Patent Grant
6878108
The present invention relates to an insertion unit for an endoscope accommodating a plurality of components such as tubes and bundles of optical fibers.
An endoscope has an insertion unit which is to be inserted into a human cavity. The insertion unit generally includes a flexible tube provided at a distal end portion thereof. Generally, the flexible tube is bendable by operation at an operation unit formed at a proximal end portion of the endoscope. Inside the flexible tube, a plurality of components such as tubes and bundles of optical fivers are accommodated.
The flexible tube is configured such that the diameter thereof is as small as possible so as not to provide much pain to a patient during an endoscopic inspection. On the other hand, the diameter of the flexible tube is also determined to have its minimum diameter at which the components inside the flexible tube will not crush each other.
Conventionally, the minimum diameter is determined such that the following condition is satisfied.
Σs/S falls within a range of 0.7-0.8, wherein Σs is the sum of cross-sectional areas of the components inside the flexible tube, while S represents the inner cross-sectional area of the flexible tube.
In the conventional insertion unit configured as above, when the flexible tube is repeatedly bent, the bundles of optical fibers may meander inside the flexible tube and/or may be stretched. In particular, when the optical fibers are stretched, they may be gradually broken and the amount of light for illuminating an object to be observed is lowered. It is generally said that if a rate of damaged optical fibers reaches 10%, the reduction of illumination light affects the observation performance, and that if the rate of damaged optical fibers exceeds 20%, the observation performance will be significantly damaged.
In view of the above, the present invention provides an insertion unit for an endoscope, with which the components inside the flexible tube of the insertion unit will be less damaged, and thus a good observation performance can be maintained over an extended period of time.
According to the invention, there is provided an insertion unit for an endoscope, which includes a flexible tube having an inner diameter D1 and an inner cross-sectional area S, and a plurality of components inserted and arranged in said flexible tube. The plurality of components include at least one optical fiber bundle. The insertion unit is configured such that the inner diameter D1 is not less than 6.5 mm and the inner cross-sectional area S satisfies the condition of 0.5≦Σs/s≦0.6, where Σs represents a sum of cross-sectional areas of the components arranged in the flexible tube. Alternatively, the insertion unit is configured such that the inner diameter D1 is less than 6.5 mm and the inner cross-sectional area S satisfies the condition of 0.5≦Σs/s≦0.65.
The inner diameter D1 of the flexible tube may be the inner diameter at the narrowest portion thereof.
The insertion unit according to the invention may also include a bendable member that is connected to a distal end of the flexible tube and remotely controlled to be bent by an operation unit connected to a proximal end of the flexible tube. In this case, the inner diameter D1 may be the inner diameter in the vicinity of a position where the bendable member is connected to the flexible tube.
Hereinafter, embodiments according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The endoscope 100 includes an insertion unit, which includes a flexible tube 1, a bendable member 2, an operation unit 3 and an optical unit 20.
The flexible tube 1 to be inserted into a human cavity. A proximal end of the flexible tube 1 is connected with a bottom of the operation unit 3, and a distal end of the flexible tube 1 is connected with a bendable member 2. The bendable member 2 is remotely controlled, at the operation unit 3, to bend using wires which will be described later. A reference “L” in
The flexible tube 1 has an inner diameter D1, of 2.2 mm in a plane shown in
The treatment accessory insertion channel 12 is a tube made from tetrafluoroethylene resin, for example. The illuminating optical fiber bundle 13 is a bundle of optical fibers whose diameters is 30 μm, and the image transmitting optical fiber bundle 14 is a bundle of optical fibers whose diameters is 10 μm.
The two guide coils 11 are inserted through the flexible tube 1 and arranged on an inner circumferential surface of the flexible tube 1 at an interval of 180° so that the guide coils 11 are arranged symmetrically with respect to the longitudinal axis of the flexible tube 1. Wires 22 for bending the bendable member 2 are slidably inserted through each of the guide coils 11. The bendable member 2 can be bent in opposite directions (e.g., up and down in
In the first embodiment, the length L of the bendable member 2 is 11 mm and the maximum bending angle of the bendable member 2 is 90° in each of the opposite directions (e.g., up and down directions in FIG. 2).
Further, an inner diameter of the bendable member 2 is substantially the same as the inner diameter D1 of the flexible tube 1.
An experiment is carried out to bend the insertion unit of the flexible tube 1 shown in
Generally, the bendable member 2 is bent by 10-12 times in each direction during one endoscopic inspection. Thus, bending the bendable member 2 for 6000 times in each direction may corresponds to 500-600 times of endoscopic inspection.
The bending test is carried out by varying a ratio Σs/S, where Σs is the sum of cross-sectional areas of the components arranged in the inner space of the flexible tube 1, and S is the cross-sectional area of the inner space of the flexible tube 1 at the plane shown in FIG. 2. The ratio Σs/S is changed by varying the outer diameter of the components arranged in the flexible tube 1, i.e., the guide coils 11, the treatment accessory insertion channel 12, the illuminating optical fiber bundle 13 and/or the image transmitting optical fiber bundle 14, while keeping the inner diameter D1 of the flexible tube 1 maintained constant. The combination of the diameters of the above mentioned components, the ratio Σs/S and the results of the experiments are shown in Table 1.
In table 1, D11, D12, D13 and D14 represent the outer diameters of the guide coil 11, the treatment accessory insertion channel 12, the illuminating optical fiber bundle 13 and the image transmitting optical fiber bundle 14, respectively. The results show ratios of broken fibers in the illuminating optical fiber bundle 13 after the bending test is carried out.
The result is indicated in four levels (A)-(D) which are defined as:
It should be noted that the above definition of the levels also apply to the other tables.
Generally, the observing performance of the endoscope 100 is not seriously affected if the ratio of the broken fibers in the Illuminating optical fiber bundle 13 is less than 10%, but is affected if the ratio is over 10%, and seriously affected if the ratio is over 20%. Thus, it is preferable to keep the ratio of the broken fibers less than 10%.
As can be seen in Table 1, if the flexible tube 1 has an inner diameter D1 of 2.2 mm, the ratio of the broken fibers in the illuminating optical fiber bundle 13 becomes less than 10% if Σs/S≦0.65 is satisfied.
The diameter D1 of the flexible tube 1 on the plane shown in
The bending experiment is carried out in the same manner as in the first embodiment, except that the flexible tube of
In table 2, D15 represents the outer diameter of the air/water feeding tube 15. Note that Σs in table 2 also includes a cross-sectional area of the air/water feeding tube 15.
As can be seen in table 2, if the flexible tube has an inner diameter D1 of 4.45 mm, the ratio of broken fibers in the illuminating optical fiber bundle 13 becomes less than 10%, and therefore the observation performance of the endoscope 100 will not be seriously affected, if Σs/S≦0.66 is satisfied.
The diameter D1 of the flexible tube 1 on the plane shown in
The bending experiment is carried out in the same manner as in the first embodiment, except that the flexible tube 1 of
In table 3, D16 represents the outer diameter of the image signal transmitting cable 16. Note that Σs in table 3 is the sum of the cross-sectional areas of the guide coils 11, the treatment accessory insertion channel 12, the illuminating optical fiber bundles 14 and the image signal transmitting cable 16.
As can be seen in table 3, in the case the flexible tube has an inner diameter D1 of 4.4 mm, the rate of broken fibers in the illuminating optical fiber bundle 13 becomes less than 10% if Σs/S≦0.67 is satisfied.
The diameter D1 of the flexible tube 1 at the plane shown in
The bending experiment is carried out in the same manner as in the first embodiment, except that the flexible tube 1 of
As can be seen in table 4, if the flexible tube has an inner diameter D1 of 5.35 mm, the ratio of broken fibers in the illuminating optical fiber bundle 13 becomes less than 10% if Σs/S≦0.65 is satisfied.
The diameter D1 of the flexible tube 1 on the plane shown in
The bending experiment is carried out in the same manner as in the first embodiment except that the flexible tube 1 of
As can be seen in table 5, when the flexible tube has an inner diameter D1 of 6.4 mm, the rate of broken fibers in the illuminating optical fiber bundle 13 becomes less than 10% if Σs/S≦0.66 is satisfied.
The diameter D1 of the flexible tube 1 on the plane shown in
The experiment is carried out in the same manner as in the first embodiment except that the flexible tube of
As can be seen in table 6, when the flexible tube has an inner diameter D1 of 6.7 mm, the ratio of broken fibers in the illuminating optical fiber bundle 13 becomes less than 10% if Σs/S≦0.6 is satisfied.
The diameter D1 of the flexible tube 1 on the plane shown in
The experiment is carried out in the same manner as in the first embodiment except that the flexible tube 1 of
As can be seen in table 7, when the flexible tube has an inner diameter D1 of 7.8 mm, the ratio of broken fibers in the illuminating optical fiber bundle 13 becomes less than 10% and therefore the observation performance of the endoscope 100 will be not seriously affected, if Σs/S≦0.62 is satisfied.
The diameter D1 of the flexible tube 1 on the plane shown in
The bending test is carried out in the same manner as in the first embodiment except that the flexible tube 1 of
As can be seen in table 6, in the case the flexible tube has an inner diameter D1 of 9.3 mm, the rate of broken fibers in the illuminating optical fiber bundle 13 becomes less than 10% if Σs/S≦0.6 is satisfied.
Though the minimum value of the ratio Σs/S is not limited from the point of view of preventing the optical fibers from being broken by bending the bendable member 2, the ratio Σs/S should not be too small, preferably not less than 0.5, since the outer diameter of the flexible tube is required to be as small as possible to decrease pain inflicted on a patient during an endoscope inspection. Thus, a proper range of Σs/S may be 0.5≦Σs/S≦0.65 for a flexible tube having an inner diameter D1 less than 6.5 mm, and 0.5 5≦Σs/S≦0.60 for a flexible tube having an inner diameter D1 not less than 6.5 mm.
As above, according to the embodiments, an insertion unit for an endoscope is configured such that the following condition is satisfied.
0.5≦Σs/S≦0.6
where, S represents an area of an inner cross-section of a hollow flexible tube for an endoscope, in which a plurality of components are inserted, and Σs represents a sum of cross-sectional areas of the components arranged in the flexible tube, whose inner diameter is equal to or greater than 6.5 mm. An example of an insertion unit having a flexible tube whose inner diameter is equal to or greater than 6.5 mm is one for digestive tubes.
An insertion unit for an endoscope is configured such that the following condition:
0.5≦Σs/S≦0.65
may be satisfied when the inner diameter of the flexible tube is less than 6.5 mm. An example of an insertion unit having a flexible tube whose inner diameter is less than 6.5 mm is one for bronchial tubes.
The present disclosure relates to the subject matter contained in Japanese Patent Application No. P2001-007177, filed on Jan. 16, 2001, which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001-007177 | Jan 2001 | JP | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4784464 | Ouchi | Nov 1988 | A |
| 6585639 | Kotmel et al. | Jul 2003 | B1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 54-18094 | Feb 1979 | JP |
| 63-48243 | Dec 1988 | JP |
| 3-42895 | Jun 1991 | JP |
| 6-17945 | Mar 1994 | JP |
| 7-85129 | Sep 1995 | JP |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20020137985 A1 | Sep 2002 | US |
