JPH0474686B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to improvements in endoscopes.
In recent years, insertion tubes have been inserted into body cavities to observe and diagnose objects such as internal organs, or inserted into pipes of machinery, chemical plants, etc. to observe the inner walls of pipes, and to remove deposits from the inner walls of pipes. Endoscopes, which can be used for maintenance by taking samples, are widely used. There are two types of endoscopes: hard ones and flexible ones.

1 to 3 illustrate a medical rigid endoscope.

1 is a side view of the endoscope, FIG. 2 is a front view of the insertion section in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line -- in FIG. 2.

This rigid endoscope has an insertion section 1 inserted into a body cavity.
It is provided with an operating section 2 to which the insertion section 1 is attached. This operation part 2 is a part that is held and operated by the operator, and a light guide base 3 is provided on the side of this operation part 2, and this light guide base 3 has a light guide connected to an external light source. The cables are now connected.

On the other hand, inside the insertion section 1, as shown in FIG. 2, there is a light guide fiber 4 for guiding the illumination light supplied from the light guide cable into the body cavity.
and an optical viewing tube insertion channel provided with an observation optical system for forming an image of the object in the body cavity illuminated by the illumination light supplied from the light guide fiber 4 and transmitting the image to the operator side. 5 is now installed inside. Also, within the insertion section 1 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, there are forceps (not shown), etc., used by the operator to treat and diagnose the inside of the body cavity using information obtained through the observation optical system. can be inserted and removed freely. As shown in FIG. 2, the forceps are designed to be inserted into and removed from the forceps insertion channel 7.

In the conventional rigid endoscope, the light guide fiber 4 is installed inside the insertion section 1 so as to fill the space (A) excluding the optical tube insertion channel 5 and the forceps insertion channel 7. It is becoming more and more common.

However, this light guide fiber 4 must be filled so that no gap is created in the space (A).
In addition to having low rigidity and being easy to bend, this space (A) is formed with a uniform thickness from the proximal side to the distal side of the insertion section 1, so it is difficult to prevent the light guide fiber 4 from bending. In order to prevent this, it is very troublesome work to insert the fibers 4 into the insertion section 1 while adjusting the insertion force and to arrange the fibers closely so that there are no gaps between them. It was hot.

For this reason, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 3, by interposing a presser member 8 within the distal end of the insertion section 1, the optical tube insertion channel 5 and the forceps insertion channel 7 in the insertion section 1 are secured. By constricting the removed space (A) so as to be narrowed at the tip of the insertion section 1, the light guide fibers 4 are arranged densely at the tip of the insertion section 1. The guide fibers 4 can be arranged easily and densely. The holding member 8 is fixed to the inner peripheral surface of the mantle tube 1a constituting the insertion portion 1 by soldering, brazing, or the like.

However, after years of use, this holding member 8 may be destroyed by corrosion or external force, and may fall into the body cavity.

Furthermore, as a substitute for the holding member 8, a wedge-shaped member has been driven into the tip of the insertion portion 1 in order to improve the filling rate of the light guide fibers 4 as described above. Since the member is simply bonded to the light guide fiber 4 with an adhesive, there is a risk that the adhesive may be attacked by chemicals, body fluids, etc., and as a result, the wedge-shaped member may fall off into the body cavity.

The present invention was made in view of the above circumstances, and
Even if the soldering, etc. that fixes the holding member, which narrows the space in which the light guide fiber is disposed, to the inner circumferential surface of the mantle tube at the distal end of the insertion section is destroyed, the holding member will not enter the body cavity. It is an object of the present invention to provide an endoscope that can prevent the holding member from falling off and further protect the holding member itself from corrosion.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a channel such as a channel for passing an optical viewing tube inside the insertion section, and a gap in the axial direction of the insertion section between the inner circumferential surface of the mantle constituting the insertion section and the outer circumferential surface of the channel. In the endoscope, a light guide fiber is installed inside the endoscope, and a holding member is disposed at the distal end of the channel to tighten and tightly dispose the light guide fiber at the distal end of the outer tube constituting the insertion section. A folded portion is provided that extends evenly inward in the radial direction of the insertion portion to define the periphery of the light guide fiber bundle, and an optical tube insertion channel and a forceps insertion channel are arranged side by side in the mantle tube of the insertion portion. An arcuate notch is provided that abuts the channel to cover the end surface of the presser member exposed at the distal end of the mantle tube.

The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

4 to 9 relate to the present invention, FIG. 4 is a side view of the endoscope, FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the distal end of the endoscope insertion section shown in FIG. 4, and FIG. The front view of the distal end of the endoscope insertion section shown in the figure, Fig. 7 is the − of Fig. 6.
8 is a front view of the insertion part mantle tube with the light guide fiber, optical tube insertion channel and forceps insertion channel omitted in FIG. 6, and FIG. 9 is a cross section taken along the line -- in FIG. It is a diagram.

In these figures, reference numeral 11 denotes a rigid endoscope, and the rigid endoscope 11 has an insertion section 1 on its distal end side.
2 are arranged. This insertion section 12 is a part inserted into a body cavity, and this insertion section 12 is attached to an operating section 13. This operation section 13 is
An optical viewing tube attachment portion 13a is provided at the rear, which is a portion for the operator to grasp and operate. The optical viewing tube 14 inserted into the insertion portion 12 from the optical viewing tube attachment portion 13a is used for visually confirming the inside of the body cavity, and is provided with an eyepiece portion 15 on the proximal side. On the other hand, a forceps insertion port 13b is provided at the rear of the operating section 13, so that forceps (not shown) can be inserted into the insertion section 12. These forceps are used by the operator to perform treatment while visually observing the inside of the body cavity.

The optical viewing tube 14 is fixedly inserted into an optical viewing tube insertion channel 17 that is installed in the inner axial direction of the insertion section 12, and is optically exposed at the distal end of the insertion section 12. A mounting frame 19 shown in FIG. 7 is attached to the tip of this optical viewing channel 17, and a cover glass 20'
is arranged to close the tip of the channel 17 for passing through the optical viewing tube.

Further, the forceps are configured to be freely inserted into and removed from a forceps insertion channel 21 which is arranged in parallel with the optical viewing tube insertion channel 17 within the insertion portion 12.

On the other hand, a light guide base 22 is provided on the side of the operation section 13, and a light guide cable connected to an external light source is connected thereto. A light guide fiber 23 is installed inside the insertion section 12 for transmitting illumination light supplied from the light guide cable into the body cavity to illuminate the inside of the body cavity. This light guide fiber 23 is connected to the insertion section 1 as shown in FIG.
2, the optical tube insertion channel 1
Space excluding channel 7 and forceps insertion channel 21 (B)
It is designed to be filled inside.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the tip of the outer mantle tube 12a constituting the insertion section 12 is folded back at a substantially right angle to the inside of the insertion section 12 in the radial direction, so that a folded section 24 is formed in a circumferential manner or intermittently in the circumferential direction. It is formed. At the rear of this folded part 24, as shown in FIG. 7, a tubular holding member 25 having a wall thickness that is approximately the same as the width of the folded part 24 is installed, and its outer circumferential side is the inner circumferential surface of the outer mantle surface 12a. The holding member 25 is fixed to the holding member 25 by soldering, brazing, etc., and the distal end surface of the holding member 25 comes into contact with the back surface of the folded portion 24. The rear surface of this holding member 25 is formed into a conical surface by cutting or the like. By internally disposing the holding member 25, the space (B) filled with the light guide fiber 23 is narrowed. Then, the tip of the folded portion 24 and a part of the inner circumferential surface of the holding member 25 are machined into an arc shape as shown in FIG. An arcuate contact surface 26 that contacts the side surface of the optical tube insertion channel 17 and an arcuate contact surface 27 that contacts the side surface of the forceps channel 21 are formed by cutting.

In the rigid endoscope configured as above, the presser member 25 is pushed in from the proximal side of the mantle tube 12a,
With the distal end surface of the presser member 25 in contact with the back surface of the folded portion 24, the outer circumferential surface of the presser member 25 is fixed to the inner circumferential surface of the distal end portion of the mantle tube 12a.

Thereafter, the forceps insertion channel 21, the optical tube insertion channel 17, and the light guide fiber 23 are inserted into the insertion portion 12 and inserted.
As a result, the light guide fiber 23 becomes
The pressing member 25 and the forceps insertion channel 21
The light guide fibers 23 at the exit tip are tightly arranged so as to be compressed by the channel 17 for passing through the optical viewing tube.

In the above embodiments, a rigid endoscope was explained, but it goes without saying that the present invention can also be applied to a flexible endoscope.

As explained above, according to the present invention, the holding member that presses the light guide fiber tip in a manner to squeeze the tip of the light guide fiber at the tip of the insertion portion is a folded member formed at the tip of the outer tube constituting the insertion portion. Since the insertion part is designed to prevent the insertion part from coming off in the forward direction, even if the solder, brazing, etc. that fixes the presser member to the inner periphery of the distal end of the mantle is broken, this presser member will remain intact. The member can be prevented from falling into the body cavity by the folded part, and since the presser member is not exposed, it does not come into direct contact with the chemical solution, so it can be protected from corrosion by the drug solution, etc. The effect is that the material of the member can be made inexpensive and has good workability without having to use a corrosion-resistant material.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 3 are views showing conventional examples, in which FIG. 1 is a side view of the endoscope, FIG. 2 is a front view of the endoscope insertion section shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the - line, FIGS. 4 to 9 relate to the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a side view of the endoscope, and FIG.
6 is a perspective view of the distal end of the endoscope insertion section shown in FIG. 4, FIG. 7 is a front view of the distal end of the endoscope insertion section shown in FIG.
The figure is a cross-sectional view taken along the line - - in FIG. 6, FIG. 8 is a front view of the insertion tube of the insertion section with the light guide fiber, optical viewing tube insertion channel, and forceps insertion channel in FIG. 6 omitted, and FIG. 9 is a front view of the insertion tube. FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along the line -- in FIG. 8; 12... Insertion section, 12a... Mantle tube, 17...
Optical viewing tube insertion channel, 23...light guide fiber, 24...folded portion, 25...pressing member.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A channel such as a channel for passing an optical tube is installed inside the insertion section, and a light guide fiber is installed in the axial direction of the insertion section between the inner peripheral surface of the mantle tube constituting this insertion section and the outer peripheral surface of the channel, In an endoscope in which a holding member is disposed at the distal end of the channel to narrow and densely arrange the distal end of the light guide fiber, the distal end of the mantle constituting the insertion section is attached to the radially inner side of the insertion section. An arcuate cutout is provided that extends evenly overhanging folded portions to define the periphery of the light guide fiber bundle, and abuts on an optical viewing tube insertion channel and a forceps insertion channel that are arranged side by side in the mantle tube of the insertion portion. An endoscope characterized in that the endoscope is provided with a section to cover an end surface of the presser member exposed at the distal end of the mantle tube.