Patent ID: 8858423

Claim:
An endoscope holding apparatus adapted to hold an endoscope in which an insertion portion is inserted into an abdominal cavity via a trocar pierced through an abdominal wall, the apparatus comprising: a stand that allows a base portion to be supported immediately above the trocar pierced through the abdominal wall; a distal arm with a proximal end side thereof rotatably and pivotally supported by the base portion via only a vertical rotational shaft, the distal arm including a multi-joint arm including first, second, third and fourth distal arm portions sequentially connected from the base portion side, the first, second, third and fourth distal arm portions being sequentially connected in an M letter shape such that a horizontal rotational shaft that rotatably and pivotally supports the second distal arm portion and the third distal arm portion is positioned below a virtual intersection between the first distal arm portion and the fourth distal arm portion, the distal arm moving, the a vertical plane, an endoscope that is supported by an endoscope holding portion which is rotatably and pivotally supported only by the fourth distal arm portion, with the trocar serving as a support, via only a rotational shaft parallel to the horizontal shaft; and an interlocking section that links behaviors of the respective distal arm portions so that the first distal arm portion and the third distal arm portion behave in parallel to each other, and the second distal arm portion and the fourth distal arm portion behave in parallel to each other, thereby moving the distal arm with an angle formed by the first and fourth distal arm portions and an angle formed by the second and third distal arm portions consistently maintained to be equal to each other.