CN114377279A

CN114377279A - Medical catheter

Info

Publication number: CN114377279A
Application number: CN202110349434.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘弘毅; 吴昊晟
Original assignee: Changzhou Lunghealth Medtech Co ltd
Current assignee: Changzhou Lunghealth Medtech Co ltd
Priority date: 2021-03-31
Filing date: 2021-03-31
Publication date: 2022-04-22
Also published as: WO2022205771A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention discloses a medical catheter, which comprises a hose and a bending control structure, wherein the bending control structure is arranged on the outer wall of the hose and comprises a sleeve and a bending control steel wire freely moving in the sleeve; the sleeve pipe is followed the length direction of hose is established on the outer wall of hose, the first end of accuse curved steel wire is connected the outer wall of the first end of hose, the second end of accuse curved steel wire passes the sleeve pipe is arranged in outside the second end of hose. The medical catheter of the embodiment of the invention simplifies the control structure of the rotation advancing and retreating, improves the flexibility of the medical catheter when the medical catheter moves in the body of a patient, and enhances the comfort of the patient in the diagnosis and treatment process.

Description

Medical catheter

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of medical treatment, in particular to a medical catheter.

Background

Among modern medical devices, interventional medical catheters are very important devices in medical diagnostic and surgical procedures such as cardiology, neurology, urology, and nephrology.

The interventional medical catheter is mainly sent into the body of a patient through a natural airway by a control mechanism, and is controlled to rotate and advance and retreat under the cooperative support of an imaging technology so as to reach a focus area of the body of the patient, thereby carrying out further diagnosis and treatment. However, the rotation control of the interventional medical catheter at the present stage is complex, so that the flexibility of the interventional medical catheter is poor when the interventional medical catheter moves in a patient body, the time of the interventional medical catheter staying in the patient body in the diagnosis and treatment process is long, the comfort of the patient in the diagnosis and treatment process is poor, and the use experience of the patient is influenced.

Disclosure of Invention

According to the medical catheter provided by the embodiment of the invention, the control structure for rotating the catheter to advance and retreat is simplified, the flexibility of the catheter moving in a patient body is improved, and the comfort degree of the patient in the diagnosis and treatment process is enhanced.

The medical system provided by the embodiment of the invention comprises a hose and a bending control structure,

the bending control structure is arranged on the outer wall of the hose and comprises a sleeve and a bending control steel wire which freely moves in the sleeve;

the sleeve pipe is followed the length direction of hose is established on the outer wall of hose, the first end of accuse curved steel wire is connected the outer wall of the first end of hose, the second end of accuse curved steel wire passes the sleeve pipe is arranged in outside the second end of hose.

Further, the first end of hose is equipped with solid fixed ring, the first end of accuse curved steel wire is fixed gu fixed ring is last.

Further, the hose comprises a woven net, wherein the woven net is tubular, is arranged outside the sleeve and wraps the sleeve and the hose.

Furthermore, the outer wall of the hose is provided with a plurality of sleeves, and the plurality of sleeves are distributed at equal intervals along the circumference of the outer wall of the hose.

Furthermore, the outer wall of the hose is provided with 4 sleeves, and every two adjacent sleeves are arranged on the outer wall of the hose at 90 degrees.

Further, the hose comprises an outer pipe, the outer pipe is arranged on the periphery of the hose, and the sleeve and the mesh grid are embedded in the pipe wall of the outer pipe.

Further, the fixed ring is arranged on the outer wall of the first end of the hose.

Furthermore, the fixing ring comprises an inserting portion and an external portion, the inserting portion is inserted into the inner wall of the first end of the hose, and the external portion is arranged outside the first end of the hose.

Further, a working channel for placing medical tools is arranged at the end part, away from the first end of the hose, of the external part, and the working channel is communicated with the hose.

Furthermore, the end part of the external part, which is far away from the first end of the hose, is also provided with an image groove for placing a camera and at least one lighting groove for placing a lighting unit.

Further, the outer portion is made of a transparent material, and the illumination groove is sealed in the outer portion.

Further, the wire drawing device also comprises a sliding structure, wherein the sliding structure comprises a sliding block base and a wire sliding block;

the slider base connect in the outer tube is kept away from the tip of the first end of hose, the slider base is equipped with the confession along length direction the reciprocal gliding spout of steel wire slider, the second end of accuse curved steel wire is worn out the outer tube with the steel wire slider is connected.

Further, still include the pipe fixing base, the pipe fixing base is established the point of reeving of the second end of accuse curved steel wire and the periphery of slider base between the outer tube.

In the embodiment of the invention, the sleeve is arranged on the outer wall of the medical hose, the bend-controlling steel wire capable of freely moving is arranged in the sleeve, the first end of the bend-controlling steel wire is fixed at the first end of the hose, the second end of the bend-controlling steel wire is arranged outside the second end of the hose, and the second end of the bend-controlling steel wire is pulled to bend the first end of the hose towards the bend-controlling steel wire, so that the advancing direction of the medical catheter rapidly rotates in the body of a patient, the control structure of the medical catheter is simplified, the flexibility of the medical catheter in moving in the body of the patient is improved, and the comfort of the patient in the diagnosis and treatment process is enhanced.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the invention and not to limit the invention. In the drawings:

fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a medical catheter according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a medical catheter, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of another embodiment of a medical catheter in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a medical catheter according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of another embodiment of a medical catheter in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a medical catheter in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of another perspective view of a medical catheter in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a schematic perspective view of a sliding structure of a medical catheter according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, the technical solutions of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the specific embodiments of the present invention and the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that the described embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, and not restrictive of the full scope of the invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

Referring to fig. 1, a schematic perspective view of a medical catheter according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown, the medical catheter includes a flexible tube 10 and a bending-controlling structure 20, the bending-controlling structure 20 is disposed on an outer wall of the flexible tube 10, and includes a sleeve 210 and a bending-controlling wire 220 freely moving in the sleeve 210; the sleeve 210 is disposed on the outer wall of the hose 10 along the length direction of the hose 10, the first end 2201 of the bend-controlling wire 220 is connected to the outer wall of the first end 101 of the hose 10, and the second end 2202 of the bend-controlling wire 220 passes through the sleeve 210 and is disposed outside the second end 102 of the hose 10.

Specifically, referring to fig. 2, a schematic cross-sectional structure of a medical catheter according to an embodiment of the present invention is provided, the flexible tube 10 is an innermost structure of the medical catheter, the flexible tube 10 is made of a material including, but not limited to, Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), in a preferred embodiment, the flexible tube 10 is a PTFE tube with a thin wall, and a length of the flexible tube 10 is not further limited herein, which can be regarded as an indefinite-length structure, and is freely customized according to actual use requirements.

The bending control structures 20 are disposed on the outer periphery of the hose 10 and arranged along the circumference of the outer wall of the hose 10, wherein the number of the bending control structures 20 is at least one, and when there are a plurality of the bending control structures 20, the bending control structures 20 are arranged at equal intervals along the circumference of the outer wall of the hose 10 to enclose the hose 10 therein.

Specifically, each of the bend-controlling structures 20 includes the sleeve 210 and the bend-controlling wire 220, where each of the sleeves 210 is disposed on the outer wall of the hose 10 along the length direction of the hose 10, the sleeve 210 may be understood as a sandwich layer on the outer wall of the hose 10, that is, the sleeve 210 and the hose 10 are an integral structure, and the sleeve 210 and the hose 10 may be integrally formed in terms of process, where a specific forming method includes, but is not limited to, integral injection molding, or a conduit extrusion process. Each of the sleeves 210 is provided with one bend-controlling steel wire 220 therein, wherein the bend-controlling steel wire 220 passes through the sleeve 210, and two ends of the bend-controlling steel wire 220 are respectively located outside the sleeve 210, wherein one end of the bend-controlling steel wire 220, which is strung out of the sleeve 210, is connected to the outer wall of the first end 101 of the hose 10, and the second end 2202 of the bend-controlling steel wire 220, which is strung out of the other end of the sleeve 210 through the sleeve 210, is located outside the second end 102 of the hose 10.

The bend-controlling wire 220 can move freely in the sleeve 210, and when in use, the second end 2202 of the bend-controlling wire 220 can be pulled by force, that is, the bend-controlling wire 220 can move freely in the sleeve 210, because the first end 2201 of the bend-controlling wire 220 is fixed on the outer wall of the first end 101 of the hose 10, when the second end 2202 of the bend-controlling wire 220 is pulled by force, the bend-controlling wire 220 cannot fall out of the sleeve 210, and the first end 101 of the hose 10 can bend towards the pulled bend-controlling wire 220 by the pulling force, that is, the front ends of the pair of medical catheters rotate.

It should be noted that, when the number of the bending-controlling structures 20 disposed on the outer wall of the flexible tube 10 is less than 3, the bending direction is difficult to control when the flexible tube is locally stressed due to the poor rigidity, and a structure for enhancing the rigidity of the bending-controlling structures 20 is disposed on the periphery of the bending-controlling structures to control the rotating bending direction of the front end of the medical catheter, where the structure for enhancing the rigidity of the medical catheter includes, but is not limited to, disposing a metal mesh on the periphery of the sleeve 210.

In addition, when the number of the bending control structures 20 disposed on the outer wall of the flexible tube 10 is not less than 3, three or more bending control wires 220 may provide better rigidity for the medical catheter, and even when a local force is applied, the bending direction of the medical catheter is easier to control, and at this time, it is not necessary to additionally provide a structure for enhancing the rigidity on the outer circumference of the bending control structure 20, and of course, if a structure for enhancing the rigidity is additionally provided on the outer circumference of the bending control structure 20, the rigidity of the medical catheter may be further enhanced, which is beneficial to accurately controlling the rotating bending direction of the front end of the medical catheter, and similarly, the structure for enhancing the rigidity of the medical catheter includes, but is not limited to, a metal mesh disposed on the outer circumference of the sleeve 210

In order to ensure that the bending-controlling structure 20 can move freely in the sleeve 210, the material of the sleeve 210 includes, but is not limited to, a low-friction polymer material such as PTFE, PP, etc., and the bending-controlling wires 220 are preferably single-strand high-strength steel wires, but certainly not excluding a braided structure of a plurality of steel wires; in other preferred embodiments of the present invention, a corresponding lubricant may be disposed inside the sleeve 210 to reduce the friction of the bend-controlling wires 220 moving freely inside the sleeve 210, thereby improving the operation efficiency of the bend-controlling structure 20.

Next, it should be noted that the above-mentioned force for pulling the second end 2202 of the bend-controlling wire 220 may be a manual pulling force of a medical care worker during a diagnosis and treatment process, or a mechanical pulling force of an industrial robot such as a mechanical arm.

In the above embodiment of the present invention, by providing the sleeve 210 on the outer wall of the hose 10, and the bending control wire 220 which can freely move relative to the sleeve 210 is arranged in the sleeve 210, and the first end 2201 of the bend-controlling wire 220 is fixed to the first end 101 of the hose 10, and the second end 2201 of the bend-controlling wire 220 is positioned outside the second end 102 of the hose 10, by pulling the second end 2202 of the bend controlling wire 220 so that the first end 101 of the hose 10 is bent toward the pulled bend controlling wire 220, the advancing direction of the medical catheter is rapidly bent and rotated in the body of a patient, the control structure of the traditional medical catheter is simplified, the flexibility of the medical catheter in the moving process of the patient is improved, the working time and the staying time of the medical catheter in the patient body are reduced, and the comfort degree of the patient in the diagnosis and treatment process is enhanced.

Further, referring to fig. 3, which is a schematic perspective view of a medical catheter according to an embodiment of the present invention, a first end 101 of the flexible tube 10 is provided with a fixing ring 30, and a first end 2201 of the bend-controlling wire 220 is fixed to the fixing ring 30.

Specifically, the fixing ring 30 is made of a material including, but not limited to, metal, and the first end 2201 of the bend-controlling wire 220 is fixed to the fixing ring 30 by welding, laser welding, or the like, so as to fix the bend-controlling wire 220, so that when the second end 2202 of the bend-controlling wire 220 is pulled by force, the bend-controlling wire 220 is not pulled out of the sleeve 210, and the first end 101 of the hose 10 can be driven to bend toward the pulled bend-controlling wire 220.

Further, in one possible implementation of the embodiment of the present invention, the fixing ring 30 is provided on the outer wall of the first end 101 of the hose 10.

Specifically, the fixing ring 30 is sleeved on the outer wall of the hose 10 and located at a position close to the first end 101 of the hose 10, and here, the inner wall of the fixing ring 30 and the outer wall of the hose 10 may be connected in a reinforcing manner by bonding or the like in addition to being sleeved, so as to ensure that the fixing ring 30 and the hose 10 are relatively fixed, so that when the second end 2202 of the bending control wire 220 is pulled, the first end 101 of the hose 10 may be driven to bend towards the pulled bending control wire 220.

In addition, referring to fig. 4, in another possible implementation manner of the embodiment of the present invention, the fixing ring 30 includes an insertion part 310 and an external part 320, the insertion part 310 is inserted into an inner wall of the first end 101 of the flexible tube 10, and the external part 320 is externally disposed outside the first end 101 of the flexible tube 10.

Specifically, the insertion portion 310 is connected to the exterior portion 320, and generally has an integrally formed structure, a pipe diameter of the insertion portion 310 is smaller than a pipe diameter of the exterior portion 320, the insertion portion 310 is configured to be inserted into an inner wall of the first end 101 of the hose 10 to fix the fixing ring 30 to the hose 10, in a preferred embodiment, an outer periphery of the insertion portion 310 and an inner wall of the first end 101 of the hose 10 may be further bonded by an adhesive to enhance a fixing strength between the fixing ring 30 and the hose 10, the exterior portion 320 is located outside the first end 101 of the hose 10, and a pipe diameter of the exterior portion 320 may be larger than the pipe diameter of the hose 10 or slightly smaller than the pipe diameter of the hose 10, and a specific size relationship thereof is not strictly limited.

With this structure, the first end 2201 of the bend-controlling wire 220 may be fixedly connected to the insertion portion 310, or fixedly connected to the external portion 320.

In addition, in order to facilitate the first end 101 of the flexible tube 10 to smoothly advance in the patient, the end of the external portion 320 away from the insertion portion 310 is generally processed smoothly, i.e. designed to be a shaped structure with a slightly pointed front end.

Further, in one of the implementations of the present invention, the end of the exterior part 320 far away from the first end 101 of the hose 10 is provided with a working channel 3201 for placing a medical tool, and the working channel 3201 is communicated with the hose 10.

Here, the fixing ring 30 is provided with the working channel 3201, and the working channel 3201 and the hose 10 are communicated with each other for placing a medical tool for diagnosis and treatment of a patient; specifically, the port of the working passage 3201 is located at the end of the external portion 320 far from the first end 101 of the flexible tube 10, that is, the medical tool enters through the second end 102 of the flexible tube 10, reaches the first end 101 of the flexible tube 10 along the whole flexible tube 10, passes through the insertion portion 310 of the fixing ring 30 and the external portion 320, and extends out from the working passage 3201 at the end of the external portion 320, so as to treat the focus of the patient at the front end of the catheter.

Still further, in another implementation manner of the present invention, an end of the exterior part 320 far away from the first end 101 of the hose 10 is further provided with a video groove 3202 for placing a camera and at least one lighting groove 3203 for placing a lighting unit.

Specifically, one image groove 3202 and at least one illumination groove 3203 are distributed on the periphery of the working channel 3201 port.

Here, a camera is disposed in the image slot 3202, and is used for acquiring a real-time image of the front end of the catheter, the camera includes but is not limited to a wide-angle camera, can capture a wide range of the front end of the catheter, and includes CMOS photosensitive elements, lenses, driving circuits, etc., which may be separate from each other, or may be integrated into a module, and the camera transmits a video signal to a video processing circuit of an external device through (shielding) wires (and connectors).

The lighting groove 3203 is provided with LED lamps, the LED lamps are connected to an LED lamp driving circuit of an external device through a wire (and a connector), the driving circuit can be adjusted by DC voltage regulation or PWM light regulation, here, the number of the LED lamps is 1-4 or more, and the number of the LED lamps can be set according to the area of the end of the external part 320 far away from the first end 101 of the hose 10, or according to the actual diagnosis and treatment position requirement.

In addition, the exterior part 320 is made of a transparent material, and the illumination groove 3203 is enclosed in the exterior part 320.

The external part 320 made of transparent material can be made of transparent plastic by using an injection molding process, and is inserted into the hose 10 through the insertion part 310 to be bonded with the hose, so that light rays of the LED lamp in the illumination groove 3203 which is sealed in the external part can be ensured to be transmitted to the front end of the catheter, and on the premise of ensuring the illumination requirement, body fluid of a patient can be prevented from entering the illumination groove 3203 in the advancing process of the catheter in the patient body, the illumination effect is improved, the illumination safety is improved, and the focus diagnosis and treatment of the patient can be rapidly and accurately carried out.

Here, it should be noted that only the illumination groove 3203 is subjected to the sealing process, and the image groove 3202 does not require the correlation process.

In addition, in another preferred embodiment of the present invention, the exterior part 320 is made of a metal material, the hose 10 is inserted through the insertion part 310, and is fixed by bonding or pressing, the illumination groove 3203 and the image groove 3202 are respectively disposed at the end of the exterior part 320, and the LED lamp is installed in the illumination groove 3203 and is flush with the end surface after being installed.

Further, please refer to fig. 5, which is a schematic perspective view of a medical catheter according to an embodiment of the present invention, the medical catheter further includes a braided mesh 230, the braided mesh 230 is tubular and is disposed outside the sleeve 210, and the sleeve 210 and the flexible tube 10 are wrapped therein.

Specifically, the braided mesh 230 includes, but is not limited to, being braided by metal wire, and is, for example, braided by steel wires into a tubular shape, and is sleeved outside the sleeve 210 to wrap the sleeve 210 and the hose 10 therein, and the braided mesh 230 has good rigidity and is disposed on the periphery of the medical catheter, so as to effectively prevent the medical catheter from being extruded and deformed, and simultaneously prevent the sleeve 210 from being extruded, thereby avoiding increasing the friction force of the bend-controlling steel wires 220 during moving in the sleeve 210, improving the smoothness of the bend-controlling steel wires 220 during moving, and further increasing the rotational flexibility of the first end 101 of the hose 10; in addition, the braided mesh 230 can also provide good torque transmission performance, which can further improve the flexibility of rotation of the first end 101 of the hose 10 on the one hand, and can also improve the controllability of the first end 101 of the hose 10 when the first end 101 is rotated by a force on the other hand, so that the rotation of the first end 101 of the hose 10 is more accurate, and the bending control precision of the medical catheter is improved.

Here, the ends of the woven mesh 230 near the first end 101 of the hose 10 are fixedly connected to the fixing rings 30, respectively, and the specific fixing connection may be the same as the fixing connection between the bend controlling wires 220 and the fixing rings 30, such as, but not limited to, the fixing connection by metal welding or laser welding.

In addition, please refer to fig. 6, which is a schematic cross-sectional view of a medical catheter according to an embodiment of the present invention, the outer wall of the flexible tube 10 is provided with a plurality of sleeves 210, and the plurality of sleeves 210 are distributed at equal intervals along a circumference of the outer wall of the flexible tube 10.

Here, the hose 10 is provided with a plurality of bending control structures 20 on the outer circumference, that is, the outer wall of the hose 10 is provided with a plurality of sleeves 210, wherein the plurality of sleeves 210 are arranged at equal intervals along the outer wall of the pipe section of the hose 10.

In the above embodiment, through setting up a plurality of accuse curved structure 20, and then through the pulling difference accuse curved structure 20 accuse curved steel wire 220, alright in order to make the tip of hose 10 can be crooked to different directions, makes the direction of rotation of the tip of hose 10 is abundanter, promotes medical catheter's application scope.

Further, in other preferred embodiments of the present invention, as shown in the figures, 4 sleeves 210 are disposed on the outer wall of the flexible pipe 10, and two adjacent sleeves 210 are disposed on the outer wall of the flexible pipe 10 at 90 degrees.

Specifically, 4 the equidistant setting of sleeve pipe 210 is in outer wall a week of the pipe section of hose 10, and adjacent two sleeve pipe 210 is in be 90 degrees contained angles setting on the outer wall of hose 10, promptly the periphery of hose 10 is equipped with four accuse curved structure 20. By pulling the bending control steel wire 220 of the bending control structure 20 at different positions, the end of the hose 10 can be bent in different directions; in addition, the bending control wires 220 of two adjacent bending control structures 20 can be pulled simultaneously, so as to further change the rotation direction of the end part of the hose 10, so that the rotation direction of the end part of the hose 10 is richer, and the application range of the medical catheter is further improved.

In addition, in another embodiment of the present invention, the medical catheter further includes an outer tube 40, the outer tube 40 is disposed on the outer circumference of the flexible tube 10, and the sleeve 210 and the mesh grid 230 are embedded in the wall of the outer tube 40.

Specifically, the outer tube 40 is wrapped around the outer circumference of the hose 10, and the outer wall of the outer tube 40 directly contacts with the human body of the patient, where the outer tube 40 may be manufactured by a catheter extrusion process or a nano injection molding process, the sleeve 210 on the outer wall of the hose 10 and the mesh grid 230 around the sleeve 210 are embedded in the wall of the outer tube 40, that is, the gap outside the hose 10 is filled with the manufacturing material of the outer tube 40, and the manufacturing material of the outer tube 40 includes, but is not limited to, PEBAX or other high molecular materials.

In addition, please refer to fig. 7 and 8, the medical catheter further includes a sliding structure 50, the sliding structure 50 includes a slider base 510 and a wire slider 520; the slider base 510 is connected to the end portion of the outer tube 40 far away from the first end 101 of the hose 10, the slider base 510 is provided with a sliding groove 5101 for the wire slider 520 to slide back and forth along the length direction, and the second end 2202 of the bending control wire 220 penetrates through the outer tube 40 and is connected with the wire slider 520.

Specifically, the end of the outer tube 40 away from the first end 101 of the hose 10 is connected to the slider base 510, which may be plugged, welded or integrally formed, the slider base 510 has a shape including but not limited to a cylinder or a prism structure, the outer diameter of which is generally larger than the outer diameter of the outer tube 40, the sliding slot 5101 is disposed along the length direction thereof, the wire slider 520 can slide back and forth in the sliding slot 5101, the end of the wire slider 520 facing the first end 101 of the hose 10 is connected to the bend control wire 220, specifically, the second end 2202 of the bend control wire 220 penetrates out of the surface of the outer tube 40 and is connected to the wire slider 520, when the wire slider 520 slides in the sliding slot 5101, the bend control wire 220 drives the head section of the hose 10 to bend, such as when the bend control wire 220 is pulled, the head of the hose 10 is bent toward the pulled bending control wire 220, so that the front end of the medical catheter is rotated.

Furthermore, the medical catheter further comprises a catheter fixing seat 60, and the catheter fixing seat 60 is arranged on the periphery of the outer tube 40 between the penetrating point of the second end 2201 of the bending control steel wire 220 and the slider base 510.

Specifically, pipe fixing base 60 is the loudspeaker form, and the great one end orientation of size the tip of slider base 510, the less one end orientation of size the second end 2201 of accuse curved steel wire 220 wear out the point, and its cover is established the periphery of outer tube 40, accuse curved steel wire 220 is followed the outer wall of outer tube 40 is worn out, passes through the outer wall transition of pipe fixing base 60 with steel wire slider 520 connects, here pipe fixing base 60 play does the effect that accuse curved steel wire 220 passes through makes accuse curved steel wire 220 can even reciprocating motion.

In other preferred embodiments of the present invention, the surface of the catheter fixing base 60 is provided with a wire groove for positioning the bend-controlling wire 220, so that a plurality of bend-controlling wires 220 can be arranged in various directions of the outer tube 40, thereby satisfying the requirement of multi-directional rotation of the head section of the hose 10.

It should also be noted that the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising an … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, embodiments of the present invention may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The above description is only an example of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention. Various modifications and alterations to this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the scope of the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. A medical catheter is characterized by comprising a hose and a bending control structure,

2. The medical catheter of claim 1, wherein the first end of the flexible tube is provided with a securing ring to which the first end of the bend-controlling wire is secured.

3. The medical catheter of claim 1, further comprising a braided mesh having a tubular shape disposed on an exterior of the sleeve and encasing the sleeve and the flexible tube therein.

4. The medical catheter of claim 1, wherein the outer wall of the flexible tube is provided with a plurality of said sleeves, and the plurality of said sleeves are equally spaced around the outer wall of the flexible tube.

5. The medical catheter of claim 4, wherein 4 of said sleeves are disposed on the outer wall of said flexible tube, and two adjacent sleeves are disposed at 90 degrees on the outer wall of said flexible tube.

6. The medical catheter of claim 3, further comprising an outer tube disposed about the outer circumference of the flexible tube, wherein the sleeve and the mesh fabric are embedded within the wall of the outer tube.

7. The medical catheter of claim 2, wherein the retaining ring is disposed on an outer wall of the first end of the flexible tube.

8. The medical catheter of claim 2, wherein the retaining ring includes a hub portion that is received within an inner wall of the first end of the flexible tube and an outer portion that is disposed outwardly of the first end of the flexible tube.

9. A medical tube according to claim 8, wherein the end of the outer portion remote from the first end of the flexible tube is provided with a working channel for placement of a medical tool, the working channel being in communication with the flexible tube.

10. The medical catheter of claim 9, wherein the end of the exterior portion distal to the first end of the flexible tube is further provided with an image slot for placement of a camera and at least one illumination slot for placement of an illumination unit.

11. The medical catheter of claim 10, wherein the outer portion is made of a transparent material and the illumination slot is enclosed within the outer portion.

12. The medical catheter of claim 6, further comprising a sliding structure comprising a slider base and a wire slider;

13. The medical catheter of claim 12, further comprising a catheter mount disposed about the outer tube between the exit point of the second end of the bend-controlling wire and the slider base.