ELECTRODE ARRANGEMENT FOR A BIPOLAR RESECTOSCOPE, AND RESECTOSCOPE

Abstract

An electrode arrangement according to the invention for a bipolar resectoscope (50) comprises an elongate electrode carrier (2), an active electrode disposed at a distal end of the electrode carrier (2) and a neutral electrode, wherein a distal end section of the electrode carrier (2) is embodied as an electrode body (4, 40) through which a supply line (20) of the active electrode is guided and wherein the neutral electrode is formed by the electrode body (4, 40) or a portion of the electrode body (4, 40). The invention also relates to a resectoscope (50).

Claims

1. An electrode arrangement for a bipolar resectoscope, comprising an elongate electrode carrier, an active electrode disposed at a distal end of the electrode carrier and a neutral electrode, characterized in that a distal end section of the electrode carrier is embodied as an electrode body through which a supply line of the active electrode is guided and wherein the neutral electrode is formed by the electrode body or a portion of the electrode body.

2. The electrode arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the electrode carrier comprises an elongate electrode shaft, wherein the electrode body is disposed in a distal continuation of the electrode shaft and a cross section of the electrode body at least approximately corresponds to a cross section of the electrode shaft.

3. The electrode arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the electrode shaft and the electrode body are connected by the supply line of the active electrode and a supply line of the neutral electrode.

4. The electrode arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the electrode body is embodied as an insulation body with an electrically conductive layer which is applied to at least a portion of a surface of the insulation body.

5. The electrode arrangement according to claim 4, wherein the insulation body consists at least predominantly of a ceramic or any other RF-resistant and temperature-resistant material.

6. The electrode arrangement according to claim 4, wherein the electrically conductive layer is an electronically conducting, in particular metallic coating.

7. The electrode arrangement according to claim 4, wherein the portion of the surface is a lateral surface or a portion of a lateral surface of the electrode body.

8. The electrode arrangement according to claim 4, wherein the electrode body is embodied at least approximately as a cylinder or a flattened cylinder, wherein the portion of the surface is at least one portion of a lateral surface of the cylinder.

9. The electrode arrangement according to claim 4, wherein a supply line of the neutral electrode is inserted into the insulation body on the proximal side and in that the electrically conductive layer extends into a transverse bore of the insulation body that reaches up to the supply line of the neutral electrode.

10. The electrode arrangement according to claim 4, wherein the active electrode is formed as a cutting loop with a first and second base section and a cutting section lying therebetween, wherein the first and the second base sections are positioned at a distal end face of the insulation body and only the first base section is connected to the supply line of the active electrode.

11. The electrode arrangement according to claim 4, wherein the active electrode is embodied as a rod electrode with a rod and a base section, wherein the base section is inserted into a distal end face of the insulation body and connected to the supply line of the active electrode.

12. The electrode arrangement according to claim 11, wherein a spherical, hemispherical or disk-shaped element is disposed at the end of the rod distant from the base section.

13. The electrode arrangement for a bipolar resectoscope according to claim 1, wherein the electrode body is embodied as a metallic electrode body that forms the neutral electrode and the supply line of the active electrode is guided therethrough in insulated fashion.

14. The electrode arrangement according to claim 13, wherein the active electrode is embodied as a cutting loop with a first and a second base section and a cutting section lying therebetween, wherein the first and the second base section are positioned at a distal end of the supply line of the active electrode.

15. A resectoscope comprising an elongate shaft, an electrode arrangement inserted in longitudinally displaceable fashion in the latter and a displacement mechanism for displacing the electrode arrangement in the longitudinal direction of the shaft, wherein the electrode arrangement is configured as recited in claim 1.

Description

[0035] Further aspects of the invention emerge from the following description of preferred exemplary embodiments and from the attached drawing. In detail:

[0036] FIG. 1 shows an electrode arrangement according to a first exemplary embodiment of the invention in an overall view;

[0037] FIG. 2 shows the distal end region of the electrode arrangement of FIG. 1 in an oblique view;

[0038] FIG. 3 shows the distal end region of the electrode arrangement of FIG. 1 in a partly transparent representation;

[0039] FIG. 4 shows the distal end region of an electrode arrangement according to a second exemplary embodiment of the invention;

[0040] FIG. 5 shows the distal end region of an electrode arrangement according to a third exemplary embodiment of the invention;

[0041] FIG. 6 shows the distal end region of an electrode arrangement according to a fourth exemplary embodiment of the invention; and

[0042] FIG. 7 shows a resectoscope with an electrode arrangement according to FIG. 1.

[0043] FIG. 1 shows, in exemplary fashion, an electrode arrangement according to a first exemplary embodiment of the invention in an overall view. The electrode arrangement 1 comprises an electrode carrier 2, which has an elongate electrode shaft 3 and an electrode body 4 arranged at the distal end of the latter. On the distal side, an active electrode embodied as a cutting loop 5 is positioned at the electrode body 4. On the proximal side, two parallel plug-in connectors 6, 7 are provided at the electrode shaft 3, said plug-in connectors serving to establish an electrical connection with corresponding electrical contacts of the working element of a resectoscope and also being able to be configured for mechanical locking in the displacement mechanism of the resectoscope. Guiding clamps 8, 9 for guidance within a shaft of the working element of the resectoscope (see FIG. 7) are attached to the electrode shaft 3.

[0044] FIG. 2 shows the distal end region of the electrode arrangement 2 in a magnified view, obliquely from the distal direction. The electrode body 4 is disposed at the distal end of the electrode shaft 3 in a straight continuation of the electrode shaft 3. Said electrode body has approximately the same cross section as the electrode shaft 3. In the illustrated exemplary embodiment, the electrode shaft 3 and the distal end section each approximately have the form of a flattened cylinder.

[0045] The electrode body 4 is formed by a ceramic insulation body 10, the surface of which is partly covered by an electronically conductive, more particularly metallic coating 11. The coating 11 covers the top side of the lateral surface of the approximately flattened-cylinder-shaped insulation body 10 and extends slightly beyond the middle thereof in the downward direction. The coating 11 could have been applied to the corresponding surface regions of the insulation body using conventional coating methods. The end sides of the insulation body 10 are not covered by the coating 11. On the proximal side, the electrode body 4 is connected to the electrode shaft by way of two supply lines, which are each surrounded by an insulating sleeve 12, 13. The active electrode embodied as a cutting loop 5 is positioned at the distal end face 14. In the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the cutting loop has a first base section 15 and a second base section 16, by means of which it is positioned at the distal end face 14 of the insulation body 10, and a cutting section 17 lying therebetween, which protrudes downward beyond a distal-side continuation of the cross section of the electrode body 4 or of the electrode shaft 3 and which is brought into contact with tissue for the purposes of cutting the latter. The insulation body 10 has a transverse bore 18, into which the coating 11 extends (see below).

[0046] In FIG. 3, the electrode body 4 is shown in a partly transparent representation. As is evident from FIG. 3, the first base section 15 of the cutting loop 5 merges into a supply line 20 within the insulation body 10. The supply line 20 provides the electrical connection of the cutting loop 5 to an RF connector of the resectoscope and is guided through the electrode shaft 3 into the plug-in connector 6 (see FIG. 1). The supply line 20 is surrounded by the insulating sleeve 12 within the electrode shaft and in an interstice 19 between the electrode shaft 3 and the electrode body 4, said insulating sleeve also extending a little into the electrode body 4. The second base section 16 of the cutting loop 5 is inserted into the insulation body 10 but not electrically contacted. The cutting loop 5 can be embodied as a continuous wire with the supply line 20.

[0047] A further supply line 21, which provides the electrical connection between the neutral electrode formed by the coating 11 and a corresponding RF connector of the resectoscope via the connection plug 7, extends through the electrode shaft 3 (see FIG. 1). As is evident from FIG. 3, the supply line 21 of the neutral electrode is surrounded by the insulating sleeve 13 in the interstice 19 between the electrode shaft and the distal end portion and said supply line extends slightly into the insulation body 10. The transverse bore 18 reaches up to the surface of the supply line 21. The coating 11 extends into the transverse bore to the supply line 21 and consequently establishes the electrical contact with the supply line 21. As indicated in FIG. 2, the proximal end side of the electrode body 4 has a stepped embodiment, with the supply line 20 of the active electrode bridging the interstice 19 with a shorter section while the supply line 21 of the neutral electrode bridges the interstice with a longer section in order to compensate a transverse offset between the supply lines 20, 21.

[0048] The described arrangement establishes, firstly, a supply of the cutting loop 5 with the RF power required for cutting and, secondly, a connection of the coating 11, which represents the effective face of the neutral electrode, to the supply line 21. At the same time, the ceramic material of the insulation body 10, in which the supply lines 20, 21 and the base sections 15, 16 of the cutting loop 5 are embedded, ensures an electrical separation of the active electrode and the neutral electrode. Finally, the insulation body 10 serves to support the cutting loop 5 and serves as a main body for applying the coating 11.

[0049] FIG. 4, which shows a view corresponding to that of FIG. 2, illustrates the distal end region of the electrode arrangement according to a further exemplary embodiment of the invention. In this exemplary embodiment, the cutting electrode is embodied in the form of a metallic rod 30 that extends transversely to the longitudinal direction of the electrode shaft 3 and of the distal end section 4. The rod 30 is positioned at the distal end face 14 of the insulation body 10 via the base section 31 and is connected to the supply line 20, wherein the rod 30, the base section 31 and the supply line 20 may be formed by a continuous wire. Otherwise, the electrode arrangement according to this exemplary embodiment is embodied like the one described above on the basis of FIGS. 1 to 3.

[0050] A third embodiment of the electrode arrangement according to the invention is shown in FIG. 5. Here, the cutting electrode is embodied like the one shown in FIG. 4 with a rod 30 and a single base section 31, with the rod 30 additionally carrying a metallic sphere 32 at its end distant from the base section 31. Instead of the sphere 32, provision can also be made of a hemisphere or disk, for example. Otherwise, this embodiment is embodied as described above.

[0051] In the further embodiment of the invention illustrated in FIG. 6, the distal end section of the electrode carrier 2 is not formed by an insulation body 10 provided with an electronically conductive, more particularly metallic coating 11 like in the exemplary embodiments described above, but by a metallic electrode body 40 which represents the neutral electrode at the same time. Together with its insulating sleeve 12, the supply line of the active electrode is guided through the electrode body 40 to beyond the distal end face 41 thereof and said supply line carries at its distal end the active electrode embodied as a cutting loop 42, with both base regions 15, 16 of the cutting loop 42 merging into the insulating sleeve 12 and at least one thereof being electrically connected to the supply line 20. The cutting loop 42 can be formed by the distal end section of a wire that constitutes the supply line 20. The supply line 21 of the neutral electrode is guided within its insulating sleeve 13 into the electrode body 40 and electrically contacted there by the latter. As indicated in FIG. 6, the supply line 21 can extend through the electrode body 40 to the distal end face 41 thereof. Otherwise, the electrode arrangement according to this exemplary embodiment is embodied as described above in relation to FIGS. 1 to 5.

[0052] A resectoscope with an electrode arrangement according to the invention inserted into the former is illustrated in exemplary fashion in an overall view in FIG. 7. The resectoscope 50 comprises a working element 51 with an elongate shaft 52, which is dimensioned for the insertion into a natural or artificial body orifice, and a handle 53, which remains outside of the body of the patient during an application and which comprises connectors, operating elements and a displacement mechanism. As illustrated in FIG. 7, an electrode arrangement 1 is inserted into the shaft 52 of the working element. Further, an endoscope optical unit 54 is inserted into the working element from the proximal direction and said endoscope optical unit is locked with the working element 51 by way of an optics coupling 55.

[0053] The electrode arrangement 1 is inserted into the shaft 52 and, further, into the handle 53 of the working element 51 in such a way that said electrode arrangement, on the proximal side, is inserted into a connection block 56 by means of the plug-in connectors 6, 7 (see FIG. 1) and electrically contacted and mechanically locked in said connection block. The connection block 56 is embodied as a displaceable carriage that can be displaced relative to the shaft 52 in the axial direction by means of a gripping ring 57. An RF cable for connection to an external RF current source can be connected to the connection block 56. The connection block 56 is spring-loaded in the proximal direction by way of the lever mechanism 58. The shaft 52 comprises an outer shaft 59 and an inner shaft, only identifiable very distally in FIG. 7, said shafts forming channels for supplying and draining rinsing liquid. To this end, rinsing openings 60 and rinsing connectors 61, 62 are provided. The outer shaft 59 with the rinsing connectors 61, 62 can be connected to the remaining elements of the working element via a coupling 63.

[0054] During the application, the shaft 52 with the electrode arrangement 1 inserted therein is inserted into the body of a patient up to an operating region. The connection block 56 with the electrode arrangement 1 is moved in the distal direction counter to the spring force by means of the gripping ring 57 such that the electrode body 4 with the cutting loop 5 projects from the shaft 52 of the resectoscope 50 on the distal side; this position is shown in FIG. 7. For the purposes of cutting tissue, the cutting loop 5 is thereupon pulled through the tissue to be separated by means of the spring force under the application of RF voltage; in its proximal end position, the electrode arrangement 1 is wholly or largely received in the outer shaft 59 (not shown in FIG. 7). Severed tissue parts can be drained by rinsing with a rinsing liquid. Instead of the embodiment of the electrode arrangement 1 illustrated in FIG. 7, use can also be made of any other of the electrode arrangements according to the invention, which are described above in exemplary fashion.

[0055] Not all reference signs are illustrated in all figures for reasons of clarity. Reference signs not explained in relation to one figure have a corresponding meaning as in the remaining figures.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0056] 1 Electrode arrangement [0057] 2 Electrode carrier [0058] 3 Electrode shaft [0059] 4 Electrode body [0060] 5 Cutting loop [0061] 6 Plug-in connector [0062] 7 Plug-in connector [0063] 8 Guiding clamp [0064] 9 Guiding clamp [0065] 10 Insulation body [0066] 11 Coating [0067] 12 Insulating sleeve [0068] 13 Insulating sleeve [0069] 14 End face [0070] 15 Base section [0071] 16 Base section [0072] 17 Cutting section [0073] 18 Transverse bore [0074] 19 Interstice [0075] 20 Supply line [0076] 21 Supply line [0077] 30 Rod [0078] 31 Base section [0079] 32 Sphere [0080] 40 Electrode body [0081] 41 End face [0082] 42 Cutting loop [0083] 50 Resectoscope [0084] 51 Working element [0085] 52 Shaft [0086] 53 Handle [0087] 54 Endoscope optical unit [0088] 55 Optics coupling [0089] 56 Connection block [0090] 57 Gripping ring [0091] 58 Lever mechanism [0092] 59 Outer shaft [0093] 60 Rinsing openings, return flow [0094] 61 Rinsing connector, supply [0095] 62 Rinsing connector, drain [0096] 63 Coupling