JP6401978B2 - Endoscopic bending operation mechanism - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an endoscope bending operation mechanism for bending a bending portion by tilting a lever projecting from an operation portion and pulling a bending wire.

  Endoscopes are widely used in the medical field and the industrial field. Some endoscopes have an elongated and flexible insertion portion. In general, an endoscope including a flexible insertion portion includes a bending portion that bends in a predetermined direction according to a user's hand operation on the distal end side of the insertion portion.

  Endoscopes having a bending portion include a bronchial endoscope that has a small insertion radius and a small bending radius and has a small curvature radius. In a bronchial endoscope, generally, a grip portion provided in an operation portion is gripped by three fingers of the middle finger, ring finger, and little finger of a left hand, a curved lever is operated by a thumb, and a suction button or the like is operated by an index finger. Various switches and buttons are operated.

  In recent years, also in bronchial endoscopes, it is desired to bend the bending portion in any direction including the vertical and horizontal directions. Patent Document 1 discloses a traction member operating device with excellent operability, in which an operation instruction lever is tilted with a slight amount of operation force, and a desired traction member can be moved by a desired amount to bend the bending portion. Has been.

  Patent Document 2 discloses an endoscope apparatus that can perform a bending operation of a bending portion with high accuracy by operating the bending lever, which is surely in a neutral state when the bending lever is self-supporting.

JP 2003-325437 A JP 2003-135385 A

  However, in Patent Document 1, the bending portion is bent by the operation wire being pulled and loosened in accordance with the tilting operation of the operation instruction lever, whereas in Patent Document 2, the bending portion is an angle and a direction when the operation instruction lever is tilted. A bending instruction signal corresponding to the angle is output to bend. For this reason, when the curved boot of the endoscope apparatus of Patent Document 2 is applied to the operation instruction lever of the pulling member operating apparatus of Patent Document 1, it is shown in FIG. 13 and FIG. As shown in FIG. 10C of Patent Document 1, in the state where the boot portion is folded and arranged between the shaft portion and the edge portion of the outer cover, the bending lever is used as the tilted state adjusting member. It becomes difficult to obtain the maximum tilting operation state by contact. Moreover, there exists a possibility that it may be damaged when a large force is applied from the operation instruction lever to the folded boot portion.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope bending operation mechanism that eliminates the problem that the maximum tilting operation state is hindered by the bending boot without increasing the size of the operation unit. .

An endoscope bending operation mechanism according to an aspect of the present invention is provided on an operation portion provided at a proximal end portion of an insertion portion that has a bending portion that can be inserted into a subject and can be bent in all directions including four directions of up, down, left, and right. One end is connected to the bending portion having a shaft body that protrudes outward from the formed opening and can be tilted in all directions including the four directions associated with the four directions of the bending portion. a bending mechanism for pulling loosening a plurality of curved wires, a cylindrical shape, lube over Tsu flat portion having a through hole intermediate portion of the shaft body in the center is arranged, of the boot plane portion It is a side peripheral surface that extends in the axial direction from one plane, and is provided with a spiral concavo-convex portion that is spirally formed in the axial direction, and is provided with flexibility and restorability by the spiral concavo-convex portion. Provided on the boot side peripheral portion and the opening end portion of the boot side peripheral portion; Boots edges disposed along the opening of the boot mounting portion in section, anda curved boot with the boot flat portion, the rotation center of the said shaft member along with the tilting of the shaft body The boot side peripheral portion is rotated in unison with the shaft body in the tilt direction without being bent. When the uneven portion is continuously deformed along the spiral gradient, the spiral uneven portion is folded between the boot side peripheral portion between the shaft body and the boot mounting portion provided in the operation portion. It is possible to tilt the shaft body to a predetermined maximum angle without being arranged.

  According to the endoscope bending operation mechanism of the present invention, it is possible to realize an endoscope bending operation mechanism that eliminates the problem that the maximum tilting operation state is hindered by the bending boot without increasing the size of the operation unit.

Diagram explaining endoscope The figure explaining an endoscope bending operation mechanism The figure explaining a wire attachment member and a bending wire The figure explaining the state which removed the curved boot from the operation part Cross section of curved boot The figure explaining the state which is operating the operation lever The figure explaining the relationship between the shaft body, the curved boot, and the operation part in the state which is operating the operation lever

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
In addition, each drawing used for the following description is shown schematically, and in order to show each component to the extent that it can be recognized on the drawing, the dimensional relationship and scale of each member are for each component. Some of the scales are different, and the present invention relates only to the quantity of components, the shape of the components, the ratio of the sizes of the components, and the relative positional relationship of the components described in these figures. It is not limited to.

  The endoscope 1 of this embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is a bronchial electronic endoscope. The endoscope 1 includes an elongated insertion portion 2, an operation portion 3 connected to a proximal end portion of the insertion portion 2, and a universal cord (not shown) extending from a side portion of the operation portion 3. It is mainly composed.

  The insertion portion 2 is configured by connecting, in order from the distal end side, a distal end portion 2a, a bending portion 2b, and a flexible flexible tube portion 2c having a long shape. The bending portion 2b is configured to bend in any direction (all directions) including the four directions of up, down, left, and right.

  The operation unit 3 includes a grip unit 3a and an operation unit body 3b. The grasping portion 3a is grasped by the operator's hand 4 as indicated by a two-dot chain line. A treatment instrument insertion port 5 is provided in the grip portion 3a. Various treatment tools such as biopsy forceps are introduced from the treatment tool insertion port 5.

  The operation portion main body 3b is provided with an endoscope bending operation mechanism 10, a suction cylinder 6, and various changeover switches 7a and 7b. Reference numeral 8 denotes a suction valve, which is disposed in the suction cylinder 6. The endoscope bending operation mechanism 10 includes a bending mechanism unit 20 and a bending boot 30.

First, the configuration of the bending mechanism unit 20 will be described.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the bending mechanism unit 20 mainly includes a finger pad unit 21, a bending lever 22, a wire pulling member 23, and a bending wire 24.

  Four bending wires 24 are provided so as to correspond to the bending direction of the bending portion 2b. One end of each of the four bending wires 24 is fixed at a position corresponding to the top, bottom, left, and right of a tip bending piece (not shown) constituting the bending portion 2b. The plurality of bending wires 24 pass through the insertion portion 2 and the grip portion 3 a, extend into the operation portion main body 3 b, and are attached to the wire pulling member 23.

As shown in FIG. 3, the wire pulling member 23 is a cross-shaped plate-like member, and the crossing angle formed by the adjacent arm portions 23a is set to 90 degrees. A wire attachment hole 23h, which is a through hole, is formed at the end of each arm portion 23a. A spherical body 25 fixed to the proximal end of each bending wire 24 is disposed in these wire attachment holes 23h.
Reference numeral 26 denotes a wire guide member, for example, a close-wound coil through which each bending wire 24 is slidably inserted.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the bending lever 22 is a shaft body having a longitudinal axis. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, one end of the bending lever 22 protrudes outward from the opening 27m of the boot mounting member 27 provided in the operation portion main body 3b, and a finger rest portion is provided at the end thereof. 21 is fixed. The finger rest portion 21 is a member on which, for example, the thumb of the operator's hand 4 is placed. When the bending portion 2b is bent, the thumb is placed as shown in FIG.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, a wire pulling member 23 is provided at the other end located in the operation portion main body 3b. The proximal end shaft portion of the bending lever 22 and the central convex portion (not shown) of the wire pulling member 23 are connected via a universal joint 28 rotatably disposed on a frame (not shown) provided in the operation portion main body 3b. Installed.

  The bending lever 22 is configured to be tiltable with the universal joint 28 as the rotation center Oj. The tilting direction of the bending lever 22 corresponds to all directions including the four directions associated with the four directions of the bending portion 2b.

  Therefore, by placing the thumb of the operator's hand 4 holding the grasping portion 3 a on the finger rest portion 21 and tilting the bending lever 22, the wire pulling member 23 moves in the tilting direction and tilting angle of the bending lever 22. Correspondingly rocks.

  Then, as the wire pulling member 23 swings, the bending wire 24 corresponding to the tilting operation is pulled according to the tilting angle, and the other bending wires 24 are relaxed. As a result, the bending portion 2b is bent in response to the operator's tilting operation of the bending lever 22.

  When the bending portion 2b is in a straight state, in other words, when the bending portion 2b is not bent, all the bending wires 24 attached to the wire pulling member 23 are in a predetermined relaxed state, and the bending lever 22 Is an upright state orthogonal to the mounting member mounting surface 3bf of the operating unit body 3b on which the boot mounting member 27 of the operating unit body 3b is provided.

  Reference numeral 29 in FIG. 4 denotes a maximum bending angle defining member, and the axial side surface of the bending lever 22 contacts each maximum bending angle defining member 29. The maximum bending angle of the bending portion 2b is appropriately set for each bending direction.

Next, the configuration of the curved boot 30 will be described.
As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 5, the curved boot 30 is a cylindrical cover member formed of an elastic member, and holds the curved lever 22 in an upright state so that the tilting operation is possible. The opening 27m of the attachment member 27 is sealed. The elastic member is made of resin or rubber.

As shown in FIG. 5, the curved boot 30 has a boot flat surface portion 31, a boot side peripheral portion 32, and a boot edge portion 33.
The boot flat surface portion 31 has a disk shape with a constant thickness, and a through hole 31h that connects the internal space 31S and the outside is provided at the center. An intermediate portion 22m of the bending lever 22 is disposed in the through hole 31h. The bending lever 22 is integrated in a watertight manner by applying an adhesive to the front surface 31a as the outer surface of the boot flat surface portion 31 and the rear surface 31b as the inner surface by bonding, for example, with the intermediate portion 22m disposed in the through hole 31h. Fixed to.

The thickness of the boot flat surface portion 31 is set to a thickness suitable for obtaining a predetermined rigidity. Predetermined rigidity refers to a predetermined convex curved surface whose peripheral portion is lower than the central portion and is not greatly deformed and bent when the bending lever 22 is tilted when the bending portion 2b is bent. Or, conversely, the rigidity is a predetermined concave curved surface.
It should be noted that the rigidity of the boot flat surface portion 31 may be set high so that it does not deform at all during the tilting operation of the bending lever 22.

  The boot side peripheral portion 32 is a side peripheral surface extending in the axial direction from the back surface 31 b side of the boot flat surface portion 31. On the outer peripheral surface and the inner peripheral surface of the boot side peripheral portion 32, a spiral concave and convex portion 32c formed in a spiral shape in the axial direction is provided. The boot side peripheral portion 32 is provided with predetermined flexibility and resilience by the spiral uneven portion 32c. The boot side peripheral portion 32 is formed thinner than the boot flat portion 31.

  The boot edge 33 is provided at the end of the boot opening 30m. The boot edge 33 is disposed in close contact with the inner peripheral surface of the opening 27 m of the boot mounting member 27. Then, an adhesive is applied to the gap between the boot edge 33 and the inner peripheral surface of the opening 27m, and is fixed integrally in a watertight manner.

The operation of the endoscope bending operation mechanism 10 configured as described above will be described.
When the surgeon bends the bending portion 2b downward during the examination, the surgeon places the thumb of the operator's hand 4 holding the grasping portion 3a on the finger rest portion 21 as shown in FIG. Then, the bending lever 22 is tilted in the “DOWN” direction in FIGS. 1 and 6.

  Since the boot edge 33 of the curved boot 30 is fixed to the inner surface of the opening 27m of the boot mounting member 27, the fixed state is maintained. On the other hand, the boot flat surface portion 31 having a predetermined rigidity of the curved boot 30 is not bent and is moved integrally with the curved lever 22 as the tilt angle of the curved lever 22 changes, so that the mounting member mounting surface The back surface 31b that is parallel to 3bf is inclined with respect to the mounting surface 3bf, and the inclination angle gradually increases.

  When the tilt angle θ of the bending lever 22 increases, the finger-side end 31bf of the back surface 31b gradually moves away from the X-axis toward the Y-axis with the rotation center Oj as the origin. On the other hand, the other end 31be of the back surface 31b opposite to the finger side end 31bf moves toward the X axis while being separated from the Y axis.

  For this reason, the boot side peripheral part 32 which has the softness | flexibility and resilience extended from the back surface 31b of the boot plane part 31 starts a deformation | transformation. The spiral concavo-convex portion 32c spirally formed in the axial direction of the boot-side peripheral portion 32 extends from the back surface 31b side to the boot edge portion 33 along the spiral gradient of the spiral concavo-convex portion 32c. Twist and deform continuously. In other words, adjacent convex portions 32c1 located on the finger-side end 31bf side of the spiral concavo-convex portion 32c are pulled toward the X-axis side sequentially from the side close to the back surface 31b, and are pulled toward the Y-axis side to widen the mutual interval. And elastically deforms. On the other hand, the adjacent convex portions 32c1 located on the other end 31be side are also elastically deformed so as to reduce the distance on the Y-axis side after being sequentially pulled to the X-axis side from the side close to the back surface 31b. As a result, the boot side peripheral portion 32 is not folded and disposed between the bending lever 22 and the boot mounting member 27.

  As a result, as shown in FIG. 7, the boot-side peripheral portion 32 having the spiral uneven portion 32 c is smoothly elastically moved outward from the outer periphery of the boot mounting member 27, and the bending lever 22 is moved to the maximum bending angle defining member 29. The bending portion 2b can be bent at the maximum bending angle by contacting. In other words, before the bending lever 22 abuts on the maximum bending angle defining member 29, the boot side peripheral portion 32 is bent between the bending lever 22 and the edge of the opening 27m of the boot mounting member 27 so that the maximum tilting operation state is achieved. The troubles that are hindered are eliminated.

  In the above-described embodiment, the thickness of the boot flat surface portion 31 is set to an optimum thickness in order to obtain a predetermined rigidity. However, a rigid member such as a metal flat plate or a hard resin member may be integrally provided on the boot flat surface portion 31 to obtain a predetermined rigidity. In this case, a hard metal flat plate or resin member may be provided by being fixed to the back surface 31b by bonding or the like, or may be embedded in the flat portion 31 that is a boot. That is, a hard metal flat plate or resin member is provided on the back surface 31 b side so as not to be exposed from the front surface 31 of the boot flat surface portion 31.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to each embodiment described above, A various deformation | transformation and change are possible, and they are also in the technical scope of this invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to an endoscope for bronchi has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, for an endoscope for urology, etc. It is possible to apply.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Endoscope 2 ... Insertion part 2a ... Tip part 2b ... Bending part 2c ... Flexible tube part 3 ... Operation part 3a ... Gripping part 3b ... Operation part main body 3bf ... Mounting member attachment surface 4 ... Hand 5 ... Treatment tool insertion Port 6 ... Suction cylinder 7a ... Various selector switches 8 ... Suction valve
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Endoscope bending operation mechanism 20 ... Bending mechanism part 21 ... Finger rest part 22 ... Bending lever
22m ... Intermediate part 23 ... Wire pulling member 23a ... Arm part 23h ... Wire attachment hole
24 ... Bending wire 25 ... Sphere 26 ... Wire guide member 27 ... Boot mounting member
27 m ... opening 28 ... universal joint 29 ... maximum bending angle defining member
30 ... Curved boot 30m ... Boot opening 31 ... Boot flat part 31S ... Internal space
31a ... front surface 31b ... back surface 31be ... other end 31bf ... finger side end 31h ... through hole
32 ... Boot side peripheral part 32c ... Spiral uneven part 32c1 ... Convex part 33 ... Boot edge part

Claims (4)

Projected outward from the opening formed in the operation portion provided at the base end portion of the insertion portion having a bending portion that can be inserted into the subject and bend in all directions including the four directions of up, down, left, and right, A bending mechanism section for pulling and loosening a plurality of bending wires, one end of which is connected to the bending section, having a shaft body that can be tilted in all directions including the four directions associated with the four directions of the bending section; ,
A cylindrical shape, lube over Tsu flat portion having a through hole intermediate portion of the shaft body in the center is arranged, there on the side circumferential surface that extends axially from a plane of the boot plane portion A boot-side peripheral portion provided with a spiral concave-convex portion spirally formed in the axial direction and provided with flexibility and restorability by the spiral concave-convex portion, and an open end of the boot-side peripheral portion A curved boot having a boot edge provided along the opening of the boot attachment portion in the operation portion,
Comprising
The boot plane portion rotates integrally with the shaft body around the rotation center of the shaft body as the shaft body tilts, and in the tilt direction without being bent ,
The boot side peripheral portion is configured such that when the spiral concave and convex portion is continuously deformed along the spiral gradient with the rotation of the shaft body and the boot plane portion, the boot side peripheral portion is the shaft. It is possible to tilt the shaft body to a predetermined maximum angle without arranging the spiral uneven portion between a body and the boot mounting portion provided in the operation portion. Endoscope bending operation mechanism. The curved boot is formed of an elastic member, and the boot flat surface portion has a disk shape with a constant thickness, and the boot flat surface portion is thicker than the boot side peripheral portion. The endoscope bending operation mechanism according to Item 1. The boot flat portion, the endoscope bending operation mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the kite is provided integrally with the elastic member and the rigid member.   The endoscope bending operation mechanism according to claim 3, wherein the hard member is provided on a back surface side of the boot flat surface portion without being exposed from a surface of the boot flat surface portion.

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