Surgery – Instruments – Means for concretion removal
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-19
2001-08-07
Smith, Jeffrey A. (Department: 3732)
Surgery
Instruments
Means for concretion removal
Reexamination Certificate
active
06270505
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endo-bag to take in a removed organ as in an endoscopic surgery or an operation under an endoscopic examination and means for inserting the endo-bag into the abdominal cavity.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The endoscopic surgery is performed in the operation of the abdominal cavity and pectoral cavity. In this style of operation, the whole of the abdomen is not cut open. Instead, a minimum necessary part is cut open or holed, and through that opening are inserted a laparoscope and surgical instruments such as forceps and electric surgical knife with which a diseased organ is removed in the abdominal cavity under an endoscopic examination. This surgery is widely conducted lately, because a small abdominal opening does do for operations and helps quicken post-operation recovery and minimizes the creeping in of virus.
To prevent the operation from affecting the other parts, an endo-bag is used to take in a removed organ in the abdominal cavity. Then, the removed organ is cut in small pieces within the bag or put out of the cavity as it is removed. Since the diseased organ is taken in the bag immediately after surgery and all the subsequent treatment of the diseased organ is done within the bag, there is no possibility of the other parts of the body being affected even if the disease is a malignant tumor. This way, the endo-bag minimizes the adverse effect of operation on the patient.
In the meantime, the endoscopic operation is limited in degree of freedom of operation as compared with laparotomy because of the small trocar site, the limited visibility, ocellar observation of the laparoscope, and other factors. And the problem in using an endo-bag in the abdominal cavity is how the organ receiving mouth can be expanded and opened surely and quickly to take in the removed organ.
Different endo-bags addressing that question have been disclosed. The applicants of the present invention have also proposed an endo-bag in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 9-173337 (unexamined).
FIG. 39
shows some examples of the prior art endo-bags.
An endo-bag
31
as shown in FIG.
39
(
a
) has an elastic opening element
32
which springs open in the form of a ring when force is applied through an opening guide
34
. The endo-bag
31
, folded around the outer circumferencial surface of a guide inner cylinder
36
, is housed inside an outer guide cylinder
35
, with the opening element
32
stored in the opening guide
34
. This endo-bag
31
is then inserted into the abdominal cavity by means of the outer guide cylinder
35
, where the opening element
32
is caused to expand in the form of a ring by an opening means (not shown) so as to expand the bag
31
and to open the organ receiving mouth
33
.
That method offered some advantages in that the endo-bag could be opened in a relatively simple mechanism. But since the opening element
32
having a certain rigidity and the opening guide
34
had to be used within the abdominal cavity almost with invisibility, it was necessary to take care so as not to harm the human internal organs and it was difficult to open the bag in an ideal state.
FIGS.
39
(
b
) and (
c
) show endo-bags which are opened not by using a rigid element but by providing a hollow space in the whole or part of the bag into which air or the like is pumped to open the bag.
In the endo-bag
41
shown in FIG.
39
(
b
), an organ receiving mouth
43
is provided with an inflation-type frame edge
42
formed of a ring-formed hollow space. In this inflation-type frame edge
42
, a tube
45
is led out through a surgical instrument inserting portion
44
. Into this tube
45
, air or the like is pumped to inflate the inflation-type frame edge
42
which then opens the organ receiving mouth
43
.
In the endo-bag
51
in FIG.
39
(
c
), the whole bag is an inflation-type flabby cylinder
52
in shape. In this, air or the like is led from the surgical instrument inserting portion
54
through the tube
55
to inflate the inflation-type flabby cylinder
52
and then to open an organ receiving mouth
53
. The reference numerals
46
and
56
indicate additionally provided surgical instrument inserting portions through which the forceps and the laparoscope are passed so as to permit treatment within the bag.
Those endo-bags were excellent with regard to safety, because the bag itself was formed of such materials as polyethylene sheet that were not harmful to the human body.
But the problem with those endo-bags were that a considerable amount of air was required for the bag to take shape and open. The pressure of air, too, had to be raised to a considerable level. Otherwise, the bag would not open in an ideal state and could deform under the slightest stress. If the inflation-type frame edge or the inflation-type flabby cylinder should burst out, the leaked air could push up the pressure in the abdominal cavity and contaminate the abdominal cavity. For that reason, there had been a call for development of an endo-bag that could open in an ideal state with a less amount of air.
Also, a variety of opening systems including those aforesaid examples had been disclosed, but there had been found no systems which were completed on the basis of consideration of opened form and three-dimensional tailoring. That is because such materials as polyethylene sheet or urethane sheet were selected for the endo-bag on account of foldability, strength, harmlessness to humans, transparency and others. And the pliability of those materials led to a belief that it was natural that the opened form should be round or the like.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of those problems with the prior art endo-bags, the present invention has been provided. Accordingly, and it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an endo-bag for endoscopic operation which can be easily and rapidly opened without difficulty with a low pressure and a small quantity of fluid and that will not deform easily and a means to insert the endo-bag.
The present invention discloses endo-bags which comprise an inflation-type frame edge provided with three-dimensionally tailored gores and an organ receiving mouth that will be opened in not circular but polygonal form by the inflation-type frame edge.
As mentioned above, the present invention is based on the idea of the three-dimensional tailoring of the material for the inflation-type frame edge and its opened form to which nobody had paid attention. That is, the material is three-dimensionally tailored so as to make it easy to inflate the material. At the same time, what form to take is not left to the material itself but manipulated. After much trial and error, it was found that three-dimensional tailoring and polygonal, and not circular, form could open the endo-bag with a lower pressure and a small quantity of fluid. Furthermore, the bag when opened and expanded was resistant to deformation. Those ideas are incorporated into the present invention.
It is also noted that the endo-bag of the present invention is for use in endoscopic operation. In an endoscopic operation, the bag is inserted into the abdominal cavity or thoracic cavity where a removed organ is put in the bag and can be given necessary treatment while observing the organ in the bag by an endscope. It is also possible to bring out of the trocar puncture the bag containing the organ as it is removed.
According to such an airtight endo-bag, when the opening such as an organ receiving mouth of an endo-bag is sealed appropriately, the organ contained in the endo-bag can be treated while the inside of the endo-bag is inflated by pumping air therein. Therefore, good visibility of endscope can be achieved and such an endo-bag is suitable for endoscopic surgery.
The endo-bag as defined in the present invention is so designed that an inserting portion for surgical instruments such as forceps and laparoscope is formed in a flexible bag body having an organ receiving mouth provided with an inflation-type frame edge. The inflation-type frame edge is pro
Niizeki Ryuichiro
Terachi Toshiro
Yoshida Osamu
Koda & Androlia
Robert Eduardo C.
Smith Jeffrey A.
Yoshida Osamu
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