JPH0732760B2 - Endoscope device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus, and more particularly to an endoscope apparatus which can be smoothly inserted into a curved body cavity such as the large intestine.

[0002]

In recent years, endoscopes have been widely used for medical and industrial purposes.

In these endoscopes, the insertion part is hard, and the insertion part is guided by the puncture such as a trocar to be inserted into the abdominal cavity or the like, and the insertion part is soft without the need for the puncture. There is a soft one that is inserted from the oral cavity or anus to a target site via a curved body cavity route.

When inserting the above flexible endoscope into the large intestine from the anus into the large intestine through a curved path such as an S-shaped portion, a very skilled technique is required and it is sufficient. Unless he was an expert operator, he was in a situation of causing great pain to the patient.

Therefore, on the tip side of the insertion portion of the endoscope,
Various conventional examples have been disclosed in which a means for propelling the insertion portion is provided so that the insertion portion can be inserted into a deep portion. For example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 54-160083, a screw-shaped propulsion ring is attached to the distal end side of the insertion portion, and the rotation of the propulsion ring is remotely controlled at the hand side, thereby There is a conventional example in which the insertion part is propelled together by a screwing motion. This conventional example has a risk of damaging by twisting the intestinal wall or the like during screwing.

For this reason, the conventional example disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 55-45426 has a structure in which they are rotated in opposite directions and propelled in order to eliminate the drawbacks of the conventional example. However, even in this conventional example, the folds of the intestinal wall can be separated from each other by rotating in the opposite directions, and if the state further progresses, the function of propelling is reduced and the risk of damaging the intestinal wall is reduced. Have.

In addition, there is a conventional example in which a propulsion balloon is attached to the distal end side of the insertion portion and the balloon is inflated or deflated to propel it. This conventional example has a drawback in that it takes a long time to insert it to a required deep portion because the amount of movement promoted by expansion and contraction for propelling cannot be increased so much.

Further, in these conventional examples, since the outer diameter of the insertion portion is made large, the patient suffers great pain during insertion.

[0009]

As described above, the conventional device has been inserted by advancing and retreating, twisting, etc., but the load cannot be reduced at a portion to which a load is applied, such as a bent portion, and a burden is placed on the patient. It had the drawback of overhanging.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and to reduce the load on the patient by vibrating the insertion portion so that the load is small in the insertion direction. It is to provide an endoscope apparatus capable of performing the above.

[0012]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a drive system that allows a body part that holds a tubular part such as an insertion part of an endoscope to move the insertion part back and forth and a drive system that imparts rotational movement. In addition to providing at least one of the above, a control device section for controlling the drive system is provided, and the drive motor is controlled by an electric signal output from the control device section. Set so that it becomes gentle), detects the load of the motor that is driven while being controlled by the electric signal, and superimposes the electric signal that gives microvibration in addition to the electric signal at each time and inserts it. A microvibration that reduces the load on the direction is changed (the signal of the function generator is changed within a certain range, and the most appropriate one is selected) to be inserted.

[0013]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to one embodiment shown in the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, an endoscope apparatus 1 according to the present invention includes an endoscope 2 and an advance / retreat guide apparatus 4 for holding a flexible (soft) insertion portion 3 of the endoscope 2. While controlling the advancing / retreating guidance device 4 and the control device section 5 equipped with a driving power source,
Its main part is composed.

In the endoscope 2, the illumination light supplied from the external light source device 6 is passed through the light guide cable 7 and the light guide inserted through the flexible insertion portion 3 is used to insert the distal end side of the insertion portion. From the illumination optical system emitted from the object and the illuminated object are imaged by the objective lens, and transmitted to the operation portion 8 side by the flexible image guide inserted through the insertion portion 3,
An observation optical system that allows observation from the rear of the eyepiece unit 9 is provided.

On the other hand, the advancing / retreating guide device 4 attached to the outer periphery of the insertion portion 3 is constructed as shown in an enlarged manner in FIGS.

That is, recesses are formed in two steps in the axial direction at four locations on the inner circumference of the hollow annular first bearing 12 that is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the insertion portion 3, and these recesses are used for forward and backward movement. The rollers 13, 13, ... 13 are housed so as to be rotatable in the axial direction of the insertion portion 3.

Further, recesses are formed in two stages on the inner peripheral surface of the second bearing 14 which is loosely fitted to the outer periphery of the first bearing 12, for example, at four positions, and the rotary motion rollers are respectively provided in these recesses. 15, 15, ..., 15 are the first bearing 12
Rotation (rotation) around its axis (indicated by arrow A)
It is housed so that it can be freely supported.

One of the rollers 13 for moving back and forth is moved by the rotation of the roller 13 as shown in FIG. A shaft 17A of a variable resistor (potentiometer) 17 is attached to the rotary shaft of the roller 13 as a forward / backward movement detecting means so as to detect the movement.
The main body 7 is fixed in a recess formed in the first bearing 12.

Further, one of the rollers 13, 13, ... 13 has a rotary shaft whose rotary shaft is the rotary shaft 18 of the longitudinal drive motor 18.
By rotating the motor 18 in the forward direction or the reverse direction with an electric signal attached to A and supplied via the cable 19, the roller 13 attached to the motor 18 rotates and the insertion portion 3 moves forward. Or, it is set to be able to move backward.

Similarly, the rotary motion rollers 15, 15, ...
As shown in FIG. 2, one of the first bearings 15 is a first bearing 12 that contacts the roller 15 by the rotation of the roller 15.
The shaft 21A of the variable resistor 21 is attached to the rotation shaft of the roller 15 as a rotation motion detecting means so that the rotation angle of (or the insertion portion 3 which rotates together with the first bearing 12) can be detected.

Further, one of the rollers 15, 15, ..., 15 has a rotary shaft 22A of a rotary drive motor 22 attached to its rotary shaft, and an electric signal supplied via a cable 23 is used to drive the motor. The rotation of the motor 22 can be controlled in the forward direction or the reverse direction, and the rotation of the motor 22 (of the rotation shaft 22A) rotates the roller 15 connected to the motor 22, so that the first bearing can be rotated with respect to the second bearing 14. The insertion portion 3 is rotated together with 12.

The rollers 13 and 15 attached to the rotary shafts 18A and 22A of the motors 18 and 22 are
When the motors 18 and 22 are not driven, they can rotate smoothly. Further, the respective variable resistors 17 and 21 for detecting the forward and backward movement and the rotation movement are controlled by the controller 5 through the signal line (not shown) in the signal cable 24 as shown in FIG. By measuring each resistance value which becomes a different value according to the rotation of 17A, 21A, the rotation amount of each roller 13, 15, that is, the movement amount (rotation angle) of the longitudinal movement and the rotational movement of the insertion portion and their positions. Can be detected.

By the way, each of the motors 18 and 22 is a motor that can be rotated by an arbitrary angle in the forward direction or the reverse direction by an electric signal supplied from the control unit 5 via the cables 19 and 23, respectively. . The control device section 5 is configured, for example, as shown in FIG. That is, the constant voltage source 31 housed in the control unit 5 causes the variable resistors 17 and 21 to pass through signal lines (not shown).
The variable resistance ends whose constant voltage is supplied to both ends and whose resistance is changed by the rotation of the shafts 17A and 21A are connected to the input ends of the voltage controlled oscillators (voltage frequency converters) 32 and 33, respectively.

The above voltage controlled oscillators (VCO) 32, 33
Means that the oscillation frequency of its output signal changes according to the potential applied to the input terminal.
The output of 33 is passed through amplifiers 34 and 35 and interlocked switches 36 and 37, respectively, and the recording / reproducing head 3 is output.
8 and 39 are simultaneously recorded on the tape 40 which moves at a constant speed.

During reproduction, the reproduced electric signals, which have been sufficiently amplified by the amplifiers 41 and 42, pass through the interlocked switches 36 and 37 that have been switched, and the amplifiers 34 and 35 (actually, actually). It is adapted to be inputted to the phase comparators 43 and 44, which respectively input and compare and output the electric signal (which detects the driving state). The outputs of the phase comparators 43 and 44 control the rotations of the motors 18 and 22 via the low-pass filters 45 and 46, respectively.

That is, in the motors 18 and 22, if the output signals of the phase comparators 43 and 44 do not match the reproduced signals, the electric signals on the actually driven side do not coincide with each other. Corresponding to the motor 18 and 22 through the low-pass filters 45 and 46.
Is controlled so that the deviation is reduced. That is, the motors 18 and 22 are driven so as to quickly match the positions of the variable resistors 17 and 21 corresponding to the reproduced signal, and if they match, the state is maintained. . In other words, the motors 18 and 22 are controlled so that the same state as at the time of recording can be reproduced.

The operation of the above-described embodiment having the above configuration will be described below.

First, when the endoscope 2 is inserted, after setting as shown in FIG. 1, the motors 18 and 22 are not operated, and the insertion operation is actually performed by an operator who is extremely skilled in the insertion operation. Ask. In this case, the back and forth movement operation and the rotation movement operation performed by the operator are separately detected by the variable resistors 17 and 21, respectively, sufficiently amplified through the VCOs 32 and 33, and recorded on the tape 40.

Therefore, once the above-mentioned insertion operation is recorded, thereafter, the signal recorded on the tape 40 is reproduced, and each variable resistor 17, corresponding to the reproduced signal, is reproduced.
When each position of 21 is different from each actual position, the output through each phase comparator 43, 44 and filter 45, 46 becomes positive or negative, and the positive or negative output causes each motor 18, 22 to Driven to quickly match. That is, the motors 18 and 22 insert the insertion section 3 while moving the insertion section 3 back and forth so as to match the recorded signal, and the skilled operator can perform the insertion operation. If the tape 40 is used as a cassette tape, it can be replaced and used according to the insertion site.

The inserting operation by the skilled operator is as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, for example.

That is, the front and rear movement rollers 13, 13, ...
In addition to the inserting operation, as shown in FIG. 5, reference numeral 13 indicates an amplitude B of 0.1 [mm] to 20 [mm] and a period T of 0.1 [sec] to 2 [sec]. As shown in FIG. 6, the unidirectionally rotating rollers 15, 15, ..., 15 are vibrated and have a period of 1 [deg.] To 10 [deg.] In the cycle T.
It is performed while being rotationally oscillated with an amplitude C of. By giving such a fine vibration, the friction between the insertion portion 3 and the body cavity wall can be reduced, and the endoscope insertion portion 3 can be smoothly inserted.

Since the angle of rotation is not so large in general, the variable resistor 17 attached to the first bearing 12 rotated together with the insertion portion 3 and the cable 19 connected to the motor 18 are not provided. It suffices to dispose it with some allowance, but it is also possible to use a brush or the like to transmit a signal as in the structure of an ordinary motor or the like.

In this way, the drive motors 18 and 22 are controlled by the electric signal output from the control device section 5, and the general waveform of the electric signal is set (so that the change with time becomes gentle). Then, the loads of the motors 18 and 22 that are driven while being controlled by the electric signal are detected, and at each time point, an electric signal that gives a minute vibration is superimposed in addition to the electric signal, and the load in the insertion direction is reduced. If it is configured to insert such minute vibrations (changing the signal of the function generator within a certain range and selecting the most appropriate one among them), if this is repeated,
It is possible to gradually generate a signal for an appropriate insertion operation, and it is possible to significantly reduce the pain to the patient.

If the variable resistors 17 and 21 are of the helical rotation type (multi-rotation type), the rotation speed can also be detected. Further, even if it is of a one-rotation type and has a structure of returning to the original angle (position) after one rotation, a means for detecting the rotation angle of the variable resistors 17 and 21 is provided if necessary. You can also This may be recorded on another portion of the tape 40 at the same time, or may be recorded in multiples like a video tape recorder. (The signals for the forward and backward movements and the signals for the rotational movements can also be multiplexed and recorded.) As the tape 40, a cassette tape or the like can be used, or when the recording signal is repeated, a continuous tape can be used. If the repetition cycle is short, a semiconductor recording device can be used.

In the above embodiment, the frequency is converted and recorded, but the tape 40 is used as a digital amount by using an analog-digital (AD) converter.
Alternatively, the data can be recorded on a magnetic disk or the like, and a semiconductor recording device can be used for a short time or when the recording is repeated. That is, in the case of the above-mentioned semiconductor recording device such as RAM or ROM, a counter or the like which reads out by designating an address is used when outputting a recorded signal. Further, it can be widely used as a recording (reproducing) device such as a microcomputer.

Further, the control device section 5 is not limited to the above-mentioned one, but may be formed by using other known means or by combining them.

As a means for controlling the motors 18 and 22 so as to bring them into a state corresponding to the reproduced signal, a counter and a digital comparator may be used without using the phase comparators 43 and 44. In other words, each signal may be counted within a (short) fixed time, the output thereof may be compared in magnitude by each digital comparator, and each motor 18, 22 may be controlled by the comparison output. When using this digital comparator, each variable resistor 17, 2
The output of 1 may be A-D converted and recorded, or may be input to a digital comparator to control the motors 18 and 22 as described above.

A function generator is accommodated in the control unit 5, the signals of various waveforms are produced by the function generator, and the signals are recorded on the tape 40 or the like.
The signal is preferably reproduced to control the motors 18 and 22.

Further, the forward / backward drive motor 18 or the rotational drive motor 22 may have an appropriate torque (hereinafter referred to as "torque") so that the patient is not pained by an excessive force during the insertion operation. it can. This is rollers 13, 15
It can also be given to the side. That is, it is possible to prevent the rotation when the load exceeds a certain value. In these cases, since the phase difference or the frequency difference input to the phase comparator 43 or 44 becomes large, it is possible to let the operator know the difference when the difference is a certain value or more and continues for a certain time or more. .

In the present invention, the drive source for the forward / backward movement and the drive source for the rotational movement are required, but it is desirable to provide the detecting means by the variable resistors 17 and 21 for them. However, it is not essential. (When the detection means is not used, the drive source is controlled directly by an appropriate signal.) Further, in the above embodiment, the variable resistor 17 and the motor 18 are attached to different rollers. However, they may be attached by being connected to the same roller.

The present invention can be applied not only to a flexible endoscope but also to a rigid endoscope, and needless to say that it can be applied not only to a medical endoscope but also to an industrial one. Further, it can be applied to insertion of a tubular portion in a medical device such as a sonde or a catheter. Further, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied not only to guiding the insertion, but also to withdrawing the inserted one. If the rollers 13, 13, ... 13 attached to the first bearing 12 are attached so as to press the respective shafts inward with a constant force, the rollers 13, 13 ,.
It is possible to deal with the tubular portion such as the insertion portion 3 that is advanced and retracted by coming into contact with 13, ... For each roller 13 to which the variable resistor 17 or the motor 21 is attached, the attachment portion of the variable resistor 17 or the like may be biased inward.

In addition, the first bearing 12 and the second bearing 14
It is also possible to attach / detach the tubular portion so that the tubular portion having a large difference in outer diameter can be dealt with. Furthermore, this tubular portion is not limited to a circular tubular one, but can be applied to a prismatic one.

A drive system in which only one is formed is also within the scope of the present invention.

[0045]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the longitudinal and rotational drive sources in the device for inserting the endoscope can be appropriately controlled, fine vibrations or the like can be performed depending on the insertion site. It has the advantage that it can be inserted and withdrawn easily with less friction and less pain is given to the patient. Moreover, since the insertion portion is not made to have a large diameter, it can be inserted into a narrow portion. Furthermore, the present invention has an advantage that it can be applied to a general endoscope which has been used in the past, and can perform an appropriate insertion operation depending on the insertion site, and can be applied to a wide range of insertion applications.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a usage state of an endoscope apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a forward / backward guide device in the endoscope device.

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway front view of the advance / retreat guide device in the endoscope apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electric circuit of a control device section in the endoscope device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a temporal change when a front-back movement roller is driven back and forth in an insertion operation.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a temporal change in a case where a rotary motion roller is rotationally driven in an insertion operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 ... Endoscope device 2 ... Endoscope 3 ... Insertion part 4 ... Advancing and retracting guide device 5 ... Control device part 17,21 ... Variable resistor 18,22 ... Motor 31 ... Constant voltage source 32, 33 ... Voltage controlled oscillator 34, 35, 41, 42 ... Amplifier 43, 44 ... Phase comparator 45, 46 ... (Low-pass) filter.

Front page continued (72) Inventor Mototsugu Ogawa 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takeaki Nakamura 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Akifumi Ishikawa 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Industry Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP-A-56-19943 (JP, A) JP-A-54 -160083 (JP, A) JP-A-55-45426 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An endoscope insertion section to be inserted into a body cavity or a lumen of a subject, and the endoscope insertion section having a predetermined amplitude and a circumference.
During the period, the microscopic reciprocating motion is performed and the endoscope insertion part is covered.
Guidance for advancing / retreating an endoscope insertion part that is inserted into or removed from the specimen
An endoscope apparatus comprising: a control unit.