Patent ID: 8608701

Claim:
A puncture needle for an endoscope, the puncture needle comprising: a flexible sheath having an interior; a needle component positioned at the interior of the flexible sheath such that the needle component is free to move forwards and backwards; a needle moving device positioned at a base end portion of the needle component, and configured to move the needle component forwards or backwards along an axial direction of the flexible sheath; and an operating section connected to the operating side of the flexible sheath, and configured to operate the needle moving device, wherein the operating section comprises a hole portion composed of a small diameter hole portion, a large diameter hole portion and a connecting section which is positioned between the small diameter hole portion and the large diameter hole portion; the needle moving device comprises a metal wire which is inserted into the sheath and the operating section and which has elasticity, the metal wire comprises a straight portion and an elastic portion having a diameter larger than a diameter of the straight portion; the needle component is configured such that a distal end thereof does not protrude from a distal end of the sheath in a state in which the elastic portion is not positioned in the small diameter hole portion, and the elastic portion is configured to generate slide friction before the elastic portion enters into the small diameter hole portion by pressing an inner periphery of the connecting section when the elastic portion moves from the large diameter hole portion to the small diameter hole portion such that the needle component is prevented from carelessly protruding from the distal end of the sheath.