Abstract:
A device for tissue dissecting and cutting in endoscope surgery which primarily comprises a holding part, a transmitting part and a cutting part. The holding part offers stable support for the surgeon to perform operation without incurring sway. The transmitting part is a straight force delivery system that can deliver the force straight and forward from the holding part to the cutting part. By using this device, the surgeon can deliver the exact force for the endoscope surgery.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a device for dissecting and cutting soft tissue including the internal organs inside the abdominal cavity and thoracic cavity during an endoscopic surgery. As such mechanism complies with normal mechanics and exerts force stably, operator can adapt to the operation under the environment of an endoscopic surgery so as to accurately dissect and cut tissue in the surgery. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Conventional scissor structure used in endoscopic surgery, as shown in  FIG. 1 , includes a finger grip  101  for exerting force, a fixed finger grip  102  for supporting when exerting force, in which the top end of the finger grip  101  has a gear-like structure  103  serving to drive the spindle in the cavity to rotate when exerting force; a cavity  112  serving as a force output conversion space when exerting force, in which a spindle  104  and a stationary rod  105  are mutually connected and housed in the cavity  112  to serve as a force output member when exerting force, the front end of the stationary rod  105  has a slot  106 , in which a sliding pin  109  therein serves as a connection point for the stationary rod  105  and a two-piece sheet body  110  having a left-and-right grip  111  and as a stopper for opening and closing the two-piece sheet body  110 , the stationary rod  105  is loosely sleeved thereon by a bushing  107 , a slot  108  is opened on the front end of the bushing  107  to provide the operational space for opening and closing the left-and-right grip  111 , and the two-piece sheet body is operated to cut a targeting object. 
         [0003]    During the operation, please refer to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2-2 . By exerting force forwardly through the finger grip  101  and fixing with the fixed finger grip  102 , force is transmitted from the gear-like structure  103  over the top end of the finger grip  101  to the spindle  104  in the cavity  112 ; the sliding pin  109  in the slot  106  on the front end of the stationary rod  113  is driven to move forward through the spindle  104  and to push the two-piece sheet body  110  forward; in collaboration with the bushing  107  loosely sleeved on the stationary rod  105  and the left-and-right grip  111  in the slot  108  located on the front end of the bushing  107 , the opening operation of the two-piece sheet body  110  to the left and right is thus completed. 
         [0004]    When closing the two-piece sheet body  110 , please refer to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2-1  for the operation. By exerting force to pull backward through the finger grip  101  and fixing with the fixed finger grip  102 , force is transmitted from the gear-like structure  103  over the top end of the finger grip  101  to the spindle  104  in the cavity  112 ; the sliding pin  109  in the slot  106  at the front end of the stationary rod  113  is driven to retract backward; in collaboration with the sliding pin  109  pushing the two-piece sheet body  110  and the bushing  107  loosely sleeved on the stationary rod  105  and moving backward, the slot  108  at the front end of the bushing  107  is retracted backward and the sliding pin  108  in the slot  108  departs from the two-piece sheet body  110  accordingly such that the left-and-right grip  11  is then pressed into the bushing  107  in completion of the closing operation of the two-piece sheet body  110 . 
         [0005]    In fact, conventional skill usually pertains to an erected grip. When applying force to the finger grip  101 , force is transmitted to the spindle  104  via the force output member in the cavity, the spindle  104  and the stationary rod  105 , and the gear-like structure  103  to further pull or push the bushing  107  so as to reach the point of force application in the end; consequently, the two-piece sheet body  110  can then finish the operation of cutting a targeting object. Because the point of force application and the finger grip  101 , the fixed finger grip  102  and the point of strength, and the sliding pin  109  and the two-piece sheet body  110  are all perpendicular and force fails to be directly transmitted to the point of strength through the spindle  104  and the bushing  107 , as a result, the magnitude of force on the point of strength is hard to be controlled and the resulting improper magnitude of force will be harmful to tissue. Furthermore, major movement in operation originates from the force application by thumb while the rest of fingers serve to fix and assist force application. When thumb exerts force, the rest of fingers may exert force out of instinct as well. Therefore, it will result in sway of the main body  100 , leading to an unstable situation; meanwhile, it is difficult to aim at smaller target to dissect and cut, making the prior art less precise during operation. 
         [0006]    To sum up, all instrument used in endoscopic surgery take the form of force application differing from regular surgery instrument and whose force is indirectly transmitted through relevant mechanism and magnitude of force on the point of strength is barely controllable. Such surgical operation makes the endoscopic surgery that simply requires technical demand even harder. 
         [0007]    As far as the precision of surgery and operational simplicity and convenience is concerned, a new device for dissecting and cutting in endoscopic surgery is required indeed to resolve various problems arising from prior arts. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, a device for dissecting and cutting soft tissue, including internal organs inside abdominal cavity and thoracic cavity, and subcutaneous muscle, nerves, and blood vessels of limbs, is provided. For sake of being highly stable, uneasy to sway and operable, the device can accurately hold a targeting object. A standard horizontal grip, i.e. the prevailing holding style, is adopted, such that five fingers of hand can all exert force and mutually hold the grip when applying force to dissect and cut the targeting object without shaking up and down. Consequently, the present invention features the effect that promotes surgical accuracy. 
         [0009]    In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, an effective and collaborative force transmission is provided. As a consequence, one who applies force can easily grasp the magnitude of applied force to attain easy and controllable operation and more adequate force-applying movement in dissecting and cutting a targeting object. The force transmission of the device is based on the coupling of transmission part, which enables to transmit force directly instead of through spindle and bushing, so as to directly transmit force to a two-piece sheet body at the front end and achieve the maximum benefit from direct force transmission. Moreover, the device takes the form of a horizontal grip so that five fingers of hand can all exert force and mutually hold the device in a balanced manner when applying force to dissect and cut the targeting object. Such feature makes the present invention possess the performance in adequately controlling the magnitude of applied force and operating more easily to effectively dissect and cut the targeting object. Besides, in view of less loss of force when force is outputted to the point of strength, force output can be effectively controlled and the targeting object and neighboring tissue won&#39;t be harmed due to inadequate force in surgery. 
         [0010]    The foregoing and other features and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood through the following descriptions with reference to the drawing, wherein: 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0011]      FIG. 1  is the external view showing the scissor for conventional endoscopic surgery; 
           [0012]      FIG. 2-1  is the schematic view in accordance with the present invention, showing when the two-piece sheet body of the scissor for endoscopic surgery is in an opening state; 
           [0013]      FIG. 2-2  is the schematic view in accordance with the present invention showing when the two-piece sheet body of the scissor for endoscopic surgery is in an closing state; 
           [0014]      FIG. 3-1  is the first bird&#39;s view showing the combinational operation when the scissor of the present invention is in a closing state; 
           [0015]      FIG. 3-2  is the second bird&#39;s view showing the combinational operation when the scissor of the present invention is in a closing state; 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  is the exploded view of major parts of the scissor in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0017]      FIG. 5-1  is the first bird&#39;s view showing the combinational operation when the scissor of the present invention is in an opening state; 
           [0018]      FIG. 5-2  is the second bird&#39;s view showing the combinational operation when the scissor of the present invention is in an opening state; 
           [0019]      FIG. 6  is the locally-enlarged view showing the front portion of  FIG. 5 ; and 
           [0020]      FIG. 7  is the locally-enlarged view showing the front portion of  FIG. 3-1 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0021]    The present invention will now be described more specifically with reference to the following embodiments. It is to be noted that the following descriptions of preferred embodiments of this invention are presented herein for the purpose of illustration and description only; it is not intended to be exhaustive or to be limited to the precise form disclosed. 
         [0022]    Firstly, please refer to the illustration of  FIG. 3-1 ,  FIG. 3-2  and  FIG. 4 , showing a device for dissecting and cutting in endoscopic surgery which mainly includes a holding part  1 , a transmission part  2 , and a cutting part  3 . The holding part  1  contains a force application part  11 , a fixed grip  12  and a grip link  14 . The force application part  11  serves to let an operator to apply force to the device; the fixed grip  12  serves for the purpose of fixing while the operator is applying force. At least a stopper  13  is disposed on two corresponding inner ends of the force application part  11  and the fixed grip  12  to limit the maximum magnitude of force applied by the force application part  11 . However, the stopper  13  may not be integrally built with the force application part  11  or the fixed grip  12 ; instead, it could be additionally formed by other material, e.g. metal, rubber or plastics. The grip link  14  is connected with the force application part  11  and the fixed grip  12  respectively to serve as a base upon applying force to activate the link. The front fastener of the grip link  15  serves for the purpose of serially connecting the grip link of the force application part and the grip link of the fixed grip. The holding part  1  can be made of metallic or non-metallic material, such as stainless steel or plastic material. The transmission part  2  is disposed at the front end of the force application part  11  and the fixed grip  12  to serve as a transmission medium for the force generated during force application and includes a fixed link  21 , a transmission rod  22 , and a slot  27  on the transmission rod  22 . A positioning pin  16  is located at the front end of the force application part and is disposed in a rear hole  26  of the fixed link  21 ; the positioning pin  16  penetrates through a front hole of the fixed grip  18  to be connected with the slot of the transmission rod  27  so as to serve as the base for transmitting the force applied to the force application part  11  and the fixed grip  12 . The fixed link  21  serves for the purpose of transmitting force that is stably applied. The transmission rod  22  serves as the transmission and linkage for the applied force. The starting point of the transmission rod  22  is connected with a rear fastener  17  of the grip link located at a bottom part of the grip link  14  from which the starting point extends forward to the bottom of the two-piece sheet body  31 ,  32 . The slot  27  located on the transmission rod  27  serves as a limiting space for transmitting force applied by the force application part  11  to the positioning pin  16  at the front end of the force application part  11 . The rear fastener  17  can be externally connected to a tourniquet instrument (not shown) communicated with the cutting part  3  via the transmission rod  22  for stanching blood in case of bleeding when dissecting and cutting tissue. The transmission part  2  is made of a metallic or non-metallic material and is sleeved in a rubber or plastic tube. The cutting part  3  is coupled with the front end of the transmission part  2  for the purpose of cutting off targeting object and contains a link with two-piece sheet body  24  and a two-piece sheet body  31 ,  32 . The positioning pin of the two-piece sheet body  5  is located at the front end of the fixed link  21 , is connected with the link with two-piece sheet body  24  for the two-piece sheet body  31 ,  32  to position while it is opened and closed, and further penetrates through the link with two-piece sheet body  24  to be connected with the transmission rod  22  and disposed in the slot  25  corresponding to the front end of the fixed link  21 . The slot  25  located on the front end of the fixed link  21  serves as a limiting space for the transmission rod  22  to transmit force to the positioning pin  5 . The link with two-piece sheet body  24  is disposed on the respective inner side of the fixed link  21  and the transmission rod  22  so as to drive the two-piece sheet body to open and close. Given the interlinking effect of the fastener of the two-piece sheet body  29  located at the front end of the fixed link  21  and the two-piece sheet body  31 ,  32 , the two-piece sheet body  31 ,  32  is connected with the fastener for the link with two-piece sheet body  28 . The two-piece sheet body  31 ,  32  targets at dissecting and cutting surgical portion. Depending on the surgical portion to be dissected and cut or the surgical operation to be carried out, the two-piece sheet body can be designed to have different shape, such as blunt shape, arc and feather-like teeth, and the scissor portion can also be designed to have long or short pattern. 
         [0023]    Please refer to  FIG. 5-1 ,  FIG. 5-2 ,  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 6 . When a person who performs an operation applies force to the force application part  11  and holds the fixed grip  12  to push the force application part to stretch out in the left direction, the transmission rod  22  connected with the fixed grip  12  is further tugged to synchronously slide forward and the positioning pin  5  inside the slot  25  located at the front end of the fixed link  21  is driven to simultaneously move forward by the simultaneous outbound displacement of the force application part  11  and the grip link  14  connected with the fixed grip  12 . The link with two-piece sheet body  24  pivoted by the positioning pin  5  is stretched out to the left and right respectively so that the left sheet body  31  and the right sheet body  32  connected with the front end of the link with two-piece sheet body  24  are simultaneously stretched out to the left and right, thus allowing the person who performs the operation to open the two-piece sheet body  24 . 
         [0024]    Please jointly refer to  FIG. 3-1 ,  FIG. 3-2 ,  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 7 . When the person who performs the operation intends to dissect or cut a targeting object, apply force to the force application part  11  and hold the fixed grip  12  to push the force application part  11  to get close to the fixed grip  12 . By synchronously sliding the force application part  11  and the transmission rod  22  connected with the fixed grip  12  backward, the positioning pin  5  inside the slot  25  located at the front end of the fixed link  21  is driven to simultaneously move backward and the link with two-piece sheet body  24  pivoted by the positioning pin  5  is synchronously driven to retract inwardly, so that the left sheet body  31  and the right sheet body  32  located at the front end of the link with two-piece sheet body  24  are folded up inwardly at the same time to complete the dissecting or cutting operation of the person who performs the operation. 
         [0025]    In sum, the difference between the present invention and the prior art currently in use lies in:
   1) The force applied by an operator, the transmission direction of force and the point of strength in the present invention are all located on the same plane and pertain to a linear relationship. Since the mechanism complies with the concept of mechanics, it is stable when applying force and its operation is the same as that of commonly used scissor. As such, the operation of conventional scissor won&#39;t be changed due to the use of endoscope, meaning that no extra work needs to be spent in learning again to make the operation more user-friendly. So far, there are designs already in use, in which their point of force application and the transmission direction of force are not co-linear, making those designs inconsistent with the operation of conventional scissor. Such inconsistency incurs the trouble of unfamiliar and awkward operation, leading to more difficulty in performing an endoscopic surgery.   2) Because the point of force application, the transmission direction of force and the point of strength are co-linear in the present invention, tissue can be dissected and cut in a more precise manner. In contrast, those of current designs already in use are perpendicular, making the force acted on the targeting point unstable and the resulting operation inaccurate.   3) In view of less loss of force outputted to the point of strength, the present invention can effectively control force output. During the operation, tissue won&#39;t be easily harmed due to improper force magnitude. The point of force application and the point of strength of conventional device form a right angle, giving rise to the difficulty in controlling the force magnitude on the point of strength in operation and less accuracy in operation.   
 
         [0029]    Based on the aforementioned three points, the present invention not only is different from conventional device but also has many advantages. With the newly designed device, the endoscopic surgery will become easier and more accurate. More and more doctors are encouraged to perform such innovative endoscopic surgery so as to raise medical quality and benefit more patients from the present invention. As such, the present invention provides the practical value to the industry and the application is hereby submitted in accordance with the patent laws. 
         [0030]    While the invention has been described in terms of what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention needs not be limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims, which are to be accorded with the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar structures.