The present invention relates to a vitreous body surgical probe used in eye operations and to a manufacturing method of the same.
A vitreous body surgical probe used in eye operations is used for cutting/removing the gelatinous vitreous body in the eye and a proliferation membrane on the retina formed by degeneration of the vitreous body.
A vitreous body surgical probe 10 has a probe body 11 having a shape, in which one end of a tube is sealed with a distal part 14, and a cutting member 20, which is slidable along an axial direction while it is in contact with the inner surface of the probe body 11. An opening 12 is provided in a lateral surface in the vicinity of a distal end of the probe body 11, and a vitreous body, etc. 50 are suctioned therefrom. This process is configured so that the cutting member 20 slides, and the vitreous body, etc. 50 are cut when the distal end of the cutting member 20 passes the opening 12, and the vitreous body, etc. 50 cut into a small piece(s) is suctioned and collected to the rear side (leftward direction in
In the vitreous body surgical probe 10, the distance D from the distal part 14 to the opening 12 is desired to be short. This is for a reason that the opening 12 has to be brought close to the retina as close as possible since the vitreous body, etc. 50 are close to the retina or in order to cut the proliferation membrane in the vicinity of the retina. A distal outer surface 14b is desired to be a flat surface without protrusions, etc. so that the probe body 11 does not touch and damage the retina.
A distal inner surface 14a is also desired to be a flat surface. This is for a reason that, if the distal inner surface 14a is not a flat surface, it becomes difficult to bring the distal end of the cutting member 20 close to the distal part 14 of the probe body 11 when the cutting member 20 slides, and, because of that, the distance D from the distal part 14 of the opening 12 has to be long.
As a method of forming the distal part 14 of the probe body 11 like this, Patent Document 1 discloses a plastic working method of squeezing and processing a distal part of a tube, which is to serve as the probe body 11.
Patent Document 1 discloses a method in which a plastic-working shaped tube 11a is rotated about a main axis, and, while a spherical protrusion 60 is pressed against a tube distal part 13 thereof, the spherical protrusion 60 is moved in the radial direction of the plastic-working shaped tube 11a. As a result, the distal part of the plastic-working shaped tube 11a is plastically deformed gradually toward the inner side, and a distal part is finally formed. In such a plastic working method by squeezing, working is easy, and the distal outer surface approximately becomes a flat surface, but burrs are easily formed on the distal inner surface.
In this plastic working method, working is carried out while squeezing is carried out from the outer side of the plastic-working shaped tube 11a; therefore, a hole 15 may remain at the center of the distal part 14. If there is the hole 15 like this, a trouble such as suction of the retina therefrom upon use may occur. The hole 15 does not remain depending on plastic working; however, even if the hole 15 is closed without remaining, the center position thereof is not completely bonded.
The cutting member 20 slides in the axial direction while it is in contact with the inner surface of the probe body 11; wherein, if the distal end of the cutting member 20 collides with the distal inner surface 14a of the probe body 11, the distal end of the cutting member 20 may be chipped, and a trouble may occur. Thus, the cutting member 20 has to slide within a range in which the cutting member does not collide with the distal inner surface 14a of the probe body 11. Therefore, if the burrs 16 are formed on the distal inner surface 14a, the movable range of the cutting member 20 does not reach the vicinity of the distal part 14 of the probe body 11. Therefore, the distance D from the distal part 14 to the opening 12 has to be long.
As another working method of the distal part of the probe body, there is a method in which a distal part is formed by energy beam irradiation of laser or the like.
In order to form the distal part 14 only by energy beam irradiation, a wide range of the distal part of the tube has to be melted by energy beam irradiation. Therefore, the distal inner surface 14a of the probe body 11 bulges roundly. As a result, like the case in which the burrs are formed, the movable range of the cutting member does not reach the vicinity of the distal part 14 of the probe body 11, and the position of the opening becomes distant from the distal part 14. Moreover, since the distal outer surface 14b also similarly bulges, there is also a problem that it is difficult to bring the opening close to the retina.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-511169
As described above, if the method of forming the distal part of the probe body is only by the conventional plastic working using squeezing, burrs may be formed on the distal inner surface, and a hole may remain in the distal part. In the case of only energy beam irradiation, the distal part bulges to the inner side and the outer side. It is difficult to appropriately remove the vitreous body, etc. in the vicinity of the retina by the vitreous body surgical probe manufactured by these working methods.
Therefore, in view of such circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide a vitreous body surgical probe that forms an inner surface and an outer surface of a probe distal part into flat surfaces and prevents a hole from remaining in the distal part.
In order to achieve the above described object, a vitreous body surgical probe of the present invention is a vitreous body surgical probe having a probe body, wherein an outer surface and an inner surface of a distal part of the probe body are flat surfaces; and at least part of the distal part is a granular structure formed by melting by energy beam irradiation and then solidifying. The distal part may have an inclined surface forming a desired angle with respect to an axial direction of the probe body.
In a vitreous body surgical probe, a structure part showing a flow of plastic working and a granular structure part formed by melting by energy beam irradiation and solidifying may be present in a probe body as a result of, after a distal part covering a plastic-working shaped tube is formed by subjecting one end of the plastic-working shaped tube serving as the probe body to the plastic working, sealing the distal part by irradiating the distal part with an energy beam.
Furthermore, as a manufacturing method of a vitreous body surgical probe including, after a distal part covering a plastic-working shaped tube is formed by subjecting one end of the plastic-working shaped tube serving as a probe body to plastic working, the distal part may be sealed by irradiating the distal part with an energy beam.
According to the present invention, a vitreous body surgical probe in which an outer surface and an inner surface of a distal part of a probe body are flat surfaces and the distal part is completely sealed by energy beam irradiation can be provided.
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be explained with reference to accompanying drawings.
A vitreous body surgical probe of the present invention is manufactured by subjecting one end of a plastic-working shaped tube, which is to serve as the probe body, to plastic working to form the distal part covering the plastic-working shaped tube and then radiating an energy beam to seal the distal part. In the above described plastic working method shown in
The energy beam irradiation carried out after the plastic working is preferred to be spot-manner irradiation at a temperature that melts metal. This is for a reason that a main object thereof is to cover the hole formed at the distal part. More specifically, this is for avoiding a situation that, if the temperature of the energy beam is increased more than needed or if irradiation time becomes long, a large amount of the distal part 14 is melted, and the distal part 14 bulges in inward/outward directions as shown in
When energy beam irradiation is carried out from a distal outer surface 14b, the burrs 16 on a distal inner surface 14a can be melted, and the distal inner surface 14a can be further planarized as shown in the cross-sectional view of the line A-A. Thus, when energy beam irradiation is carried out, planarization of both of the distal outer surface 14b and the inner surface 14a can be ensured, and the hole 15 formed at the distal part can be sealed.
In a case in which both of such plastic working and energy beam irradiation is carried out, at first, when the plastic working is carried out, the metal structure of the distal part 14 becomes a state in which a structure part 17 showing flows of the plastic working in whole is formed. Then, since energy beam irradiation is carried out thereafter, the part melted by the irradiation becomes a granular structure 18 when solidified. In other words, the metal structure of the distal part 14 has the structure part 17 showing the flows of the plastic working and the granular structure 18. In this process, it is also possible to melt/solidify the whole structure part 17, which is formed at the distal part 14 by the plastic working, by energy beam irradiation and form it into the granular structure 18. In this case, most of the metal structure of the distal part 14 becomes the granular structure 18; however, also in this case, the structure part 17 formed by the plastic working and the granular structure 18 formed by melting/solidifying are assumed to be present in the probe body 11.
In the case in which the inclined surface is formed at the distal part 14, at the point when the plastic working is finished, the plastic-working part becomes the structure part 17 showing the flows of plastic working, and a hole remains at the distal end of the inclined surface. Therefore, the hole can be covered by forming the granular structure 18 by subjecting the distal end of the inclined surface to energy beam irradiation.
Next, an example of plastic working of forming a distal surface will be explained. In this embodiment, plastic working is carried out separately in three stages by using three types of jigs. When this method is used, the distal outer surface can be further planarized, and the hole remaining on the distal surface can be downsized or closed.
In
Next, in
Next, in
In the plastic working method as described above, the distal part is deformed through the stages compared with the conventional plastic working; therefore, the distal part is less frequently broken upon plastic working due to buckling, etc., and the distal part can be planarized. In the case of this plastic working method, deformation is gradually carried out from the distal end of the tube, and it is once processed to be round; therefore, it is easy to control the deformation amount so that no hole remains at the center of the distal surface.
However, even in such a case, the hole remaining in the distal surface is closed, but is not bonded. Therefore, when energy beam irradiation is further carried out after the plastic working is carried out, the hole remaining in the distal surface can be closed and completely sealed.
As described above, the plastic working carried out before the energy beam irradiation may be that by conventional squeezing. However, when such plastic working of the three stages is carried out, the distal part can be reliably formed into a flat surface, and an excellent product can be always provided.
The jigs used in the plastic working of the three stages can be integrated into one jig.
This distal-surface forming jig 30 has a concave surface 32a on an opposite surface of a slope 31a. An appropriate place can be used as the perpendicular surface 33a. Therefore, if there is this single distal-surface forming jig 30, the three jigs are not required to be prepared since required surfaces can be used depending on the respective steps, workability is improved.
10 (vitreous body surgical) Probe
11 Probe body
11
a (plastic-working shaped) Tube
12 Opening
13 Tube distal part
14 Distal part
14
a Distal inner surface
14
b Distal outer surface
15 Hole
16 Burr
17 Structure part showing flows of plastic working
18 Granular structure
20 Cutting member
30 End forming jig
31 First end forming jig
31
a Slope
32 Second end forming jig
32
a Concave surface
33 Third end forming jig
33
a Horizontal surface
40 Holding jig
50 Vitreous body
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2012-187207 | Aug 2012 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2013/072348 | 8/22/2013 | WO | 00 |