JPH10192282A - Biomagnetograph - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make a bioimagnetograph easily operable and to detect a morbid condition up to a crystal, molecular, or atomic level, by irradiating a subject with electromagnetic wave to image the radiated electromagnetic wave from a matter and setting a wave length selecting means on an irradiating means or a imaging means. SOLUTION: Multispectrum light in the infrared range is projected by a tooth irradiating means of a caries diagnostic device, and an electromagnetic wave reflected and reradiated by the tooth is guided to and passed through Fabry-Perotetalon, a wavelength selecting means. Only an electromagnetic wave with a specific wavelength is allowed to pass through by the interval of etalon plates. The light passed through the electing means is imaged by an imaging means such as a camera mounted with an infrared detecting array. This operation is performed on the selected wavelength by scanning of the etalon plates, and imaging is repeated by wavelengths to display images of an object by wavelength. A part higher than the threshold value is displayed as the healthy part and a part not higher as the affected part.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for diagnosing the condition of a substance such as a living body such as a tooth or a bone, such as the state of health, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is a caries detecting liquid and the like.

[0003]

In the conventional method for detecting a site affected by dental caries in a dental caries detecting liquid, an operation surface such as applying the liquid to a living body such as a tooth or repeatedly applying and cutting the liquid many times is required. It is complicated, and the container of the detection liquid easily touches the living body or causes suction of saliva etc. into the container due to negative pressure, which may cause hospital infection, etc. In addition, there is a problem that the diagnosis is only possible with the dentin of the tooth, which is troublesome.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to be easy to handle, capable of detecting a disease state down to the crystal, molecular, and atomic levels, and at a high speed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a living body diagnostic apparatus and method which are hardly infected by contact and can be used for various tissues of a living body.

[0005]

The information input device of the present invention employs the following technical means. According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a living body diagnostic apparatus which irradiates a substance such as a living body with an electromagnetic wave having a predetermined wavelength or a predetermined wavelength spectrum, and captures radiated electromagnetic waves from the irradiated substance such as a living body. And a wavelength selecting means for electromagnetic waves is employed as one or both of the irradiating means and the imaging means.

[Means for Claim 2] The living body diagnostic apparatus according to claim 2 employs an image pickup means for picking up an electromagnetic wave radiated from a substance such as a living body, and a wavelength selecting means for the electromagnetic wave in the image pickup means.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the biological diagnostic apparatus according to the third aspect, the substance according to the first or second aspect is a substance having an apatite matrix such as a tooth or a bone as a tissue structure. adopt.

[0008]

Effects of the Invention and Effects of the Invention

[Function and Effect of Claim 1] The device according to claim 1 is an irradiation means for irradiating a substance such as a living body with an electromagnetic wave having a predetermined wavelength or a predetermined wavelength spectrum, and Imaging means for imaging radiated electromagnetic waves, and wavelength selection means for electromagnetic waves for either or both of the irradiating means and the imaging means are easy to handle, and detection of disease states down to the crystal, molecule, and atomic levels is easy. It is possible and can be used for most tissues of living organisms at a high speed, without contact and without infection.

[0010] The apparatus according to claim 2 employs an image pickup means for picking up an electromagnetic wave radiated from a substance such as a living body, and a wavelength selecting means for the electromagnetic wave in the image pickup means. It is unnecessary, easy to handle, can detect disease states down to the crystal, molecular, and atomic levels, and can be used for most tissues of living organisms at high speed, without contact and without infection.

[0010] [Function and Effect of Claim 3] In the biological diagnostic apparatus of claim 3, the substance according to claim 1 or 2 is a substance having an apatite matrix such as a tooth or a bone as a tissue structure. Therefore, the affected area of caries can be regarded as a collapse of apatite, and the affected area can be diagnosed.

[0011]

Next, a living body diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention will be described.
Description will be made based on the embodiment or the modification shown in FIG. Embodiment 1 The first embodiment proposes use as a method for diagnosing dental caries. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a dental caries diagnosis apparatus according to the first embodiment. This is composed of teeth, electromagnetic wave irradiation means, wavelength selection means, and imaging means.

A tooth irradiating unit irradiates a tooth with multispectral light in an infrared region. The light hits the teeth and is reflected and re-emitted. The reflected and re-radiated electromagnetic wave is guided to the Fabry-Perot etalon, which is a wavelength selecting means, and passes therethrough. At this time, only an electromagnetic wave of a specific wavelength passes due to the interval between the etalon plates.

The light passing through the selection means is converted to HgCdT
The image is taken by an image pickup means such as a camera equipped with an infrared detection array such as e. This operation is performed by scanning the selected wavelength by scanning the etalon plate, and image pickup is repeated for each wavelength, and a subject image for each wavelength is synthesized or displayed individually.

At present, it is considered that dental caries starts along with the destruction of the phosphate group. Therefore, the cutting range is determined based on the peak shift or the peak intensity at the time of examination in the phosphate group usually present in the 8.8 to 10 μm band. . That is, the intensity of the absorption peak or the resonance Q or the peak frequency is different between the healthy part and the affected part. Here, a healthy distribution is measured at the time of a medical examination, or a healthy part determined by a dentist of the same tooth is compared with a healthy part and displayed in different colors.

That is, the dentist operates the mouse and keyboard to set a threshold value for the absorption peak intensity while viewing the display on the monitor or the like. Then, a portion having a value equal to or larger than the threshold value is input to a control mechanism such as a computer as a healthy portion and a portion below the threshold value is input to a control mechanism such as a computer.

Here, another absorption peak of 240 nm,
By measuring 280 nm, 3 μm, etc., it is possible to detect the spread of the caries condition in more detail. It is desirable to make a diagnosis in conjunction with the attenuation, disappearance or shift of such other peaks in the future.

Based on the above diagnosis results, cutting is started with a cutting device such as a CO2 laser. At this time, if the dentist determines and stores the designated affected area in the living body diagnostic apparatus and controls the cutting device by the living body diagnostic apparatus, that is, controls beam stop at a normal part, overtreatment can be avoided.

[Effects of the Embodiment] The biological diagnostic apparatus and method of the present embodiment are easy to handle, capable of detecting a disease state down to the crystal, molecule, and atomic levels, and capable of infecting at high speed without contact. It is difficult to perform a living body diagnosis that can be used for most tissues of other living bodies. That is, the living body diagnostic apparatus and method of the present embodiment include:
By observing the absorption peak due to the molecular vibration inside or outside a healthy apatite or the vibration of the atoms created by the apatite crystal, the structural destruction of the vibration source, namely caries, acid erosion,
Abrasion, bruises, etc. can be detected, so diagnosis can be made at the molecular and atomic levels, rather than at the tissue level, such as conventional caries detection solutions. be able to. In this case, at present, only destruction at the visual level can be captured, but diagnosis can be made at the molecular and atomic levels as well as caries.

[Modification] In the above embodiment, the imaging device is HgCdTe, but CCD, InAs, PbSnT
e, PbS, CdS, CdSe, PzT, LiTaO
3. It may be used as another image sensor such as a thermopile or a bolometer. A similar effect may be obtained by applying an antenna or the like.

In the above embodiment, the peak of the phosphoric acid group was used as an index. However, the peak to be used as a reference is not particularly limited at the discretion of the operator. Further, the tooth is taken as an example, but other tissues or substances may be used.

In the above embodiment, the tooth is irradiated with infrared light. However, the present invention may be applied to other tissues or substances, or may use electromagnetic waves of other wavelengths such as ultraviolet light, visible light, and radio waves. May be. Further, it may be coherent or incoherent light. When ultraviolet rays or X-rays are used, changes in electrons in atoms or molecules are observed. In the case of γ-rays or the like, movement in atomic nuclei is an index.

In the above embodiment, the tooth is irradiated with the infrared light. However, when the tooth is observed by a spectrum due to molecular motion such as heat of the tooth itself, the irradiation means may not be used. In addition, other energy may be used, that is, radiation waves for irradiation and observation may be electromagnetic waves of different wavelengths, or may be external heating for causing molecular vibration.

Although the multi-spectral light is irradiated, a monochromatic light having a variable wavelength such as a wavelength-variable laser may be scanned and used as wavelength selecting means. Further, an electromagnetic wave having a specific wavelength may be irradiated using a diffraction grating or the like. Further, the film type filter may be replaced. These wavelength selection means may be used for either irradiation or imaging, or for both. In this case, the irradiation may be continuous irradiation or pulse irradiation. In particular, in the case of pulse irradiation, the absorption peak may be obtained by capturing the re-radiated wave when the pulse disappears. That is, the wavelength may be scanned along the wavelength of the pulse, the amplitude of the radiation wave from the living body may be sequentially measured, and the absorption peak may be obtained from the intensity ratio. Further, a pulse may be irradiated two or more times with a time interval. At this time, the irradiation of the pulse a plurality of times is more effective because a phase matching is performed and a radiation wave much larger than the radiation by only one irradiation can be obtained.

In the above embodiment, a threshold value is provided for the intensity. However, a threshold value may be provided for a frequency such as a peak shift in a phosphoric acid group, or a threshold value may be provided for Q of resonance.
Further, any one of them may be selected or a combination thereof.

A range may be set for the threshold value, the display may be performed in any method such as black and white, color, no gradation, gradation, or may be displayed in combination with a natural image.

A waveguide such as an optical fiber may be used for the imaging means and the irradiation means. In this embodiment, the reflected wave is used for imaging, but transmission may be used.

If there is a wavelength shift or a change in the wavelength intensity pattern at the affected part, overtreatment or the like can be further avoided by irradiating the laser with the wavelength or the wavelength intensity pattern tuned to the laser wavelength. In this case, the affected part may be cut by irradiating light of multiple wavelengths, and may be used as an index of cutting. If annealing is performed based on a peak wavelength or a peak intensity pattern, a proper annealing range and time can be monitored or controlled.

[0028]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a living body diagnostic apparatus.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An irradiating means for irradiating a substance such as a living body with an electromagnetic wave having a predetermined wavelength or a predetermined wavelength spectrum, an imaging means for imaging an irradiating electromagnetic wave from a substance such as a living body, and the irradiating means Alternatively, a living body diagnostic apparatus provided with wavelength selecting means for electromagnetic waves in one or both of the imaging means. 2. A living body diagnostic apparatus comprising: imaging means for imaging radiated electromagnetic waves from a substance such as a living body; and a wavelength selecting means for the electromagnetic waves in the imaging means. 3. The biological diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the substance according to claim 1 is a substance having an apatite matrix such as a tooth or a bone as a tissue structure.