JPH10146394A - Sterilizing treatment device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve sterilization of the inside of a hollow organ by ultraviolet irradiation, using a very simple structure at reduced cost, and independently of a treatment comprised mainly of administration of antibiotics or antibacterial agents. SOLUTION: A driving part 7 turns on a light source 1 only for the time set by a timer 6. The light source 1 produces light involving ultraviolet radiation, the light being passed through an optical-fiber bundle 2 and guided to a mirror part 5 attached to an end. The mirror part 5 is provided with a mirror 5a having a spherical surface shaped to uniformly diffuse the guided light involving ultraviolet radiation, and applies ultraviolet radiation substantially uniformly over a wide range. Therefore, the use of the device makes it possible to effectively kill bacteria that are present on the part of the body near the surface layer of the gastric mucous membrane.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sterilization treatment apparatus, and more particularly, to an apparatus for sterilizing or sterilizing bacteria in the body, particularly in hollow organs such as the stomach.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is well known that "Helicobacter pylori", which infects the mucous membrane of the upper gastrointestinal tract, causes inflammation of the mucous membrane and causes chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract.

[0003] Since inflammation is a bacterial infection, the conventional treatment method has been to administer antibiotics and antibacterial agents, and to eliminate bacteria by using an ulcer remedy in combination. It is.

[0004]

By the way, it has been confirmed that Helicobacter pylori exists in the very surface mucosal layer (depth of about 0.5 mm) on the cell surface of the digestive tract.

The inventor of the present invention has proposed a treatment apparatus for removing (sterilizing or sterilizing) harmful bacteria on or near the surface of such a fire extinguisher from a viewpoint different from conventional drug administration. It has been developed.

That is, an object of the present invention is to provide an extremely simple structure for sterilizing bacteria in hollow organs by irradiating ultraviolet rays, at a low cost, in addition to a treatment method by administration mainly of antibiotics and antibacterial agents. It is intended to provide a sterilizer that can be realized.

[0007]

In order to solve this problem, a sterilization apparatus according to the present invention has the following configuration. That is, a sterilizing device that sterilizes by irradiating an affected part of the body with ultraviolet light, a flexible optical fiber for guiding light including ultraviolet light from a light source to a distal end portion, and at the distal end of the optical fiber, A diffusing unit for diffusing the light.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of the endoscope 20 used in the embodiment.

The endoscope 20 has an eyepiece 2 at its distal end.
2. A tube 27 extending to the distal end of the endoscope (an optical fiber for guiding light toward the distal end thereof, an optical fiber bundle for guiding an image of the distal end to the eyepiece 101, and the like are provided. And a handle 23 for adjusting the bending direction near the distal end of the tube 27 is provided. However, when the handle 23 is operated, only the vicinity of the tip of the tube portion 27 is curved. The other portions are curved, but are not affected by the handle 23. In addition, reference numeral 26 denotes a forceps port that communicates with the tube tip 21 and allows the tips of various instruments to reach the affected part.

The illustrated endoscope is not unique to the present invention, but is widely used. In other words, the endoscope used in the present embodiment may be any type as long as it has a forceps port and can observe the affected part.
The reason will be clear from the following description.

In this embodiment, the forceps port 26
By exposing the tip to an appropriate length from the tube tip 21 and irradiating with ultraviolet light sufficient to sterilize or disinfect the human body without affecting the human body, for example, the bacteria present in the gastric mucosa. Is to be sterilized.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a device that produces this effect.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a light source that generates a large amount of ultraviolet light. Reference numeral 2 denotes an optical fiber bundle for guiding light (ultraviolet light) from the light source 1 toward the distal end. Therefore, a bundle of a large number of fibers was used. Reference numeral 3 denotes a mirror for reflecting light from the light source, and reference numeral 4 denotes a lens for guiding the direct light from the light source 1 and the reflected light from the mirror 3 to the optical fiber bundle 2. A mirror section 5 having a mirror 5a for reflecting ultraviolet light is connected (actually, adhesively fixed) to the tip of the optical fiber bundle 2.

The mirror portion 5 itself is made of a transparent member, and a bell-shaped mirror 5a (the surface of which is a mirror) is fixed to the bottom thereof.

The reason why the mirror 5a is formed into a bell shape is that the ultraviolet light guided by the optical fiber bundle 2 can cover a wide range (θ in the drawing).
The reason is that they are dispersed uniformly and almost uniformly. However, in the illustrated structure, there is a blind spot corresponding to the cross-sectional area of the mirror 5a, but the diameter of the optical fiber bundle 2 is only a diameter that can be inserted into the forceps port 26 of the endoscope 20, and is substantially several millimeters. There is no problem because it is a degree. In some cases, endoscope 2
The direction of the distal end portion 21 of the endoscope may be changed by changing the insertion amount of the tube portion 27 of zero or by operating the handle 23 at an appropriate interval.

In fact, when using the sterilizer of the present embodiment, for example, if the object to be sterilized is a human stomach, the endoscope 2
The mirror portion 5 of the sterilizer is first inserted into the forceps port 26 of the endoscope 0, and is drawn out from the distal end portion 21 of the endoscope 20 to a position where the mirror portion 5 is exposed inside the stomach. And light source 1
Is driven to irradiate the inner wall of the stomach with ultraviolet light from the mirror unit 5 for an appropriate time.

In order to set the appropriate time, in the embodiment, as shown in the figure, a timer 6 and a drive unit 7 for driving the light source 1 for the time set by the timer 6 are provided, and the affected part is irradiated with ultraviolet rays more than necessary. Irradiation can be suppressed.

Since the structures of the timer 6 and the drive unit 7 can be easily inferred from the above description, the description is omitted.

Since it is desirable that the optical fiber bundle 2 is smoothly inserted into the forceps opening 26, it is desirable that the side surface is covered with a resin or the like having a low frictional resistance.
In addition, as is apparent from the above description, the entire length of the optical fiber bundle 2 is changed from the forceps port 26 of the endoscope 20 to its distal end 2.
Much longer than the distance to 1.

In the above configuration, for example, an example has been shown in which the interior of the stomach is irradiated with ultraviolet rays over a wide range to sterilize or sterilize the stomach. It will also be necessary to let them.

In this case, at the tip of the optical fiber bundle 2,
For example, it can be dealt with by providing a concave lens as shown in FIG. In the case shown in the figure, since there is no blind spot, it is possible to irradiate a specific portion and an appropriate range surrounding the specific portion with ultraviolet rays while observing with the endoscope 20. Although the irradiation angle is constant, the irradiation range and the intensity of ultraviolet light can be adjusted by changing the distance to the affected part. In addition, a convex lens may be provided instead of the concave lens. That is, if the distance from the affected part is longer than the focal position, the ultraviolet rays will diffuse.

In some cases, it is necessary to selectively use the optical fiber bundle having the distal end shown in FIG. 3 and the optical fiber bundle shown in FIG. 1, but the light source 1, the timer 6, and the driving unit 7 are separately provided for each. It is not necessary to provide
It is advantageous in terms of cost if it can be attached and detached freely.

For this reason, as shown in FIG. 4, the apparatus according to the embodiment is provided with a connecting portion 40 at the rear end of the optical fiber bundle 2, and
An apparatus main body (an apparatus having components 1, 3, 4, 6, and 7 in FIG. 1) 41 is provided with a connection hole 43 shown in FIG.
The connecting portion 40 is inserted into the connecting hole portion 43 and is fixed by rotating. Reference numeral 42 denotes a switch for turning on / off the power supply of the apparatus main body, and reference numeral 44 denotes a knob for the timer 6. When the knob 44 is turned, for example, the knob 44 returns at an appropriate speed.
When the light source 1 reaches the initial position, the light source 1 is turned off. When the knob 44 is rotated by a predetermined angle in the direction opposite to the time setting direction, the knob 44 does not return to its original state, and the power switch 42 is turned off.
As long as N, the light source 1 is kept on.

As described above, the mirror section 5 at the tip of the optical fiber bundle 2 may change its position appropriately even during the irradiation with ultraviolet rays after setting an appropriate time. Is desirable. Therefore, while the light source 1 is being driven by the device 41, means for automatically pushing or pulling the optical fiber bundle 2 by several millimeters to several centimeters may be provided.

In the above embodiment, an endoscope is used.
Although it was intended to sterilize hollow organs such as the stomach, this is because the stomach and the like are not directly visible, and when irradiating ultraviolet rays while confirming relatively shallow parts and X-rays with images etc.,
An endoscope is not necessarily required. In general, however, considerable capital investment is required to be able to view an X-ray image in real time, and therefore it is desirable to use it with an endoscope as described above.

Further, in this embodiment, no particular swing was made, but it goes without saying that it may be performed in combination with the conventional oral treatment.

Furthermore, it is known that bacteria such as "Helicobacter pylori" that infect the digestive tract mucosa such as the stomach are repaired by visible light. In this sense, it is desired to irradiate the digestive tract with only ultraviolet rays, but this cannot be confirmed with the naked eye because there is no visible light. Therefore, observation is performed while making visible light having a wavelength close to ultraviolet light as small as possible and making restoration difficult. However, even in this case, if a human looks over the eyepiece and observes the eyepiece, the eyepiece may be so-called "snow-eyed". It is desirable to observe the image or display an image taken by a video camera on a liquid crystal display or a CRT, and observe the image while viewing the indirect image.

As described above, according to the present embodiment,
Helicobacter pylori, which infects the mucous membrane of the upper digestive tract, is a mucosal layer (approximately 0.5 mm) very close to the surface of the digestive tract
, It is possible to satisfactorily sterilize or sterilize with the ultraviolet light.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, apart from the treatment by administration mainly of antibiotics and antibacterial agents,
Sterilization of bacteria near the surface in the hollow organ by ultraviolet irradiation can be realized with an extremely simple structure and at low cost.

[0031]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural view of a treatment apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an endoscope used in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a modification of the distal end portion of the optical fiber bundle in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a connection relationship between the device and an optical fiber in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Light source 2 Optical fiber bundle 3 Mirror 4 Lens 5 Mirror part 5a Mirror

The continuation of the front page

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A sterilizing apparatus for sterilizing an affected part of a body by irradiating the part with ultraviolet light, comprising: a flexible optical fiber for guiding light containing ultraviolet light from a light source to a distal end portion; And a diffusing unit for diffusing the light. 2. The optical fiber according to claim 1, wherein a diameter of the optical fiber is smaller than a diameter of a forceps port provided in the endoscope, and at least longer than a distance from a forceps port of the endoscope to a distal end of the endoscope. Item 2. The sterilization treatment device according to Item 1. A driving device for driving the light source;
3. The driving device according to claim 1, further comprising a connection portion for detachably fixing the optical fiber.
A sterilization treatment device according to the item. 4. The sterilization / treatment apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the diffusion portion has a structure in which a bell-shaped mirror is directed toward the optical fiber. 5. The sterilizing / treating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the diffusion section is formed by connecting a concave lens to a tip of the optical fiber.