JPH0984791A - Ultrasonic endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate the attachment and detachment of an ultrasonic transducer to and from an insert part by transmitting a rotating force to an ultrasonic observation part unit having a rotating member loading an ultrasonic transducer within a casing by a bevel gear transmission mechanism, and also utilizing it as signal transmitting route. SOLUTION: An ultrasonic transducer 10 is installed to a rotating base 15 fitted in a casing 13, an rotating shaft 16 is extended from the rotating base 15, an ultrasonic observation part unit 14 having a driven-side bevel gear 18 on the tip is attachably and detachable mounted on a mounting part 8 protruded on the tip part body 2c of an insert part, a drive-side bevel gear 19 is mounted on the mounting part 8 side, the rotating force is transmitted by the gearing of both the bevel gears 18, 19, and the signal transmitting route from one wiring of the ultrasonic oscillator of the ultrasonic transducer 10 is formed thereby. Second driven-side and drive-side bevel gears 25, 26 are installed to both the bevel gears 18, 19, and they are mutually geared, thereby forming a signal transmission route from the other wiring.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic endoscope in which an endoscopic observation and an ultrasonic observation are provided in an insertion portion to be inserted into a body cavity. So that it is within the observation field of view of the endoscope observation section,
The present invention also relates to an ultrasonic endoscope having a configuration in which the ultrasonic observation unit can be removably attached to the insertion unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ultrasonic endoscope has an endoscope observing section and an ultrasonic observing section provided at a distal end portion of an insertion section to be inserted into a body cavity. In addition to being able to observe the above, the ultrasonic observation unit is configured to obtain information regarding the state of internal tissues. The endoscope observation unit has an illumination window that illuminates the inside of the body cavity with illumination light, and an observation window that observes the inside of the body cavity under the illumination light emitted from the illumination window.

Further, the ultrasonic observation section has an ultrasonic transducer, which transmits ultrasonic pulses from the inner wall of the body cavity to the inside of the body, and the reflected echo from the tissue section in the body is transmitted to the ultrasonic transducer. It is received and converted into an electric signal. This reflected echo signal is transmitted to the ultrasonic observation device, subjected to predetermined signal processing, and then an ultrasonic image is displayed on the monitor. Here, by scanning the ultrasonic transducer, an ultrasonic image of a predetermined cross section in the body is obtained. As the scanning direction, there are a linear direction (linear scanning), a rotation direction (radial scanning), and the like. To perform radial scanning, the ultrasonic transducer is rotationally driven.

In the case of scanning in the rotational direction, an ultrasonic transducer provided at the tip of the insertion portion is mounted on a rotation member, and the rotation member extends from the insertion portion to the main body operation portion. A connection is provided to the rotation transmission member including Then, the rotation transmitting member rotates the rotating member to rotationally drive the ultrasonic transducer. By the way, since the rotation transmission member extends in the axial direction of the insertion portion, the rotation member of the ultrasonic transducer is in the axial direction of the insertion portion, and therefore, the observation field of view of the ultrasonic transducer, that is, the body displayed on the monitor. The ultrasonic tomographic plane of is at a position slightly in front of the observation window in the endoscope observation section, in a direction substantially orthogonal to the optical axis thereof, and is observed in the endoscope observation section, that is, in front of the insertion section. The site cannot be ultrasonically scanned.

[0005]

Here, in order to position the observation field of view by the ultrasonic observation section within the range of the endoscope observation field of view obtained from the observation window, the rotary member of the ultrasonic transducer is inserted. It is necessary to dispose the rotation transmitting member in a direction substantially orthogonal to the axis of
You have to change direction. Therefore, if the flexible shaft is bent, for example, the rotating member can be arranged in the direction orthogonal to the axis of the insertion portion.

By the way, it is preferable that the ultrasonic transducer is replaceable. For example, an ultrasonic transducer that constitutes an ultrasonic transducer has a unique transmission frequency, but if the transmission frequency of the ultrasonic pulse is low, the ultrasonic signal reaches a deep position inside the body, but the distance resolution The resolution when displayed as an image is inferior. On the other hand, when the frequency of the ultrasonic pulse is increased, only the shallow information can be obtained, but the resolution is increased. An acoustic lens is attached to the ultrasonic transducer of the ultrasonic transducer to focus on a predetermined position, but the focus position changes depending on the curvature of the acoustic lens and the like. Therefore, it is preferable that the ultrasonic transducer can be exchanged depending on the region to be subjected to the ultrasonic examination, but the ultrasonic tomographic image obtained by the ultrasonic transducer passes through almost the central portion of the observation visual field by the endoscope observation section. A configuration in which the ultrasonic transducer can be replaced has not been heretofore known.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to provide a rotating member of an ultrasonic transducer in a direction orthogonal to an axis of an insertion portion, The purpose is to be able to replace the sound wave transducer.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides an endoscope observation section having a forward visual field at the tip of the insertion section, and is substantially orthogonal to the axis of the insertion section. By mounting the ultrasonic transducer on the rotating member having the rotation axis in the direction, the ultrasonic observation unit having the observation field of view is mounted in front of the insertion section,
A rotating member having an ultrasonic transducer mounted therein is provided in the casing, and an ultrasonic observing unit is formed by connecting a driven bevel gear of the rotating member, and the ultrasonic observing unit is provided at the tip of the insertion portion. Removably attached to a mounting portion provided with a rotary drive member having a drive-side bevel gear that meshes with the driven-side bevel gear, and a rotational force is generated by a meshing portion between the driven-side bevel gear and the drive-side bevel gear. Is characterized in that it is configured to serve as a signal transmission path in addition to transmitting.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A mounting portion is connected to the tip of an insertion portion to be inserted into a body cavity. Further, an ultrasonic transducer forming the ultrasonic observation unit and a rotary member on which the ultrasonic transducer is mounted are provided in the casing to form an ultrasonic observation unit, and the casing of the ultrasonic observation unit is attached to the mounting portion. It is fitted and fixed to. A bevel gear transmission mechanism is used to rotationally drive the rotating member. A rotation drive member is provided so as to face the mounting portion, and a drive-side bevel gear is connected to the tip of the rotation drive member. On the other hand, a driven bevel gear is connected to the rotating member, and the driven bevel gear is meshed with the driven bevel gear. Accordingly, when the driving-side bevel gear is driven to rotate by driving the rotation driving member, the rotational force is transmitted to the driven-side bevel gear. As a result, the ultrasonic transducer provided on the rotating member can be rotationally driven, and the bevel gears can be separated.

In order to transmit / receive ultrasonic signals by the ultrasonic transducer, it is necessary to connect a signal cable to the ultrasonic transducer. The ultrasonic transducer is mounted on the rotary member, and a signal transmission path can be formed from the rotary member to the rotary drive member via the driven bevel gear and the drive bevel gear. As a result, not only the rotation transmission mechanism but also the signal transmission path from the ultrasonic transducer can be separated. As a result, the ultrasonic observation unit can be removably attached to the attachment portion.

By the way, as the ultrasonic transducer, even if a single-plate ultrasonic vibrator is used, it is necessary to provide two signal transmission paths. Drive side,
It is possible to form two signal transmission paths in the meshing portion of the bevel gear by setting the total length of the meshing portion of the bevel gear on the driven side to some extent, but it is possible to form a signal transmission for transmitting an ultrasonic reflection echo signal. Routes need to be more reliable and stable.

For this purpose, a pair of driving-side driven gears and driven-side driven bevel gears are provided, and one pair of bevel gears has both a function of transmitting a rotational force and a function of transmitting a signal. The other pair of bevel gears is dedicated to signal transmission. The dedicated bevel gear for signal transmission stabilizes the meshing state with each other, and one bevel gear is rotated by a biasing means such as a spring in order to prevent a poor contact state during rotation. It is configured to be biased in the direction.

The ultrasonic transducer is mounted on a rotary member, and the rotary shaft of the rotary member can extend on both sides of the ultrasonic transducer. Each can also be used as a signal transmission path. One of the signal transmission paths includes a bevel gear on the driving side and the driven side, and the other signal transmission path is provided with a sliding electrode in sliding contact with the end portion of the rotating member in the mounting portion, and the ultrasonic observation unit unit is provided. When the is mounted on the mounting portion, the sliding electrode is brought into contact with the rotating member. Also by this, the ultrasonic observation unit can be detachably attached to the insertion portion, and when attached, the pair of signal transmission paths can be connected as well as the transmission of the rotational force to the ultrasonic transducer.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of the ultrasonic endoscope.
FIG. 2 shows the appearance of the tip of the insertion part.

In the figure, 1 is a main body operating portion, 2 is an inserting portion, and 3 is a universal cord, respectively, which constitute an ultrasonic endoscope. The insertion part 2 has a flexible part 2a from the part connected to the main body operation part 1 to the most part. The flexible part 2a has an angle part 2b, and the tip of the angle part 2b has a tip part main body 2c. It is lined up. As is apparent from FIG. 2, the distal end body 2c is provided with an endoscope observation section and an ultrasonic observation section. As is well known, the endoscope observing section has an illumination window 4 and an observation window 5, the emission end of a light guide faces the illumination window 4, and illumination light from a light source device (not shown) illuminates. Illumination light is emitted into the body cavity through the window 4. Then, the inside of the body cavity is observed through the observation window 5 under the illumination from the illumination window 4. For this reason, an imaging lens is attached to the illumination window 4, and the solid-state imaging device or the image guide is disposed so as to face the imaging position of the imaging lens. In addition to these, a treatment tool lead-out portion 6 for leading out a treatment tool such as forceps and a nozzle 7 for ejecting a cleaning fluid for cleaning the observation window 5 are provided.

Next, an ultrasonic transducer 10 is provided as an ultrasonic observation section. This ultrasonic transducer 10 includes a single-plate ultrasonic transducer 11 and an acoustic lens 1.
The ultrasonic transducer 10 is attached to the casing 13 and is detachable as the ultrasonic observation unit 14 from the mounting portion 8 projecting from the distal end body 2c of the insertion portion 2. Attached to. The ultrasonic transducer 10 is a rotary base 1 made of an electrically insulating member.
5, the ultrasonic transducer 10 is rotated by rotationally driving the rotary base 15, and radial ultrasonic scanning is performed over a predetermined angle range. The rotary base 15 is rotationally driven by remote control. For this purpose, a rotary shaft 16 is connected to the rotary base 15, and the rotary shaft 16 is a bearing 17 provided on a partition wall 13 a of the casing 13. It is rotatably supported by. Therefore, the rotary base 15 and the rotary shaft 16 constitute a rotary member on which the ultrasonic transducer 10 is rotatably mounted.

The interior of the casing 13 is divided into two chambers by the partition wall 13a, one of which is an ultrasonic scanning chamber 13S in which the ultrasonic transducer 10 is housed, and the other chamber is formed by the ultrasonic transducer 10. It is a drive mechanism installation chamber 13D that is rotationally driven. At least a portion of the ultrasonic scanning chamber 13S of the casing 13 is formed of a member having excellent acoustic characteristics and functions as an acoustic window. The tip of the rotary shaft 16 extends into the drive mechanism installation chamber 13D, and the driven bevel gear 18 is connected to the tip thereof. A drive-side bevel gear 19 meshes with the driven-side bevel gear 18.

The drive-side bevel gear 19 is connected to a rotary shaft 20. The rotary shaft 20 is rotatably inserted in the tip end main body 2c, and the end thereof is attached to a flexible shaft 21 formed of a close contact coil or the like. It is connected. The flexible sleeve 21 is fitted with a flexible sleeve 22 which is fixedly attached to the distal end body 2c.
When the flexible shaft 21 is rotated around the axis in the drive shaft 2, the driving-side bevel gear 19 rotates together with the rotating shaft 20, and the rotational force is transmitted to the driven-side bevel gear 18. As a result,
The rotation base 15 rotates, and the ultrasonic transducer 10 rotates following it. During this period, ultrasonic pulses are transmitted at a predetermined angle and reflected echoes from the inside of the body are received.

In order to transmit a driving signal to the ultrasonic transducer 11 of the ultrasonic transducer 10 and a reflected echo signal, the ultrasonic transducer 11 is provided with a pair of electrodes, and wiring is performed from these electrodes. 23a and 23b are pulled out. One of the wirings 23a and 23b is connected to the driven bevel gear 18, and the driven bevel gear 18 is always meshed with the drive bevel gear 19, so that the driven Drive bevel gears 1
Reference numerals 8 and 19 are formed of a conductive member, whereby the bevel gears 18 and 19 in the meshed state are used as signal transmission paths. A cable 24 detachably connected to an ultrasonic observation device (not shown) is inserted in the flexible shaft 21, and a wiring 24 a of the cable 24 is connected to the drive bevel gear 19.

The other wiring 23b is connected to the wiring 2 of the cable 23.
2nd driven and driving bevel gears 2 for connecting to 4b
5, 26 are provided. A shaft 28, which is inserted into an insulating member 27 formed in a cylindrical shape on the outer peripheral surface, is connected to the second driven bevel gear 25. The shaft 28 connects the driven bevel gear 17 and the rotary shaft 20. The wire 23b is extended in a penetrating state and is connected to the tip of the wire 23b. Where axis 28
Is configured to rotate integrally with the rotary shaft 16 and the rotary base 15. The second drive-side bevel gear 26 meshes with the second driven-side bevel gear 26. This second drive bevel gear 2
6, a movable shaft 29 is connected to the movable shaft 29, and a cylindrical insulating member 30 is rotatably inserted into the movable shaft 29. A fixed shaft 31 is fixed in the insulating member 30. Has been done. Between the fixed shaft 31 and the movable shaft 29,
The movable shaft 29 is connected via a spring 32 that applies a torsional force so as to connect the movable shaft 29 in a state in which the movable shaft 29 is rotated by a predetermined angle. Further, the fixed shaft 31 is connected to the wiring 24b of the cable 24. As a result, the second driven bevel gear 17 and the second driven bevel gear 17
The driving-side bevel gear 18 and the driving-side bevel gear 18 are meshed with each other due to the rotational force exerted by the spring force of the spring 32 acting on the movable shaft 29 of the second driving-side bevel gear 18 to mesh with each other. It will be stable.

Therefore, the bevel gears 17, 18 on the second driven side and the drive side, the shaft 28, the movable shaft 29, the fixed shaft 31, and the spring 32 are formed of a conductive member, and these are used as a signal transmission path. The wire 24b of the cable 24 is connected to the fixed shaft 31, and the wire 23b from the ultrasonic transducer 11 is electrically connected to the wire 24b through this signal transmission path. . Here, since the meshing state of the second driven-side and driving-side bevel gears 17 and 18 is extremely stable, an extremely reliable function of the signal transmission path is exhibited. Therefore, this signal transmission path is used as an ultrasonic reflection echo signal transmission path.

The casing 13 constituting the ultrasonic observing unit 14, together with the ultrasonic transducer 10 and the driven bevel gear 18 and the second driven bevel gear 25, is mounted on the tip end body 2c of the insertion portion 2. 8 is detachably attached. For this reason, the casing 13 has a stepped portion 13a.
Is provided, and a portion below the stepped portion 13a is a fitting portion 13b to the mounting portion 8. Also, the step portion 13a
A sealing member 33 that can come into contact with the peripheral portion of the mounting portion 8 is fixedly provided in the. Then, the fitting portion 13b is fitted to the mounting portion 8 and the sealing member 33 is bent, and a plurality of screws 34 are attached from the outside of the fitting portion 13b around the fitting portion 13b. By screwing the screw 34 toward the side surface of the portion 8, the ultrasonic observation unit 1
4 is fixedly attached to the tip end main body 2c of the insertion portion 2.
Reference numeral 35 is a seal member that seals the periphery of the rotary shaft 20, and 36 is a motor as a rotation driving means of the flexible shaft 21.

This embodiment is constructed as described above, and the ultrasonic observation unit 14 is attached to the tip end main body 2c of the insertion section 2 as shown in FIG. In this state, the insertion section 2 is inserted up to a site in the body cavity to be examined and diagnosed, and illumination light is emitted from the illumination window 4 constituting the endoscope observation section into the body cavity. It is possible to observe the inside of the body cavity through the 5.

In order to perform ultrasonic observation, the motor 36 is used to drive the flexible shaft 21 in the flexible sleeve 22 about the axis by remote control. This allows
The driving-side bevel gear 19 is rotated, and the rotational force of the driving-side bevel gear 19 is transmitted to the driven-side bevel gear 18, and the driven-side bevel gear 18, the rotary shaft 16 and the rotary base 15 connected thereto. As it rotates, the ultrasonic transducer 10 mounted on the rotation base 15 is rotationally driven around the axis of the rotation shaft 16. Then, while the ultrasonic transducer 10 is rotating, radial scanning is performed by transmitting ultrasonic pulses from the ultrasonic transducer 11 at every predetermined angle. The ultrasonic pulse transmitted from the ultrasonic transducer 11 advances to the inside of the body by the acoustic lens 12 so as to be focused at a predetermined depth position in the body, and during that period, a reflection echo is generated in the tomographic portion of the body tissue. This reflected echo is received by the ultrasonic transducer 11, and this reflected echo is converted into an electric signal. The reflected echo signal is transmitted to the ultrasonic observation device connected to the ultrasonic endoscope via the cable 24, and the ultrasonic observation device performs predetermined signal processing to obtain information on the tomographic image of the internal tissue. Is generated as an ultrasonic image signal, and this ultrasonic image is displayed on the monitor.

Here, since the tomographic plane obtained by ultrasonic scanning is a portion in front of the insertion portion 2 in the axial direction, and is located at substantially the center of the observation field of view of the endoscope observation section, the endoscope observation section When acquiring a tomographic image in the body of a necessary portion based on the result of the examination by the, it is possible to perform scanning without observing the endoscopic observation section without moving the insertion section 2 particularly, so that ultrasonic observation can be extremely performed. It can be done easily and accurately. Then, when a diseased part or the like is found as a result of ultrasonic observation, a puncture treatment tool is inserted into the site and a treatment such as injection of liquid or suction is performed. If the puncture treatment tool is inserted into the body by arranging it at a position passing through the extension line of the insertion channel 6, the puncture treatment tool can be inserted under observation by ultrasonic waves. It becomes possible to always confirm the above, ensuring safety and improving the operability of the puncture treatment tool.

Here, the ultrasonic transducer 11 constituting the ultrasonic transducer 10 has a unique transmission frequency, and the acoustic lens 12 has a predetermined focal length. In order to acquire ultrasonic tomographic information up to the deep part in the body, it is necessary to lower the frequency of the ultrasonic transducer, and when examining the shallow part in the body, it is possible to transmit ultrasonic pulses of high frequency. It is necessary to use an ultrasonic transducer. Also, the focus position of the acoustic lens must be changed depending on the part to be inspected.

For the above reasons, the ultrasonic transducer 10 is replaceable. The ultrasonic transducer 10 is a casing 1 as an ultrasonic observation unit 14.
3, the casing 13 is detachably attached to the attachment portion 8. Therefore, by removing the screw 34, the casing 13 can be easily separated from the mounting portion 8.
Then, instead of the casing 13, a casing including an ultrasonic transducer different from the casing 13 can be mounted. Here, in the ultrasonic transducer 10, a rotation transmission mechanism for transmitting a rotational force to the ultrasonic transducer 10 and a wire from the ultrasonic transducer 11 need to be routed, but the driven bevel gear 18 and the drive bevel gear 19 are connected to each other. By engaging with each other, the two functions of transmitting the rotational force and transmitting the signal are provided, and the signal is generated by the engagement between the second driven bevel gear 25 and the second drive bevel gear 26. Therefore, when the casing 13 is removed, the bevel gears 18 and 19 and 25 and 26 are separated from each other. When a new ultrasonic observation unit 14 is attached, the driven bevel gear and the second driven bevel gear provided on the new ultrasonic observation unit 14 become the driving bevel gear 19 and the second driving bevel gear 26.
As a result, the gear and the gear are engaged with each other, so that the torque and the signal can be transmitted.

As described above, the ultrasonic observation unit 14
The ultrasonic transducer 10 can be exchanged by a very simple work of simply attaching and detaching to and from the mounting portion 8 provided on the distal end portion main body 2c of the insertion portion 2. Therefore, it is possible to transmit the ultrasonic pulse for focusing at the optimum position at the optimum frequency according to the region to be subjected to the ultrasonic inspection, etc., and the accuracy of the ultrasonic inspection can be improved.

Next, FIGS. 5 to 7 show a second embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the same or equivalent components as those in the first embodiment described above are designated by the same reference numerals. And its description is omitted.

Here, in this second embodiment, as is apparent from FIG. 5, in the ultrasonic observation unit 40, the casing 41 is provided with the rotary base 42 constituting the rotary member, and the rotary base 42 is provided. The ultrasonic transducer transformer 10 is mounted on the base 42, the rotary shaft 43 is provided on one side of the rotary base 42, and the driven bevel gear 44 is connected to the rotary shaft 43. Similar to the first embodiment described above, 44 is engaged with the driving bevel gear 19 so as to exert two functions of transmitting rotational force and one signal transmission path. The other signal transmission path is replaced with the second driven-side and driving-side bevel gears,
The other rotation shaft 45 connected to the rotation base 42 is used.
That is, as apparent from FIG. 6, the rotary shafts 43 and 45 connected to both sides of the rotary base 42 made of an electric insulator are formed of a conductive member, and the ultrasonic transducer 10
One wiring 23 a of the wirings 23 a and 23 b drawn from the electrode of the ultrasonic transducer 11 constituting the above is connected to the rotating shaft 43, while the other wiring 23 b is connected to the rotating shaft 45. Of course, these rotary shafts 43 and 45 are held in a state where they are not electrically connected.

As shown in FIG. 7, the rotary shaft 45 is rotatably supported by a bearing 46 provided in the casing 41, and a spring-like electrode 47 slidably contacting the rotary shaft 45 is provided on the mounting portion 8 side. Has been. In this spring-shaped electrode 47, a rod-shaped portion 47a having a circular cross section is divided into two tips, and a pair of contact portions 47b and 47b are provided. Each of these contact portions 47b is bent in an S shape, and serves as a call-in portion in which the tip ends expand in a direction in which they are separated from each other.
The middle part is constricted, and the bar-shaped part 47
The shape is curved outward until reaching a. The width of this curved portion is smaller than the diameter of the rotating shaft 45. Therefore, by moving the rotating shaft 45 in the axial direction of the insertion portion 2 as shown by the arrow in FIG. When the rotary shaft 45 is inserted between the contact portions 47b, 47b and the rotary shaft 45 is inserted between the contact portions 47b, 47b, the contact between the contact portions 47b, 47b is maintained. A wire 48 is connected to the rod-shaped portion 47a of the spring-shaped electrode 47. A seal member 49 is provided around the rod-shaped portion 47a of the spring electrode 47.

With the above configuration, the ultrasonic observation unit 40 can be removably attached to the mounting portion 8 provided on the distal end body 2c of the insertion portion 2, and the ultrasonic transducer 10 is rotationally driven. The driven bevel gear 44 forming one signal transmission path and the rotary shaft 45 forming the other signal transmission path are the ultrasonic observation unit 40.
Just by fitting the casing 41 of No. 1 to the mounting portion 8,
Each of them is connected to the drive-side bevel gear 19 and the spring-shaped electrode 47.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, the ultrasonic observing unit is constructed by providing the rotating member in which the ultrasonic transducer is mounted in the casing. The ultrasonic observing unit includes the rotating member. The driven bevel gears are connected to each other, a mounting portion is provided at the tip of one insertion portion, and the driving bevel gears are provided at this mounting portion, and both bevel gears are meshed with each other to transmit the rotational force. At the same time, the meshing part is configured to be used as a signal transmission path, which makes it extremely easy to attach / detach the ultrasonic transducer to / from the insertion part, and use ultrasonic transducers with different frequencies and focus positions interchangeably. There is an effect such as being able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

2 is an external view showing a distal end portion of an insertion portion of the ultrasonic endoscope of FIG. 1 in a state where an ultrasonic observation unit is separated.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the distal end portion of the insertion portion with the ultrasonic observation unit mounted.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a rotation transmission mechanism and a signal transmission mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing a distal end portion of an insertion portion of an ultrasonic endoscope showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a rotating member.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a structure of a spring electrode.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body operation part 2 Insertion part 4 Illumination window 5 Observation window 8 Attachment part 10 Ultrasonic transducer 11 Ultrasonic transducer 23 Acoustic lens 14,40 Ultrasonic observation part unit 15,42 Rotation base 16,43,45 Rotation axis 18 , 44 driven bevel gear 19 drive bevel gear 25 second driven bevel gear 26 second drive bevel gear 47 spring-shaped electrode

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An endoscope observation section having a forward field of view is provided at the tip of the insertion section, and an ultrasonic transducer is attached to a rotary member having a rotation axis in a direction substantially orthogonal to the axis of the insertion section. In a case where an ultrasonic observation unit having an observation field of view is mounted in front of the insertion unit, a rotating member having an ultrasonic transducer mounted therein is provided in a casing, and a driven side bevel gear is connected to the rotating member. An ultrasonic observing unit is provided, and the ultrasonic observing unit is provided at the tip of the insertion portion and is attachable to and detachable from a mounting portion provided with a rotary drive member having a drive-side bevel gear that meshes with the driven-side bevel gear. The ultrasonic endoscope, wherein the ultrasonic endoscope is attached to the transmission side bevel gear and the driving side bevel gear to transmit the rotational force and to form a signal transmission path. 2. The second drive and driven bevel gears are respectively provided on the rotary drive member and the rotary member, and the second drive and driven bevel gears are provided.
The ultrasonic endoscope according to claim 1, wherein a meshing portion of the driving and driven bevel gears is used as another signal transmission path. 3. The second bevel gear is configured to stabilize the meshing state between the second bevel gears by urging at least one of the second bevel gears in a rotational direction by an urging means. The ultrasonic endoscope according to claim 2. 4. A spring-shaped electrode protruding from the tip of the insertion portion is brought into contact with the rotating member, and another signal transmission path is provided from the rotating member via the spring-shaped electrode. The ultrasonic endoscope according to claim 1.