JPH0787866B2 - Thermotherapy device - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a hyperthermia treatment apparatus for heating and treating an affected part that is weak against heat generated in a living body.

[Prior Art] It has been discovered that cells of a malignant tumor such as cancer die at a temperature of about 40 ° C, and it is known to treat the affected area affected by cancer by heating. .

As a method of such heat treatment, means utilizing high frequency, microwave, ultrasonic wave, etc. is known. When using a high frequency, while placing an in-vivo electrode in the living body, an extra-corporeal electrode is provided on the surface of the living body facing the in-vivo electrode, and a high frequency is applied to the part sandwiched by these electrodes to warm the affected part in this part. I have to.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, according to such means, it is difficult to position the in-body electrode when disposing the in-vivo electrode in the living body, and therefore the in-body electrode and the in-body electrode are accurately arranged. Often cannot face each other. Then, there is a risk that the high frequency wave flowing between the pair of electrodes does not efficiently flow to the affected area and heats normal tissue more than necessary, resulting in burns.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to efficiently apply a high frequency wave to an affected area without being affected by the arrangement state of internal electrodes, and to prevent normal tissue from being burned. Another object of the present invention is to provide a thermotherapy device.

[Means and Actions for Solving Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention relates to an affected part which is caused in the living body by an in-vivo electrode arranged in the living body and an in-vitro electrode arranged on the surface of the living body. In a hyperthermia treatment device for warming and treating a patient, at least one of the internal electrode and the external electrode is divided into a plurality of electrode parts and connected to a distributor, and the distributor applies high-frequency current to at least one of the electrode parts. It was made possible to selectively flow. Then, the affected part is efficiently heated depending on which of the plurality of electrode parts the high frequency current is applied to.

[Embodiment] A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. First, the first embodiment is a case where the structure according to the present invention is applied to the body electrode 1, and
Is a cylindrical holding cylinder 2, and a plurality of electrode portions 3a to 3g divided into seven, which are the first to the seventh in this embodiment, provided on the inner peripheral surface of the holding cylinder 2 at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction. It is formed from and. Each of these electrode portions 3a to 3g is connected by a lead wire 4 to a distributor 6 via a matching device 5, and a high frequency power source 7 is connected to this distributor 6. The high-frequency current generated by the high-frequency power source 7 is applied to at least one of the first to seventh electrode portions 3a to 3g by the distributor 6.
The current value can be adjusted by the matching device 5 at that time. A mark 8 that can be confirmed by an endoscope, an ultrasonic wave, or an X-ray is attached to a position corresponding to the first electrode portion 3a on the outer peripheral surface of the in-body electrode 1.

When the affected part 11 such as a tumor generated in the living body 9 is treated with hyperthermia by using the in-vivo electrode 1 configured as described above, as shown in FIG. The electrode 1 is introduced endoscopically, for example, and an extracorporeal electrode 12 is attached to the surface of the living body 9 at a position corresponding to the affected area 11. Next, the mark 8 attached to the in-body electrode 1 is observed by the endoscope, and the direction of the first electrode portion 3a is confirmed by the observation. By confirming the direction of the first electrode portion 3a, it is possible to determine which of the plurality of electrode portions accurately faces the extracorporeal electrode 12 through the affected area 11, and therefore, it is possible to determine, for example, the third electrode portion. In the case of the electrode portion 3c, the distributor 6 causes a high frequency current to flow only through the third electrode portion 3c. Then, the high-frequency current flowing between the pair of electrodes 1 and 12 surely passes through the affected area 11, so that the affected area 11 is heated well and normal tissue is not heated more than necessary. In other words, the affected part 11 can be reliably warmed without burning normal tissue.

When the body electrode 1 is introduced into the living body, the means for confirming the direction of the electrode portion is as shown in FIG. 4 at the end face of the body electrode 1 such as a portion facing the first electrode portion 3a. While forming the concave portion 15, a convex portion 17 that engages with the concave portion 15 is provided at the tip of the insertion tool 16 such as an endoscope or a catheter, and the convex portion 17 on the proximal end side of the insertion tool 16 in the circumferential direction. Mark 18 on the corresponding outer peripheral surface. By doing so, the direction of the first electrode portion 3a of the in-vivo electrode 1 can be known from the mark 18, so that the affected area 11 can be heated well as in the first embodiment. In addition,
This embodiment is called a second embodiment.

FIGS. 5 to 7 show a third embodiment of the present invention, in which the electrode portion of the body electrode 1 is formed by a plurality of spatula-shaped, in this case, three plates 21 of a shape memory alloy. The base end portions of these plates 21 are superposed and fixed via an electric insulating material 22, and a narrow width portion 23 is formed on the base end portion side as compared with other portions. Of these plates 21, the upper and lower two plates are bent to the left and right as shown in FIG. 6 by being electrically heated, and each plate 21 is expanded. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, each plate 21 is energized and heated by a separate high frequency power source 24, and the temperature is detected by a temperature sensor 25 such as a thermocouple. And these temperature sensors
The detection signal from 25 is input to the control unit 26, and the control unit 26
The high frequency power supply 24 is controlled by a signal from the. Therefore, each plate 21 is controlled to a predetermined temperature and is not overheated. Even in the in-body electrode 1 having such a structure, the affected part 11 can be satisfactorily heated depending on which of the three plates 21 the high frequency current is applied to.

FIG. 8 shows a fourth embodiment of the present invention, which covers the plate 21 used in the third embodiment with a balloon 26a,
The plate 21 was cooled by flowing a cooling liquid through the balloon 26a. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the living body 9 with which the plate 21 comes into contact from being burned.

FIG. 9 shows a fifth embodiment of the present invention, in which the distal end portion of a rod-shaped insertion tool 27 is covered with a balloon 28 and a plurality of electrode portions 3a, 3b ... Are axially arranged at predetermined intervals in this portion. Provided,
The electrode portions 3a, 3b ... Can be selectively heated.

FIG. 10 shows a sixth embodiment of the present invention, which is an external electrode 12
Is divided into a plurality of electrode portions 29, which are connected to the high frequency power source 7 via the matching device 5 and the distributor 6.

An ultrasonic contact 31 is attached to the in-body electrode 1 and is covered with a cooling balloon 32.
The ultrasonic contactor 31 is connected to an image device 33, and the image device 33 is connected to an image memory 34 and a CRT 36 via a discrimination circuit 35. Therefore, the image of the living body 9 including the affected area 11 captured by the ultrasonic contactor 31 is displayed on the CRT 36. Further, the discrimination circuit 35
Is input to the selection device 37. This selection device 37
A signal is input to a drive circuit 38, and a signal for selecting the electrode portion 29 of the extracorporeal electrode 12 facing the internal electrode 1 via the affected area 11 is input to the distributor 6 by the drive circuit 38, and A signal for controlling the current value is input to the matching unit 5 and the high frequency power source 7 according to the data affecting the thermal diffusion such as the permittivity, resistance and blood flow of the affected part 11 or organ in 9 .

The data is input from the first input device 39 connected to the discriminating circuit 35, and the discriminating circuit 35 is further connected to the second input device 41 capable of inputting positional information of the body electrode 1. ing. A switch 42 is connected to the image memory 34.

According to such a structure, the affected part 11 of the in-body electrode 1 and the plurality of electrode parts 29 of the extracorporeal electrode 12 is detected by the image signal detected by the ultrasonic contactor 31 and the data input to the determination circuit 35. At least 1 facing the internal electrode 1 through
A high frequency current having an optimum current value can be passed through the one electrode portion 29. Therefore, the affected area 11 can be treated with heat reliably and satisfactorily.

FIG. 11 shows a sixth embodiment of the present invention, which is a modification of the extracorporeal electrode 12 used in the fifth embodiment.
The electrode portion 29 is divided into 44 electrode portions 29.

In each of the above embodiments, the high frequency current is applied to one of the divided electrode parts, but the high frequency current may be applied to a plurality of electrode parts.

FIG. 12 shows an eighth embodiment of the present invention in which the inner electrode 1 is an inner cylinder 43 and an outer cylinder rotatably fitted to the inner cylinder 43.
44, and the electrode part 45 is formed on a part of the inner cylinder 43. Further, a protrusion 46 is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 43, and a large number of recesses 47 are formed on the inner peripheral surface of the inner cylinder 43 at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction. Then, if the in-body electrode 1 is introduced into the living body 9, the inner cylinder 43 is rotated by an appropriate means, for example, an endoscope or a catheter, and the electrode portion 46 is transferred to the extracorporeal electrode 12 via the affected area 11. It may be arranged to face each other.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, at least one of the internal electrode and the external electrode is divided into a plurality of electrode portions, and the high frequency current is selectively passed through at least one of the electrode portions by the distributor. Therefore, by selecting the electrode section through which the high-frequency current flows, the affected area can be treated with heat without fail, and the risk of burning the normal tissue by overheating can be eliminated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an in-body electrode showing a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the same, FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of the use state of the in-body electrode, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a second embodiment, FIG. 5 is a perspective view of an internal electrode showing a third embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a state in which the electrode portion of the internal electrode is also opened. FIG. 7 is a control circuit diagram of the same, FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an electrode portion showing a fourth embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view of an internal electrode showing a fifth embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a thermotherapy apparatus showing a sixth embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 11 is an explanatory view of an extracorporeal electrode showing a seventh embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 12 is an eighth embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view of a part of body electrode which shows an example. 1 ... In-body electrode, 3a-3g ... Electrode part, 6 ... Distributor, 12
…… Extracorporeal electrode.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Takashi Tsukaya 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Akio Nakata 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yasuhiro Ueda 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Ei Takehata 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo No. Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masashi Abe 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Akira Shiga 2-43-2, Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo No. Olympus Optical Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiromasa Suzuki 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Gaku Kogyo Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masaaki Hayashi 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Naoki Uchiyama 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Industry Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A hyperthermia treatment device for heating and treating an affected area in a living body with an in-vivo electrode arranged in the living body and an in-vitro electrode arranged on the surface of the living body, wherein at least one of the in-body electrode and the in-vitro electrode is treated. A hyperthermia treatment device characterized in that one of the electrodes is divided into a plurality of electrode parts and connected to a distributor, and a high-frequency current can be selectively applied to at least one of the electrode parts by the distributor. .