JP2789036B2 - Extra-fine endoscope - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an ultra-small endoscope.

[Problems to be solved by conventional technology and invention]

In general, when inserting a catheter into a body, first, a guide wire is inserted, the tube is inserted into the body while a guide wire tube is fitted onto the guide wire, and then only the guide wire is taken out of the body and the guide wire is removed. A catheter was inserted into the wire tube.

In other words, when inserting a catheter, a separate guide wire is required, and after inserting the wire, it must be removed again, which is troublesome and consumes a lot of diagnosis and treatment time, and for the patient, It was painful.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an ultra-small endoscope that does not require a guide wire.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, an ultra-fine diameter endoscope according to the present invention has a flexible distal guide portion having an outer diameter of 1.0 mm or less by covering a distal end of an image guide protruding from a sheath with a spiral tube. Wherein the helical tube is formed by winding a metal linear body whose cross-sectional shape is continuously deformed from a circular shape to a flat shape from a distal end to a proximal end. While making the middle part of the tube free, the tip of the spiral tube is
Adhered to the tip of the objective lens or image guide, and
The spiral tube has a proximal end bonded to an end of the sheath.

(Operation)

Since the distal end of the image guide is covered with a spiral tube to form a flexible distal guide portion, it is possible to directly insert the image guide into the body without using a guide wire as in the related art. In addition, the image guide acts as a conventional guidewire tension, and can be pulled out of the body.

In addition, since the intermediate portion of the spiral tube is in a free state, the flexible distal guide portion formed is a flexible portion that can be bent and deformed, thereby facilitating insertion into the body. Further, the helical tube is formed by winding a metal linear body whose cross-sectional shape is continuously deformed from circular to flat from the distal end to the proximal end, and becomes more flexible toward the distal end.

〔Example〕

 Hereinafter, embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show an ultra-fine endoscope according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the endoscope includes an image guide 1 disposed over substantially the entire length thereof, and the image guide 1.
Spiral tube 2 covering the tip 1a of the image guide 1
A protective tube 3 for covering the image guide 1 and a sheath 4 for covering the image guide 1 between the protective tube 3 and the spiral tube 2 from the intermediate portion to the proximal end of the protective tube 3. Therefore, the image guide tip 1a protrudes from the sheath 4,
The tip 1a is covered with the spiral tube 2. The connection between the distal end of the sheath 4 and the proximal end of the helical tube 2 is filled with an adhesive S and sealed to prevent blood, body fluids and the like from entering the sheath 4.

As shown in FIG. 1, the spiral tube 2 is formed by winding a metal linear body such as stainless steel and has an outer diameter of 1 m.
m or less. Further, a plastic coating may be applied to the outer peripheral surface of the spiral tube 2. The spiral tube 2 has a distal end fixed to the image guide 1 with an adhesive S such as an epoxy resin, a proximal end inserted into the distal end opening 4a of the sheath 4, and adhesively fixed with the adhesive S. The part is in a free state. Accordingly, a flexible distal guide portion 5 having an outer diameter of 1.0 mm or less is formed in the spiral tube 2. That is,
As shown by the imaginary line in FIG. 2, the guide portion 5 is a flexible portion that can be bent and deformed.

The helical tube 2 shown in FIG. 1 is formed by winding a metal linear body having a circular cross section, but in the present invention, the helical tube 2 has a tip having a cross sectional shape as shown in FIG. A metal linear body continuously deformed from a circular shape to a flat shape is wound around the base wire.

The sheath 4 is made of a metal tube such as stainless steel.
In this case, it is also preferable to apply Teflon coating to the outer peripheral surface of the metal tube.

Then, the distal end of the sheath 4 or the proximal end of the protective tube 3 is
As shown in FIG.
Are bonded with an adhesive, and the sheath 4 and the protective tube 3 are connected. The coating 6 is made of, for example, vinyl chloride, metal, or the like. 7 is the inner peripheral surface 3a of the protective tube 3 and the intermediate cladding tube 4
A spacer inserted and fixed between the outer peripheral surface 4b of the
Bonded and integrated with adhesive. In this case, the protection tube 3 is made of a metal spiral tube covered with plastic, and a connector 10 is connected to the base end thereof.

Here, the image guide 1 includes a glass portion composed of a large number of pixels composed of a core and a clad, and a pre-coat layer covering the glass portion.
Is attached.

Therefore, with the catheter configured as described above, a guide wire is not required, and the catheter can be directly inserted into the body. The distal end portion becomes a flexible distal guide portion 5, and the image guide 1 itself functions as a tension member, so that the catheter itself can be smoothly inserted into the body like a conventional guide wire.・ This is because extraction can be performed.

Next, FIG. 3 shows a modified example of the connection portion between the sheath 4 and the spiral tube 2, and the cladding tube 4 and the spiral tube 2 are abutted in both FIGS. I and II. The sleeve 9 is connected to the distal end of the sheath 4 or the proximal end of the helical tube 2 with an adhesive, and the adhesive S is filled between the sleeve 9 and the image guide 1 for sealing. In FIG. 3 II, the sheath 4, the helical tube 2, and the image guide 1 are fixed with an adhesive S, and are sealed to prevent blood, body fluid, and the like from entering the sheath 4. In addition, FIG. 3 (I) (I
In (I) also, the spiral tube 2 is formed by winding a metal linear body having a circular cross section.
As shown in FIG. 4, a metal linear body whose cross-sectional shape is continuously deformed from a circular shape to a flat shape from a distal end to a proximal end is wound.

According to the present invention, the spiral tube 2 is formed by winding a metal linear body whose cross-sectional shape is continuously deformed from circular to flat from the distal end to the proximal end. As it goes to the tip, it becomes supple and does not bend locally. This linear body is a linear body having a circular cross section, the rolling degree is sequentially changed by a rolling roll, and the cross sectional shape is sequentially changed from circular to flat, and in this case, work hardening is performed. This is because the flat type is harder than the circular shape due to (characteristics).

Next, FIGS. 5 and 6 show another embodiment, in which a light guide 11 is provided in addition to the image guide 1. FIG. That is, a branch pipe 12 protrudes from the coating body 6 and
A light guide 11 inserted through 12 is inserted through the sheath 4 to the spiral tube 2. The tip of the light guide 11 is bonded to the tip of the image guide 1, the objective lens 8 and the spiral tube 2 with an adhesive S. 13 is a light guide
This is a connector for connecting 11 to a light source. Here, the light guide 11 includes a plurality of optical fiber wires each having a core and a clad.

7 and 8 show still another embodiment. In this case, in addition to the image guide 1, a light guide 11 and
And a laser fiber 14. That is, two branch pipes 12 and 15 are provided continuously from the covering body 6, a light guide 11 is inserted through the branch pipe 12, and a laser fiber 14 is inserted through the branch pipe 15. Then, the light guide 11 and the laser fiber 14 are inserted through the spiral tube 2 via the sheath 4. The light guide 11 and the laser fiber
The tip of 14 is adhered to the spiral tube 2 with an adhesive S. 16
Is a connector for connecting the laser fiber 14 to a laser supply source (not shown).

Therefore, the catheter shown in FIG. 5 and FIG.
The catheter shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 can be directly inserted into the body without a guide wire.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be freely changed in design without departing from the gist of the present invention.
It is also preferable that the distal end portion 1a of the image guide 1 or the like corresponding to the flexible distal guide portion 5 has a so-called curved shape. Is, of course, the outer diameter of the guiding portion 5 formed by the spiral tube 2 is 1 mm or less.

〔The invention's effect〕

The present invention is configured as described above, and has the following effects.

The endoscope itself functions as a guide wire and can be inserted directly into the body. At this time, the flexible distal guide portion 5 is a flexible portion that can be bent and deformed, and becomes more flexible toward the distal end, so that insertion into the body can be performed easily and reliably. In addition, since it is not necessary to adhere the entire length of the flexible tip guiding portion 5, the amount of the adhesive used can be reduced, the production is easy, and the drying time of the adhesive can be reduced. As a result, the manufacturing time can be reduced.

That is, the present invention does not require a separate guide wire,
There is no need to insert or remove a guide wire, so that the time required for diagnosis and treatment can be significantly reduced, and the patient's pain can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged sectional view of an essential part showing one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
Fig. 3 is a simplified overall side view, Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a main part of a modification, Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view showing another embodiment of the spiral tube, and Fig. 5 is a simplified overall side view showing another embodiment. Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional side view of the main part, Fig. 7 is a simplified overall side view showing still another embodiment, and Fig. 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional front view of the main part. 1 ... image guide, 1a ... tip, 2 ... spiral tube,
4... Sheath, 5... Flexible tip guiding portion.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Masahiro Miura 4-3 Ikejiri, Itami-shi, Hyogo Mitsubishi Electric Wire Industry Co., Ltd. Itami Works (72) Inventor Hideyuki Kazuno 4-chome Ikejiri, Itami-shi, Hyogo (56) References JP-A-63-277030 (JP, A) JP-A-63-180002 (JP, U) JP-A-58-59003 (JP, U) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) A61B 1/00-1/04

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An ultra-fine endoscope having a flexible distal guide portion having an outer diameter of 1.0 mm or less formed by covering a distal end portion of an image guide protruding from a sheath with a spiral tube. However, the cross-sectional shape is formed by winding a metal linear body that is continuously deformed from circular to flat from the distal end to the proximal end,
Further, the intermediate portion of the spiral tube is set in a free state, the distal end of the spiral tube is bonded to the distal end of the objective lens or the image guide, and the proximal end of the spiral tube is bonded to the end of the sheath. An ultra-fine diameter endoscope characterized in that: