JPS61234834A - Endoscope system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an endoscope system for performing observation using parent and child endoscopes.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

There are cases in which it is desired to use an endoscope to observe deeper parts of a body cavity from a narrowed site, or to observe narrow lumens (for example, bile ducts, pancreatic ducts, fallopian tubes, ureters, etc.). In this case, conventionally, a large-diameter endoscope (master scope) with a large-diameter treatment instrument insertion hole is inserted in front of the stenosis site or near the narrow lumen, and then the treatment instrument insertion hole is small-diameter endoscope (child scope)
Insert. Then, the distal end of the child scope is led out from the distal end of the parent scope and inserted beyond the stenosis site or into a narrow lumen for each observation.

However, in this case, since the observation using the parent scope and the observation using the child scope are performed separately, there is a problem in that it is difficult to grasp the insertion status of the child scope into a stenotic site or a narrow lumen.

Furthermore, when each of the scope IcTV cameras described above is attached and observed on a monitor, the images on the monitor must be switched and observed separately each time, posing the same problem. Furthermore, in order to observe each scope at the same time, two monitors are required, and if the colors of both monitors are not adjusted accurately, it becomes difficult to make comparative observations, which poses economical and operational problems. There was.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to ensure that the secondary endoscope can reach the insertion site or observation site, and to facilitate operations such as adjusting the monitor. Our goal is to provide a unique endoscope system.

[Summary of the invention]

In the present invention, the observation images obtained by the parent endoscope and the child endoscope are respectively taken by the imaging means, each of these imaging signals is processed by the image mixing means, and each of the above-mentioned images is displayed on the screen of the same monitor. This is an endoscope system that displays images side by side.

[Embodiments of the invention]

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the invention.

In the figure, 1 is a parent endoscope, and 2 is a child endoscope. The parent endoscope 2 consists of a large-diameter flexible endoscope, which includes an insertion section 3, an operation section 4, and a light guide cable 5.
It consists of The light guide cable 5 is connected to the parent light source 6. The insertion section 3 includes a flexible tube 7 and a curved tube 8.
and a tip portion 9. An insertion channel 11 that reaches the distal end portion 9 and opens is formed in the inner part of the parent side. There is.

This insertion channel 11 is connected to the endoscope 2 on the child side.
It is formed to have a relatively large diameter through which the insertion portion 13 of the main body can be passed. Furthermore, a solid-state image sensor is used as a means for observing the endoscopic stomach on the parent side. A solid-state image pickup device (not shown) is provided at the imaging position of the observation imaging optical system (not shown) incorporated in the tip end 9 of the knob, and is configured to convert the observation optical image into an electrical signal. It has become. The signals obtained by imaging in this way are transmitted to the video processor 5 through a signal cable (not shown) inserted between the insertion section 3, the operation section 4 and the light guide cable 5, and a connection cord 14, where the image is converted into a signal.

The secondary endoscope 2 is an endoscope that transmits images using an image guide fiber, and has a small diameter insertion section 13,
It is composed of an operating section 16 and a light guide cable 17. The light guide cable 17 is connected to the slave light source 20. In this secondary endoscope 2, a camera head 19 is attached to an eyepiece section 18 provided on an operation section 16. The camera head 19 is configured to convert the observed image into an electrical signal using a solid-state image sensor or the like. In addition, the camera head 19 is connected to a signal cable 21
It is connected to the camera controller 22 via. The camera controller 22 receives a signal from the camera head 19 and converts it into a video signal.

Meanwhile, the video processor 15 and camera controller 22 are connected to an image mixer 25 via cables 23 and 24, respectively. Furthermore, the image mixer 25 is CR
It is connected via a cord 27 to a monitor 26 consisting of a T.

The image mixer 25 processes the video signal from the parent endoscope 1 and the video signal from the camera head 19 of the child endoscope 2, and displays each of the endoscopes 1 and 2 on the screen 28 of the monitor 26.
The observation images are displayed side by side. For example, a great person observed by the parent endoscope 1 is displayed on the right side, and an image B observed by the child endoscope 2 is displayed on the left side.

For this reason, the image mixer 25 incorporates a frame synchronizer and a digital video processor, and has a reduction function of thinning out pixels when reading an image. Then, by reading out the number of pixels in the video signal from the camera controller 22 on the child side, for example, in the vertical and horizontal directions, a signal for the reduced image of 'A' is created. A reduced image signal of A is created by reading out the number of pixels in the signal in the vertical and horizontal directions.

These reduced images are displayed on the screen 28 of the monitor 26 side by side.

Next, an example of observation inside a body cavity using the above-mentioned endoscope system will be explained.

First, as shown in FIG.
2, insert the insertion section 3 of the parent endoscope 1 up to this side of the stricture 32 and observe the surrounding area. Next, the insertion section 13 of the secondary endoscope 2 is pushed out, and the narrowing section 32 is removed.
Observe the state of the narrowed portion 32 from a close distance, or observe the back and front of the narrowed portion 32.

Then, observation IJA is performed using each of the endoscopes 1 and 2.

Since images B are displayed side by side on the screen 28 of the same monitor 26, each observation image A and H can be easily observed. Therefore, it is possible to see with the t-eye how to advance the secondary endoscope 2, how to aim and insert the endoscope 2 through the stenotic part 32, and to check the position and condition of the affected part. Furthermore, operations can be performed by the same operator without any problems. Furthermore, since both of the observed images A and B are displayed on the same monitor 26, there is no need to adjust each monitor to the same color tone, unlike when multiple monitors are used. In other words, no individual color adjustment is required.

! FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the invention.

In this embodiment, the endoscope 1 on the parent side is of a type in which images are transmitted through an image guide fiber, and a camera head 42 is connected to the eyepiece 41 to obtain a video signal from a camera controller 43. . Further, a camera head 19 is connected to the eyepiece section 18 of the secondary endoscope 2 via a light spectroscopy adapter 44. A spectrophotometer 46 is connected to the divided output end of the spectroscopic adapter 44 via a spectroscopic light guide 45.

The light adapter 44 is provided with a beam splitter 47, which splits the observation light from the secondary endoscope 2 into the camera head 19 side and the spectroscopic light guide 45 side.

The spectrum of the light guided by the spectroscopic light guide 45 is measured by the spectrophotometer 46 . This measurement result is output and displayed by the printer 48. Since photometry can be performed using the small-diameter secondary endoscope 2, accurate spectrum measurement can be performed by selecting only the necessary affected area. In addition, by increasing the observation magnification of the secondary endoscope 2 to reduce the focus on the subject, the distal end 9 of the endoscope 2 can be directed to the affected area 49 in the body cavity as shown in FIG. You may also make contact and observe. In this way, during spectroscopic measurement, the necessary affected area 4
Only 9 can be measured more accurately.

Furthermore, a solid-state image pickup device may be built into the distal end portion 9 of the secondary endoscope 2, and images may be captured using this device. In this case, spectrum analysis is performed using each of the red (B), green (G), and blue (B) signals.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention captures observation images obtained by each of the parent and child endoscopes using the imaging means,
These imaging signals are processed by the image mixing means and displayed side by side on the same monitor screen, making it easy to observe the images observed by each endoscope. Therefore, it becomes easier to insert each endoscope, and it is easier to understand the situation. Furthermore, since images are displayed on the same monitor, color adjustment is easy.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention. 1... Endoscope on the parent side, 2... Endoscope on the child side, 11.
...Insertion channel, 15...Video processor, 2
2... Camera controller, 25... Image mixer,
26...Monitor, 28...Screen, 43...Camera controller.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A parent endoscope having an insertion channel, a child endoscope that can be inserted into the insertion channel, imaging means for respectively capturing optical images obtained by each of these endoscopes, and both imaging means. The present invention is characterized by comprising an image mixing means for processing image signals from the image mixing means and producing signals to be displayed together on the screen of the same monitor, and a monitor for receiving the signals from the image mixing means and displaying the respective images coexisting on the screen. endoscopy system.