JP2009039193A - Reinforcement structure for treatment tool insertion hole located at distal part of endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a reinforcement structure for a treatment tool insertion hole located at a distal part of an endoscope which secures a sufficient strength even for a distal hard part with a small diameter, prevents scraping of the treatment tool insertion hole, allows smooth inserting operation of the treatment tool, achieves insulation of the treatment tool insertion hole, and prevents noises generated at the treatment tool from affecting an imaging element arranged at the distal hard part. <P>SOLUTION: A ceramic or a ceramic-coated metal tube member 30 with open ends is fitted to and fixed to the resin distal hard part 14 forming the distal part of an insertion section of an endoscope, the treatment tool insertion hole 17 penetrating the distal hard part in its axial direction, and the inner peripheral surface of the treatment tool insertion hole in such a way that a distal part of the tube member covers a distal open edge of the treatment tool insertion hole. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a reinforcing structure for a treatment instrument insertion hole formed at a distal end portion of an insertion portion of an endoscope.

The distal end hard portion constituting the distal end portion of the insertion portion of the endoscope is generally formed of resin. Furthermore, a treatment instrument insertion hole that penetrates the distal rigid section in the axial direction is formed in the distal rigid section, and the rear end portion of the treatment instrument insertion hole is connected to the front end of the treatment instrument insertion tube disposed in the insertion section. It is common.
Therefore, when the treatment instrument is inserted into the treatment instrument insertion tube from the forceps opening (treatment instrument introduction section) provided in the operation section of the endoscope, the treatment instrument projects outside the distal end hard portion through the treatment instrument insertion hole. .
JP 2006-271491 A

In recent years, in order to reduce the burden on the patient, the insertion portion of the endoscope tends to be reduced in diameter, and accordingly, the strength of the distal end hard portion tends to decrease. Therefore, when the treatment tool formed of a hard material such as metal (a material harder than the distal end hard portion) comes into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the treatment instrument insertion hole, the distal end hard portion may be deformed.
Furthermore, when the treatment tool comes into contact with the treatment tool insertion hole, the treatment tool insertion hole may be scraped by the treatment tool.
Further, when the treatment tool comes into contact with the treatment tool insertion hole, the treatment tool does not slide smoothly with respect to the treatment tool insertion hole, and as a result, the operation of inserting the treatment tool may become unsmooth.

Further, if a treatment instrument (for example, a high-frequency snare) through which a current flows without inserting an insulation treatment into the treatment instrument insertion hole, a problem may occur.
Further, conventionally, noise generated from a treatment instrument through which current flows may reach the image sensor provided at the distal end hard portion.

  The present invention can achieve sufficient strength even with a small-diameter distal hard portion, and can achieve prevention of scraping of the treatment instrument insertion hole, smooth insertion operation of the treatment instrument, and insulation of the treatment instrument insertion hole, and treatment. It is an object of the present invention to provide a reinforcing structure for a treatment instrument insertion hole in an endoscope distal end that can prevent noise generated from the instrument from reaching an imaging device provided in the distal rigid portion.

  The reinforcing structure of the treatment instrument insertion hole in the distal end portion of the endoscope according to the present invention includes a rigid distal end portion made of resin that forms the distal end portion of the insertion portion of the endoscope, and a treatment instrument that penetrates the distal distal end hard portion in its axial direction. The insertion hole and both ends made of ceramic or metal coated with a ceramic coated surface are fitted and fixed to the inner peripheral surface of the treatment instrument insertion hole so as to cover the distal end opening edge of the treatment instrument insertion hole at the distal end thereof. And a cylindrical member that opens.

  It is preferable to chamfer the inner peripheral surface of the tip opening of the cylindrical member over the entire circumference.

  An annular recess is formed at a position away from the front end of the treatment instrument insertion hole, and an annular protrusion is formed at a position away from the front end of the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical member. Is preferred.

  The cylindrical member may be made of a metal whose surface is ceramic-coated, and the opening edge portion on the distal end side of the cylindrical member may be caulked to the distal opening edge of the treatment instrument insertion hole.

  The cylindrical member is made of a metal having a ceramic coating on the surface, and an objective lens is provided on the distal end surface of the distal end hard portion, and is positioned in the distal end hard portion immediately after the objective lens and on the side of the cylindrical member. It is preferable to provide an image sensor that captures an observation image transmitted through the objective lens.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the ceramic or metal-coated cylindrical member whose surface is ceramic coated has high mechanical strength, it is possible to increase the mechanical strength of the hard tip portion even if the hard tip portion has a small diameter. It is. Therefore, even if the treatment tool comes into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical member during the insertion operation of the treatment tool, the distal end hard portion is not deformed.
Even if the treatment instrument is made of a material harder than the treatment instrument insertion hole, the treatment instrument insertion hole is protected by the cylindrical member, so that the surface of the treatment instrument insertion hole is not shaved by the treatment instrument.

Furthermore, the treatment instrument is easier to slide with respect to the cylindrical member made of metal or ceramic than the treatment instrument insertion hole made of resin. Therefore, even when the treatment tool comes into contact with the tubular member when the treatment tool is inserted, the operation tool can be smoothly inserted.
Further, since the cylindrical member is made of ceramic or a metal whose surface is ceramic-coated, the cylindrical member exhibits an electrical insulating function. Therefore, even if the treatment instrument through which a current flows is inserted into the treatment instrument insertion hole, no problem occurs.

  If comprised like Claim 2, it will become easy to make a treatment tool protrude outside from the front-end | tip opening part of a cylinder member.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to reliably prevent the cylindrical member from falling off from the treatment instrument insertion hole.

  If comprised like Claim 4, the fixed strength with respect to the treatment tool penetration hole (front-end | tip hard part) of a cylinder member will improve.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since the metal cylinder member has a shielding function, even if noise is generated from the treatment instrument when the treatment instrument through which a current flows is inserted into the treatment instrument insertion hole, the noise is generated. Can be prevented from reaching the image sensor.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. In the following description, the front-rear direction of the insertion portion 12 is “front”, and the proximal end of the insertion portion 12 is “rear”.
As shown in FIG. 1, an endoscope 10 according to the present embodiment is a medical electronic endoscope, and has an operation unit 11 held by an operator and a flexible extending forward from the operation unit 11. An insertion portion 12 and a universal tube 13 extending from the operation portion 11 to the opposite side of the insertion portion 12 and connected to a processor (not shown) are provided. The distal end hard portion 14 forming the distal end portion of the insertion portion 12 is a resin member having a substantially cylindrical shape, and the distal end surface 15 has an objective lens group 16 composed of four lenses and a treatment as shown in FIG. A tool insertion hole 17 is provided. Further, although not shown, the distal end surface 15 is provided with an illumination lens, an air supply hole, and a water supply hole.

  As shown in FIG. 2, an imaging element 18 positioned immediately after the objective lens group 16 is provided in the distal end hard part 14, and a signal line 19 extending from the imaging element 18 includes an insertion part 12 and an operation part 11. And the universal tube 13 is connected to the processor. Therefore, the image observed by the objective lens group 16 is displayed on a monitor (not shown) connected to the processor after being imaged by the image sensor 18 and image processing by the processor.

The treatment instrument insertion hole 17 penetrates the distal end hard portion 14 in the front-rear direction (axial direction), and its cross-sectional shape is circular. In addition, an annular recess 21 having a diameter larger than that of the front portion is formed in the rear portion of the inner peripheral surface of the treatment instrument insertion hole 17.
The operation unit 11 is provided with a forceps port 22 detachably closed by a rubber cap 23, and a rubber treatment instrument insertion tube 24 whose rear end is connected to the forceps port 22 is provided inside the insertion unit 12. It is arranged. The front end of the treatment instrument insertion tube 24 is fitted to the rear end portion of the annular recess 21, and the front end outer peripheral surface of the treatment instrument insertion tube 24 is bonded to the rear end inner peripheral surface of the annular recess 21.

As shown in the drawing, a cylindrical member 30 having a circular cross section and opening at both ends is fitted to the inner peripheral surface of the treatment instrument insertion hole 17. The cylindrical member 30 is made of metal, and a ceramic coating is applied to the entire surface (also the inner peripheral surface side).
An annular convex portion 31 having a larger diameter than the front portion projects from the rear portion of the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical member 30, and the entire circumference of the opening edge portion on the front end side of the cylindrical member 30 is a chamfered tapered surface 32. .
As shown in the drawing, the cylindrical member 30 has its front portion fitted into the front portion of the treatment instrument insertion hole 17 and its annular convex portion 31 fitted into the annular concave portion 21 of the treatment instrument insertion hole 17. Furthermore, the front part of the cylindrical member 30, the front part of the treatment instrument insertion hole 17, and the annular convex part 31 and the annular concave part 21 are bonded to each other. When the cylindrical member 30 is fitted and fixed in the treatment instrument insertion hole 17 in this way, the front-rear direction position of the distal end opening edge of the cylindrical member 30 and the distal end of the treatment instrument insertion hole 17 coincides.

When the rubber cap 23 is removed from the forceps port 22 of the endoscope 10 having such a structure, and the rod-shaped metal treatment tool S is inserted into the forceps port 22, the treatment tool S is inserted into the treatment tool as shown in FIG. The front end of the treatment instrument insertion hole 17 protrudes to the outside (front) of the distal end hard portion 14 through the inner space of the treatment tube 24 and the treatment instrument insertion hole 17.
Since the hard tip portion 14 is made of resin, the mechanical strength is not so large when the hard tip portion 14 has a small diameter. However, in this embodiment, a metal cylinder member 30 having a mechanical strength higher than that of the resin distal end hard portion 14 is fitted and fixed to the inner peripheral surface of the treatment instrument insertion hole 17. The mechanical strength around the tool insertion hole 17 is reinforced. Therefore, even when the treatment tool S comes into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical member 30 during the insertion operation of the treatment tool S, the distal end hard portion 14 is not deformed.
The treatment instrument S is formed of a material harder than the treatment instrument insertion hole 17 (hard tip portion 14). However, the treatment instrument S is treated by the treatment instrument S because the surface of the treatment instrument insertion hole 17 is protected by the cylindrical member 30. There is no possibility that the surface of the tool insertion hole 17 is scraped. In many cases, particularly when the treatment tool S is inserted, the treatment tool S often comes into contact with the front end opening edge of the treatment tool insertion hole 17. However, in this embodiment, the cylindrical member 30 also has a front end opening edge of the treatment tool insertion hole 17. Since it covers, it is possible to reliably prevent this portion from being scraped.

Furthermore, the metal treatment instrument S is more slidable with respect to the tubular member 30 made of metal than the treatment instrument insertion hole 17 (hard tip portion 14) made of resin. Therefore, in this embodiment, even if the treatment tool S contacts the inner peripheral surface of the cylindrical member 30, the insertion operation of the treatment tool S can be performed smoothly.
Moreover, since the surface of the cylindrical member 30 is ceramic-coated, the cylindrical member 30 exhibits an electrical insulating function. For this reason, even if the treatment tool S has a current flowing like a high-frequency snare, the current generated from the treatment tool S does not reach the treatment tool insertion hole 17 (the current generated from the treatment tool S is No troubles occur in the members).
Further, in the case where the treatment tool S is a device in which a current flows like a high frequency snare, noise is generated from the treatment tool S. However, since the cylindrical member 30 is made of metal and has electromagnetic shielding properties, this noise is generated in the cylindrical member 30. It does not reach the image sensor 18 located on the side. Therefore, even if the treatment tool S is a high-frequency snare, the function of the image sensor 18 does not deteriorate.

Further, since the opening edge of the front end of the cylindrical member 30 is the tapered surface 32, the treatment instrument S can be easily projected forward of the treatment instrument insertion hole 17.
Further, since the annular convex portion 31 of the cylindrical member 30 is fitted in the annular concave portion 21 of the treatment instrument insertion hole 17, even if the adhesion between the cylindrical member 30 and the treatment instrument insertion hole 17 is peeled off, the cylindrical member 30 does not fall forward from the treatment instrument insertion hole 17.
Further, since the front end of the cylindrical member 30 is located at the same position as the distal end surface 15 of the distal end hard portion 14 and does not protrude forward of the distal end surface 15, the front end of the cylindrical member 30 narrows the observation field of the objective lens group 16. There is nothing.

As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated based on the said embodiment, this invention can be implemented, giving various deformation | transformation.
For example, as shown in FIG. 3, a tapered surface 34 may be formed at the front end opening of the treatment instrument insertion hole 17, and the front end of the tubular member 30 may be a caulking portion 35 that engages with the tapered surface 34. In this way, the fixing strength of the front end portion of the treatment instrument insertion hole 17 and the front end portion of the tubular member 30 is improved, so that the tubular member 30 is more difficult to drop out of the treatment instrument insertion hole 17.
Further, the entire cylindrical member 30 may be formed of a ceramic material having a mechanical strength higher than that of the distal end hard portion 14.
Furthermore, the present invention can also be applied to endoscopes other than electronic endoscopes and industrial endoscopes.

1 is an overall view of an endoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is an expansion vertical side view of the front end surface of an insertion part. It is an expansion vertical side view similar to FIG. 2 of a modification.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Endoscope 11 Operation part 12 Insertion part 13 Universal tube 14 Hard tip part 15 End face 16 Objective lens group 17 Treatment tool insertion hole 18 Imaging element 19 Signal line 21 Annular recessed part 22 Forceps port 23 Rubber cap 24 Treatment tool insertion tube 30 cylindrical member 31 annular convex part 32 taper surface 34 taper surface 35 caulking part S treatment instrument

Claims (5)

A hard tip made of resin that forms the tip of the insertion portion of the endoscope;
A treatment instrument insertion hole penetrating the distal end hard portion in its axial direction;
A cylindrical member that is fitted and fixed to the inner peripheral surface of the treatment instrument insertion hole so as to cover the distal end opening edge of the treatment instrument insertion hole at its distal end and that is open at both ends made of ceramic or a metal whose surface is ceramic coated When,
A reinforcing structure for a treatment instrument insertion hole in the distal end portion of the endoscope. In the reinforcing structure of the treatment instrument insertion hole in the distal end portion of the endoscope according to claim 1,
The reinforcing structure of the treatment instrument insertion hole in the distal end portion of the endoscope in which the inner peripheral surface of the distal end opening portion of the cylindrical member is chamfered over the entire circumference. In the reinforcing structure of the treatment instrument insertion hole in the distal end portion of the endoscope according to claim 1 or 2,
An annular recess is formed at a position away from the front end of the treatment instrument insertion hole,
A reinforcing structure of the treatment instrument insertion hole in the distal end portion of the endoscope in which an annular convex portion that fits into the annular concave portion is formed at a position away from the front end of the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical member. In the reinforcing structure of the treatment instrument insertion hole in the distal end portion of the endoscope according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The cylindrical member is made of a metal whose surface is ceramic-coated,
A reinforcing structure of a treatment instrument insertion hole in an endoscope distal end portion in which an opening edge portion on the distal end side of the cylindrical member is caulked to a distal opening edge of the treatment instrument insertion hole. In the reinforcing structure of the treatment instrument insertion hole in the distal end portion of the endoscope according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The cylindrical member is made of a metal whose surface is ceramic-coated,
An objective lens is provided on the tip surface of the tip hard part,
The treatment instrument insertion hole in the distal end portion of the endoscope provided with an image pickup device that is located immediately after the objective lens and on the side of the cylindrical member inside the distal end hard portion and picks up an observation image transmitted through the objective lens Reinforcement structure.

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