JPS6241635A - Endoscope - 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] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to an endoscope.

[Conventional technology]

Regarding endoscopes, conventionally, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 54-31825, Publication of Utility Model Publication No. 56-9466, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 59-181
As shown in Japanese Patent No. 123, etc., first and second inflatable bodies are provided on the outer periphery of a flexible tube that constitutes the insertion section of an endoscope, and each of the first and second inflatable bodies is connected to the operating section. Selective inflation and deflation is achieved by side fluid injection and suction operations. Such selective expansion and contraction provides a propulsive force to the insertion portion, allowing it to be inserted deeply into the intricately curved intestines.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, all of these conventional techniques have the problem that the stroke amount obtained by expansion and contraction is small, and that it takes a long time to insert deeply. The present invention was made in view of these problems, and an object of the present invention is to advance the insertion portion with a large stroke amount.

[Means and actions for solving the problem] In this endoscope, a tapered part 3 is provided at the distal end of the insertion part 1, and
By providing first and second expansion bodies 4, 5 behind the tapered part 3, which can be selectively expanded and contracted approximately radially by fluid feeding and suction operations from the working part side,
The purpose is to obtain a thrust having a large stroke by pushing out the first expansion body 4 by the slope of the tapered portion.

〔Example〕

1 to 4 show a first embodiment of this invention,
In FIG. 1, 1 is an insertion section of an endoscope, and 2 is a distal end component provided at the distal end of the insertion section 1. As shown in FIG. The tip of the tip component 2 is
In addition to being formed into a bottomed cylindrical shape that widens toward the tip, a flange portion 3a is formed at the open end, forming a tapered portion 3 having the flange portion 3a at the tip of the insertion portion 1. . Note that the insertion section 1 is equipped with an illumination system and an observation system (not shown), and the front of the tip component 2 can be observed from an operation section provided on the end side (not shown) of the insertion section 1. It looks like this.

On the other hand, 4 is a first expansion body, and 5 is a second expansion body. These inflatable bodies 4 and 5 are made of substantially cylindrical tubes made of an elastic material such as rubber, of which the first inflatable body 4 is disposed at the root of the tapered portion 3, and the second inflatable body 5 is disposed at the base of the tapered portion 3. It is located immediately behind the first inflatable body 4.

In addition, each of these inflatable bodies 4.5 is fixed to the distal end component 2 by winding a thread 6, that is, by squeezing the thread 6, and the thread-wound part of the first inflatable body 4 is connected to the thread winding on the distal end side. A step is provided so that the thread winding part 6b on the operating section side is at a lower level than the part 6a.

These first and second expansion bodies 4, 5 are connected to fluid transport channels 7, 8 provided inside the insertion section 1, respectively, and the ends (not shown) of each fluid transport channel 7, 8 are operated. Department (
(not shown), and allows the first and second expansion bodies 4 and 5 to be selectively expanded and contracted approximately in the radial direction by performing fluid feeding and suction operations using the operating section. .

Next, the operation based on the above configuration will be explained with reference to FIG.

First, as shown in FIG. 2(a), with the first inflatable body 4 and the second inflatable body 5 deflated, the insertion section 1 is inserted into the body cavity 9 such as the intestine until it reaches the entrance (=approximately f). Then,
In this state, the second
The fluid is introduced into the inflatable body 5. As a result, the same figure (b)
As shown in FIG. 2, the second inflatable body 5 expands and temporarily supports the insertion section 1 within the body cavity 9. Once the second inflation body 5 has been inflated, fluid is then introduced from the operating section to the first inflation body 4 via the fluid transport path 7. As a result, the first inflatable body 4 is adjacent to the first inflated second inflatable body 5 on the inclined surface of the tapered portion 3, as shown in FIG.
It expands to expand the body cavity 9. This is because the first inflatable body 4 uses the second inflatable body 5, which was first inflated, as a barrier.
This is done by further expanding between the tapered portion 3 and the body cavity 9 by the amount of expansion toward the second expansion body 5 side. In this state, a thrust force that pushes the insertion section 1 forward is accumulated. After that, if the fluid in the second inflatable body 5 is sucked from this state by the suction operation of the operation part, the second inflatable body 5 contracts as shown in FIG. It will move forward with a large stroke amount. To explain the mechanism of the stroke, the contraction of the second inflatable body 5 means that the barrier to the first inflatable body 4 described above disappears and the support by the second inflatable body 5 is also eliminated.

As a result, the first inflatable body 4 attempts to move to the part where the second inflatable body 5 has been until now. And at the same time,
The first inflatable body 4 that has been on the tapered portion 3 is pushed out toward the second inflatable body 5 on the slope of the tapered portion 3, and the accumulated force is generated. Therefore, the insertion section 1 is pushed forward by the force at this time, and moves forward within the body cavity 9 with a large stroke amount.

After that, when the first inflatable body 4 is deflated, the original state shown in FIG.
2 (a, ) to (
If the operation d) is repeated as one cycle, the distal end of the insertion section 1 can be efficiently inserted deep into the body cavity 9 in a short time.

In this way, the insertion section 1 of the endoscope can be advanced with a large stroke m. Moreover, by the structure in which a step is provided in the thread winding portion of the first inflatable body 4, and the structure in which the flange portion 3a is provided at the tip of the tapered portion 3, an individual stroke amount can be obtained. That is, the structure in which the step is provided between the thread-wound portion 6a and the thread-wound portion 6b is such that the first inflatable body 4
This has the effect of actively promoting the expansion toward the second expansion body s, and the stroke amount is increased accordingly. Further, the structure in which the flange portion 3a is provided is clear from a comparison between FIGS. 3 and 4. That is, in order to advance the insertion section 1, it is required that the first inflatable body 4 is sufficiently inflated between the tapered section 3 and the body cavity 9, but there is no flange section 3a shown in FIG. If the distal end of the insertion section 1 is tilted, the space 9a on the distal end side between the tapered section 3 and the body cavity 9 cannot be secured, and the insertion section 1 will not inflate sufficiently.

On the other hand, the one with the flange part 3a shown in FIG. It plays a role in increasing the amount.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the first embodiment, but also includes a second embodiment shown in FIG. 5, a third embodiment shown in FIG. 6, a fourth embodiment shown in FIG. 7, and a fourth embodiment shown in FIG. The fifth embodiment shown in FIG. 9, the sixth embodiment shown in FIG. 9, and the seventh embodiment shown in FIG. 10 may be used.

That is, in the second embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the first inflatable body 4 is fixed to the root portion of the tapered portion 3 without any difference in level by winding the thread 6.

In the third embodiment shown in FIG. 6, a first expansion body 4 is provided in the middle of the inclined surface of the tapered portion 3. In the third embodiment shown in FIG.

In this way, the stroke amount can be increased by making full use of the inclined surface of the tapered portion 3.

In the fourth embodiment shown in FIG. 7, a third inflatable body 10 that expands when the first inflatable body 4 and the second inflatable body 5 contract is provided behind the second inflatable body 5. It is something. With such a structure, the third inflatable body 10 can support the state when the first and second inflatable bodies 4 and 5 are contracted, so the third inflatable body 10 can be used to support the insertion section 1. , which offers the advantage of being able to climb vertical walls within body cavities.

In the fifth embodiment shown in FIG. 8, a tapered part 3 including a first inflatable body 4 and a flange part 3a is separately provided symmetrically behind the second inflatable body 5. In this structure, two sets of first inflatable bodies 4.
4 are symmetrical, it brings about the effect that the insertion section 1 can be moved forward and backward.

The sixth embodiment shown in FIG. 9 has a tapered portion 3. Two sets of insertion structures each consisting of a first expansion body 4 and a second expansion body 5 are connected in series. In this way, the thrust can be increased.

The seventh embodiment shown in FIG. 10 is a modification of the sixth embodiment, in which a flexible tube 11 is interposed between two sets of insertion structures to separate them. .

Note that the embodiments are not limited to these embodiments, and the tapered portion and the first.
The second expansion body may be detachably provided in the insertion portion. Specifically, for example, there is a tapered part on the tip of the insertion section and on the adapter body that can be freely inserted and removed.

1st. It is conceivable to attach the tapered part and the first and second expansion bodies to the distal end of the insertion section by providing the second expansion body and detachably attaching the adapter body to the insertion section.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, thrust with a large stroke can be obtained by pushing out the first expansion body by the slope of the tapered portion. As a result, the insertion portion can be advanced with a large stroke amount.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 4 show a first embodiment of this invention,
Fig. 1 is a sectional view showing the detailed structure of the distal end of the endoscope, and Fig. 2 <a), (b), (c). (d) and (e) are schematic cross-sectional views for explaining the operation, Figure 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing the distal end of an endoscope without a flange, and Figure 4 is a contrasting endoscope. 5 is a partial sectional view showing the second embodiment of the invention, FIG. 6 is a partial sectional view showing the third embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 7 is a partial sectional view showing the third embodiment of the invention. FIG. 8 is a schematic sectional view showing a fourth embodiment of the invention, FIG. 9 is a schematic sectional view showing a fifth embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 9 is a schematic sectional view showing a sixth embodiment of the invention. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a seventh embodiment of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Insertion part, 3... Taper part, 3a... Flange part, 4 - 1st expansion body, 5... 2nd expansion body. Applicant's Representative Patent Attorney Atsushi Tsuboi Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8 Figure 9 Figure 10

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A tapered part provided at the tip of the insertion part, and a first and second part provided behind the tapered part that can be selectively expanded and contracted approximately in the radial direction by fluid feeding and suction operations from the operating part side. An endoscope comprising: a second expandable body. (2) The endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the expandable body located on the distal end side of the insertion section is fixed halfway to the inclined surface of the tapered section. (3) The endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the tapered portion has a flange portion at the tip.