JPS6258258B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for performing an ultrasound diagnosis inside a body cavity.

Some ultrasonic diagnostic devices scan ultrasonic beams from outside the body to obtain tomographic images of scanned areas. However, accurate diagnosis of deep organs is difficult with such tomographic images taken from outside the body. Therefore, in recent years, ultrasonic diagnostic devices for examining body cavities have been developed that use an endoscope and an ultrasonic device to obtain tomographic images inside body cavities. However, with conventional ultrasound diagnostic equipment for examining body cavities, it is difficult to determine from the tomographic image projected on the cathode ray tube the location of the area being scanned by the ultrasound beam. Requires considerable skill.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for examining a body cavity, which allows the position of a tomographic image to be easily determined.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a state in which a human body is diagnosed using the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for intracorporeal examination of the present invention. As shown in the figure, an insertion section 2 of an endoscope 1 is inserted into a body cavity via a mouthpiece 19, and a curved section 3 and a tip structure section 4 are sequentially and integrally provided at the distal end of this insertion section 2. . Signal lines 14 and 17 drawn out from the tip of the operating section 5 of the endoscope 1 are connected to an ultrasonic tomographic image display device 6 and an angle calculation device 7. As shown in FIG. 2, the distal end component 4 of the endoscope 2 includes an objective lens system 8 and an illumination lens system 9.
The objective lens system 8 is optically coupled to an eyepiece 12 via an image guide fiber 10, and the illumination lens system 9 is optically coupled to a light source unit (not shown) via a light guide fiber 11. be done. The tip component 4 is further provided with an ultrasonic transducer 13 , and the output end of the ultrasonic transducer 13 is connected to the ultrasonic tomographic image display device 6 via a signal line 14 . A plurality of pressure sensitive elements 16 are embedded in the exterior 15 of the curved portion 3 at equal intervals in the axial direction and in the circumferential direction. These pressure sensing elements 16 are individually connected to signal lines 17 and guided to the angle calculating device 7, as shown in FIG. 2C. A magnetic body 18 is provided on the surface of the insertion portion 2 over its entire length in correspondence with the position of the ultrasonic transducer 13. In addition, ultrasonic transducer 1
3 is constructed by arranging a plurality of vibrating elements in an arc shape as shown in FIG. 2B.

For example, four magnetic sensing elements 20 are provided on the inner surface of the mouthpiece 19 in the circumferential direction as shown in FIG. is provided. The magnetic sensing element 20 is connected to the angle calculation device 7 via a signal line 21. The output end of the angle calculation device 7 is connected to the signal line 2 to the ultrasonic tomographic image display device 6.
Connected via 3.

Next, the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for intracorporeal examination having the above configuration will be explained. When a driving pulse is supplied from the ultrasound tomographic image display device 6 to the ultrasound transducer 13 via the signal line 14 while the endoscope insertion section 2 is inserted into the body cavity, the transducer 13 generates ultrasound. do. The reflected wave is supplied as an echo signal to the display device 6 via the signal line 14 and displayed as a tomographic image. Further, at this time, when the insertion portion 2 rotates with respect to the mouthpiece 19, the sensitivity of the magnetic sensing element 20 of the mouthpiece 19 to the magnetic body 18 of the insertion portion 2 changes, and the output from the sensing element 20 changes. When the output of the sensing element 20 is supplied to the angle calculating device 7 via the signal line 21, the axial rotation angle of the insertion portion 2 is calculated. The angle calculation operation by this angle calculation device 7 will be described later. The tip structure part 4 is the insertion part 2
The angle obtained by the angle calculating device 7 can be regarded as the axial rotation angle of the tip component 4. Therefore, mouthpiece 19
When the transducer 13 is held at a certain position in the patient by the positioning convex portion 22, the position of the transducer 13 in the axial rotation direction within the body can be determined. Further, the angle change of the tip component 4 due to the curvature of the curved portion 3 occurs when the pressure-sensitive element 16 provided in the exterior 15 of the curved portion 3 is expanded or contracted in the axial direction according to the degree of curvature. The respective output signals are supplied to the angle calculation device 7 and detected. Data corresponding to the shaft rotation angle and the curvature angle determined by the angle calculating device 7 are supplied to the ultrasonic tomographic image display device 6 and displayed together with the tomographic image. For example, if the tip component 4
Assuming that the patient is located in the body cavity in the state shown in FIG. 3A and FIG. 3A, tomographic images are displayed on the display device 6 in front, back, left and right as shown in FIG. 3B. Further, the angle of curvature is displayed as upward θ°. By observing the tomographic image 24 along with such a position display, the position of the tomographic image 24 can be clearly known and diagnosis can be performed. In FIG. 4A, similarly to FIG. 3, the ultrasonic transducer 13 of the tip component 4 is directed toward the right side of the body, and the tomographic image in this case is displayed on the display device 6 along with characters indicating the position as shown in FIG. be done. On the other hand, in FIG. 4C, the ultrasound transducer 13 is directed toward the left side of the body, and the tomographic image at this time is displayed as shown in FIG. 4D.

Next, the angle calculating device 7 will be explained in detail with reference to FIG. The rotation angle information from the magnetic sensing element 20 provided in the mouthpiece 19 is obtained from the A/D.
It is converted into digital information by the converter 31 and is sent to PROM 32 for COS function and PROM 33 for SIN function.
and is input to the adder 34. On the other hand, counter 3
5 counts clock signals corresponding to the angle of the displayed tomographic image, that is, the scanning angle. The count value of the counter 35 is input to the adder 34 and added to the rotation angle. PROM for COS and SIN functions
32 and 33 output COS and SIN information corresponding to the rotation angle, and these information are converted into analog signals by D/A converters 36 and 37. The output of adder 34 is for COS and SIN functions
The information is input to PROMs 38 and 39 and converted into COS and SIN information. The COS and SIN information are converted into analog signals by D/A converters 40 and 41, respectively, and input to multipliers 42 and 43, respectively. A sweep signal from a sweep generation circuit 44 synchronized with a clock signal is input to these multipliers 42 and 43, and this sweep signal is multiplied by the COS and SIN analog information. The outputs of multipliers 42 and 43, together with the outputs of D/A converters 36 and 37, are input to adders 45 and 46, respectively. The output signals of these adders 45 and 46 are input to the ultrasonic tomographic image display device 6 as X and Y sweep signals. As a result, a tomographic image of the scanning area at the angle α is displayed on the display device 6 in a direction corresponding to the orientation of the endoscope tip component 4. Note that since the tomographic image rotates around point 0, the image may protrude from the display surface of the display device 6 in some cases, and this must be corrected. For example, if the image moves as shown by the broken line in FIG. 7, it is necessary to make a correction to move point 0 to point 0'. In this correction, the data corresponding to the symbol from the A/D converter 31 is used for COS and SIN functions.
is taken out from PROMs 32 and 33 and passed through D/A converters 36 and 37 to adders 45 and 46.
This is done by inputting the information into the

As explained above, according to the present invention, since a means for detecting the direction of the tomographic images is provided, the positional relationship of the tomographic images displayed on the display device can be easily grasped and an appropriate diagnosis can be performed.

In the above embodiment, when detecting the axial rotation of the insertion tube, the position is detected by fixing the mouthpiece and using a magnetic sensing element provided inside the mouthpiece. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The shaft rotation angle may be detected in relation to the pedestal and the insertion section.
In addition, when detecting the bending angle of a curved part, it is detected by a pressure-sensitive element using the expansion and contraction of the exterior of the curved part, but it can be detected indirectly by detecting the rotation amount of the bending operation knob that operates the curved part. Alternatively, the angle of curvature may be detected.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an ultrasound diagnostic device for intracorporeal examination according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the ultrasound diagnostic device showing a cross section of the insertion section, and FIG. Sectional view along line 2A-2A in the figure, No. 2B
The figure is a sectional view taken along line 2B-2B in Figure 2.
Figure C is a perspective view of the exterior of the curved part of the endoscope, Figure 3 is a diagram showing the endoscope insertion part inserted into the body cavity, and Figure 3A is a cross section taken along line 3A-3A in Figure 3. Schematic diagram, FIG. 3B is a diagram showing an ultrasound tomographic image, FIG. 4A is a diagram showing the position of the endoscope tip component in the body cavity, and FIG. 4B is a diagram showing the display state of the tomographic image in FIG. 4A. Figure 4C is a diagram showing another position of the endoscope tip component in the body cavity, and Figure 4D is a diagram showing another position of the endoscope tip component in the body cavity.
5 is a block circuit diagram of the angle calculation device, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the display form of the ultrasonic tomographic image display device, and FIG.
The figure is a diagram for explaining the shift of display images. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Endoscope, 2... Insertion part, 3... Curved part, 4... Tip structure part, 5... Operation part, 6... Ultrasonic tomographic image display device, 7... Angle calculation device, 10... Image guide fiber, 11... Light guide fiber, 13... Ultrasonic transducer, 14... Signal line, 15... Curved portion exterior, 16... Pressure sensitive element, 17... Signal line, 18...
Magnetic material, 19... Mouthpiece, 20... Magnetic sensing element, 21... Signal line.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An ultrasonic transducer provided near the tip of an insertion section inserted into a body cavity, and an ultrasonic transceiver circuit that supplies a drive signal to this ultrasonic transducer and receives an echo signal from the ultrasonic transducer. a display means for displaying an ultrasonic tomographic image corresponding to the echo signal from the ultrasonic transmitting/receiving circuit; and an axis rotation direction detecting means for detecting the rotation direction of the axis of the insertion section.
a curvature detecting means for detecting a bending direction of a bending section connected to the insertion section and capable of bending in any direction, and a direction of the tomographic image according to detection signals of the shaft rotation direction detecting means and the curvature detecting means. means for displaying on the display means.