KR20140120669A - Catheter having enhanced steering performance - Google Patents

Abstract

With respect to a catheter according to the present invention, a wire passing through an inside of a tube has a joint structure, and thus a front portion of the tube is much more bent based on a joint part, and the end portion of the tube is more accurately steered toward a desired position, thereby improving the accuracy of inspection or surgery. In addition, the joint wire according to the present invention is composed of a support wire and a bending wire, whereby the support wire minimizes the loosing of the joint wire although the overall length of the joint wire is increased, and thus the joint wire according to the present invention can solve the restriction to the length of the joint wire and can be inserted into deeper sites in the human body.

Description

Catheter having enhanced steering performance "

The present invention relates to a catheter, and more particularly to a catheter having improved steering performance that can be more accurately steered to a surgical or examination position.

In general, a catheter is a tube-like instrument for insertion into a body cavity or organ, mainly during surgery, and is also referred to as a probe. The catheter may be made of various materials, sizes and shapes depending on the use. The catheter is made of rubber, plastic or metal. The catheter is mainly used for discharging the contents in various body organs such as the body cavity or organs, for injecting drugs or cleaning liquid into the body or for inspecting the body organs.

The conventional catheter includes a catheter for injecting a drug, which is made of an elongated tube and is capable of injecting a drug into the tube, and a plastic optical fiber inserted into the tube, Catheters. In the conventional catheter, since the tube is formed into a very thin and long shape, there is a problem that the injection and inspection of the drug can not be performed simultaneously through one tube. Therefore, the drug injecting catheter and the inspecting catheter must be separately provided, and the two need to be sequentially used alternately, which is cumbersome to use and delays the operation time. On the other hand, when both the drug injection and the examination are made possible through the one tube, the size of the tube is enlarged to enlarge the surgical site, and the operability of the catheter is lowered, .

Korean Patent No. 10-1219710 discloses an abnormality detection probe and an inspection apparatus.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a catheter that is simple in structure and easy to steer, and can improve ease of use and accuracy of surgery or examination.

A catheter according to the present invention comprises: a tube which is elongated and inserted into a body; an operation device which is combined with the tube and is operated by a user; and at least one position And a joint wire for bending the tube about the joint part when the operation device is operated.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a catheter comprising: a tube having an elongated shape formed into a body and having a plurality of channels formed therein; an operating device coupled to the tube and operated by a user; A hollow supporting wire arranged to penetrate through any one of the plurality of channels; and a bending wire formed of a bending wire having a diameter smaller than that of the supporting wire and having a long length and passing through the supporting wire and fixed to an end of the tube, At least one optical fiber coupled to an end of the tube, the cap having an end fixed to the end of the bending wire, the at least one optical fiber disposed to penetrate the other of the plurality of channels, And a drug supply pipe connected to the other one of the plurality of channels to supply the drug.

The catheter according to the present invention is formed such that the wire passing through the inside of the tube has a joint structure so that the front portion of the tube is bent more about the joint portion so that the end portion of the tube is more accurately Steering is possible, and the accuracy of the test or surgery can be improved.

In addition, since the joint wire according to the present invention is constituted by the support wire and the bending wire, even if the total length of the joint wire becomes long, the sagging phenomenon is minimized by the support wire, It has the advantage that it can be inserted from the inside of the body to a deeper place.

Further, since the catheter according to the present invention has a cap mounted on the end of the tube, and the end of the articulated wire is coupled to the cap and is fixed more firmly, the end of the articulated wire is separated or broken The development is prevented and the durability can be improved.

In addition, the catheter according to the present invention has an advantage that it is possible to make more accurate photographing by widening the angle of view without attaching a separate stove, by polishing the front surface of the cap and the optical fiber to have a predetermined curvature.

In addition, the catheter according to the present invention has a plurality of channels formed in one tube, which allows both drug injection and imaging through a single tube, which is easy to use and advantageous in that the operation or examination time can be shortened have.

1 is a side view of a catheter according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the catheter shown in Figure 1;
Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of the tube shown in Figure 2;
4 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of the tube shown in Fig.
5 is a side view of the articulated wire shown in Fig.
6 is an enlarged view of a portion A in Fig.
7 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of the cap shown in Fig.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a side view of a catheter 10 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view of the catheter shown in Figure 1;

1 and 2, a catheter 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a handle 20, a tube 30, a joint wire 40, an optical fiber 50, a cap 60, (70).

The handle 20 is a handle portion formed to be held by the user. The handle 20 is provided with a steering rotor 24 to which the articulated wire 40 is coupled and a steering lever 22 connected to the steering rotor 24. The steering lever 22 is disposed such that its upper end is exposed to the outside of the handle 20. The steering rotor 24 is rotatably installed inside the handle 20. When the user pulls the steering lever 22, the steering rotor 24 is rotated to pull the joint wire 40. When the articulated wire 40 is pulled, the tube 30 is bent.

The tube (30) is coupled to the handle (20). The tube 30 is elongated and inserted into the body. The diameter of the tube 30 is about 2.5 mm, for example.

Referring to FIG. 3, the tube 30 is formed with a plurality of channels such that the joint wire 40, the optical fiber 50, a drug, and an inspection instrument pass through. The plurality of channels are long passages formed along the longitudinal direction of the tube 30. Here, the plastic optical fiber (POF) 50 includes a camera optical fiber 52 and an illumination optical fiber 54, for example. Accordingly, the plurality of channels may include one first channel 34 through which the drug and the examination instrument pass, and a second channel 34 through which the optical fiber 52 for a camera, the optical fiber for illumination 54, 31, 32, and 33, respectively, formed to pass through the first channel 31 and the second channel 31, respectively. That is, in the present embodiment, the plurality of channels are four in total, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the number of channels may be determined depending on the number of inspectors inserted into the tube 30 or the number of the optical fibers 50 The number can be set. In addition, the drug and the examining device may be selectively passed through one of the first channels 34, but the present invention is not limited thereto. The channel through which the drug passes and the channel through which the examining device passes It is of course possible to form them.

The first channel 34 is formed in a semicircular shape so that the drug supply is smooth and the inspecting instrument or the like can smoothly enter and exit the apparatus. A drug supply pipe 70 is connected to the first channel 34 to communicate with the first channel 34. The drug supply pipe 70 is detachably coupled to the first channel 34 so that the drug supply pipe 70 can be detached when the inspecting device is to be inserted through the first channel 34.

The second channels 31, 32 and 33 include a wire channel 31 having a circular shape with the articulated wire 40 passing therethrough and a circular channel through which the optical fiber 52 for a camera passes, And an optical fiber channel 33 for illumination which passes through the illumination optical fiber 54 and has a circular shape.

4 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of the tube shown in Fig.

Referring to FIG. 4, it is also possible that the first channel 36 through which the drug or the examination instrument passes is formed in a circular shape among a plurality of channels formed in the tube 30. However, it is preferable that the drug supply is smooth and has a circular shape having a diameter larger than that of the second channels 31, 32, and 33 so that the inspection apparatus can be inserted.

5 is a side view of the articulated wire shown in Fig.

2 and 5, both ends of the articulated wire 40 are fixed to the end of the tube 30 and the handle 20, respectively. Inside the tube 30, . The joint wire 40 is formed so as to be bent around the joint B when the steering lever 22 of the handle 20 is manipulated by forming a joint part B that functions as a joint in at least one position . Hereinafter, in the present embodiment, the joint wire 40 will be described as having a joint portion B at one position. However, the joint wire 40 may have a joint portion B at a plurality of positions depending on the length or use of the joint wire 40 May be provided.

The articulated wire 40 has a plurality of wires having different diameters joined together in a line. The plurality of wires may have different diameters and lengths and may be coupled in a row, or may be formed to have different diameters and lengths so that at least some of the wires are overlapped. In the present embodiment, the plurality of wires are coupled to each other such that the diameter and the length are different from each other and a part of the wires are overlapped. A portion of the wire having a difference in diameter constitutes the joint portion (B). That is, the portion of the wire having a difference in diameter becomes a step, and the wire is bent around the stepped portion, so that the step acts as a joint.

The joint wire 40 includes a support wire 41 fixed to the handle 20 and a bending wire 42 having a smaller diameter and longer length than the support wire 41.

The supporting wire 41 has a sleeve shape, and the bending wire 42 passes through the supporting wire 41. The diameter d2 of the support wire 41 is about 1 mm, for example.

The bending wire 42 passes through the support wire 41 and has one end fixed to the handle 20 and the other end fixed to the end of the tube 30. In the present embodiment, the other end of the bending wire 42 is fixed to the cap 60, which will be described later, at the end of the tube 30, for example. The diameter d1 of the bending wire 42 is about 0.4 mm, for example. The length of the portion of the bending wire 42 exposed to the outside of the support wire 41 is about 1/3 of the total length L of the joint wire 40. The bending wire 42 is arranged to be movable radially in the hollow 41 a of the support wire 41. That is, the bending wire 42 and the end portion 41b of the support wire 41 are not fixed, and the bending wire 42 is easily bent.

6 is an enlarged view of a portion A in Fig.

Referring to FIG. 6, the cap 60 is coupled to the end of the tube 30. A drug supply hole 61 communicating with the first channel 34 is formed on one side of the cap 60 and the optical fibers 50 and the articulated wire 40 are fixed on the other side. The optical fibers 50 are exposed on the front surface of the cap 60. The surfaces of the cap 60 and the optical fibers 50 are polished together with a curved surface, do.

The entire surface of the cap 60 and the optical fibers 50 is formed into a curved surface 60a having a predetermined curvature, so that the angle of view can be widened because it functions as a convex lens.

The joint wire 40 and the optical fibers 50 are not directly coupled to the tube 30 but are fixed to the cap 60 at the end of the tube 30, have.

7 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of the cap shown in Fig.

Referring to FIG. 7, it is also possible to attach a separate wide-angle lens 62 to the front surface of the cap 60 to widen the angle of view.

The operation according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described as follows.

First, after inserting the tube 30 into the body, the user can manipulate the steering lever 22 to steer the end of the tube 30 toward a desired position.

When the steering lever 22 is pulled, the steering rotor 24 rotates in the clockwise direction to pull the joint wire 40. When the joint wire 40 is pulled, the bending wire 42 is bent upwardly about the joint B. Since the end of the bending wire 42 is fixed to the cap 60, the tube 30 is pulled by the bending wire 42 and bent upward.

Since the articulated wire 40 has a double structure and only a part of the bending wire 42 corresponding to the front portion of the articulated wire 40 is bent, There is an advantage that it can be bent very much. When the front portion of the articulated wire 40 is bent well, the end portion of the tube 30 can be more accurately directed toward a desired position, so that the accuracy of the examination or surgery can be improved.

Further, the support wire 41 serves to support the bending wire 42. Therefore, even if the total length L of the articulated wire 40 becomes long, the deflection of the tube 30 is minimized, and the limitation of the length of the articulated wire 40 can be solved. Therefore, There is an advantage that it can be inserted into place.

In addition, the catheter 10 has a plurality of channels 31, 32, and 33 formed in one tube 30 so that drug injection and imaging can be performed through one tube 30 So that it is easy to use, and the operation or inspection time can be shortened.

The catheter 10 can be fixed more firmly because the cap 60 is attached to the end of the tube 30 and the joint wire 40 is fixed to the cap 60 The end of the articulated wire 40 is prevented from being separated or broken even by repeated use, so that the durability can be improved.

While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Accordingly, the true scope of the present invention should be determined by the technical idea of the appended claims.

10: catheter 20: handle
22: Steering lever 30: Tube
40: joint wire 41: support wire
42: banding wire 50: optical fiber
60: cap

Claims (13)

A tube formed to be elongated and inserted into the body;
An operating device coupled to the tube and adapted to be operated by a user;
A catheter including a joint wire which is disposed along the longitudinal direction in the longitudinal direction of the tube and has joints functioning as a joint at at least one position so as to bend the tube about the joints when the operation device is operated, . The method according to claim 1,
The joint wire
Wherein a plurality of wires having diameters different from each other are arranged in a row, and a portion where the diameters of the wires are different from each other constitute the joint. The method according to claim 1,
The joint wire
A support wire fixed to the operating device and formed in a sleeve shape,
And a banding wire having a diameter smaller than the support wire and having a longer length, penetrating the support wire, and having opposite ends fixed to the manipulation device and the end of the tube. The method of claim 3,
The banding wire
And is disposed radially movably within the support wire. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
Further comprising a cap coupled to an end of the tube,
And an end of the articulating wire is secured to the cap. The method of claim 5,
Further comprising at least one optical fiber disposed to penetrate the tube and having an end exposed at a front surface of the cap,
Wherein an end of the optical fiber is secured to the cap. The method of claim 6,
Wherein the cap and the front surface of the optical fiber are polished together to form a curved surface having a predetermined curvature and projecting forward. The method of claim 6,
And a wide angle lens is attached to a front surface of the cap where the optical fiber is exposed. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The tube may comprise:
A catheter, a drug, an inspection instrument, an optical fiber, and a plurality of channels are formed through the joint wire. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the plurality of channels comprises:
A first channel having a semicircular cross section so as to pass at least one of the drug and the examination instrument,
And a plurality of second channels each having a circular cross-section so as to pass the optical fiber and the articulated wire, respectively. The method of claim 9,
Further comprising a cap coupled to an end of the tube,
And an end of the articulating wire is secured to the cap. The method according to claim 1,
The above-
A handle coupled to the tube and configured to be user-
A steering rotor rotatably installed in the handle, to which the joint wire is fixed,
And a steering lever projecting outwardly from the steering wheel in the steering rotor, the steering lever being operated by a user. A tube formed into an elongated shape and inserted into the inside of the body and having a plurality of channels formed therein;
An operating device coupled to the tube and operated by a user;
A hollow support wire fixed to the operating device and disposed to penetrate any one of the plurality of channels; a hollow support wire having a smaller diameter than the support wire and having a longer length to penetrate the support wire and to be fixed A double wire made of a bending wire;
A cap coupled to an end of the tube and to which an end of the banding wire is fixed;
At least one optical fiber disposed to penetrate the other one of the plurality of channels and having an end exposed at a front surface of the cap;
And a drug delivery tube communicating with another one of the plurality of channels to supply the drug.

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