JPH02268771A - Endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a laser light from free rocking and to make it possible to irradiate a diseased part with the laser light from oblique direction by fitting removably a laser light injecting end member holding constantly the same angle to the axial line of an apex side of an inserting part at the apex of the flexible inserting part. CONSTITUTION:A cylindrical and rigid end member 10 for laser light injection is screwed and fitted removably at an apex of an inserting part 1 and the laser light injecting end members 10 with various curved angles and lengths are provided among which a suitable one for the diseased part B of the organization A in a body is selectively used. The curved state of the flexible inserting part 1 in the body caused by a force delivered from an organization in the body is always changed and a laser guide 8 is freely moved in the perforated channel 4, but the direction of an apex part of the laser guide 8 to the apex of the inserting part 1 is prevented from changing by means of the laser light injecting end member 10 and it can be always held in the specified direction. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the laser light from mistaken irradiation and to irradiate surely the diseased part B in the determined direction ascertained by means of an endoscope with a laser light from the oblique direction and to burn surely the diseased part B thereby.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an endoscope suitable for performing treatment with laser light.

[Prior Art] In an endoscope for laser treatment of body tissues such as the gastrointestinal tract, as known from Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 168656/1982, the tip of an insertion channel provided in the insertion portion of the endoscope is By bending the laser guide near the tip of the insertion tube, the laser guide is bent in a diagonal direction with respect to the axis of the insertion tube, and the tip of the laser guide inserted into this insertion channel is bent, thereby directing the laser beam to the affected area in an oblique direction. A technique for irradiating light is known. Laser light irradiation from such an oblique direction is suitable for treating an affected area where it is difficult to bend the distal end of the flexible insertion section.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

By the way, in addition to the laser guide, various probes are inserted into and taken out from the insertion channel of the endoscope. Therefore, the laser guide has a smaller diameter than the insertion channel and is inserted into the insertion channel with some play. Furthermore, the insertion section of an endoscope is flexible, and when inserted into a body tissue, such as the digestive tract, the digestive tract itself is constantly moving, and the patient's breathing and heart rate are affected. It also moves the digestive tract.

The degree of bending of the flexible insertion section inside the body is constantly changing due to the force transmitted from the body tissue in this way. As a result, not only the viewing direction of the endoscope is not constant, but also the laser guide wanders by itself within the range of the play.

Therefore, due to the free movement of such a laser guide, there is a problem in laser treatment that carefully aims the laser beam at the affected area and irradiates the necessary amount of laser beam, but it is easy to expose the laser beam to unexpected parts of the body. brought about.

An object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope that prevents free fluctuation of laser light and allows irradiation to the affected area from an oblique direction.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, in the endoscope of the present invention, a laser beam is formed at the distal end of the flexible insertion portion along the axial direction of the insertion portion. One end is removably connected to the distal opening of the insertion channel into which the guide is inserted, and a laser beam emitting end member is attached to the other end, which faces diagonally forward with respect to the axis of the distal end of the insertion section. be.

[Function] Since the laser and light emitting end member have a curved configuration, the tip of the laser guide that guides the laser beam is introduced inside the member, and the direction of this tip is aligned in the axial direction according to the shape of the above member. be regulated. Alternatively, a laser beam guided by a laser guide and emitted from the tip of the laser guide is guided through the inside thereof. Since this laser beam emitting end member is attached to the distal end of the insertion tube while always maintaining the same angle with respect to the axis of the distal end of the insertion tube, the laser beam emitting end member always maintains the same angle with respect to the axis of the distal end of the insertion tube. can be irradiated onto the affected area from an oblique direction.

[Example] Hereinafter, a first example of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a long and flexible insertion section that is connected to a hand-held operation section (not shown). Channel 4 is provided. In FIG. 1, 5 is a lens at the tip of the light guide 2, and 6 is a lens at the tip of the image guide 3. Insertion channel 4
A flexible laser guide 8 that guides laser light generated by a laser generator 7 prepared separately from the endoscope is provided.
It is designed to be inserted through the above-mentioned hand-held operation section.

In addition, as the laser generator 7, Er-YA6, Ho
-YAGSHD-YAG.

All laser generators such as CO2, CO1Ar+, excimer, various dye lasers, and semiconductor lasers can be used by selecting the laser guide 8 according to the laser generator.

Further, a female thread 9 is formed on the inner surface of the distal opening of the insertion channel 4 that is opened at the distal end of the insertion section 1.
Ru. A cylindrical and hard laser beam emitting end member 10 is attached to the distal end of the insertion portion 1, with a male thread formed at one end thereof being removably screwed into the female thread 9.

This laser beam emitting end member 10 is formed by providing the above-mentioned male screw portion at one end of a tube bent into a box shape, and attaching a glass contact member 11 to the other end to close the opening. There is. Therefore, the output end member 10 has an opening on the side of the male thread portion at one end communicating with the opening at the tip of the insertion channel 4, and the other end side is provided diagonally forward with respect to the axis of the tip side of the insertion section 1. There is.

The laser beam emitting end member 10 is prepared in advance with various bending angles and lengths, and one suitable for the affected area B of the body tissue A such as the digestive tract is selected from among them.
The distal end of the laser guide 8 is inserted into the laser beam emitting end member 10 which is used by being attached to the distal end of the insertion section 1 . It is guided and its orientation is regulated diagonally.

By attaching the laser beam emitting end member 10 to the distal end of the insertion section 1 in this way, the position and orientation of the distal end of the laser guide 8 inserted through the insertion channel 4 can be adjusted in the inner cavity of the insertion section 1. It can be regulated to a certain extent with respect to the axis of the tip.

Therefore, even though the degree of bending of the flexible insertion section 1 inside the body changes constantly due to the force transmitted from the body tissue, and the laser guide 8 moves loosely within the insertion channel 4,
The above regulation by the laser beam emitting end member 101 prevents the orientation of the distal end of the laser guide 8 from changing with respect to the distal end of the insertion section 1, and can always maintain it in a predetermined orientation.

Therefore, erroneous irradiation of the laser beam can be prevented, and the laser beam can be reliably irradiated obliquely to the affected area B in the direction determined by the endoscope, thereby reliably cauterizing the affected area B. Moreover, as mentioned above, there is no need to worry about the laser guide 8 wobbling within the insertion channel 4, so the workability of treatment is improved and the treatment time can be shortened.

Note that the laser beam emitting end member 10 has a contact member 1 at its tip.
1, it is possible to perform laser beam irradiation while bringing the contact member 11 into contact with the body tissue A during treatment work, and it is of course possible to prevent the tip of the laser guide 8 from becoming dirty.

In a second embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 2, the entire inner surface facing the inner cavity of the laser beam emitting end member 10 is a light reflecting surface 10a. This reflective surface 10a is provided by mirror finishing or plating with gold or the like. The tip of the laser guide 8 is not inserted into the entire inner cavity of the laser beam emitting end member 10 and its direction and position are not restricted, but is placed on the side of the male threaded portion of the curved laser beam emitting end member 10. or inserted into the same male thread.

The configuration other than these points is the same as that of the first embodiment, so the same components are given the same reference numerals as those of the Kamichi Maichi 4#1 embodiment, and the explanation thereof will be omitted.

According to this second embodiment, the laser beam emitted from the tip of the laser guide 8 is totally reflected by the light reflecting surface 10a of the laser beam emitting end member 10, and by repeating this, the laser beam emitted from the tip of the laser guide 8 is
The laser beam can be guided toward the contact member 11 side as shown by the dotted chain arrow, and can be irradiated onto the affected area B from an oblique direction. Therefore, the intended purpose of the present invention can also be achieved in this embodiment.

In the third embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 3, the contact member used in the structure of the first embodiment is omitted to form the laser beam emitting end member 10, and the structure other than this point is as follows.
Since this embodiment is the same as the first embodiment, similar components are designated by the same reference numerals as in the '4#1 embodiment, and their explanation will be omitted.

According to the configuration of the third embodiment, from the tip of the distal end of the laser guide 8 whose direction and position are regulated by the curved laser beam emitting end member 10, the affected area B is passed through the distal opening of the laser beam emitting end member 10. Laser light can be irradiated from an oblique direction. Therefore, even in this embodiment, the intended purpose of the present invention can be achieved by the regulating action of the laser beam emitting end member 10.

In the first to third embodiments, the laser beam emitting end member 10 is made of a hard material, but this member 10 can be bent arbitrarily by hand and is made of a metal material or the like that can maintain the bent shape. The light emitting end member 10 may be formed,
In such a case, it can be used as a substitute for a plurality of laser beam emitting end members 10 having different bending angles.

In the fourth embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. A reflecting mirror 12 is provided, and the oblique side of the member 10 is formed into a trumpet shape that widens toward the tip opening. The distal end of the laser guide 8 is not inserted into the entire inner cavity of the laser beam emitting end member 10 and its direction is not restricted, but is placed on the side of the male threaded portion of the laser beam emitting end member 10 or the same. It is designed to be inserted into the male thread. Note that the details of the configuration other than these points will be omitted.

According to this fourth embodiment, the laser beam emitted from the tip of the laser guide 8 can be reflected in a certain direction by the reflecting mirror 12, and can be irradiated onto the affected area B from an oblique direction. Therefore, the intended purpose of the present invention can also be achieved in this embodiment.

[Effects of the Invention] In the present invention described above, a laser beam emitting end member that always maintains the same angle with respect to the axis of the second insertion portion distal end can be detachably attached to the flexible insertion portion distal end. Even though the laser guide moves loosely within the insertion channel, it always maintains a fixed angle with respect to the tip of the insertion tube.
Laser light can be irradiated onto the affected area from an oblique direction.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 4 are sectional views showing essential parts of different embodiments of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Insertion part, 4... Insertion channel, 8... Laser guide, 10... Laser light emitting end member.

Claims (1)

[Claims] One end is removably connected to the distal end opening of an insertion channel formed along the axial direction of the flexible insertion section and into which the laser guide is inserted, and
An endoscope characterized in that a laser beam emitting end member is attached, the other end of which faces diagonally forward with respect to the axis of the distal end of the insertion section.