Biopsy Needle Set

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a biopsy needle set for sucking and collecting tissue sections in diseased parts such as internal organs and the like of a patient for obtaining test specimen, and particularly to a biopsy needle set which can suck certainly tissue sections and maintain stably the suction force during removal of such needle from the human body.

2. Description of the Prior Art

As a conventional biopsy needle set, there has been proposed, for example, a collecting instrument of internal organ tissue sections, as shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 52575/1981, which comprises, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 4, a metallic outer needle 1 an end of which is formed into an edge of blade and which is provided with a needle base 2 at the opposite end thereof, a syringe barrel 3 to an end of which the needle base 2 is detachably attached, an inner needle 4 an end of which is formed into a sharp tip portion 4a, a slidably contacting portion 4b having a diameter a little less than a inner diameter of the outer needle 1 extending from said sharp tip portion 4a, and a flat supporting portion 4c extending further from said slidably contacting portion 4b, and a syringe plunger 6 on an end of which mounts a slide packing 5 fitted closely in the inside wall of the syringe barrel 3 to slidably move therein, the inner needle 4 being provided on the end of said syringe plunger 6.

In the above construction, a human body is punctured with the biopsy needle set under such condition where the sharp tip portion 4a of the inner needle 4 is projected from the outer needle 1 and when the sharp tip portion 4a reaches an internal organ, the syringe plunger 6 and the inner needle 4 are relatively retracted from the syringe barrel 3 and the outer needle 1, so that negative pressure is produced in the syringe barrel 3 by withdrawal of the slide packing 5 fitted closely in the syringe barrel 3. Thus, such negative pressure is transmitted to the end of the outer needle 1 through a gap defined between the outer needle 1 and the inner needle 4 and when the syringe barrel 3 is advanced while maintaining the condition as mentioned above, the blade edge of the outer needle 1 cuts off the tissue in a columnar shape. Then, a part of the internal organ which has been in contact with the end of the outer needle 1 is sucked to be led into the outer needle 1. In this state, when the retraction of the syringe plunger 6 is stopped and the outer needle 1 is withdrawn from the body, the tissue sections being in the outer needle 1 as a result of the suction are torn off so that such tissue sections can be taken out from the body.

According to the above conventional example, the slidably contacting portion 4b is formed at the end portion of the inner needle 4, and the gap is defined between the supporting portion 4c extending from the slidably contacting portion 4b and the inside wall of the outer needle 1, such that the supporting portion 4c is not in close contact with the inside wall of the outer needle 1 ,whereby negative pressure produced in the syringe barrel 3 can be efficiently transmitted to the end of the outer needle 1. Hence, when an internal organ to be colleted is merely punctured slightly with the end of the outer needle 1, a test specimen can be collected so that pain in a patient can be abated. In case of collecting tissue sections, a thick needle having a diameter of 1.05 mm (19 G) or more has been used as the outer needle 1 of a conventional biopsy needle.

In accordance with such conventional collecting instrument of internal organ tissue sections, however, negative pressure transmitted to the end of the outer needle 1 keeps leaking at the slidably contacting portion 4b in case of suction by the syringe plunger 6, so that if it is intended to produce intensive suction force at the end of the outer needle 1, the syringe plunger 6 must be rapidly pulled. Thus there have been such disadvantages that the collection of test specimens becomes unreliable, and that in the case where outer needle 1 is made more slender for abating pain in a patient, only a tissue liquid except tissue sections may be collected because of the weak suction force.

It is the first object of the present invention to provide a biopsy needle set by which the tissue sections in a diseased part can certainly be collected with more intensive and continuous suction force.

The second object of the present invention is to provide a biopsy needle set in which intensive suction force can be produced even in the case where a needle having a thin diameter is utilized for abating more pain in a patient.

The third object of the present invention is to provide a biopsy needle set by which suction can be performed in one-handed operation.

The forth object of the present invention is to provide a biopsy needle set by which tissue sections can certainly be collected even from the tissue containing much tissue liquid.

The fifth object of the present invention is to provide a biopsy needle set wherein the rigidity thereof is not decreased even if a slender needle is used for easily puncturing a human body.

According to the present invention, there is proposed a biopsy needle set provided with puncturing needle of a double construction composed of an outer needle secured to an end of a cylinder and an inner needle secured to an end of a plunger, and said outer needle containing slidably said inner needle, comprising said outer needle having the first section where the inside wall of said outer needle is closely in contact with said inner needle at the end portion of said outer needle, and the second section which is not in close contact with said inner needle.

FIGS. 1 to 4 illustrate an embodiment of publicly known biopsy needle set wherein FIG. 1 is a front view showing an outer needle mounted on a syringe barrel;

FIG. 2 is a front view showing an inner needle secured to the end of a syringe plunger;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are partly enlarged sectional views each showing a state where the inner needle is inserted into the outer needle;

FIG. 5 is a constructional view showing the first embodiment of the biopsy needle set according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a partial view showing the plunger of FIG. 5 which has been rotated at an angle of 90.degree. with respect to the longitudinal axis;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view showing a part of the outer needle in FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged sectional view showing the end portion of the outer needle in FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 is a graphical representation illustrating a relationship between stroke length of the retracting plunger and pressure difference produced between the cylinder and the needle tip in an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a partial sectional view showing an inner needle and a plunger in the second embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 11 is a partial sectional view for explaining an inner needle portion in the third embodiment of the present invention.

The biopsy needle set according to the present invention will be described in detail hereinbelow by referring to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 5 through 8 illustrate the first embodiment of the present invention wherein the biopsy needle set comprises the metallic outer needle 21 which is composed of a close contact section A a tip portion of which is formed as a shape of blade, and the inner wall cross section of which may be tapered, a narrowed space section B at the central part thereof, and a reinforced section C the diameter of which is the largest and to the base portion of which a needle base 22 is fixed; the sharp inner needle 28 which has a diameter to be in close contact with the outer needle 21 and a tip portion of which has been obliquely cut down; the cylinder 23 containing a pair of notched splits 24 (provided with a retainer 24a for tentatively holding a plunger knob 31) being symmetrical with respect to the central axis thereof, and the rear end portion of which is covered by cylinder end cap 35 and to the front end portion of which the needle base 22 is detachably attached; and the plunger 30 on the front end portion of which a slide packing 29 is mounted, the inner needle 28 being fixed to an end of the slide packing at the center thereof, and the rear end portion of which is provided with the knob 31.

In the case where the inner needle 28 is inserted into the outer needle 21 as shown in FIG. 7, air does not substantially flow in the sectiqn A since the outer needle is close contact with the inner needle (0.5 mm diameter). In the section B resistance in air flow appears at a certain degree in the case where air flows through an area where the outer needle is in slidable contact with the inner needle (outer and inner diameters of the outer needle being 0.8 mm (21 G) and 0.58 mm, respectively). In the section C, since the gap defined between the outer and inner needles is sufficient, resistance in air flow can be substantially neglected in the case where air flows therethrough (outer and inner diameters of the outer needle being 1.05 mm (19 G) and 0.83 mm, respectively).

In the case when the plunger 30 provided with the knob 31 as shown in FIG. 6 is contained in the cylinder 23, the aforesaid knob 31 is slidable along the notched split 24 in the body part of the cylinder 23, and the knob 31 is tentatively held in the holding portion 24a defined at the end portion of the notched split 24.

In the above construction, operations and functions of the biopsy needle set in the case when tissue sections are taken out by the use of the present biopsy needle set from internal organs in a human body will be described hereinbelow.

First of all, the plunger 30 is pushed to the inside end of the cylinder 23 by moving the knob 31 to the front end portion of the notched split 24 and as a result, such a situation where the tip of the inner needle 28 is projected from the end of the outer needle 21 with a length of about 2 mm is observed. The human body is punctured with the biopsy needle set while maintaining the above projected inner needle 28. When the needle tip reaches the target organ, both projections of the knob 31 are caught by second and third fingers of either hand of an operator, and the plunger 30 is rapidly retracted by pulling the knob 31 until movement of the knob 31 stops due to abutment of the knob 31 against the holding portion 24a while holding the lid 35 by the first finger of the same hand. As a result of the retracting operation of the plunger 30, it slides along the inside wall of the cylinder 23 being in close contact therewith so that negative pressure produces in a space 23a defined by the cylinder 23 and the slide packing 29 disposed at the end of the plunger 30 as shown in FIG. 5. Such negative pressure transmits to the needle tip through the interior of the outer needle 21, so that suction force is produced at the tip of the outer needle 21 because there is a pressure difference between the negative pressure and atmospheric pressure.

Then, when the cylinder 23 is advanced towards the internal organ at the same time of the production of suction force as described above, tissue sections of the internal organ penetrate into the interior space of the outer needle 21 formed by retraction of the inner needle 28, and in addition the tissue sections are sucked because of the aforesaid suction force. After the suction, when the outer needle 21 is drawn from the body, the tissue sections which have been sucked in the outer needle 21 are torn off so that such tissue sections can be taken out from the body.

A relationship between negative pressure (represented by pressure difference P from atmospheric pressure, and hereinafter referred to simply as "P") produced in the space 23a in the cylinder 23 during the above-mentioned sucking operation and stroke length (hereinafter referred to simply as "S") of the retracting plunger 30 with respect to the cylinder 23 is illustrated in FIG. 9 and the explanation therefor will be made hereinbelow.

The outer needle 21 is provided with the above-mentiomed three sections in accordance with changes in the inner diameter thereof. In the case where the inner needle 28 which is in the outermost projected position from the outer needle 21 is rearwardly moved to pass through the section A, S to be required therefor is the sum of a length (l.sub.1) of such part of the inner needle 28 which has been projected from the outer needle 21 and the length (l.sub.2) of the section A. Since the outer needle 21 is in close contact with the inner needle 28 in this (l.sub.1 +l.sub.2) stroke, P is sharply increased while pressure difference P.sub.1 thus increased is stored. Negative pressure is transmitted to the tip of the outer needle 21 at such moment that the tip of the inner needle 28 passes through the end of narrow portion 26. For this reason, intensive suction force can be produced at the early stage of sucking operation. The inner needle 28 is further retracted to enter the section B, until the plunger abuts upon the holding portion 24a (stroke (l.sub.3)) so that it is held tentatively. Even in this (l.sub.3) stroke, P increases gradually because the close contact in section A functions as valve means, and such increased P (Negative pressure) is transmitted to the needle tip so that the suction force is produced increasingly during the sucking operation of the stroke (l.sub.3). In accordance with the suction force as described above, tissue sections are certainly sucked during whole stage, because suction force is maintained for the reason why negative pressure is increasing gradually above pressure difference P.sub.1.

In addition, according to the present embodiment, the plunger 30 is provided with the knob 31 so that suction can be made in one-handed operation. Thus, biopsy can easily be performed while shifting a probe of an ultrasonograph by another hand of the operater to observe a human body to be diagnosed.

According to the construction of the biopsy needle set of the present embodiment, since diameter of the outer needle 21 in said section B is slender, i.e., 21 G (0.8 mm), pain in a patient at the time of puncturing the body with the needle can be reduced, whilst rigidity of the whole outer needle 21 can be elevated because of diameter of the outer needle 21 of 19 G (1.05 mm) in said section C, and in addition negative pressure in the cylinder 23 can easily be transmitted to said section B since inner diameter of the outer needle 21 is 0.83 mm in said section C.

The biopsy needle set according to the second embodiment of the present invention is constructed, as shown in FIG. 10, unlike the first embodiment in such that the plunger 30 comprises a longitudinal slot 30a of a desired length defined therein while a stopper 28a is formed on the rear end of the inner needle 28 which is slidable in the longitudinal slot 30a. Further there is provided another stopper 32 for anchoring the stopper 28a of the inner needle 28 in the case when the plunger is moved for suction of tissue sections as well as retraction of the needle. In this embodiment, when the stopper 28a of the inner needle 28 abuts upon the bottom of the longitudinal slot 30a, the tip of the inner needle 28 becomes projected about 2 mm beyond the tip of the outer needle 21 as shown in FIG. 7.

In accordance with the above construction, even if the plunger 30 is drawn back, the inner needle 28 does not retract during the stroke of the plunger 30 corresponding to the depth of the longitudinal slot 30a. Therefore, negative pressure can be stored before the inner needle begins to retract by the anchoring of the stopper 28a with the stopper 32. As a result, force for sucking tissue sections may be further enhanced.

The biopsy needle set according to the third embodiment of the present invention is constructed, as shown in FIG. 11, unlike the first embodiment in such that the inner needle 28 has a tubular form the tip of which is closed, and an aperture 28b and another aperture 28c are defined in the front portion of the inner needle 28 and the rear portion of the inner needle 28, respectively. In the above construction, suction force is produced when the inner needle 28 pass through the close contact section A because negative pressure is transmitted through two passages, i.e., one of which is a gap defined between the outer needle 21 and the inner needle 28, the other of which is a passage formed by communicating the aperture 28b with the aperture 28c defined in the inner needle 28, respectively. Hence, even if tissue sections containing a comparatively large quantity of tissue liquid are sucked into the outer needle 21, decrease in suction force can be avoided, because there are provided two passages for failsafety. As a consequence, suction force can be stably maintained so that failure cases in collecting test specimens can remarkably be reduced.

As described above, according to the present invention, the biopsy needle set is constructed in such that a closely contacting part with the inner needle 28 is formed on the end of the outer needle 21 while a middle part of the outer needle 21 having a gap for communicating negative pressure is made to be as small as possible in outer diameter. In such biopsy needle described above, therefore, negative pressure produced in the cylinder 23 by withdrawing the plunger 30 is efficiently transmitted to the end of the outer needle 21 so that tissue sections can certainly be collected from a diseased part by intensive suction force with decreasing a pain in the patient.