Abstract
Manipulation of a colonscope is sometimes very difficult when there exists a marked loop formation in the sigmoid colon. In order to keep the sigmoid colon in a straight position, a sliding tube made of plastics was devised by Makiishi et al. The sliding tube has been widely used in colonoscopy to straighten the loop of the sigmoid colon and advance the scope to the ileocecal area more quickly and easily. However, some disadvantages have been found in using the present sliding tube. There is some difficulty in handling the colonoscope attached to the sliding tube, being restricted by the length of the colonscope. For the purpose of covering the demerits of the conventional instrument, a new sliding tube (slit sliding tube) has been devised. The slit sliding tube is made up of three parts ; an inner tube, an outer tube and a fixing screw. Prior to insertion of the colonoscope, outer tube and the fixing screw are attached to the scope and are placed near the handle. With the contraction of the elastic outer tube to approximately 10cm of length, the colonoscope is employed in the usual manner. When the tip of the scope reachs the splenic flexure of the colon and the sigmoidal loop is let down, the inner tube is attached to the scope and then the three parts of the apparatus are joined together in a short time. Then the sliding tube is inserted safely into the middle or upper parts of the descending colon as the same manner as the conventional sliding tube. Thus, the slit sliding tube makes it more easy to keep the sigmoid colon in a straight position. By using the slit sliding tube, the scope is restricted only by the length of the outer tube (about 10cm). Therefore, the slit sliding tube is also used by a short length colonoscope as well as a long one. Especially, by using this slit sliding tube with CF-130 (Olympus), a pan-colonscope, colonscopic examination of the ileocecal area is more easily and perfectly performed.
