THE PULLING DEVICE FOR A FLEXIBLE BRONCHOSCOPE

摘要

The flexible bronchoscope, used both to directly visualize and biopsy lesions, is an important tool for diagnosing lung cancer. Presented here is a conceptual design for a device that increases the depth to which the scope can be fed into the lungs. This allows doctors to find and accurately diagnose more cases of lung cancer first occurring deeper in the lungs. Flexible bronchoscopes have become so slender (The ultrathin Olympus BF-type XP-40 bronchoscope is only 2.8mm in diameter.), that the diameter of the scope is no longer the primary factor limiting the scope's range. Instead, the force that can be applied toward moving the scope is. Currently, the doctor pushes the scope from the proximal end where it protrudes from the patient's mouth or nose. After the scope has passed though five to eight bends in the airways, frictional resistance prevents the doctor from pushing it any further. A more flexible scope would buckle under larger forces, and a stiffer scope would only generate more resistance around the bends. The device presented here can pull the scope from its distal end, while the doctor continues to push the scope from the proximal ends.