Endoscope for transesophageal echocardiography
First Claim
1. An ultrasonic sector scanner for mounting at the distal end of an endoscope guide tube or the like and adapted for insertion into and operation within body cavities, which comprises(a) a housing including an elongated tubular housing section and spaced end walls forming a sealed enclosure,(b) a tubular shaft mounted within and substantially coaxially of said housing and supported therein for limited rotation through an angle of less than 360°
- .(c) a generally cylindrical magnetic rotor mounted coaxially on an inner end portion of said shaft and rotatable therewith,(d) a portion of said tubular housing section surrounding said magnetic rotor being formed of magnetic material,(e) an ultrasonic transducer unit fixed to an outer end portion of said shaft spaced axially from said rotor and rotatable therewith,(f) said ultrasonic transducer unit further including a body member and comprising a disc-like transducer crystal element mounted on said body member and disposed with its axis generally perpendicular to the axis of said shaft and being mounted closely adjacent to the axis of said shaft, and(g) flexible conductor means extending through said tubular shaft and connected at one end to said transducer unit for activating the same,(h) one of said housing end walls having terminal conductors passing therethrough in sealed relation,(i) said flexible conductor means being connected at their other ends to said terminal conductors.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An endoscope, especially for transesophageal echocardiography. An encapsulated ultrasonic transducer capsule is provided having a self-contained electro-mechanical sector scanner. A sealed housing is formed which includes axially aligned tubular sections, one of magnetic material and the other of acoustically transparent plastic. A tubular shaft is journalled axially within the housing for limited sector scanning rotation. A magnetic rotor is fixed to the shaft for operation within the magnetic housing section and a transducer element is fixed to the shaft within the other tubular section. Conductor wires for activating the transducer are fixed at one end of the capsule and extend axially through the tubular shaft for connection to the transducer. Position sensing means are incorporated within the capsule. The construction enables the capsule to be highly miniaturized and greatly improved relative to known devices of this type.
86 Citations
23 Claims
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1. An ultrasonic sector scanner for mounting at the distal end of an endoscope guide tube or the like and adapted for insertion into and operation within body cavities, which comprises
(a) a housing including an elongated tubular housing section and spaced end walls forming a sealed enclosure, (b) a tubular shaft mounted within and substantially coaxially of said housing and supported therein for limited rotation through an angle of less than 360° - .
(c) a generally cylindrical magnetic rotor mounted coaxially on an inner end portion of said shaft and rotatable therewith, (d) a portion of said tubular housing section surrounding said magnetic rotor being formed of magnetic material, (e) an ultrasonic transducer unit fixed to an outer end portion of said shaft spaced axially from said rotor and rotatable therewith, (f) said ultrasonic transducer unit further including a body member and comprising a disc-like transducer crystal element mounted on said body member and disposed with its axis generally perpendicular to the axis of said shaft and being mounted closely adjacent to the axis of said shaft, and (g) flexible conductor means extending through said tubular shaft and connected at one end to said transducer unit for activating the same, (h) one of said housing end walls having terminal conductors passing therethrough in sealed relation, (i) said flexible conductor means being connected at their other ends to said terminal conductors. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An endoscope adapted for transesophageal echocardiography, which comprises
(a) an elongated guide tube having a controllably bendable distal end and control means therefor at its proximal end, (b) a sector scanning ultrasonic transducer capsule mounted at the distal end of said guide tube, (c) said transducer capsule comprising a cylindrical housing structure including a first cylindrical sleeve of magnetic material and a second cylindrical sleeve of acoustically transparent material joined to said first sleeve in coaxial relation, (d) outer end walls forming with said sleeves a sealed cylindrical capsule housing, (e) a shaft disposed coaxially within said sealed housing and journalled for limited rotation therein, (f) a magnetic rotor fixed on said shaft for rotation within said first cylindrical sleeve, (g) an ultrasonic transducer element fixed to said shaft for rotation within said second cylindrical sleeve, (h) said transducer element being mounted closely adjacent to said shaft and oriented with its axis perpendicular to the axis of said shaft. (i) said sealed housing being fixed to the distal end of said guide tube in coaxial relation.
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14. An ultrasonic transducer capsule adapted particularly for use in transesophageal echocardiography, which comprises
(a) an elongated, sealed tubular housing adapted for coaxial mounting at the end of an endoscope guide tube, (b) a first axial portion of said sealed housing including a sleeve of magnetic material, (c) a second axial portion of said housing being formed of acoustically transparent material, (d) a shaft mounted coaxially within said sealed housing for rotation through a limited sector scanning arc, (e) a magnetic rotor element fixed to said shaft for rotation therewith within said first axial housing portion, (f) electrically energizable coil means within said first axial housing portion for bi-directional rotation of said rotor element, (g) an ultrasonic transducer element fixed to said shaft for rotation therewith within said second axial housing portion, (h) said transducer element being mounted closely adjacent to said shaft and oriented with its axis perpendicular to the axis of said shaft. (i) stop means within said sealed housing for limiting rotation of said shaft, motor element and transducer to an angle of less than 360°
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22. In an ultrasonic endoscope apparatus of the type including an elongated guide tube assembly having a controllably bendable distal end and an ultrasonic sector scanner mounted at said distal end, an improved sector scanner comprising
(a) an elongated sealed tubular housing, (b) a partition in said housing forming a shaft bearing, (c) a tubular shaft journalled in said bearing and extending axially within said housing, (d) a magnetic rotor fixed to one portion of said shaft of one axial side of said bearing, (e) an ultrasonic transducer fixed to said shaft on the other axial side of said bearing closely adjacent the axis of said shaft and oriented at right angles thereto, (f) end wall forming means at opposite ends of said tubular housing forming therewith a sealed enclosure for the containment of liquid, (g) at least a portion of said housing surrounding said rotor being formed of magnetic material, (h) at least a portion of said housing surrounding said transducer being formed of material substantially transparent to ultrasonic energy, (i) one of said end walls having electrical terminal conductors passing therethrough in sealed relation, (j) transducer activating electrical conductor means connected to said transducer, extending axially through said tubular shaft and connected to certain of said terminal conductors, (k) rotor driving coils mounted within said magnetic material housing portion, (1) coil energizing conductors connected respectively to said coils and to certain ones of said terminal conductors, (m) position sensing means within said sealed enclosure for determining the angular position of said transducer, and (n) control means including said position sensing means for controllably oscillating said rotor, shaft and transducer through a limited sector scanning angle.
Specification