Abstract:
The invention relates to a truncated feeding tube comprising a first tube, a second tube, and a joint element. One terminal of the first tube and the second tube is removably connected to the two terminals of the joint element. A patient can connect the first and second tubes by the joint element or remove the second tube. Since the joint element can be separated from the first and second tubes, the joint member can be simply replaced when it is damaged without replacing the first or second tube. A positioning member is disposed on a front portion of the second tube, so that an endoscopic technology can be used to clamp the positioning member and the inner wall of the stomach or the duodenum by a hemostatic clip, and the front portion of the second tube is positioned in the stomach or the duodenum to avoid sliding displacement.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    Field of Invention 
         [0002]    The disclosure relates to a truncated feeding tube, especially a fixing structure of a two-segment feeding tube that can be easily jointed and separated. 
         [0003]    Description of Related Art 
         [0004]    When patients have difficulty swallowing, coma, mouth and neck diseases, or surgery, the patients are unable to eat through the mouth by themselves. If the patient&#39;s gastrointestinal function is normal, the patient can be fed by a feeding tube with the help of medical persons or families to help the patients obtain the needed calories and nutrients. 
         [0005]    The common feeding tube is a long and flexible tube inserted from the nostril through the esophagus to the stomach. If the digestion function of the stomach is not good, the feeding tube can be even inserted into the duodenum. Therefore, the so called gavage by a feeding tube is inserting the feeding tube from the nostril to the stomach, and treating the food to be in a form of liquid. Then, the liquid food is input to the feeding tube and guided by the feeding tube from the nostril into the stomach or the duodenum to reach the eating purpose, and the patient can absorb the needed calories and nutrients. 
         [0006]    Since the feeding tube is an invasive medical equipment, and the process of inserting the feeding tube from the nostril to the stomach also has potential risk to the health. Therefore, after inserting the feeding tube to a human body, the feeding tube is usually not removed to avoid the reinsertion and the sanitization problem. Based on this reason, the feeding tube usually has two segments and jointed by the corresponding openings. The segment of the feeding tube outside the nose can be removed, and the segment from the nostril to the stomach is still stayed in the human body to be directly jointed and used next time. Therefore, the reinsertion process can be omitted. However, assembling or separating the two-segment feeding tube jointed by the corresponding openings directly can easily pull the segment of the feeding tube in the human body to cause unwellness of the patient, or even cause the displacement of the feeding tube in the human body. Especially, there is no fixing structure for fixing the feeding tube when the feeding tube is inserted into the stomach or the duodenum. Therefore, the displacement condition can be occurred at any time. 
         [0007]    Moreover, when the feeding tube is inserted from the nostril through the esophagus into the stomach or the duodenum, the narrower region of the human inner organs, such as nasopharynx, cardia, and duodenal bulb, will suffer larger compression by the feeding tube to cause unwellness and even compressive mucosal injury. The use of the feeding tube is quite inconvenient. 
         [0008]    Furthermore, after the feeding tube entering the human body, the real position of the front end cannot be sensed from outside. Therefore, a condition that the feeding tube may be wound or may not reach the predetermined position is usually occurred. If the gavage is performed, the food may enter other organs of the human body to cause inflammation and other diseases. 
         [0009]    At present, the inventor invents this invention in light of the forgoing to provide a new truncated feeding tube. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0010]    A first aspect of this invention is to provide a truncated feeding tube mainly comprising a first tube and a second tube. A terminal of the second tube is placed in the stomach from the nasal cavity, and the other terminal is connected to one terminal of a joint element. A terminal of the first tube is connected to an input equipment from a fluid supply, and the other terminal is connected to the other terminal of the joint element. The characteristic of joining and separating by the joint element can be used by a patient to remove or joint the second tube depending on the actual needs to provide convenience when going outside or moving. Therefore, the repeatedly removing and installing a feeding tube can be decreased to reduce the unwellness of the patient. 
         [0011]    A second aspect of this invention is to provide a truncated feeding tube mainly has a positioning member disposed on a front portion of the second tube, so that an endoscopic technology can be used to clamp the positioning member and the inner wall of the stomach or the duodenum by a hemostatic clip, and the front portion of the second tube is positioned in the stomach or the duodenum to avoid sliding displacement. 
         [0012]    A third aspect of this invention is to provide a truncated feeding tube has a protection part corresponding to the narrower region of the human inner organs, such as nasopharynx, cardia, and duodenal bulb to reduce the unwellness of a patient and largely reduce the compression injury of the mucosal. 
         [0013]    A fourth aspect of this invention is to provide a truncated feeding tube has a sensing part disposed on a front portion of the feeding tube. In the process of inserting the feeding tube into the human body, the real position of the sensing part can be shown by the irradiation of an X ray machine to indeed place the feeding tube at the predetermined position. Furthermore, a plurality of counterweights is disposed within the sensing part to ensure the front portion of the second tube to keep a sagging state due to gravity to facilitate the insertion of the feeding tube into inside of a human body. 
         [0014]    The main aspects and functions of this invention are reached by the following technical means. 
         [0015]    A truncated feeding tube comprises a first tube, a second tube, and a joint element. A terminal of the first tube is a first joint end, and a terminal of the second tube is a second joint end. The joint element is a hollow tubular body. A joint part is disposed on the inner wall of the joint element to joint and fix the first joint end and the second joint end simultaneously. 
         [0016]    In the truncated feeding tube as described above, a terminal of the second tube has a front portion, at least a hole is located near the peripheral of the front portion of the second tube. A circular positioning member is fixed between the front portion of the second tube and the holes or between at least two holes. 
         [0017]    In the truncated feeding tube as described above, the second tube has at least one protection part corresponding to at least one position of nasopharynx, cardia, and duodenal bulb. 
         [0018]    In the truncated feeding tube as described above, the recess is further wrapped by a protection layer, wherein the outer diameter of the protection layer is equal to the outer diameter of the second tube without the recessed part to level surfaces of the protection layer and the second tube without the recessed part, wherein the outer diameter of the protection layer is larger than the outer diameter of the second tube without the recessed part, so that the protection layer is protruded, or wherein the outer diameter of the protection layer is smaller than the outer diameter of the second tube without the recessed part, so that the protection layer is recessed. 
         [0019]    In the truncated feeding tube as described above, the second tube has a sensing part formed on the front portion thereof and having a light-sensitive metal material to be observed by an irradiation of an X ray machine, and a plurality of counterweights is disposed within the sensing part. 
         [0020]    In the truncated feeding tube as described above, the second tube has assistant sensing parts having a light-sensitive metal material. 
         [0021]    The advantages of this invention includes: 
         [0022]    1. The feeding tube of this invention is designed to have two segments, and the joint element, and the first tube and the second tube can be removably jointed or separated. A patient can joint the first and the second tubes, or remove the second tube, depending on the actual condition. For example, when non-feeding, the first tube can be removed to avoid the first tube hanged outside the nose to attract the attentions of others. Moreover, the patient can directly wear a mask after removing the first tube, so that others can not aware that the patient wears a feeding tube to increase the patient&#39;s confidence. 
         [0023]    2. In this invention, the first and the second tubes of the feeding tube can be separated. Therefore, when any one of the joint element, the first tube, and the second tube is damaged, the damaged part can be independently replaced. Since it is not needed to replace the feeding tube as a whole, the waste of resources can be avoided. 
         [0024]    3. In this invention, since the first tube and the second tube can be separated to reduce the entire length of the feeding tube, the cleaning of the feeding tube is much easier to avoid infections and to be used repeatedly. 
         [0025]    4. In this invention, a positioning member is disposed on a front portion of the second tube, so that an endoscopic technology can be used to clamp the positioning member and the inner wall of the stomach or the duodenum by a hemostatic clip, and the front portion of the second tube is positioned in the stomach or the duodenum to avoid sliding displacement. 
         [0026]    5. In this invention, the second tube has a protection part corresponding to the narrower region of the human inner organs, such as nasopharynx, cardia, and duodenal bulb to reduce the unwellness of a patient and largely reduce the compression injury of the mucosal. 
         [0027]    6. In this invention, a sensing part is disposed on a front portion of the feeding tube. In the process of inserting the feeding tube into the human body, the real position of the sensing part can be shown by the irradiation of a X ray machine to indeed place the feeding tube at the predetermined position. 
         [0028]    7. A plurality of counterweights is disposed within the sensing part to ensure the front portion of the second tube to keep a sagging state due to gravity to facilitate insertion of the feeding tube into a human body. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0029]      FIG. 1  is a perspective exploded view of a truncated feeding tube according to a first embodiment of this invention. 
           [0030]      FIG. 2  is an assembly cross-sectional view of a truncated feeding tube according to the first embodiment of this invention. 
           [0031]      FIG. 3  is a schematic view of the relative position of a truncated feeding tube according to the first embodiment of this invention. 
           [0032]      FIG. 4  is a perspective exploded view of a truncated feeding tube according to a second embodiment of this invention. 
           [0033]      FIG. 5  is a perspective exploded view of a truncated feeding tube according to a third embodiment of this invention. 
           [0034]      FIG. 6  is a perspective exploded view of a truncated feeding tube according to a fourth embodiment of this invention. 
           [0035]      FIG. 7  is a perspective exploded view of a truncated feeding tube according to a fifth embodiment of this invention. 
           [0036]      FIG. 8  is a perspective exploded view of a truncated feeding tube according to a sixth embodiment of this invention. 
           [0037]      FIG. 9  is a perspective exploded view of a truncated feeding tube according to a seventh embodiment of this invention. 
           [0038]      FIG. 10  is an assembly cross-sectional view of a truncated feeding tube according to the seventh embodiment of this invention. 
           [0039]      FIG. 11  is an assembly cross-sectional view of a truncated feeding tube according to the eighth embodiment of this invention. 
           [0040]      FIG. 12  is a perspective exploded view of a truncated feeding tube according to a ninth embodiment of this invention. 
           [0041]      FIG. 13  is a perspective view of a truncated feeding tube according to a tenth embodiment of this invention. 
           [0042]      FIG. 14  is a lateral and partially enlarged view of a truncated feeding tube according to an eleventh embodiment of this invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0043]    Please refer to  FIGS. 1 and 2 . 
         [0044]    The truncated feeding tube of this invention comprises a first tube  1 , a second tube  2 , and a joint element  3 , wherein 
         [0045]    one end of the first tube  1  is a first joint end  11 , which is a thread segment in this embodiment; 
         [0046]    one end of the second tube  2  is a second joint end  21 , which is a thread segment in this embodiment; 
         [0047]    the joint element  3  is a hollow tubular structure having a joint part  31  on an inner wall of the joint element  3 ; in this embodiment, the joint part  31  is a thread segment; the two ends of the joint part  31  are used to respectively joint the first joint end  11  and the second joint end  21 . 
         [0048]    In this embodiment, the joint element  3  uses the two ends of the joint part  31  to respectively lock the threaded first joint end  11  of the first tube  1  and the threaded second joint end  21  of the second tube  2 . The first tube  1  and the second tube  2  are locked and connected by the joint element  3  to form an inner channel for delivering liquid food. 
         [0049]    In this invention, a first stop ring  12  is further disposed on the outer wall of the first tube  1  near the first joint end  11 . A second stop ring  22  is disposed on the outer wall of the second tube  2  near the second joint end  21 . A third stop ring  23  is disposed on the outer wall of the second tube  2  at a distance from the second stop ring  22 . Many holes  24  are disposed on and penetrate the third stop ring  23 . 
         [0050]    The first stop ring  12  and the second stop ring  22  are used to limit a distance for locking the first tube  1 , the second tube  2  and the joint element  3 . The diameter of the third stop ring  23  is larger than the diameter of the nostril to limit the feeding tube&#39;s length inside a human body. The holes  24  can avoid the third stop ring  23  shielding the nostril to obstruct a patient&#39;s respiratory. Please refer to  FIG. 3 . 
         [0051]    Next, a belt  25  is disposed on the second tube  2  at a position between the second stop ring  22  and the third stop ring  23 . A trade mark may be printed on the belt  25 . Please refer to  FIG. 4 . 
         [0052]    Please refer to  FIG. 5 . First concave and convex joint parts  13 ,  26  are respectively formed on the openings of the first joint end  11  and the second joint end  21 . The connection of the first concave and convex joint parts  13 ,  26  used to connect the first tube  1  and the second tube  2  has leakage preventing effect. 
         [0053]    Please refer to  FIG. 6 . Hermetic rings  14 ,  27  are respectively disposed on the openings of the first joint end  11  and the second joint end  21 . The softness and elasticity of the two hermetic rings  14 ,  27  are used to connect the first tube  1  and the second tube  2  to have good leakage preventing effect. Of course, only one hermetic ring  14  or  27  on the first joint end  11  or the second joint end  21  is also allowed, please refer to  FIG. 7 . Furthermore, the two hermetic rings  14 ,  27  can also have second concave and convex joint parts  15 ,  28  to increase the leakage preventing effect between the connection of the first tube  1  and the second tube  2 . Please refer to  FIG. 8 . 
         [0054]    Please refer to  FIGS. 9 and 10 . In the truncated feeding tube of this invention, the first joint end  11  of the first tube  1  is a thread segment, and the second joint end  29  of the second tube  2  is bumps. A joint element  4  comprises a first cover shell  41  and a second cover shell  42 . One corresponding sides of the first cover shell  41  and the second cover shell  42  are pivotally jointed, and the other corresponding sides are engaged and fixed to form a hollow tubular body. That is, pivoting ear parts  411 ,  421  are disposed on the corresponding sides of the first cover shell  41  and the second cover shell  42 , and a pivot  40  is passed through the pivoting ear parts  411 ,  421  to pivotally connect the corresponding sides of the first cover shell  41  and the second cover shell  42 . A hooking hole  412  and a hook  422  are disposed on the other corresponding sides of the first cover shell  41  and the second cover shell  42 . Therefore, the other corresponding sides of the first cover shell  41  and the second cover shell  42  can be fastened by the hooking hole  412  and the hook  422 . As shown in  FIG. 11 , the other corresponding sides of the first cover shell  41  and the second cover shell  42  may be also pivotally fastened to let the first cover shell  41  and the second cover shell  42  form a hollow tubular body. That is, pivoting ear parts  413 ,  423  are disposed on the other corresponding sides of the first cover shell  41  and the second cover shell  42 , and another pivot  40  is passed through the pivoting ear parts  413 ,  423  to pivotally connect the other corresponding sides of the first cover shell  41  and the second cover shell  42 . A first joint part  43  and a second joint part  44  are disposed on the inner wall of the joint element  4 . The first joint part  43  joints the first joint end  11 , and the second joint part  44  joints the second joint end  29 . In this embodiment the first joint part  43  is a thread segment to lock the threaded first joint end  11 , and the second joint part  44  is recessed holes to lock the bumps of the second joint end  29 . Accordingly, the first tube  1  and the second tube  2  can be jointed by the joint element  4  to form a feeding tube for delivering liquid food. 
         [0055]    Among them, the bumps of the second joint end  29  are formed on a holding band  29 ′ fixed on the second tube  2 , and the number of the holding band  29 ′ may be 1 or 2. As shown in  FIG. 9 , one holding band  29 ′ is installed. As shown in  FIG. 12 , two holding bands  29 ′ are installed, and the number of the bumps on the second joint end  29  is also increased as the number of the holding bands  29 ′ is increased. Of course, the number of the recessed holes on the second joint part  44  of the joint element  4  is also increased correspondingly. 
         [0056]    Please refer to  FIG. 13 . In this invention, a front portion  20  of the second tube  2  is formed on one end of the second tube  2 . The front portion  20  of the second tube  2  has a round head or a flat head. At least one hole  201  is disposed near the front portion  20  of the second tube  2 , and a circular positioning member  5  is disposed on the front portion  20  of the second tube  2 . The positioning member  5  is passed through the terminal of the front portion  20  of the second tube  2  and one of the holes  201 , or passed through any two of the holes  201 . As shown in  FIG. 14 , the positioning member  5  can be also directly formed on two sides of the terminal of the front portion  20  of the second tube  2  as one piece. 
         [0057]    As a result, when the front portion  20  of the second tube  2  of the second tube  2  is inserted from nostril through esophagus to stomach, or even to the duodenum, an endoscopic technology can be used to clamp the positioning member  5  of the front portion  20  of the second tube  2  and the inner wall of the stomach or the duodenum by a hemostatic clip, and the front portion  20  of the second tube  2  is indeed positioned in the stomach or the duodenum to avoid sliding displacement. 
         [0058]    Please refer to  FIG. 13 . In a part of the tube  2  corresponding to the narrower region of the human inner organs, such as nasopharynx, cardia and duodenal bulb, a protection part  6  is installed. The protection part  6  is a recessed part  61  directly formed on the second tube  2 . A protection layer  62  may be further cover the recessed part  61 . The material of the protection layer  62  may be a material that can reduce the compression injury of the mucosal. Moreover, the outer diameter of the protection layer  62  is equal to the outer diameter of the second tube  2  without the recessed part  61  to level the surfaces of the protection layer  62  and the second tube  2  without the recessed part  61 . The outer diameter of the protection layer  62  also can be larger than the outer diameter of the second tube  2  without the recessed part  61 , so that the protection layer  62  is protruded. The outer diameter of the protection layer  62  also can be smaller than the outer diameter of the second tube  2  without the recessed part  61 , so that the protection layer  62  is recessed. 
         [0059]    Please refer to  FIG. 13 . A sensing part  7  is disposed on the front portion  20  of the second tube  2 , and many assistant sensing parts  71  are disposed on the second tube  2 . The sensing part  7  and the assistant sensing parts  71  all have a light-sensitive metal material to be observed by a X ray machine. 
         [0060]    The sensing part  7  may wrap the outer side of the front portion  20  of the second tube  2 , or is formed on the outer side of the front portion  20  of the second tube  2 , such as is directly formed on the front terminal of the front portion  20  of the second tube  2 . As a result, in the process of inserting the front portion  20  of the second tube  2  from nostril through esophagus to stomach, or even to the duodenum, the real positions of the sensing part  7  and the assistant sensing parts  71  can be observed by the irradiation of a X ray machine to indeed place the front portion  20  of the second tube  2  at the predetermined position. 
         [0061]    A plurality of counterweights  72  is disposed within the sensing part  7  to ensure the front portion  20  of the second tube  2  to keep a sagging state due to gravity to facilitate insertion of the feeding tube into a human body.