WO2005077248A1 - Capsule-shaped endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to medical appliance, and especially to a kind of capsule-shaped endoscope. It adds an opening on (12) on the body (10) of the known capsule-shaped endoscope for changing the batteries; and there is a disposable protecting sleeve outside the body (10). The disposable protecting sleeve is capsule-shaped respecting to the body’s shape. It can setup a medium layer (11) between the inner surface (14) of limpidity front half (9) and the outer surface (13) of the body (10), for decreasing the loss of light caused by adding the sleeve. Since the batteries in the present invention which can be changed and the disposable protecting sleeve, it is necessary to change the batteries and said sleeve only once in each examination. So the capsule-shaped endoscope is reusable, and it can depress the cost of examination without iatrogenic infection and be easy to soread over the crowd. It is just because of its cheap cost, a subject can swallow continuously plural capsule-shaped endoscopes in a certain interval, so that it can depress the rate of missed diagnosis.

Description

 Capsule endoscope TECHNICAL FIELD

 The invention belongs to medical equipment, and in particular relates to a capsule endoscope. Background technique

 So far, various endoscopy of the digestive tract has a considerable number of blind spots for the small intestine diagnosis, because the small intestine with a length of more than 7 meters curls in the abdominal cavity, and the traditional endoscope is used to adjust the steering, insert and exit. It is quite difficult, it is difficult to reach the entire intestine, and the patient is very distressed, and may also cause dangers such as intestinal perforation. In recent years, the M2A capsule endoscope (application number 01807801.X), which was first introduced by Israel Winji Imaging Co., Ltd., and Norika, launched by the Japanese RF company, have epoch-making significance for the microscopic examination of the small intestine. Since 1995, there have been hundreds of patent applications in various countries, and the research and development of capsule endoscopes has become a boom. Its typical structure is: a light body, an objective lens, a CMOS or CCD camera, a signal generator, and an antenna as the main body. Powered by batteries or capacitors, wrapped in a capsule-shaped, transparent case. But they are all made up of high-tech devices, making them expensive to make. In addition, the battery or capacitor for power supply is fixed in the housing, and the entire capsule endoscope is only used for one time. It is discarded after use, and the cost is too high, so the patient has to pay too much. For developing countries, especially China, India and other populous countries, it can only be applied to a small number of people. Summary of the invention

 In order to overcome the problem of high cost of the above-mentioned 1R for single use, the object of the present invention is to provide a reusable capsule endoscope.

 In order to achieve the above object, the technical solution of the present invention includes: a housing, a battery, a light emitter, an objective lens, a camera, a signal transmitter, and an antenna, and the battery, the light emitter, the objective lens, a camera, a signal transmitter, and an antenna are disposed Inside the casing, the casing is a capsule structure, part or all of which is transparent; the invention is provided with a mouthpiece for replacing the battery on the capsule casing; and a disposable protective jacket is provided outside the casing;

 Wherein: the disposable protective jacket according to the present invention has a capsule structure adapted to the shape of the shell; part or all of the disposable protective jacket can be made of materials with biocompatibility, electricality, chemical stability, and transparency; A dielectric layer may also be provided between the transparent front half of the disposable protective outer surface and the outer surface of the housing to reduce the loss of light reflected between the two surfaces.

The invention has the following advantages: The present invention is an improvement and supplement to various existing capsule endoscopes, and proposes a battery that can be replaced and covered on the outer surface of the entire capsule endoscope casing to protect the outer casing at one time, so that the lens body in the protective casing can be more Repeated use ensures that the capsule endoscope housing does not touch the patient's cavity, and relieves the patient from worrying about hygiene. In the end, the expensive capsule endoscope body itself is no longer a single-use, but a disposable protective jacket that is placed on the outside for protection. In this way, under the premise of ensuring safety, the cost of medical examinations is greatly reduced, which is very suitable for China's national conditions. The low cost is more conducive to using multiple capsule endoscopes to enter the digestive tract at a certain distance. Multiple microscopy is helpful to reduce the rate of missed diagnosis. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

 Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention.

 Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a capsule endoscope with a battery structure without a button battery and a disposable protective jacket but provided with an opening for replacing the battery.

 Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of an empty disposable protective jacket of the present invention without a capsule endoscope.

 In the figure: 1 is the illuminant, 2 is the objective lens, 3 is the camera, 4 is the battery, 5 is the signal generator, 6 is the antenna, 7 is the rear half of the disposable protective jacket, and 8 is the rear half of the disposable protective jacket. The outer surface close to the seal, 9 is the front half of the disposable protective jacket, 10 is the casing, 11 is the dielectric layer, 12 is the battery opening, 13 is the outer surface of the casing 10, and 14 is inside the front half of the disposable protective jacket The surface, 15 is a transparent viscous medium. detailed description

 Example 1

As shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, the present invention includes a housing 10, a battery 4, a light emitter 1, an objective lens 2, a CMOS or CCD camera 3, a signal transmitter 5, and an antenna 6. The battery 4, the light emitter 1. Objective lens 2, camera 3, signal transmitter 5, antenna 6 are placed in a housing 10, the housing 10 is a capsule structure, part or all of which is a transparent body; the capsule housing 10 is provided for replacement The opening 12 of the battery 4 _; a disposable protective jacket is provided outside the casing 10, and the disposable protective jacket is composed of a front half 9 and a rear half 7;

 Wherein: the disposable protective jacket according to the present invention has a capsule structure adapted to the shape of the casing 10; part or all of the disposable protective jacket can be biocompatible, electrical, chemically stable, transparent Materials, such as medical polyvinyl chloride (the front half 9 of the disposable protective jacket in this embodiment is a transparent body, and the rear half 7 may be a non-transparent body).

The production and installation of the present invention is based on the existing capsule endoscope, and the position where the battery 4 is placed is set to An opening 12 is convenient for loading and unloading the battery 4. Before use, make the following preparations: insert a new battery 4 and dock the front and back halves 9 and 7 of the disposable protective jacket as shown in FIG. 3 and cover it with the capsule endoscope housing 10 external.

 In clinical practice: a capsule endoscope with such improved structure or only a disposable protective jacket can be swallowed into a patient's body, or one or more capsule endoscopes with such improved structure can be separated on a patient. Continuous swallowing at a certain distance to reduce the rate of missed microscopy. The above-mentioned capsule endoscope after use requires the patient to be discharged from the body, and then rinsed and recovered by the hospital. The outer disposable protective jacket is peeled off, and the front surface 13 of the casing 10 is cleaned with a solvent (for battery-powered Replacement battery). Put on a disposable transparent protective jacket, and finally put it into a device with considerable magnetic force at a certain location. Turn off the power with a magnetic switch for next use.

 Due to the protection of the disposable protective jacket, the capsule endoscope does not contact the cavity of any patient, so the capsule endoscope can be used repeatedly and repeatedly. Because they are not contaminated, patients do not feel unhygienic. The patient only touches the jacket, because this protective jacket is disposable and completely avoids all cross-infection and unhygienic situations.

 Example 2

 It is structurally different from Embodiment 1 in that it can also be on the inner surface of the front half of the disposable protective jacket

A dielectric layer 11 is provided between 14 and the outer surface 13 of the casing 10 to reduce the loss of light reflected between the two surfaces. Specifically: After dropping a drop of transparent viscous medium 15 on the inner surface 14 of the front half of the disposable protective jacket, the medium 15 is in contact with the outer surface 13 of the housing 10 of the capsule endoscope body. The halves 9, 7 (Fig. 3) continue to apply axial pressure after the set, squeezing the medium to form a transparent medium layer 11. The refractive index of the dielectric layer 11 is close to that of the housing 10 and the front half 9 of the disposable protective cover, thereby reducing the loss of light caused by the increased reflection on the two interfaces after the disposable protective cover is added. . This drop of transparent and viscous medium 15 may be a silicone oil or the like used in a high-power microscope. The size of the drop is determined by the diameter of the ball head at the front of the dipstick. The amount of the medium dropped is to ensure that the area of the formed dielectric layer 11 is in degrees required to cover the angle of view. The tightness of the set of the two front and rear halves 9, 7 of the disposable protective jacket depends on the two interfaces: the outer surface 8 of the disposable protective jacket near the seal and the disposable protective jacket near the seal. Fit accuracy of the inner surface 14 of the front half. With the increase of the axial pressure of the front and back halves 9 and 7 of the disposable protective jacket, the outer surface 8 of the rear half of the disposable protective jacket near the seal and the disposable protective jacket near the seal are made. The gap of the inner surface 14 of the front half approaches zero, thereby meeting the requirements of sealing, because the mating parts of the front and back halves 9 and 7 of the disposable protective cover have sufficient friction angles to ensure that the two cannot be separated naturally. Comparative example

 In the prior art, various capsule endoscopes basically use a camera system (a light-emitting body for illumination, an objective lens, a CMOS or CCD camera) to send a signal of an image of an object through a signal processor and an antenna to the outside of the body. Receiving in vitro system. The battery provides energy, but when the battery is depleted, work will stop (at best, the small intestine can only be diagnosed). As the battery cannot be replaced, all microelectronic devices included in the complete capsule endoscope will be discarded. Of course, when using a capacitor to supply power, it does not have such a problem of charging it in vitro through radio frequency, but there is still a problem of disposable use of the capsule endoscope body, and the disposable jacket of the present invention solves this key technology, so that It can be used multiple times.

Claims

Claim 1. A capsule endoscope comprising a housing, a battery, a light-emitting body, an objective lens, a camera, a signal transmitter, and an antenna, wherein the battery, the light-emitting body, the objective lens, a camera, a signal transmitter, and an antenna are placed in a housing, a housing The body is a capsule structure, and is partially or totally transparent. It is characterized in that: an opening for replacing a battery is provided on the capsule housing; and a disposable protective jacket is provided outside the housing.  2. The capsule endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the disposable protective jacket has a capsule structure adapted to the shape of the casing.  3. The capsule endoscope according to claim 2, wherein part or all of the disposable protective cover can be a transparent body.  4. The capsule endoscope according to claim 3, characterized in that: a dielectric layer can be provided between the inner surface of the transparent front half of the disposable protective jacket and the outer surface of the casing to reduce light reflected between the two surfaces. loss.