting ultrasonic waves such as degassed water is generally provided by an ultrasonic probe. And the subject is inflated so as to be in close contact with the subject. However, in the case of an endotracheal examination, a cartilage ring is present, and therefore, compared to other ultrasonic endoscopy,
It is necessary to bring the balloon into close contact with the region of interest (the region to be viewed) by ultrasound. However, in the case of the trachea, it is necessary to always secure the airway, so that the balloon cannot be inflated so as to block the trachea. Therefore, conventionally, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-80843, an airway securing channel is passed through a balloon, or the balloon is inflated by being divided into an ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving direction of an ultrasonic probe and the opposite direction. Was formed as follows. [0005] In order to effectively bring the balloon into close contact with the region of interest, the pressure of the balloon itself that is in close contact with the region of interest is set to a desired state, and the pressure is preferably set to the region of interest. It is necessary to press with pressure. However, the balloon disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-80843 is in communication with the whole and is inflated and deflated by the same pressure by the same degassed water. The pressure and the pressure cannot be adjusted independently, so that the region of interest could not be brought into the most favorable state for ultrasonic transmission. Accordingly, the present invention provides an ultrasonic endoscope in which a balloon can be brought into close contact with a region of interest in a state most preferable for ultrasonic transmission in a trachea or the like, and a good ultrasonic tomographic image can be obtained. The purpose is to provide. In order to achieve the above object, an ultrasonic endoscope according to the present invention comprises an observation window for obtaining an optical image of the surface of an object and an ultrasonic tomographic image of the object. An ultrasonic probe for obtaining an ultrasonic probe at the distal end of the endoscope insertion portion, wherein the ultrasonic probe transmits ultrasonic waves to the distal end of the endoscope insertion portion by a fluid that transmits ultrasonic waves. A balloon is provided which is inflated in the transmitting / receiving direction, and an auxiliary balloon which is inflated and contracted independently of the balloon is provided in a direction substantially opposite to the balloon. The auxiliary balloon is attached to the distal end of a fluid delivery tube for expanding and contracting the auxiliary balloon, and inserted into a channel disposed separately from the treatment instrument insertion channel in the endoscope insertion portion. You may make it. An embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG.
1 shows an overall configuration of an ultrasonic endoscope, in which a distal end main body 2 is provided at a distal end of a flexible insertion section 1 inserted into a body cavity. In the insertion portion 1, a treatment instrument insertion channel 16 that opens to the distal end main body 2 is inserted through the entire length. In addition, a bending portion 3 that can be bent by remote control is formed on the distal end side of the insertion portion 1. An operation section 4 is connected to the proximal end of the insertion section 1. The operation section 4 includes a bending operation knob 5 for remotely controlling the amount of bending of the bending section 3, a water supply operation valve 6 for performing an operation of sending deaerated water that transmits ultrasonic waves well into the balloon 20 at the distal end, A suction operation valve 7 for performing a suction operation via the treatment instrument insertion channel 16 and the like, a remote control switch 8 for operating a video processor (not shown), and the like are provided. A connector 10 connected to a light source device and a video processor (not shown) is connected to the end of the connection flexible tube 9 extending from the operation section 4. Numeral 11 denotes an incident end of the light guide fiber bundle, and numeral 12 denotes a video signal electrical contact. Reference numeral 14 denotes a suction path switching lever for switching a suction path, as described later.
Is an insertion port for inserting a treatment tool into the treatment tool insertion channel 16. An ultrasonic probe 21 for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves is arranged in the balloon 20 at the distal end. The shaft 22 having the ultrasonic probe 21 attached to the tip thereof is passed through an outer tube 23 and extends outward from the ultrasonic probe insertion port 13 of the operation unit 4. The shaft 22 is driven to rotate by a shaft drive motor 24, whereby the ultrasonic probe 21
Is rotated to scan the transmission / reception direction of the ultrasonic wave. 25
Is an ultrasonic observation apparatus that processes signals transmitted from the ultrasonic probe 21 and displays an ultrasonic tomographic image. In the insertion portion 1, a treatment instrument insertion channel 1 is provided.
A channel 33 different from 6 is inserted through the entire length. Reference numeral 31 denotes an insertion port, through which a fluid transmission tube 32 is inserted into a channel 33 so as to be freely inserted and removed. A member (not shown) for generating a light frictional resistance with the fluid feeding tube 32 is attached to the insertion port 31 portion. Reference numeral 35 denotes an injector for feeding a fluid such as water or air into the fluid delivery tube 32. FIG. 3 is a front view of the distal end portion main body 2.
Reference numeral 18 denotes an observation window for obtaining an optical image of the surface of the subject, an objective lens is disposed inside the window, and a solid-state imaging device is disposed at a position where the objective lens forms an image on the surface of the subject. . An image signal from the solid-state image sensor is sent to a video processor via a video signal electrical contact section 12, and an optical image of the surface of the subject is displayed. Reference numeral 19 denotes an illumination window in which an emission end of a light guide fiber bundle for illuminating the surface of the subject is arranged, and 17 denotes an outlet opening of the treatment instrument insertion channel 16. FIG. 1 shows a cross section taken along line II in FIG. The balloon 20 is attached to an attachment member 26 which is removably arranged in a concave portion 2 a formed in the distal end portion main body 2 by tightening an elastic band 27. The ultrasonic probe insertion channel 28 communicating with the inside of the balloon 20 passes through the inside of the insertion section 1 and communicates with the ultrasonic probe insertion port 13 of the operation section 4. The outer tube 23 of the ultrasonic probe 21 is removably inserted into the ultrasonic probe insertion channel 28, and its head is rounded. Inside, the shaft 22 connected to the ultrasonic probe 21 rotates around the axis. With such a configuration, when ultrasonic waves are emitted and received from the ultrasonic probe 21 in the direction of arrow A, which is the opening direction of the concave portion 2a, and degassed water is sent into the balloon 20 through the ultrasonic probe insertion channel 28. The balloon 20 expands and contracts in the same direction A as the direction of transmitting and receiving the ultrasonic waves. As described above, if the balloon 20 is inflated and brought into close contact with the subject to transmit and receive ultrasonic waves from the ultrasonic probe 21, an ultrasonic tomographic image of the subject can be obtained. A small concave portion 2b for accommodating the auxiliary balloon 30 is formed in a portion of the distal end main body 2 substantially opposite to the concave portion 2a, and a channel inserted into the insertion portion 1 is formed therein. The tip of 33 is connected. The auxiliary balloon 30 is attached to a distal end of a fluid delivery tube 32 inserted into the channel 33. However, as an assembling procedure, the fluid delivery tube 32 is inserted into the channel 33, the tip of which is projected slightly outward from the small recess 2b, and the auxiliary balloon 30 is attached to the tip of the tube 32. , Auxiliary balloon 3
0 is arranged in the small recess 2b. The auxiliary balloon 30 can be inflated and contracted by operating the injector 35 to put fluid into and out of the auxiliary balloon 30 through the fluid delivery tube 32. FIG. 4 shows a piping state in the ultrasonic endoscope. Reference numeral 41 denotes a suction tube connected to the suction operation valve 7, and the other end (not shown) is connected to a suction pump. ing. Reference numerals 42 and 43 are a water supply tube and a leak ventilation tube connected to the water supply operation valve 6, and 44 is a water supply tube for supplying water from the water supply operation valve. The water supply tube 44 communicates with the ultrasonic probe insertion channel 28, and the balloon 20 can be inflated by sending deaerated water with the water supply operation valve 6 in a water supply state. As shown in FIG. 4, the suction path switching lever 14 changes the suction path to the treatment instrument insertion channel 16.
And the ultrasonic probe insertion channel 28 can be selectively connected, and by connecting to the ultrasonic probe insertion channel 28, the deaerated water is sucked from inside the balloon 20 to shrink the balloon 20. Can be. FIG. 5 shows the water supply operation valve 6. Normally, a leak ventilation tube 43 communicates with the atmosphere through a leak hole 45 formed in a shaft portion of the water supply operation valve 6. When the water supply operation valve 6 is pushed in with a fingertip, the outlet of the leak ventilation tube 43 is closed and the water supply tube 42 is closed.
The deaerated water is supplied into the ultrasonic probe insertion channel 28 by communicating with the water supply tube 44. In the ultrasonic endoscope of the embodiment configured as described above, the balloon 20 and the auxiliary balloon 30 can be expanded and contracted independently of each other, as shown in FIG.
The auxiliary balloon 30 need not be inflated with deaerated water, but may be inflated with air. Therefore, the balloon 20 that is brought into close contact with the subject and the auxiliary balloon 30 that pushes the distal end body 2 from the back in order to bring the balloon 20 into close contact with the subject can be set in completely independent pressure states. Thus, the most preferable state for obtaining an ultrasonic tomographic image of the subject can be obtained. According to the present invention, a balloon which is inflated and contracted in the direction of transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves is provided at the distal end of the endoscope insertion portion, and is independently inflated in a direction substantially opposite to the balloon. By providing the auxiliary balloon to be contracted, the balloon and the auxiliary balloon can be set in a pressure state completely independent of each other, and can be in a state most preferable for obtaining an ultrasonic tomographic image of the subject. As a result, the balloon can be brought into close contact with the region of interest in a state most preferable for ultrasonic transmission, such as in the trachea, and there is an excellent effect that a good ultrasonic tomographic image can be obtained.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side (II) sectional view of a distal end of an insertion portion of an ultrasonic endoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the ultrasonic endoscope according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a front view of a distal end of an insertion portion of the ultrasonic endoscope according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a piping diagram of the ultrasonic endoscope according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of a water supply operation valve of the ultrasonic endoscope according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a schematic front view of the used state of the distal end of the insertion portion of the ultrasonic endoscope according to the embodiment of the present invention. [Description of Signs] 1 Endoscope insertion section 18 Observation window 20 Balloon 21 Ultrasonic probe 30 Auxiliary balloon

Continuation of front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A61B 8/00

Claims (1)

(57) Patent Claims 1. A ultrasonic probe for obtaining ultrasound tomographic images of the observation window and the subject for obtaining an optical image of the object surface <br/> endoscope A balloon is provided at the distal end of the insertion section, and is provided at the distal end of the endoscope insertion section, the balloon being inflated and contracted in the ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving direction of the ultrasonic probe by a fluid transmitting ultrasonic waves. A super-sound provided with an auxiliary balloon which is expanded and contracted independently of the balloon in a direction substantially opposite to the balloon.
In the wave endoscope , the auxiliary balloon expands and contracts the auxiliary balloon.
Attached to the end of the fluid delivery tube for
The endoscope can be inserted into and removed from the endoscope
When placed separately from the treatment tool insertion channel
In both cases, the recess capable of accommodating the auxiliary balloon is
Formed at the distal end of the endoscope insertion portion in communication with the endoscope.
An ultrasonic endoscope characterized in that: