WO2012059082A3 - Highly flexible endoscope made of silicone, and method for producing same - Google Patents

Highly flexible endoscope made of silicone, and method for producing same Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2012059082A3
WO2012059082A3 PCT/DE2011/001911 DE2011001911W WO2012059082A3 WO 2012059082 A3 WO2012059082 A3 WO 2012059082A3 DE 2011001911 W DE2011001911 W DE 2011001911W WO 2012059082 A3 WO2012059082 A3 WO 2012059082A3
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
silicone
highly
endoscope
refractive
layer
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/DE2011/001911
Other languages
German (de)
French (fr)
Other versions
WO2012059082A9 (en
WO2012059082A2 (en
Inventor
Jörg Müller
Kristina Kaiser
André BORN
Thorsten Zehlicke
Original Assignee
Mueller Joerg
Kristina Kaiser
Born Andre
Thorsten Zehlicke
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Mueller Joerg, Kristina Kaiser, Born Andre, Thorsten Zehlicke filed Critical Mueller Joerg
Publication of WO2012059082A2 publication Critical patent/WO2012059082A2/en
Publication of WO2012059082A9 publication Critical patent/WO2012059082A9/en
Publication of WO2012059082A3 publication Critical patent/WO2012059082A3/en

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Classifications

    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B1/00—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor
    • A61B1/005—Flexible endoscopes
    • A61B1/0051—Flexible endoscopes with controlled bending of insertion part
    • A61B1/0055—Constructional details of insertion parts, e.g. vertebral elements
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B1/00—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor
    • A61B1/00064—Constructional details of the endoscope body
    • A61B1/0011—Manufacturing of endoscope parts
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B1/00—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor
    • A61B1/00163—Optical arrangements
    • A61B1/00165—Optical arrangements with light-conductive means, e.g. fibre optics
    • A61B1/00167—Details of optical fibre bundles, e.g. shape or fibre distribution
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B1/00—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor
    • A61B1/00163—Optical arrangements
    • A61B1/00165—Optical arrangements with light-conductive means, e.g. fibre optics
    • A61B1/0017—Details of single optical fibres, e.g. material or cladding
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B1/00—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor
    • A61B1/005—Flexible endoscopes
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B1/00—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor
    • A61B1/06—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor with illuminating arrangements
    • A61B1/0661—Endoscope light sources
    • A61B1/0669—Endoscope light sources at proximal end of an endoscope
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B1/00—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor
    • A61B1/06—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor with illuminating arrangements
    • A61B1/07—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor with illuminating arrangements using light-conductive means, e.g. optical fibres
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B1/00—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor
    • A61B1/227—Instruments for performing medical examinations of the interior of cavities or tubes of the body by visual or photographical inspection, e.g. endoscopes; Illuminating arrangements therefor for ears, i.e. otoscopes
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B23/00—Telescopes, e.g. binoculars; Periscopes; Instruments for viewing the inside of hollow bodies; Viewfinders; Optical aiming or sighting devices
    • G02B23/24—Instruments or systems for viewing the inside of hollow bodies, e.g. fibrescopes
    • G02B23/26—Instruments or systems for viewing the inside of hollow bodies, e.g. fibrescopes using light guides
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
    • G02B6/0001—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings specially adapted for lighting devices or systems
    • G02B6/0005—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings specially adapted for lighting devices or systems the light guides being of the fibre type
    • G02B6/0008—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings specially adapted for lighting devices or systems the light guides being of the fibre type the light being emitted at the end of the fibre
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
    • G02B6/04—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings formed by bundles of fibres
    • G02B6/06—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings formed by bundles of fibres the relative position of the fibres being the same at both ends, e.g. for transporting images
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
    • G02B6/10—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings of the optical waveguide type
    • G02B6/12—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings of the optical waveguide type of the integrated circuit kind
    • G02B6/12002—Three-dimensional structures
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
    • G02B6/10—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings of the optical waveguide type
    • G02B6/12—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings of the optical waveguide type of the integrated circuit kind
    • G02B6/13—Integrated optical circuits characterised by the manufacturing method
    • G02B6/138—Integrated optical circuits characterised by the manufacturing method by using polymerisation
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
    • G02B6/10—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings of the optical waveguide type
    • G02B6/107—Subwavelength-diameter waveguides, e.g. nanowires
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
    • G02B6/24—Coupling light guides
    • G02B6/36—Mechanical coupling means
    • G02B6/3616—Holders, macro size fixtures for mechanically holding or positioning fibres, e.g. on an optical bench
    • G02B6/3624—Fibre head, e.g. fibre probe termination
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
    • G02B6/24—Coupling light guides
    • G02B6/36—Mechanical coupling means
    • G02B6/3628—Mechanical coupling means for mounting fibres to supporting carriers
    • G02B6/3664—2D cross sectional arrangements of the fibres
    • G02B6/3672—2D cross sectional arrangements of the fibres with fibres arranged in a regular matrix array
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G02—OPTICS
    • G02B—OPTICAL ELEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS
    • G02B6/00—Light guides; Structural details of arrangements comprising light guides and other optical elements, e.g. couplings
    • G02B6/24—Coupling light guides
    • G02B6/36—Mechanical coupling means
    • G02B6/3628—Mechanical coupling means for mounting fibres to supporting carriers
    • G02B6/3664—2D cross sectional arrangements of the fibres
    • G02B6/3676—Stacked arrangement

Landscapes

  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Surgery (AREA)
  • Optics & Photonics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Biomedical Technology (AREA)
  • General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Pathology (AREA)
  • Nuclear Medicine, Radiotherapy & Molecular Imaging (AREA)
  • Biophysics (AREA)
  • Heart & Thoracic Surgery (AREA)
  • Medical Informatics (AREA)
  • Molecular Biology (AREA)
  • Animal Behavior & Ethology (AREA)
  • Radiology & Medical Imaging (AREA)
  • Public Health (AREA)
  • Veterinary Medicine (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Microelectronics & Electronic Packaging (AREA)
  • Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
  • Astronomy & Astrophysics (AREA)
  • Endoscopes (AREA)

Abstract

The invention relates to a flexible endoscope or an endoscope attachment and to a method for producing same. Until now only glass fiber endoscopes have existed for examining very small channels that are highly sensitive to mechanical or sensory stimuli in particular in medicine, such as the tuba auditiva for example. Said glass fiber endoscopes are flexible but still too rigid to be painlessly inserted into the middle ear for example. Thus, said glass fiber endoscopes carry the risk of hemorrhages and mucous membrane injuries which can lead inter alia to the formation of scars with subsequent chronic middle ear inflammation. A soft, highly flexible endoscope made of silicone would solve said problems and render operations such as those that are currently carried out for diagnostic purposes unnecessary in many cases. The flexibility of the endoscope is achieved by using silicone as the imaging material. The light guides are produced from highly flexible soft silicone that is highly transparent in the light spectrum required for use by applying, pressing, and curing silicones that are initially liquid in layers. Each layer, which has a thickness of only a few micrometers, consists of rib waveguides which have a width and height of a few micrometers and which are made of a highly refractive silicone layer (core) surrounded by a weakly refractive silicone layer (casing), and each strip waveguide of the highly refractive structured layer generates an image pixel. A soft silicone lens (2) which can be produced by curing a drop of silicone on an anti-adhesive coated substrate focuses the image signal onto the waveguide matrix (1). The waveguide matrix (1) and the lens (2) are encased with an optically highly transparent, weakly refractive casing (3). An optically insulating soft material (4), for example silicone, is subsequently applied by spraying, brushing, or the like and cured. Further functions can be realized in said optically insulating layer (4), for example a mechanical control that is realized by thin metal bands, by means of which the distal end of the endoscope can be bent, or channels for feeding and suctioning liquids. Finally, the endoscope is coated with an optically conductive casing which is used to supply light for lighting the object to be observed and which consists of an optically transparent silicone layer or a layer system of optically transparent, weakly and highly refractive silicone layers, wherein a highly refractive shaft 6 can be found between two weakly refractive shafts (5) and (7) so that the light is guided in the highly refractive region (6). The silicone endoscope is suitable for examining very small channels that are highly sensitive to mechanical or sensory stimuli in particular in medicine on the basis of the material properties of the silicone endoscope.
PCT/DE2011/001911 2010-11-01 2011-11-01 Highly flexible endoscope made of silicone, and method for producing same WO2012059082A2 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DE102010049890A DE102010049890A1 (en) 2010-11-01 2010-11-01 Highly flexible endoscope made of silicone and its manufacturing process
DE102010049890.4 2010-11-01

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2012059082A2 WO2012059082A2 (en) 2012-05-10
WO2012059082A9 WO2012059082A9 (en) 2012-07-05
WO2012059082A3 true WO2012059082A3 (en) 2012-09-13

Family

ID=45935568

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/DE2011/001911 WO2012059082A2 (en) 2010-11-01 2011-11-01 Highly flexible endoscope made of silicone, and method for producing same

Country Status (2)

Country Link
DE (1) DE102010049890A1 (en)
WO (1) WO2012059082A2 (en)

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2018200440A1 (en) * 2017-04-24 2018-11-01 The General Hospital Corporation Transnasal catheter for imaging and biopsying internal luminal organs
JP6898471B2 (en) * 2018-01-09 2021-07-07 オリンパス株式会社 Stacked lens array, endoscope, imaging unit

Family Cites Families (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3010357A (en) 1956-12-28 1961-11-28 Wilbur Peters C Flexible light transmitting tube
DE1901484U (en) 1962-07-30 1964-10-01 Karl Storz FLEXIBLE ENDOSCOPE.
DE1901484A1 (en) 1969-01-14 1970-10-29 Hoechst Ag Cardiac active oxyesters of steroid cardenolides and steroid bufandienolides and processes for their preparation
JPS5489749A (en) * 1977-12-27 1979-07-17 Fuji Photo Optical Co Ltd Lighting optical system of endoscope

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
KRISTINA KAISER: "Herstellung eines hochelastischen Tubenendoskops aus Silikon", 7. HAMBURGER STUDENTENTAG ZUR MEDIZIN- UND BIOTECHNOLOGIE, 12 May 2010 (2010-05-12), pages 16 - 17, XP055028887, Retrieved from the Internet <URL:http://www.life-science-nord.net/fileadmin/lsn/pdf/Studententagung/2010_Tagungsband.pdf> [retrieved on 20120605] *

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
WO2012059082A9 (en) 2012-07-05
WO2012059082A2 (en) 2012-05-10
DE102010049890A1 (en) 2012-05-03

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