JPS628728A - Flexible tube for 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 [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a flexible tube for an endoscope that can be easily inserted into a body cavity.

[Conventional technology]

Generally, an endoscope consists of a distal end having an observation window, an illumination window, a forceps port, etc., an insertion part and a bending operation mechanism having a remotely controlled curved part and a flexible part, and an operation part having an eyepiece. There are 112 and 1111 optical sensors inside! A bundle, an optical m-string bundle for illumination, a forceps passage, etc. are provided. The distal end portion is inserted into the body cavity through the insertion portion to enable observation and treatment of a desired site.

There are endoscopes for observing the esophagus, stomach, duodenum, small intestine, and large intestine.In particular, when inserting a flexible endoscope deep into a body cavity, such as the duodenum, small intestine, and large intestine, it is necessary to It has been clinically confirmed that the degree of elasticity and flexibility of the flexible part inserted deep into the body greatly influences the ease of insertion, as well as the amount of pain caused to the patient.

As a conventional technique, for example, Utility Model Application Publication No. 56-10130
As shown in Publication No. 1, a portion of the outer skin of the flexible tube for an endoscope has a two-layer structure, making the tip side flexible and the operation part side relatively hard, improving ease of insertion into body cavities. Furthermore, as shown in Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 55-112505, the outer skin of a flexible tube for an endoscope has a two-layer structure consisting of a soft layer and a hard layer.
i! It is known that the thickness of the mass layer becomes gradually thinner from the operating section side to the tip side.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

Conventional flexible tubes for endoscopes have a partially or entirely double-layered outer skin, with the distal end of the insertion section being soft and the operating section side being hard, making insertion easier and reducing pain to the patient. However, since the elasticity of the insertion part, which most affects insertability into a body cavity, has not been improved to the same extent, difficulty in insertion and pain to the patient still remain.

This invention was made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and by improving the elasticity of a flexible tube for an endoscope as an insertion section, it can be easily inserted into a body cavity and pain caused to the patient can be reduced. The purpose is to reduce

[Means and effects for solving the problem] This flexible tube for an endoscope has a shell 9 having a two-layer structure of at least an outer layer 10 and an inner layer 11. The outer layer 10 is made of a flexible material such as polyurethane, and the inner layer is made of a flexible material such as polyurethane. 11 is that it is made of a material with good elasticity, such as polyester, and has a good combination of elasticity and flexibility.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be briefly described below with reference to the drawings.

Is Figure 1 inside? ! 1 shows the cross-sectional structure of a flexible tube for mirrors.
FIG. 2 shows the entire endoscope. The configuration of the endoscope will be explained based on FIG. 2. 1 is an operating section, 2 is an insertion section, and 3 is a distal end section. The insertion section 2 includes a bending section 4 and a flexible section 5, and the bending section 4 is configured to be bent by an operation knob 6 provided on the operation section 1. The flexible portion 5 of the endoscope configured as described above includes a flex 7 formed by spirally winding a band-shaped fully flexible material from the inside thereof, a blade 8 formed by knitting the outer periphery of the flex 7 into a net shape, and It consists of an outer skin 9 covering the outer periphery of the blade 8.

The outer skin 9 has a two-layer structure of an outer layer 10 and an inner layer 11. The outer layer 10 is made of polyurethane that is flexible and scratch-resistant and has good printability, and the inner layer 11 is made of elastic material. It is made of polyester. This outer layer 10.

and the inner layer 11 are tightly bonded to each other by adhesive or the like.

The flexible tube for an endoscope constructed in this manner has appropriate elasticity because the inner layer 11 of the outer skin 9 is made of a material such as polyester that has excellent elasticity. That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the relationship between displacement and reaction force when a flexible tube for an endoscope having a certain span is pushed in to a certain depth is shown in FIG. 4. That is, curve a shows the pushing state, and curve 2 shows the restoring state, and the elasticity is defined by the internal loss when this hysteresis is taken. According to this, the conventional one is 0.3 to 0.
2, whereas that of the present invention is 0.1 or less.

In addition, according to the above embodiment, since the inner layer 11 was made of polyester and the outer layer 10 was made of polyurethane, the outer surface was made of polyurethane, which produced the effects of the embodiment of being less likely to be scratched and having good printability. However, the outer layer 10 may be made of polyolefin, vinyl chloride, or chlorinated polyethylene to provide flexibility, and the inner layer 10 may be made of polyamide to provide elasticity. Can be done.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the outer skin of the flexible tube has a two-layer structure of at least an outer layer and an inner layer, the outer layer is made of a flexible material, and the inner layer is made of a material with good elasticity. It has a good combination of flexibility and flexibility, making it easier to insert into body cavities and reducing the pain caused to patients.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway sectional view of a flexible tube for an endoscope, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an endoscope. ? Jf diagram and Figure 3 are explanatory diagrams for testing the degree of elasticity, and Figure 4 (characteristic diagram showing the relationship between displacement and reaction force when a λ flexible tube is pushed in). 7...Flex , 8...Blade, 9...Outer skin, 10...Outer layer, 11...Inner layer.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A flexible tube for an endoscope consisting of a flex, a blade, and an outer skin from the inside, the outer skin having at least an outer layer;
A flexible tube for an endoscope, characterized in that it has a two-layer structure with an inner layer made of a material with good flexibility, and an inner layer made of a material with good elasticity. (2) The flexible tube for an endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the outer layer is made of polyurethane and the inner layer is made of polyester.