JPH04361731A - Protection tube for endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a protection tube for an endoscope, with which all parts can be sterilized by permitting a bacteria decreasing gas to be disseminated to every corner of the endoscope set in the protection tube. CONSTITUTION:An endoscope 2 for application to a blood vessel is provided with a fold preventive member 13, and a projection 34 hitched with a projection 29 on this fold preventive member 13 is furnished on a connective cylinder 32 in such an arrangement that the member 13 is not in tight attaching to the inside surface of the connective cylinder 32. Therein the cylinder 32 can be set removably on the fold preventive member 13.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an endoscope protection tube for protecting an endoscope inserted into a blood vessel or the like.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, endoscopes with extremely thin insertion sections, such as blood vessel endoscopes, have come into widespread use. Since the insertion section of this type of endoscope has a particularly narrow outer diameter, it cannot adopt a strong structure like that used in other endoscopes for the gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, they are extremely weak and easily crushed, so they must be handled with great care, and they cannot be handled together with other medical instruments during storage and sterilization.
Even when handled alone, it could be accidentally damaged.

[0003] Due to these circumstances, the
A protective tube as shown in publication No. 02 is provided. That is, this protective tube is designed to fit over the insertion section of the endoscope to protect the insertion section.

0004

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in this conventional example, since the packing part is attached to the proximal part of the endoscope, gas does not flow to the close contact part during gas sterilization such as EOG, and that part becomes damaged. sterilization becomes impossible. When removing the protective tube from the endoscope, there is a risk that the unsterilized packing may come into contact with the insertion site, which could lead to infection if used as is. As a countermeasure to this problem, it is possible to adopt the structure shown in FIG. 9 in which the packing part is made of a porous material to facilitate gas circulation.

In FIG. 9, a proximal end portion of an insertion portion 92 of a blood vessel endoscope 91 is connected to an operating portion 95 via a bending member 93 and a cylindrical portion 94. As shown in FIG. On the other hand, the protective tube 96
is a connecting tube 98 having a tapered portion at the base end of the tube 97.
A ring-shaped porous member 99 is attached to the base end of this connecting tube 98, and this porous member 99
is brought into close contact with the cylindrical portion 94 and fixed by frictional force.

[0006] Even if a porous member 99 is used as shown in FIG. 9, it is not possible to eliminate any portions on the outer circumferential surface of the cylindrical portion 94 that the porous member 99 comes into contact with, where gas does not circulate.

On the other hand, during gas sterilization, it is also possible to move the protective tube away from the endoscope so that there is no part of it that comes into close contact with the endoscope. This method of shifting the tube is complicated and may damage the insertion section.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and provides a protective tube for an endoscope in which sterilizing gas is circulated throughout the endoscope inside the protective tube so that all parts can be sterilized. The purpose is to provide

[0009]

[Means and effects for solving the problem] By providing a connecting tube detachably provided at the proximal portion of an endoscope with an engaging portion that prevents the proximal portion from coming into close contact with the connecting tube, sterilizing gas can be passed through during sterilization. The endoscope can be rotated without any movement, ensuring that the entire endoscope is sterilized.

0010

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. 1 to 4 relate to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the rear end side of a protection tube of the first embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a blood vessel endoscope protected by a protection tube. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure around the operating part, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view around the bending member, and FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view around the universal cord mouthpiece.

First, the structure of the blood vessel endoscope 2 protected by the protective tube 1 of the first embodiment will be explained. As shown in FIG. 2, the front end of the operating section 3 of the blood vessel endoscope 2 with a water supply channel is connected to an insertion section 4 that can be inserted into a blood vessel, and the rear end of this operating section 3 is connected to a connector (not shown). It is connected to a universal cord 5 into which the image guide fiber and the light guide fiber are inserted, and furthermore, this operating section 3 is provided with a water supply channel cap 7 which is connected to the water supply channel 6 and is branched from the universal cord 5. .

The rear end of the jacket tube 8 of the insertion section 4 is
As shown in FIG. 3, the jacket tube 8 is placed over the tapered part 11 at the front end of the cylindrical insertion base 9, and a heat shrink tube 12 coated with hot melt adhesive is attached to the inside surface.
It is covered from the rear end to the front end of the insertion part mouthpiece 9 and heat-shrinked to connect and fix the insertion part mouthpiece 9 and the jacket tube 8, thereby maintaining watertightness at this connection part. An anti-bending member 13 is placed over the insertion portion mouthpiece 9 .

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A protective tube for an endoscope that has a removable connecting tube at the proximal portion of the endoscope, and is connected to the connecting tube and fits into the insertion section of the endoscope, when the proximal portion is attached. A protective tube for an endoscope, characterized in that the connecting tube is provided with an engaging portion that prevents the two from coming into close contact with each other.