JPS6244938B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improvement in a laser scalpel for incising a living body using laser light.

Conventionally, in laser scalpels, laser light irradiation was
The ON/OFF operation is performed using a foot switch or by installing a manual switch on the handpiece of the laser scalpel and operating it with your fingers. However, it turns on and off with the foot switch.
This method ends up using both hands and feet, which makes the operation cumbersome and makes it easy to press the foot switch by mistake, in which case there is a risk of irradiating the laser beam onto a part other than the target area. In addition, when a handpiece is equipped with a manual switch and operated with a finger, the manual switch is operated with the hand holding the handpiece, which may cause the handpiece itself to move and cause the direction of laser beam irradiation to shift. It was difficult to irradiate the target area accurately.

Furthermore, conventional laser scalpels do not allow you to feel the sensation of cutting when pressed like a knife knife, making them difficult to use.

The present invention has been made focusing on the above circumstances,
The purpose is to provide a laser scalpel with good operability that can automatically emit laser light by pressing the handpiece against the site to be incised with a predetermined pressure.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

Reference numeral 1 in FIG. 1 is a laser generator, to which a connector 3 of a laser probe 2 is detachably connected. Inside the laser generator 1, a power supply unit 4 and a laser oscillator 5 are installed. Laser light emitted from the laser oscillator 5 is focused and incident on the rear end surface of a laser guide 7 inserted into the laser probe 2 through an incident focusing lens 6. The laser probe 2 consists of a flexible tube part 8 and a hand piece 9 attached to the tip of the flexible tube part 8. The hand piece 9 is made of a hollow cylindrical member as shown in FIG. I'm learning to grasp this. Further, a large diameter portion 10 is formed on the distal end side of the hand piece 9, and a support 11 is formed on the outer periphery of this large diameter portion 10.
is fitted so that it can move forward and backward. That is, the support body 11 has a cylindrical main body part 12 that fits into the large diameter part 10, and an arm part 1 that integrally projects forward from the main body part 12.
3, so that the arm portion 13 can be pressed against the surface of the site to be incised. Further, the support body 11 is biased to protrude forward by a coil spring 14 as a biasing member interposed between the support body 11 and the hand piece 9. A ring-shaped stopper 15 fitted into the rear end of the support body 11 is held in a protruding state against the rear end surface 16 of the large diameter portion 10 of the hand piece 9.
Further, an emission switch 17 is attached to the hand piece 9 so as to be close to and opposite to the rear end of the support body 11 and for operating a laser beam emission operation. For example, a micro switch is used as the output switch 17, and is fixedly attached to the hand piece 9 by a fixing member 18. Note that the fixing member 18 is fastened and fixed to the handpiece by screws 19. The actuator 20 of the output switch 17 faces the stopper 15, and the support 11
When it retreats, it is pushed in by the stopper 15. That is, by pressing the arm portion 13 of the support 11 against the site to be incised, the support 11 is moved slightly backward by a certain amount in the emission direction, and the actuator 20 of the emission switch 17 is pressed and operated. Note that the lead wires 22 of the emission switch 17 are led to the connector 3 through the inside of the laser probe 2, and are connected to the power supply unit 4 on the laser generator 1 side. On the other hand, a condensing lens 24 is provided at the open end of the large diameter portion 10 of the hand piece 9 with a retaining ring 23 . The condensing lens 24 condenses the laser beam emitted from the distal end surface of the laser guide 7 and focuses it on the site to be incised. Note that the laser guide 7 is covered with a tube 25 and protected from external force.

Next, the operation of the laser scalpel will be explained.

First, in the normal state where the handpiece 9 is held by the operator, the support body 11 is moved forward by the biasing force of the coil spring 14, so the emission switch 17 is not operated. , does not emit laser light. Therefore, when the tip of the arm portion 13 of the support body 11 is pressed against the site A to be incised, the support body 11 moves slightly backward by a certain amount in the emission direction and stops, and the hand piece 9 is positioned in this state. Also, as the support body 11 retreats, the stopper 1
5 operates the output switch 17. When the emission switch 17 is operated in this manner, the shutter of the laser oscillator 5 is opened, and a laser beam is emitted from the laser oscillator 5 and enters the laser guide 7. The laser beam guided through the laser guide 7 is emitted from its distal end surface, and is concentrated and irradiated onto the site A to be incised by the condenser lens 24. Then, by sliding the hand piece 9 while pressing the support body 11 against the surface of the site A to be incised, the site A to be incised can be incised along the moving direction.

On the other hand, when the support body 11 is floated away from the site A to be incised, the support body 11 is moved forward by the coil spring 14, and the emission switch 17 is released. Therefore, the shutter of the laser oscillator 5 is closed and the emission of laser light is stopped.

According to the above embodiment, the laser beam is emitted simply by grasping the handpiece 9 and pressing its support 11 against the site A to be incised, and the emission of the laser beam is stopped by simply releasing the handpiece 9. be able to. In other words, the laser beam emission can be turned on and off using only one hand holding the handpiece 9.
Further, the laser beam emission can be turned on and off by simply moving the hand piece 9 back and forth slightly. Therefore, when the laser beam is turned on and off, the handpiece 9 does not move significantly and its irradiation position does not shift.

Note that the output switch of the present invention is not limited to the micro switch as in the above embodiment, but may have a configuration as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. That is, in this embodiment, a pair of elongated holes 30, 30 are formed in the peripheral surface of the hand piece 9 corresponding to the range in which the stopper 15 of the support body 11 moves.
0 has metal pieces 31, 31 embedded therein as contacts. Further, lead wires 22, 22 are connected to the pair of metal pieces 31, 31, respectively, the hand piece 9 and the support body 11 are made of an electrically insulating material, and the stopper 1 is made of an electrically insulating material.
5 is made of a metal material that is a good electrical conductor. and,
When the support body 11 moves forward, the stopper 15 leaves the metal pieces 31, 31 without touching them, and the support body 11
The stopper 15 contacts both metal pieces 31 and 31 to make them conductive when the metal pieces 31 and 31 move backward. Note that the operation of the output switch 32 has the same effect as in the above embodiment.

Note that the laser guide of the present invention may use not only an optical fiber but also a mirror or lens system.

As explained above, according to the present invention, laser light can be emitted simply by grasping the handpiece of the laser probe and pressing its support against the site to be incised, and it is possible to emit laser light by simply holding the handpiece of the laser probe in the hand and pressing the support body against the site to be incised. If so, the laser beam emission will automatically stop. In other words,
Just by holding the handpiece in your hand and pressing it against or releasing it from the site to be incised, you can automatically turn on and off the laser beam emission. Therefore,
There is no need to perform a special switch operation, and operability can be improved. Moreover, the output switch is turned on,
When turned off, the handpiece does not move significantly and the irradiation position does not shift, making it possible to irradiate the target area accurately and safely. Further, there is no risk of irradiation due to mistaken operation, unlike in the case of conventional devices that use a foot switch.

Furthermore, since it can be operated while being pressed against the site to be incised, it is easy to use and gives a real feeling of cutting.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an overall schematic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the handpiece portion of the same embodiment, and FIG. 3 is the middle part of FIG.
4 is a front view of a hand piece according to another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the hand piece according to the same embodiment. 1... Laser generator, 2... Laser probe, 9
...Handpiece, 11...Support, 17...Emission switch, 32...Emission switch.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A laser probe that receives laser light from a laser generator and guides it to the emission end of the handpiece, and a laser probe that is provided on the handpiece so as to be able to move forward and backward, and that moves back and positions the handpiece by pressing against the site to be incised. 1. A laser scalpel comprising a support body and an emission switch that is operated when the support body is retracted to perform a laser beam emission operation.