JPH08336545A - Ultrasonic operation apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To assure the safety to an operator and a patient by detecting the occurrence of a fault in the cooling mechanisms and other constituting parts of a handpiece section, in the event of such occurrence, and dropping or stopping the output of an ultrasonic oscillation circuit. CONSTITUTION: The handpiece part M of this ultrasonic operation apparatus converts the high-frequency electric power outputted from the ultrasonic oscillation circuit E to the mechanical vibration energy of the knife part of a horn 4 and has a cooling mechanism using a physiological salt soln. for cooling an electrostrictive type vibrator. The natural oscillation frequency of a vibration system eventually decreases as well when the function of the cooling mechanism stops and the temp. of the electrostrictive type vibrator and the horn 4 rises. The natural vibration frequency is detected by a frequency detecting circuit 30 in a control section (e) and a discrimination signal indicating the abnormality is outputted from a discrimination circuit 31 when this detected frequency exceeds a set frequency range. As a result, the output of a stabilizing power source circuit 23 is set at the amplitude level lower than the amplitude level thus far by an amplitude level setting circuit 32.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic operation apparatus in which living tissue is crushed or cut by a knife portion which generates ultrasonic vibrations.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, in surgical operations, so-called ultrasonic scalpels, which crush and cut the surgical site by ultrasonic vibration, are used in addition to ordinary scalpels formed with stainless steel blades or steel blades. There is.

In this ultrasonic knife, a high frequency is generated by an ultrasonic oscillation circuit, and the high frequency power is converted into mechanical ultrasonic vibration of the knife section 3a by the hand piece section 1 as shown in FIG. There is. That is, the illustrated handpiece portion 1 has a tubular member 2 that forms an outer shell thereof.
The electrostrictive vibrator 3 as shown in (3) is built in and is fixed to the horn 4 protruding from the tubular member 2. This electrostrictive vibrator 3 is composed of an electrostrictive element 3a and a metal backing plate 3b and front plate 3c attached to both ends of the electrostrictive element 3a. High-frequency power supplied from an ultrasonic oscillation circuit (not shown) is The electrostrictive vibrator 3 converts the mechanical vibration into mechanical vibration, and the mechanical vibration is transmitted to the tip portion 4a of the horn 4, which is a female portion.

Further, an irrigation pipe 5 is arranged near the tip 4a of the horn, from which physiological saline for cleaning is supplied to the surgical site, while blood generated at the surgical site and Cleaning water or the like is sucked through a suction hole 4b formed at the center of the horn 4 and discharged through a suction pipe 6.

By the way, in the electrostrictive vibrator 3 used in the ultrasonic vibration device as described above, heat is generated due to electric loss generated when electric vibration is converted into mechanical vibration, and this is caused by the horn 4. Since it causes abnormal heat generation and shortens the life of the electrostrictive element 3a, it is generally necessary to cool the electrostrictive vibrator 3 and the female portion (the tip portion of the horn) 4a. As the cooling treatment method, cooling water or the like is conventionally supplied to the electrostrictive element 3a and the horn 4. In this case, however, a cooling water supply mechanism is additionally provided so that the handpiece 1 can be used. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, a suction path 3d communicating with the suction hole 4b of the horn 4 is formed at the center of the electrostrictive vibrator 3, and suction is performed through the suction hole 4b. A cooling treatment structure in which the electrostrictive vibrator 3 is cooled by passing a physiological saline solution is also proposed and implemented.

[0006]

As described above, in the current ultrasonic operation apparatus, the electrostrictive vibrator 3 and the horn 4 are subjected to cooling processing, but the cooling processing mechanism has some problems. When a failure, for example, the supply of cooling water due to clogging of the irrigation pipe 5 or the stop of the suction operation due to clogging of the horn 4 or the suction path 3d occurs, the electrostrictive vibrator 3 or the horn 4 becomes hot. As a result, there arises a problem that the patient or the surgeon is burned, and the horn 4, the electrostrictive element 3a and the like are damaged by heat.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and an object thereof is to provide an ultrasonic scalpel excellent in safety and durability capable of preventing abnormal heating of a handpiece portion and the like. And

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a handpiece portion for generating mechanical ultrasonic vibration in a female portion in accordance with the output of an ultrasonic oscillation circuit, an electrostrictive vibrator and a horn in the handpiece portion. A cooling mechanism that cools the vibration system, a frequency detection circuit that detects the vibration frequency of the vibration system, and a discrimination that outputs a discrimination signal when the frequency detected by the frequency detection circuit is outside a predetermined frequency range. A circuit and an output control circuit that is connected to the discrimination circuit and reduces or cuts off the output of the ultrasonic oscillation circuit when the discrimination signal is received.

Further, when the discrimination signal is received from the discrimination circuit, the notifying means may be driven to issue a warning to an operator or the like. In this case, a voice generating device or a display is used as the notifying means. Can be considered.

[0010]

In the above structure, when the operation of the cooling mechanism is stopped for some reason, the temperature of the vibration system starts to rise. In the present invention, however, the natural frequency of the vibration system changes with the temperature change. Focusing attention, the frequency of the vibration system is detected by the frequency detection circuit, and when the detected frequency is outside the preset proper frequency range, the discrimination circuit outputs the discrimination signal, and the output control circuit means outputs the discrimination signal according to the discrimination signal. Reduce or shut off the output of the ultrasonic oscillator circuit. As a result, heat generation in the vibration system and the horn is suppressed, and these are not abnormally heated.

Further, if the notifying means such as the voice generating device and the display is operated by the discrimination signal indicating the abnormality outputted from the discriminating circuit, it is possible to prompt the surgeon or the like to stop the use of the device, and the accident. It is possible to prevent the occurrence of.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 1, the ultrasonic surgical apparatus according to this embodiment has an ultrasonic oscillation circuit E for generating high-frequency power and a high-frequency power output from the ultrasonic oscillation circuit E for mechanical vibration energy of a female portion. And a handpiece portion M that is converted into a handpiece portion M. The handpiece portion M includes a tube body 2, an electrostrictive vibrator 3, a horn 4, an irrigation pipe 6 and the like, as in the above-mentioned prior art. Has become. However, the electrostrictive oscillator 3 used here
Uses a suction hole 4b formed inside as shown in FIG. Therefore, the cooling mechanism for the horn and the electrostrictive vibrator 3 in this embodiment is the irrigation pipe 6 for supplying the physiological saline and the suction hole 4b of the horn 4.
And a suction path 4b communicating therewith.

The ultrasonic oscillator circuit E is constructed as shown in FIG. In the figure, a is a power supply circuit,
In this power supply circuit, 21 is a rectifier circuit that rectifies an AC voltage supplied from a predetermined commercial power supply 20, 22 is a smoothing circuit that reduces the pulsating current contained in the DC voltage output from this rectifier circuit, and 23 is the smoothing circuit. It is a stabilized power supply circuit that changes the output of the circuit to a stable voltage according to the signal of the amplitude level setting circuit 32.

Further, 24 is a power amplifier circuit which constitutes an amplifier section b together with a transistor drive circuit 29 described later, and 25
Is a matching circuit and amplitude adjusting circuit as the matching unit c. The matching circuit / amplitude adjusting circuit 25 can supply high-frequency power with low loss to the electrostrictive vibrator 3 in the handpiece portion M described above, and is suitable for operating the electrostrictive vibrator 3 stably. It is designed to maintain the drive amplitude,
The vibration of the female portion 4a is kept constant as the load applied to the female portion (the tip portion of the horn 4) 4a increases and decreases.

Further, d is a feedback section for positively feeding back the output from the matching circuit / amplitude adjusting circuit to the amplification section b as a feedback signal. The feedback section d includes a feedback signal filter 26 for removing the spurious frequency component of the electrostrictive oscillator 3 contained in the feedback signal, a feedback signal Q circuit 27 for adjusting the Q of the feedback circuit, and the feedback signal Q circuit. It is composed of a feedback signal detection circuit 28 for outputting the feedback signal output from 27 to the transistor drive circuit 29 and the control unit e.

On the other hand, the control unit e controls the driving of the notification means and the like based on the frequency of the feedback signal output from the feedback signal detection circuit 17, and a frequency detection circuit 30 for detecting the frequency of the feedback signal. , A discrimination circuit 31 for discriminating whether or not the frequency of the feedback signal is within a preset frequency range, and the amplitude level of the output in the stabilized power supply circuit 23 is set according to the discrimination result outputted from the discrimination circuit 31. Amplitude level setting circuit 32 as an output control circuit
And a drive control circuit 33 for controlling the drive of the notification means. The notification means f controlled by the control unit e is composed of a voice generating circuit 34 that outputs a predetermined voice signal and a speaker 35 that emits a voice according to the output from the voice generating circuit 34.

As described above, the ultrasonic surgical apparatus according to this embodiment has an ultrasonic wave oscillating circuit E including a power supply section a, an amplification section b, a matching section c, a feedback section d, a control section e and a notification means f. In this circuit E, after the signal supplied from the transistor drive circuit 29 is amplified by the amplification section b, the signal is directly fed to the amplification section d via the matching section c and the feedback section d. By returning it, electric ultrasonic vibration is generated, and further, by inputting the electric ultrasonic vibration into the electrostrictive vibrator 3 of the handpiece portion 1 through the matching portion c, high frequency power is converted into mechanical vibration energy. And the mechanical vibration energy is transmitted to the horn 4.
As a result, the tip portion 4a of the horn 4 performs ultrasonic vibration with a predetermined amplitude and acts as a female portion for cutting living tissue or the like.

At this time, heat is generated in the vibration system consisting of the electrostrictive vibrator 3 and the horn 4 due to the vibration converting operation, but the cooling mechanism provided in the handpiece portion M operates properly. When it is present, the electrostrictive vibrator 3 and the horn 4 do not rise in temperature and can be safely used by the operator or the patient. However, the cooling mechanism may fall into an inoperable state due to clogging of the physiological saline supply pipe 5 or the suction path 3d. In such a case, in the conventional device, the temperature of the electrostrictive vibrator 3 and the horn 4 is reduced. Abnormally rises to an extremely dangerous state, but in this embodiment, even if the cooling mechanism malfunctions, the electrostrictive vibrator 3 and the horn 4 can be prevented from being abnormally heated. .

That is, when the function of the cooling mechanism is stopped and the temperatures of the electrostrictive vibrator 3 and the horn 4 start to rise from the proper temperatures, the horn 4 and the electrostrictive vibrator 3 follow the rise.
The natural frequency of the vibration system consisting of and also begins to decrease. This natural frequency is detected by the frequency detection circuit 30 in the control unit e, and when the detected frequency exceeds a preset frequency range, the determination circuit 31 outputs a determination signal indicating an abnormality, and this determination signal is output. Amplitude level setting circuit 32
And to the drive control circuit 33.

As a result, the amplitude level setting circuit 32 is
The output of the stabilized power supply circuit 23 is set to an amplitude level lower than the amplitude level set before outputting the discrimination signal.
As a result, the high-frequency power supplied to the electrostrictive oscillator 3 of the handpiece M via the amplification unit b and the matching unit c decreases, so the ultrasonic output in the electrostrictive oscillator 3 and the horn 4 also decreases. However, heat generation is also reduced accordingly. Therefore,
It is possible to completely eliminate the risk that the operator or the surgical site will be burned by the heated handpiece portion M, and also to prevent damage to component parts of the device or performance deterioration.

In addition to the level changing operation of the amplitude level setting circuit 32, in this embodiment, the drive control circuit 33 which receives the discrimination signal drives the sound generating circuit 34 to generate a warning sound from the speaker 35. It is like this. Therefore, the operator can immediately recognize the occurrence of malfunction of the ultrasonic surgical device by the warning sound.

Note that the natural frequency range F1 that can be safely used for an operator, a patient, and component parts is, for example, (F-
0.01F) <F1 <(F + 0.01F). Therefore, the discrimination circuit 31 outputs a discrimination signal when a detection frequency outside the range is input. However, the range shown here is an example, and may vary depending on the vibration system used.

Further, the fluctuation of the natural frequency of the electrostrictive vibrator 3, the horn 4, etc. is not only caused by the abnormal heating due to the malfunction of the cooling mechanism as described above, but also the cracks are generated in the component parts. In this case, for example, when the horn 4 is cracked, it also occurs. Therefore, when the warning sound is generated, if the cooling device is operating properly, it can be determined that some failure has occurred in the handpiece portion 4 or the like. That is, the device in this embodiment also has a failure detection function.

In the above embodiment, the frequency detection circuit 30 is connected to the feedback signal detection circuit 28 to detect the feedback signal frequency. However, the frequency detection circuit 30 is
Even if connected to the outputs of the matching circuit / amplitude adjusting circuit 25, the feedback filter 26, the feedback signal Q circuit 27, the transistor drive circuit 29, etc., the frequency can be detected in the same manner as in the above embodiment.

Further, in the above embodiment, the amplitude level setting circuit 32 is responsive to the discrimination signal output from the discrimination circuit 31.
Is designed to reduce the amplitude level of the stabilized power supply circuit 23. However, by stopping the output of the stabilized power supply circuit 23 or shutting off other circuit parts, a high frequency is generated for the handpiece part M. The power supply may be completely cut off.

Further, the notifying means f to be used is not limited to the one that produces a voice as in the above-mentioned embodiment, but a display device or the like is used, which causes various failures such as an abnormal rise in temperature. It may be possible to display a warning of occurrence. Further, only one of the notification means f and the output control circuit 32 may be provided to the ultrasonic surgical device, and in this case, the safety is greatly improved as compared with the conventional device.

[0027]

As described above, in the ultrasonic operation apparatus according to the present invention, when a failure occurs in the cooling mechanism or other components in the handpiece portion, the failure is detected to detect the ultrasonic oscillation circuit. Since the output is reduced or stopped, there is no risk of abnormal heating of the handpiece portion, and sufficient safety for the operator and the patient can be ensured. Further, since the temperature of the handpiece portion can be prevented from rising, it is possible to prevent the components such as the vibration system from being damaged by heat, and the durability of the device is significantly improved.

Further, if the notifying means is activated when a failure of the handpiece portion is detected, the operator can immediately be made aware of the occurrence of the failure and the occurrence of an accident can be prevented.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing an embodiment of the present invention, mainly showing a configuration of a handpiece portion.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an ultrasonic oscillator circuit according to the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing a handpiece portion in a conventional ultrasonic surgical apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing an electrostrictive vibrator incorporated in the handpiece portion shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a side view showing another conventional electrostrictive vibrator.

[Explanation of symbols]

 E Ultrasonic oscillator circuit M Handpiece part f Notification means 3 Electrostrictive vibrator 3d Suction path 4 Horn 4a Female part 4b Suction hole 5 Irrigation pipe 30 Frequency detection circuit 31 Discrimination circuit 32 Amplitude level setting circuit (output control circuit) 33 Drive control circuit 34 Voice generator 35 Speaker

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A handpiece part for generating ultrasonic vibrations in a female part in response to high-frequency power from an ultrasonic oscillator circuit, wherein the ultrasonic vibrations of the female part crush and cut living tissue and the like. In the ultrasonic surgical device, the handpiece part is connected to the horn, the horn having a female part at the tip part, and converts the high-frequency power output from the ultrasonic oscillation circuit into mechanical ultrasonic vibration. And an electrostrictive oscillator that transmits the mechanical vibration to the tip of the horn, and a cooling mechanism that cools a vibration system including the electrostrictive oscillator and the horn. A frequency detection circuit that detects a vibration frequency of the vibration system; a discrimination circuit that outputs a predetermined discrimination signal when the frequency detected by the frequency detection circuit is outside a predetermined frequency range; Is connected to the road, the determination signal ultrasonic surgical apparatus characterized by providing an output control circuit that reduces or blocks the output of the ultrasonic oscillation circuit upon receipt of. 2. A handpiece part for generating ultrasonic vibrations in a female part according to high-frequency power from an ultrasonic oscillator circuit so that the ultrasonic vibrations of the female part crush and cut living tissue and the like. In the ultrasonic surgical device, the handpiece part is connected to the horn, the horn having a female part at the tip part, and converts the high-frequency power output from the ultrasonic oscillation circuit into mechanical ultrasonic vibration. And an electrostrictive oscillator that transmits the mechanical vibration to the tip of the horn, and a cooling mechanism that cools a vibration system including the electrostrictive oscillator and the horn. Is a frequency detection circuit that detects the vibration frequency of the vibration system, a discrimination circuit that outputs a predetermined discrimination signal when the frequency detected by the frequency detection circuit is outside a predetermined frequency range, and a drive state And notification means for notifying the abnormality of Oite the handpiece unit, the determination is circuitry connected ultrasonic surgical apparatus characterized by providing a drive control circuit for driving the notification means when the reception of the discrimination signal. 3. The ultrasonic surgical apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the notifying means is composed of a voice generating device which generates a predetermined warning sound. 4. The ultrasonic surgical apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the notifying means is composed of a display device that displays a predetermined warning.