JPS61168327A - Endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an endoscope in which the flexibility of an insertion section can be changed arbitrarily.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

Generally, when inserting an endoscope into a patient's body cavity,
At the beginning of insertion, it is easier to insert the insertion part if it is hard, and it causes less pain for the patient, but after it has been inserted to a certain extent, if you want to push it further along the inner wall of the patient's body cavity, especially in curved areas such as the large intestine, it is better to have a soft insertion part. Not only is it easier to insert, but it is also less painful for the patient. Therefore, it would be very convenient if the flexibility of the insertion section could be changed arbitrarily.

Therefore, as shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 56-68426, an endoscope equipped with a variable flexible tube whose flexibility can be arbitrarily changed has been proposed. A coil spring is inserted into the variable flexibility tube, and by compressing this coil spring, the flexibility of the variable flexibility tube can be changed. However, according to such a structure, in order to compress the coil spring, a rotatable operation cylinder, a cam cylinder, and a driven cylinder that moves in the axial direction by the rotation of the cam cylinder are required, so the fill spring is Not only does the mechanism for compressing the compressor become extremely complicated, but the operation tube has to be rotated many times in order to obtain the desired flexibility, resulting in poor operability. Moreover, the structure in which a coil spring is inserted into the flexible pipe is good for making the flexible pipe rigid, but when making it soft, it cannot be made sufficiently soft due to the rigidity of the coil spring. There was also a drawback.

[Purpose of the invention]

An object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope that has a simple structure, allows the flexibility of the insertion portion to be changed reliably and with good operability.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention provides an internal storage chamber that is provided along the axial direction of the insertion section, a pressurized fluid is supplied to the storage chamber, and the flexibility of the insertion section is changed by the pressurized fluid. It's a scope.

[Embodiments of the invention]

A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. The endoscope shown in FIG. 1 includes an operating section 1. The endoscope shown in FIG. This operating section 11/CFi insertion section 2 and light guide cable 3 are connected. A connector 4 is provided at the end of the light guide cable 3.
is connected to the light source device 5. The operation section 1 is also provided with an eyepiece section 6, as well as a cutoff valve 7 for air and water supply, a switching valve 8 for suction, and an operation valve 9 for changing the flexibility of the insertion section 2 as described later. is provided.

The insertion section 2 is configured as shown in Figure @2. That is, a mesh pipe 11 is fitted around the outer periphery of the band-shaped spiral pipe 10, and an outer skin 12 made of a flexible material such as synthetic resin is further coated thereon. A plurality of accommodation chambers 13 are formed along the axial direction of the insertion portion 2 at predetermined intervals in the circumferential wall of the outer skin 12 . This accommodation chamber 13 has a large diameter hole 14 having a circular cross section and having one end opened at the base end surface of the outer skin 120;
The other end of the large diameter hole 14 is connected to a small diameter hole 15 having a circular cross section, and the other end of the small diameter hole 15 is located approximately halfway in the length direction of the insertion portion 2. . That is, the storage chamber 13 is formed over about half the length in the axial direction from the proximal end side of the insertion section 2. One end of a supply pipe 16 communicates with the accommodation chamber 13 via the operating valve 9 .

The other end of this supply pipe 16 is connected to an air compressor 1"lFC as a supply means. Therefore, by operating the operating valve 9, compressed air is supplied to the storage chamber 13, and It is a trap so that pressure!i can be discharged.

In such a structure, when the insertion portion 2 is made hard, compressed air is supplied to the storage chamber 13 by operating the operation valve 9. Then, the outer skin 12 of the insertion section 2 becomes rigid due to the pressure of this compressed window air, so the flexibility of the insertion section 2 decreases and the tampon insertion section 2 becomes hard. When the insertion portion 2 is made hard in this manner, the hardness can be arbitrarily set by the pressure of the compressed air supplied to the storage chamber 13. In addition, since the accommodation chamber 13 consists of a large diameter hole 14 and a small diameter hole 15, the insertion portion 2 has a portion where the small diameter hole 15 is located and a portion where the large diameter hole 14 is located, that is, the proximal end side of the insertion portion 20. becomes harder.

When inserting the insertion section 2 into the upper digestive system, for example,
The insertion section 2 can be easily inserted by filling the accommodation chamber 13 with compressed air to make it hard until the insertion section 2 reaches the stomach. After that, the compressed air is gradually removed by operating the operation valve 9, and the tube is inserted deep along the stomach wall while reducing the hardness.
There is no need to press the stomach wall more forcefully than necessary and cause pain to the patient. Furthermore, when inserting into the duodenum, after the distal end of the insertion section 2 passes through the pylorus, compressed air is again supplied to the accommodation chamber 13 to make the insertion section 2 hard. Since the pressing force is reliably transmitted to the holder, the insertion can be easily performed.

In addition, in the first embodiment, compressed air may be selectively supplied to a plurality of storage chambers 13 formed in the circumferential direction of the outer skin 12. According to such a structure, only a part of the circumferential wall of the outer skin 120 can be made hard, and this part extends in the axial direction.
can be bent. Moreover, the accommodation chamber 13 may be formed over the entire length of the insertion portion 2 in the axial direction.

4 and 5 show a second embodiment and a thirteenth embodiment of the present invention, which differ in the cross-sectional shape of the storage chamber I3. In other words, in the second embodiment shown in FIG.
The third embodiment shown in the figure is also elliptical, but is formed longer along the circumferential direction.

FIG. 6 shows a fifth embodiment of the present invention, and this embodiment differs in the means for forming the storage chamber 13t. That is, in this embodiment, a cylindrical balloon 21 ft of a predetermined length was provided on the inner surface of the band-shaped spiral tube 10 along the axial direction, and the space formed in the circumferential wall of the balloon 210 was used as the storage chamber 13. And there is pressure in this accommodation chamber 13! By supplying nitrogen gas, the balloon 21 was made rigid so that the insertion portion 2t could be made hard. Note that the balloon 2 may be provided between the outer skin 12 and the mesh tube 11 or between the band-shaped spiral tube 10 and the mesh tube 11.

Further, in each of the above embodiments, the pressure fluid supplied to the storage chamber 13 may be a liquid such as di-oil converted into compressed air. Furthermore, by controlling the temperature of the pressure fluid, that is, by heating or cooling it, the hardness of the outer skin 12 may be changed using the heat.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, in the present invention, a storage chamber is provided along the axial direction of the insertion section, and the flexibility of the insertion section is changed by supplying pressurized fluid to this storage chamber. Therefore, the structure is not only simpler than that of the conventional compressed coil spring, but also the stiffness can be easily changed. Furthermore, when making the insertion part soft, the insertion part can be made sufficiently soft by removing the pressurized fluid from the storage chamber.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an endoscope showing a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view of the insertion section, FIG. 3 is a side view of the proximal end of the insertion section, and FIG. 4 and 5 are side views of the proximal end of the insertion section showing a second embodiment and a third embodiment of the invention, respectively, and FIG. 6 is a side view of the insertion section showing a fourth embodiment of the invention. FIG. l...operation section, 2...insertion section, 13...accommodation chamber,
17... Near compressor (supply means). Applicant's agent Patent attorney Atsushi Tsuboi Figure 2

Claims (1)

[Claims] An operation section of an endoscope, an insertion section connected to the operation section,
An endoscope comprising: a storage chamber provided along the axial direction in the insertion section; and a supply means for supplying pressurized fluid to the storage chamber.