Surgery – Endoscope – With guide means for body insertion
Patent
1995-01-03
1996-12-24
Apley, Richard J.
Surgery
Endoscope
With guide means for body insertion
604271, 604 96, A61B 100
Patent
active
055869688
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD BACKGROUND ART
The present invention relates to a method for moving an endoscope along a canal-shaped cavity.
Endoscopes have become an important aid in technology and medicine for inspecting canal-shaped cavities that are otherwise inaccessible or only accessible with considerable intervention. Endoscopes are equipped at the distal end with illuminating means and with an optical system for visually detecting the area of the cavity located therebefore. The optical information detected at the distal end of the endoscope is normally either transmitted through the endoscope to the proximal operating end by means of fiber optics, or detected at the distal end by means of a camera chip, guided through an electric wire to the proximal end of the endoscope and made visible on a monitor. Endoscopes customarily have an overall elongate, flexible-rod shape, disregarding the proximal operating end.
To permit inspection of a canal-shaped cavity the endoscope is introduced into the cavity through an access opening. The endoscope is customarily moved further inside by an operating person acting with his hand on the part of the endoscope protruding out of the access opening and from there gradually pushing the endoscope, which is rigid when pushed, ever further into the cavity.
It is relatively troublesome to move the endoscope increasingly into the canal-shaped cavity. It is particularly difficult to advance the endoscope when the canal-shaped cavity to be inspected has narrow bends, strictures or the like. When the canal-shaped cavity has an unsmooth wall consisting of a rather unsolid material there is a danger of the distal end getting stuck on the cavity wall during its advance; this can cause damage to the cavity wall. Particularly when the cavity has several bends the push from the posterior end of the endoscope exerts considerable pressure from the inside against the wall areas located on the outside of the bend. This complicates the further advance of the endoscope.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The invention is based on the problem of providing a less complicated way of moving the endoscope along the cavity with less danger of damaging the cavity wall.
To solve this problem the method according to the invention is characterized in that cavity wall while the endoscope is moved along the cavity and whose inner area receives a partial length of the endoscope; which are located within the cavity are moved forward at least during part of the time in such a way that the rate of motion of the anterior part of the endoscope is substantially half as great as the rate of motion of the anterior part of the inner turnout tube area.
In the inventive method not only the endoscope is introduced into the canal-shaped cavity and advanced along it, but the turnout tube is also introduced between the cavity wall and the endoscope. The turnout tube provides a lining of the cavity which facilitates motion of the endoscope along the cavity and decisively reduces the danger of damage to the cavity wall.
Jointly advancing the anterior part of the endoscope and the anterior part of the inner turnout tube area normally causes these two anterior parts to advance at virtually the same rate. Since one half of a given advanced length of the inner turnout tube area is "used up" for the outer turnout tube area after the turnout area is passed, the anterior part of the endoscope would consequently protrude forward beyond the turnout area of the turnout tube by this half length. To avoid this, the anterior part of the endoscope is moved forward according to the invention at a rate that is substantially half as great as the rate of motion of the anterior part of the inner turnout tube area. This involves a sliding motion of the inner turnout tube area relative to the endoscope.
A preferred, specific possibility for obtaining the stated speed ratio is to exert forward driving force on the anterior part of the endoscope and the anterior part of the inner turnout tube area and simultaneously to exert backward motion determining fo
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Bob Alexander
Bob Konstantin
Grundl Andreas
Apley Richard J.
Jones William W.
Leubecker John P.
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