Patent ID: 8105230

Claim:
A medical system comprising: a treatment instrument configured to be inserted into a channel of an insertion portion of an endoscope, the treatment instrument including at a distal end thereof a treatment portion for performing treatment operations on living body tissue; a treatment instrument advance/retreat apparatus configured to advance and retreat the treatment instrument in accordance with a user input such that the treatment instrument moves at a first speed in the channel or at a second speed that is lower than the first speed outside the channel by switching an advance/retreat speed without stopping advancement/retreat of the treatment instrument; a detection portion configured to detect whether the treatment portion of the treatment instrument is led out and positioned distally from a distal end of the insertion portion of the endoscope; and a control portion configured to control the treatment instrument advance/retreat apparatus to vary an advance/retreat speed of the treatment instrument according to detection results from the detection portion, wherein the control portion is configured: in a state where the detection portion detects that the treatment portion is not led out distally from the distal end of the insertion portion and positioned in the channel, to control the treatment instrument advance/retreat apparatus to advance/retreat the treatment instrument at the first speed, and in a state where the detection portion detects that the treatment portion is led out and positioned distally from the distal end of the insertion portion, to control the treatment instrument advance/retreat apparatus to advance/retreat the treatment instrument at the second speed that is lower than the first speed by switching the advance/retreat speed without stopping advancement/retreat of the treatment instrument.