DE10028081A1 - Endoscope for medical use, comprises transmitter which transmits observed image through wireless signal to external receiver - Google Patents

Abstract

The endoscope comprises a flexible tube (13) which assumes profile of the cavity of the organ. An illumination window (16) equipped with light emitting diode (16a) and an observation device (15) are provided within the tube. The tube is provided with power source. The observed image is transmitted by the transmitter as wireless signal to the external receiver.

Description

The invention relates to a completely swallowable endoscope system that is long in A patient's body can be held and with few blind spots occur during an endoscopic examination.

Endoscopic examinations generally involve one with an operating part connected insertion part through the mouth into a patient's body led to observe an inner area in the body. When observing an inner part of a strongly curved tubular body channel, at for example, part of the large intestine, there may be blind spots cannot be avoided during the endoscopic examination.

The insertion part of the endoscope sometimes has to be in the body for a long time to watch the development of a diseased part in the body or somatoscopic information of a patient under normal daily le to maintain and / or record conditions. The introduction and that Holding the endoscope in the body through the patient's mouth prepares the patient however, severe pain.  

To keep the patient pain free, it is known to be a capsule-shaped endo skop to use that in the middle area of a flexible together hanging element is provided, as in the Japanese Open No. 64-76822. A patient to be examined swallows one at the top of the flexible coherent element formed soft ball the night before the examination, so that this on can be excreted through the anus the next day. A doctor pulls or moves the top and back of the flexible coherent ele mentes, which is related to the middle area of the flexible hanging element connected capsule is moved or guided.

With a capsule-shaped endoscope of the type described above, the pain can of the patient compared to conventional endoscopes the. However, the patient must always have the flexible coherent element wear one end of which sticks out of his mouth for more than 12 hours. It is therefore impossible for the patient to ingest or block food chen. Under these circumstances, no significant pain reliever Effect can be expected. In addition, it is generally difficult to determine the location of the Control endoscope in the form of a capsule.

The invention has for its object a fully swallowable Endo Specify scope system with which a patient can be kept pain-free and that it makes it possible to safely and accurately manipulate an inner target body part take care.

This task is performed by the gat in a completely swallowable endoscope system appropriate type solved by the features of claim 1.

Further features and refinements of the invention are the subject of further Expectations.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the drawings. It shows:

Figure 1 is a schematic view of an embodiment of a fully swallowable endoscope system with a rod-shaped endoscope body and an external device.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic section of a first embodiment of the rod-shaped endoscope body;

Fig. 3 shows a schematic section of a second embodiment of the rod-shaped endoscope body;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic section of the rod-shaped endoscope body according to FIG. 3 in a state in which it is completely bent;

Fig. 5 is a schematic section of a third embodiment of the rod-shaped endoscope body,

FIG. 6 shows a schematic section of the rod-shaped endoscope body according to FIG. 5 in the bent state;

Fig. 7 is a view of the rod-shaped endoscope body in a state in which it is inserted in a curved tubular body channel;

Figure 8 is a view of the rod-shaped endoscope body in a state in which it is inserted in a curved tubular body channel.

Fig. 9 is a block diagram of a process which is carried out after the external device has received an output signal from the rod-shaped endoscope body;

Figure 10 is a view of part of a first embodiment of a biegsa men part with parts omitted for clarity in the event that it is bendable in a single plane. and

Fig. 11 is a view of part of a second embodiment of the biegsa men part in the event that it is bendable in two mutually perpendicular planes.

Fig. 1 shows an embodiment of a fully swallow Endos kopsystems, which includes a rod-shaped endoscope body 10 and an external device 11 . A patient to be examined swallows the rod-shaped endoscope body 10 with it before an endoscopic examination. The external device acts as a wireless controller (electromagnetic controller) and as a power supply for the endoscope body 10 .

Fig. 2 shows a first embodiment of the rod-shaped endoscope body 10. This rod-shaped endoscope body 10 has a first hard part (inflexible part) 12 , a flexible part (flexible part) 13 and a second hard part 14 in this order from the front end (the left end in FIG. 2). The rod-shaped endoscope body is completely covered with an elastic cover 24 , the outer surface of which is smooth and slides well (see FIG. 10). The first and the second hard parts 12 and 14 are made of a hard material (for example a hard plastic) which is macroscopically not deformable. On the outer periphery of the flexible part 13 , a flexible and flexible tube, for example a steel wire tube, is provided so that the entire flexible part 13 is bendable. Referring to FIG. 2, the flexible part 13 of the rod-shaped endoscope body 10 extends almost over the entire length.

The first and the second hard parts 12 and 14 each contain an observation system 15 , an illumination window 16 and an air supply opening 17 . Be observation systems 15 each contain an optical lens system 17 a and a CCD image sensor 17th The flexible portion 13 has an amplifier circuit 13 a, b a transmitter / receiver 13, a power supply 13 c, a control circuit 13 d, 13 f a container for compressed air and a micro-wave receiver 13 g. The CCD image sensors 15 b are connected to the amplifier circuit 13 a via a corresponding signal line 18 . The amplifier circuit 13 a is connected to the transmitter / receiver 13 b, which is arranged in part 13 biegsa men. The hard parts 12 and 14 each contain an LED (light emitter) 16 a, which is attached to the corresponding lighting window 16 . The LEDs 16 a are connected via a corresponding signal line 18 to the control circuit 13 d.

The air supply openings 17 are connected to the outer end of a corresponding to the air supply pipe 19 . The inner end of the air supply pipes 19 is connected to a valve 13 e of the container 13 f for compressed air. The valves 13 e are opened or closed by the control circuit 13 d. The power supply device 13 c is connected to the transmitter / receiver 13 b and the control circuit 13 d. It converts a microwave signal received by the microwave receiver 13 g into an electrical current for the transmitter / receiver 13 b and the control circuit 13 d. The microwave signal received by the microwave receiver 13 g is sent from the external device 11 .

The external device 11 shown in FIG. 1 has an external receiving part 11 a, a monitor 11 b, an external transmitting part 11 d, a valve control part 11 h and a microwave transmitting part (microwave transmitter) 11 i. The external input device 11 further includes a video circuit 11 e, 11 f, an analysis circuit and a memory device 11 e for analyzed data (see Fig. 9). It also contains a video circuit 11 e, an analysis circuit 11 f and a storage device 11 g for analyzed data (see FIG. 9). The external device 11 transmits the above-mentioned microwave signal, which is used to supply power to the rod-shaped endoscope body, from the microwave transmitter part 11 i to the rod-shaped endoscope body 10 . This received by the microwave receiver 13 g received microwave signal is converted into an electrical current by the power supply device 13 c. The power supply device 13 c feeds the current into the transmitter / receiver 13 b and the control circuit 13 d. By manual actuation of the valve control part 11 h of the external device 11, we generate an electromagnetic actuation signal for actuating the valve 13 e and transmit it via the external transmitter part 11 d to the rod-shaped end dos body 10 . The external receiving part 11 a receives image signals (electromagnetic signals) from the transmitter / receiver 13 b. The received image signals are for observation by a doctor on the monitor 11 b be displayed.

In the fully swallowable endoscope system described above, a patient to be examined swallows the rod-shaped endoscope body 10 completely from its front end, ie from the first hard part 12 . Then the completely swallowed endoscope body 10 slides gradually with minimal resistance through peristalsis in the digestive tract, since almost its entire length is flexible due to the flexibility of the flexible part 13 . If the rod-shaped endoscope body 10 reaches the inner body target area, this can be observed and at the same time the necessary information about a living body can be obtained in the manner described below.

In the present embodiment of the endoscope system, the transmitter / receiver 13 b of the rod-shaped endoscope body 10, the transmission signals transmitted from the external transmitter part 11 d of the external device 11 to electromagnetic actuation signals, so that all basic actuating elements of the rod-shaped endoscope body 10 are wirelessly controlled by the external device 11 can be. The power supply part 13 c provides current for the transmitter receiver 13 b and the control circuit 13 d by converting the received microwave signal into electrical current, so that the remaining battery power in the rod-shaped endoscope body 10 does not have to be taken into account. This makes it possible to adequately observe the inner target area in the body.

The LEDs 16 a, which receive current from the power supply device 13 c via the signal line 18 , emit light through the illumination window 16 to the outside. The object image illuminated by the light is generated via the optical lens system 15 a on the corresponding surface of the CCD image sensor 15 b. The image signal supplied by the CCD image sensor 15 b is amplified by the amplifier circuit 13 a. This amplified image signal is transmitted from the transmitter / receiver 13 b and received by the external receiving part 11 a of the external device 11 . The image signal received from the external device 11 is processed by the video circuit 11 a and can be viewed on the monitor 11 b (see FIG. 9). If a tubular channel is expanded by compressed air in the container 13 f for compressed air from the air supply opening 17 to the tubular channel via the air supply pipe 19 , which is done by actuating the valve control part 11 h of the external device 11 , so that the transmitter / receiver 13 b receives electromagnetic actuation signals sent from the external transmitter part 11 d for the purpose of actuating the valve 11 e, the distance between the first or second hard part 12 or 14 and the interior in the digestive tract becomes large and it becomes possible to observe the inner wall of the tubular duct.

A measuring device 21 for measuring body information, such as the pH value, the temperature, the amount of oxygen in the blood and the hardness of the cell surface, can be provided in the rod-shaped endoscope body 10 (see FIG. 2). In this case, the measured information can be transmitted from the transmitter / receiver 13 b to the external receiving part 11 a of the external device 11 . The received information can be analyzed and stored if the analysis device 11 f analyzes the received information and the storage device 11 b stores the analyzed information for analyzed data (see FIG. 9).

FIGS. 3 and 4 show a second embodiment of the rod-shaped En doskopkörpers 10th In this embodiment, the rod-shaped endoscope body 10 has an electromagnetically controlled flexible part 20 instead of the flexible part 13 according to the first embodiment. Like the bendable part 13 of the first embodiment of the endoscope body 10, it extends the bendable part 20 almost over its entire length.

In the second embodiment of the fully swallowable endoscope body 10 is in the external device 10 in addition to the external receiving part 11 a, the monitor b 11, the external transmitting part 11 d, the video circuit 11 e, Ana lyseeinrichtung 11 f, the memory device 11 g of analyzed data , the Ven tilsteuerteil 11 h and the microwave transmission part 11 i a control part (actuating part) 11 c provided for the flexible part (shown in Fig. 1 by a dotted circle). By manual actuation of the control part 11 c for the flexible part, an electromagnetic actuation signal for actuating the flexible part 20 is generated by the external device 11 and transmitted via the external transmitting part 11 d to the rod-shaped endoscope body 10 .

Fig. 10 shows part of a first embodiment of the flexible part 20 in the case where it is bendable in a single plane. This first exemplary embodiment of the flexible part 20 has a link sequence of ring connections 22 . Adjacent ring connections 22 are connected to one another by means of an axis 22 a so that they can each rotate about them. All axes 22 a run parallel to one another and are therefore in a common plane. The link sequence of ring connections 22 thus formed is surrounded by a steel wire tube 23 . This steel wire tube 23 is in turn covered with the above-mentioned elastic cover 24 . The flexible part 20 can be designed to be fully flexible all the time.

In the rod-shaped endoscope body 10 , a plurality of bendable drive wires 20 a (two wires in the first exemplary embodiment of the flexible part 20 ) are provided, which run in the flexible part 20 (see FIG. 3). The drive wires 20 a are made of a shape memory alloy (SMA) and bend when heated by an electric current. The rod-shaped endoscope body 10 with the flexible part 20 also contains a heating device 20 b connected to the transmitter / receiver 13 b. The opposite ends of the drive wires 20 a are attached to the first hard part 12 and the second hard part 14 . A central part of the drive wires 20 a is connected to the heating device 20 b.

The two drive wires 20 a are arranged diametrically on opposite sides of the axis of the cylindrical flexible part 20 . The heater 20 b is a circuit which selectively supplies an electric current to the two drive wires 20 a to heat them as a function of control signals from the receiver 13 b, thereby making it possible to bend the flexible part 20 in one plane, in which the two drive wires 20 a lie.

If the flexible part 20 only needs to be bent in a single plane, it is sufficient that the first exemplary embodiment of the flexible part 20 according to FIG. 10 is provided in the rod-shaped endoscope body 10 , which can be bent digitally in a single plane. If the flexible part 20 is to be bendable in two perpendicular planes, it must be designed as shown in FIG . Fig. 11 shows part of a second embodiment of the flexible portion 20 for the case in which it is to be flexible in two mutually perpendicular planes. In the second exemplary embodiment of the flexible part 20 , a sequence of links 22 'is seen before. Adjacent ring connections 22 'are connected by a first axis 22 a or a second axis 22 b so that they can rotate. The two axes 22 a and 22 b lie alternately in mutually perpendicular directions. In Fig. 11 of clarity neither the steel wire tube 23 is shown yet the above-mentioned elastic cover 24 for reasons. In the second exemplary embodiment of the flexible part 20 , four flexible drive wires 20 a run through this flexible part 20 . The opposite ends of the drive wires 20 a are attached to the first hard part 12 and the second hard part 14 at intervals of 90 ° about its axis. Only two drive wires 20 a are shown in FIG. 3; the remaining two drive wires 20 a are arranged accordingly in the second embodiment of the flexible part 20 .

In the second embodiment of the endoscope body 10 with the second embodiment of the flexible part 20 according to FIG. 3, this can be operated according to FIG. 4 for the purpose of bending, in which the control part 11 c for the flexible part of the external device 11 is operated so that the transmitter / Receiver 13 b receives the electromagnetic actuation signals transmitted from the external transmission part 11 d in order to actuate the heating device 20 b. Therefore, the rod-shaped endoscope body 10 can be easily inserted into a curved tubular body channel by operating the flexible part 20 , and it becomes possible to further observe the inner target area of the body.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show a third embodiment of the rod-En doskopkörper 10th This third embodiment is essentially identical to the second embodiment of the endoscope body 10 with the exception that in the third embodiment a first plurality of drive data 20 a for actuating the front half of the endoscope body 10 (the left half seen in Fig. 5) and a second A large number of drive wires 20 a for actuating the rear half of the endoscope body 10 (the right half seen in FIG. 5), and two heating devices 20 b are provided. The outer and inner ends of the first plurality of drive wires 20 a are attached to the first hard part 12 and the first heater 20 b (the right heater 20 b in Fig. 5), while the outer and inner ends of the second plurality of Drive wires 20 a on the second hard part 14 and the second heater 20 b (the left heater 20 b in Fig. 5) is attached. With this structure, the front half of the endoscope body 10 can be bent independently of its rear half, which also applies vice versa. The front and the rear half of the En doskopkörpers can therefore be bent in FIG. 4 in the same direction or in FIG. 6 in opposite directions. The endos cop body 10 can thus be inserted more easily into a complicatedly curved tubular body channel (see FIGS. 7 and 8).

The power supply device 13 c of the rod-shaped endoscope body 10 can be replaced by a built-in battery to simplify the structure of the endoscope system.

As can be seen from the above explanations on the completely swallowable en doscope system according to the invention, a patient to be examined be kept pain-free, even if the rod-shaped endoscope body is long remains in the patient's body because he is without cables or wires that connect to the external device, located in a body cavity. Since the rod-shaped endoscope body can be bent completely and freely, he can in addition, be inserted into intricately curved body canals.

Claims (10)

1. Fully swallowable endoscope system with
a rod-shaped endoscope body which can be swallowed completely by a patient to be examined for insertion into a body cavity and which has a bendable part which can be bent at a curvature of the body cavity and extends almost over the entire length of the rod-shaped endoscope body; and
an external device provided separately from the rod-shaped endoscope body without mechanical connection to it;
wherein the rod-shaped endoscope body contains at least one light emitter, at least one observation system, a transmitter for transmitting an electromagnetic signal that carries an image generated by the observation system, and a power supply device; and
the external device including a receiver for receiving the electromagnetic signal carrying the image. 2. Endoscope system according to claim 1, characterized in that the bendable part contains a flexible part which is remotely controllable from the external device for the purpose of bending;
the rod-shaped endoscope body includes a remotely controlled drive device which receives an electromagnetic operation signal sent from the external device to bend the flexible part in response thereto; and
the external device contains an actuating part which detects the electromagnetic actuating signal to the remote-controlled drive device. 3. Endoscope system according to claim 2, characterized in that that the remote control drive means a variety of one Shape memory alloy manufactured drive wires and at least one  Heater contains the purpose of the plurality of drive wires Bend of the flexible part warmed. 4. Endoscope system according to claim 1, characterized in that the power supply device is a built-in battery. 5. Endoscope system according to claim 1, characterized in that the external device contains a microwave transmitter for transmitting a microwave signal to the rod-shaped endoscope body; and
the power supply device converts the microwave signal into an electrical current for the rod-shaped endoscope body. 6. Endoscope system according to claim 1, characterized in that that the observation system is an optical lens system and a CCD Contains image sensor. 7. Endoscope system according to claim 1, characterized in that that the external device contains a monitor which visualizes the image displays. 8. Fully swallowable endoscope system with
a rod-shaped endoscope body, which includes a first hard part, a flexible part and a second hard part, which are arranged in this order from a body end, and in which the flexible part extends almost over its entire length; and
a remote control for bending the flexible part;
wherein the first and second hard parts have at least one light emitter for illuminating an inner body target area and at least one image recording device for taking an image of the inner target area illuminated by the light emitter; and
wherein the flexible part contains a transmitter for transmitting an electromagnetic signal's guiding the image generated by the image pickup device. 9. Endoscope system according to claim 8, characterized in that the remote control has a monitor and a receiver for recording the electromagnetic signal to display the image on the Moni gate contains. 10. Endoscope system according to claim 8, characterized in that that the remote control another transmitter for transmitting a micro Contains wave signal on the rod-shaped endoscope body and in the stab mig endoscope body a power supply device is provided, wel che records the microwave signal and converts it into an electrical current for converts the rod-shaped endoscope body.