消化管内治療用の一体構造型を有する小型多自由度鉗子の開発

抄録

Gastrointestinal cancer can be treated by accessing the lesion through the natural orifice by a flexible endoscope if it’s detected in its early stage. However, the endoscopic treatment requires an advanced technique because of the limitation of instruments in dexterity. In this study, we have developed a novel multi-DOF endoluminal forceps that is sized to be inserted through the working channel of conventional flexible endoscope. The proposed forceps has 2-DOF of bending and 1-DOF of grasping by wire-driven mechanism. The proposed structure is a monolithic structure with a compliant mechanism, which is advantageous for mass production and assembly. The current prototype made by a 3D printer, showed a positive feasibility in its preliminary motion test. Finite element analysis (FEA) revealed that the proposed mechanism can be bent 90° without breaking.