JPH08164110A - Endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an endoscope which is low in a manufacturing cost, has a curving part preventing the occurrence of the failure of contents and has an excellent aiming property of treating means. CONSTITUTION: This endoscope has the curving part 20 formed by curving curving members 21 to 23 formed to a tubular form having flexibility and axial elongatability and contractibility by pulling an operation wire 24 connected to their front end parts from behind. A front end body 1 provided with an observation objective optical system 5 and a treating means projecting port 2 is connected to the front end of the curving body 20. Treating means insertion channels 9 consisting of tubes having flexibility and compression resistance are respectively fixed near the front ends and rear ends of the curving members 21 to 23 and are so formed that the extension line of an axial line 101 near the front end aperture of the treating means insertion channels 9 and the extension line of the optical axis 100 of the observation objective optical system 5 intersect with each other at the front.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an endoscope in which a distal end body is connected to a distal end of a curved portion that is arbitrarily bent by pulling an operation wire remotely.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a curved portion of an endoscope, a structure in which a plurality of node rings formed in a short tube shape are rotatably connected to adjacent node rings by rivets is widely used. Since such a structure has a large number of parts and requires a large number of steps for assembling, it has a drawback that the manufacturing cost becomes very high.

Therefore, there is a bending member using a continuous spiral tube similar to the insertion portion flexible tube, but in order to bend the bending portion by pulling the operation wire, the operation wire is pulled. It is necessary to prevent the bending portion from contracting in the axial direction.

Therefore, conventionally, when the bending portion is contracted, the image guide fiber bundle inserted therein is stretched to suppress the contraction of the bending portion. Then, in such a curved portion, a treatment instrument insertion channel or the like for inserting the treatment instrument is arranged in a direction parallel to the axis of the bending portion, and the treatment instrument is projected parallel to the optical axis of the observation objective optical system. I am trying to do it.

[0005]

However, when the image guide fiber bundle is used to suppress the contraction of the curved portion as described above, a large force is applied to the image guide fiber bundle each time the curved portion is bent, and the fiber is gradually removed. There is a problem that black spots increase in the observation screen due to bending.

Further, when the treatment tool is projected in parallel with the optical axis of the observation objective optical system, even if the affected part to be treated is brought to the center of the observation screen, the treatment tool cannot aim at it. It is difficult to smoothly operate the endoscope and the treatment tool when performing the procedure.

[0007] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope which is inexpensive in manufacturing cost, has a curved portion which does not cause damage to the built-in object, and has excellent sniperability of treatment instruments.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the bending portion of the endoscope of the present invention comprises a bending member formed in a tubular shape having flexibility and elasticity in the axial direction. A distal end portion main body having a bending portion adapted to be bent by pulling an operation wire connected to the distal end portion from the rear side and provided with an observation objective optical system and a treatment tool projecting port is provided at the distal end of the bending portion. In the connected endoscope, a treatment instrument insertion channel formed of a flexible tube having high compression resistance is fixed near the distal end and the rear end of the bending member, and the distal end of the treatment instrument insertion channel is fixed. It is characterized in that the extension line of the axis near the opening and the extension line of the optical axis of the observation objective optical system intersect at the front.

[0009]

Embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. 1 to 3 show an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a forward-looking endoscope, FIG. 1 is a side sectional view, FIG. 2 is a front view, and FIG.
Is a III-III sectional view.

As shown in FIG. 1, the bending portion 20 is connected to the distal end portion of the flexible insertion portion 10, and the distal end portion main body 1 is connected to the distal end of the bending portion 20. The outer diameter of each portion is formed to have substantially the same thickness.

The insertion portion 10 may be formed by covering the outer circumference of a metallic spiral tube 11 with a mesh tube 12 braided with fine metal wires and further covering the outer surface with a flexible polyurethane resin tube 13. It is covered with a flexible tube.

As shown in FIG. 2, a treatment instrument projecting port 2 is disposed in the central portion of the distal end surface of the distal end portion main body 1, an observation window 3 is disposed above it, and an illumination window is provided on the left and right. Four
Is arranged.

As shown in FIG. 1, an objective lens 5 of an observation optical system is fixed in the observation window 3, and the objective lens 5 is fixed.
The incident end face of the image guide fiber bundle 6 is arranged at the image formation position of the observation image by the observation optical axis 100.
Is facing straight ahead. Also, two lighting windows 4
Inside, a light guide fiber bundle 8 for illuminating the observation range is arranged.

The tip portions of the image guide fiber bundle 6 and the light guide fiber bundle 8 are fixed to the tip portion main body 1, and are drawn from the bending portion 20 into the insertion portion 10.

The distal end of the treatment instrument insertion channel tube 9 provided in communication with the treatment instrument projecting port 2 is also fixed to the distal end portion main body 1 and is drawn from the curved portion 20 into the insertion portion 10. ing.

The treatment instrument insertion channel tube 9 is made of a flexible and highly compressible material, such as a thick fluororesin tube, and projects from the treatment instrument projecting port 2. At the same time that the treatment tools to be inserted are inserted, it is also used as a suction tube.

As shown in FIG. 1, the treatment instrument insertion channel tube 9 is disposed so as to be inclined obliquely upward in the tip portion main body 1 portion, and the tip opening portion is the treatment instrument projecting port 2. The extension of the axis 101 intersects with the extension of the observation optical axis 100 in front of the tip body 1.

The treatment instruments that are inserted into the treatment instrument insertion channel tube 9 and project from the treatment instrument projection port 2 are projected in the extension line direction of the axis 101 of the treatment instrument insertion channel tube 9 near the treatment instrument projection port 2. It Therefore, the tip of the treatment instrument that is projected from the treatment instrument projecting port 2 intersects the observation optical axis 100 in front of the tip body 1. The intersection position is, for example, a distance of about 1 to 3 cm from the observation window 3.

The skeleton of the curved portion 20 is composed of a spiral tube 21 which is formed by continuously spirally winding a metal strip such as a stainless steel strip with a constant diameter at a small interval.

A reticulated tube 22 formed by braiding metal thin wires such as stainless thin wires is coated on the outer surface of the spiral tube 21, and the outer surface is covered by a rubber outer tube 23 having elasticity. Has been done.

In this way, the bending portion 20 is formed by the spiral tube 2
1, the mesh tube 22, and the outer tube 23 are formed into a tubular shape having flexibility and elasticity in the axial direction.

The operation wire 24 is arranged at two positions symmetrical with respect to 180 °, the tip thereof is fixed to the tip end portion main body 1, and is arranged along the inner peripheral surface of the spiral tube 21 in the bending portion 20, A flexible guide pipe 1 in the insertion part 10
It is passed through in 4.

The tip portion of the guide pipe 14 has a curved portion 2.
It is fixed to the inner peripheral surface of the connecting pipe 26 connecting the 0 and the insertion portion 10. The spiral tube 21 and the mesh tube 22 of the bending section 20 and the spiral tube 11 and the mesh tube 12 of the insertion section 10 are fixed to the connecting tube 26 from both sides, whereby the bending section 2 is formed.
0 and the insertion portion 10 are connected.

As shown in FIG. 3, the connecting tube 26 has a channel tube fixing member for fixing the treatment instrument insertion channel tube 9 to the lower inner peripheral portion of the boundary portion between the bending portion 20 and the insertion portion 10. 27 is integrally formed. The connection tube 26 and the channel tube fixing member 2
7 may be formed as separate parts, and they may be integrally connected by brazing or the like.

The treatment instrument insertion channel tube 9 is provided on the inner peripheral surface of the hole formed in the channel tube fixing member 27.
However, it is firmly bonded so that it does not move. The treatment instrument insertion channel tube 9 is inserted in the lower half portion in the bending portion 20, and is arranged in the vicinity of the distal end portion main body 1 and inclined obliquely upward.

The bending portion 20 of the embodiment configured as described above
When bending the, one of the two operation wires 24 is pulled backward by remote operation from an operation unit (not shown).

Then, the spiral tube 21 is axially compressed on the side of the pulled operation wire 24, but the treatment instrument insertion channel tube 9 having high compression resistance is fixed at both front and rear end positions of the bending portion 20. Therefore, the entire length of the bending portion 20 hardly expands or contracts. As a result, the bending portion 20 draws a smooth curve on the pulled operation wire 24 side, and the outer peripheral side is extended.

The treatment instrument insertion channel tube 9
When the treatment instrument inserted through the inside is projected from the treatment instrument projecting port 2, the tip of the treatment instrument is located in front of the observation window 3 and the observation optical axis 10 is reached.
It intersects the extension line of 0 and is observed in the center of the observation screen. Therefore, if the affected part is guided to the center of the observation screen, it is possible to easily and accurately aim with the treatment tool.

4 to 6 show a second embodiment of the present invention in which the present invention is applied to a front perspective endoscope.
4 is a front view, FIG. 5 is a VV sectional view, and FIG. 6 is a VI-VI sectional view.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
The observation optical axis 100 is inclined obliquely upward with respect to the front.
As shown in FIG. 4, the treatment instrument projecting port 2 cannot be laid out at a position directly above the observation window 3 and is therefore arranged at a position diagonally above the observation window 3.

Then, the axis 101 of the treatment instrument insertion channel tube 9 near the treatment instrument projecting port 2 is set to the observation optical axis 100.
It is laid out so that the extension line of the axis line 101 of the treatment instrument insertion channel tube 9 intersects with the extension line of the observation optical axis 100 while tilting upward at a smaller angle and tilting laterally toward the observation window 3. ing.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, in this embodiment, a total of four bending operation wires 24 are provided in the vertical and horizontal directions, and two adjacent operation wires 24 of the four operation wires 24 are provided. If you pull both at the same time, the operation wire 2
It is possible to bend the bending portion 20 in a combined direction according to the pulling amount of 4 and bend it in a desired direction of 360 °.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the channel tube fixing ring 27 is formed in a C shape, and the connecting tube 2
It is directly attached to the inner peripheral surface of No. 6. With this configuration, the channel tube fixing ring 27 can be configured so as not to block the cross-sectional area of the bending portion 20 as much as possible. In FIG. 6, the fiber bundles 6 and 8 are not shown.

Since the other parts of the second embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment, the same parts are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

[0035]

According to the present invention, an endoscope having a bending portion made of a tubular bending member having flexibility and elasticity in the axial direction, which can be manufactured at low cost, has flexibility. Since the treatment instrument insertion channel made of a tube with high compression resistance is fixed near the distal end and near the rear end of the bending member, the bending member is not compressed in the axial direction when the operation wire is pulled. Does not bend and the optical fiber does not break. Then, by making the extension line of the axis near the treatment tool projecting port of the treatment instrument insertion channel and the extension line of the optical axis of the observation objective optical system intersect at the front, the tip of the treatment instrument is positioned at the center of the observation screen. Since the observation can be performed, the affected area to be treated can be easily and accurately sniped with the treatment tool, and reliable treatment can be swiftly performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line VV of the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI of the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Tip part main body 2 Treatment tool protrusion port 5 Objective optical system 9 Treatment tool insertion channel tube 20 Bending part 21 Spiral tube 22 Reticulated tube 23 Outer skin 24 Operation wire 100 Observation optical axis 101 Axis

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A bending portion formed by bending a tubular bending member having flexibility and axial stretchability by pulling an operation wire connected to a distal end portion thereof from the rear. An endoscope in which a distal end main body provided with an observation objective optical system and a treatment tool projecting opening is connected to the distal end of the curved portion, which is a flexible and compression-resistant tube. The instrument insertion channel is fixed near the front end and the rear end of the bending member, respectively, and the extension line of the axis near the tip opening of the treatment instrument insertion channel and the extension line of the optical axis of the observation objective optical system are forward. An endoscope that is characterized by intersecting at.