| US 7,578,788 B2 | ||
| Capsule-type medical device | ||
| Takeshi Yokoi, Hino (Japan); Hironobu Takizawa, Hachioji (Japan); Akio Uchiyama, Saitama (Japan); and Hitoshi Mizuno, Koganei (Japan) | ||
| Assigned to Olympus Corporation, Tokyo (Japan) | ||
| Filed on Mar. 24, 2003, as Appl. No. 10/395,745. | ||
| Claims priority of application No. 2002-084387 (JP), filed on Mar. 25, 2002. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2003/0181788 A1, Sep. 25, 2003 | ||
| Int. Cl. A61B 1/06 (2006.01); A61B 1/04 (2006.01); A61B 1/00 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 600—160 [600/109; 600/117; 600/118] | 20 Claims |
| 1. A capsule-type medical device comprising:
a capsule main unit for performing medical acts such as examination, therapy, and/or treatment within a subject;
a magnet provided to at least a part of the capsule main unit, for being magnetically acted upon by external magnetism outside
of the subject;
a flexible insertion portion, at least a portion thereof being covered with flexible rubber, the flexible insertion portion
being formed on at least one end of the capsule main unit and formed narrower in diameter at the end thereof than an outer
diameter of the capsule main unit;
a propulsion generating unit provided on at least one of: (a) at least a part of an outer perimeter of the capsule main unit
and (b) the flexible insertion portion, for converting rotating motion due to the magnet into a propulsion force; and
a function means for performing one or more medical acts, wherein
the function means is provided on one end of the capsule main unit and the flexible insertion portion is provided on another
end;
the magnet is arranged on a center axis of the capsule main unit and magnetized with respect to a plane including the center
axis as a boundary, so as to have an N-pole on one side and an S-pole on another side.
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