Patent Publication Number: US-2016235286-A1

Title: Medical Probe

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims priority of Taiwanese Application No. 104103805, filed on Feb. 4, 2015. 
     FIELD 
     The disclosure relates to a medical probe, and more particularly to a medical probe adapted for examining a body cavity of a patient during surgery. 
     BACKGROUND 
     A conventional medical probe device for penetrating and examining a body cavity of a patient is generally applied to a minimally invasive surgery (e.g., a front artificial pneumoperitoneum) in order to improve accuracy of a penetrating process during the surgery. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , the medical probe device  1 , as disclosed in Taiwanese Patent No. 250437, includes a probe body  11  and an optical fiber  12 . The probe body  11  has an end part  111  that is formed at a front end of the probe body  11  and a concave part  112  that is formed at one side of the probe body  11 . The optical fiber  12  has a viewing tip  121  at a front end of the optical fiber  12 . The viewing tip  121  of the optical fiber  12  is may be disposed at the end part  111 , or in the concave part  112  of the probe body  11  such that the viewing tip  121  may capture images in front of the probe body  11  during the penetrating process of the surgery. 
     However, if the viewing tip  121  is disposed in the concave part  112  of the probe body  11 , because the viewing angle of the viewing tip  121  may be limited due to blockage by the end part  111  of the probe body  11 , it will be difficult to verify an image incident on the viewing tip  121 . 
     If the viewing tip  121  is disposed at the end part  111  of the probe body  11  in order to obtain a wider viewing angle, the end part  111  requires an additional part for supporting the viewing tip  121 , which can increase a cross-section of the end part  111  and thus reduce a penetrating effect of the probe body  11 . 
     SUMMARY 
     Therefore, an object of the disclosure is to provide a medical probe that can alleviate at least one of the drawbacks of the prior arts. 
     According to the disclosure, a medical probe is for examining a body cavity during surgery. The medical probe includes a hollow needle body, a light-transmitting optical module and an imaging module. 
     The hollow needle body defines a needle passage that extends along an axis of the hollow needle body, and includes an outer tubular wall that surrounds the needle passage. The outer tubular wall includes a penetrating section that is formed with a forward penetrating end and that has a cross-section smaller than a remainder of the outer tubular wall, and a needle opening that is formed in the penetrating section and that is communicated with the needle passage. 
     The light-transmitting optical module is disposed inside the needle passage, and includes a light entering region that extends to and exposed from the needle opening to receive light from the body cavity. The light-transmitting optical module transmits the light within the needle passage. 
     The imaging module is disposed in the needle passage to capture an image carried by the light transmitted through the light-transmitting optical module. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Other features and advantages of the disclosure will become apparent in the following detailed description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which: 
         FIG. 1  is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of a medical probe device disclosed in Taiwanese Patent No. 250437. 
         FIG. 2  is a fragmentary exploded perspective view of a first embodiment of a medical probe according to the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 3  is a fragmentary perspective view of the first embodiment according to the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 4  is a fragmentary sectional view of the first embodiment according to the present disclosure; 
         FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional view of the medical probe taken along line V-V in  FIG. 4 ; 
         FIG. 6  is a fragmentary schematic view of a second embodiment of the medical probe according to the present disclosure; and 
         FIG. 7  is a fragmentary sectional view of a third embodiment of the medical probe according to the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Before the disclosure is described in greater detail, it should be noted that like elements are denoted by the same reference numerals throughout the disclosure. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 to 5 , a first embodiment of a medical probe according to the present disclosure is used for examining a body cavity of a patient. The medical probe includes a hollow needle body  2 , a light-transmitting optical module  3 , a light-emitting module  4 , an imaging module  5  and a microelectro-mechanical module  6 . 
     The hollow needle body  2  defines a needle passage  20  extending along an axis (X) of the hollow needle body  2 , and includes an outer tubular wall  21  surrounding the needle passage  20 . The outer tubular wall  21  includes a penetrating section  212  that is formed with a forward penetrating end  211  and that has a cross-section smaller than a remainder of the outer tubular wall  21 , and a rearward end  214  opposite to the forward penetrating end  211 . The outer tubular wall  21  is formed, in the penetrating section  212  thereof, with a needle opening  213  that is communicated with the needle passage  20 . In this embodiment, the outer tubular wall  21  is beveled to form the penetrating section  212  so that the penetrating section  212  has a beveled annular surface  215  that is inclined with respect to the axis (X) of the hollow needle body  2  and that confines the needle opening  213 . The forward penetrating end  211  of the penetrating section  212  of the outer tubular wall  21  is situated at one side of the beveled annular surface  215  offset from the axis (X) of the hollow needle body  2 . The hollow needle body  2  further includes an adapter  51  that is connected to the rearward end  214  of the outer tubular wall  21 . The needle passage  20  of the needle body  2  is surrounded by the outer tubular wall  21  and the adapter  51 . 
     The light-transmitting optical module  3  is disposed inside the needle passage  20  of the hollow needle body  2 , and includes a plurality of optical fibers  31 . The optical fibers  31  are disposed inside the needle passage  20  of the hollow needle body  2  along the axis (X) between the forward penetrating end  211  and the imaging module  5 . The optical fibers  31  are beveled to respectively have beveled surfaces that cooperatively form a light entering region  311  in the needle opening  213  to receive light from the body cavity. The light-transmitting optical module  3  transmits the light within the needle passage  20 . 
     The light-emitting module  4  is to emit light to pass through the needle passage  20  and to deliver the light to the body cavity through the needle opening  213 . The hollow needle body  2  further includes an inner tubular wall  41  that is disposed within the outer tubular wall  21  along the axis (X) of the hollow needle body  2  and that surrounds the optical fibers  31  of the light-transmitting optical module  3 . The light-emitting module  4  includes a plurality of light guide rods  42  that extend along the axis (X) of the hollow needle body  2  and that are disposed around the inner tubular wall  41 , and a light emitter  43  that is distal from the needle opening  213  (particularly, at a rearward end of the adapter  51  as shown in  FIG. 4 ). Each of the light guide rods  42  has a light entrance end  422  that is proximal to the light emitter  43  to receive light emitted from the light emitter  43 , and alight exit end  421  that extends to and is exposed from the needle opening  213  of the hollow needle body  2  to deliver the light through the needle opening  213  to the body cavity. The inner tubular wall  41  cooperates with the outer tubular wall  21  to define a passageway  40  that extends along the axis (X) of the hollow needle body  2 . The light emitter  43  may be one of a light-emitting diode (LED), laser, cool light, etc. 
     The imaging module  5  is disposed in the needle passage  20  (particularly, in a portion of the needle passage  20  surrounded by the adapter  51 ) to capture an image carried by the light transmitted through the light-transmitting optical module  3 . The imaging module  5  includes an image sensor  52  that is disposed inside the adapter  51 , a sensor carrier  53  that is inserted into the adapter  51  and that carries the image sensor  52 , a lens  54  that is disposed between the light-transmitting optical module  3  and the image sensor  52  to focus the light, and a lens carrier  55  that is inserted into the adapter  51  and that carries the lens  54 . 
     The microelectro-mechanical module  6  includes a support body  61  that surrounds the axis (X) of the hollow needle body  2  and that is disposed inside the needle passage  20  of the hollow needle body  2  from the needle opening  213  to the rearward end of the adapter  51 , and a microelectro-mechanical component  62  that is disposed in the support body  61  proximally of the needle opening  213  to detect physiological characteristics of the body cavity. The support body  61  has a mounting hole  611 , and a channel hole  612  that is formed in the support body for guiding a fluid flow. The mounting hole  611  and the channel hole  612  penetrate through the support body  61  in the direction parallel to the axis (X) of the outer tubular wall  21  and extend to the needle opening  213 . In clinical implementation, the mounting hole  611  may receive the microelectro-mechanical component  62  and permit passage of electrical cables (not shown) 
     While the light emitter  43  is disposed inside the adapter  51  in the embodiment, it may also be disposed outside the adapter  51  in other embodiments of the present disclosure. On the other hand, the image sensor  52  and the microelectro-mechanical component  6  may be connected electrically to a control device (not shown) such that the control device is able to verify information received from the image sensor  52  and the microelectro-mechanical component  6 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 4 and 5 , by virtue of the forward penetrating end  211  and the penetrating section  212  of the hollow needle body  2 , the medical probe may penetrate into the body cavity of a patient during the penetrating process of a surgery. Meanwhile, the light emitter  43  emits the light to propagate from the light entrance ends  422  of the light guide rods  42  to the light exit ends  421  of the light guide rods  42  such that the light is delivered through the needle opening  213  to the body cavity in front of the forward penetrating end  211  of the hollow needle body  2 . 
     Since the light entering region  311  of the optical fibers  31  is small and face forwardly from the needle opening  213  of the hollow needle body  2 , the light reflected from the body cavity to the needle body  2  may enter the light entering region  311  and propagate through the optical fibers  31  inside the needle passage  20 , and may be focused by the lens  54  for detection by the image sensor  52  so as to obtain image in front of the hollow needle body  2 . If an abnormal condition (e.g., tissue adhesion) is observed during the penetrating process of the surgery, the location to be penetrated may be changed to avoid high-risk area. 
     It is worth mentioning that a syringe (not shown) maybe connected to the channel hole  612  via the adapter  51  so as to inject liquors and/or testing liquid from the syringe to the body cavity through the channel hole  612 , or to draw body fluid from the cavity to the syringe through the channel hole  612 . In addition to that, the microelectro-mechanical component  62  disposed in the mounting hole  611  may detect physiological characteristics according to the body fluid and the tissue inside the cavity. 
     Referring to  FIG. 6 , a second embodiment of the medical probe according to the present disclosure is shown to be similar to the first embodiment. The only difference resides in that the forward penetrating end  211  is blunt and situated on the axis (X) of the hollow needle body  2 . The outer tubular wall  21  converges in the penetrating section  212  to form a converging wall section  210  that constitutes the penetrating section  212 . The needle opening  213  is formed in one side of the converging wall section  210  to expose the light entering region  311  of the light-transmitting optical module  3 . 
     Even though the blunt forward penetrating end  211  in this embodiment cannot directly penetrate skin and muscle of the patient, the medical probe of this embodiment may enter the body cavity of the patient after the skin and muscle is cut open by a surgical knife (e.g., a scalpel). In this embodiment, the effectiveness of the first embodiment may still be achieved. 
     Referring to  FIG. 7 , a third embodiment of the medical probe according to the present disclosure is shown, and is generally similar to the first embodiment. However, the needle passage  20  of the needle body  2  is in this embodiment is surrounded only by the outer tubular wall  21 . The light emitter  43  is disposed at the rearward end  214  of the outer tubular wall  21 , the light entrance ends  422  of the light guide rods  42  extend to the light emitter  43 . The light-transmitting optical module  3  further includes first and second optical gratings  71 ,  72  that are disposed in the needle passage  20  in proximity to the needle opening  213 . The first and second optical gratings  71 ,  72  have respectively first and second grating holes  711 ,  721  that are used as the light entering region  311 . The axis (X) of the hollow needle body  2  extends through the first and second grating holes  711 ,  721 . The first optical grating  71  in this embodiment further includes an inner surface  712  that surrounds the axis (X) of the hollow needle body  2  and that forms a light-unreflecting coating thereon. 
     The imaging module  5  in this embodiment is disposed in the needle passage  20  and is disposed within the inner tubular wall  41  of the needle body  2 . The imaging module  5  includes an image sensor  52 , a sensor carrier  53  carrying the image sensor  52 , a lens  54  disposed between the second optical grating  72  and the image sensor  52 , and a lens carrier  55  carrying the lens  54 . The lens  54  is to focus the light reflected from the body cavity and passing through the first and second grating holes  711 ,  721 . 
     The first and second grating holes  711 ,  721  only permit passage of the reflected light from the body cavity in front of the hollow needle body  2 . Therefore, the reflected light coming from an upside of the hollow needle body  2  is excluded while the remaining reflected light passes through the first and second grating holes  711 ,  721 . The reflected light passing through the first and second grating holes  711 ,  721  will propagate within the needle passage  20  and will be focused by the lens  54  so that an image in front of the hollow needle body  2  may be captured by the image sensor  52 . In this embodiment, the effects of the first embodiment may still be achieved. 
     To conclude, the medical probe according to the present disclosure has the following advantages and effectiveness: 
     By virtue of the unique location designed for the light entering region  311  of the light-transmitting optical module  3 , the imaging module  5  is able to capture the images of the body cavity in front of the hollow needle body  2  when the hollow needle body  2  penetrates the body cavity, thereby improving accuracy in determination of a proper surgical site for a surgery and reducing risks during the surgery. While the disclosure has been described in connection with what are considered the exemplary embodiments, it is understood that this disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent arrangements.