JP2014083284A - Endoscope insertion portion and method for manufacturing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an endoscope insertion portion which shows high safety, achieves the reduction in a diameter and a cost and easy operability, and has rigidity in a lengthwise direction that can be freely varied, and a method for manufacturing the same.SOLUTION: A helical gap is formed by performing laser processing helically on an outer periphery of a high-strength alloy pipe material. Rigidity in a lengthwise direction of a bending portion 6 is freely varied by combining variations in a pitch of a helix, a helical angle, and a gap width and subsequently performing heat treatment. A wire guide for operating the bending portion is easily provided on an inner periphery of the bending portion, and an endoscope insertion portion 4 which is easy, safe, and inexpensive, exhibits suitable flexibility, and has excellent operability can be manufactured.

Description

  The present invention relates to an insertion portion of an endoscope used as a medical instrument and a manufacturing method thereof.

Endoscopes are widely used as minimally invasive treatments that cause less physical burden on patients, such as pain, fever, and bleeding associated with surgery and examinations. The most important part of the endoscope is an insertion portion of a part to be inserted into a body cavity, and various improvements have been made on the structure and the like.
The endoscope insertion portion includes a distal end side bending portion and a proximal end side flexible portion. A conventional bending portion is configured by connecting a plurality of angle rings (also referred to as bending segments, bending pieces, and node rings) with a degree of freedom, and a wire guide formed in the angle ring, and the wire guide The bending portion can be freely bent by the operation of the wire passing through.

  However, the curved portion of the conventional endoscope insertion portion having a structure in which the angle ring is connected is complicated, and a considerable skill level is required to manufacture the curved portion, and it has been difficult and expensive. Further, the bending direction in the bending portion is greatly limited because the degrees of freedom of the angle ring are only two axes orthogonal to each other, and the range in which the bending is possible is also limited, so the operability is not always good. And, since the connecting structure of the angle ring has no self-healing force when it is bent, the operator can operate the operation portion of the endoscope both when bending the bending portion and returning to the original straight state. It took time and effort to operate. In addition, there are fears of safety and reliability in many connecting parts of the idle ring because there is a possibility that a mechanical trouble may occur. For this reason, it has long been desired to improve flexibility and rigidity distribution (balance), operability, and safety of the curved portion. How to make a curved portion that is safe, inexpensive, and excellent in operability has been a challenge for manufacturing an endoscope insertion portion. Furthermore, the endoscope insertion part to be inserted into the body cavity is made as thin as possible to reduce the burden on the patient. However, in the case of a curved part constituted by connecting conventional angle rings, the angle ring It was technically difficult to make the size smaller than ever.

The following Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 disclose a bending portion of an endoscope insertion portion having a helical structure characteristic of a superelastic alloy that is not conventionally an angle ring structure.
The endoscope insertion part described in Patent Document 1 is made flexible by making a cylindrical frame of a superelastic alloy spiral without using a conventional angle ring for the bending part on the distal end side. The balance between property and rigidity can be suitably set. Then, by dividing the frame into a plurality of parts in the length direction and setting the spiral pitch of each part to different dimensions, the distal end side can be made more flexible than the proximal end side.

JP 2001-346753 A JP-A-9-192858

However, the bending portion of the endoscope described in Patent Document 1 has a stepped structure that connects a plurality of frames having different helical pitches, and the connection portion and the flexibility and rigidity before and after the connection change smoothly. However, since it changes suddenly, there is a possibility that the user cannot operate as expected. Similarly, the flexibility and rigidity before and after the flexible portion on the base end side and the connecting portion between the curved portion on the distal end side change abruptly due to the difference in structure.
In addition, the bending portion of the endoscope described in Patent Document 2 has a structure in which the helical pitch and the helical angle gradually change from the proximal end side toward the distal end side. It does not form a gap width dare, it is a slight constant width generated by cutting the spiral, so the gap width does not contribute to the flexibility of the spiral structure, due to the spring nature of the spiral structure itself, It was within a limited range.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and its purpose is to reduce the diameter of the curved portion with a simple structure, high reliability by smoothly and continuously changing the rigidity in the length direction of the curved portion. It is possible to provide an endoscope with excellent operability that can be reduced in cost and cost and that exhibits suitable flexibility.

In the present invention, a high-strength alloy pipe material is provided with a helical gap by laser processing to form an endoscope insertion portion having a helical structure, and the helical angle is continuously changed, or the helical pitch is changed. It is an object of the present invention to provide an endoscope capable of pursuing improvement in operability and safety, diameter reduction, and cost reduction while maintaining a balance between flexibility and rigidity by changing or heat treatment.
In other words, the endoscope of the present invention is an endoscope having an insertion portion including a distal-end-side bending portion and a proximal-end-side flexible portion that is inserted into a body cavity. To form a spiral gap, continuously changing the spiral angle of the gap with respect to the length direction of the pipe material in one direction, and continuously changing the width of the gap in one direction By this, it has an insertion part provided with the curved part from which the rigidity of the length direction of a pipe material changes continuously, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.
This makes it possible to create a curved portion with a simple structure that does not have a connecting structure, unlike the conventional curved portion that connects multiple angle rings, improving safety and reliability, and bending in all directions. In addition, the angle range of bending can be increased, and the rigidity in the length direction of the insertion portion changes smoothly and continuously, so that excellent operability of the endoscope insertion portion can be obtained. . Furthermore, since the insertion portion is spiral and has a spring property, self-recovering force is exhibited, operability for the operator is improved, and it is possible to contribute to reduction of operational fatigue. Then, the sequential change in the rigidity and flexibility in the length direction in the endoscope insertion portion can be freely set by setting the spiral angle, the spiral pitch, and the spiral gap width.

The endoscope of the present invention is characterized in that the pitch of the spiral gap formed on the outer periphery of the pipe material is changed so as to decrease toward the distal end.
Thereby, the rigidity in the length direction of the endoscope insertion portion can be reduced toward the distal direction, that is, the flexibility can be increased toward the distal direction, and an endoscope insertion portion excellent in operability can be obtained.

  The endoscope of the present invention is characterized in that a wire guide for passing a wire for bending the endoscope is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the pipe material.

In the endoscope of the present invention, the flexible portion and the curved portion are integrally configured by forming a spiral gap by laser processing in the plate thickness direction on the outer periphery of one pipe material. And
As a result, the flexible portion and the bending portion are formed separately and formed, and the trouble of connecting the two later becomes unnecessary, and the flexibility at the connecting portion between the conventional flexible portion and the bending portion, There is no awkward change in rigidity, and an endoscope insertion portion with excellent operability can be obtained.

  An endoscope insertion portion manufacturing method according to the present invention includes a distal end side bending portion and a proximal end side flexible portion to be inserted into a body cavity. On the other hand, laser processing is performed in the plate thickness direction to form a spiral gap, and the spiral angle in the length direction of the gap is continuously changed in one direction, and the width of the gap is continuously changed in one direction. By doing so, a curved portion in which the rigidity in the longitudinal direction of the pipe material continuously changes is formed.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the whole endoscope which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the endoscope bending part which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state which curved the endoscope bending part which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows other embodiment of the endoscope insertion part which concerns on this invention.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment for carrying out an endoscope of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 2 to 4 are diagrams illustrating embodiments of the present invention. In these drawings, the same reference numerals denote the same components, and the basic configuration and operation are the same. To do.

<Configuration>
As shown in FIG. 1, the general configuration of a general endoscope 1 is an elongated insertion portion that is inserted into a body cavity on the distal end side of an operation portion 3 in which an operator grasps the grasping portion 2 and operates the endoscope. 4, a flexible portion 5 that flexibly bends the proximal end side of the insertion portion 4, and a bending portion 6 that can bend the distal end side at a large angle within a narrow body cavity. The distal end portion 7 of the bending portion 6 is provided with mechanisms for illumination, photographing, air supply, water supply, suction, forceps exposure, etc., and each channel passes through the insertion portion 4.

<First Embodiment>
As shown in FIG. 2, the bending portion 6 of the endoscope insertion portion 4 of the present embodiment is, as an example, from a laser processing machine so as to penetrate a high-strength alloy pipe material such as a titanium alloy in the plate thickness direction. By controlling the rotation speed and feed rate of the pipe material and the power of the laser light, etc., a spiral gap is formed on the outer circumference of the pipe material, and the gap is also directed toward the tip. It forms so that a width | variety may become large gradually, and, thereby, the helical curved part 6 is formed. Although not particularly illustrated, the outer periphery of the frame structure formed from the pipe material in the insertion portion 4 is covered with a covering body that can expand and contract according to the curvature and expansion and contraction of the frame structure.
When performing this laser processing, parameters to be controlled are a spiral angle, a spiral pitch, and a gap width. In other words, the spiral angle α and the spiral pitch can be set by the pipe material feed speed when the pipe material rotation speed is constant, and both the pipe material rotation speed and feed speed are controlled. But it is possible. The gap width by laser processing can be set by the output / irradiation area of the laser beam in the laser processing machine.

  The spiral gap is formed by laser processing, and as shown in FIG. 2, the pipe material is positioned at a constant interval in the axial direction and in the rotational direction of 0 °, 90 °, 180 °, and 270 °. In addition, two parallel cuts for forming the wire guide are also laser processed. And this cut | interruption part is pressed to a center direction by press work, and the wire guide 8 of an arc-shaped protrusion is formed inside a pipe. By operating the wire guide 8 through a wire, the bending portion 6 can be freely bent in all directions, thereby exhibiting excellent operability. Further, once the bending portion 6 is bent, the bending portion 6 having a spiral structure is provided with a spring property in all directions, and thus exhibits a self-recovery force to naturally return to the original straight state.

FIG. 3 shows a state in which a single gap is curved in a plurality of spiral gaps of the bending portion 6, the bending angle θ is the degree of freedom of bending of the gap, and the lower end of the gap is in contact, This is the angle when the upper end of the gap is naturally open. The bending angle of the entire bending portion 6 is calculated from the number of gaps viewed from one curved surface in the bending portion 6 and the width of each gap.
That is, when the design value of the bending angle of the entire bending portion 6 is set to, for example, 270 °, the number of gaps for satisfying this can be obtained from 270 ° / the bending angle θ. This bending angle θ can be calculated from the width l (la) of the gap and the inner diameter r (d / 2) of the pipe material (see FIG. 3). Furthermore, the rigidity (flexibility) of the bending portion 6 can be set as appropriate from the helical angle α (α1) and the helical pitch L (La) (further, the material of the pipe material and its plate thickness). In this way, by setting the width of the gap, not the flexibility depending on the spring property of the spiral structure, but the flexibility of bending with an operating force that brings the gap into close contact with each other is particularly suitable for the necessary tip direction. Demonstrated.
Generally, by setting the spiral angle α> α1 and the spiral pitch La> L, the distal end side of the bending portion 6 is more flexible than the proximal end side, and the proximal end side is relatively more rigid than the distal end side. Thus, excellent insertability and operability in the bending portion 6 of the endoscope insertion portion 4 can be obtained.

<Second Embodiment>
FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. In the endoscope insertion portion 4, the flexible portion 5 and the bending portion 6 are integrally formed using a high-strength alloy pipe material such as titanium alloy. The bending portion 6 is subjected to laser processing in the same manner as in the first embodiment, and the flexible portion 5 is also subjected to laser processing in the same manner as in the bending portion 6. The spiral flexible portion 5 is formed. However, the gap width of the flexible portion 5 is extremely small compared to the gap width of the curved portion 6, and thus the flexible portion 5 has greater rigidity than the curved portion 6.
Of course, it is also possible to continuously manufacture the curved portion 6 and the flexible portion 5 having the above-mentioned characteristics integrally and continuously. Then, through the flexible portion 5 and the bending portion 6, the gap due to laser processing gradually narrows the spiral pitch toward the tip side and gradually increases the spiral angle. As a result, the flexible portion and the bending portion are formed separately and formed, and the trouble of connecting the two later becomes unnecessary, and the flexibility at the connecting portion between the conventional flexible portion and the bending portion, The awkward change in rigidity is eliminated.
The parameters to be controlled when actually performing the laser processing are the feed speed and the rotational speed of the pipe material, and a variety of rigidity patterns can be realized by combining these two points. Of course, before the laser processing, the flexibility and rigidity of the insertion portion 4 are set within a certain range even at the stage of selecting the material and plate thickness of the pipe material.
By this method, it is possible to provide the endoscope insertion portion 4 with a simple structure, which is safe, inexpensive, and has an excellent rigidity balance.

<Manufacturing method>
A method for manufacturing the endoscope insertion portion of the present embodiment having the above-described configuration will be described in detail below.
Pipe material made of high-strength alloys such as titanium alloy is processed by applying laser light from a laser processing machine so that it penetrates in the thickness direction, pipe material rotation speed, feed speed, laser light power, etc. By controlling the above, a spiral gap is formed continuously on the outer periphery of the pipe material so that the width of the gap gradually increases toward the tip, thereby forming the spiral curved portion 6. The
Then, a spiral gap is formed by laser processing, and a cut for forming a wire guide is laser processed at a constant interval position in the axial direction of the pipe material. Then, the cut portion is protruded into the pipe by press working to form an arcuate wire guide 8.
Thereafter, the endoscope insertion portion 4 is appropriately heat treated. By doing in this way, the rigidity of the longitudinal direction of the insertion part 4 containing the curved part 6 can be set freely.

  The endoscope insertion portion of the present invention can be used in the industry for manufacturing medical devices.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Endoscope 4 Insertion part 5 Flexible part 6 Bending part 7 Tip part 8 Wire guide L, La Spiral pitch l, la Crevice width α, α1 Spiral angle

Claims (5)

  In an endoscope having an insertion portion including a distal-end bending portion and a proximal-side flexible portion to be inserted into a body cavity, a spiral gap is formed by applying laser processing to the outer periphery of the pipe material in the plate thickness direction. The spiral angle of the gap with respect to the length direction of the pipe material is continuously changed in one direction, and the width of the gap is continuously changed in one direction. An endoscope having an insertion portion including a curved portion whose rigidity changes continuously.   2. The endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the pitch of the spiral gap formed on the outer periphery of the pipe material is changed so as to decrease toward the distal end.   The endoscope according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a wire guide for passing a wire for bending the endoscope is provided on an inner peripheral surface of the pipe member.   4. The flexible portion and the bending portion are integrally configured by performing laser processing in the thickness direction on the outer periphery of one pipe material to form a spiral gap. The endoscope according to any one of the above.   In a method of manufacturing an endoscope insertion portion including a distal end side bending portion and a proximal end side flexible portion to be inserted into a body cavity, laser processing is performed in a plate thickness direction on the outer periphery of a pipe material to form a spiral shape. By forming a gap and continuously changing the helical angle in the length direction of the gap in one direction and continuously changing the width of the gap in one direction, the rigidity of the pipe material in the length direction can be increased. A method of manufacturing an endoscope insertion portion, wherein a bending portion that changes continuously is formed.