The present invention relates to an overtube and a manipulator system.
In the related art, there is a known overtube having a plurality of channels through which an endoscope and a manipulator are made to pass in an accommodated state (for example, see PTL 1). In this overtube, movable portions that change the shapes of the channels themselves are provided at distal ends of the channels.
An overtube according to an aspect of the present invention includes: a distal-end-side tubular portion that is provided with a first channel through which a manipulator is made to pass and a second channel through which an endoscope is made to pass, and that has flexibility to be driven in accordance with motions of the endoscope; and a proximal-end-side tubular portion that extends the first channel toward a proximal-end side from a proximal end of the distal-end-side tubular portion, wherein distal-end openings of the first channel and the second channel are provided at a distal end of the distal-end-side tubular portion, a proximal-end opening of the second channel is provided at the proximal end of the distal-end-side tubular portion, and a proximal-end opening of the first channel is provided at a proximal end of the proximal-end-side tubular portion.
An overtube 4 and a manipulator system 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
As shown in
As shown in
The movable portions 11 are provided with: treatment portions 13 that are disposed at the most distal ends thereof and that treat an affected site in the body by acting thereon; and a plurality of joints 14 that change positions of distal-end positions of the treatment portions 13 and orientations thereof.
As shown in
As shown in
The second housing 18 is provided with a proximal-end opening 22 into which the endoscope 2 is inserted.
In addition, as shown in
The overtube 4 according to this embodiment is not provided with a movable portion that is moved by means of a driving force. The second channel 9 of the overtube 4 has an inner diameter that is slightly greater than the outer diameter of the endoscope 2, and thus, the endoscope 2 can easily be inserted thereinto in the longitudinal direction. In addition, the distal-end-side tubular portion 15 is configured so that, when a bending portion provided at the distal end of the endoscope 2 is bent, the distal-end side tubular portion 15 is allowed to bend in accordance with the bending thereof.
As shown in
In addition, the third housing 19 of the overtube 4 is configured so as to be attached to the driving-portion main body 24 in a detachable manner by means of an attachable/detachable portion 43 provided between the third housing 19 and the driving-portion main body 24.
An operation of the thus-configured overtube 4 and manipulator system 1 according to this embodiment will be described below.
In order to treat an affected site in a body by using the manipulator system 1 according to this embodiment, the endoscope 2 is made to pass through the overtube 4 in advance, the endoscope 2 is inserted into the body first, and the overtube 4 is subsequently inserted into the body along the endoscope 2. By repeating this procedure, the endoscope 2 and the overtube 4 are inserted to a location at which the affected site exists in the body.
Then, after reaching the peripheral area of the affected site, the distal ends of the two manipulators 3, which are inserted into the first channels 8 from the proximal-end openings 23 provided in the third housing 19, are placed near the distal-end openings 20 of the first housing 17 of the distal-end-side tubular portion 15, and the distal end of the endoscope 2, which is inserted into the second channel 9 from the proximal-end opening 22 provided in the second housing 18, is placed near the distal-end opening 21 of the first housing 17.
Then, in a state in which the distal end of the overtube 4 is placed close to the affected site in the body, the operator A makes the distal end of the endoscope 2 protrude from the distal-end opening 21 of the second channel 9, and makes the distal ends of the two manipulators 3 respectively protrude from the distal-end openings 20 of the first channels 8. In this state, the third housing 19 of the proximal-end-side tubular portion 16 is secured to the driving-portion main body 24, and the manipulator-side driving portions 25 are attached to the driving-portion main body 24.
In a state in which the movable portions 11 at the distal ends of the manipulators 3 are placed in the field of view of the endoscope 2, the operator A manipulates the operating portions 5 while checking images acquired by the endoscope 2 on the monitor 7. The controller 6 controls the motors in the driving-portion main body 24 on the basis of the amount of manipulation input via the operating portions 5 to drive the movable portions 11 of the manipulators 3, and thus, it is possible to treat the affected site.
In this case, if the treatment portions 13 are not appropriately oriented with respect to the affected site, although it is possible to change the orientations of the treatment portions 13 by driving the respective joints 14 of the movable portions 11 of the manipulators 3 by manipulating the operating portions 5, it is possible to change the orientation of the first housing 17 itself by bending the distal-end-side tubular portion 15 of the overtube 4 in accordance with bending of the bending portion of the endoscope 2 by driving the bending portion of the endoscope 2.
Because the first housing 17 is provided with the distal-end opening 21, from which the distal-end portion of the endoscope 2 is made to protrude, and the distal-end openings 20, from which the distal-end portions of the manipulators 3 are made to protrude, it is possible to change the orientations of the movable portions 11 of the manipulators 3 as a whole motion by changing the orientation of the first housing 17.
In other words, with the overtube 4 according to this embodiment, because the orientations of the treatment portions 13 provided in the movable portions 11 of the manipulators 3 are changed by driving the endoscope 2, it is not necessary to provide a driving mechanism which has driving-power transmitting members such as wires or the like in the overtube 4 itself.
Therefore, with the overtube 4 and the manipulator system 1 according to this embodiment, when using the entire overtube 4 as a disposable component, it is not necessary to connect or disconnect the driving mechanism, and, because connection to and removal from other parts are performed without requiring excessive time and effort, there is an advantage in which it is possible to realize good maneuverability.
Note that, in this embodiment, although the overtube 4 in which the distal-end-side tubular portion 15 and the proximal-end-side tubular portion 16 are integrated has been described as an example, alternatively, as shown in
In this case, it is not necessary to connect or disconnect the driving mechanism when attaching/detaching the distal-end-side tubular portion 15 to/from the proximal-end-side tubular portion 16, and thus, there is an advantage in which it is possible to employ a disposable component only for the distal-end-side tubular portion 15 and to perform connection and separation thereof without excessive time and effort.
In addition, in the case in which the affected site is large and it is necessary to adjust the position of the distal-end position of the overtube 4 in the body of the patient P, the manipulators 3 need to be pulled out of the overtube and to perform manipulation such as pushing, pulling, twisting, or the like of the overtube 4 at the proximal-end side thereof. At this time, such manipulation can be performed without having to swivel the proximal-end-side tubular portion 16 if it is possible to detach the proximal-end-side tubular portion 16 from the distal-end-side tubular portion, and thus, it is possible to realize better maneuverability.
In addition, although the embodiment which has the overtube 4 having the two first channels 8 through which the two manipulators 3 are made to pass is described above, one or three or more first channels 8 may be provided and one or more manipulators 3 may be made to pass therethrough.
In addition, in the case in which the distal-end-side tubular portion 15 and the proximal-end-side tubular portion 16 are connected in a detachable manner, if two or more first channels 8 are provided, it is necessary to make sure the correspondence relationship that the first channels 8 in the distal-end-side tubular portion 15 and the first channels 8 in the proximal-end-side tubular portion 16 are correctly connected. In such a case, as shown in
Next, an overtube 29 according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
In describing this embodiment, portions having the same configurations as those of the overtube 4 of the above-described first embodiment are given the same reference signs, and descriptions thereof will be omitted.
As shown in
As shown in
The slider 32 is provided with a fitting hole 35 into which the tapered surface 34 of the sleeve 31 is fitted. The inner diameter of the fitting hole 35 is set to be smaller than the maximum outer diameter of the tapered surface 34 of the expanded sleeve 31 and to be greater than the minimum outer diameter thereof.
With the thus-configured overtube 29 according to this embodiment, when the endoscope 2 is inserted into the second channel 9 from the proximal-end opening 22 of the second housing 18 in a state in which the slider 32 is moved in a direction away from the sleeve 31, the endoscope 2 passes through inside the sleeve 31 and is inserted into the second channel 9. Because the inner diameter of the sleeve 31 is increased by moving the slider 32 in a direction away from the sleeve 31, it is possible to easily insert the endoscope 2 into the second channel 9.
Because the fitting hole 35 of the slider 32 comes into contact with an intermediate position of the tapered surface 34 of the sleeve 31 when the slider 32 is moved in the longitudinal direction of the second channel 9 in this state, by moving the slider 32 further, the fitting hole 35 presses the tapered surface 34, thus compressing the sleeve 31 in the direction in which the slit 33 is narrowed. By doing so, the inner diameter of the sleeve 31 is decreased so as to be smaller than the outer diameter of the endoscope 2, and thus, the endoscope 2 is pressed radially inward by the sleeve 31.
In other words, by gripping the endoscope 2 with the sleeve 31, the endoscope 2 is secured so as not to move in the longitudinal direction and the circumferential direction with respect to the second channel 9. As a result, it is possible to move the overtube 29 in the longitudinal-axis direction together with the endoscope 2 when the operator A presses the endoscope 2 in the longitudinal-axis direction via manipulations thereof performed outside the body of the patient P.
In other words, there is an advantage in which, even if a unit formed of a material having a low rigidity in the longitudinal-axis direction thereof is employed as the overtube 29, it is possible to easily advance/retract the overtube 29 in the longitudinal-axis direction by utilizing the rigidity of the endoscope 2. In addition, there is an advantage in which, even if a unit formed of a material having a low torsional rigidity is employed as the overtube 29, it is possible to easily perform rotation about the longitudinal axis by utilizing the rigidity of the endoscope 2.
Note that, although this embodiment employs the securing portion 30, which secures the endoscope 2 and the second channel 9 at the position of the second housing 18 provided on the proximal end of the distal-end-side tubular portion 15, alternatively, as shown in
By doing so, when the slider 32 is moved, because, not only the securing portion 30 of the second housing 18, but also the endoscope 2 and the second channel 9 are secured by the second securing portion 36 disposed in the vicinity of the distal end of the distal-end-side tubular portion 15, it is possible to easily transmit forces in the longitudinal-axis direction and the circumferential direction applied to the endoscope 2 to the distal end of the overtube 29. As a result, there is an advantage in which it is possible to more easily perform advancing/retracting motions and rotational motions of the overtube 29 and the manipulators 3 by utilizing the rigidity of the endoscope 2.
Although the configuration in which relative movements of the second channel 9 and the endoscope 2 are prohibited, both in the longitudinal-axis direction and the circumferential direction about the longitudinal axis, by using the securing portion 30, alternatively, a configuration in which movements in the longitudinal-axis direction and those in the circumferential direction about the longitudinal axis are prohibited by using separate means may be employed.
In addition, as shown in
In addition, in this embodiment, the endoscope 2 is secured to the second channel 9 by gripping the outer surface of the endoscope 2 with the sleeve 31 by compressing the sleeve 31 in the radial direction by moving the slider 32. Alternatively, as shown in
In addition, in this embodiment, as shown in
Note that, in order to enhance the flexibility, it is possible to employ means such as making the tube narrower only in the section 42, using a material having a low flexibility, forming a slit in the tube, or the like.
In addition, in this embodiment, the third housing 19 of the proximal-end-side tubular portion 16 is secured to the driving-portion main body 24, and the manipulator-side driving portions 25 to which the manipulators 3 are connected are attached to the driving-portion main body 24. Alternatively, as shown in
In this case, the sliders 44 may be provided with motors. By doing so, when the sliders 44 are made to slide, the manipulators 3 can be advanced/retracted with respect to the overtube 4 in the longitudinal direction thereof.
In addition, an attachable/detachable portion 43 that attaches the third housing 19 of the overtube 4 to the driving-portion main body 24 in an attachable/detachable manner may be provided so as to be movable with respect to the manipulator-side driving portions 25 in the longitudinal-axis direction of the overtube 4. Furthermore, both of the attachable/detachable portion 43 and the manipulator-side driving portions 25 may be provided so as to be slidable in the longitudinal-axis direction of the overtube 4.
The inventors have arrived at the following aspects of the invention.
An overtube according to an aspect of the present invention includes: a distal-end-side tubular portion that is provided with a first channel through which a manipulator is made to pass and a second channel through which an endoscope is made to pass, and that has flexibility to be driven in accordance with motions of the endoscope; and a proximal-end-side tubular portion that extends the first channel toward a proximal-end side from a proximal end of the distal-end-side tubular portion, wherein distal-end openings of the first channel and the second channel are provided at a distal end of the distal-end-side tubular portion, a proximal-end opening of the second channel is provided at the proximal end of the distal-end-side tubular portion, and a proximal-end opening of the first channel is provided at a proximal end of the proximal-end-side tubular portion.
With this aspect, the distal end of the manipulator is made to protrude from the distal-end opening of the distal-end-side tubular portion by making the manipulator pass through the first channel of the overtube, and the distal end of the endoscope is made to protrude from the distal-end opening of the distal-end tubular portion by making the endoscope pass through the second channel of the overtube. By doing so, it is possible to perform treatment by using the manipulator while observing the manipulator protruding from the distal-end opening of the overtube by using the endoscope.
In this situation, when the distal-end-side tubular portion is driven in accordance with the motion of the endoscope, the overtube is driven by utilizing the motion of the endoscope even if its own movable portion is not provided, and it is possible to orient the distal end of the manipulator in a desired direction. As a result, the overtube does not need a driving device, and thus, it is possible to realize good maneuverability by allowing the proximal-end-side tubular portion to be detached without time and effort to perform such work as connecting driving wires or the like.
In the above-described aspect, the distal-end-side tubular portion may be attached to the proximal-end-side tubular portion in a detachable manner.
By doing so, the proximal-end opening of the second channel into which the endoscope is inserted outside the body of a patient is provided at the proximal end of the distal-end-side tubular portion, and it is possible to remove the distal-end-side tubular portion from the proximal-end-side tubular portion at the outside of the body of the patient. In other words, it is also possible to separate the two components in a simple manner by configuring the proximal-end-side tubular portion as a component to be reused and by configuring only the distal-end-side tubular portion as a disposable component.
In addition, the above-described aspect may be provided with a securing portion that secures the endoscope, which is inserted into the second channel, to the distal-end-side tubular portion so as not to move relative to the second channel.
By doing so, it is possible to enhance the maneuverability during treatment by making it easier to make the distal-end-side tubular portion follow the motion of the endoscope by securing the endoscope to the second channel by activating the securing portion.
In addition, in the above-described aspect, the securing portion is configured to secure the endoscope so as not to move in a longitudinal-axis direction of the endoscope relative to the second channel.
By doing so, when the endoscope is moved in the longitudinal-axis direction in the state in which the endoscope and the second channel are secured by using the securing portion, the distal-end-side tubular portion can also be moved in the longitudinal-axis direction of the endoscope, following the motion of the endoscope. In other words, it is possible, by utilizing the rigidity of the endoscope, to perform advance/retract operations even when the rigidity of the overtube is low in the longitudinal-axis direction, and therefore it is possible to easily advance/retract the distal-end position of the manipulator that is positioned at the distal end of the distal-end-side tubular portion.
In addition, in the above-described aspect, the securing portion may be configured to secure the endoscope so as not to move in a rotational direction about a longitudinal axis of the endoscope relative to the second channel.
By doing so, when the endoscope is moved in the rotational direction about the longitudinal axis in the state in which the endoscope and the second channel are secured by using the securing portion, the distal-end-side tubular portion is also rotated about the longitudinal axis of the endoscope, following the motion of the endoscope. In other words, it is possible, by utilizing the torsional rigidity of the endoscope, to perform rotational operation even when the torsional rigidity of the overtube is low in the longitudinal-axis direction, and therefore it is possible to easily rotate the distal-end position of the manipulator that is positioned at the distal end of the distal-end-side tubular portion.
In addition, in the above-described aspect, the distal-end-side tubular portion may be provided with a bending portion at a distal-end portion thereof, and the bending portion has a greater flexibility than the remaining part of the distal-end-side tubular portion.
With this configuration, when the distal-end portion of the endoscope is driven to be bent in the state in which the endoscope is fitted to the second channel, the bending portion of the distal-end-side tubular portion, to which the distal-end portion of the endoscope is fitted, is made to bent in accordance with bending of the endoscope. Because the flexibility thereof is greater than the remaining part of the distal-end-side tubular portion, the bending portion is easily bent, and thus, it is possible to easily move the distal-end position of the manipulator.
In addition, a manipulator system according to another aspect of the present invention is provided with: any one of the above-described overtubes; a manipulator that is inserted into the first channel of the overtube; an endoscope that is inserted into the second channel of the overtube; a driving portion that drives the manipulator; a operating portion that is manipulated by an operator; and a controller that controls the driving portion on the basis of manipulation inputs that are input by using the operating portion.
In addition, the above-described aspect may be provided with a relative movement mechanism that moves the manipulator and the overtube relative to each other in a longitudinal-axis direction of the overtube.
By doing so, it is possible to advance/retract the manipulator with respect to the overtube in the longitudinal-axis direction of the overtube by means of the relative movement mechanism.
The aforementioned aspects afford an advantage in which it is possible to detach an overtube from a driving portion without excessive time and effort, in order to achieve a good maneuverability in the overtube.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2015-006863 | Jan 2015 | JP | national |
This application is a Continuation Application of International Application No. PCT/JP2015/086124 filed on Dec. 24, 2015, which claims priority to Japanese Application No. 2015-006863 filed on Jan. 16, 2015. The Contents of International Application No. PCT/JP2015/086124 and Japanese application No. 2015-006863 are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/JP2015/086124 | Dec 2015 | US |
Child | 15382815 | US |