Surgery – Endoscope – Having auxiliary channel
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-16
2001-03-13
Dvorak, Linda C. M. (Department: 3739)
Surgery
Endoscope
Having auxiliary channel
C600S159000, C604S167020
Reexamination Certificate
active
06200262
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a forceps stopper for an endoscope for preventing a pressure leakage from an inlet of a channel through which a treatment tool is inserted.
The present disclosure relates to the subject matter contained in Japanese Patent Application No. Hei. 10-66521 filed on Mar. 17, 1998, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
2. Description of the Related Art
A forceps stopper of an endoscope usually has a seal member that is an elastic material, in which a closure such as a slit or the like is formed so that the closure can be spread open by means of a treatment tool to be inserted into the closure. The seal member can assume many and diverse shapes.
The treatment tools inserted into the forceps stopper for the endoscope include a forceps, a snare, a syringe, a basket and a contrast medium supply tube and the like. Such treatment tools are roughly classified into two groups, in which one uses a metallic coil pipe as a shaft and the other uses a flexible tube made of a synthetic resin.
The coil pipe has comparatively high stiffness and problems are less likely to occur when it is inserted into or detached from the forceps stopper.
On the other hand, the flexible tube does not have enough stiffness so that the flexible tube would bend by pass resistance thereof and become no longer functional when the treatment tool is passed through the slit formed in the seal member of the forceps stopper. This problem cannot be completely solved by use of the slit or other closure forming means because if the slit or the like is not formed which can be tightly closed, it is afraid that a pressure leakage would occur at an inlet of a channel through which the treatment tool is inserted.
In various seal members used today, the pressure leakage easily occurs in a seal member formed by rubber sheets having a slit formed across their thickness.
In the case of using seal members in the form of an O-ring that are squeezed in the axial direction until the hole portion is almost closed, a pressure against the passage of a treatment tool is so high that its sheath might easily bend.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to solve the aforementioned problems and to provide a forceps stopper of an endoscope so that treatment tools with a shaft that is not adequately stiff can be smoothly passed without bending and pressure leakage does not occur.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a forceps stopper of an endoscope comprising:
an annular seal member disposed in an inlet of a channel through which a treatment tool is inserted, having a circular hole whose diameter is smaller than an outside diameter of a sheath of the treatment tool and made of an elastic material in which said hole expands when the treatment tool passes through said hole; and
a squeeze member for squeezing said annular seal member inside from opposite lateral sides of said annular seal member in such a manner that said hole is tightly closed.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a forceps stopper according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein a gap is formed between an outer circumference of said annular seal member and an adjacent member in a direction perpendicular to a direction in which said annular seal member is squeezed.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a forceps stopper according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein the surface of said annular seal member has a coating layer with low frictional resistance.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a forceps stopper according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein said annular seal member has such a cross-sectional shape that thickness of said annular seal member decreases progressively toward said hole.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a forceps stopper according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein said annular seal member has an oblong or elliptical form and said annular seal member is squeezed from a longitudinal direction of said annular seal member.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the forceps stopper according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein said squeeze member is rotated relative to said annular seal member so that said annular seal member becomes free from the squeezing force to revert to an unconstrained state.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a forceps stopper according to the sixth aspect of the present invention, wherein said annular seal member has a projection and said squeeze member has a recess, wherein said projection and said recess are engagable with each other and said annular seal member is elastically fixed in a rotating direction in an unconstrained state when said projection is engaged with said recess.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a forceps stopper according to the first aspect of the present invention, further comprising a tubular guide having an outside diameter larger than the diameter of said hole of said annular seal member in an unconstrained state and detachably inserted into said hole of said annular seal member, whereby an treatment tool can be inserted into or pulled out of said tubular guide.
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Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Dvorak Linda C. M.
Greenblum & Bernstein P.L.C.
Ram Jocelyn
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