JP2007275110A - Ultrasonic probe scanning system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ultrasonic probe scanning device which can be fixed according to the shapes of mammas of various sizes and a rotary scan can be carried out while bringing an ultrasonic probe into contact with the body surface of the mamma. <P>SOLUTION: The ultrasonic probe scanning device of the present invention has an ultrasonic transducer comes into contact with the mamma of a subject and transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, a frame with a multilink structure fixed so as to cover the mamma and moving according to the size of the mamma, a turning mechanism held by the frame and rotating the ultrasonic transducer while bringing the same into contact with the mamma, and a contacting mechanism attached to the turning mechanism bringing the ultrasonic probe into contact with the mamma. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a scanning device for an ultrasonic probe that irradiates a living body with ultrasonic waves and receives an echo signal thereof, and particularly relates to an ultrasonic probe scanning device used for breast diagnosis.

  When diagnosing a tumor that can occur in the breast with an ultrasound diagnostic device, the doctor holds the ultrasound probe in contact with the entire area of the breast and looks at the image displayed on the ultrasound diagnostic device. Diagnose. In the case of a breast, it is efficient to perform a scanning scan with the center of the breast as the central axis.

  As background art, for example, in Patent Document 1, a rotation axis is provided at the center of the breast via a horizontal arm, an ultrasonic probe is attached to one arm that rotates around the rotation axis, and the tilt is controlled by a distance sensor. Thus, a sound probe scanning device that rotates while being brought into contact with the body surface is disclosed.

Further, Patent Document 2 discloses an ultrasonic probe scanning device that fixes the periphery of a breast with a fixing device and rotates an ultrasonic probe attached to a rotating support while abutting the breast. Yes.
JP 2003-310614 A JP 2003-88525 A

  However, the apparatus described in Patent Document 1 has a problem that scan reproducibility is poor because the shape of the breast changes due to the contact force of the ultrasonic probe from one surface side during rotational scanning. It was. Moreover, in the apparatus described in Patent Document 2, it is necessary to prepare different fixing devices depending on the size of the breast. In this case, a large number of fixing devices having three-dimensionally different area sizes and heights must be prepared. In addition, since this device does not have a function of bringing the ultrasonic probe into contact with the body surface, the ultrasonic probe cannot always be brought into close contact with the body surface, and the scan reproducibility is still poor. was there.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described conventional problems, and can be adapted to the shapes of breasts of various sizes, and rotates and scans by contacting an ultrasonic probe. An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic probe scanning device capable of performing the above.

  An ultrasonic probe scanning apparatus according to the present invention includes an ultrasonic transducer that contacts a breast of a subject and transmits and receives ultrasonic waves, and a multi-link that is attached to cover the breast and moves according to the size of the breast. A frame having a structure, a rotation mechanism that is held by the frame and that moves the ultrasonic transducer in contact with the breast and moves around the breast, and the rotation mechanism that causes the ultrasonic probe to contact the breast And an abutment mechanism attached to the.

  With this configuration, it is possible to adapt to the shapes of breasts of various sizes, and to perform rotational scanning while bringing the ultrasound probe into close contact with the breast.

  Further, the ultrasonic probe scanning apparatus of the present invention may be configured such that a plurality of ultrasonic transducers are provided adjacent to each other and are shifted in parallel with each other as the frame moves.

  According to this configuration, even when the frame moves in accordance with the size of the breast, the ultrasonic transducers provided adjacent to each other are displaced in parallel with each other. It becomes possible to contact the sound wave vibrator.

  In the ultrasonic probe scanning device of the present invention, a plurality of ultrasonic transducers may be provided symmetrically with respect to the rotation center of the rotation mechanism.

  According to this configuration, the ultrasonic transducers arranged symmetrically correspond to fixing the entire breast, and deformation of the breast due to contact of the ultrasonic transducers can be reduced.

  In the ultrasonic probe scanning device according to the present invention, the contact mechanism includes a force detection unit that detects a force with which the ultrasonic transducer contacts the breast, and the ultrasonic transducer according to the detected force. There may be a pressurizing means for pressurizing the breast against the breast.

  According to this configuration, the ultrasonic transducer can always be brought into contact with the body surface of the breast with the same force during the rotational scan.

  The ultrasonic probe scanning apparatus of the present invention may have a drive source that moves the frame in accordance with the size of the breast.

  According to this configuration, the ultrasonic transducer can be brought into contact with the body surface of the breast by automatically moving the frame using the drive source.

  Moreover, the ultrasonic probe scanning device of the present invention may be a parallel link mechanism in which the frame has a plurality of degrees of freedom.

  According to this configuration, the rotational center of the frame can be easily located at the center of the breast even for an asymmetrical shape of the breast.

  The ultrasound probe scanning device of the present invention can be adapted to the shapes of breasts of various sizes. Therefore, it is not necessary to prepare a plurality of conventional fixing devices. In addition, since the ultrasonic probe can be rotated and rotated while being brought into contact with the body surface of the breast, a good image with good reproducibility can be obtained.

  Hereinafter, an ultrasonic probe scanning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. An ultrasonic probe scanning device 100 according to a first embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3. The frame of the ultrasonic probe 100 is attached so as to cover the body surface S of the breast, and is movable according to the size of the breast. The frame has a base frame 1 disposed around the lower side of the subject's breast in the height direction, and a top frame 2 disposed facing the base frame 1 and around the upper side of the breast in the height direction. The base frame 1 and the top frame 2 are movably connected by a plurality of link mechanisms 3.

  The link mechanism 3 is driven by a drive source 31 controlled by the controller device 12. As long as the drive source 31 moves the link mechanism 3, the drive source 31 may be a motor installed in a joint part of the link mechanism 3 or may be driven from the outside of the link mechanism 3 using a transmission mechanism such as a belt. Further, the drive source 31 may have an encoder that can detect the angle information, and the angle information can be detected from the information of the movement command of the stepping motor. As shown in FIG. 2, the link mechanism 3 allows the top frame 2 to move one degree of freedom in the vertical direction of the white arrow in the figure. With this operation, the position of the top frame 2 can be adjusted and adjusted with respect to the height of the breast.

  The rotation mechanism of the ultrasonic probe 100 includes a rotation base frame 5, a guide frame 7, and a rotation top frame 6. The rotating base frame 5 is rotatably held with respect to the base frame 1 of the frame, and the rotating top frame 6 is held rotatably with respect to the top frame 2. The rotating base frame 5 and the rotating top frame 6 are connected by a plurality of guide frames 7 that can be expanded and contracted according to the movement of the frame. Further, the guide frame 7 of this embodiment is provided with two guide frames 7a and 7b arranged side by side.

  A rotation drive source 6 a is installed between the top frame 2 and the rotating top frame 6. The rotational drive source 6a is a ring-shaped stepping motor or an ultrasonic motor. In the case of an ultrasonic motor, it is desirable to have an encoder. The rotational drive source 6 a is controlled by the controller device 12. The motor may be driven using a transmission mechanism such as a gear. The rotating base frame 5 can be rotated with respect to the base frame 1 about the same rotation axis in the direction of the black arrow in the figure, and the rotating top frame 6 has the same rotation axis with respect to the top frame 2. Can pivot to the center.

  A plurality of retractable contact mechanisms 8 are provided on the guide frames 7a and 7b of the rotation mechanism. The contact mechanism 8 is for bringing the ultrasonic transducer 9 into contact with the body surface S of the breast of the subject with a predetermined pressure. One end of the contact mechanism 8 holds an ultrasonic transducer 9 that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves. The ultrasonic transducer 9 is electrically connected to the main body of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 13. In this embodiment, the ultrasonic transducer 9a and the ultrasonic transducer 9b held in the guide frames 7a and 7b are provided in parallel.

  When the positions of the top frame 2 and the rotating top frame 6 are increased, the guide frames 7a and 7b are extended. At this time, the ultrasonic transducers 9a and 9b are moved to the guide frames 7a and 7b via the contact mechanism so that the two ultrasonic transducers 9a and 9b are displaced in the directions away from each other and the total length of the two is increased. It is attached. In this case, when the positions of the top frame 2 and the rotating top frame 6 are lowered, the guide frames 7a and 7b are contracted, the two ultrasonic transducers 9a and 9b are shifted in a direction approaching both, and the total length of the two is shortened. It will be.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the contact mechanism 8 includes a pressurizing unit 11 that pressurizes the ultrasonic transducer 9 against the breast, and a force detection unit 10 that detects a force with which the ultrasonic transducer 9 contacts the breast. Have

  The force detection means 10 can be a force sensor, a tactile sensor, or a pressure sensor. The pressurizing means 11 is an actuator, and the drive source thereof may be air pressure, a motor, an electromagnetic solenoid, or the like.

  The operation of the ultrasonic probe scanning apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS.

  1 and 2, the base frame 1 is placed around the breast of the subject, and the height position of the top frame 2 is adjusted to bring the ultrasonic probe 9 into contact with the body surface S of the breast. By driving the rotation drive source 6a by the control device 12, the rotation mechanism is rotated in the direction of the arrow in the figure, and the ultrasonic probe 9 is rotated and scanned. The scan data is subjected to image processing in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 13. The height of the top frame 2 can be automatically adjusted by moving the joint using the drive source 31 installed in the link mechanism 3. In this case, the controller device 12 determines the signal of the force detection means 10 in the process of contacting the body surface S, and the controller device 12 controls the drive source of the link mechanism 3. In addition, as for the part which touches the body surface S of the base frame 1, it is desirable that flexible materials, such as a silicone rubber and a polyurethane rubber, are installed.

  In FIG. 4, regarding the ultrasonic transducer 9 on the right side in FIG. 4, FIG. 4 (a) shows one side of the ultrasonic transducer 9 arranged in parallel (ultrasonic transducer 9a), and FIG. The one side (ultrasonic transducer 9b) is shown, and the portion indicated by a one-dot difference line in the figure indicates a region where each scan at a certain rotation angle scans an echo. Since the two ultrasonic transducers 9 are positioned so as to overlap each other in the slope direction, most of the body surface S of the breast slope can be covered.

  A portion where the two ultrasonic transducers 9 overlap each other can be obtained in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 13 by performing image processing so that both images of the two ultrasonic transducers 9 overlap. it can. At this time, the two ultrasonic transducers 9 come into contact with the inclined surface of the body surface S at different angles, thereby causing an angle shift between both images. In response to this, the ultrasonic diagnostic device 13 receives an angle signal calculated by the controller device 12 based on the amount of displacement when the pressurizing means 11 is pressurized, and corrects the angular deviation. , It is possible to obtain a continuous image with no angular deviation between the two. In addition, the contact mechanism 8 may have a means capable of detecting an angle, such as an encoder, separately from the pressurizing means 11. This is used for correcting the angle deviation. Further, the positional deviation in the rotational direction of the width length between the two ultrasonic transducers 9 aligned corresponds to, for example, the width length between the two ultrasonic transducers 9a with respect to the position of one ultrasonic transducer 9a. What is necessary is just to use the image of the other ultrasonic transducer | vibrator 9b in the rotation position which deducted the rotation angle. Note that the overlapping position of both images may be calculated from the angle information from the drive source 31 of the link mechanism 3 and used for correction in image processing. The guide frame 7 is provided with means for detecting the amount of movement of the guide frame 7a and the guide frame 7b, for example, a displacement sensor using a resistance element, a linear encoder, etc., and the detected overlapping position information is corrected by image processing. You may use for.

  In FIG. 5, the positional relationship of the ultrasonic transducer 9 is expressed from the upper surface of the ultrasonic probe scanning device 100. In this embodiment, the ultrasonic transducers 9 are arranged in a cross symmetrically with respect to the center of rotation. By using four sets of ultrasonic transducers 9, the whole can be scanned by making a quarter turn in the direction of the arrow in the figure with respect to the center. In this case, since the rotation angle can be reduced, the processing of the cable that connects the signal of the ultrasonic transducer 9 to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 13 can be simplified. In addition, since the four sets of ultrasonic transducers 9 each scan a narrow area, the change in the inclination of the breast in the height direction is reduced, and thus the movable amount of the contact mechanism 4 can be reduced. Further, the echo scan may not be performed simultaneously for the four sets of ultrasonic transducers 9. Each of the echoes may be scanned four times in order. At this time, one-quarter rotation in the direction of the arrow in the figure, the echo is scanned by one set of ultrasonic transducers 9 and rotated in the opposite direction to the arrow, and another set of ultrasonic vibrations Echo scan is performed at the child 9. As a result, the entire breast can be scanned by reciprocating the quarter rotation twice. In this way, the entire rotation can be efficiently scanned with a small rotation angle. Note that the four sets of ultrasonic transducers 9 may include dummy ultrasonic transducers. In this case, another ultrasonic transducer may scan the scan range of the dummy ultrasonic transducer. In this embodiment, four sets are used. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and four or more sets of ultrasonic transducers may be used.

  Further, since the ultrasonic transducers 9 are arranged in a cross symmetrically with respect to the center, the shape of the breast is greatly deformed by the contact of the ultrasonic transducers 9 because the ultrasonic transducers 9 are always pressed with the same force symmetrically. Can be reduced. As a result, it is possible to reduce the shape loss of the breast at the time of rotational scanning, and to perform echo scanning stably with good reproducibility.

  FIG. 6A and FIG. 6B show a case where the inclination in the breast height direction is different. In FIG. 6A, the force detected from the force detector 10a is Fa, and the force detected from the force detector 10b is Fb. Based on the detected force, the control device 12 moves the pressurizing means 11a and 11b so that the force Fa and the force Fb become a preset contact force F. As a result, the ultrasonic transducer 9 can always be brought into contact with the body surface S with a constant force. In FIG. 6B, the inclination is larger than that in FIG. 6A. In this case as well, based on the detected force, the force Fa and the force Fb are set to a preset contact force F. To be. The preset contact force F is preferably about several hundred grams.

  In FIG. 7, the link mechanism 3 is a parallel link mechanism 3a having a plurality of degrees of freedom. FIG. 7 shows a case where the degree of freedom increases by two in the direction of the arrow around the parallel link mechanism 32 with respect to the link mechanism 3 of FIG. 1, and as a result, the top frame has a white 3 in the figure. It will have 3 degrees of freedom in the direction of one arrow. With this configuration, even with an asymmetrical shape of the breast, the center of the frame can be positioned in the center of the breast by moving in the three-axis direction. The parallel link mechanism 32 is not limited to the three degrees of freedom in the figure.

  According to such an embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to fix in accordance with the shapes of breasts of various sizes, and it is possible to perform rotational scanning while contacting the ultrasonic probe.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY Since the present invention can obtain a good image with good reproducibility by adapting to the shapes of breasts of various sizes, it is particularly useful as an ultrasound probe scanning device used for breast diagnosis. .

Overview of ultrasonic probe scanning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention (A) Perspective view (upper) of the ultrasonic probe scanning device according to the embodiment of the present invention (b) Perspective view (lower) of the ultrasonic probe scanning device according to the embodiment of the present invention (A) Perspective view of the contact mechanism in the embodiment of the present invention (upper) (b) Perspective view of the contact mechanism in the embodiment of the present invention (lower) (A) Illustrated diagram for explaining the operation of the ultrasonic probe scanning device according to the embodiment of the present invention (b) Illustrated diagram for explaining the operation of the ultrasonic probe scanning device according to the embodiment of the present invention. (A) Illustrated diagram for explaining the operation of the ultrasonic probe scanning device according to the embodiment of the present invention (b) Illustrated diagram for explaining the operation of the ultrasonic probe scanning device according to the embodiment of the present invention. (A) Illustrated diagram for explaining the operation of the ultrasonic probe scanning device according to the embodiment of the present invention (b) Illustrated diagram for explaining the operation of the ultrasonic probe scanning device according to the embodiment of the present invention. Overview of ultrasonic probe scanning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Ultrasonic probe scanning apparatus 1 Base frame 2 Top frame 3 Link mechanism 31 Drive source 32 Parallel link mechanism 5 Rotation base frame 6 Rotation top frame 6a Rotation drive mechanism 7 Guide frame 7a Guide frame a
7b Guide frame b
8 Contact mechanism 9 Ultrasonic vibrator 9a Ultrasonic vibrator a
9b Ultrasonic transducer b
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Force detection means 11 Pressurization means 12 Control apparatus 13 Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus

Claims (6)

An ultrasonic transducer for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves in contact with the breast of the subject, a frame of a multi-link structure that is attached to cover the breast and moves according to the size of the breast, and held by the frame An ultrasonic mechanism comprising: a rotating mechanism for moving an ultrasonic transducer around the breast; and an abutting mechanism attached to the rotating mechanism for bringing the ultrasonic probe into contact with the breast. Probe scanning device. The ultrasonic probe scanning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the ultrasonic transducers are provided adjacent to each other, and they are shifted in parallel with each other as the frame moves. The ultrasonic probe scanning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the ultrasonic transducers are provided symmetrically with respect to a rotation center of the rotation mechanism. The contact mechanism includes a force detection unit that detects a force with which the ultrasonic transducer contacts the breast, and a pressurizing unit that pressurizes the ultrasonic transducer with respect to the breast according to the detected force. 4. The ultrasonic probe scanning device according to claim 1, wherein 5. The ultrasonic probe scanning apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a drive source that moves the frame in accordance with a size of a breast. The ultrasonic probe scanning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the frame is a parallel link mechanism having a plurality of degrees of freedom.

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