JP2948676B2 - Ultrasound endoscope - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic endoscope provided with an ultrasonic transmitting and receiving apparatus for transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic wave for obtaining an ultrasonic tomographic image of a subject, provided at a distal end main body of an insertion section.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Ultrasonic waves are easily transmitted in liquids and the like, but are hardly transmitted in air and the like.

[0003] Therefore, in an ultrasonic endoscope, generally,
An inflatable balloon is provided around the distal end main body of the insertion section provided with the ultrasonic transmission / reception device, a liquid is injected into the balloon, and ultrasonic waves are transmitted through the liquid.

[0004] As such a supersonic endoscope, conventionally,
As shown in FIG. 10, a sack-shaped balloon 92 covering only the distal end main body 91 has only a mouth portion locked to the distal end main body 91, and as shown in FIG.
And 2 in which both front and rear ends are locked to the front end main body 91.

[0005]

There are various techniques for using an ultrasonic endoscope. A balloon is pressed against a subject, and an ultrasonic transmission / reception device at the distal end main body and the subject are moved between the subject and the subject. In some cases, the distance is kept constant.

However, as shown in FIG. 12, when only the mouth portion of the balloon 92 is locked to the distal end main body 91, when the balloon 92 is pressed against the subject 100, the balloon 92 is easily moved relative to the distal end main body 91. It moves, and the distance between the ultrasonic wave transmitting and receiving apparatus 90 and the subject 100 cannot be kept constant.

Therefore, if a balloon 92 having both ends locked to the distal end body 91 as shown in FIG. 11 is used, the balloon 92 does not move with respect to the distal end body 91.
The inconvenience as described above can be avoided.

However, in order to lock the distal end side of the balloon 92 to the distal end main body 91, it is necessary to form an engaging portion on the protruding end side (front side) of the distal end main body 91. The length of 91 increases by the length of the locking portion.

[0009] Then, the ultrasonic endoscope, which originally has a longer distal end main body 91 than the general endoscope and gives a great deal of pain to the patient, will give a great deal of pain to the patient.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and can be used while maintaining a constant distance to the subject by using a balloon, if necessary. Such a constant distance can be maintained. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic endoscope capable of shortening the length of the distal end body and minimizing pain given to a patient when unnecessary use is made.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, an ultrasonic endoscope according to the present invention includes an ultrasonic transmitting and receiving device for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves for obtaining an ultrasonic tomographic image of a subject. In the ultrasonic endoscope provided in the distal end body of the portion, the expandable balloon is attached to surround the distal end body,
A balloon locking device for locking the balloon at the protruding end side of the distal end body is detachably provided on the distal end body.

[0012]

An embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show a distal end main body 1 formed at the distal end of an insertion section (endoscope insertion section) 20 of an ultrasonic endoscope.
Is shown.

The distal end body 1 is connected to an object side block 1a containing an objective lens 2c of an observation optical system for obtaining an optical image of the surface of the object, and is connected to the front side thereof so that an ultrasonic tomographic image of the object can be obtained. And an ultrasonic scanning unit 1b for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to obtain an image.

Reference numeral 2a denotes an observation window of the objective optical system, and 2b denotes an observation field range. The observation image formed by the objective lens 2c is the image guide fiber bundle 2
Although transmitted by d, a solid-state imaging device that electrically transmits an image may be used instead.

As shown in FIG. 3, the object side block 1
An outlet 3b of a forceps channel for inserting a treatment tool or the like is formed in a, so that the treatment tool can protrude into the observation visual field range 2b. The forceps channel is also used as a suction channel for sucking and discharging waste liquid and the like.

Reference numeral 4 denotes an illumination window provided opposite to a light emitting end of a light guide fiber bundle (not shown), and the observation field range 2b is illuminated by illumination light emitted from the illumination window. Reference numerals 5 and 6 are an air supply nozzle and a water supply nozzle for ejecting air and water to the surface of the observation window 2a.

Reference numeral 7 shown in FIG. 2 denotes a water supply port for sending out degassed water for inflating the balloon 8 into the balloon 8 when the balloon 8 is expandable and contractable to the distal end body 1. A drain port for discharging degassed water is formed on the opposite side that is not used. Reference numeral 9 denotes an O-ring for fixing the mouth end of the balloon 8 to the concave groove 10 formed in the distal end body 1.

The ultrasonic scanning section 1b is provided with a so-called convex type ultrasonic transmitting / receiving apparatus (hereinafter referred to as "ultrasonic probe") 11 formed in a convex shape.

The ultrasonic probe 11 is formed so as to scan the side of the distal end body 1 in a fan shape on a plane including the central axis of the distal end body 1. 11b is the scanning range. In this embodiment, an electronic scanning type ultrasonic probe is used as the ultrasonic probe 11, but a system that mechanically performs scanning may be used.

In order to prevent the ultrasonic wave reflected on the surface of the object side block 1a from being received by the ultrasonic probe 11, 1c is provided on the surface of the boundary between the object side block 1a and the ultrasonic scanning section 1b. It is a protruding plastic projection.

FIG. 4 shows a state in which the balloon 8 is attached to the tip body 1. The balloon 8 is made of a sac-like thin-walled silicone rubber, and is covered from the distal end side of the distal end body 1 so as to surround the ultrasonic scanning unit 1b. And
An O-ring guide jig 89 having a tapered shape is arranged so as to surround the balloon 8, and the O-ring 9 is shifted rearward along the outer surface of the O-ring guide jig 89 so that the tip end is sandwiched between the mouth ends of the balloon 8. It can be engaged with the concave groove 10 of the body 1.

FIG. 5 shows the overall configuration of the ultrasonic endoscope. The distal end main body 1 is provided at the distal end of a flexible endoscope insertion section 20 to be inserted into a body cavity of a patient. I have. Also,
On the distal end side of the endoscope insertion section 20, a bending section 21 that can be bent by remote control is formed.

At the proximal end of the endoscope insertion section 20, an operation section 3
0 is linked. The operation section 30 includes a bending operation knob 31 for remotely controlling the bending state of the bending section 21, a treatment tool insertion port 3 a for inserting a treatment tool into the forceps channel,
An air / water switch 32 for ejecting air and water from the air / nozzle nozzle 5 and the water nozzle 6 and a suction switch 33 for performing a suction operation via a forceps channel or the like are provided.

Numeral 34 denotes a water injection port for sending deaerated water into the balloon 8 when the balloon 8 is attached to the distal end body 1. Reference numeral 35 denotes a suction line switching lever for switching the suction line between a forceps channel and a drainage line (not shown) from the balloon 8.

An eyepiece 40 having a built-in eyepiece is protruded from the operation unit 30, and the base end of the image guide fiber bundle is arranged at the observation position. Therefore, the optical image of the subject surface formed by the objective lens 2c can be observed through the eyepiece unit 40.

Reference numeral 50 denotes a connector for connecting the incident end of the light guide fiber bundle for illumination to the light source device, 51 denotes an air / water supply socket, 52 denotes a vent, 53 denotes a suction nipple, and 54 denotes a functional ground terminal. is there.

Reference numeral 60 denotes a processing circuit for performing electrical processing on the ultrasonic probe 11. Reference numeral 61 denotes a CRT monitor for displaying and observing an ultrasonic tomographic image.

Reference numeral 70 denotes a balloon locking device detachably provided on the distal end main body 1 for locking the balloon 8 at the protruding end of the distal end main holiday 1.

As shown in FIG. 6, the balloon locking member 70 receives an arcuate plate-shaped guide plate 71 along the outer periphery of the lower surface of the distal end body 1 and a ring for tightening and fixing the balloon 8 from outside. And a balloon locking portion 73 in which a concave groove 72 is formed.

To attach the balloon locking member 70 to the distal end main body 1, the balloon locking portion 73 is pressed against the protruding end of the distal end main body 1 as shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. In this state, the guide plate 71 is moved along the outer periphery of the lower surface of the distal end body 1. Then, an adhesive tape 75 is attached from the outside so as to extend over the outer peripheral surfaces of the guide plate portion 71 and the distal end body 1.

The O-ring 74 is engaged with the concave groove 72 of the balloon locking member 70 fixed to the distal end main body 1 so as to sandwich the distal end of the balloon 8, whereby the distal end of the balloon 8 moves. It is fixed to the distal end portion main body 1 so that it does not exist.

Therefore, in this state, although the length of the distal end body 1 is extended by the length of the balloon locking portion 73, even if the balloon 8 inflated by injecting degassed water is pressed against the subject, 8 does not move with respect to the tip body 1,
The inspection can be performed while keeping the distance between the subject and the ultrasonic probe 11 constant.

When the adhesive tape 75 is peeled off, the balloon stopper 70 can be removed from the distal end main body 1, so that the length of the distal end main body 1 is not increased as shown in FIG. Can be used with

FIG. 8 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, in which a balloon locking member 70 is detachably screwed to the distal end body 1. Reference numeral 77 denotes a projection that engages with a full width groove 1e formed straight on the front surface of the protruding end of the distal end body 1 for positioning.

FIG. 9 shows a third embodiment of the present invention, in which a double-sided adhesive tape 78 is adhered to the lower surface of the guide plate 71 of the balloon stopper 7, and the inner surface of the balloon 8 is adhered thereto. It is a thing. By doing so, the balloon 8 can be inflated only upward without inflating downward.

[0037]

According to the ultrasonic endoscope of the present invention, when it is desired that the balloon is pressed against the subject so that the distance between the subject and the ultrasonic transmitting / receiving apparatus is kept constant, the distal end main body is used. Attach the balloon lock to the tip of the to prevent the balloon from moving.For other uses, remove the balloon lock from the tip body and shorten the length of the tip body. It can be used with minimal pain to the patient.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a state where a balloon locking device of a first embodiment is attached.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the first embodiment with the balloon locking device removed.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a state where the balloon stopper of the first embodiment is removed.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a balloon mounting operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an overall configuration diagram of the ultrasonic endoscope according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the balloon locking device of the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing a state where the balloon stopper of the first embodiment is attached.

FIG. 8 is a side view showing a state where the balloon stopper of the second embodiment is attached.

FIG. 9 is a side view showing a state where the balloon stopper of the third embodiment is attached.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of a conventional example.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of a conventional example.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Front-end | tip main body 8 Balloon 11 Ultrasonic transmission / reception apparatus 70 Balloon stopper

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A ultrasound to obtain a tomographic image of a subject to place and receive ultrasonic onset receiver et provided at the distal end portion main body of the insertion portion
Is, in the ultrasonic endoscope capable deflating freely balloon attached to surround the distal end portion main body, the rear of the rear end portion of the balloon from the ultrasonic onset receiving device
Balloon for locking the tip body in position
A locking portion is provided on the distal end body and the distal end
The tip of the balloon at a position forward of the tip of the body
A balloon locking device for locking the
An ultrasonic endoscope, which is detachably provided.