Patent Application
20170196434
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an insertion instrument in which an assistance tool attaching portion for attaching an assistance tool is provided in an insertion section, and an insertion device including the insertion instrument and the assistance tool.
2. Description of the Related Art
International Publication No. 2013/038720 discloses an endoscope device including an insertion section extending along a longitudinal axis, and an assistance tool (a spiral unit) which is attached to an assistance tool attaching portion provided in the insertion section. In the endoscope device, the assistance tool rotates about the longitudinal axis when a driving force is transmitted to the assistance tool with the assistance tool being attached to the assistance tool attaching portion. The rotation of the assistance tool while being pressed toward the inner peripheral side causes a propulsion force toward the distal side or the proximal side to act on the insertion section and the assistance tool.
According to one aspect of the invention, an insertion instrument including: an insertion section including an assistance tool attaching portion to which an assistance tool is attached, the insertion section extending from a proximal side to a distal side along a longitudinal axis; a dimension index which is provided on an outer surface of the insertion section, and which indicates a dimension from a distal end of the insertion section; and a position index provided at a reference position, which is spaced from a proximal end of the assistance tool attached to the assistance tool attaching portion at a predetermined dimension to the proximal side, on the outer surface of the insertion section, the position index being an index indicating a position is the reference position.
Advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention, and together with the general description given above and the detailed description of the embodiments given below, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
The first embodiment of the present invention will be explained with reference to
As shown in
An imaging element (not shown in the drawings) such as a CCD is provided inside of the distal portion of the insertion section 3, and the imaging element captures an image of a subject through an observation window (not shown in the drawings) provided on the outer surface of the distal portion of the insertion portion 3. Furthermore, an image signal is transmitted to the image processing device via an imaging cable (not shown in the drawings) extending through the inside of the insertion section 3, the inside of the operation section 5, and the inside of the universal cord 6, and an imaging process is performed by the image processing device. Thus, an image of a subject is generated by the image processing device, and the generated image of the subject is displayed on the display device. Light emitted from the light source device is guided through a light guide extending through the inside of the insertion section 3, the inside of the operation section 5, and the inside of the universal cord 6. The guided light is emitted on the subject through an illumination window (not shown in the drawings) which is provided on the outer surface of the distal portion of the insertion portion 3.
The insertion section 3 includes a base portion 7, and a rotation body 8 that is rotatably attached to the base portion 7 in such a manner that the rotation body 8 rotates about the longitudinal axis C with respect to the base portion 7. The base portion 7 and the rotation body 8 constitute the assistance tool attaching portion to which a spiral unit (an assistance tool) 10 is detachably attached. When the spiral unit 10 is attached to the insertion section 3, the insertion section 3 is inserted through the spiral unit 10, and the outer peripheral side of the base portion 7 and the rotation body 8 are covered with the proximal portion of the spiral unit 10. The spiral unit 10 includes a cylindrical-shaped tube main body 11 extending along the longitudinal axis C, and a spiral fin 12 projecting on the outer peripheral surface of the tube main body 11 toward the outer peripheral side. The spiral fin 12 spirally extends around the longitudinal axis C.
A motor casing 15 is attached to the operation section 5, and an electric motor (not shown in the drawings), which is a drive source, is provided inside the motor casing 15. By performing an operation input with the operation input device (not shown in the drawings), electric power is supplied to the electric motor from the drive control device through electric lines (not shown in the drawings) extending through the inside of the operation section 5 and the inside of the universal cord 6, and the electric motor is driven. When the electric motor is driven, driving force is transmitted to a driving shaft (not shown in the drawings) extending between the motor casing 15 and the base portion 7 inside of the insertion portion 3, and the driving shaft rotates. Thus, the driving force is transmitted to the rotation body 8, and the rotation body 8 rotates about the longitudinal axis C with respect to the base portion 7. When the rotation body 8 rotates with the spiral unit 10 being attached to the assistance tool attaching portion (7, 8) of the insertion section 3, the spiral unit (an assistance tool) 10 rotates about the longitudinal axis C with the rotation body 8. In the present embodiment, a propulsion force in the distal side or the proximal side acts on the insertion section 3 and the spiral unit 10 when the spiral unit 10 rotates with pressing pressure acting on the spiral fin 12 toward the inner peripheral side.
A position index 20 is provided on the outer surface of the proximal portion of the insertion section 3. The position index 20 is located at a reference position that is spaced from the proximal end of the spiral unit (an assistance tool) 10 at a predetermined dimension D0 to the proximal side, with the spiral unit 10 being attached to the assistance tool attaching portion (7, 8), and the position index 20 becomes an index indicating that the position is a reference position. In one example, a predetermined dimension D0 is 40 cm (400 mm), and a position that is 40 cm (400 mm) from the proximal end of the spiral unit 10 which is attached to the assistance tool attaching portion (7, 8) toward the proximal side is defined as a reference position. Accordingly, the position index 20 located at a reference position is separated from the range where the spiral unit (the assistance tool) 10 attached to the assistance tool attaching portion (7, 8) of the insertion section 3 rotates (actuates), in the direction along the longitudinal axis C. In the present embodiment, the position index 20 consists of emphasis lines 21 and 22 that are second lines. The position index 20 may be formed in the same color as or in a different color from the dimension indices Ai. In the present embodiment, the emphasis lines (the second lines) 21 and 22 of the position index 20 are formed thicker than the scale lines (the first lines) Si of the dimension indices Ai. Accordingly, the dimension of each of the emphasis lines (the second lines) 21 and 22 in the direction along the longitudinal axis C is larger than the dimension of each of the scale lines (the first lines) Si in the direction along the longitudinal axis C
Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the reference position (a position that is separated from the proximal end of the spiral unit 10 at a predetermined dimension D0 to the proximal side) matches the position that is 80 cm (800 mm) from the distal end of the insertion section 3 on to proximal side. Thus, the dimension index A8, which is one of the plurality of dimension indices Ai, is located at the reference position. In the present embodiment, the position index 20 is formed by placing the emphasis line 21 adjacently to the distal side of the dimension index A8 and the emphasis line 22 adjacently to the proximal side of the dimension index A8, and the dimension index A8 is located between the emphasis lines 21 and 22 in the longitudinal direction.
Next, the function and advantageous effects of the endoscope (an insertion instrument) 2 and the endoscope device (an insertion device) 1 according to the present embodiment are explained. When the inside of a lumen, such as an intestine lumen, etc. is observed using the endoscope device 1, the spiral unit (an assistance tool) 10 is attached to the assistance tool attaching portion (7, 8) of the insertion section 3, and the insertion section 3 and the spiral unit 10 are inserted into the lumen. At this time, the insertion section 3 and the spiral unit 10 are inserted from an insertion opening, such as the mouth, into the lumen. Then, an operation input is performed by the operation input device (not shown in the drawings) with the spiral unit 10 being located inside of the lumen, the electric motor (not shown in the drawings) is driven, and the driving force is transmitted to the spiral unit 10 as described above. Thus, the spiral unit 10 rotates about the longitudinal axis C. When the spiral unit 10 rotates with the spiral fin 12 being pressed toward the inner peripheral side by the lumen wall, the propulsion force toward the distal side or the proximal side (one side of the direction along the longitudinal axis C) acts on the insertion section 3 and the spiral unit 10. The movability of the insertion section 3 in the lumen is improved by the propulsion force.
In the present embodiment, the position index 20 is provided at the reference position that is separated from the proximal end of the spiral unit (an assistance tool) 10 at a predetermined dimension D0 to the proximal end, and the reference position is indicated by the position index 20. Thus, during the observation using the endoscope device 1, the surgeon can ascertain the position of the spiral unit 10 based on the position index 20. During the observation using the endoscope device 1, the overall length of the spiral unit 10 in the direction along the longitudinal axis C may be located inside of the lumen; even in this case, the surgeon can appropriately ascertain the position of the spiral unit 10 inside of the body lumen based on the position index 20 located outside the body.
For example, the insertion section 3 and the spiral unit 10 (the assistance tool) are inserted into the lumen from the mouth (an insertion opening) using the endoscope device 1 in which a position index 20 is provided at a reference position that is 40 cm (a predetermined dimension D0) from the proximal end of the spiral unit 10 to the proximal side. Herein, the dimension in the lumen (the esophagus) from the mouth (the insertion opening) to the stomach is usually about 40 cm (400 mm), with slight differences among subjects. Accordingly, while the insertion section 3 and the spiral unit (the assistance tool) 10 are moving to the distal side in the lumen, the surgeon appropriately ascertains that the proximal end of the spiral unit 10 reaches the stomach through the esophagus inside of the lumen, based on the move of the position index 20 to the region of near the mouth (the insertion opening) toward the distal side.
Since the position of the spiral unit (the assistance tool) 10 in the inside of the lumen is ascertained based on the position index 20 as described above, there is no necessity of checking the position of the spiral unit 10 by, for example, X-ray radioscopy, etc. Thus, the position of the spiral unit 10 in the lumen can be easily and appropriately ascertained in the present embodiment. For this reason, the workability is improved in the observation of a body cavity using the endoscope device 1.
The indicating state of the position index 20 is not limited to that in the first embodiment. For example, in the first modification shown in
In a configuration in which one of the plurality of dimension indices Ai (for example, A8) is located at the reference position, a position index 20 may be formed by indicating the dimension index (for example, A8) that is located at the reference position in an indicating state different from that of the other dimension indices (for example, Ai other than A8). For example, in the fifth modification shown in
In the foregoing embodiments and modifications, the dimension index A8 is located at the reference position that is spaced from the proximal end of the spiral unit 10 at a predetermined dimension D0 to the proximal side; however, the dimension indices Ai other than the dimension index A8 may be located at the reference position. For example, in a configuration in which the dimension index A7 is located at the reference position, the position that is 70 cm (700 mm) from the distal end of the insertion section 3 to the proximal side corresponds to the reference position that is spaced from the proximal end of the spiral unit 10 at a predetermined dimension D0 to the proximal side.
A configuration in which none of the dimension indices Ai is located at the reference position at which the position index 20 is located may be possible. For example, in the seventh modification shown in
In the foregoing embodiment and modifications, the spiral unit (10) was explained as an example of an assistance tool that is attached to the insertion section (3); however, an assistance tool is not limited to the spiral unit (10). For example, an assistance tool to which a actuation section which is movably provided with respect to the insertion section (3) in a direction along the longitudinal axis C may be attached to the insertion section (3). In the foregoing embodiment and modifications, the endoscope (2) was explained as an example of an insertion instrument; however, an insertion instrument is not limited to an endoscope (2). For example, the foregoing configuration may be applied to an insertion device in which a manipulator is adopted as an insertion instrument.
In the foregoing embodiment and modifications, the insertion instrument (2) includes the insertion section (3) extending from the proximal side to the distal side along the longitudinal axis, and the assistance tool attaching portion (7, 8) to which the assistance tool (10) is attached is provided in the insertion section (3). The dimension indices (Ai) are provided on the outer surface of the insertion section (3) as indices indicating dimensions from the distal end of the insertion section (3). On the outer surface of the insertion section (3), a position index (20) is provided at a reference position that is spaced from the proximal end of an assistance tool (10) attached to an assistance tool attaching portion (7, 8) at a predetermined dimension D0 to the proximal side, and the position index (20) is an index that indicates the reference position.
Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-122964 | Jun 2015 | JP | national |
This is a Continuation Application of PCT Application No. PCT/JP2016/059915, filed Mar. 28, 2016 and based upon and claiming the benefit of priority from prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2015-122964, filed Jun. 18, 2015, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/JP2016/059915 | Mar 2016 | US |
| Child | 15471282 | US |
