JPS6353818B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention is a laser processing method in which an infrared laser is used as a working light, and this working light is guided to a target area through an infrared optical fiber to perform, for example, incision, ablation, etc. of an affected area. It is related to the device.

Conventional structure and its problems Infrared laser beams such as CO ₂ laser beams are suitable for incising and evaporating living tissue.
A laser scalpel device using this has been put into practical use.

Previously, since an optical fiber that could transmit CO ₂ laser beam (wavelength 10.6μ) had not been developed, a method was used to guide the CO ₂ laser beam to the surgical site using a mirror-articulated light guide path made up of multiple mirrors. was.

However, mirror-articulated light guides have problems in terms of operability and maintenance, and as a result of attempts to develop optical fibers that can transmit CO ₂ laser beams, for example,
It is currently being put into practical use to guide a CO ₂ laser beam using an optical fiber made of a halide material such as KRS-5.

Now, the CO ₂ laser scalpel device as mentioned above has gas and gas generated by irradiation with a CO ₂ laser beam.
Assist gas means to blow away oil, etc., and cooling gas means to cool down the heat of the infrared optical fiber generated as the CO ₂ laser beam passes through, especially in CO ₂ laser scalpel devices using optical fibers. is necessary. As assist gas is blown directly onto the surgical site, it must be clean. On the other hand, since the cooling gas flows along the circumferential surface of the infrared optical fiber, if the optical fiber melts for some reason, the cooling gas becomes contaminated with the vapor of the optical fiber.

For this reason, it is desirable that the assist gas system path and the cooling gas system path be completely separated. However, in the conventional CO ₂ laser scalpel device, the assist gas system path and the cooling gas system path are incompletely separated.

Furthermore, in extreme cases, the cooling gas and the assist gas may be used in combination, which may result in contaminated gas being blown onto the surgical site along with the assist gas, which may have a negative impact on the patient and those around them. It was hot. Furthermore, if the assist gas system path and the cooling gas system path were configured to be completely separable, there was a drawback that the entire handpiece would become larger.

Purpose of the Invention In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention completely separates the gas system path for cooling the infrared optical fiber and the gas system path for assist gas with a simple configuration, thereby improving safety. It provides high quality laser processing equipment.

Structure of the Invention In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a first holding member that holds an optical fiber inside a handpiece, an optical member that collects infrared light emitted from the optical fiber, and the optical member. The second to hold
a holding member, a cooling gas recovery means formed by the first holding member and the second holding member, and collecting the cooling gas sent into the closed space having the output end of the optical fiber therein; and a gas ejection system path for blowing out clean cooling gas from the tip of the handpiece.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Figure 1 shows a laser scalpel device that uses infrared light from a CO ₂ laser beam as working light and visible light from a He-Ne laser beam as guide light, and guides them to the surgical site using an optical fiber. It is an external view. 1 is a power supply and control unit, 2 is a housing part in which the oscillation tube of a CO ₂ laser that emits infrared light and a He-Ne laser that emits visible light is incorporated, and 3 is a support that supports the housing part 2 at a predetermined height. , 4
5 is an optical fiber cable that houses an optical fiber for infrared light, an optical fiber for visible light, a cooling gas line, an assist gas line, etc., and is covered with a protective flexible tube on the outside. The fiber, connector, and 6 that fix the cable 4 to the housing part 2 are handpiece parts that incorporate a condensing lens that condenses infrared rays and visible rays emitted from the optical fiber, and are held and operated by the operator. It is a part.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show one embodiment of the present invention, and are cross-sectional views taken at different angles, for example, of the handpiece portion 6 shown in FIG. 1. 7 is an optical fiber for infrared light;
As shown in detail in the figure, first metal pipes 9a and 9b having grooves 8a and 8b are fixed to both ends. Second metal pipes 10a, 10b are fixed to the outer peripheries of the first metal pipes 9a, 9b. Further, a flexible resin tube 11 is fixed to connect the second metal pipes 10a and 10b. Further, as is clear from FIGS. 2 and 3, the handpieces 6a and 6b, which are the exteriors of the handpiece portion 6, can be separated at the X point. Holding members 12, 13, 14 are attached to the hand pieces 6a and 6b.
is housed coaxially with the optical fiber 7 by set screws 19, 20, 21, and 22. Although not directly related to the present invention, the holding member 12 is configured to be able to freely slide on the metal pipe 10b only in the optical axis direction, and when necessary, the holding member 12 is attached to the metal pipe 10 by a set screw 15.
0b can be fixed. Therefore, the configuration is such that the positional relationship to be maintained between the output end of the optical fiber 7 and the holding member 12 can be changed.

On the other hand, the holding member 13, which is the first holding member, is configured to be slidable in the optical axis direction on the metal pipe 10b and hollow pipes 25 and 26, which will be described later, and as shown in FIG. 3 in the circumferential direction
A sleeve 18 that coaxially holds two self-occurring lenses 16 and a visible light optical fiber 17 is housed and fixed.

Also, the holding member 1 which is the second holding member
4 includes a condenser lens 2 as an optical member that can transmit CO ₂ laser beams such as Zn/Se and visible light.
3 is held by a cap screw 24. In this embodiment, a condensing lens is used, but an optical component such as a window may also be used.

On the other hand, 25 shown in Fig. 3 is a thin-walled hollow pipe.
It passes through the holding members 12, 13, 14 and is fixed to the holding members 12, 14. 26 is a thin-walled hollow pipe that passes through the holding members 12 and 13 and is fixed to the holding member 12. A cap 27 holds the condenser lens 28 together with a cap screw 29. Note that the condenser lens 28 is not necessarily necessary for the configuration of the present invention.

In addition to the above-described configuration, the control section 1 also houses an air blowing means (not shown). A part of the gas sent out by this blowing means enters through the groove 8a of the metal pipe 9a fixed to the incident end side of the optical fiber 7, and enters the resin tube 11.
A metal tube 9b is fixed to the output end side through the
The optical fiber 7 can be cooled by blowing air into the groove 8b.

Further, the remaining part of the gas sent out by the blowing means flows into the resin tube 31 connected to the hollow pipe 25 via the heat shrink tube 30. The gas coming out of the hollow pipe 25 passes through a gas path (not shown) formed on the outer periphery of the condenser lens 28 and is blown onto the surgical site as assist gas. Note that since the assist gas needs to be clean, it is advisable to provide a clean filter or the like in the assist gas path.

Furthermore, the outer circumferential surfaces of the holding members 13 and 14 and the inner circumferential surfaces of the hand pieces 6a and 6b are in a good fitting state, and furthermore, the holding member 13 and the metal pipe 10 are in a good fitting state.
b. Since the hollow pipes 25 and 26 are also well fitted, the space 3 formed by the holding members 13 and 14 and the inner peripheral surface of the hand piece 6a
6 is airtightly sealed except for the tip of the hollow pipe 26. Therefore, the cooling gas flowing inside the resin tube 11 flows out from near the output end of the optical fiber 7 into the sealed space 36, flows into the hollow pipe 26, and enters the resin tube 32 connected via the heat shrink tube 30. through the control unit 1
is collected by a collection unit (not shown). A cleaning filter is provided in the recovery section, and the cooling gas is discharged into the atmosphere after passing through the cleaning filter.

Note that the holding member 13 is attached to the hand pieces 6a, 6
b and hollow pipes 25, 26, metal pipe 10b
On the other hand, although the holding member 13 is configured to be slidable only in the optical axis direction, the sealing degree of the sealed space 36 is not impaired even when the holding member 13 is slid in the optical axis direction.

The operation of the laser scalpel device described above will be explained below. First, when the operator operates the laser beam oscillation using the foot switch, a CO ₂ laser beam and a He-Ne laser beam are emitted from the housing part 2. The CO ₂ laser beam is emitted from the output end of the infrared optical fiber 7 and passed through the condensing lens 23.
and 28, the light is focused on point A. On the other hand, He−Ne
The laser beam is emitted from the output end of the optical fiber 17 for visible light, is focused at point B on the axis of the optical fiber 7 for infrared light by the self-occurring lens 16, and is focused at point A by the condensing lenses 23 and 28. It is focused and informs the operator of the focal point of the CO ₂ laser beam. Note that, as shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, the He-Ne laser beam is emitted from the three visible light optical fibers 17 and the self-cleaning lens 16, so of course the CO ₂ laser beam is at the convergence point A. Even at a position shifted from the condensing point A in the optical axis direction, the He-Ne laser beam 34 is irradiated so as to be inscribed in the irradiation range 33 of the CO ₂ laser beam, as shown in _FIG. It is possible to inform the operator of the area where the living body is affected by laser beam irradiation.

On the other hand, at the same time as the foot switch is operated, the air blowing means stored inside the control unit 1 starts operating.
A portion of the gas sent out by the blowing means is blown onto the surgical site from the tip of the cap 27 of the hand piece 6 as assist gas, as described above.

On the other hand, the remaining part of the gas sent out by the blowing means flows out from near the output end of the infrared optical fiber 7 into the closed space 36, as described above, and is controlled via the hollow pipe 26 and the resin tube 30. Part 1
The infrared light optical fiber 7 is collected in a collection section and cooled.

Below, _CO2 laser beam and He-
We will explain how to adjust the Ne laser beams to accurately match them.

First, the metal pipe 10b and the holding member 12 are fixed at appropriate positions with the set screws 15. Next, the holding member 12 is attached to the stepped portion 35 of the hand piece 6b.
The holding members 13, 14 are fixed with screws 19 at the positions where they abut, and further, the holding members 13, 14 are fixed with screws 20, 21, 22 while the hand pieces 6a and 6b are in contact with each other. In this state, the hand piece 6 is moved by the hollow pipe 26 that integrally supports the holding members 12 and 14
a and 6b are integrally supported.

Then, in order to align the focal point of the CO ₂ laser beam with the focal point A, the screws 19 and 20 are loosened, and the hand piece 6b is moved back in the direction of arrow C. Next, the screw 15 is loosened, the metal pipe 10b is moved in the optical axis direction, and the focal point of the CO ₂ laser beam is adjusted to match the point A. To adjust the adjustment, place a piece of paper at the focal point A, irradiate the piece of paper with a pulsed CO ₂ laser beam while moving the metal pipe 10b in the optical axis direction, form a through hole in the piece of paper, and adjust the diameter of the through hole. It should be adjusted so that it is the smallest. and _CO2
When the adjustment of the focal point position of the laser beam is completed, the metal tube 10b and the holding member 12 are screwed together with the screw 15.
and fix it.

In this state, the positional relationship between the infrared optical fiber 7 and the condensing lenses 23 and 28 is fixed by the hollow pipe 25.

Next, the adjustment of the focal point position of the He-Ne laser beam will be explained. First, a piece of paper is placed at the focal point A, and with the He--Ne laser beam transmitted through the visible light optical fiber 17, the screw 21 is loosened and the holding member 13 is moved in the optical axis direction. Holding member 1
3 is a metal tube 10b and a hollow pipe 25,
Since the infrared optical fiber 7 is configured to be slidable only in the optical axis direction with respect to the holding member 13, the infrared optical fiber 7 is not affected by movement of the holding member 13 in the optical axis direction. Move the holding member 13 in the direction of the optical axis and tighten the screw 21 while the He-Ne laser beam 34 as shown in FIG. For example, adjustment of the focal point position of the He-Ne laser beam is completed. In this state, return the handpiece 6b to its original state, and screw 1
Tightening bolts 9 and 20 completes all adjustment operations. Even at the end of this adjustment operation, the holding member 13, the metal tube 10b, the hollow pipes 25, 26, and the hand piece 6a are in a good fitted state as described above, so that the light of the holding member 13 and the metal pipe 10b is Even when moving in the axial direction, the airtightness of the space 36 made up of the holding members 13, 14 and the hand piece 6a is not impaired, and all the cooling gas that flows into the airtight space 36 flows through the hollow pipe as described above. 26, passes through the resin tube 32, and is recovered to the recovery section of the control section 1. On the other hand, the assist gas system path is completely unrelated to the above-mentioned adjustment operation, and therefore the cooling gas system path and the assist gas system path are always completely separated, so that the cooling gas and the assist gas are There is no mixing.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the present invention includes a first holding member that holds an optical fiber inside the handpiece, an optical member that collects infrared light emitted from the optical fiber, and a first holding member that holds the optical fiber inside the handpiece. a second holding member held inside the piece; the first holding member and the second holding member; Clean and safe work is possible by providing a cooling gas recovery means for recovering the cooling gas sent into the closed space, and a gas ejection system path for blowing out assist gas from the tip of the handpiece. Therefore, the effect is great.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a laser scalpel device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 2 and 3 are sectional views of a handpiece portion of a laser processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 4 to 6 The figure is a sectional view of the holding member, Figure 7 is a perspective view of the infrared light fiber, and Figure 8 is the relationship between the respective light rays emitted from the infrared light fiber and the visible light fiber. It is a diagram. 6a, 6b...hand piece, 7...optical fiber for infrared light, 10b...metal tube, 12,
13, 14... Holding member, 17... Optical fiber for visible light, 23, 28... Condensing lens, 25...
Hollow pipe for assist gas, 26...Hollow pipe for cooling gas recovery.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 an infrared laser light source, an optical fiber that guides the infrared light emitted from the infrared laser light source, a first holding member that holds the optical fiber inside the handpiece, and an infrared light emitted from the optical fiber. an optical member that collects external light; a second holding member that holds the optical member inside the handpiece;
The handpiece is formed of the first holding member and the second holding member, and includes a cooling gas recovery means for recovering the cooling gas sent to the closed space having the output end of the optical fiber, and the handpiece. A laser processing device equipped with a gas ejection system that blows out clean cooling gas from the tip.