JPH0257932B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that is capable of reliably discharging gas within a balloon when a liquid is supplied into the balloon.

For example, in order to obtain a tomographic image of the body cavity wall by installing an ultrasonic transmitting and receiving head at the tip of the insertion section of an endoscope and scanning the ultrasonic waves, it is preferable to scan the ultrasonic waves through an air layer. A better tomographic image with less attenuation can be obtained by scanning through the .

Therefore, in the past, configurations as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 have been used. That is, a head main body 2 is provided at the distal end of the insertion section 1 of the endoscope, and a cap 3 is fitted onto the distal end of the head main body 2. An ultrasonic vibrator 5 is provided within the cap 3 and is attached to a flexible shaft 4 which is rotationally driven by a drive source (not shown). The head body 2 also includes a supply path 6 and a discharge path 7.
to be drilled. One end of the supply line 6 and the discharge line 7 opens at the rear end surface of the head main body 2, and a supply line 8 and a discharge line 9 are connected thereto, and the supply line 8 is connected to a liquid supply section (not shown). The discharge pipe line 9 communicates with a suction pump (not shown). Further, the other ends of the supply passage 6 and the discharge passage 7 are opened on the circumferential surface of the head body 2, and the other end opening portions of the supply passage 6 and the discharge passage 7 and the circumferential surface of the cap 3 are made of rubber or the like. It is covered with a balloon 10 made of an elastic material having stretchability. After the liquid is supplied from the supply conduit 8 to the balloon 10 via the supply conduit 6, the balloon 10 is brought into contact with the body cavity wall to transmit ultrasonic waves. That is, the ultrasonic waves from the ultrasonic transducer 5 propagate through the liquid within the balloon 10 and scan the body cavity wall.

By the way, when supplying liquid into the balloon 10, if gas remains inside the balloon 10, a good tomographic image cannot be obtained. The gas inside the balloon 10 is sucked and discharged through the balloon 10. However, at this time, the balloon 10 may be sucked into the opening of the discharge path 7 and block this opening, or as shown in FIG.
The area covered by the balloon 10 may be separated into a plurality of rooms due to wrinkles that occur in the balloon 10. In this case, the gas B is not reliably discharged from inside the balloon 10 and remains behind, so that the attenuation of the ultrasonic waves by the gas B becomes extremely large, causing a serious problem in practical terms that a good tomographic image cannot be obtained.

This invention was made based on the above circumstances, and its purpose is to prevent the opening of the discharge passage from being blocked by the balloon when discharging the gas inside the balloon, and to prevent the balloon from blocking the opening of the discharge passage. To provide an ultrasonic diagnostic device capable of reliably exhausting gas from each room even if a part covered with a balloon is divided into a plurality of rooms due to wrinkles.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5. 11 in the figure is an endoscope.
This endoscope 11 includes an insertion section 12 and an insertion section 12.
It consists of a sub-operation section 13 and a main operation section 14 which are sequentially connected to the rear end of the controller. A universal cord 15 and a signal cable 16 having connectors 15a and 16a at their ends, respectively, are connected to the main operation section 14. The connector 15a of the universal cord 15 is connected to a light source device, and the connector 16a of the signal cable 16 is connected to a power supply device (both not shown). Further, the insertion section 12 includes a head 19 provided at the distal end of a flexible section 17 via a curved section 18. This head 19 is
As shown in FIG. 4, it consists of a head body 20 and a cap 21 fitted to the tip of the head body 20. Inside this cap 21 is the sub-operation section 1.
The tip of a flexible shaft 22 that is rotatably driven by a drive source (not shown) provided at 3 protrudes, and is electrically connected to the connector 16a of the signal cable 16 for transmitting ultrasonic waves. and a receiving ultrasonic transducer 23 are attached. Further, a supply passage 24 and a discharge passage 25 are bored in the head body 20, and a communication groove 26 is formed in the outer circumferential surface as a recess extending almost the entire length in the circumferential direction. One ends of the supply passage 24 and the discharge passage 25 open at the rear end surface of the head main body 20, and a supply pipe line 24a and a discharge pipe line 25a are connected to these openings, respectively. The other end of the supply path 24 opens at a portion of the outer peripheral surface of the head body 20 that blocks the communication groove 26, and the other end of the discharge path 25 opens at a portion of the head body 20 in the width direction of the bottom surface of the communication groove 26. It is open on the rear end side. Further, the outer peripheral surface of the head 19 is covered with a balloon 27. The balloon 27 is made of a stretchable elastic material such as rubber and is formed into a cylindrical shape having ring portions 28, 28 at the upper and lower ends.
A first engagement groove 29 formed near the communication groove 26 on the outer peripheral surface on the rear end side of the communication groove 26 of the cap 21, and a second engagement groove 30 formed on the outer peripheral surface of the tip end of the cap 21. They are each fitted liquid-tightly. That is, the balloon 27 covers the supply passage 24 and the discharge passage 25 which are open to the outer circumferential surface of the head body 20 and the outer circumferential surface of the cap 21. In addition, the head body 2
An illumination window and an observation window (not shown) are provided on the rear end side exposed from the balloon 27. The illumination window is optically connected to a light guide (not shown) inserted through the insertion section 12 and the universal cord 15, and the observation window is connected to the eyepiece section 3 provided in the main operation section 14.
1 through an image guide (not shown).

Further, the supply pipe line 24a communicates with a liquid feeding port body 32 provided in the sub-operation section 13, and this liquid feeding port body 3
2 is connected to, for example, a liquid feeding cylinder as a liquid feeding mechanism (not shown). Further, the discharge pipe 25a is inserted over the entire length of the insertion portion 12 and the universal cord 15, and its end is connected to the connector 15a of the universal cord 15.
It communicates with a suction port body 33 provided in the. A suction pump (not shown) is connected to this suction port body 33. Further, the discharge pipe line 25a is connected to a suction operation valve 34 in the sub-operation section 13, and by operating this suction operation valve 34, the suction force of the suction pump connected to the suction port body 33 of the connector 15a is increased. It acts on the discharge pipe 25a.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be explained. First, insert the insertion section 12 of the endoscope 11 into the body cavity,
When the head 19 reaches the target part, the curved part 1
8 to make the direction of the head 19 vertical as shown in FIG. Next, the sub-operation section 12
A liquid such as water or oil is supplied into the balloon 27 through the supply pipe line 24a and the supply line 24 from the liquid supply port body 32 provided in the balloon. When a certain amount of liquid accumulates in the balloon 27 and the gas in the balloon 27 is pushed up, the suction operation valve 34 is operated to generate suction force in the discharge pipe 25a, and the discharge pipe 25
The gas inside the balloon 27 is sucked and discharged through the balloon 27.
At this time, a part of the balloon 27 is attached to the head main body 20.
The discharge passage 25 opened on the outer circumferential surface of is sucked,
The balloon 27 due to the wrinkles that occur on the balloon 27
The area covered by the head body 25 is sometimes separated into a plurality of chambers in the circumferential direction, and the discharge passage 25 is a communication groove 2 that extends almost the entire circumferential length of the outer circumferential surface of the head body 25.
6, the suction force is not concentrated on this opening but is dispersed over the entire communication groove 26. Therefore, the balloon 27 is not attracted to the opening of the discharge passage 25 and the opening is not blocked, so that the gas can be smoothly sucked and discharged, and the circumference of the head body 20 can be removed through the communication groove 26. Since the suction force acts in almost the entire direction, the gas in the balloon 27 is suctioned and discharged at any position in the circumferential direction of the head 19.

Further, since the discharge passage 25 opens on the rear end surface side of the head body 20 in the width direction of the communication groove 26, that is, at the upper part in the height direction of the communication groove 26 when the head body 20 is vertical, the liquid level is The gas in the balloon 27 is suctioned and discharged from the discharge path 25 until it reaches a height that covers almost the entire groove 26. That is, the gas inside the balloon 27 is exhausted until the inside of the balloon 27 is filled with liquid.
No gas remains in the upper part of the tank.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the present invention, in which a communication groove 26 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the head body 20.
A plurality of recesses 35 communicating with each other were provided along the axial direction. The bottom surfaces of these recesses 35 are inclined so as to gradually become deeper toward the communication groove 26.

According to such a configuration, when the balloon 27 contracts and approaches the outer circumferential surface of the head body 20 so as to cover the communication groove 26, the suction force generated in the communication groove 26 is applied to the balloon 27 via the recesses 25. Therefore, even when the balloon 27 is deflated, the gas can be suctioned and discharged well.

Note that if the communication groove 26 is provided in a range of at least 180 degrees or more in the circumferential direction of the outer peripheral surface of the head body 20, the gas in the balloon 27 can be sucked and discharged almost reliably.

As described above, the present invention provides an ultrasonic receiving head in which a supply path and a discharge path are formed and covered by a balloon, in which a recess is formed near the fixed end of the balloon of the head, extending almost the entire length in the circumferential direction. However, since the above-mentioned discharge passage is opened in this concave part, when the gas in the balloon is sucked and discharged through this discharge passage, the suction force is dispersed throughout the concave part and is not concentrated at the opening of the discharge passage. . Therefore, since the balloon is not attracted to this opening, the gas inside the balloon can be suctioned and discharged smoothly, and the suction force is applied to almost the entire circumferential direction of the head via the communication groove. Gas can be sucked and discharged from any part of the head in the circumferential direction.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic device;
The figures are also a sectional view taken along the line of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is an overall view of an endoscope showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the main parts, and FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the main parts. FIG. 6 is a perspective view of main parts showing another embodiment of the present invention. 12... Insertion part, 19... Head, 24... Supply path,
25...Discharge path, 26...Communication groove (recess), 27...Balloon, 35...Recess.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Ultrasonic diagnosis in which a head for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves in which a discharge path is formed is covered with a balloon whose both ends are fixed to the head, and the fluid inside the balloon is discharged from the discharge path. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized in that the head is provided with a recess extending almost the entire length in the circumferential direction near the balloon fixed end on the rear end side, and the discharge passage is opened in the recess. 2. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recess is a communication groove provided over a range of 180 degrees or more in the circumferential direction of the head. 3. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recess is provided along the circumferential direction and the axial direction of the outer circumferential surface of the head, and both communicate with each other. 4. Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the head is provided at the distal end of an insertion section of an endoscope.
The ultrasonic diagnostic device described in Section 1.