JP3490807B2 - Electronic endoscope device for fluorescence diagnosis - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fluorescent diagnostic electronic for detecting early cancer by irradiating living tissue with excitation light having a specific wavelength and observing fluorescence emitted from the living tissue itself. The present invention relates to an endoscope device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When living tissue is irradiated with light (excitation light) having a wavelength of 400 nm to 480 nm, normal tissue emits fluorescence in the range of about 480 nm to 600 nm, and cancer cells do not emit fluorescence. It is known that it is possible to detect an early cancer that is not well understood by endoscopic observation.

Therefore, in the conventional electronic endoscope apparatus for fluorescence diagnosis, as described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-150845, excitation that transmits only excitation light in the illumination optical path emitted from the light source. In addition to disposing a filter for fluorescent light, a filter for transmitting fluorescence that transmits only light having a wavelength of fluorescence is disposed between the solid-state image sensor and the objective optical system at the tip of the insertion portion of the endoscope.

[0004]

However, in the apparatus as described above, the illumination light is only the excitation light, and the light rays incident on the solid-state image pickup device are only the fluorescent light. I can't observe.

Therefore, conventionally, when a normal endoscopic observation is performed to visually observe the position and state of the affected area,
Each time, it was necessary to replace the endoscope for fluorescence diagnosis with the endoscope for normal observation, and this was a great burden on both the patient and the doctor.

[0006] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic endoscope apparatus for fluorescence diagnosis, which can easily perform normal endoscope observation and fluorescence diagnosis.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, an electronic endoscope apparatus for fluorescence diagnosis according to the present invention forms two images of a subject on two solid-state image pickup devices and each of the solid-state image pickup devices. The objective optical system is disposed at the tip of the insertion part, and one of the solid-state imaging devices has a transmission region on the longer wavelength side than the wavelength of the excitation light that excites fluorescence from the biological tissue, and the excitation light An electronic endoscope in which a fluorescence transmitting filter having a property of not transmitting light is arranged, an illuminating means for sequentially and repeatedly illuminating an object with illumination light of three colors of red, green and blue, and the two solid-state image pickup devices The image pickup signal switching means for selecting only one of the image pickup signals output from the image pickup circuit and inputting it to the video circuit for processing the image pickup signal, and the fluorescence transmission filter are arranged by the image pickup signal switching means. When the output signal of the other solid-state image pickup device is selected, the video signal when the subject is illuminated by the illumination light of each of the three colors is input to the monitor, and the image pickup signal switching means is used for the fluorescence transmission. When the output signal of the solid-state image pickup device on which the filter is arranged is selected, there is provided video signal switching means for inputting only the video signal when the subject is illuminated with blue illumination light to the monitor. Is characterized by.

The fluorescence transmitting filter is approximately 480.
Only light having a wavelength in the range of nm to 600 nm may be transmitted.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 shows an external appearance of the entire configuration of the electronic endoscope apparatus according to the embodiment, and FIG. 1 shows a schematic internal structure thereof.

At the tip of the insertion portion 1 of the flexible electronic endoscope, as shown in the enlarged view of FIG. 3, two solid-state image pickup devices 2 are provided in front of each other. They are arranged side by side. As the solid-state image pickup devices 2 and 3, for example, monochrome charge-coupled devices (CCD) are used.

Objective optical systems 4 and 5 are arranged in front of the solid-state image pickup devices 2 and 3, respectively, and an image of a subject in front is formed on the solid-state image pickup devices 2 and 3.

Between the first objective optical system 4 and the solid-state image pickup element 2, a fluorescence transmitting filter 6 which transmits only light having a wavelength of 520 nm to 600 nm is arranged. Second
No such filter is arranged in front of the solid-state image sensor 3 of FIG.

The exit end of the illumination light guide fiber bundle 8 for irradiating the illumination light toward the observation range of both objective optical systems 4 and 5 is arranged side by side with both objective optical systems 4 and 5.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the distal end surface of the insertion section 1. 4a and 5a are observation windows in which the objective optical systems 4 and 5 are arranged, and 8a is the exit end of the light guide fiber bundle 8 for illumination. The arranged illumination window 9 is a projecting opening of the treatment instrument.

Referring back to FIGS. 1 and 2, the base end of the insertion portion 1 is connected to the operating portion 11, and the video processor 20 is attached to the distal end of the connecting flexible tube 12 connected to the operating portion 11.
A connector 13 to be connected to is attached.

The connector 13 has first and second signal cables 15 and 16 for transmitting signals input to and output from the first and second solid-state image pickup devices 2 and 3, and a light guide fiber for illumination. The incident end of the bundle 8 reaches from the tip end side of the insertion portion 1. The configuration of the electronic endoscope is as described above.

The video processor 20 is provided with a light source lamp 21 such as a xenon lamp for supplying illumination light to the illumination light guide fiber bundle 8, and the light source lamp 21 and the illumination light guide fiber bundle 8 are incident. The RGB rotation filter 22 is arranged in the illumination optical path between the edge and the edge.

As shown in FIG. 5, the RGB rotary filter 22 includes three color filters of red (R), green (G), and blue (B), with a light-shielding portion interposed therebetween. It is fan-shaped and is rotated at a constant speed by the motor 23.

The wavelength range of the light transmitted by each color filter is as follows. Red (R): 580nm-650n
m. Green (G): 500 nm to 580 nm. Blue (B): 4
00 nm-500 nm.

As a result, the subject in front of the tip of the insertion portion 1 is repeatedly illuminated in sequence from the connector 13 via the illumination light guide fiber bundle 8 by the illumination light of three colors of red, green and blue. .

First and second signal cables 15 and 16 for transmitting signals to the first and second solid-state image pickup devices 2 and 3.
Are both connected to the imaging signal switching circuit 26 in the connector 13 connected to the video processor 20.

A changeover switch 28 which is operated from the outside is connected to the image pickup signal changeover circuit 26, and when the changeover switch 28 is changed over, either the first signal cable 15 or the second signal cable 16 is changed. Only one is selectively connected to the normal image video circuit 24 in the video processor 20. Changeover switch 28
May be a foot-operated so-called foot switch or the like.

The first and second solid-state image pickup devices 2 and 3
And the rotation of the motor 23 that rotates the RGB rotation filter 22 are controlled in synchronization with the output signal from the timing circuit 25, and in the first and second solid-state image pickup devices 2 and 3, the so-called RGB plane sequential is used. Imaging is performed by the method.

In the normal image video circuit 24, the image pickup signals input from the first or second solid-state image pickup devices 2 and 3 are processed, and video of three RGB colors for displaying an image on the monitor television 40. The signal is output.

However, between the normal image video circuit 24 and the monitor TV 40, the normal image display state in which video signals of three colors RGB are sent to the monitor TV 40 and the subject is illuminated with blue illumination light. A video signal switching circuit 29 capable of selecting a fluorescent image display state in which only the B signal at that time is sent to the monitor television 40 is inserted.

Reference numeral 50 denotes a recording device for magnetically recording an image displayed on the monitor television 40, and 27 shown in FIG.
Is a keyboard for inputting control commands and the like to the video processor 20.

In the electronic endoscope apparatus for fluorescence diagnosis constructed as described above, the second solid-state image pickup device 3 outputs ordinary image pickup signals of RGB three colors. Therefore, by connecting the second signal cable 16 to the normal image video circuit 24 by the imaging signal switching circuit 26, the normal image video circuit 24 can obtain a normal color video signal of the subject. Therefore, the video signal switching circuit 2
By setting 9 as a normal image display state, a normal color image is displayed on the monitor television 40.

On the other hand, the first solid-state image pickup device 2 receives only the light having a wavelength in the range of 520 nm to 600 nm that has passed through the fluorescence transmitting filter 6, so that an image pickup signal of a special image by the light in that wavelength region is output. To be done.

Therefore, in the image pickup signal switching circuit 26, the first
When the signal cable 15 is connected to the normal image video circuit 24 and the video signal switching circuit 29 is switched to the fluorescent image display state, blue illumination light (wavelength 400 nm to 5 nm
Only the video signal when the subject is illuminated at (00 nm) is extracted and input to the monitor television 40.

Since the image obtained there is only an image of light having a wavelength that can pass through the fluorescence transmitting filter 6, the subject is excited by excitation light having a wavelength of 400 nm to 500 nm contained in the blue illumination light. The fluorescent image will be displayed on the monitor television 40. Note that although the actual fluorescence is green, in this case, a blue fluorescence image is displayed on the monitor television 40.

It should be noted that the switching operation of the video signal switching circuit 29 may be configured to be interlocked with the switching operation of the imaging signal switching circuit 26 by the switch 28.

In the embodiment described above, the light having a wavelength of 400 nm to 500 nm that is transmitted by the blue color filter is used as the excitation light, and the wavelength of the light that is transmitted by the fluorescence transmitting filter 6 is 520 nm to 60 nm.
Although the wavelength of fluorescence excited from living tissue is approximately 480 nm to 600 nm, the maximum wavelength of the transmission region of the excitation light transmitting color filter is 480 n.
The wavelength of the light transmitted by the fluorescence transmitting filter 6 may be set to be less than m and set to about 480 nm to 600 nm. By making the characteristics of each filter close to that,
The light amount loss of the observed fluorescence image is reduced.

[0033]

According to the present invention, two solid-state image pickup devices are provided at the tip of the insertion portion of the endoscope, and a fluorescence image can be obtained by one of the solid-state image pickup devices.
Both a normal color image and a fluorescent image of a subject can be obtained by one electronic endoscope without replacing the endoscope with respect to the patient. Therefore, it is possible to accurately diagnose early cancer and the like from the normal color image and the fluorescent image of the affected area without imposing an extra burden on both the patient and the doctor.

Then, from the output signal of the solid-state image pickup device on which the fluorescence transmission filter is not arranged, the subject is RG.
B The video signals when illuminated with the three colors of illumination light are input to the monitor, and the subject is illuminated with blue illumination light from the output signal of the solid-state image sensor on which the fluorescence transmission filter is arranged. Since the signal output from the video processor can be selected so that only the video signal at the time of inputting is input to the monitor, the general electronic endoscope video processor used so far can be used as it is, Very economical.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an internal structure of an overall configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the external appearance of the overall configuration of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of the tip of the insertion portion of the electronic endoscope according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the distal end surface of the insertion portion of the electronic endoscope according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a front view of the RGB rotary filter according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Insert 2,3 Solid-state image sensor 6 Fluorescent transmission filter 21 light source lamp 22 RGB rotation filter 26 Imaging signal switching circuit 28 Changeover switch 29 Video signal switching circuit 40 monitor TV

Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-3-97441 (JP, A) JP-A-3-97442 (JP, A) JP-A-4-150845 (JP, A) JP-A-5-56918 (JP , A) JP-A-6-125911 (JP, A) US Pat. No. 4821117 (US, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) A61B 1/00

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An objective optical system for observing substantially the same direction is arranged in parallel at the tip of an insertion section, and a solid-state image pickup element is arranged at an image forming position of an object by each objective optical system. In front of one of the solid-state imaging devices, a fluorescence transmission filter having a transmission region on the longer wavelength side than the wavelength of excitation light for exciting fluorescence from living tissue and having a characteristic of not transmitting the excitation light is arranged. And an illumination light source for repeatedly irradiating the subject with illumination light of three colors of red, green, and blue in order, and the solid-state image sensor.
Image signals of the imaged subject are processed and the
A video circuit for normal images that outputs a video signal is arranged.
A video processor , image pickup signal switching means for selecting only one of the image pickup signals output from the two solid-state image pickup devices and inputting it to the normal image video circuit, and the fluorescence transmission by the image pickup signal switching means. When the output signal of the solid-state image pickup device on which the filter for display is not arranged is selected, the video signal when the subject is illuminated by the illumination light of each of the three colors is input to the monitor, and the image pickup signal is switched. When the output signal of the solid-state image pickup device on which the fluorescence transmission filter is arranged is selected by the means, a video signal for inputting only the video signal when the subject is illuminated with blue illumination light to the monitor Switching means is provided, and the imaging signal switching means and the video signal switching means are provided.
A stage is located outside the video processor and the video
An electronic endoscope apparatus for fluorescence diagnosis, characterized in that each electronic endoscope apparatus is connected to each processor . 2. The electronic endoscope apparatus for fluorescence diagnosis according to claim 1, wherein the fluorescence transmitting filter transmits only light having a wavelength in the range of approximately 480 nm to 600 nm.