JP2007151913A - Forceps apparatus and exterior tube applying method to contact coil thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To form a flexible cord covered with an exterior tube that is thin-walled and excellent in adhesiveness to a contact coil by using a non-contractible tube. <P>SOLUTION: The flexible cord 2 connected to a forceps apparatus body 1 comprises the exterior tube 21 made from a high-density polyethylene that is appressed to a peripheral surface of the contact coil 20 and bonded so as to slightly encroach into a pitch interval region of the coil by using a thermocompression bonding device 40, which allows the exterior tube 21 to pass through a heating tunnel 44 heated at 125-135°C and to be applied with force in a direction reducing its radius when passing through the heating tunnel 44. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a forceps device in which a forceps main body is connected to a distal end and can be inserted into a guide means such as an endoscope, and an outer tube is attached to an adhesion coil, and to the adhesion coil in the forceps device It is related with the mounting method of the exterior tube of.

  For example, it is inserted into a treatment instrument insertion channel of an endoscope, and a part to be treated is grasped in a body cavity, an affected part is incised, a tissue is extracted or collected, and a bleeding part is stopped. A forceps device used for performing a treatment such as the above is configured by connecting a handle member to a base end portion of a flexible cord having a forceps body attached to a distal end. When a claw member that can be opened and closed is provided as the forceps main body at the tip, opening and closing control of the claw member is performed by operating the handle member. For this purpose, an operation wire for remotely opening and closing the claw member is inserted into the flexible cord, but the flexible cord is a spirally wound metal wire from the viewpoint of shape retention. In general, the contact coil is wound into a shape.

  When a forceps device is inserted into the treatment instrument insertion channel, for example, when an operation such as extraction of the affected area is performed, and then the operation tool is extracted from the treatment instrument insertion channel, the contact coil is moved by sliding with the treatment instrument insertion channel. May elongate. When the forceps main body at the distal end is completely withdrawn from the treatment instrument insertion channel, the load acting on the extended contact coil is eliminated and reduced. Since the close contact coil is composed of a metal coil having a spring property, if it is operated so as to be rapidly pulled out from the treatment instrument insertion channel, the expansion and contraction is repeated. As a result, when body fluid or the like adheres to the close contact coil, a situation occurs in which the attached matter is scattered around. In addition, when the forceps device is used repeatedly, there is a problem that it is difficult to remove the dirt that has entered the gaps of the close contact coils due to the cleaning performed each time the forceps device is used.

In consideration of the above points, a structure in which a close-contact coil is externally covered with a tube has been used. Thereby, since expansion and contraction of the contact coil is suppressed, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of the above-mentioned situation such as scattering of the attached matter, and facilitate cleaning after use. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration in which a covering tube is closely covered with a close-contact coil by applying heat to the close-contact coil.
JP 2000-93431 A

  When the tube is sheathed on the close-contact coil, at least the tube is brought into surface contact with the outer surface of the close-contact coil, and is preferably adhered in a close contact state. For this purpose, it is conceivable to perform resin extrusion on the outer surface of the contact coil. However, forming the tube by the forming means is disadvantageous in terms of cost, such as an increase in equipment size, and it is difficult to extrude the tube with the forceps body connected to the tip of the contact coil. As another method, by attaching a heat-shrinkable tube to the close contact coil and heating the tube, the tube can be attached in close contact with the close contact coil. That is, in the contracted state, a heat-shrinkable tube whose inner diameter is smaller than the outer diameter of the close-contact coil is used, and heating is performed with the close-contact coil inserted through the heat-shrinkable tube, thereby easily attaching the tube to the close-contact coil. be able to. Here, generally, when a synthetic resin is heated, its volume may be somewhat reduced, but it is different from a heat-shrinkable tube. A heat-shrinkable tube is a tube that shrinks in the radial direction when heated, for example, by applying the shape memory effect of plastic by electron beam irradiation. Limited to elastomers and the like. As a processing method, a synthetic resin can be irradiated with an electron beam to form a new bond (cross-linking) between molecules. After cross-linking, a stress is applied at room temperature. And it will be stable in its shape. When this is heated to the melting point or higher, it returns to the shape before stretching, that is, it contracts.

  By the way, the outer tube in the forceps device is naturally required to have biocompatibility because of its insertion into the body, and must have characteristics such as slipperiness and flexibility, and it can be used as a treatment tool. Since current may flow, flame retardancy is also required. However, the resin material having heat shrinkability is limited, and the materials that can be selected as the outer tube of the forceps device are extremely limited. Of course, there is no material with the above-mentioned characteristics, but it is very expensive. Therefore, considering the characteristics and cost, it is not always desirable to form the flexible cord outer tube in the forceps device using the heat-shrinkable tube having a limited material as described above.

  For example, a resin material such as high-density polyethylene has excellent characteristics in terms of biocompatibility, good sliding properties, flexibility, flame retardancy, and the like, and can be obtained at low cost. It is suitable as a tube. Since this high-density polyethylene is a resin that does not substantially heat shrink (hereinafter referred to as non-shrinkable resin), even if a close contact coil is inserted into the interior, adhesion between the external tube and the close contact coil cannot be obtained. The flexible cord on which the tube is mounted becomes thicker than necessary.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and its object is to use a non-shrinkable tube, which is a thin-walled flexible outer tube that has good adhesion to an adhesive coil. It is to be able to form a sex code.

  In order to achieve the above-described object, the forceps device of the present invention includes a forceps body attached to a distal end, and a handle member connected to a proximal end portion of a flexible cord made of a close-contact coil. The flexible cord is composed of an outer tube mounted on the close-contact coil, and the outer tube compresses a resin tube made of a synthetic resin that does not shrink by heat under heating at a temperature higher than its softening point and lower than its melting point. It is characterized in that it is constituted by what is crimped to the outer peripheral portion of the contact coil by making the diameter.

  In addition, as an invention of a method of mounting an outer tube on a forceps device in which a forceps body is attached to a distal end and a handle member is connected to a proximal end portion of a flexible cord made of a close-contact coil, The outer tube is inserted into the outer tube made of a synthetic resin that does not shrink due to the above, and the outer tube is softened while applying a force to reduce the inner diameter of the outer tube so that the inner diameter of the outer tube is smaller than the outer diameter of the outer coil. The heat treatment is performed at a temperature not higher than the melting point as described above and is crimped to the outer peripheral portion of the contact coil.

  Here, the synthetic resin used as the outer tube is a resin that does not substantially shrink due to heat, and this corresponds to a high-density synthetic resin. As described above, high-density polyethylene is most suitable in consideration of characteristics such as biocompatibility, slipperiness, flexibility, and flame retardancy, which are necessary conditions for the forceps device. And in order to insert a close_contact | adherence coil, what made the internal diameter of the resin tube larger than the outer diameter of a close_contact | adherence coil is used. By heating and reducing the diameter of the resin tube through which the close contact coil is inserted, the inner surface thereof is brought into close contact with the close contact coil. The heating temperature for the resin tube is adjusted to a temperature at which the synthetic resin is softened but the resin is not melted. Moreover, although the resin tube is reduced in diameter, its inner diameter is set to be smaller than the outer diameter of the contact coil. That is, when the outer diameter dimension of the contact coil is a and the thickness dimension of the outer tube is b, the diameter d of the outer tube is a <d <(a + 2b). As a result, the softened resin is pressure-bonded to the outer surface of the contact coil, and the space therebetween is in close contact.

  The resin tube can be heated in the open space. In this case, the diameter of the resin tube can be reduced by, for example, applying a tension to the resin tube. Since a close-contact coil as a structure is inserted into the outer tube, if the tunnel-like heating means that regulates the outer surface of the outer tube is used, the entire resin tube is almost uniformly crimped to the close-contact coil. . That is, it has an annular inner wall surface that is larger than the outer diameter of the close contact coil, has an outer diameter of the close contact coil, twice the thickness of the resin tube, and an inner diameter smaller than the total size, and is heated using a heater or hot air By passing the resin tube through which the contact coil is inserted into the heated tunnel, the resin tube is softened and pressed from the outer peripheral side to the contact coil. Furthermore, tension can be applied to the resin tube at this time. Here, in the heating tunnel, an inward pressing force acts on the close contact coil from the entire circumference, so that the close contact coil has strength and strength so as not to be deformed by the press force. .

  A resin tube having desired characteristics can be packaged so as to be in pressure contact with the tight coil.

    Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of the forceps device. In the figure, 1 is a forceps body, 2 is a flexible cord, 3 is a handle member, and these constitute a forceps device. The forceps device is inserted into a treatment instrument insertion channel of an endoscope and guided into a body cavity to perform a desired treatment or the like.

  The forceps main body 1 is composed of a biopsy forceps, a grasping forceps, a scissors, a knife, a needle holder and the like. In the present embodiment, the forceps body 1 is configured as a biopsy forceps. The biopsy forceps is composed of a pair of claw members 10a, 10a. As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, a lever 10b is connected to the base end of the claw member 10a. A transition portion from the claw member 10 a to the lever 10 b is provided so as to be pivotably connected to a pivot pin 12 attached to the holding cylinder 11. An operation wire 13 is connected to the end of the lever 10b. By pushing and pulling the operation wire 13, the claw members 10a and 10a are opened and closed. Reference numeral 14 denotes a needle that is inserted into the body tissue in order to stably operate the claw members 10a and 10a.

  The flexible cord 2 is a hollow flexible shaft, and an operation wire 13 is inserted therein. As is apparent from FIG. 4, the flexible cord 2 is configured by attaching an outer tube 21 to a close coil 20 provided by winding a metal wire, and the tip of the close coil 20 is inserted into the holding cylinder 11. And fixed by means such as brazing.

  The base end portion of the flexible cord 2 is connected to the handle member 3. As shown in FIG. 5, the handle member 3 has a main body shaft 30, and a distal end portion of the main body shaft 30 is a cord fixing portion 30 a, and a proximal end of the outer tube 21 constituting the flexible cord 2. The portion is inserted into the cord fixing portion 30a by a predetermined length, and the contact coil 20 protrudes from the end of the outer tube 21 by a predetermined length inside the cord fixing portion 30a. Further, an operation wire 13 is led out from the contact coil 20, and an end portion of the operation wire 13 is fixed to the slider 31. The slider 31 is attached to the slide guide portion 30b of the main body shaft 30 so as to be slidable in the axial direction. The outer surface of the slider 31 is a finger contact portion 31a having a reduced diameter at the middle portion and large diameter portions at both ends. . Further, a finger hook portion 32 is connected to the base end portion of the main body shaft 30.

  Therefore, by inserting the thumb into the finger-hanging portion 32, pinching the finger rest portion 31a between the index finger and the middle finger, and moving the slider 31 along the slide guide portion 30b, the claws 10a and 10a of the forceps body 1 are opened and closed. To be able to. That is, when the slider 31 is moved toward the distal end side of the slide guide portion 30b, the claw members 10a and 10a are opened, and when the slider 31 is drawn toward the finger hook portion 32, the claw members 10a and 10a are closed. Become.

  FIG. 6 shows an enlarged cross section of the flexible cord 2. The flexible cord 2 is obtained by covering the close-contact coil 20 with an outer tube 21. Here, the flexible cord 2 is assembled in two stages using the outer tube 21 larger than the outer diameter of the contact coil 20. First, in the first stage, as shown in FIG. 6A, the outer tube 21 is inserted through the tight coil 20. In order to easily perform this operation, the contact coil 20 can be easily inserted into the exterior tube 21 by increasing the diameter difference between the inner diameter of the exterior tube 21 and the outer diameter of the contact coil 20 to some extent. it can. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 2B, the outer tube 21 is brought into close contact with the outer peripheral surface of the close contact coil 20 made of a metal wire material so that the outer tube 21 is slightly cut into the coil pitch interval. Perform crimping.

  Here, since the outer tube 21 is excellent in various characteristics such as biocompatibility, good sliding property, flexibility, flame retardancy and the like and is advantageous in price, for example, a tube made of high-density polyethylene is used. This material is not heat-shrinkable, and the pressure-bonded state shown in FIG. 6B cannot be obtained by simply mounting the adhesive coil 20 and heating the outer tube 21. The outer tube 21 is attached so as to be in close contact with the outer surface of the contact coil 20 by reducing the diameter while heating.

  Therefore, in the following, a method for crimping the outer tube 21 to the outer surface of the close coil 20 after inserting the external tube 21 into the close coil 20 will be described. First, this crimping is performed by shrinking the outer tube 21 while heating, and the apparatus configuration used for this purpose is shown in FIGS.

  In these drawings, reference numeral 40 denotes a thermocompression bonding apparatus for heating and shrinking the outer tube 21 and crimping the outer tube 21, and the thermocompression bonding apparatus 40 is entirely made of a metal member having high heat transfer efficiency. Composed. This thermocompression bonding apparatus 40 is composed of two plate-like main body plates 40a, 40a, and is assembled so as to be joined by fastening means (not shown) comprising bolts and nuts.

  When the direction of the joint surface of the main body plates 40a, 40a of the thermocompression bonding apparatus 40 is the length direction and the direction orthogonal to this is the thickness direction, a heat gun connection portion 41 is provided on one end side of the length direction, An exhaust port 42 is formed on the end side, and an air vent 43 extending from the heat gun connection portion 41 to the exhaust port 42 is provided. The air vent 43 has an annular passage 43a at an intermediate portion thereof, and a heating tunnel 44 through which the flexible cord 2 passes is provided inside the annular passage 43a so as to penetrate in the thickness direction.

  A heat gun 45 is connected to the heat gun connecting portion 41, and heated air is supplied from the heat gun 45. The heated air from the heat gun 45 forms a flow that is discharged to the exhaust port 42 through the air vent 43, and the inner peripheral wall portion of the annular passage 43 a in the air vent 43 is heated and flexibly passes through the heating tunnel 44. The outer tube 21 constituting the sex cord 2 is heated. Moreover, the outer tube 21 is squeezed so that the diameter of the outer tube 21 is reduced. Therefore, when the hole diameter of the heating tunnel 44 is d, the outer diameter of the contact coil 20 is a, and the thickness dimension of the outer tube 21 when not heated is b, a <d <(a + 2b). Then, at both end portions of the heating tunnel 44, a calling portion 44a that expands in a tapered shape is formed.

  Here, the forceps device is inserted through the treatment instrument insertion channel of the endoscope, and the outer diameter of the flexible cord 2 needs to be managed. It is desirable to make it as thin as possible, provided that it is not exposed. For this purpose, the outer tube 21 is reduced in diameter, but when the degree of thinning is large with respect to the thickness when not heated, the flexible cord 2 advances in the direction of arrow F in FIG. When passing through the heating tunnel 44, it is desirable to apply a back tension (in the direction of arrow D in FIG. 7) to the outer tube 21 toward the rear in the traveling direction of the flexible cord 2. It should be noted that the back tension in this direction is prevented from acting on the close contact coil 20.

  By using the thermocompression bonding apparatus 40 configured as described above, the outer tube 21 can be bonded to the contact coil 20. Here, the heating tunnel 44 in the thermocompression bonding apparatus 40 is heated to a temperature higher than the softening temperature of the outer tube 21 and lower than the melting point. Accordingly, when high-density polyethylene having a softening temperature of 125 ° C. and a melting point of 135 ° C. is used for the outer tube 21, the heating tunnel 44 is heated to a predetermined temperature within a range of 125 to 135 ° C.

  A non-heated outer tube 21 that is externally attached to the close contact coil 20 is sent into the heating tunnel 44 through a calling portion 44a, and a back tension is applied to the outer tube 21. As a result, the outer tube 21 is softened by heating, and the outer tube 21 thus softened is reduced in diameter and passes through the heating tunnel 44. As a result, the outer tube 21 is reduced in diameter to an outer diameter that substantially matches the hole diameter of the heating tunnel 44, and comes into close contact with the outer surface of the close contact coil 20. And even if it cools after passing the heating tunnel 44, the exterior tube 21 does not restore | restore. Further, when the outer tube 21 is pressure-bonded, a pressing force inward in the radial direction acts on the close contact coil 20. The close contact coil 21 is a structural member and a shape retaining member in the flexible cord 2, and this direction It is strong enough not to be deformed by the pressing force acting on the.

  Since the flexible cord 2 formed in this manner is configured to cover the outer coil 21 on the close-contact coil 20, it has flexibility in the bending direction, but does not substantially have stretchability. It will be a thing. Therefore, after the forceps device is inserted into the treatment instrument insertion channel and a predetermined treatment is performed in the body cavity, the flexible cord 2 repeatedly expands and contracts when the forceps device is extracted from the treatment instrument insertion channel. There is no possibility that the dirt attached to the outer surface will be scattered. Moreover, since the outer surface of the flexible cord 2 is the exterior tube 21 made of a resin material, the cleaning property is good, and the forceps device can be used repeatedly, so that it can be completely sterilized each time it is used.

  In addition, since the outer tube 21 is made of high-density polyethylene, various conditions necessary for the outer skin of the forceps device, that is, biocompatibility is good, and good slipping when inserted into the treatment instrument insertion channel is obtained. Moreover, when the treatment instrument insertion channel is bent, the treatment instrument insertion channel has flexibility to easily follow the bending, and further has flame retardance necessary when a high-frequency current flows through the forceps body 1.

  Further, when the outer tube 21 is attached to the close coil 20, in order to easily insert the close coil 20 into the external tube 21, the inner diameter of the external tube 21 is increased and the waist is provided. In addition, even if the thickness of the outer tube 21 is increased, the outer tube 21 is reduced in diameter and thinned by the thermocompression bonding device 40, so that the flexible cord 2 of the forceps device as a product is provided with a desired outer diameter. It can be a dimension.

  In order to obtain flexible cords having different outer diameters using a thermocompression bonding apparatus, a heating tunnel having different hole diameters is obtained. For this purpose, for example, like the thermocompression bonding apparatus 140 shown in FIG. 10, the tunnel passage member 144 constituting the heating tunnel can be detachably attached to the part of the air vent 143. As the tunnel passage member 144, a plurality of types having different diameters of the heating tunnel 100 are prepared, so that the flexible cord 2 having a desired outer diameter can be formed.

  In the thermocompression bonding apparatus 40, hot air is used to squeeze the outer tube 21 through the heating tunnel 44 so as to be crimped to the contact coil 20. However, instead of the heat gun 45, various heating processes are used as the heating means. Means can be used. Further, the heating tunnel can be configured to be crimped to the outer tube 21 in a non-contact manner. As an example, as shown in FIG. 11, a cylindrical heater 240 equipped with a plurality of cartridge heaters 200 is used. In this case, a tension T is applied to the outer tube 21 so that the outer tube 21 is softened by heating with the cylindrical heater 240 and is reduced in diameter. As described above, when the cylindrical heater 240 is used, the inner diameter of the cylindrical heater 240 serving as a heating tunnel can be made larger than the outer diameter dimension in the non-heated state by covering the contact coil 20 with the outer tube 21. desirable.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a forceps device showing an embodiment of the present invention. It is a front view of a forceps main body. It is a front view of the forceps main body which shows the operation state different from FIG. It is XX sectional drawing of FIG. It is YY sectional drawing of FIG. It is a principal part longitudinal cross-sectional view of a flexible cord. It is sectional drawing of a thermocompression bonding apparatus. It is a top view of a thermocompression bonding apparatus. It is an external appearance perspective view of the main body board of a thermocompression bonding apparatus. It is sectional drawing similar to FIG. 7 which shows the modification of a thermocompression bonding apparatus. It is sectional drawing which shows the structure of the other heating means of an exterior tube.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Forceps main body 2 Flexible cord 3 Handle member 10a Claw member 10b Lever 13 Operation wire 20 Adhesion coil 21 Exterior tube 40,140 Thermocompression bonding device 43,143 Air vent 44,100 Heating tunnel 45 Heat gun 144 Tunnel passage member 200 Cartridge heater 240 Cylindrical heater

Claims (3)

In a forceps device in which a forceps main body is attached to a distal end and a handle member is connected to a proximal end portion of a flexible cord made of a close coil,
The flexible cord is composed of an outer tube mounted on the contact coil,
This outer tube is made of a resin tube made of a synthetic resin that does not shrink due to heat, and is crimped to the outer periphery of the adhesion coil by reducing the diameter under heating at a temperature not lower than the softening point but not higher than the melting point. A forceps device characterized by. A forceps device in which a forceps body is attached to a distal end and a handle member is connected to a proximal end portion of a flexible cord made of a contact coil, and a sheath tube is mounted on the contact coil,
Insert the adhesive coil through an outer tube made of a synthetic resin that does not shrink due to heat,
The outer tube is heated to a temperature not less than the softening point and not higher than the melting point while being subjected to a force to reduce the inner diameter of the outer tube so as to be smaller than the outer diameter of the close-contact coil. A method for attaching an outer tube to a close contact coil of a forceps device. By inserting a tunnel-shaped heating means having a diameter d of a <d <(a + 2b) where the outer diameter dimension of the close contact coil is a and the thickness dimension of the outer tube is b, 3. The method of attaching an outer tube to a contact coil of a forceps device according to claim 2, wherein the tube is reduced in diameter.

Images