Medical Instrument Support Device

Abstract

A medical instrument support device is provided which not only allows easy adjustment of the position and angle of a medical instrument and ensures that a specified position and angle is maintained, but also has a simple mechanism and can be easily miniaturized. [Solution] A support device for medical instruments that has a fixture for fixing the device to a bed base or the like, a joint shaft in the middle, and a ball joint 101 at the tip, in which the ball joint has a rod 201 that moves back and forth when rotated, and a lock / unlock control means consisting of a rotary solenoid 202 that rotates the rod, an electromagnetic brake is provided on the joint shaft, and a switch that can simultaneously lock and unlock the ball joint and joint shaft.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a support device for instruments that require precise positioning, such as medical instruments. [Background technology]

[0002] Surgical medical instruments often need to be fixed in an appropriate position and orientation during surgery. In such cases, it is desirable for the surgical medical instruments to be easily adjusted to the position and orientation desired by the surgeon, and once positioned, the determined position and orientation must be reliably maintained in order to smoothly carry out subsequent procedures. For example, when a surgical endoscope is used by inserting the endoscope from the surface of the patient's body, it is necessary that the endoscope can be easily adjusted to a position and orientation that allows appropriate observation of the surgical field, and that the position and orientation must be reliably fixed during surgery.

[0003] In support devices for such medical equipment, one-axis joints or ball joints that provide two-axis degrees of freedom at a single joint are used at the joints of the support device so that the position and direction can be adjusted as desired by the surgeon.

[0004] In Patent Document 1, a ball joint having a connection part for a medical device is provided at the tip of a support arm that can rotate around the pivot axis y of an operating element fixed to a medical table, and the rotation of the support arm and the ball joint are fixed by utilizing the rotational movement of the operating element. However, with this device, in order to securely fix the medical equipment in the correct position and orientation, the operating element must be tightly rotated and tightened, either manually or with a tool such as a wrench, and this poses the problem that the direction of the support arm can easily become misaligned.

[0005] Patent Document 2 discloses an external fixation device for supporting a fractured limb or the like and stabilizing a bone or joint during treatment of the limb. This device uses ball joints in two places, and in each ball joint, a spring clip member presses a ball member against a friction surface to maintain an adjustable position of the ball member. A fixator clip is then used to permanently or temporarily maintain the orientation of these ball joints.

[0006] Patent Document 3 discloses an articulated instrument holding arm for holding and fixing a brain spatula or the like that is used to partially press the brain during brain surgery to make the surgical site easier to visualize. In this device, the spring presses the pressing body against the ball, which is then pressed against the tip of the housing to fix the ball in place. Because there is line contact between the pressing body and the ball, and between the ball and the tip of the housing, the ball can be firmly fixed in place even with the weak force of a spring. To release the ball, compressed air is sent into the airtight chamber in the housing to move the pressing body away from the ball. This operation is performed by a switching valve in the holding part of the ball at the very tip, which is connected to the medical instrument.

[0007] By using such a device, it is possible to easily adjust the position and angle of a medical instrument and to reliably maintain the specified position and angle. However, because compressed air is used as the actuation means, it is necessary to provide airtight means in each section, which makes the device structure complicated and makes it difficult to reduce the size of the device. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0008] [Patent Document 1] Special Publication No. 2022-517545 [Patent Document 2] Special Publication No. 2022-537830 [Patent Document 3] Patent No. 6412783 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0009] The present invention aims to provide a medical instrument support device which not only allows easy adjustment of the position and angle of medical equipment and can reliably maintain the specified position and angle, but also has a simple mechanism and can be easily miniaturized. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] In order to simplify the locking and unlocking of the ball joint, the inventors came up with the idea of ​​using a rod with a screw mechanism to press the ball against and release it from the ball holding portion, and moving the rod forward or backward using a rotary solenoid that rotates at a predetermined angle, which led to the present invention. That is, the ball joint can be locked by pressing the tip of the rod against ball 203, which in turn is pressed against ball holder 204. Also, the rotary solenoid can easily change its direction of rotation by electromagnetic force, and can instantly lock and unlock the ball joint. Instead of a rotary solenoid, a gear motor such as a stepping motor or servo motor can be used, which can stop rotation at any angle depending on the number of control pulses. Also, by providing a mechanism to mechanically limit the rotation of the rod, even a motor that cannot control the rotation angle can be used in place of a rotary solenoid.

[0011] According to the technology of the present invention, it is only necessary to energize the rotary solenoid at the moment when the state of each of the locking and unlocking operations is changed, and since the solenoid is normally in the locked state, even if power is not supplied to the device due to an unforeseen event such as a power outage or device failure, the arm will not relax, causing the endoscope to fall and the tip to pierce the patient, so the device is safe. Effect of the Invention

[0012] The device of the present invention allows easy adjustment of the position and angle of the medical instrument, and can reliably maintain the desired position and angle. The mechanism for locking and unlocking the ball joint is simple, making it easy to miniaturize the device. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] Schematic diagram showing the entire support device [Diagram 2] Diagram showing the structure of a ball joint [Diagram 3] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the structure of another embodiment of the ball joint; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS EXAMPLES

[0014] 1 and 2 show an embodiment of the support device of the present invention, however, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment.

[0015] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the entire support device of the present invention. The support device of the present invention is fixed to a bed rail (not shown) or the like by a fixture 108 provided at the bottom of the device. An inner pipe 109 is attached to the bottom of the fixture 108, and an outer pipe 110 is slidably fitted to the inner pipe 109. The outer pipe 110 is held by a fixing clamp 111 attached to the upper end of the fixture 108, and can be fastened to the fixing clamp 111 by tightening a knob 112 at the end. A case 102 is fixed to the upper end of the outer pipe 110. The case 102 constitutes a bearing for a rotating shaft fixed to the lower end of a frame 107, allowing the frame 107 to rotate relative to the outer pipe 110. The upper end of the frame 107 is connected to an underrod 105 by a first joint shaft 103 , the other end of the underrod 105 is connected to an upper rod 106 by a second joint shaft 104 , and the other end of the upper rod 106 is connected to the ball joint 101 .

[0016] FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing the structure of the ball joint 101. As shown in FIG. Ball joint 101 includes a rotatably housed ball 203, a ball holder 204 with a slightly narrowed tip opening, a rod 201 that can come into contact with and separate from ball 203, and a coupling 205 that transmits the rotation of a rotary solenoid 202 to rod 201. A screw is formed on the outer periphery of rod 201 and is screwed into a female thread of insert 206, so that rod 201 moves forward and backward as rotary solenoid 202 rotates. In addition, a tip rod 207 to which a medical instrument such as an endoscope is attached is attached to ball 203.

[0017] To lock the ball joint 101, the rotary solenoid 202 is rotated to bring the rod 201 into contact with the ball 203, thereby pressing the ball 203 against the tip opening of the ball holding portion 204 and fixing it in place, and to release the lock, the rotary solenoid 202 is rotated in the opposite direction to move the rod 201 away from the ball 203.

[0018] If the rotation of the rotating shaft fixed to the lower end of the main rod 108, the first joint shaft 103, and the second joint shaft 104 are configured to be electrically switched between locked and unlocked states by electromagnetic brakes, the support device of the present invention can switch between the locked and unlocked states of all movable parts with one changeover switch. It is desirable to keep these movable parts in a locked state under normal circumstances from the viewpoint of preventing medical accidents. The location of this changeover switch should be a location that is easy for the surgeon operating the medical device to operate. For example, if a push-button type changeover switch is provided near the endoscope attached to the distal rod 207, the surgeon can easily unlock all of the movable parts of the present device by operating the push button when positioning the endoscope, making it easy to adjust the position and direction of the endoscope, and once the position and direction are decided, all of the movable parts of the present device can be locked by simply releasing the push button, making it possible to accurately maintain the position and direction of the endoscope.

[0019] 3 shows another embodiment of the locking mechanism of ball joint 101, in which a dish-shaped member 301 is interposed between rod 201 and ball 203. By adopting such a configuration, the pressing force of rod 201 is dispersed to the circumferential portion of the tip of the dish-shaped member, increasing the contact area with ball 203 and reducing the pressure per unit area, thereby reducing wear on ball 203 and simultaneously increasing the braking force, enabling ball 203 to be firmly fixed. In any of the above-mentioned embodiments, the pressure of the rod 201 is transmitted to the ball 201 and the dish-shaped member 301 only through its tip, and as a result of stress concentration, both of them are worn away, so it is preferable to use a superhard material or perform a hardening surface treatment on the tip of the rod 201 and the surface of the ball 203 in the embodiment of Fig. 2, and on the contact part between the tip of the rod 201 and the dish-shaped member 301 in the embodiment of Fig. 3. Examples of superhard materials include cemented carbide, ceramics, and hardened carbon steel, and examples of hardening surface treatments include hardening, electroless nickel plating, hard chrome plating, DLC, and the like. [Industrial Applicability]

[0020] Although the present invention is designed for the purpose of fixing and adjusting the position of medical equipment, the present invention can also be used in industrial fields other than the medical field. [Explanation of symbols]

[0021] 101 Ball joint 102 cases 103 First joint axis 104 Second joint axis 105 Underrod 106 Upper Rod 107 Frames 108 Fixtures 109 Inner pipe 110 Outer pipe 111 Clamp 112 Knob 201 Rod 202 Rotary solenoid 203 Ball 204 Ball holder 205 Coupling 206 Insert 207 End Rod 301 Dish-shaped member

Claims

[Claim 1] A support device for medical instruments comprising a fixture for fixing the device to a bed base or the like, a joint shaft in the middle, and a ball joint at the tip, wherein the ball joint has a rod that moves back and forth when rotated, and a lock / unlock control means consisting of a rotary solenoid that rotates the rod, an electromagnetic brake is provided on the joint shaft, and a switch is provided that can simultaneously lock and unlock the ball joint and the joint shaft.

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