Patent ID: 8221308

Claim:
An endoscope apparatus comprising: an endoscope having an insertion section which is adapted to be inserted into a lumen that is an object of an inspection; a unit body including: a substantially cylindrical endoscope guide member with a distal end portion which is adapted to be inserted into the lumen that is the object of the inspection, and an insertion hole in which the insertion section is adapted to be advancibly/retreatably inserted; and detection means, disposed in the substantially cylindrical endoscope guide member, for detecting a direction of movement, an insertion amount and an insertion force amount of the insertion section in relation to the object of the inspection, which occur in association with an advancement/retreat operation of the insertion section within the insertion hole while the distal end portion is inserted into the lumen; and display means adapted for displaying the direction of movement, the insertion amount and the insertion force amount of the insertion section, which are detected by the detection means; wherein: the substantially cylindrical endoscope guide member includes a proximal end portion, the insertion hole is adapted for guiding insertion of the insertion section and is formed as an inner cavity of the substantially cylindrical endoscope guide cylindrical member, the detection means includes an insertion force amount detection section which is provided on the proximal end portion of the substantially cylindrical endoscope guide member, and the insertion force amount detection section includes: a plurality of guide rollers disposed around the insertion hole; base members which are adapted to support the guide rollers; rotational plates each having one end portion supported on the base member so as to be rotatable about a rotational shaft, and having the other end portion to which the guide roller is rotatably supported so as to be rotatable about a rotational shaft; a pressure sensor which is disposed to be opposed to the rotational plate on a locus of rotation of the rotational plate, and adapted to detect a pressure due to a contact/separation operation of the rotational plate in interlock with rotation of the rotational plate; and a control circuit which is adapted to detect an insertion force amount due to an insertion operation of the insertion section, on the basis of a detection signal from the pressure sensor.