JPS6321494B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a medical capsule for collecting digestive fluids from the body or releasing medicinal fluids.

2. Description of the Related Art Medical capsules are already known in which the capsule body is used as a cylinder and a piston is moved within the cylinder to introduce digestive juices and the like into the capsule body. However, this type of medical capsule has a microstructure that can be swallowed, and collection must be controlled from outside the body, so it may not be possible to reliably collect the capsule. For this reason, conventionally, the operational state of the capsule was observed from outside the body using X-rays to confirm the completion of the collection operation. Therefore, the negative effects of X-ray rays on the human body inevitably occurred. Furthermore, depending on the position of the capsule within the body, it has been impossible to accurately confirm the collection operation using X-rays.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a medical capsule in which collection or release operations can be accurately determined externally without using X-rays.

To achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a swallowable capsule body having an opening for collecting or releasing an object into the body, and a swallowable capsule body having an opening for collecting or releasing an object into the body; a movable body movably disposed within the capsule body to perform discharge; and a movable body disposed within the capsule body to detect when the movable body has moved to a predetermined position within the capsule body. The present invention relates to a medical capsule characterized by comprising a body detector and a transmission circuit disposed within the capsule body so as to transmit a detection signal based on the moving body detector to outside the body. be.

According to the above invention, since the moving object detector and the transmission circuit are provided within the capsule body, it becomes possible to accurately and easily obtain outside the body whether collection or release has been performed without relying on X-rays.

Next, a medical capsule according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the state of a medical capsule before collection operation for collecting digestive juices, intestinal juices, etc. from the stomach, duodenum, small intestine, etc., and Figure 2 is a collection operation of the capsule in Figure 1. It is a sectional view showing a later state. As is clear from these drawings, the capsule has a capsule body 1 made of synthetic resin, a movable body 2 made of synthetic resin that acts as a piston for the capsule body 1 that acts as a cylinder, and a movable body 2 that acts as a piston as shown in Figure 1. A compression coil spring 3 for applying a biasing force in the right direction, a thread 4 as a locking member for locking the movable body 2 at a certain position against the biasing force of the spring 3, and a thread 4 for fusing and cutting the thread 4. a heating filament 5,
A filament reinforcement body 6, a moving body detector 7 that detects that the moving body 2 has moved from the position shown in FIG. 1 to the position shown in FIG. an electric circuit portion 8 including a circuit that transmits a detection signal outside the body in response to
and a power source battery 9.

To explain each part in more detail, the capsule body 1
is formed with a length of about 3 cm and a diameter of about 8 mm by the combination of the right side part 1a and the left side part 1b, and has an opening 10 for collecting digestive fluid in its cylinder part, and an opening 11 for air discharge at its right end. have

The movable body 2 is formed of synthetic resin into a hollow cylindrical shape, and is movably fitted into the cylinder portion of the capsule body 1. This hollow cylindrical part is provided with an opening 12 for taking in digestive fluid when aligned with the opening 10 of the cylinder part, and a locking member 13 for the thread 4 is fixed to the right side of this opening 12. Furthermore, a silicone O-ring 14 is installed in a groove on the outer peripheral surface of the movable body 2 in order to improve the sealing performance between the capsule body 1 and the movable body 2. Since the compression coil spring 3 is disposed between the stepped portion of the cylindrical fixed support member 15 integrated with the capsule body 1 and the stepped portion of the movable body 2, the movable body 2 always remains as shown in FIG. biased to the right. However, since the movable body 2 is locked by the thread 4 supported by the fixed support member 15, the state shown in FIG. 1 is maintained until the thread 4 is fused.

The filament 5 is supported by two stems 16, and as is clear from the enlarged view of FIG. 4, a part of the filament 5 is supported by a reinforcing body 6 made of an electrically insulating synthetic resin with low thermal conductivity. The reinforcing body 6 is the stem 16
Since the reinforcing body 6 is supported with rigidity, the reinforcing body 6 will not sag. Therefore, the reinforcing body 6 prevents the filament 5 from sagging. The filament 5 and the thread 4 are arranged perpendicularly to each other, as is clear from FIGS. 3 and 4, and the thread 4 is in contact with or close to the filament 5.

The electric circuit section 8 accommodates an IC-based current supply and transmission circuit 17 shown in FIG. That is, a transistor 18 is connected in series with the filament 5 and the battery 9, and a drive transistor 19 is connected between the collector and the base of the transistor 18 in order to allow the base current to flow through the transistor 18.
A control signal receiving coil 20 is connected between the base and the emitter of the drive transistor 19 to turn it on, and a switch 2 is connected between the collector of the transistor 18 and the battery 9 when transmitting the detection signal.
It consists of a capacitor 22 and a feedback coil 23 connected through one contact b. In addition, two coils 2
0 and 23 are wound around a common ferrite core and are electromagnetically coupled to each other. Further, the filament 5 is connected between the collector of the transistor 18 and the battery 9 via the contact a of the switch 21.

The moving object detector 7 is disposed at the right end inside the capsule body 1 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and is constituted by a switch 21 shown in FIG. 5. Although not shown, the detector 7 and the electric circuit section 8
Wiring that connects the electrical circuit portion 8 to the electrical circuit portion 8 and the electrical circuit portion 8 are formed of electrically conductive layers.

When collecting digestive juices, etc. using a capsule configured as described above, the test subject swallows the capsule shown in Figure 1, and when the capsule reaches the desired position in the body, a transmitter outside the body send electromagnetic waves. Note that whether or not the capsule has arrived at the desired position is determined based on the elapsed time after swallowing or based on X-rays or the like. When electromagnetic waves are sent from outside the body, the receiving coil 20 receives them, turns on the transistor 19, and then turns on the transistor 18 as well. As a result, electric current is supplied to the filament 5 from the battery 9, and the thread is fused and cut by the heat of the filament 5.
The holding of the movable body 2 by the thread 4 is released, and the movable body 2
is moved to the right in FIG. 1 by the force of the coil spring 3.
At this time, the air in the space 26 between the right end of the moving body 2 and the capsule body 1 is gradually exhausted through the opening 11. Therefore, the space 26 acts as an air damper. On the other hand, since the volume of the hollow part 25 of the moving body 2 increases as the moving body 2 moves, the hollow part 25 increases as the moving body 2 moves.
5 becomes a reduced pressure state, that is, a negative pressure state. In this way, the movable body 2 is displaced, and the opening 10 of the capsule body 1
When the opening 12 of the moving body 2 matches, the moving body 2
The hollow part 25 is in a state communicating with the outside of the capsule body 1, that is, the part where digestive juices, etc. are present, and the digestive juices, etc. flow into the hollow part 25 under negative pressure. Since the moving body 2 continues to move by the coil spring 3 to the final position shown in FIG. 2, the opening 10 is blocked by the moving body 2, and the opening 12 is blocked by the capsule body 1.
The hollow part 25 of the moving body 2 is completely sealed from the outside of the capsule body 1. When the movable body 2 reaches the final position shown in FIG. 2, the detector 7 is pressed at the right end of the movable body 2, and the contact a of the switch 21 shown in FIG. 5 is turned off and the contact b is turned on. As a result, the circuit of the filament 5 is interrupted and the coil 2
3 and the capacitor 22 are combined to form a collector-tuned oscillator circuit, and electromagnetic waves are radiated from the body to the outside of the body, which is received by a receiver outside the body, allowing the user to know that the collection operation has been completed. I can do it. Once collected, the capsule passes through the intestines and is expelled from the anus several hours to several tens of hours later. Therefore, the liquid collected after being discharged will be tested.

As is clear from the above, according to this example,
It is possible to accurately and harmlessly detect from outside the body based on the operation of the oscillation circuit whether the thread is reliably fused by the filament 5 and the digestive fluid etc. are reliably collected by the movement of the movable body 2. If there is no transmission from the body indicating completion after a certain period of time has passed since the current was passed through the filament 5, it will be determined that the collection is incomplete, so the electromagnetic wave of the command to cause the current to flow through the filament 5 will be transmitted. or reswallow a new capsule.
This allows complete sampling.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited thereto and can be further modified. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, conductors 27 to 30 are provided in the capsule body 1, and
A conductive contact piece 31 is disposed on the holder, and while this contact piece 31 connects the conductors 27 and 28, an electric circuit of the filament 5 shown in FIG. 5 is formed, and the moving body 2 moves to the right end of the capsule body 1. The contact piece 31 is connected to the conductor 2.
When 9 and 30 are connected, a portion corresponding to contact b in FIG. 5 may be connected. Furthermore, the gap between the conductors 27, 28 and 29, 30 in FIG. It's okay.

In addition, the space 26 is filled with a chemical solution, a relatively weak seal 32 shown by a chain line is provided, and a current is applied to the filament 5 by transmission from outside the body to melt and cut the thread 4.
The movement of the moving body 2 may press the liquid medicine filled in the space 26, thereby breaking the seal 32 and injecting the liquid medicine into the body. In this case, the opening 10 may not be provided. Also, opening 10
After the medicinal solution is released into the body, the mixture of the medicinal solution and digestive juices or digested substances in the body is released through the opening 1.
It is also possible to collect data through 0. That is, the release of a drug solution or the like from the capsule and the collection of digestive fluid or test material may be performed continuously in the same capsule.

Furthermore, the control circuit for passing current through the filament 5 is not limited to the circuit shown in FIG. A circuit like this may be used. Alternatively, a timer or the like may be provided inside the capsule body 1 without external control, and a switch may be turned on after a certain period of time to cause current to flow through the filament 5. In addition, capsule body 1
A long thread may be attached to the filament 5, the thread may be gradually swallowed together with the capsule, and the position of the capsule may be determined based on the amount of thread swallowed to determine the point at which current is applied to the filament 5. Alternatively, if a thin thread is attached to the capsule and the capsule is swallowed orally, the capsule may be retrieved from the mouth. Also, when attaching thread to the capsule,
You can send and receive information through this thread. Also, the reinforcement body 6
may be made of glass. Further, the left side portion 1b of the capsule body 1 may be made of metal and used as part of the electric circuit of the battery 9.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a medical capsule according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the state of the capsule in FIG. 1 after operation, and FIG. 3 is a part of the - line in FIG. 1. 4 is an enlarged front view of the filament portion, FIG. 5 is a circuit diagram showing the capsule electric circuit of FIG. 1, and FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a modified example of the detector. In the symbols used in the drawings, 1 is the capsule body, 2 is the moving body, 3 is the spring, 4 is the locking thread, 5 is the filament, 6 is the filament reinforcement body, 7 is the moving body detector, 8 is an electric circuit portion, and 9 is a battery.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A swallowable capsule body having an opening for collecting or releasing an object into the body; and a swallowable capsule body having an opening for collecting or releasing an object into the body; a movable body movably disposed within the capsule body; a movable body detector disposed within the capsule body to detect that the movable body has moved to a predetermined position within the capsule body; A transmission circuit disposed within the capsule body to transmit a detection signal based on the moving object detector to outside the body.