Surgery – Truss – Perineal
Patent
1990-02-26
1992-10-06
Pellegrino, Stephen C.
Surgery
Truss
Perineal
128 6, 604 96, 604101, 604171, 606 15, A61B 100
Patent
active
051522772
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a catheter for insertion into a body cavity for visualizing the interior of the body cavity or medically treating the inner wall of the body cavity from outside the body, and more particularly, to a catheter tube for an endoscope or fiberscope.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Endoscopes are inserted into a body cavity from outside the body to visualize the interior of the body cavity while allowing medical treatment including injection of a fluid medicine in the cavity wall and exposure to laser beams. They recently have attracted greater interest which has encouraged development efforts.
Endoscopes, especially those endoscopes for visualizing the interior of a thin body cavity, typically a blood vessel are of a configuration wherein a bundle of optical fibers for transmitting and receiving light is accommodated in a flexible catheter tube. The catheter tube is inserted into a blood vessel until it reaches a destined site where the light-transmitting fiber (or light guide) projects light from its distal end to an area under observation and the light-receiving fiber (or image fiber) receives the reflected light at the distal end and conducts it to an imaging section where a visual image is provided for observation.
For visual observation of the interior of a blood vessel by means of an endoscope, the blood which obstructs a view to a site under observation must be removed before observation can be done.
However, prior art catheter tubes used in endoscopes have several problems as described below.
First Problem
In a prior art endoscope, an optical fiber bundle with a light guide and an image fiber joined together has a distal portion secured substantially flush with the distal end of the catheter tube. When the catheter tube is inserted into the body cavity, the distal end of the optical fiber bundle makes contact with an instrument (or guide catheter) for assisting in inserting the catheter tube so that the distal or light-receiving face of the image fiber is flawed. The resulting visual image becomes vague.
The optical fiber bundle is secured to the catheter tube by aligning the bundle in the catheter tube with their distal ends flush and bonding a distal portion of the bundle with an adhesive. Thus the distal face of the optical fiber bundle tends to be contaminated with the adhesive during the manufacture process. This also adversely affects the clarity of a visual image.
To prevent damage to the distal face of optical fibers, it might be possible to secure the optical fiber bundle in the lumen of the catheter tube with the distal end of the bundle retracted. However the inner wall of the lumen can be an obstacle to a clear view, this design imposes visualization difficulties or allows visualization over only a limited field of view.
Further, prior art endoscopes have a drawback that cumbersome steps must be taken when it is desired to change the site under observation in the body cavity (in a longitudinal direction of the body cavity). It is necessary to first contract the balloon to disengage the catheter tube from the body cavity, then move the catheter tube in a longitudinal direction of the body cavity to the next destined site, inflate the balloon again to retain the catheter tube relative to the body cavity, and inject a clear fluid before the new site can be visualized.
Second Problem
In the prior art, the blood which obstructs a view was removed by inflating the balloon around the periphery of the tube to shut off blood flow, and then injecting a clear fluid such as physiological saline to a site to be observed to sweep away the blood therefrom and fill the space with the clear fluid instead.
Therefore, in the prior art catheter tube constituting an endoscope, a tube body was formed with a special lumen for accommodating an optical fiber, a first special lumen was needed to provide as a flowpath for a fluid for inflating or contracting the balloon, and a second special lumen was needed to act as a flowpath for injecting a clear fluid for dis
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Honda Hiroaki
Nudeshima Masahiro
Lewis Ralph A.
Pellegrino Stephen C.
Terumo Kabushiki Kaisha
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