JPH1024048A - Surgical hand piece with pressure sensing mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enhance controllability by providing a pressure sensing member in at least a portion of a handle in such a way that it can be pressed from the outside, and providing a pressure detection means which, when pressure is applied to the pressure sensing member from the outside, converts the pressure into an electric signal for output to an electrosurgical device main body. SOLUTION: A hand piece has at its end a needle-shaped electrode 32 connected to a cable 21, a gas pipe 35 into which gas (e.g. argon) is introduced from a gas feeding unit, and an insulating pipe 36 covering their peripheries. A discharge is caused between the needleshaped electrode 32 and a counter electrode plate 37 by application of a high frequency high voltage to the needle- shaped electrode 32, so that the gas ejected from a gas outlet 31 is formed into a plasma and applied to a diseased part to treat the diseased part electrosurgically. In this case, when silicone rubber 25 at a handle is pressed with fingertips, a voltage is produced by the piezoelectric effect of a piezoelectric element 24 and is output to a control part as a pressure detection signal to control the on/off switching of power and an increase or decrease in output value, etc.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a surgical handpiece used in connection with various electrosurgical devices.
More specifically, the present invention relates to a surgical handpiece that can convert pressure into a detection signal and output the signal to an electrosurgical apparatus main body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A so-called electrosurgical treatment for applying a high-frequency electric energy to a living tissue and performing a surgical treatment such as incision of an affected part, coagulation hemostasis, tissue welding and the like has been widely used. An electrosurgical device used for such electrosurgical treatment typically includes a surgical handpiece 10 for applying high-frequency, relatively high-power electrical energy to an affected area, as shown in FIG.
0 and an electrosurgical apparatus main body 1 provided with a high-frequency high-voltage power supply for supplying high-frequency high-voltage power (hereinafter referred to as “working power”) for performing electrosurgical treatment to the affected part to the handpiece. ing.

As shown in FIG. 6, this surgical handpiece has an electrode for plasma generation (plasmaized gas injection device), a blade electrode (electroscalpel device), and a condenser lens (laser knife device) depending on the application. And the like for performing various electrosurgical procedures on living tissue
And a gripper 120 for supporting the action section 130. Conventionally, a push button type switch 125 is built in the grip portion 120, and a user of the handpiece 100 operates the switch 125 with a finger during an electrosurgical operation to thereby perform an electrosurgical operation. On / off control of the operation power output from the apparatus main body 1 to the handpiece operation section 130 and increase / decrease of the output value are performed.

[0004]

However, in a conventional surgical handpiece having such a push-button switch mechanism, the button-type switch must be operated with a finger, so that the user of the handpiece has to operate the electric switch. Frequently, the handpiece must be picked up during the surgical procedure, which is not convenient.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems in a surgical handpiece, and an object of the present invention is to provide a surgical handpiece with improved operability during electrosurgery. is there.

[0006]

In order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, according to the present invention, there is provided an operation section electrically connected to an electrosurgical apparatus main body and for performing an electrosurgical operation on a living tissue and the operation section. A surgical handpiece comprising a gripper for supporting a part, a pressure-sensitive member is provided at at least a part of the gripper so as to be pressurizable from outside, and the pressure-sensitive member is externally pressurized. Is applied to the electrosurgical apparatus main body, the pressure is converted into an electric signal, and the signal is output to the electrosurgical apparatus main body. , "The handpiece of the present invention"). As used herein, the term "pressure-sensitive member" is a general term for a member capable of converting an applied pressure into a potential difference or a change in electrical resistance of the member, and typically includes a piezoelectric substance, but includes Not limited.

In the handpiece of the present invention, when the pressure-sensitive member mounting portion of the grip portion is pressurized from outside the handpiece, the pressure can be converted into a pressure detection signal (electric signal). The detection signal can be output to the electrosurgical apparatus main body as a predetermined control signal. Therefore, according to the handpiece of the present invention, the user presses the pressure-sensitive member mounting site with an appropriate fingertip while holding the handpiece, whereby the conventional surgical handpiece provided with the push-button switch mechanism is provided. It is possible to control various operations of the handpiece during the electrosurgical operation without performing complicated finger movement and handpiece recovery as in the above.

In a preferred aspect of the handpiece of the present invention, the pressing member is constituted by a piezoelectric element containing a piezoelectric material, and by applying pressure to the piezoelectric element,
An electric signal based on the piezoelectric effect of the element is output to the electrosurgical apparatus main body. Where "piezoelectric material"
Is a general term for a piezoelectric substance in which a piezoelectric effect (that is, an electric polarization is generated in response to a stress due to an external force and a voltage is generated) is recognized, and a “piezoelectric element” includes the piezoelectric material, It refers to a piezoelectric element that can convert distortion caused by pressurization of the piezoelectric material into a change in electric field.

In the handpiece according to this aspect, the degree of the piezoelectric effect generated in the piezoelectric material varies depending on the strength of the pressure applied to the piezoelectric material, and the generated voltage value varies. Therefore, according to the handpiece of this aspect, it is possible to change the level value of the pressure detection signal output to the electrosurgical apparatus main body by adjusting the pressure applied to the piezoelectric element from the outside.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of a handpiece according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The handpiece of the present invention according to the present embodiment (hereinafter abbreviated as “the present handpiece”) is provided with the above-described pressure-sensitive mechanism instead of the push-button mechanism of the conventional surgical handpiece 100 shown in FIG. It has a mechanism. The details will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the handpiece 10. As shown in FIG. This handpiece 10 is used for living tissue (affected part).
Is configured to irradiate a gas that has been turned into a plasma, and includes an operating portion 30 including an electrode 32 and a gas pipe 35 (see FIG. 2), and a grip portion 2 that supports the operating portion 30.
0. The handpiece 10 is connected to the electrosurgical device main body 1 via a cable 21 and a connector 22.
Is electrically connected to the power supply unit 1a, and a tube 33 for supplying a plasma gas is connected to the gas delivery pump 2 of the gas supply unit 1b of the electrosurgical apparatus body 1.

FIG. 2 shows the handpiece 10 of FIG.
It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing the front part of FIG. A needle electrode 32 connected to the cable 21 is provided at the tip of the handpiece 10.
And gas (for example, argon) from the gas supply unit 1b of the electrosurgical apparatus main body 1 which communicates with the tube 33.
A gas pipe 35 for introducing (Ar)) and an insulating pipe 36 surrounding the gas pipe 35 are provided. Then, the needle-shaped electrode 32 is supplied from the power supply unit 1a through the cable 21.
By applying a high frequency high voltage to the
Discharge occurs between the electrode 32 and the counter electrode plate 37 (see FIG. 3) separately connected to the electrosurgical apparatus main body 1 serving as a counter electrode of the electrode 32, thereby ejecting the gas from the gas injection port 31 at the tip of the handpiece 10. The gas (Ar or the like) is converted into plasma. Accordingly, the handpiece 10 is brought close to the vicinity of an affected part (a wound, an incision, or the like) of the living body to which the counter electrode 37 is attached, and the affected part is subjected to electrosurgical treatment by irradiating the affected part with the plasma gas. Can be.

On the other hand, as schematically shown in FIG. 3, inside the electrosurgical apparatus main body 1, in addition to a high-frequency high-voltage power supply section 5 having a high-frequency amplifier and a step-up transformer, a control section for controlling the operation of the present electrosurgical apparatus. A control unit 4 is provided, and based on an operation signal input from an action power value setting knob 7, a pump pressure adjustment knob 8 or the like installed on an operation panel 3 (see FIG. 1) of the electrosurgical apparatus main body 1. The power output value supplied from the high-frequency high-voltage power supply unit 5 to the handpiece 10 and the gas supply flow rate of the gas delivery pump 2 are controlled.

Next, a pressure-sensitive mechanism provided in the handpiece 10 embodying the pressure detecting means of the present invention will be described. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.
In a portion of the housing member 23 forming the holding portion 20 of the zero (preferably, a portion to which the fingertip can contact when the user holds the handpiece 10 with one hand) is an insulating silicone having elasticity. Rubber 25 is fitted into the housing member 23 so as to surround the grip portion 20 of the handpiece 10. A thin-film piezoelectric element 24 is mounted inside the silicone rubber 25. The piezoelectric element 24 further includes, as schematically shown in FIG. It is electrically connected to the control unit 4 of the electrosurgical apparatus main body via the main body. As a result, when the user holding the handpiece 10 presses the silicone rubber 25 with a fingertip (see the arrow in FIG. 2), the pressure is applied to the surface of the piezoelectric element 24 and the piezoelectric effect of the piezoelectric element 24 is applied. Voltage. The flow of the electric charge based on the generated voltage is output to the control unit 4 as a pressure detection signal.

As described above, according to the present handpiece 10, since the pressure applied from the outside can be converted into an electric signal and input to the control section 4 of the electrosurgical apparatus main body 1, the use of the present handpiece 10 can be achieved. An operator presses (presses) the silicone rubber 25 with an appropriate fingertip while holding the handpiece 10 without performing cumbersome finger holding as in the conventional surgical handpiece 100 (FIG. 6). Various operations of the handpiece 10 (for example, on / off switching of the output of the working power to the handpiece 10 and increase / decrease of the output value) can be controlled by only the handpiece 10.

Next, a specific example of the on / off control of the working power when the present handpiece 10 is used by being connected to the electrosurgical apparatus body 1 will be described. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the control unit 4 and shows a minimum configuration necessary for implementing the present invention. Therefore, description of the operation control of the electrosurgical apparatus based on the operation signal from the operation panel 3 will be omitted.

The control unit 4 typically comprises a CPU (processor) 41, a ROM 42, a RAM 43, an input processing circuit 44, an output processing circuit 45, and a gas flow control circuit 46. The CPU 41 has a ROM 4
2 controls the entire electrosurgical apparatus main body 1 according to a predetermined control program stored in the main body 2. The control program includes a program for controlling power output to the handpiece 10 or on / off of the gas delivery pump 2 by the pressure-sensitive mechanism of the handpiece 10. The RAM 43 temporarily stores input / output signals to be processed in the control program. The input processing circuit 44 receives the pressure detection signal sent from the handpiece 10, converts the pressure detection signal into a data format that can be processed in the control unit 4, and
Transfer to 3. The output processing circuit 45 is a circuit for supplying working power from the high-frequency high-voltage power supply unit 5 to the operation unit of the handpiece 10 according to output control data sent from the CPU 41 via the bus 49. Gas flow control circuit 46
Is a circuit for controlling the increase and decrease of the pressure of the gas delivery pump 2 in accordance with the gas flow control data sent from the CPU 41 via the bus 49.

Next, the processing procedure of ON / OFF control of the working power and adjustment of the output value based on the pressure-sensitive mechanism of the handpiece 10 will be described with reference to a flowchart (FIG. 5). The processing procedure shown in FIG.
This is realized by the CPU 41 executing the control program stored in the OM 42. Further, these processing procedures are executed at a very short fixed period (for example, 1 millisecond). Hereinafter, a specific description will be given along each processing procedure shown in FIG.

When a pressure is applied to the piezoelectric element 24 mounted on the handpiece 10, a pressure detection signal (generated voltage) based on a piezoelectric effect corresponding to the pressure is transmitted and detected by the control unit 4 (step). S1). Next, the value of the detected generated voltage is a predetermined voltage value (for example, 50 m
V: Hereinafter, "threshold". ) Is determined (step S2), and if so, an output value setting process (step S3) is performed. Specifically, the output value of the working power to be output to the handpiece 10 is determined based on the difference between the generated voltage and the threshold. Then, the action power is output to the handpiece 10 based on the set value determined in this process (step S4). After the output processing, the generated voltage is continuously monitored to detect a change in the generated voltage (step S5). At this time, if a value larger than the threshold value is continuously detected, steps S3 and S4 are repeated, and the output level of the working power is adjusted according to the generated voltage. On the other hand, step S5
If the generated voltage is equal to or less than the threshold value or the output voltage is no longer detected in
While continuing the action power output in 4, the monitoring of the generated voltage is further continued (step S6). here,
If it is determined again that the generated voltage has exceeded the threshold value, the output of the working power is stopped based on this (step S7).

That is, the above steps S1 to S
7 is executed, the user of the handpiece 10 can use the piezoelectric element 24 mounted on the handpiece 10.
To the handpiece 10 by applying a constant pressure to the handpiece 10 (ie, a pressure at which a generated voltage exceeding the threshold value is obtained). By doing so, the output value of the working power can be changed (step S1 described above).
-Step S5). At this time, the user does not need to continue the pressurizing operation without interruption during use of the handpiece 10, and the supply of the working power is continued even after the pressurizing operation is stopped (loop of step S6). Then, the supply of the working power can be stopped by applying a constant pressure again (steps S6 to S7).

In the above, a preferred embodiment of the handpiece of the present invention in which the piezoelectric element is mounted on the holding portion has been described. However, the handpiece of the present invention can be externally pressurized in at least a part of the holding portion. It is sufficient that a pressure-sensitive member is provided and the above-described pressure detecting means is provided, and the present invention is not limited to the above-described handpiece described with reference to the drawings. For example, a plurality of piezoelectric elements having different materials and / or contents of the piezoelectric material may be provided in the grip portion by means similar to the above-described embodiment. According to the handpiece of this aspect, the material of the piezoelectric material and / or
Alternatively, since the degree of the piezoelectric effect can vary depending on the content, the generated voltage value per unit pressure can be varied according to the portion to be pressed of the holding portion to which the piezoelectric element is mounted.

In the above-described embodiment, a thin-film piezoelectric element is used as a good example of the pressure-sensitive member. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a shape change of the housing member or a control circuit may be used. According to the change of
Various shapes of piezoelectric elements and other pressure-sensitive members (for example, pressure-sensitive conductive rubber and piezoelectric resistance elements) can be applied. Furthermore, the flowchart shown in FIG. 5 is merely an example of the working power control means using the pressure-sensitive mechanism of the present invention, and the above R
Various control means can be taken according to the change of the control program stored in the OM. These are merely design items of those skilled in the art based on the disclosure information in the present specification and the drawings, and do not depart from the present invention.

[0023]

According to the handpiece of the present invention, it is possible to convert the pressure into an electric signal and output the electric signal to the electrosurgical apparatus by pressing the pressure-sensitive member mounting portion of the grip portion from the outside with a fingertip. it can. Therefore, according to the handpiece of the present invention, the user can hold the handpiece with the above-mentioned feeling while holding the handpiece without complicated movement of fingers and re-holding of the handpiece as in the conventional surgical handpiece. By pressing the pressure member mounting site, various operations of the handpiece can be controlled during electrosurgery.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a surgical handpiece according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a main part of a front part of a surgical handpiece according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an electrosurgical apparatus control unit according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of control of the handpiece of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a conventional surgical handpiece connected to an electrosurgical device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electrosurgical apparatus main body 4 Control part 10, 100 Handpiece 20, 120 Grip part 30, 130 Working part 23 Housing member 24 Piezoelectric element 25 Silicone rubber 32 Electrode

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Teruyuki Matsui 28, Kitaimaji Setona, Onishi City, Aichi Prefecture

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An electrosurgical device which is electrically connected to a main body of an electrosurgical device,
What is claimed is: 1. A surgical handpiece comprising an operating portion for performing an electrosurgical treatment on a living tissue and a grip portion for supporting the operating portion, wherein at least a part of the gripping portion is capable of being externally pressurized. When pressure is externally applied to the pressure-sensitive member, the pressure-sensitive member has a pressure detecting means for converting the pressure into an electric signal and outputting the signal to the electrosurgical apparatus main body. A surgical handpiece with a pressure-sensitive mechanism. 2. The surgical handpiece according to claim 1, wherein the pressing member is formed of a piezoelectric element containing a piezoelectric material, and the piezoelectric effect of the element is obtained by applying pressure to the piezoelectric element. A surgical handpiece with a pressure-sensitive mechanism, wherein an electric signal based on the signal is output to the electrosurgical apparatus main body.