An articulating cannula assembly is described. The articulating cannula assembly includes: a hand piece; a proximal housing situated above the hand piece; a cannula distally extending from the proximal housing, the cannula including an articulating segment; and a trigger that, when actuated, extends or contracts the articulating segment. The proximal housing can removably couple to the hand piece. The proximal housing can include an endoscope attachment structure for removably securing a proximal portion of an endoscope.

A bending piece of a bending portion for endoscope is provided with: an annular wall portion; a plurality of wire inserting portions in which the wall portion has a first wall thickness; thin wall portions having a second wall thickness thinner than the first wall thickness; and a thick wall portion that is a part of the wall portion different from the thin wall portions between the plurality of wire inserting portions around a longitudinal axis, the thick wall portion formed to have a third wall thickness that is equal to or less than the first wall thickness and is thicker than the second wall thickness.

Described embodiments include a system for inspecting a tubular device that includes an outer surface and a spatially-periodic supporting structure beneath the outer surface. The system includes an imaging device, configured to acquire an image of a reflection of light from the outer surface, and a processor, configured to ascertain a spatial frequency of the supporting structure by processing the image. Other embodiments are also described.

The present invention relates to the field of medical devices and discloses an endoscope structure, which consists of a fixing ring, a connection tube and an operation tube connected in sequence, among which, the connection tube consists of braided layers, the connection tube can be bent, and the stiffness of the braided layers of the connection tube is inversely proportional to the maximum bending angle of the connection tube; the structure also consists of traction wires, the traction wires are fixed onto the fixing ring by the operation tube through the connection tube, and the connection tube will be bent by pulling the traction wires at the end of the operation tube. Main beneficial effects of the present invention are: the braided layers and traction wires are arranged inside the connection tube, so that the present invention has advantages of convenient connection, soft and controllable; the guide groove is arranged on the outer lateral walls of the support layers, the traction wires are respectively placed inside the guide groove, when the traction wires move, the guide groove plays a role of guiding and positioning to ensure that the traction wires only move along the length direction of it structure.

An endoscope tubular connector includes: a connection joint including a through-hole; and a tubular portion that is formed of a material softer than the connection joint and that has one end arranged in the through-hole of the connection joint. The through-hole of the connection joint and a through-hole of the tubular portion are formed such that the through-holes are connected to each other, and an outer circumference of the tubular portion is arranged on an inner side with respect to an inner circumference of the connection joint.

An endoscope includes a handle operation unit. The handle operation unit includes: an outer ring; a cam ring accommodated in the outer ring to rotate in accordance with rotation of the outer ring about a central axis and having a pair of guide holes; a pair of slide members accommodated in the respective guide holes and fixed to a force transmission member; and a support portion having a pair of slide grooves extending along a longitudinal direction of the endoscope, the support portion being accommodated in the cam ring to support the pair of slide members. The slide members slide in the respective slide grooves in accordance with the rotation of the outer ring. The field of view of the image-capturing unit is changed in accordance with sliding of the pair of slide members.

A medical tube or cannula comprising enhanced imaging structure and/or materials is provided. In some embodiments, an otherwise solid echogenic band may be interrupted by echolucent features and/or materials. In other embodiments, an echogenic band may be adjacent to an echolucent band, while in other embodiments one or more echolucent bands may be provided. In some cases, two or more spaced-apart echolucent bands may be provided. In some embodiments, an echolucent band may comprise an echogenic feature or materials. Generally, the juxtaposition of echogenic and echolucent materials enhances the imaging contrast of an intravascular device and allows easy identification and positioning of the juxtaposed echogenic and echolucent regions.

Systems and methods are disclosed providing a flexible articulable device for accessing deep within tight and arbitrarily shaped channels of a body. The flexible or articulable device may employ two, independent locomotion strategies. These strategies can be combined or independently used. However, both strategies use a segmented approach that employs one or multiple embedded actuation units along the body of the device. The multiple embedded actuation units may be individually controlled, are generally connected serially, and generally uses one of the locomotion strategies. One strategy relates to propulsion while the other strategy relates to shape control.

A medical probe includes a shaft for navigation in a patient body, and first and second deflection mechanisms. The shaft ends with a flexible section and a spring, followed by a rigid distal tip having one or more medical devices coupled thereto. The first deflection mechanism is configured to deflect the flexible section relative to the shaft. The second deflection mechanism is configured to deflect the distal tip relative to the first flexible section by using the spring.

An endoscope system includes a mother endoscope, a baby endoscope and a fixing member. The mother endoscope includes a first insertion section, a first operation section, a treatment instrument insertion channel and an opening. The baby endoscope includes a second insertion section and a second operation section. The first operation section includes a projection portion. The second operation section includes a recess portion that is a recessed face formed such that at least part of the recessed face comes into face contact with a surface of the projection portion. The second operation section is fixed to the first operation section in a state where the recess portion is in contact with the surface of the projection portion.