JPH03126445A - Brush for endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To constitute a brush so as to return to its original shape even if a hair tip of the brush part rounds by using a shape memory resin for a material of at least a part of the brush hair, in order to use the brush repeatedly in an optimal state. CONSTITUTION:As a cell diagnostic brush 10 is used, a hair tip of brush hair 14 of a brush part 12 made of a shape memory resin rounds. However, when it is immersed into hot water of >=60 deg.C, this hair tip returns its original straight shape. Accordingly, the cell diagnostic brush 10 can be used semipermanently, and since the brush hair 14 is always in a normal correct shape, the cellular tissue is apt to be caught thereby, and a large quantity of cellular tissue are collected surely.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an endoscope brush used for cytodiagnosis, cleaning, etc.

[Prior Art] In general, an endoscope brush is used to collect in-vivo cells by introducing it into a body cavity using the endoscope's insertion channel as a guide, or to clean dirt inside the endoscope's insertion channel. It is used when This type of endoscope brush is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 56-71204 and Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 6
1-180009, etc.

Regarding the materials of the bristles in conventional endoscope brushes, wool and nylon have been used in cleaning brushes, and nylon has been used in cytodiagnosis brushes.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, as mentioned above, the bristles in conventional endoscope brushes are made of wool or nylon. The hair clips fell off and the tips of the hair curled, making them unusable. In particular, the bristles of the brush tend to curl and have poor durability.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to provide an endoscope brush that can be used repeatedly in an optimal condition, with the bristles of the brush portion returning to their original shape even if they become curled. There is a particular thing.

[Means and effects for solving the problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an endoscope brush in which the brush part is constructed by attaching a plurality of brush bristles to the operating wire part. Some of the brush bristles are made of shape memory resin.

Therefore, even if the bristles of the brush part become curled due to use, the shape memory effect will return the curled bristles to their original shape.
Can be used repeatedly in good condition.

Embodiment FIGS. 1 to 3 show a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows how an endoscope 1 and a cytology brush 10 used therein are used. The endoscope 1 consists of an insertion section 5 for insertion into a body cavity, and an operation section 6 provided on the proximal end side of the insertion section 5. The insertion section 5 is composed of a distal end section 2, a curved section 3, and a flexible section 4. has been done. The operating section 6 is provided with an eyepiece section 7.

In addition, as is well known, the insertion section 5 of this type of endoscope 1 is inserted into a living body cavity such as a bronchus, stomach, large intestine, etc., and is used to observe and diagnose an affected area inside the cavity. The distal end portion 2 of the insertion portion 5 is provided with an observation window, an illumination window, etc. (none of which are shown). The insertion section 5 is configured such that its curved section 3 can be bent flexibly so that it can be easily inserted into a body cavity and the affected area can be easily observed and diagnosed. The portion 4 is also formed relatively soft and is configured to bend elastically to some extent.

Furthermore, a treatment instrument insertion channel 8 is formed in the endoscope 1 across the insertion section 5 and the operation section 6.

The tip of the treatment instrument insertion channel 8 is connected to the tip 2 of the insertion section 5.
The base end is opened to the outside at the operating section 6. A lifting member 9 is provided at the distal end of the channel 8 to regulate the direction in which the treatment instrument is raised and guided out, and this lifting member 9 is operated to raise by remote control from the operating section 6 side. It has become.

As shown in FIG. 1, the cytology brush 10 is
The treatment instrument is introduced into the body cavity through a channel 8 for insertion.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
It is composed of a straight, elastic and flexible operating wire section 11 made of a tightly wound coil made of twisted elastic wires, and a brush section 12 constructed at the tip of this operating wire section 11. . This cytodiagnosis brush 10 is drawn through an elastic flexible tube 13 made of a tightly wound coil.

In this way, the cytology brush 10 is passed through the elastic flexible tube 13 and the entire elastic flexible tube 13 is inserted into the treatment instrument insertion channel 8, thereby being detachably attached to the endoscope 1. It looks like this.

The brush portion 12 of the cytodiagnosis brush 10 is formed by sandwiching and attaching a large number of brush bristles 14 between the wires of the twisted portion at the tip of the operating wire portion 11. A cap 15 is attached and fixed to the tip of the operating wire section 11.

The brush portion 12 protrudes from the distal end of the elastic flexible tube 13 and extends from the distal end portion 2 of the insertion portion 5 into the body cavity.

Furthermore, shape memory resin is used as the material for the bristles 14 of the brush portion 12 in the cytodiagnosis brush 10.

In this example, a material with a shape recovery temperature (melting point) of 60° C. is used. However, as shown in Figure 3, the brush bristles 1
Even if the tips of the hair in No. 4 are curled, they can be returned to their original straight shape as shown in Figure 2 by soaking them in hot water of 60°C or higher. As the shape memory resin, for example, a norbornene type resin can be used.

When the cytodiagnosis brush 10 is used, it is inserted into the elastic flexible tube 13 and the brush portion 12 is inserted into the body cavity through the treatment tool insertion channel 8 of the endoscope 1 as shown in FIG. to be introduced within. The orientation of the brush portion 12 is selected by rotating the raising member 9 by remote control from the operating portion 6 side and bending the tip portion of the operating wire portion 11. Also, the amount of protrusion can be adjusted by moving forward and backward.

Then, under observation with the endoscope 1, with the brush portion 12 facing the site to be sampled (affected area), the brush portion 12 is protruded from the distal end portion 2 and rubbed against the site. The cell tissue is attached to the bristles 14 of the brush portion 12 and collected.

Cytology brush 1 with cell tissue attached to this brush portion 12
0 to the treatment instrument insertion channel 8 together with the elastic flexible tube 13
It is brought out by being drawn out from within.

The cytodiagnosis brush 10 is used in this manner, and as a result of this use, the ends of the bristles 14 of the brush portion 12 become rounded as shown in FIG.

However, when immersed in hot water of 60° C. or higher, it can return to its original straight shape as shown in FIG.

Therefore, the cytology brush 10 can be used semi-permanently,
Since the brush bristles 14 are always in a normal and proper shape,
Cell tissue is easily caught in this, and a large amount of cell tissue can be reliably collected.

According to the above configuration, even if the ends of the brush bristles 14 become curled, they can be returned to their original state, and can be repeatedly reused in an optimal state.

Furthermore, since shape memory resin is used for the brush bristles 14, there are various advantages as follows, compared to those using shape memory alloy.

First, in the case of shape memory alloys, the shape recovery temperature (set temperature,
For example, when the brush reaches body temperature, it becomes very hard, and when used as a cytodiagnosis brush, it may damage the wall of the living body rather than collect tissue. Therefore,
Shape memory alloys are not suitable as cytodiagnosis brushes.

Furthermore, when used as a cleaning brush, it similarly damages the inner wall surface of the treatment tool insertion channel of the endoscope.

Furthermore, if the set temperature of a shape memory alloy (nickel, titanium alloy) is set to a temperature as low as body temperature, nickel will exceed the nickel to titanium ratio, creating the risk of a large amount of solute being released. This has a negative effect on living organisms.

Furthermore, in order to prevent the release of solutes, it is necessary to coat the surface of the shape memory alloy with silicon, etc., but this method requires a lot of man-hours and may peel off, which is also harmful to living organisms. It's not good.

Moreover, from a cost perspective, shape memory alloys are much more expensive than shape memory resins.

In particular, the setting of the shape memory temperature of shape memory alloys is determined by the metal compounding ratio, so the price is inevitably high for small quantities of rods.

In contrast, the present invention uses shape memory resin, so
It does not have a hardness that would damage the living body, and can have a certain degree of hardness suitable for cleaning or cytodiagnosis. Furthermore, there is no need to worry about solutes, no coating is required, and it can be provided at low cost.

In this way, the present invention can also eliminate the drawbacks of using shape memory alloys as described above.

FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of the present invention.

The cleaning brush 30 of this embodiment has brush bristles 31 at the tip part twisted between twisted metal wires to form a brush main body 30.
The brush main body 33 is further inserted into the tip of a metal wire 36 formed by twisting stranded wires 34 and 35 and fixed by solder 37.

A loop-shaped portion 38 is formed at the base end of the metal wire 36, and this loop-shaped portion 38 is inserted into a vibrator 39 and fixed with solder. Here, the brush bristles 31 of the brush body 33
Shape memory resin is used as the material in the same manner as in the first embodiment. The cleaning brush 30 is inserted into a treatment instrument insertion channel of an endoscope and used to clean dirt and the like adhering to the inner wall of the channel.

In the case of this cleaning brush 30 as well, if it is used many times and the tips of the brush bristles 31 become rounded, they will not get caught, and it will be difficult to remove dirt if left as is.

However, if you soak the bristles in hot water and return them to their original shape, the tips of the bristles will become straight, making it easier to remove dirt again. Therefore, the cleaning brush 30 can be used semi-permanently and efficient cleaning can be performed at all times.

In addition, in the first and second embodiments described above, shape memory resin is used for the entire bristles of the brush, but it is not necessarily applied to the entire bristles, and may be used only to the part of the bristles that tend to become rounded. , a plurality of them may be mixed.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, in the present invention, at least part of the bristles of the brush portion is made of a shape memory resin, so even if the tips of the bristles of the brush portion become curled due to use, they can be returned to their original shape. Can be used repeatedly under optimal conditions. Furthermore, since a shape memory resin is used instead of a shape memory alloy, there are no disadvantages associated with the use of a shape memory alloy as described above.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 3 show a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of an endoscope in a state where an endoscope brush is used, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are internal views. It is a side view of a brush for endoscopes. FIG. 4 is a side view of an endoscope brush according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 1... Endoscope, 10... Cytology brush, 11...
Operation wire part, 12... Brush part, 14... Brush bristles, 30... Cleaning brush, 31... Brush bristles, 33
...Brush body.

Claims (1)

[Claims] An endoscope brush in which a brush part is constructed by attaching a plurality of bristles to an operating wire part, characterized in that the material of at least some of the bristles of the brush part is a shape memory resin. Mirror brush.