JP3060899B2 - Ultrasonic inspection equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic inspection apparatus for performing an ultrasonic inspection, and more particularly to an ultrasonic inspection apparatus capable of reliably discharging an ultrasonic transmission medium supplied in a balloon provided so as to surround an ultrasonic transducer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ultrasonic inspection apparatus which is inserted into a body cavity to perform an ultrasonic inspection has an insertion portion into the body cavity, and a distal end body made of a hard portion is provided at a distal end of the insertion portion. Thus, an ultrasonic transducer is mounted on the tip main body. In addition, in order to be able to perform an endoscopic examination together with an ultrasonic examination, in addition to an ultrasonic observation mechanism using an ultrasonic transducer, an endoscope observation mechanism provided with illumination means and observation means is provided. Acoustic endoscopes have also been widely used.

[0003] With or without the endoscope observation mechanism, when transmitting and receiving ultrasonic signals by the ultrasonic transducer, in order to minimize signal attenuation and to provide a stand-off, A balloon is provided so as to surround the ultrasonic transducer, an ultrasonic transmission medium is sealed in the balloon and expanded, and ultrasonic waves are transmitted and received from the ultrasonic transducer while the balloon is in contact with the inner wall of the body cavity. Like that.

[0004] As described above, the balloon expands by enclosing the ultrasonic transmission medium. However, when the insertion portion is inserted into the body cavity and when the insertion portion is removed from the body cavity, there is a stenosis portion in the path. Insertion and removal cannot be performed with the balloon inflated. For this purpose, a supply path for the ultrasonic transmission medium is provided in the insertion section, and the distal end main body is provided with a supply / drain opening at a position in the balloon mounting section, avoiding the position where the ultrasonic transducer is provided. The supply path is connected to the supply / drain port, and when performing an ultrasonic inspection, an ultrasonic transmission medium is supplied from the supply path to inflate the balloon, and when the ultrasonic inspection is completed, The ultrasonic transmission medium is discharged to reduce the size of the balloon.

[0005] Incidentally, since the supply / discharge port is provided in the distal end body, its opening diameter cannot be made very large. Therefore, even if the ultrasonic transmission medium is formed in a size that does not hinder the supply, the balloon can supply and discharge the ultrasonic transmission medium even when the ultrasonic transmission medium remains in the balloon when the ultrasonic transmission medium is discharged. May be closed, and it may not be possible to discharge any more ultrasonic transmission medium. When the air supply / discharge port is closed, the balloon cannot be completely reduced, so that the tip main body is moved, its direction is changed, and furthermore, the body cavity is inspected for inspection of other parts. Pulling out from inside or hindering operation will be hindered.

In consideration of the above points, when the ultrasonic transmission medium is discharged, in order to prevent the discharge path from being blocked by the balloon, the position where the ultrasonic transducer is disposed and connected to the supply / discharge port is avoided. What is configured to provide a groove extending in the axial direction of the tip body in this way,
It is proposed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 3-46725. With this configuration, the opening area of the supply / drain port increases,
In addition, since the opening region is elongated in the axial direction of the distal end main body, the discharge of the ultrasonic transmission medium can be performed more reliably and efficiently.

[0007]

By the way, even if a groove is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the distal end body, the opening area increases,
Since the concave portion is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the distal end main body, if the balloon completely covers the groove, the supply / drain port will also be sealed. For example, when the supply / discharge port is provided on the base end side from the position where the ultrasonic transducer is disposed, and the groove is extended from the supply / discharge port to the distal end side of the distal end body, the distal end body faces downward. When the ultrasonic transmission medium is discharged from the inside of the balloon in the state of the above, the ultrasonic transmission medium in the balloon is discharged from the base end side, and accordingly, the balloon comes to cover from the base end side of the groove, and the groove is formed. Although the ultrasonic transmission medium still remains on the distal end side of the provided portion, the groove is completely covered by the balloon, and the ultrasonic transmission medium cannot be discharged any more. Yes, there is still room for improvement.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to prevent a supply / discharge port from being completely closed by a balloon with a simple configuration and to transmit ultrasonic waves. An object of the present invention is to ensure a medium discharge path.

[0009]

According to the present invention, an ultrasonic transducer is mounted on a distal end portion of an insertion portion, and a balloon is provided at least on a portion proximal to the ultrasonic transducer. The end is fixed and at least one of between the fixed portion of the balloon and the position of the ultrasonic transducer or between the position of the ultrasonic transducer and the distal end of the insertion portion. An opening for supplying and discharging the sound wave transmission medium, wherein at least a side wall portion of the ultrasonic transducer is provided so as to protrude from an outer peripheral surface of the insertion portion, and a gap between the side wall portion and the supplying and discharging port is provided. In order to prevent the balloon from adhering to the outer surface of the insertion portion, a protruding portion projecting from the outer peripheral surface of the insertion portion is provided at the site. .

[0010]

If the discharge path of the ultrasonic transmission medium is formed concavely from the outer surface of the insertion section, the concave discharge path will be completely covered by the balloon when the balloon comes into close contact with the outer surface of the insertion section. The ultrasonic transmission medium cannot be discharged any more. Therefore, if a part of the balloon is not in close contact with the outer surface of the insertion portion, and the supply / discharge port is opened in the non-contact portion of the balloon in the insertion portion, the supply / discharge port is not closed. Moreover, the wider the non-contact portion of the balloon is, the more reliably and efficiently the ultrasonic transmission medium can be discharged.

In general, the insertion portion has a circular cross section, whereas the outer diameter of the ultrasonic transducer is square. Then, in order to increase the transmission energy of the ultrasonic wave, its shape also becomes large. On the other hand, since the insertion portion is inserted into the body cavity, it is necessary to reduce its outer diameter as much as possible in order to reduce the pain of the patient and improve the insertion operability. In order to mount an ultrasonic transducer having a square cross section and a large cross section to an insertion portion having a circular cross section and a diameter as small as possible, the side wall portion of the ultrasonic transducer must be protruded to some extent. With this configuration, when viewed from the outer peripheral surface of the insertion portion,
The side wall of the ultrasonic transducer projects from the outer peripheral surface.

However, the supply / drain of the ultrasonic transmission medium cannot be opened at a position immediately adjacent to the side wall of the ultrasonic transducer due to the connection of a cable to the ultrasonic transducer. In view of this, a protruding portion for preventing the balloon from adhering to the outer surface of the insertion portion is formed at a portion of the outer peripheral surface of the insertion portion between the supply / discharge port and the side wall of the ultrasonic transducer. As a result, a non-contact portion with the outer peripheral surface of the insertion portion of the balloon is formed in an extremely wide range from the projecting portion to the portion where the ultrasonic transducer is disposed, and the supply / discharge port is always kept open. Therefore, the ultrasonic transmission medium in the balloon can be reliably discharged without leaving any part, and can be almost completely returned to the reduced state.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following description, an ultrasonic inspection apparatus configured as an ultrasonic endoscope having an endoscope observation mechanism in addition to an ultrasonic observation mechanism using an ultrasonic transducer will be described. The observation mechanism need not always be provided.

FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of an ultrasonic endoscope. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an insertion unit, 2 denotes a main body operation unit, and 3 denotes a universal cord. The insertion portion 1 is a flexible portion 4 that is bent in an arbitrary direction along an insertion path for most of the length from a portion connected to the main body operation portion 2, and the flexible portion 4 has an angle. The end portion 5 is connected to a tip end body 6. The angle portion 5 is used to direct the distal end portion main body 6 in a desired direction, and can be bent in an arbitrary direction by an angle knob 7 provided in the main body operation portion 2.

2 to 4 show the structure of the distal end body 6 of the insertion section 2. FIG. In these figures, reference numeral 10 denotes an ultrasonic transducer, and this ultrasonic transducer 10 is formed by arranging a number of strip-shaped ultrasonic vibrators on the peripheral body of the distal end body 6. , By sequentially transmitting ultrasonic pulses and receiving reflected echoes, linear or convex electronic scanning can be performed. The ultrasonic transducer may be not only the above-mentioned scanning type but also a scanning type such as an electronic scanning type and a mechanical scanning type such as linear, radial, and convex. An ultrasonic observation mechanism is constituted by the ultrasonic transducer 10, and an ultrasonic observation device (not shown) is provided to transmit a drive signal to the ultrasonic transducer 10 and to process the obtained reflected echo signal. And
A cable is connected between the ultrasonic observation device and the ultrasonic transducer 10.

Next, the endoscope observation mechanism is provided on the distal end surface of the distal end body 6, as is apparent from FIG. That is, the illumination window 11 and the observation window 1 are provided on the distal end surface of the distal end body 6.
The illumination lens faces the illumination window 11, and the emission end of the light guide is arranged to face the illumination lens. Further, an objective lens is mounted on the observation window 12, and a solid-state imaging device such as a CCD is disposed at an image forming position of the objective lens, or an incident end of an image guide faces. Further, a treatment instrument insertion channel 13 for inserting forceps and other treatment instruments is opened on the distal end surface of the distal end portion main body 6, and an air / water supply nozzle 14 for cleaning the observation window 12 toward the observation window 12. Is provided. Since these endoscope observation mechanisms are well-known, detailed description and illustration thereof are omitted.

Ultrasonic scanning is performed by operating the ultrasonic transducer 10 to transmit an ultrasonic pulse toward the inside of the body and receiving a reflected echo from a tomographic part of the body tissue. Sometimes, ultrasonic transmission is performed between the inner wall of the body cavity and the ultrasonic transducer 10 in order to suppress signal attenuation and to maintain a predetermined distance between the ultrasonic transducer 10 and the inner wall of the body cavity, that is, to provide a so-called standoff. It is necessary to interpose a medium. For this purpose, as shown in FIG. 2, the portion where the ultrasonic transducer 10 is disposed in the distal end main body 6 is surrounded by the balloon 15. The balloon 15 is formed by connecting fastening rings 15b, 15b at both ends of a cylindrical thin film portion 15a rich in flexibility such as latex, and the fastening ring 15b is connected to the ultrasonic wave of the distal end main body 6. The transducer 10 is mounted so as to fit into annular concave grooves 6a provided before and after the portion where the transducer 10 is provided.

Here, the thin film portion 1 constituting the balloon 15
5a is formed such that, in its free state, the outer diameter of the tip end body 6 is smaller than its outer diameter, and the inner diameter of the fastening ring 15b in its free state is sufficiently smaller than the diameter of the groove bottom of the concave groove 6a. ing. By this, balloon 1
5 is attached to the tip body 6, the fastening ring 15b
Is extended in the groove 6a.
And the thin film portion 15a has a predetermined tension. Therefore, even when the insertion portion 1 is inserted into and removed from the body cavity, the thin film portion 15a slides and wrinkles even when slidingly contacting the inner wall of the body cavity. It can be prevented from occurring.

Inside the balloon 15, an ultrasonic transmission medium such as degassed water can be supplied. For this purpose, the insertion section 1 has a built-in supply / discharge path 16 for the ultrasonic transmission medium, and the supply / discharge path 16 is provided with the ultrasonic transducer 10 of the distal end main body 6 and the concave groove 6a on the base end side. It is connected to the supply / discharge port 17 which opens between them. Therefore, when the ultrasonic transmission medium is supplied to the supply / discharge passage 16, the ultrasonic flow medium flows into the balloon 15 from the supply / discharge port 17, and the thin film portion 15a is expanded. By making the balloon 15 inflated in this way abut against the inner wall of the body cavity, the transmission / reception signal from the ultrasonic transducer 10 does not pass through the air layer, so that signal attenuation can be suppressed.

The supply path of the ultrasonic transmission medium comprising the supply / discharge path 16 and the supply / discharge port 17 is also used as a path for discharging the ultrasonic transmission medium in the balloon 15 after the completion of the ultrasonic inspection. You. Here, since the thin film portion 15a constituting the balloon 15 is formed of a flexible member, when a suction force is applied to discharge the ultrasonic transmission medium through the supply / discharge path 16, the thin film portion 15a The supply and discharge port 17 may be closed by the portion 15a, and if the supply and discharge port 17 is closed while the ultrasonic transmission medium is being discharged, it is no longer possible to discharge the ultrasonic transmission any more. .

As described above, when the ultrasonic transmission medium is discharged from the balloon 15, the supply / discharge port 17 is not closed until the ultrasonic transmission medium is almost completely discharged from the balloon 15. . In order to prevent the supply / discharge port 17 from being closed, first, the side wall of the ultrasonic transducer 10 is used, and the distal end main body 6 at a position between the disposition portion of the ultrasonic transducer 10 and the supply / discharge port 17 is used.
A protruding ridge 18 is provided to protrude from the surface.

The outer shape of the ultrasonic transducer 10 has a rectangular shape in which the axial direction of the distal end body 6 is long. On the other hand, the cross section of the distal end body 6 is circular. It is necessary to reduce the diameter of the distal end body 6 as much as possible from the viewpoint of operability of insertion into a body cavity and reduction of pain of a patient. On the other hand, in order to increase the ultrasonic transmission energy of the ultrasonic transducer 10 as much as possible, it is necessary to increase its size and shape. In addition, since the endoscope observation mechanism is provided on the distal end surface of the distal end body 6, the mounting space for the ultrasonic transducer 10 is limited.
Therefore, in consideration of the above restrictions, if the ultrasonic transducer 10 having the largest possible size and shape is rationally mounted without the outer diameter of the distal end body 6 becoming particularly large, the ultrasonic transducer On the transmitting / receiving surface 10a, which is the surface of 10, the mounting is performed such that the intermediate portion in the width direction is positioned tangentially to the outer diameter of the tip end body 6, or the transmitting / receiving surface 10a is set at a slightly higher position. . As a result, when viewed from the outer peripheral surface of the distal end main body 6, at least the left and right side walls 10b, 10b of the ultrasonic transducer 10 project. As shown in FIG. 5, when the transmitting / receiving surface 10a is protruded from the distal end main body 6, the front and rear end walls 10c, 10c are also protruded from the surface.

Due to various restrictions, for example, restrictions on securing a space for drawing out a signal line from the ultrasonic transducer 10, the opening and closing position of the supply and discharge port 17 is set at a position distant to some extent from the mounting position of the ultrasonic transducer 10. Becomes Therefore, a ridge 18 is provided at a portion between them. The position and the shape of the ridge 18 are determined depending on the opening position of the supply / discharge port 17, and for example, as shown in FIG. When the ultrasonic transducer 10 is located at the end side, the ultrasonic transducer 10 contacts the ultrasonic transducer 10 at a position which is an extension of the side wall 10b of the ultrasonic transducer 10 at the corner, or the supply / discharge port is located at a very close position. The ridge 18 is extended to the position 17 or a position in the vicinity thereof.

Therefore, the thin film portion 15a of the balloon 15 does not adhere to the portion where the supply / discharge port 17 is opened by the ridge 18. In addition, a portion of the outer surface of the distal end portion body 6 that is continuous with the side wall portion 10b of the ultrasonic transducer 10 is also a portion where the thin film portion 15a does not adhere. The non-contact portion of the thin film portion 15a at the position of the supply / discharge port 17 is continuous with the non-contact portion of the portion connected to the side wall portion 10b. As a result, a non-contact portion of the thin film portion 15a with the surface of the distal end body 6 is formed over the entire length of the ultrasonic transducer 10, including the supply / discharge port 17. As shown in FIG. 6, when the supply / discharge port 20 is opened at an intermediate position in the arrangement position of the ultrasonic transducer 10, the supply / discharge port 20 is substantially connected to the end wall 10c of the ultrasonic transducer 10. And a substantially triangular projection 21 is provided.
However, in any case, it is necessary that the maximum position be the same as the transmitting / receiving surface 10a of the ultrasonic transducer 10.

With the above configuration, FIG.
In the structure shown in FIG. 3, the ultrasonic transmission medium is not supplied into the balloon 15 and the thin film portion 15
In FIG. 8A, the hatched portion in FIG. 7 is held in a non-contact state with the outer surface of the distal end portion main body 6, and in the structure shown in FIG. 5, the hatched portion in FIG. Further, in the case of FIG. 6, the hatched portions in FIG. 6 are held in a non-contact state with the tip end body 6. The non-contact portion can be used as a passage portion for discharging the ultrasonic transmission medium, and includes the supply and discharge ports 17 and 20 and the ultrasonic transmission medium over a wide range extending over substantially the entire length of the ultrasonic transducer 10. Discharge route can be secured.

Therefore, the thin film portion 15 of the balloon 15
When the ultrasonic transmission medium is discharged after the ultrasonic inspection is performed in a state where the a is swelled, unless an extremely negative pressure is applied to the supply / discharge port 17, the ultrasonic wave from the supply / discharge port 17 Since the discharge path for the transmission medium is secured, the supply / discharge path 16
If an appropriate suction force is applied to the balloon, the balloon 1
5, the ultrasonic transmission medium in the balloon 15 flows into the space forming the non-contact portion together with the action of the contraction force on the thin film portion 15a, so that almost all of the ultrasonic transmission medium is reliably discharged and returns to the reduced state. Can be done. Of course, ultimately, the ultrasonic transmission medium remains in the non-contact portion of the thin film portion 15a with respect to the outer surface of the distal end main body 6 described above. Since the side wall 10b and the ridge 18 (or the protrusion 21) of the transducer 10 do not need to protrude too much, the operation of inserting / removing the insertion portion 1 into / from the body cavity or changing the direction of the distal end body 6 in the body cavity is performed. There is no particular problem.

[0027]

As described above, the present invention includes the supply and discharge ports of the ultrasonic transmission medium by the side wall of the ultrasonic transducer mounted on the insertion portion and the projection provided on the insertion portion. Since the balloon is provided with a portion that does not adhere to the surface of the insertion portion over a wide range, a passage for discharging the ultrasonic transmission medium in the balloon is reliably secured, and after the completion of the ultrasonic inspection, The ultrasonic transmission medium in the balloon can be substantially completely removed, and the insertion portion can be smoothly moved and removed in the body cavity.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view showing an overall configuration of an ultrasonic endoscope as an ultrasonic inspection apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a distal end portion of the insertion section in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an external perspective view of a distal end portion of an insertion portion in a state where a balloon is not mounted.

FIG. 4 is a left side view of FIG. 2 in a state where a balloon is not mounted.

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 2, showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a distal end portion of an insertion section according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory view in the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an operation explanatory diagram in the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Insertion part 6 End part main body 10 Ultrasonic transducer 10a Transmission / reception surface 10b Side wall part 10c End wall part 15 Balloon 15a Thin film part 15b Fastening ring 16 Supply / discharge path 17, 20 Supply / discharge port 18 Ridge 21 Projection

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Susumu Hiki 1385-1 Shimoishigami, Otawara City, Tochigi Pref. Toshiba Nasu Factory Co., Ltd. (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) -8/15

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. An ultrasonic transducer is attached to a distal end portion of an insertion portion, and an end of a balloon is fixed at least to a portion closer to a base end side than the ultrasonic transducer. An ultrasonic transmission medium supply / discharge port is opened at least between the position where the ultrasonic transducer is disposed, or at least one of the position where the ultrasonic transducer is disposed and the distal end of the insertion portion. At least a side wall portion of the acoustic transducer is provided so as to protrude from the outer peripheral surface of the insertion portion, and a portion between the side wall portion and the supply / drain port is provided to prevent the balloon from sticking to the outer surface of the insertion portion. An ultrasonic inspection apparatus, characterized in that a protruding portion protruding from an outer peripheral surface of the device is provided. 2. A structure in which one wall portion of the projecting portion is positioned substantially parallel to a side wall portion of the ultrasonic transducer, and the supply / discharge port is opened at a position near the wall portion. The ultrasonic inspection apparatus according to claim 1. 3. The ultrasonic inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the balloon is mounted with a predetermined tension applied to the insertion portion.