JPH02297352A - Assembly device for suturing needle in surgery - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To automatically install surgical thread efficiently by carrying out the centering between a suturing needle and the surgical thread by using a monitor mechanism. CONSTITUTION:A suturing needle N is transported to a position for caulking by a transporting mechanism 2, and the top edge part of an surgical thread S is inserted into the hole part of the suturing needle N, and the centered state between the suturing needle N and the surgical thread S is monitored. The centering between the suturing needle N and the surgical thread S is carried out by introducing a transporting means 2 or guiding means by the output of a monitor means, and the rear edge part of the suturing needle N is caulked by a caulking mechanism 1 in the state where the surgical thread S is inserted into the hole part. Therefore, the installation of the surgical thread S in a prescribed length into the suturing needle N can be automated, and efficiency and yield can be improved arbitrarily.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a surgical suture needle assembly device for automatically attaching surgical thread to a surgical suture needle.

[Prior Art] Many surgical suture needles used in surgical operations have surgical threads attached in advance. However, a wide variety of surgical suture needles are used,
In terms of dimensions, some have a diameter of 1 mm or less, and as the size increases, the surgical thread attached becomes thinner.

Conventionally, there are various methods for attaching surgical thread to a surgical suture needle, but the vertical type shown in FIG. 5 is preferred because it is easy to use. Conventionally, the surgical thread S was attached to the vertical suture needle N by hand one by one.
Currently, the tip of the surgical thread S is inserted into the hole Wb provided, and the surgical thread S is swaged using a swaging machine.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, this manual installation requires skill and is not only inefficient, but also has the disadvantage of a high incidence of product defects. Additionally, since workers use microscopes and magnifying glasses to visually observe, there is also the problem that their eyes are extremely fatigued.

In addition, the present applicant has previously proposed a device for mechanically aligning the suture needle N and surgical thread S in Japanese Patent Application No. 150798/1983, but this device is extremely useful, but requires high precision.

An object of the present invention is to provide a surgical suture needle assembly device that automatically and efficiently attaches surgical thread to a surgical suture needle.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, in the surgical suture needle assembly device according to the present invention, surgical thread is inserted into a hole provided at the rear end of the surgical suture needle. An automatic device for caulking the suture needle, comprising: a conveying means for conveying the suture needle to a caulking position; a guide means for guiding the tip of the surgical thread into a hole of the suture needle; and the suture needle and the surgical thread. a control means for guiding the conveying means or the guiding means to align the suture needle and the surgical thread according to the output of the monitor means; The suturing needle is characterized by comprising a caulking means for caulking the rear end portion of the suture needle when inserted into the suture needle.

[Operation] The surgical suture needle assembly device having the above configuration can perform center alignment of the suture needle and surgical thread using the monitor mechanism, and perform accurate caulking.

[Example] The present invention will be explained in detail based on the example illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 4.

In the schematic diagram of Fig. 1, 1 is a caulking mechanism for caulking the suture needle N, and the caulking mechanism l moves to the left side from the position shown in Fig. 1 when caulking. It has become. Die 1 of this caulking mechanism
a, 1b are moved toward the center from two directions through the shield 1c as shown in FIG. It is now possible to Also, these dice la, 1
The strokes of b can be adjusted using micrometers c and ld, respectively. The suture needles N are fixed to a transport mechanism 2 that can move in any direction, such as forward and backward movement, vertical movement, left and right movement, and rotation. It is designed to be installed in position. At this time, the suture needle N is fixed such that the rear end Na, in which the hole Nb for inserting the surgical thread S is provided, faces toward the caulking position.

Note that 2a and 2b are parts of electric motors for performing the above-described operations of the transport mechanism 2. The surgical thread S is wound around a pobbin 3, and in accordance with the order in which it is fed out, a plurality of tension adjustment rollers 4, a braking roller 5 for applying a brake to the surgical thread S, and a braking roller 5 for correcting the bending tendency of the surgical thread S are provided. A heater 6, a rotary encoder 7 for measuring the feeding length of the surgical thread S, a feed chunk 8 that moves forward while fixing the surgical thread S in order to feed the surgical thread S, and a guide section 9 are arranged. ing. The guide portion 9 has a thin tube shape and is movable back and forth in the axial direction, and its distal end 9a is connected to the suture needle N being conveyed.
It is configured to be able to move near the rear end portion Ha of the rear end portion Ha. Further, a cutting mechanism 10 consisting of scissors, a knife, etc. for cutting the surgical thread S is provided near the tip 9a of the guide section 9. Furthermore, two sets of monitor mechanisms 11, 11', each consisting of, for example, a television camera, are arranged near the caulking position by the caulking mechanism 1 and can monitor from two directions. In addition, for example, a total of five rollers for pulling out the surgical thread S are movably arranged in the direction of the distal end of the guide section 9, and two rollers 13 run between the three rollers 12 at right angles to the direction in which the surgical thread S is pulled out. The surgical thread S can be moved by an arbitrary stroke by pushing the surgical thread S in the direction. In addition, as shown in FIG.
a, lla' and is also output to the control mechanism 14.

When caulking the surgical thread S, the guide portion 9 that slightly protrudes the surgical thread S from the tip moves forward to a predetermined position in synchronization with the advancement of the feed chuck 8 that fixes the surgical thread S.
The transport mechanism 2 to which the suture needle N is fixed moves to a position where the surgical thread S can be inserted into the hole Nb of the rear end Na. At this time, the television monitor lla which displays the output of the monitor mechanism 11
As shown in FIG. 3, the relationship between the rear end Na of the suture needle N and the distal end of the surgical thread S is displayed. This image is processed using, for example, a scanning line, the edge of the suture needle N is detected by the upper scanning line, the center line of the suture needle N can be determined by calculation, and the center line of the suture needle N can be obtained by calculation. The edge of the surgical thread S is detected, and the center line is similarly calculated. Depending on whether or not these center lines match, the control mechanism 14 detects misalignment between the suture needle N and the surgical thread S, and operates the electric motor 2 of the transport mechanism 2 to eliminate this misalignment. , automatically performs alignment. In addition, monitor fi structure 1 that monitors from 90 degrees different directions
Regarding the 1° television monitor lla', the centering operation is similarly performed in the monitoring direction, and the tips of the suture needle N and the surgical thread S are completely aligned. Then, after the feed chuck 8 moves further forward while fixing the surgical thread S and inserts the surgical thread S by a predetermined length into the hole Nb, the feed chuck 8 continues to fix the surgical thread S. After that, the guide part 9 moves backward, and when the monitor mechanism 11.11" and the crimping mechanism 1 are replaced, the die 1a of the crimping mechanism 1
, 1b, the rear end Nb of the suture needle N into which the surgical thread S is inserted
crush. Further, the transport mechanism 2 rotates 90 degrees around the length direction of the surgical thread S, and the rear end Nb is crushed again by the dies la and lb, so that the rear end Nb is in the state shown in FIG. Therefore, the surgical thread S is caulked to the suture needle N.

After this caulking is completed, the transport mechanism 2 is slightly moved in the direction of pulling out the surgical thread S, and it is confirmed that the surgical thread S is not pulled out by, for example, detecting the tension of the surgical thread S. It can be confirmed whether the thread S is properly caulked to the suture needle N. Thereafter, the feed chuck 8 releases the surgical thread S, and the transport mechanism 2 moves in a direction to pull out the surgical thread S to its original predetermined position. When a gap is created between the transport mechanism 2 and the guide section 9, the pull-out rollers 12, 13 come to both sides of the surgical thread S, and the rollers 13
runs in the direction of the arrow so as to catch the surgical thread S, and further pull out the surgical thread S.

This surgical thread S is pulled out to a required length from the pobbin 3 by the movement of the roller 13, but in the process, the surgical thread S is pulled out by an electric heating coil, for example, 13
By passing over the heater 6 heated to 0 to 140°C, the bending tendency is corrected. Note that the temperature of the heater 6 needs to be set depending on the thickness and material of the surgical thread S. Note that the length of the surgical thread S to be pulled out is measured by the rotary encoder 7, and when the surgical thread S is pulled out to a predetermined length, the braking roller 5 is braked to stop the drawing out of the surgical thread S, and the movement of the roller 13 is also stopped. . Thereafter, the surgical thread S is cut by the cutting mechanism 10 by the operation of the cutting mechanism 10. Note that by cutting this in a diagonal direction with respect to the longitudinal direction of the surgical thread S, it becomes easier to insert the next suture needle N into the hole Nb.

By repeating this process, the suture needle N
Since the surgical thread S is automatically attached to the surgical thread S, the work can be performed extremely efficiently and reliably.

In the embodiment, the suture needle N and the surgical thread S are aligned by the operation of the transport mechanism 2, but this can also be done by the operation of the guide section 9. In addition, in the embodiment, the crimping mechanism 1 places the dies in two directions, crimps once, rotates 90 degrees, and crimps again. However, if the dies are placed in 4 or 3 directions, the crimping mechanism 1 can The caulking is completed by the operation of .

Among the above-mentioned mechanisms, mechanisms related to the size and thickness of the suture needle N and surgical thread S, such as the caulking mechanism 1 and the guide section 9, can be changed to an appropriate size mechanism as the thickness of the surgical thread S changes. Just replace it. In this case, the mechanism can be replaced as is, or only some parts within the mechanism can be replaced.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the surgical suture needle assembly device according to the present invention can automate the attachment of a predetermined length of surgical thread to a suture needle, which was conventionally done manually, and improve efficiency. It also has great advantages in terms of yield.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the surgical suture needle assembly device according to the present invention, in which FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a caulking part, and FIG. 3 is a partial block circuit diagram. 4 is a sectional view of the suture needle with surgical thread attached thereto, and FIG. 5 is a plan view of the suture needle with the surgical thread attached. Symbol l is a caulking mechanism, 2 is a conveyance mechanism, 3 is a bobbin, 5 is a brake roller, 6 is a heater, 7 is a rotary encoder, 8
9 is a feeding chuck, 9 is a guide portion, 10 is a cutting mechanism, 11.
11' is a monitor mechanism, 11a and lla' are television monitors, 12.13 is a pull-out roller, and 14 is a control mechanism. Patent Applicant Keisei Medical Industry Co., Ltd. Figure 2 11' la NQlb 1C C 1d -) TI------- I 1゜7 11 C' N + 1/ \ +--; 10+ lc 1 ~ ノ (ゝ - Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An automatic device for inserting and caulking surgical thread into a hole provided at the rear end of a surgical suture needle, comprising a conveying means for conveying the suture needle to a position for caulking, and a distal end portion of the surgical suture needle. a guide means for guiding the surgical thread into the hole of the suture needle; a monitor means for monitoring the alignment state of the suture needle and the surgical thread; A surgical suture needle comprising: a control means for aligning the needle and the surgical thread; and a caulking means for caulking the rear end of the suture needle with the surgical thread inserted into the hole. assembly equipment.