JPH09488A - Cover type endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a cover type endoscope capable of eliminating an adverse effect by light reflected by waterdrops stuck to the boundary part surface and observation visual field range of a tip cover and obtaining improved observation images. CONSTITUTION: The tip cover 24 is provided with a nozzle 42 for sending air, the nozzle 43 for sending water and a transparent cover part 40. The transparent cover part 40 is provided with a cover part 40a for an observation window and the cover part 40b for an illumination window and a boundary part 44 is formed between the cover part 40a for the observation window and the cover part 40b for the illumination window. The boundary part 44 is to divide the cover part 40a for the observation window and the cover part 40b for the illumination window provided in the transparent cover part 40, and by forming the boundary part 44 by an opaque member, illumination light emitted from the illumination window 52 is prevented from being passed through the transparent cover part 40 and the boundary part 44 and made incident on the observation window 51. The air sending range α of the nozzle 42 for sending the air is set so as to reach the visual field range 45 and the area 46 of the transparent cover part 40.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cover type endoscope for mounting an endoscope cover on an endoscope and performing an endoscopic examination.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, endoscopes have been widely used in industrial fields and medical fields. An endoscope used in the medical field can not only be inserted into a living body to observe an affected area, but also can be treated or treated or a cellular tissue of the affected area by inserting a treatment tool through a channel provided in the endoscope. And so on can be collected.

It is desirable that the endoscope thus used for treatment / treatment or collection be promptly washed or sterilized after use and used for the next patient.
However, the work of completely cleaning the endoscope and performing the sterilization treatment is troublesome and time-consuming, and is a factor that reduces the use efficiency of the endoscope.

For this reason, recently, by covering the endoscope itself with a cover, inserting the endoscope covered with this cover into a body cavity, and discarding only the cover covering the endoscope after the treatment, There has been proposed a cover-type endoscope that can be used by covering the endoscope with a sterilized cover again without cleaning and disinfecting the endoscope.

In this cover-type endoscope, only a duct which must be opened in the body cavity of the patient is provided on the cover side, and the endoscope equipped with the observation means and the illumination means is covered with the cover. This prevents the endoscope from coming into direct contact with the living body of the patient.

Since the cover-type endoscope is inserted into a living body, the patient's body fluid or mucus adheres to the transparent cover portion arranged in front of the observation window provided at the tip of the insertion portion of the endoscope. In some cases, the affected area may not be fully observed. For this reason, the endoscope device can be used to send liquid toward the observation field of view of the observation window of the transparent cover to wash dirt, and to blow away body fluid and residual water attached to the transparent cover. Able to supply air and water.

These air supply and water supply functions are provided in the air supply conduit, the water supply conduit and the tip cover which are inserted through the endoscope cover by operating the operation buttons provided on the proximal side of the endoscope. Air and water are supplied to the transparent cover through the nozzles. In addition, the endoscope cover is provided with a suction conduit for sucking dirt and mucus in a living body and discharging them out of the body, and a treatment tool channel (forceps channel) for inserting a treatment tool for performing a medical treatment. There are also things.

As shown in FIGS. 8 (A) and 8 (B), a conventional cover-type endoscope 1 comprises an endoscope cover 2 and a cover endoscope 3, and A tip cover 4 is provided at the tip of the mirror cover 2, and a tip forming portion 5 is provided at the tip of the cover endoscope 3.

An observation window 6 and an illumination window 7 are provided in the tip forming section 5, and the observation window 6 and the illumination window 7 are provided in the tip cover 4 located in front of the observation window 6 and the illumination window 7.
Are provided with transparent covers 8 and 8 facing each other. Although it is conceivable to provide the transparent covers 8 and 8 integrally with the observation window 6 and the illumination window 7, the illumination light emitted from the illumination window 7 is reflected inside the transparent cover and the observation window is In order to prevent light from entering the observation window 6, the observation window 6 and the illumination window 7 are divided between the transparent cover 8 arranged in front of the observation window 6 and the transparent cover 8 arranged in front of the illumination window 7. Boundary portion 9 is provided. And
As shown in FIG. 8 (B), the transparent cover 8 constituting the tip cover 4 and the boundary portion 9 are joined to each other at the side surfaces formed linearly to form a flat tip surface.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8 (A), the tip cover 4 is provided with nozzles 10 and 11 for ejecting fluid toward the transparent cover 8 facing the observation window 6. One of the nozzles 10 and 11 is a nozzle for water supply that sprays a liquid such as water for cleaning toward the transparent cover 8, and the other is a nozzle for air supply that blows off water droplets and the like remaining on the transparent cover 8. Is.

The range indicated by the alternate long and short dash line in the figure shows the observation field range 12 of the observation window 6 provided in the cover endoscope 3, and the range indicated by the broken line is the air supplied from the nozzles 10 and 11. 3 shows an injection range 13 of the fluid to be sent. Usually, the injection range 13 from the nozzles 10 and 11
Are set so that the fluid can pass within the field of view on the surface of the transparent cover.

[0012]

However, FIG.
As shown in (B), when a body fluid, a water droplet 16 or the like adheres to the upper surface of the boundary portion 9 of the tip cover 4, the light beam 17 emitted from the illumination window 7 is reflected in the water droplet and enters the observation window 6. , Which may cause flare and adversely affect the observed image. Further, as shown in FIG. 8 (A), since the boundary portion 9 is located outside the ejection range of each of the nozzles 10 and 11, the body fluid and water droplets 16 remaining on the upper surface of the boundary portion are blown off as described above. It could not be removed and the observed image could not be removed from a bad state.

In general, if the thickness of the transparent cover 8 is large, the optical performance deteriorates. Therefore, the transparent cover 8 is formed to have a thin thickness of about 0.5 mm. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 8B, if the transparent cover 8 and the boundary portion 9 of the tip cover 4 are joined via the side surfaces that are linearly formed, the joining strength is weak and the watertightness is surely secured. It was difficult to do.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and a cover for obtaining a good observation image without being affected by the light reflected by the body fluid or water droplets adhering to the observation visual field range and the boundary surface of the tip cover. The purpose is to provide an endoscopic endoscope.

[0015]

A cover-type endoscope of the present invention includes a cover endoscope having an insertion portion and an operation portion, and an observation window and an illumination window provided at a distal end portion of the insertion portion, A transparent cover portion that covers at least the insertion portion of the cover endoscope and has a boundary portion that opposes the observation window and the illumination window at the distal end portion of the insertion portion and divides the observation window side and the illumination window side and the observation. What is claimed is: 1. A cover-type endoscope comprising: an endoscope cover provided with a nozzle for ejecting a fluid in an observation visual field range of a transparent cover portion arranged in front of a window; The fluid ejected from passes through the observation visual field range on the front surface of the observation window of the transparent cover and on the boundary surface separating the observation window and the illumination window.

[0016]

According to this structure, the body fluid and water droplets adhering to the boundary surface sectioning the observation window and the illumination window of the transparent cover portion of the tip cover are removed by the fluid ejected from the nozzle.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 4 relate to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a cover type endoscope, and FIG. 2 is a state in which a cover endoscope and an endoscope cover are mounted. 3 is an explanatory view showing the structure of the distal end cover of the endoscope cover, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the cover-type endoscope 20 includes:
It is composed of a cover endoscope 21 and an endoscope cover 22 that covers the cover endoscope 21. The tip forming portion 23 located at the tip of the cover endoscope 21 is attached to a tip cover 24 formed of a hard member of the endoscope cover 22. The insertion portion 25 of the cover endoscope 21 is covered with a flexible sheath 26 of the endoscope cover 22. Further, at the tip end side end portion of the operation portion 27 of the cover endoscope 21, the operation portion fixing formed of a hard member arranged at the rear end portion of the sheath 26 of the endoscope cover 22 is fixed. The mouthpiece part 28 is attached. At least a part of the operating section 27 and the universal cord 29 is covered with a flexible operating section cover 30.

As shown in FIG. 2, at the time of mounting work, the endoscope cover 22 is arranged on the insertion assisting tool 31 so that the sheath 26 is substantially linear. At this time, the operation section cover 30 that covers the operation section 27 and the universal cord 29 is
The insertion aid 31 is folded in the vicinity of the operating portion fixing mouth portion 28 of the endoscope cover 22 attached to the fixing portion 32 on the proximal side of the insertion assisting tool 31.

In order to improve the insertion workability, the insertion assisting tool 31 is provided with a leg 33 for inclining the insertion assisting tool 31 at a predetermined angle and a caster 34 for facilitating the movement. There is. The caster 34 covers the mouthpiece portion 28 for fixing the operation portion fixed to the insertion assisting tool 31 when the distal end forming portion 23 and the insertion portion 25 of the cover endoscope 21 are inserted into the sheath. It is used when approaching the operation unit 27 of the endoscope 21.

A heater 35 is provided near the tip cover 24 at the tip of the insertion aid 31.
The heater 35 has the tip cover 24, for example, 30
It is for warming to ℃ to 37 ℃.

As shown in FIG. 3, the distal end surface of the distal end cover 24 is provided with an opening of a treatment instrument insertion channel 41, an air feeding nozzle 42, a water feeding nozzle 43 and a transparent cover portion 40. The transparent cover portion 40 has, for example, a substantially mountain-like shape, and the observation window cover portion 40a facing the observation window 51 disposed in the distal end constituting portion 23 of the cover endoscope 21 shown in FIG. And an illumination window cover portion 40b facing the illumination window 52 are provided. Then, between the observation window cover portion 40a and the illumination window cover portion 40b,
A boundary portion 44 is formed by engaging a part of the tip cover 24.

The boundary portion 44 has an observation window cover portion 40a and an illumination window cover portion 40b provided on the transparent cover portion 40.
By forming the boundary portion 44 with an opaque member, the illumination light emitted from the illumination window 52 of the cover endoscope 21 passes through the transparent cover portion 40 and the boundary portion 44. Therefore, the light is prevented from entering the observation window 51.

As shown in FIG. 3, the air supply nozzle 4
The air supply range α of 2 is not only the visual field range 45 of the observation window cover 40a of the transparent cover 40, but also the broken line connecting at least the edge of the observation window 51 of the boundary 44 and the center of the illumination window 52. It is set so as to extend to the area 46.

The water supply range of the water supply nozzle 43 is the observation field range 45 of the observation window cover part 40a of the transparent cover part 40, or the observation window cover part 40a of the observation window cover part 40a like the air supply nozzle 42. Observation field range 45 and area 4
Any of the ranges including both 6 and 6 may be set.

The shape of the transparent cover portion 40 is not limited to the mountain-like shape, and the transparent cover portion 40 may be provided in each window of the cover endoscope as shown in FIG. 8 (A). It may be provided corresponding to each.

The positional relationship between the air supply nozzle 42 and the water supply nozzle 43 may be reversed.

The cover type endoscope 20 constructed as described above.
The operation of will be described. Using the insertion aid 31, while observing a subject image obtained through the observation window 51 of the cover-type endoscope 20 equipped with the endoscope cover 22 and the cover endoscope 21, a predetermined portion in the body cavity is observed. Insert it. At this time, even if the room temperature of the examination room is set to a low temperature, the distal end cover 24 of the cover endoscope 21 is heated to 30 ° C. to 37 ° C. by the heater 35 provided in the insertion aid 31.
Since it is warmed up, clouding does not occur in the transparent cover portion 40 when the cover-type endoscope 20 is inserted into the body cavity.

While observing the subject image obtained through the observation window 51, the illumination light is reflected by the liquid 47 such as body fluid adhered just above the boundary portion 44, and the reflected light is incident on the observation window 51. As a result, flare may occur in the subject image. In this case, the air supply nozzle 4 provided on the tip cover 24
For example, air is injected from 2. Then, since the area 46 is included in the air supply range α of the air supply nozzle 42, the liquid 47 adhering on the boundary portion 44 is blown off so that a good subject image without flare can be observed. become.

Further, dirt adheres to the observation visual field range 45 of the observation window cover 40a of the transparent cover 40 located in front of the observation window 51, so that the subject image cannot be observed sufficiently. In this case, first, a liquid such as water is jetted from the water supply nozzle 43 to wash away the dirt in the observation visual field range 45. At this time, if water drops remain on the observation visual field range 45 or on the boundary 44, flare may occur. Therefore, air is jetted from the air supply nozzle 42 to blow off the water drops and a good subject without flare. Allows you to observe the image.

As described above, since the air supply range of the air supply nozzle includes not only the observation visual field range but also at least the area connecting the edge of the observation window and the center of the illumination window in the boundary portion, Even if body fluid or water droplets adhere to the top, the body fluid or water droplets can be removed by ejecting air from the air supply nozzle. As a result, it is possible to eliminate flare that occurs when the illumination light emitted from the illumination window is reflected by water droplets or the like on the boundary and enters the observation window, and a good subject image can be obtained.

The transparent cover 40 and the tip cover 24 are joined together by an adhesive or ultrasonic welding. At this time, the transparent cover portion 40 and the tip cover 2
4 is a boundary member 44a having a substantially convex cross section as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 (A), a cross-shaped boundary member 44b as shown in FIG. 5 (B), and FIG. 5D), or an S-shaped boundary member 44d as shown in FIG. 5D or a stepped portion 44e provided on each of them. As a result, the joint margin between the transparent cover portion 40 and the tip cover 24 increases, the joint strength increases, and the watertightness also increases. FIG. 4 and FIG. 5
As shown in (B), by making the cross-sectional shape of the boundary portion 44 smaller toward the tip, it is possible to make the field of view and the illumination light less susceptible to vignetting.

Further, the transparent cover portion 40 and the tip cover 24 may be integrally molded by using a two-color molding method. In the case of integrally molding the transparent cover portion 40 and the tip cover 24 using this two-color molding, first, after molding the tip cover 24 shown in FIG. 3, using the same molding machine,
Immediately after molding, the fixed mold is changed while the tip cover 24 is still placed in a part of the cavity of the movable mold, and a transparent material for forming the cover portion is poured into the movable mold to mold it integrally. As a result, not only the step of joining the transparent cover portion 40 and the tip cover 24 is unnecessary, the manufacturing cost can be reduced, but also the transparent cover portion 40 and the tip cover 24 are integrated and expensive. Watertightness can be secured.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4, a ring-shaped projecting portion 53 is formed around the observation window 51 provided in the distal end forming portion 23 of the cover endoscope 21. The protruding portion 53 comes into contact with the boundary portion 44 when the cover endoscope 21 and the endoscope cover 22 are mounted. Therefore, the illumination light emitted from the illumination window 52 is prevented from directly entering the observation window 51 inside the endoscope cover. The protruding portion 53 may be integrated with the distal end forming portion 23 of the cover endoscope 21 or may be a separate ring-shaped member.

By the way, as shown in FIG. 8C, for example, when the treatment instrument 15 is projected from the treatment instrument insertion channel 14, the projecting treatment instrument 15 may reflect and illuminate the illumination light. Then, the portion that is shining due to the reflection of the treatment tool 15 becomes a light source, and the treatment tool 15
The light ray 18 reflected by is incident from the outside of the visual field range 12 of the transparent cover 8, is repeatedly reflected on the inner surface of the transparent cover 8 and the surface of the tip forming portion 5 and is incident on the observation window 6 to cause flare in an observed image. And there was a bad influence.

Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 6, the transparent cover portion 4 between the treatment instrument insertion channel 41 provided in the endoscope cover 22 and the observation window 51 of the cover endoscope 21 is provided.
The outer surface of the outer surface or inner surface of No. 0, which is outside the observation field of view range 45, or the tip side surface of the protruding portion 53 is subjected to blackening treatment or sand reduction processing for making fine irregularities on the surface. . As a result, even if the treatment instrument 15 protruding from the treatment instrument insertion channel 41 shines like the light source by shining with the illumination light emitted from the illumination window 52, this treatment instrument 15
When the reflected light 15a of FIG. 6 is incident on the transparent cover portion 40, the light is weakened in the portion where the light reduction processing is performed.
It is possible to prevent flare due to the reflected light 15a shown in FIG. In the case of applying the black coating, if it is troublesome to apply the coating only to the surface of the protruding portion 53, the tip forming portion 23
The entire tip surface and the entire outer surface may be painted black.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another structure of the cover type endoscope according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 7A, the cover-type endoscope 70 of this embodiment is of a side-view type, and has a tip cover 71.
Is equipped with a treatment instrument raising device 72. The treatment instrument raising device 72 includes a raising base 73 and a raising wire 74.

The tip cover 24 is formed of a transparent member, and is provided between the portions corresponding to the observation window 51 and the illumination window 52 of the cover endoscope (not shown) inserted through the inside of the tip cover 24. Is provided with a boundary portion 44 formed of an opaque member to prevent the illumination light reflected by the transparent tip cover 71 from entering the observation window 51. In addition, the injection range β of the air or water that is air-supplied or water-emitted from the nozzle 75a provided in the tip cover 75 is defined by the center of the illumination window 52 on the boundary and the edge of the observation window 51. An area 46 between the connecting broken lines is included. Other configurations, operations, and effects are the same as those in the first embodiment, and the same members are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

The raising base 73 is in the form of a flexible tube, and as shown in FIG. 7B, it has a plurality of slits 76, 76. . . Is provided and is bent as shown by the broken line. A ring 77 to which a raising wire 74 is connected is fixed to the tip of the raising base 73.
When the ring 77 fixed to the tip of the elevator 73 is a member having high reflectance, when the elevator 73 is raised,
The illumination light is reflected by the ring 77, and the reflected light from the ring 77 enters the observation window 51, which causes flare. Therefore, the ring 77 has a dark color such as black that is difficult to reflect. By making the conventional raising table 80 shown in FIG. 7C also dark such as black, it is possible to prevent flare due to the reflected light of the raising table 80.

[Supplementary Notes] A cover endoscope having an insertion portion and an operation portion, and an observation window and an illumination window provided at the distal end portion of the insertion portion, and at least the insertion portion of the cover endoscope covering the distal end portion of the insertion portion. The fluid is jetted to the transparent visual field range of the transparent cover portion disposed in front of the observation window and the transparent cover portion having a boundary portion that opposes the observation window and the illumination window and divides the observation window side and the illumination window side. In a cover-type endoscope including an endoscope cover having a nozzle provided in a tip cover, a fluid ejected from a nozzle provided in the tip cover is provided with an observation view range and an observation window in front of the observation window of the transparent cover part. A cover-type endoscope that passes over the boundary surface that separates the illumination window and the illumination window.

2. The cover-type endoscope according to Note 1, wherein the fluid ejected from the nozzle is a gas.

3. 2. The cover-type endoscope according to appendix 1, wherein the fluid ejected from the nozzle is at least one of gas and liquid.

4. 2. The cover-type endoscope according to appendix 1, wherein a boundary portion that divides the observation window cover portion and the illumination window cover portion provided on the transparent cover portion is an opaque member.

5. The cover endoscope according to Note 1, wherein the fluid ejected from the nozzle flows in a region surrounded by the center of the illumination window cover portion and the tangent line of the observation window edge portion.

6. 5. The cover endoscope according to appendix 4, wherein a step portion is provided at a joint portion between the transparent cover portion of the tip cover and a boundary portion formed of an opaque member.

7. 7. The cover-type endoscope according to Appendix 6, wherein the tip cover is molded by two-color molding.

8. 7. The cover-type endoscope according to supplementary note 4 and supplementary note 6, wherein the cross-sectional shape of the boundary portion becomes smaller toward the distal end surface side.

9. An endoscope for a cover having an insertion portion and having an observation window and an illumination window at the distal end portion of the insertion portion, and an observation window at the distal end portion of the insertion portion that covers at least the insertion portion of the endoscope for the cover. And a lighting window and a transparent cover portion having a boundary portion that divides the observation window side and the illumination window side from each other, and an endoscope cover having an opening for a treatment instrument insertion channel in a distal end cover. In the endoscope, a cover-type endoscope in which the surface of the transparent cover or the surface of the distal end portion between the observation window and the channel is subjected to a light reduction process.

10. 10. The cover-type endoscope according to appendix 9, wherein the surface of the light-reducing treatment is painted black.

11. 10. The cover-type endoscope according to Note 9, wherein the light-reducing treatment is performed by processing a surface portion into a sandy shape.

[0052]

As described above, according to the present invention, the cover type for obtaining a good observation image without being affected by the light reflected by the body fluid or water droplets adhering to the observation visual field range and the boundary surface of the tip cover. An endoscope can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 to FIG. 4 relate to a first embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a cover-type endoscope.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing a state in which a cover endoscope and an endoscope cover are mounted.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a configuration of a distal end cover of the endoscope cover.

4 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a cross-sectional shape of a boundary portion.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another configuration of the cover-type endoscope according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional cover-type endoscope.

[Explanation of symbols]

 24 ... Tip cover 40 ... Transparent cover part 42 ... Nozzle (for air supply) 43 ... Nozzle (for water supply) 44 ... Boundary part 45 ... Observation field range 51 ... Observation window 52 ... Illumination window

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An endoscope for a cover, which has an insertion portion and an operation portion, and which has an observation window and an illumination window at a distal end portion of the insertion portion,
A transparent cover portion that covers at least the insertion portion of the cover endoscope and has a boundary portion that opposes the observation window and the illumination window at the distal end portion of the insertion portion and divides the observation window side and the illumination window side and the observation. A cover-type endoscope comprising: an endoscope cover provided with a nozzle for ejecting a fluid in an observation visual field range of a transparent cover portion arranged in front of a window; The cover type endoscope, wherein the fluid to be passed passes through an observation visual field range on the front side of the observation window of the transparent cover section and a boundary surface section which divides the observation window and the illumination window.