JP3155658B2 - Ultrasonic bone evaluation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an ultrasonographic bone evaluating device whose acoustic matching member is easy to be handled and is not necessary to be controlled, and which can scan freely an ultrasonic vibrator against an organism. CONSTITUTION:An freely deformable organism contact face 44 whose bottom frame 46 is a matching member storing part 42 is pressed on the organism surface. And the shape of the matching member storing part 42 seems to be bellows in its side wall 43 and has a vibrator attaching part with the ultrasonic vibrator 24 scanned by a scanning mechanism attached thereto and the organism contact face 44, and stores the acoustic matching member in its inside space. Therefore, when the ultrasonic vibrator 24 is scanned in an arbitrary direction by the scanning mechanism, the side wall 43 of the matching member storing part 42 deforms depending on the motion of the ultrasonic vibrator 24 accompanying the scanning, and absorbs the motion and makes the scanning smooth, always fills an ultrasonic transmission pathway with the acoustic matching member and maintains the tight adhesion of the organism contact face 44 against the organism surface.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a bone evaluation apparatus, and more particularly to a bone evaluation apparatus for evaluating a bone in a state where a living body and an acoustic matching material are not in contact with each other.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Along with the rapid increase of the aging population, the number of people having bone diseases such as osteoporosis and osteomalacia is increasing, and there is a strong demand for diagnosis and prevention thereof. Bone is roughly composed of bone minerals (minerals such as calcium) and bone matrix (substances between cells of bone tissue).

[0003] Here, the term "osteoporosis" generally refers to a condition in which the ratio of bone matrix to bone mineral is normal, but the amount of bone itself has decreased. “Osteomalacia” generally refers to a condition in which only bone mineral is reduced due to a bone calcification disorder. That is, even if it is a bone disease, the composition of the bone in the pathological condition is not uniform.

[0004] In any case, if the strength of the bone is weakened, the bone is liable to be broken, and particularly the elderly may be so-called bedridden. Therefore, it is desirable to regularly inspect the bones for the prevention of fractures and the like.

[0005] By the way, bone is structurally composed of cancellous bone and cortical bone, and it is said that the metabolic rate of cancellous bone is about eight times faster than cortical bone. Therefore, a decrease in bone mass or a decrease in bone strength is considered to first appear in cancellous bone. Therefore, in evaluating the bone, it is preferable to measure a large proportion of the cancellous bone, for example, the calcaneus and the forearm bone, and the diagnostic accuracy can be improved.

As a bone evaluation device, the present applicant has disclosed Japanese Patent Application No.
No. 127551 proposes a bone evaluation apparatus using X-rays and ultrasonic waves.

Further, the present applicant has filed Japanese Patent Application No. 5-124495.
And Japanese Patent Application No. 5-278337 disclose a measuring method and apparatus in bone evaluation that can accurately determine a measuring position.

In the above-described bone evaluation device and method,
Surfactant as an acoustic matching material to avoid the intervening air layer between the ultrasonic transducer and the surface of the living body, efficiently radiate ultrasonic waves into the living body, and improve bone evaluation accuracy We use water with water. Therefore, an ultrasonic transducer is arranged in a water tank containing the water, and ultrasonic diagnosis is performed in a state where a measurement site is sunk in the water tank.

However, since the subject submerges the living body of the measurement part in the acoustic matching material in the water tank and directly contacts the acoustic matching material with the surface of the living body, management of the acoustic matching material in terms of hygiene is complicated. However, the subject may feel uncomfortable, and there has been a demand for a method that does not use an aquarium.

For example, US Pat. No. 3,847,141 discloses an apparatus for evaluating a bone by directly contacting an ultrasonic vibrator with a calcaneus, and Japanese Patent Application No. 5-162903 proposed by the present applicant. As described above, there is a bone evaluation apparatus that uses a second measurement tank that tightly wraps a measurement part of a subject so that the acoustic matching material and the living body surface do not come into contact with each other, thereby eliminating the need to replace the acoustic matching material. With these, the complexity of managing the hygiene of the acoustic matching material is reduced, and the usability of the measuring device is improved.

[0011]

However, US Pat.
47141 is an ultrasonic oscillator in a parallel plane on both sides of a measurement target such as a calcaneus as in an ultrasonic bone evaluation device using a water tank filled with an acoustic matching material in order to directly contact the ultrasonic oscillator with the living body surface. Could not be freely scanned.

Therefore, it is difficult to automatically set an appropriate measurement position, and there is a problem in that the measurement position varies every time measurement is performed and reliability is lacking.

Further, in the ultrasonic bone evaluation apparatus using the second measurement layer, the measurement position can be automatically set, but there is a problem that attaching and detaching the second measurement tank is complicated.

Further, if it is necessary to prepare a second measurement tank for each measurement site in order to bring the second measurement tank into good contact with the living body, or if the second measurement tank is of a disposable type, It is necessary to prepare a large number of measuring tanks for 2,
There was a problem that running costs increased.

In addition, there is a problem that the selection of the measurement site is restricted due to the problem of the running cost described above. That is, the number of measurement sites is limited to a minimum number, and there is a problem that a measurement site such as a heel or a forearm that is effective for bone evaluation cannot be selected depending on the situation.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and has as its object to simplify the handling of an acoustic matching material, eliminate the need for management of an acoustic matching material, and provide an ultrasonic vibrator to a living body. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic bone evaluation device that can freely scan the bone.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic bone evaluation apparatus capable of evaluating a bone at a desired measurement position without increasing running costs.

[0018]

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ultrasonic bone evaluation apparatus for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from a living body to evaluate a bone. In the above, including a pair of ultrasonic transducers, a scanning mechanism for scanning the ultrasonic transducer, a deformable living body contact surface that comes into contact with the surface of a living body, and a transducer mounting portion to which the ultrasonic transducer is attached Forming a biological contact surface on the bottom surface,
A cone-shaped matching material storage unit that arranges an ultrasonic vibrator at a vertex and stores an acoustic matching material in a space between the living body surface and the ultrasonic vibrator, wherein the ultrasonic vibrator A matching material storage section having a variable section that absorbs the movement of the ultrasonic transducer by deforming according to the scan when scanning in an arbitrary direction and maintains the contact property of the living body contact surface with the living body surface, Contact surface pressing means for pressing a living body contact surface against a living body surface, and always bringing the living body contact surface into close contact with the living body surface regardless of scanning by the ultrasonic vibrator, and applying the acoustic matching material to an ultrasonic wave propagation path. It is characterized by satisfying.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the ultrasonic bone evaluating apparatus according to the first aspect, the variable portion of the matching material storage section has a bellows shape.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ultrasonic bone evaluating apparatus according to the first or second aspect, wherein the ultrasonic bone evaluating apparatus is communicated with the matching material storing section and is placed in the matching material storing section. It is characterized by having a reservoir for adjusting the excess or deficiency of the acoustic matching material.

[0021]

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the ultrasonic bone evaluating apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein the living body contact surface is in contact with the surface of the living body. Characterized by being formed of a thin film having

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ultrasonic bone evaluating apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein at least the ultrasonic vibrator, the scanning mechanism, and the matching material storage section. And a detachable attachment mounted on the measurement unit for positioning a measurement position of a living body, wherein the measurement unit and the attachment are engaged with each other. It is characterized by having.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the ultrasonic bone evaluating apparatus according to the fifth aspect , the attachment is formed to be opened at a predetermined angle so that a foot of a living body can be placed from above. The footrest is characterized in that the footrest has a valley where the heel is placed at a predetermined position when the foot is placed.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the ultrasonic bone evaluating apparatus according to the fifth aspect , the attachment is an arm rest on which a living body arm is placed from above. Is characterized in that it is an arm rest having a grip that can be gripped for positioning the at a predetermined position.

An ultrasonic bone evaluation apparatus according to an eighth aspect of the present invention is the ultrasonic bone evaluation apparatus according to any one of the fifth to seventh aspects, wherein the measuring unit is vertically movable by an elevation mechanism. And

[0027]

According to the structure of the first aspect, the contact surface pressing means presses the deformable living body contact surface of the matching material storage portion against the surface of the living body. Further, a matching material storage section having a variable portion has a vibrator mounting section to which an ultrasonic vibrator scanned by a scanning mechanism is mounted and the living body contact surface, and stores an acoustic matching material in an internal space. . Therefore, when the ultrasonic vibrator is scanned in an arbitrary direction by the scanning mechanism, the variable portion of the matching material storage unit is deformed in accordance with the movement of the ultrasonic vibrator accompanying the scanning, thereby making the scanning smooth and moving. It absorbs and maintains the adhesion of the living body contact surface to the living body surface, and always fills the ultrasonic wave propagation path with an acoustic matching material. In addition, matching material
The storage part has a cone shape and forms the living body contact surface on the bottom part
Since the ultrasonic transducer is provided at the vertex,
The material storage section can be downsized.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the variable portion of the matching material storage portion has a bellows shape, it is possible to more smoothly move the ultrasonic vibrator during scanning. In addition, it is possible to efficiently absorb the movement of the ultrasonic transducer and maintain the adhesion of the living body contact surface to the living body surface.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the matching material accommodating portion has the reservoir for adjusting the excess or deficiency of the acoustic matching material, the matching material accommodating portion is deformed and its internal volume is reduced. Therefore, the matching material accommodating portion can always be filled with the acoustic matching material even when the value changes, and the formation of an air layer between the living body contact surface and the ultrasonic transducer can be reliably prevented. .

[0030]

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the living body contact surface is formed of a flexible thin film, the living body contact surface can be securely brought into close contact with the living body surface. An air layer can be reliably prevented from being formed between the surface and the living body surface.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the detachable attachment for positioning the living body at the measurement position includes an ultrasonic vibrator, a scanning mechanism, a matching material housing, and a contact surface pressing means. And is positioned and arranged to engage with the engaging portion of the measuring unit having: Therefore, even when the attachment is replaced and the measurement position of the living body is changed, the measurement position can be accurately positioned.

Further, according to the structure of the sixth aspect , the attachment is a footrest having a valley portion which is opened at a predetermined angle so that the heel is arranged at a predetermined position when the foot is put on the footrest. It can be done easily.

According to the configuration of the seventh aspect , since the attachment is an arm rest having a grip that can grip the arm portion at a predetermined position when the upper arm is placed, the forearm can be easily positioned. be able to.

According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, since the measuring unit can be moved up and down by the elevating mechanism, the measuring unit moves to a height suitable for the measuring position. Therefore,
The measurement can be performed without causing the subject to take an unreasonable posture.

[0036]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall external view of the ultrasonic bone evaluation apparatus of the present embodiment. This ultrasonic bone evaluation device is roughly composed of a measuring device 10 and a control device 12.

As shown in the figure, the control device 12 is composed of a computer or the like, and is connected to the measuring device 10 by a cable 14.

The measuring device 10 comprises a measuring unit 16 and a chair 18 integrated with or separated from the measuring unit 16. The measurement unit 16 has a footrest (not shown) on which a subject's heel, which will be described later, is placed below the opening 20, and measures a physical quantity for bone evaluation on both sides, that is, on both sides of the heel. A pair of ultrasonic transducers are arranged. The ultrasonic transducer is scanned by a scanning mechanism described later.

When performing the measurement, the subject 100 is seated on the chair 18, puts the foot 100a through the opening 20, puts it on the footrest, and transmits and receives ultrasonic waves in this state. After the predetermined calculation processing is performed in, the measurement result is displayed.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual perspective view of the measuring mechanism 22 disposed inside the measuring unit 16 of FIG. In the following drawings, the wiring of the ultrasonic vibrator, motor and the like is omitted.

The pair of ultrasonic vibrators 24a and 24b are fixed to a Y-axis base 28 (Y-axis: left-right direction in the drawing) by vibrator brackets 26a and 26b, respectively. The ultrasonic vibrator 24a and the ultrasonic vibrator 24b are scanned at a predetermined interval by a scanning mechanism including a servo motor, a feed screw, and the like described below. That is, one end of the Y-axis base 28 on which the ultrasonic vibrators 24a and 24b are mounted is mounted on a Z-axis motor 30 such as a servomotor, which can be precisely controlled.
(Z-axis: vertical direction in the figure) is screwed with a Z-axis feed screw 32 that is driven to rotate. The Z-axis base 34 including the Z-axis motor 30, the Z-axis feed screw 32 and the Y-axis base 28 is
X-axis feed screw 4 that is rotationally driven by an X-axis motor 38 that can be precisely controlled on an X-axis base 36 (X-axis: front-back direction in the figure)
By 0, it slides in the X-axis direction. Therefore, the Y-axis base 2
8, a pair of ultrasonic transducers 24a, 24b
By controlling and driving the Z-axis motor 30 and the X-axis motor 38, it is possible to scan in any direction in the XZ plane.

The features of this embodiment are that the living body contact surface is always kept in close contact with the living body surface irrespective of the scanning of the ultrasonic transducer, and that the ultrasonic wave propagation path is filled with an acoustic matching material. The ultrasonic transducers 24a and 24b are fitted with deformable matching material storage portions 42a and 42b, respectively.

Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, which is an enlarged view of the matching material storage section 42b, the vicinity of the matching material storage section will be described in detail. In this embodiment, the matching material storage portions 42a, 42b
Has side walls 43a and 43b each having a bellows-shaped variable part, and has a substantially quadrangular pyramid shape, and ultrasonic transducers 24a and 24b are provided at their apexes with a vibrator mounting part (not shown). Attached through. Further, deformable living body contact surfaces 44a and 44b are formed on the bottom surfaces of the matching material storage portions 42a and 42b. Therefore, the matching material storage sections 42a and 42b can hold the acoustic matching material in the internal space. As the acoustic matching material, for example, water or silicone oil containing a surfactant is used. Since the acoustic matching material does not directly touch the living body, it does not cause an extreme temperature change. However, temperature management and temperature correction for measured values may be performed by a known method. The side walls 43a and 43b are made of a material having high elasticity, such as silicon rubber, and have an appropriate thickness (preferably about 2 mm) to have their own shape maintaining function. preferable. On the other hand, the living body contact surfaces 44a and 44b are excellent in ultrasonic permeability like a polyurethane sheet, for example.
It is desirable to form a thin film having high flexibility (preferably about 0.5 mm). The living body contact surfaces 44a, 44b
In a normal state, it is desirable to provide a margin enough to protrude outward in a dome shape by the internal acoustic matching material, and to push up the living body contact surface 44 by pushing up the living body contact surface 44. When applied, it can be brought into close contact with the shape of the living body surface.

As described above, since the variable portion of the matching material storage portion has a bellows shape, it is possible to smoothly move the ultrasonic vibrator during scanning, and to efficiently move the ultrasonic vibrator. It absorbs well and can maintain the adhesion of the biological contact surface to the biological surface. Furthermore, since the matching material storage portion has a cone shape, forms the living body contact surface on the bottom surface, and has the ultrasonic vibrator at the apex portion, the size of the matching material storage portion can be reduced. .

Further, on the periphery of the living body contact surfaces 44a and 44b, a bottom frame 4 for maintaining the peripheral shape of the living body contact surfaces is provided.
6a and 46b are provided. This bottom frame 46
A and 46b are guided by a guide 47 (not shown in FIG. 2) (see FIG. 3) fixed to the inner wall of the measurement unit 16 (see FIG. 1), and can move only in the Y-axis direction. In order to smoothly move the bottom frame 46 in the Y-axis direction, the guide 47 may be, for example, an air damper or a rail-shaped guide. Further, a Y-axis feed screw 48 having screw portions in directions opposite to each other is screwed to the bottom frames 46a and 46b. For example, the screw portion 48a of the Y-axis feed screw 48 screwed to the bottom frame 46a
If a right-hand thread is formed on the bottom frame 46
A left-hand thread is formed in the screw portion 48b that is screwed into the bottom frame 46b. When the handle 50 formed at the tip of the Y-axis feed screw 48 is turned in the direction of arrow A in the figure, the bottom frame 46a and the bottom frame 46b approach each other. When the handle 50 is turned in the reverse A direction, the handle 50 moves away from each other. Therefore, the Y-axis feed screw 48 functions as a pressing unit that presses the living body contact surface against the living body surface. That is, when transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves for bone evaluation, a living body, for example, a heel is inserted between the living body contact surface 44a and the living body contact surface 44b, and the handle 50 is turned in the direction of arrow A in the figure. Accordingly, the bottom frame 46a and the bottom frame 46b can be brought closer to each other, and the living body contact surfaces 44a and 44b can be brought into close contact with the heel.

At this time, the ultrasonic vibrator 24 mounted on the apex of the matching material storage section 42 is fixed to the Y-axis base 28 via the vibrator bracket 26. The movement of the bottom frame 46 is not hindered within the allowable range of expansion and contraction in the Y-axis direction due to the bellows of the side wall 43.

Also, as shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, even when the ultrasonic transducer 24 is scanned in an arbitrary direction on the XZ plane by the scanning mechanism, the matching material accommodating section 42 is not moved. The scanning of the ultrasonic vibrator 24 can be performed smoothly within the allowable range of the bellows of the side wall 43 in the X and Z directions. In addition, the movement of the ultrasonic vibrator 24 due to the scanning is absorbed by the bellows portion of the side wall 43, so that external force can be prevented from being applied to the living body contact surface 44.

Accordingly, it is possible to scan the ultrasonic transducer 24 in any direction while maintaining the close contact of the living body contact surface 44 with the living body surface.

When the bottom frame 46 is moved to bring the living body contact surface 44 into close contact with the living body surface, the volume of the matching material accommodating portion 42 changes, resulting in excess or deficiency of the acoustic matching material. If the appropriate reservoirs 52a and 52b are connected to the matching material storage sections 42a and 42b, the excess or deficiency of the acoustic matching material can be easily adjusted. This reservoir 52
a and 52b communicate with the inside of the matching material storage portions 42a and 42b by the communication pipes 54a and 54b, and move in the direction in which the bottom frames 46a and 46b approach to increase the volume of the matching material storage portion 42. When the acoustic matching material in the reservoir 52 is supplied to the matching material storage portion 42, and the bottom frames 46a and 46b move away from each other to reduce the volume of the matching material storage portion 42, the excess of the matching material storage portion 42 is obtained. The appropriate acoustic matching material is pushed back to the reverser 52. Therefore, even when the volume of the matching material storage portion 42 changes, the matching material storage portion 42 is always filled with the acoustic matching material, and forms an air layer between the ultrasonic transducer 24 and the living body contact surface 44. This makes it possible to achieve good ultrasonic wave propagation. The movement of the acoustic matching material from the reservoir 52 to the matching material storage portion 42 can be sufficiently realized by the action of gravity, but by slightly pressing the inside of the reservoir 52,
By supplying the acoustic matching material to the matching material storage portion 42, it is possible to reliably prevent the formation of an air space inside the matching material storage portion 42.

In this embodiment, only the main part is shown for the sake of clarity of the configuration. For example, in FIG. 2, the Y-axis base 2 is used for smooth scanning of the ultrasonic transducer 24.
A guide rail or the like may be provided on a movable part such as 8 or the Z-axis base 34. Further, the reservoir 52 may be fixed to the bottom frame 46 or slidably provided on the inner wall surface of the measurement unit 16 (see FIG. 1).

Further, in the present embodiment, the structure in which the bottom frames 46a and 46b are simultaneously moved by using the Y-axis feed screw 48 having the thread portions in the directions opposite to each other as the pressing means has been described. May be independently driven using a motor or the like. Similarly, a well-known scanning mechanism other than the scanning mechanism of the embodiment may be used for the scanning mechanism.

Next, the configuration and operation of the ultrasonic bone evaluation apparatus having the measuring mechanism 22 shown in FIG. 2 will be described.

As shown in FIG. 5, only the living body contact surfaces 44a and 44b of the measuring mechanism 22 (scanning mechanism and the like are omitted) are exposed at the opening 20 of the measuring unit 16, and as described above, The surface rises in the opposite direction like a dome. The living body contact surface 44 may be disposed so as to be buried in the opening side surface 20a so as not to disturb the attachment and detachment of a detachable attachment for positioning a measurement position described later. Further, a plurality of bosses 56 (two in this embodiment) are formed on the opening bottom surface 20b as engagement portions for determining the position of the attachment.

FIG. 6 shows a footrest 58 and a part of the measuring mechanism 22 as an attachment for the calcaneus.

The footrest 58 has a substantially V-shaped valley shape opened at a predetermined angle so that the subject's foot 100a can be placed from above. As shown in FIG. 6, the foot 100a is placed so that the sole of the foot 100a is in contact with one side of the valley shape and the portion from the heel to the calf is in contact with the other side. Is located in the valley. In order to naturally place the foot 100a on the footrest 58 due to the structure of the human ankle, the angle of the footrest 58 should be about 9 degrees.
About 0 ° is desirable. On the bottom side of the footrest 58, an engagement hole 60 is provided as an engagement portion with which the boss 56 shown in FIG. 5 is fitted.

The procedure for evaluating the calcaneus bone will be described with reference to FIGS.

As described above, in order to attach the footrest 58 to the measuring unit 16, the handle 50 is rotated to move the bottom frames 46a and 46b away from each other.
Next, the footrest 58 is attached to the measurement unit 16 so that the engagement hole 60 of the footrest 58 and the boss 56 of the measurement unit 16 are aligned. Subsequently, the subject's foot 100a is placed on the footrest 58 as shown in FIG. Next, the handle 50 is rotated to move the bottom frames 46a and 46b in the approaching direction, and press the living body contact surfaces 44a and 44b from both sides of the heel of the foot 100a. This completes the measurement preparation. Thereafter, a well-known measurement method (Japanese Patent Application No. 5-278439) is used.
The measurement position is determined by the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) No. H10-26095), and the measurement of the physical quantity necessary for the bone evaluation is performed by the ultrasonic transducer 24.

FIG. 7 shows an armrest 62 as an attachment for forearm bone for evaluating the bone of the forearm 100b.

An engagement hole (not shown) as an engagement portion with which the boss 56 shown in FIG. 16
Can be positioned with respect to the opening 20. In addition, the upper surface side of the arm rest 62 is
A grip 64 for determining the position of the forearm 100b is provided. The subject can determine the measurement position by placing the forearm 100 b on the arm rest 62 and holding the grip 64. Further, by providing a smooth concave portion like the elbow contact portion 66 on the upper surface side of the arm rest 62, the discomfort when the forearm 100b is placed on a flat surface may be reduced. A similar recess may be provided at the calf abutment of footrest 58.

As described above, the means for positioning the living body, that is, the valley shape of the footrest 58 and the arm rest 6 are attached to the attachment.
By providing the two grips 64 and the like, the subject can easily mount the living body at the same position each time the diagnosis is performed on the ultrasonic bone evaluation apparatus. Therefore, the operator of the ultrasonic bone evaluation apparatus can set the measurement point unique to the subject only for the first time, and can measure at the same measurement point every time, thereby improving the measurement efficiency and improving the reliability of the measurement. Can be done.

In the present embodiment, the boss and the engagement hole are provided as the engagement portion between the measurement unit and the attachment.
The engaging portion may have another shape, for example, a combination of concave and convex stripes or abutment between side walls.

FIG. 8 shows a measuring device 20 of the ultrasonic bone evaluating device.
FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the measurement state of the calcaneus at 0 in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a measurement state of a forearm bone.

8 and 9, the measuring unit 16
Has the measuring mechanism 22 (see FIG. 2) and the footrest 58 or the armrest 62 described above. The measurement unit 16 is moved up and down by an elevator unit 68 having a lifting mechanism. Therefore, when measuring the desired position, the subject does not need to take an unreasonable posture during the measurement.

That is, when measuring the calcaneus, as shown in FIG. 8, the elevator unit 68 is driven to move the measuring unit 16 downward, and the subject 100 places the foot 100a on the footrest 58. And perform the prescribed measurements for bone evaluation.

When the measurement of the forearm bone is performed, the elevator unit 68 is driven to move the measurement unit 16 upward as shown in FIG.
Is placed on the arm rest 62, and a predetermined measurement for bone evaluation is performed.

As described above, since the position of the measurement unit 16 can be moved up and down in accordance with the measurement position, the physique of the subject, and the like, the burden on the subject at the time of measurement can be reduced. Measurement efficiency can be improved.

In the present embodiment, an elevator mechanism using an elevator is used. However, the measurement unit may be moved up and down by another known elevator mechanism.

[0069]

As described above, according to the ultrasonic bone evaluation apparatus of the present invention, the contact surface pressing means presses the deformable living body contact surface of the matching material storage portion against the living body surface, and the variable portion is The matching material storage part has a vibrator mounting part to which an ultrasonic vibrator scanned by the scanning mechanism is mounted, and the living body contact surface, and stores an acoustic matching material in an internal space.

Therefore, when the ultrasonic vibrator is scanned in an arbitrary direction by the scanning mechanism, the variable portion of the matching material storage section is deformed in accordance with the movement of the ultrasonic vibrator accompanying the scanning, thereby facilitating the scanning. In addition, it absorbs the movement and maintains the adhesion of the living body contact surface to the living body surface, and the ultrasonic wave propagation path can always be filled with the acoustic matching material. Highly reliable measurement can be easily performed by freely scanning the ultrasonic transducer.

Further, according to the ultrasonic bone evaluation apparatus of the present invention, the attachment for positioning the measurement position of the living body can be accurately attached to each measurement site, so that the attachment is replaced and the measurement position of the living body is changed. Even when it is changed, the measurement position can be accurately positioned.

Therefore, the operator of the ultrasonic bone evaluation apparatus can set the measurement point unique to the subject only for the first time, so that the measurement can be performed at the same measurement point every time, so that the measurement efficiency can be improved and the measurement reliability can be improved. Performance can be improved.

Further, according to the ultrasonic bone evaluation apparatus, since the measuring unit can be moved to a height corresponding to the measuring position by the elevating mechanism, the subject does not need to perform measurement in an unreasonable posture, and the burden of measurement is reduced. The measurement efficiency can be improved as well as the measurement efficiency can be reduced. In addition, since various positions can be measured only by preparing several types of attachments on which a living body is placed, bone evaluation at a desired measurement position can be performed without increasing running costs.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall external view of an ultrasonic bone evaluation device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual perspective view showing a measurement mechanism of the ultrasonic bone evaluation device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of a matching material storage part of the measuring mechanism of the ultrasonic bone evaluation device according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a deformed state of a matching material storage section when the ultrasonic transducer of the ultrasonic bone evaluation apparatus according to the present invention performs scanning.

FIG. 5 is an external perspective view of a measurement unit having a measurement mechanism of the ultrasonic bone evaluation device according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory perspective view showing a part of a footrest and a measuring mechanism of the ultrasonic bone evaluating apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an arm rest of the ultrasonic bone evaluation apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory perspective view showing a calcaneus measurement state of the ultrasonic bone evaluation apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory perspective view showing a forearm bone measurement state of the ultrasonic bone evaluation apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 22 Measuring mechanism 24 Ultrasonic vibrator 42 Matching material storage section 43 Side wall section 44 Living body contact surface 46 Bottom frame 52 Reservoir 54 Communication pipe

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (56) References JP-A-63-240840 (JP, A) JP-A-2-104337 (JP, A) JP-A-5-184569 (JP, A) JP-A-5-184569 237101 (JP, A) JP-A-6-22960 (JP, A) U.S. Pat. No. 3,847,141 (US, A) WO 93/25146 (WO, A1) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) ) A61B 8/00-8/15

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] 1. An ultrasonic bone evaluation apparatus for performing bone evaluation by transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from a living body, comprising: a pair of ultrasonic vibrators; a scanning mechanism for scanning the ultrasonic vibrators; A deformable living body contact surface that comes into contact with the body, and a vibrator mounting portion to which the ultrasonic vibrator is mounted.
The body contact surface is formed on the bottom part, and the ultrasonic vibrator is
And a cone-shaped matching material storage section for storing an acoustic matching material in a space between the living body surface and the ultrasonic transducer, and the ultrasonic transducer was scanned in an arbitrary direction. Sometimes a matching material storage unit having a variable part that absorbs the movement of the ultrasonic vibrator by deforming in response to scanning and maintains the contact property of the living body contact surface with the living body surface; And a contact surface pressing means for pressing, wherein said ultrasonic contacting means always keeps said living body contact surface in close contact with the living body surface regardless of scanning by said ultrasonic transducer, and fills said acoustic matching material in an ultrasonic wave propagation path. Ultrasonic bone evaluation device. 2. The ultrasonic bone evaluation device according to claim 1, wherein the variable portion of the matching material storage section has a bellows shape. 3. The ultrasonic bone evaluation device according to claim 1, wherein the reservoir is communicated with the matching material storage portion and adjusts an excess or deficiency of the acoustic matching material placed in the matching material storage portion. An ultrasonic bone evaluation device, comprising: 4. The ultrasonic bone evaluation apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the living body contact surface is formed of a flexible thin film that can adhere to a living body surface. Ultrasonic bone evaluation device. 5. The ultrasonic bone evaluation device according to claim 1, wherein the measuring unit includes at least an ultrasonic transducer, a scanning mechanism, a matching material storage unit, and a contact surface pressing unit. An attachable / detachable attachment that is mounted on the measurement unit and positions a measurement position of a living body, wherein the measurement unit and the attachment have an engagement portion that engages with each other. Bone evaluation device. 6. The ultrasonic bone evaluation apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the attachment is a footrest formed by opening a predetermined angle to place a foot of a living body from above, and the foot is placed on the footrest. An ultrasonic bone evaluation device, characterized in that it is a footrest having a valley where the heel is sometimes arranged at a predetermined position. 7. The ultrasonic bone evaluation device according to claim 5 , wherein the attachment is an arm rest on which the arm of a living body is placed from above, and a grip that can be gripped for positioning the arm at a predetermined position. An ultrasonic bone evaluation device, characterized by being an arm rest having: 8. The ultrasonic bone evaluation device according to claim 5, wherein the measuring unit is vertically movable by an elevating mechanism.