JPH07213481A - Soft endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To so provide as to have a difference of hardness in the axial direction of a soft portion by changing the closely wound state of coils constituting the outer sleeves of angle operation members, in a case in which the soft portion at and insertion portion requires the characteristic of the tip side being soft an the base end side having rigidity. CONSTITUTION:Angle operation members 20 consisting of operation wires 21 and outer sleeves 22 are provided at the four places of top and bottom and right and left inside an insertion portion, and when the outer sleeves located at top an bottom are made to be 22U, 22D and the outer sleeves located right and left are made to be 22R, 22L, hardness is made to possess change by changing into the two steps of roughness and closeness the pitches of coils constituting these respective outer sleeves, and by shifting respectively the change positions of roughness and closeness at the pitches of the respective outer sleeves, the hardness of the outer sleeves 22 as a whole is changed step by step in their axial directions, and as a result, the change of hardness can be made to be possessed so that the tip side of the soft portion 10 may be soft and may become hard gradually toward the base end side.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a flexible endoscope which is inserted into a curved insertion path, such as a colonoscope, and particularly has a change in hardness in the axial direction of the flexible portion. The present invention relates to a flexible endoscope which is adapted to be used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An endoscope which is inserted into a body cavity or the like so that it can be inspected, diagnosed, and treated as necessary, has a metal pipe or the like inserted into the body cavity or the like. There are a rigid endoscope formed and a flexible endoscope having an insertion portion formed of a flexible member.

As shown in FIG. 6, the flexible endoscope illuminates the inside of a body cavity together with an insertion section 2 inserted into the body cavity or the like in a main body operation section 1 which an operator holds and operates by hand. The light guide flexible portion 3 is inserted in which a light guide for transmitting illumination light is inserted. The tip end of the light guide flexible portion 3 can be detachably connected to the light source device. Further, in the case of an electronic endoscope using a solid-state image sensor such as a CCD as an observing means, a signal cable is inserted into the flexible portion of the light guide, and this signal cable performs signal processing for generating a video signal. The processor is detachably connected to the processor.

The insertion portion 2 is a flexible portion 2a for most of the length from the connection portion with the main body operation portion 1. An angle portion 2b is connected to the flexible portion 2a, and the tip of the angle portion 2b is further provided. The side is a distal end hard portion 2c provided with an illumination window and an observation window. As shown in FIG. 2, the flexible portion 2a has a flexible tube 4 formed by spirally winding a metal strip as an innermost layer, and a protective net 5 is attached to the flexible tube 4. Further, the resin tube 6 is configured to cover the above. Although illustration is omitted, inside the flexible portion 2a, a light guide, a signal cable (an image guide in the case of an optical endoscope), a treatment instrument insertion channel for inserting a forceps or other treatment instrument, and a treatment instrument insertion channel. An air / water supply pipe for supplying a cleaning fluid is inserted through the observation window. The angle portion 2b is for directing a desired direction by remote-controlling the hard tip portion. Therefore, the angle portion 2b is curved vertically and horizontally, and the angle portion 2b is remotely controlled. Angle part 2 to bend at
b from the tip portion or the tip hard portion 2c to the flexible portion 2a
An angle operation member is provided between the main body operation unit 1 and the main body operation unit 1.

[0005]

By the way, as an example of a flexible endoscope, for example, a colonoscope is inserted from the anus and guided from the rectum through the S-shaped colon into the large intestine, but there is great resistance at the time of insertion. It must also be inserted along the sharply curved path of the sigmoid colon. Therefore, as a requirement that the flexible part in the insertion part must have,
First of all, it is necessary to allow the thrust force to be fully exerted, so it is necessary to have a certain degree of waist. However, since it has to pass through a sharply curved path, it must be made of a flexible material in order to improve the insertion operability and reduce the pain of the patient.

As described above, the soft portion in the insertion portion of the endoscope must satisfy the contradictory requirements of rigidity and flexibility. However, the flexibility is required only for the part that is actually inserted into the body cavity, and even for the part that is inserted into the body cavity, only the predetermined length on the distal end side is required. On the other hand, the reason why the rigidity is required is that the surgeon needs to give thrust force to push the insertion part into the body, and therefore, if the proximal end part of the soft part has rigidity. good.

As described above, the flexible portion is formed so that the tip side thereof, that is, the side connected to the angle portion is flexible, and the base end side, that is, the side connected to the main body operating portion, has rigidity, and This hardness preferably gradually changes in the axial direction of the soft part. Therefore, various attempts have been made to give the soft portion the characteristic of gradually hardening from the distal end side toward the proximal end side. For example, paying attention to the flexible tube that is the structure of the flexible part,
The rigidity can be changed by changing the width and thickness of the metal strip that constitutes the flexible tube, and further by partially plating. Also, paying attention to the protective net attached to the flexible tube, when braiding this protective net, the hardness can also be changed by changing the knitting method and changing the resistance when the protective net is pulled. Change.
Further, although an adhesive is applied between the flexible tube and the protective net, there is also one in which this adhesive is used to change the hardness of the flexible portion in the axial direction. Furthermore, the hardness can be changed by changing the thickness of the resin tube, which is the outermost layer of the soft portion, or by partially crosslinking the resin tube.

As described above, there are various techniques for imparting a change in hardness to the soft portion, and although all of these are effective, each of them has a desired degree of change in hardness. Therefore, conventionally, some of these methods are used in combination.

By the way, in the above-mentioned prior arts, the hardness of the constituent members of the flexible portion is changed, and even if they are used in combination, there is little room for selection and they are not always satisfactory. At present, it cannot be said that the hardness can be changed to the extent possible.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to change the hardness of the soft portion by using a member inserted inside the soft portion. To be able to do it.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention changes the hardness of the flexible portion in the axial direction by changing the degree of contact of the outer tube of the angle operating member in the axial direction. It is characterized by having a structure that has.

[0012]

Since the insertion portion of the endoscope has the angle portion, the angle operation member is provided. The angle operating member has an operating wire for pushing and pulling, and the operating wire is inserted into the outer tube in the flexible portion. The outer tube is formed by winding a metal wire rod in a close-wound coil shape so as to have flexibility and good shape retention. Here, the closely-wound coil forming the outer tube is
Resistance to bending changes. When the metal wire is wound, if the degree of adhesion is made dense, resistance to bending becomes large, and if the degree of adhesion is made rough, bending becomes easy. Therefore, by changing the degree of adhesion of the coil, that is, the pitch, resistance to bending, that is, hardness can be changed.

The pitch of the closely wound coils forming the outer tube is changed in the axial direction. Rigidity is enhanced by roughening the degree of close contact on the tip side connected to the angle part to give flexibility and making the base end side on the side connected to the main body operation part dense. With this configuration, the hardness of the flexible portion can be changed between the proximal end side and the distal end side. In order to bend the angle portion in an arbitrary direction, the angle operation member is provided at four positions above and below and to the left and right of the flexible portion. Therefore, by changing the pitch of the coils of the respective outer tubes of the angle operating members provided at these four positions, it is possible to obtain a considerably remarkable difference in hardness. Moreover, when the change point of the pitch interval is changed in the axial direction of the soft portion, the hardness changes in several steps in the axial direction.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of an angle operation member of an endoscope. In the figure, 10 is a flexible portion, 11 is an angle portion, and 12 is a distal end hard portion, and the flexible portion 10 is connected to the main body operation portion 13. The angle part 11 is for orienting the tip rigid part 12 in a desired direction, and is provided with an angle operation member 20 for operating the angle part 11. The angle operation member 20 includes an operation wire 21 and an outer tube 22 into which the operation wire 21 is inserted.

The distal end of the operating wire 21 of the angle operating member 20 is fixed to the distal end hard portion 12 or the most advanced angle ring of the angle portion 11, and only the operating wire 21 is located inside the angle portion 11.
An outer tube 22 is provided inside the flexible portion 10 with its tip fixed, and the operation wire 21 is attached to the outer tube 2
It is inserted inside 2. The outer tube 22 is guided into the main body operating portion 13 and is fixed to a mounting member 23 provided in the main body operating portion 13, and the operation wire 21 is further extended from the mounting member 23, and a pulley 24 is provided. It is wound around.

As is apparent from FIG. 2, the angle operation member 20 including the operation wire 21 and the outer tube 22 is provided at four positions in the inside of the insertion portion, that is, vertically and horizontally, and the illustration thereof is omitted. However, two pulleys 24 are also provided. Therefore, the upper and lower operation wires 21 shown in FIG.
U and 21D are connected to a pulley for vertical angle operation, and left and right operation wires 21R and 21L are connected to left and right angle operation pulleys. When the upper and lower operation wires 21U and 21D are pushed and pulled, the angle portion 11 is bent in the up and down direction and the hard tip portion 12 is oriented in the up and down direction, and when the left and right operation wires 21R and 21L are pushed and pulled, the angle is changed. The portion 11 is curved to the left and right, and the rigid tip portion 12 is oriented in the left-right direction. Further, the push and pull operations of the upper and lower operation wires 21U and 21D and the left and right operation wires 21R and 21L can be performed in combination so that the distal end hard portion 12 can be oriented in any direction. Become.

Even if the flexible portion 10 is in a bent state, the mantle tube 22 is operated by rotating the pulley 24 so that the manipulating wire 2 operates.
This is to ensure that the push-pull operation of No. 1 can be transmitted to the tip of the operation wire 21. In order to perform this transmission accurately, the outer tube 22 needs to have a structure without expansion and contraction. However, since both ends of the outer tube 22 are fixed and an external force is applied to the soft portion 10 in the direction of pressing it, it does not expand, so that at least the compression resistance is good. Further, since the operating wire 21 slides in the outer tube 22, the outer tube 22 must be excellent in shape retention, and further, must be provided with the condition that it can be bent. . For this reason, the outer tube 22 is formed by winding a metal wire into a tightly wound coil shape with no gap between pitches. Here, as shown in FIG. 3, the outer tube 22 can be molded using a molding machine including a feed section 31 for feeding the metal wire rod 30 and a coil molding section 32.

Since the insertion path of the flexible endoscope is not a straight path but a curved path, in order to smoothly follow the path, the outer cover of the angle operation member 20 which is an insertion member of the insertion portion is inserted. The tube 22 should be flexible. However, as already described, in the colonoscope or the like, the soft portion 10 has to have its hardness changed in the axial direction and hardened at the base end side. Therefore, in order to provide the difference in hardness, the outer tube 22 as an insertion member in the flexible portion 10 is used.

That is, as the requirement for the outer tube 22, as described above, since it is required to have compression resistance, it is necessary to make it a closely wound coil shape in which a substantial gap is not generated between pitches. However, it is possible to change the degree of adhesion. Then, if the pitch is made coarse to some extent and the degree of adhesion is made small, the flexibility in the bending direction can be enhanced. On the other hand, if the pitch is formed to be extremely dense and the degree of close contact is increased, the resistance against bending force becomes large and it becomes hard. Therefore, when the degree of tight winding of the outer tube 22 is changed in the axial direction, the hardness of the outer tube 22 changes, and as a result, the hardness of the flexible portion 10 in the axial direction can be changed. Therefore,
Metal wire rod 30 of coil forming part 32 in the coil forming machine
By changing the angle with respect to, it is possible to change the pitch of the coils to be formed, that is, the degree of close contact with each other, to be coarse and fine.

As is apparent from FIG. 2, the angle operating member 20 including the operating wire 21 and the outer tube 22 is provided in the flexible portion 10 at four positions, that is, upper and lower sides and left and right sides. Therefore, the upper and lower jacket tubes are set to 22U, 22
When D and the outer tubes located on the left and right sides are 22R and 22L, the pitch of the coils forming these outer tubes is changed in two steps of coarse and fine. Then, the change positions of the coarse and fine in the pitch of each mantle tube are respectively shifted to give the change of hardness as shown by the one-dot chain line in FIG. As a result, the hardness can be changed as shown by the solid line in the figure as a whole. As a result, the flexible portion 10 can be provided with a change in hardness so that the distal end side is flexible and gradually hardens toward the proximal end side.

Further, the hardness of the outer tube 22 varies depending on not only the degree of close contact thereof but also the thickness and material of the metal wire rod 30 which is the material thereof. Therefore, the upper and lower jacket tubes 2
2U and 22D and the left and right outer tubes 22R and 22L are made of metal wire rods having different wire diameters, and are made different in density in the axial direction. Here, in the bending direction of the angle portion 11, the up-down direction bends at a considerably large angle, for example, 180 ° or more, but generally does not bend at such a large angle in the left-right direction. Outer tubes 22U, 22 in the vertical direction that bend at a large angle
Since an extremely large load acts on D, the metal wire rods constituting the upper and lower jacket tubes 22U, 22D are made thicker than the left and right jacket tubes 22R, 22L. Then, as shown by phantom lines in FIG. 5, each of the outer tubes 22U, 22D, 2
The positions of the changes in the density of 2R and 22L are made different from each other in the axis of the flexible part 10. As a result, the outer tube as a whole can have a change in hardness as shown by the solid line in the figure.

Further, the pitch of the outer tube 22 can be changed not only in two steps but also in a plurality of steps or continuously.

As described above, the hardness of the flexible portion 10 in the axial direction can be changed by providing the outer tube 22 with a difference in density in the axial direction. Of course, this mantle 2
Although it may not be possible to completely satisfy the change in hardness required for the soft portion 10 by only 2, it is possible to combine the change in hardness due to the members constituting the soft portion 10 described in the prior art to obtain a colonoscope or the like. As such, even if it is necessary to give a large change in hardness between the tip side and the base side,
You will be able to adequately answer the request. Further, since the pitch of the outer tube 22 can be easily changed by using a coil forming machine, an endoscope of a type that does not require a very large change in hardness of the soft portion, such as a bronchoscope or a gastroscope. In such cases, the requirements can be met only by the outer tube 22.

[0024]

As described above, the hardness of the flexible portion is changed in the axial direction by changing the degree of close contact of the outer tube of the angle operating member in the axial direction. Not only the constituent members of the above, but also the members inserted through the inside can be used to change the hardness in the axial direction of the soft part, and increase the factors that cause the change in hardness in the soft part. As a result, it is possible to more accurately satisfy the characteristics required for the soft portion, and it is possible to easily change the hardness.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural explanatory view of a flexible endoscope showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a positional relationship of angle operation members.

FIG. 3 is a structural explanatory view of a molding machine that forms a tightly wound coil that forms an outer tube.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a change in hardness of the mantle tube.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of another example showing a change in hardness of the mantle tube.

FIG. 6 is an external view of a flexible endoscope according to the related art.

FIG. 7 is a structural explanatory view of the flexible portion of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Soft part 11 Angle part 12 Tip hard part 13 Main body operation part 20 Angle operation member 21,21U, 21D, 21R, 21L Operation wire 22, 22U, 22D, 22R, 22L Mantle tube 30 Metal wire rod 31 Feed part 32 Coil forming part

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An operating wire is inserted into an outer tube formed by tightly winding an elastic wire into a coil shape in order to bend the angle section by remote control in an insertion section composed of a hard tip section, an angle section and a soft section. When the angle operation member is inserted, the degree of adhesion of the outer tube of the angle operation member is changed in the axial direction so that the hardness of the flexible portion is changed in the axial direction. Flexible endoscope. 2. The flexible endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the outer tube of each of the angle operation members is composed of a tightly wound portion and a coarsely wound portion. 3. The angle operating member is provided at four positions, up and down and left and right, and the changing positions of the tightly wound portion and the coarsely wound portion in the outer tube of each of these angle operating members are shifted in the axial direction, respectively. The flexible endoscope according to claim 2, characterized in that the hardness of the soft portion is changed stepwise.