CN211270847U - Ultrasonic endoscope system and ultrasonic transducer - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model provides an ultrasonic transducer, the back lining ring outer peripheral face that the supersound wafer arranged around the annular, the inner electrode layer is located the inner circle of supersound wafer, let in the internal surface of electric pulse excitation supersound wafer, outer electrode layer is located the outer peripheral face of supersound wafer, let in the surface of electric pulse excitation supersound wafer, the electrode direction of inner electrode layer is arranged perpendicularly with the electrode direction of outer electrode layer, change at the excitation position of supersound wafer through inner electrode layer and outer electrode layer, can adjust ultrasonic transducer at circumference and focus position, thereby make ultrasonic transducer in the even unanimity of formation of image in the sound field region. The utility model also provides an ultrasonic endoscope system.

Description

Ultrasound Endoscopy Systems and Ultrasound Transducers

technical field

The utility model relates to the technical field of endoscopes, in particular to an ultrasonic endoscope system and an ultrasonic transducer.

Background technique

Endoscopic Ultrasonography System (EUS) is a medical device that integrates ultrasound and endoscopy. After the endoscope enters the body cavity, tomography scan is performed on the internal organ wall or adjacent organs under the direct vision of the endoscope to obtain ultrasound images of the layers below the mucosa of the internal organ wall and surrounding adjacent organs, such as the mediastinum, pancreas, bile duct and It has great advantages in staging of gastrointestinal tumors and judging the nature of tumors originating from the intestinal wall.

The early ultrasonic endoscope system mainly used a mechanical scanning method, using a micro-motor to drive the connecting rod to drive the single ultrasonic transducer at the top of the endoscope to rotate 360°, and obtain annular tomographic images perpendicular to the axis; The advantage is that the transducer is simple in design, but requires high-precision mechanical connection and drive, is easy to damage, and the obtained image is not stable enough, but due to the late emergence of new technologies, it is still widely used.

In the 21st century, Japan's Fuji, Olympus, Pentax and other companies have successively developed 360° electronic annular scanning ultrasound probes, combined with color Doppler ultrasound diagnostic equipment using fully digital image processing technology, to achieve a new type of fully digital ultrasound endoscope. imaging system.

The transducers used in the 360° annular ultrasound endoscope are generally composed of dozens to hundreds of elongated array elements, which are uniformly arranged in a circle along the radial direction. The outer diameter of the array is generally not more than 13mm, and the center frequency is 3 ~ 15MHz, each array element has an independent outlet, which can be excited by electrical pulses to obtain a 360° ring scan image. This method does not need to be driven by a DC motor, which avoids the shortcomings of mechanical ring-sweeping endoscopic ultrasound. Electronic ring scanning endoscopic ultrasonography is suitable for large-scale scanning, overall evaluation and judgment.

The existing ultrasonic probes are only arranged in a 1D linear array in the scanning direction, so they have good electronic focusing ability only in the array direction, but cannot change the aperture size in the elevation direction (Elevation), and cannot achieve focusing, while 1.5 D-phased arrays can improve this problem. The 1.5D array can not only change the aperture size in the elevation direction, but also realize the beam focusing in the elevation direction, and can obtain better acoustic images than the 1D line array. Resolution will also be higher than conventional 1D line array probes.

Because the detection part of the endoscopic ultrasonic transducer is inside the human body, the size of the transducer cannot be enlarged due to objective factors. For example, the ultrasonic gastroscope needs to be inserted from the mouth and through the esophagus into the stomach cavity. Under normal circumstances, the diameter of the transducer and the entire insertion part should not be greater than 13mm. When doing array endoscopy, the cable needs to be connected to the transducer and enter the human body together, and the cable has a certain wire diameter. When hundreds of cables are twisted together, their overall size and lead difficulty will be important factors limiting the development of endoscopes to more array elements and wider dimensions.

In the field of medical ultrasound, 1.5D planar phased array probes have been used in some applications, but they are rarely used in ultrasound endoscopy systems, especially 360-degree annular array ultrasound endoscopy systems. The main difficulty is that it is very difficult to draw out a large number of cables in a limited space.

Therefore, how to improve the imaging effect of the ultrasonic transducer is an urgent problem to be solved by those skilled in the art.

Utility model content

In view of this, the utility model provides an ultrasonic transducer to improve the imaging effect of the ultrasonic transducer; the utility model also provides an ultrasonic endoscope system.

In order to achieve the above object, the utility model provides the following technical solutions:

An ultrasonic transducer includes an annularly arranged backing ring and an ultrasonic wafer attached to the outer circumference of the backing ring, the inner ring of the ultrasonic wafer is arranged with a ring around the outer circumference of the backing ring. an inner electrode layer, the outer ring of the ultrasonic wafer is attached with an outer electrode layer around its circumference;

The electrode direction of the inner electrode layer is arranged along the axial direction of the backing ring, and the electrode direction of the outer electrode layer is arranged around the circumference of the backing ring.

Preferably, in the above ultrasonic transducer, the inner electrode layer includes a central electrode, and multiple sets of side electrodes symmetrically arranged on both sides of the central electrode;

The width of the central electrode is arranged in proportion to the width of each of the side electrodes.

Preferably, in the above ultrasonic transducer, the width of the central electrode is twice the width of each of the side electrodes.

Preferably, in the above ultrasonic transducer, the side electrodes include a first side electrode and a second side electrode that are close to the inner side and outer side of the central electrode, respectively;

The internal electrode layer includes a center lead drawn from the center electrode, a first side lead drawn from the first side electrode, and a second side lead drawn from the second side electrode.

Preferably, in the above ultrasonic transducer, a ground electrode lead for applying an excitation electric field to the ultrasonic wafer is drawn from the inner electrode layer, and a positive electrode for applying an excitation electric field to the ultrasonic wafer is drawn from the outer electrode layer. electrode lead.

Preferably, in the above ultrasonic transducer, a plurality of electrode array elements are arranged in parallel on the outer electrode layer, and electrode leads are drawn from each of the electrode array elements.

Preferably, in the above ultrasonic transducer, the ultrasonic wafer includes a plurality of elongated ultrasonic array elements whose length directions are axially arranged along the backing ring, and a plurality of the ultrasonic array elements surround the backing ring Circumferentially evenly arranged;

The outer diameter of the ultrasonic wafer is not greater than 13 mm, and the center frequency of the ultrasonic wafer is 3-15 MHz.

Preferably, in the above ultrasonic transducer, a first matching layer, a second matching layer and an acoustic lens are further stacked and arranged on the outer periphery of the outer electrode layer in sequence.

An ultrasonic endoscope system includes an endoscopic ultrasonic excitation system, an optical imaging system, a display, and a puncture needle system, wherein the puncture needle system includes an insertion part that can be inserted into a subject, and is arranged at the front end of the insertion part The front hard part, the bending part and the flexible tube part are arranged in the front hard part, and the ring array ultrasonic transducer is arranged in the front hard part. of ultrasonic transducers.

Preferably, in the above ultrasonic endoscope system, the endoscope ultrasonic excitation system includes a secondary excitation system that excites the inner electrode layer and the outer electrode layer respectively.

The ultrasonic transducer provided by the utility model comprises a ring-shaped backing ring and an ultrasonic wafer attached to the outer circumference of the backing ring. The inner ring of the ultrasonic wafer is arranged with an inner electrode layer surrounding the outer circumference of the backing ring. , the outer ring of the ultrasonic wafer is attached with an outer electrode layer around its circumference; the electrode direction of the inner electrode layer is arranged along the axial direction of the backing ring, and the electrode direction of the outer electrode layer is arranged around the circumference of the backing ring. The ultrasonic wafer surrounds the outer peripheral surface of the annularly arranged backing ring, the inner electrode layer is located on the inner circle of the ultrasonic wafer, and the inner surface of the ultrasonic wafer is excited by the electric pulse, and the outer electrode layer is located on the outer peripheral surface of the ultrasonic wafer, and the ultrasonic wafer is excited by the electric pulse The outer surface of the inner electrode layer is arranged perpendicular to the electrode direction of the outer electrode layer. By changing the excitation position of the inner electrode layer and the outer electrode layer in the ultrasonic wafer, the ultrasonic transducer can be adjusted in the circumferential direction and the focusing position. Adjustment, so that the imaging of the ultrasonic transducer in the sound field area is uniform and consistent.

Description of drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present utility model or the technical solutions in the prior art, the following briefly introduces the accompanying drawings that need to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the accompanying drawings in the following description These are just some embodiments of the present invention, and for those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can also be obtained from these drawings without creative effort.

1 is a schematic diagram of the arrangement structure of an ultrasonic transducer provided by the utility model;

Fig. 2 is the unfolded structure schematic diagram of the inner electrode layer in Fig. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the electrode wire lead-out structure of the inner electrode layer in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the unfolded structure of the outer electrode layer in FIG. 1;

5 is a schematic diagram of the arrangement structure of the ultrasonic endoscope system provided by the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the end structure of the ring array ultrasonic transducer in FIG. 5 .

Detailed ways

The utility model discloses an ultrasonic transducer, which improves the imaging effect of the ultrasonic transducer; the utility model also provides an ultrasonic endoscope system.

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present utility model will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present utility model. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present utility model, rather than all the implementations. example. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative work fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1 , FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the arrangement structure of the ultrasonic transducer provided by the present invention.

This embodiment provides an ultrasonic transducer, which includes a backing ring 1 arranged in an annular shape and an ultrasonic wafer 2 attached to the outer circumference of the backing ring 1 . The inner electrode layer 3 on the outer circumference, the outer ring of the ultrasonic wafer 2 is attached with the outer electrode layer 4 around its circumference; the electrode direction of the inner electrode layer 3 is arranged along the axial direction of the backing ring 1, and the electrodes of the outer electrode layer 4 The directions are arranged around the circumference of the backing ring 1 . The ultrasonic wafer 2 surrounds the outer peripheral surface of the annularly arranged backing ring 1, the inner electrode layer 3 is located on the inner circle of the ultrasonic wafer 2, and the inner surface of the ultrasonic wafer 2 is excited by electric pulses, and the outer electrode layer 4 is located on the outer peripheral surface of the ultrasonic wafer 2, The outer surface of the ultrasonic wafer is excited by an electric pulse, and the electrode direction of the inner electrode layer 3 is arranged perpendicular to the electrode direction of the outer electrode layer 4. By changing the excitation position of the inner electrode layer 3 and the outer electrode layer 4 in the ultrasonic wafer, it can be The ultrasonic transducer is adjusted in the circumferential direction and the focus position, so that the imaging of the ultrasonic transducer in the sound field area is uniform and consistent.

As shown in Fig. 2-Fig. 4, Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of the unfolded structure of the inner electrode layer in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of the electrode wire lead-out structure of the inner electrode layer in Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is the unfolded structure of the outer electrode layer in Fig. 1. Schematic.

In a specific embodiment of the present case, the inner electrode layer 3 includes a central electrode 33 and multiple sets of side electrodes symmetrically arranged on both sides of the central electrode; the width of the central electrode 33 is arranged in proportion to the width of each side electrode. The electrode direction of the inner electrode layer 3 is arranged along the axial direction of the backing ring 1, and the inner electrode layer is provided with a central electrode 33 and a plurality of groups of side electrodes symmetrically located on both sides of the central electrode 33, and each group of side electrodes includes symmetrically located central electrodes. 33 The two side electrodes on both sides of the width direction, by arranging the width of the central electrode 33 in proportion to the width of each side electrode, the electrodes with different depths along the axial direction of the ultrasonic transducer can be excited by different electrical pulses , the imaging of the ultrasonic transducer is adjusted in its axial direction to realize the focusing of ultrasonic waves at different depths.

Specifically, the width of the central electrode 33 is twice the width of each side electrode. To meet the radial imaging requirements of the 1.5D ultrasonic transducer, the width of the central electrode 33 is set to be twice that of the side electrodes, and an ultrasonic transducer of the same size can be used to realize the 1.5D to replace the 1D imaging scheme.

In a specific embodiment of this case, the side electrodes include a first side electrode 32 and a second side electrode 31 that are close to the inner and outer sides of the center electrode 33, respectively; the inner electrode layer 3 includes a center lead Y3 drawn from the center electrode 33, A first side lead Y2 drawn from the side electrode 32 and a second side lead Y1 drawn from the second side electrode 31 . To meet the medical imaging requirements of ultrasonic transducers, the first side electrodes 32 and the second side electrodes 31 are symmetrically arranged on both sides of the center electrode 33. The first side electrodes 32 include two symmetrically located in the width direction of the center electrode 33, The two side electrodes 31 also include two symmetrically located central electrodes and are located outside the first side electrodes 32 .

The electrode leads of the inner electrode layer 3 and the center electrode 33 are set to lead out the center lead Y3 separately, the two lead-out electrode lines of the first side electrode 32 are combined into a first side lead Y2, and the two lead-out lines of the second side electrode 31 are combined into one first side lead Y2. The electrode lines are then merged into a second side lead Y1.

As shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 , the internal electrode layer 33 has three electrode leads Y1 , Y2 and Y3 , Y1 is the second side lead of the second side electrode 31 of the outermost layer of the internal electrode layer, and Y2 is the second side lead of the second side electrode 31 of the outermost layer of the internal electrode layer 33 . The first side lead of one side electrode 32, Y3 is the center lead of the center electrode 33, by performing different electrode excitations on Y1, Y2 and Y3, an electric field can be formed at different positions of the ultrasonic wafer in the axial direction, and the ultrasonic transducer can be converted The imaging of the sensor is depth-adjusted in the axial direction.

In a specific embodiment of the present case, the inner electrode layer 33 has a ground electrode lead that applies an excitation electric field to the ultrasonic wafer, and the outer electrode layer 4 has a positive electrode lead that applies an excitation electric field to the ultrasonic wafer.

In a specific embodiment of the present case, a plurality of electrode array elements 41 are arranged in parallel on the outer electrode layer 4 , and electrode leads are drawn from each electrode array element 41 . The electrode direction of the outer electrode layer 4 surrounds the circumferential direction of the backing ring 1, and is in a vertical arrangement with the axial electrodes of the inner electrode layer 3. A plurality of electrode array elements 41 arranged in parallel are arranged on the outer electrode layer 4. Each electrode Electrode leads are arranged on the array elements 41, and electrical pulses are passed through different electrode leads, and the electrode array elements on the outer electrode layer at different positions around its circumference are excited.

The position of the backing block 1 is adjusted by the excitation electric field generated on the inner electrode layer 3 in the axial direction of the backing block 1 , and the position of the excitation electric field generated on the outer electrode layer 4 is adjusted in the circumferential direction of the backing block 1 , and the two jointly excite the ultrasonic wafer. When ultrasonic waves are generated at the position, the ultrasonic imaging can be focused in the depth direction and deflected in the circumferential direction, so as to obtain better image quality.

In a specific embodiment of the present case, the ultrasonic wafer 2 includes a plurality of elongated ultrasonic array elements whose length directions are arranged in the axial direction of the backing ring, and the plurality of ultrasonic array elements are uniformly arranged around the circumference of the backing ring; the ultrasonic wafer The outer diameter of the ultrasonic chip is not more than 13mm, and the center frequency of the ultrasonic chip is 3-15MHz.

The ultrasonic chip adopts long strip ultrasonic array elements, and the length of each ultrasonic array element should be consistent with the width of the inner electrode layer and the width of the outer electrode layer. The outer diameter of the ultrasonic wafer is set to be no greater than 13 mm, and the center frequency of the ultrasonic wafer is 3 to 15 MHz, so that the ultrasonic transducer with the inner electrode layer and the outer electrode layer in this embodiment can be used to replace the existing ultrasonic transducer to realize Using the existing ultrasonic endoscope system to realize the imaging scheme of replacing the 1D array with 1.5D phased array.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2-FIG. 4, the inner electrode layer 3 is composed of a middle electrode, a first side electrode and a second side electrode, the electrode direction of the inner electrode layer is set to the Y direction, and the electrode lead wires of the inner electrode layer include the inner layer The middle lead Y3, the first side lead Y2 of the first side electrodes in the two rows inward, and the second side lead Y1 of the two rows of the second side electrodes on the most edge are three electrode leads, and the electrode direction of the outer electrode layer 4 is set as X The numbers of the electrode array elements 41 from left to right are X1, X2, X3... The circumferential position array of pad 1, the ultrasonic transducer has N+3 electrode leads, and the actual number of coded array elements is 3N, so when the array element is controlled by the positive electrode lead and the ground electrode lead, it can be controlled by the positive electrode lead and the ground electrode lead. Addressed excitation is performed on the rows and columns formed by the X and Y directions to achieve deep focusing in the near field, mid field and far field of the Y direction and focus deflection in the X direction, and obtain higher quality and more complete image information in medicine. The routing method of row and column addressing can also solve the problem on the routing of the multi-array element array very well.

In a specific embodiment of this case, a first matching layer, a second matching layer and an acoustic lens 6 are further stacked on the outer circumference of the outer electrode layer 4 in order. To meet the structural arrangement requirements of the ultrasonic endoscope system, the matching layer 5 and the acoustic lens 6 can be arranged around the outer ring of the outer electrode layer 4 to meet the structural requirements of the ultrasonic transducer. Of course, the stack structure can be based on the actual ultrasonic transducer. The structure is increased or decreased.

As shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 , FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the arrangement structure of the ultrasonic endoscope system provided by the present invention; FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the end structure of the ring array ultrasonic transducer in FIG. 5 .

Based on the ultrasonic transducer provided in the above-mentioned embodiment, the present invention also provides an ultrasonic endoscope system, which includes an endoscopic ultrasonic excitation system 12, an optical imaging system 13, a display 51 and a puncture needle system 52. The puncture needle The system 52 includes an insertion part 23 that can be inserted into the subject, a front-end rigid part 20 , a bending part 21 and a flexible tube part 22 arranged at the front end of the insertion part 23 , and a ring array ultrasonic transducer is arranged in the front-end rigid part 20 . 201, the ring array ultrasonic transducer 201 is provided with the ultrasonic transducer provided in the above embodiment.

The end of the front end rigid part 20 is provided with a water spray hole 202, an air injection hole 203, and a puncture hole 204. The light source 205 provides illumination for the optical camera 206. When sampling, the front end hard part 20 enters the body of the subject, and the puncture needle 30 passes through the puncture hole. 204 is extended to take a biopsy sample.

Since the ultrasonic endoscope system adopts the ultrasonic transducer of the above-mentioned embodiment, the beneficial effects brought by the ultrasonic endoscope system of the ultrasonic endoscope system can be referred to the above-mentioned embodiment.

In a specific embodiment of the present application, the endoscopic ultrasonic excitation system includes a secondary excitation system that excites the inner electrode layer and the outer electrode layer respectively. By setting the endoscope ultrasonic excitation system with the ground electrode excitation system and the positive electrode excitation system, the addressable excitation requirements of the inner motor layer and the outer electrode layer are met, and the 1.5D work requirements of the ultrasonic endoscope system are met.

The above description of the disclosed embodiments enables those skilled in the art to implement or use the present invention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims (10)

1. An ultrasonic transducer, characterized in that it comprises an annularly arranged backing ring and an ultrasonic wafer attached to the outer circumference of the backing ring, wherein the inner ring of the ultrasonic wafer is arranged with a backing surrounding the backing. an inner electrode layer on the outer circumference of the ring, the outer ring of the ultrasonic wafer is attached with an outer electrode layer around its circumference; The electrode direction of the inner electrode layer is arranged along the axial direction of the backing ring, and the electrode direction of the outer electrode layer is arranged around the circumference of the backing ring. 2. The ultrasonic transducer according to claim 1, wherein the inner electrode layer comprises a center electrode, and multiple groups of side electrodes symmetrically arranged on both sides of the center electrode; The width of the central electrode is arranged in proportion to the width of each of the side electrodes. 3. The ultrasonic transducer of claim 2, wherein the width of the central electrode is twice the width of each of the side electrodes. 4. The ultrasonic transducer according to claim 3, wherein the side electrode comprises a first side electrode and a second side electrode which are respectively close to the inner side and the outer side of the central electrode; The internal electrode layer includes a center lead drawn from the center electrode, a first side lead drawn from the first side electrode, and a second side lead drawn from the second side electrode. 5 . The ultrasonic transducer according to claim 1 , wherein a ground electrode lead for applying an excitation electric field to the ultrasonic wafer is drawn from the inner electrode layer, and a ground electrode lead is drawn from the outer electrode layer. 6 . The positive electrode lead of the ultrasonic wafer to apply the excitation electric field. 6 . The ultrasonic transducer according to claim 4 , wherein a plurality of electrode array elements are arranged in parallel on the outer electrode layer, and electrode leads are drawn from each of the electrode array elements. 7 . 7 . The ultrasonic transducer according to claim 1 , wherein the ultrasonic wafer comprises a plurality of elongated ultrasonic array elements whose length directions are axially arranged along the backing ring, and a plurality of the ultrasonic arrays. 8 . elements are evenly arranged around the circumference of the backing ring; The outer diameter of the ultrasonic wafer is not greater than 13 mm, and the center frequency of the ultrasonic wafer is 3-15 MHz. 8 . The ultrasonic transducer according to claim 1 , wherein a first matching layer, a second matching layer and an acoustic lens are further stacked and arranged on the outer periphery of the outer electrode layer. 9 . 9. An ultrasonic endoscope system, comprising an endoscopic ultrasonic excitation system, an optical imaging system, a display, and a puncture needle system, the puncture needle system comprising an insertion portion capable of being inserted into a subject, and disposed at the front end of the insertion portion The front hard part, the bending part and the flexible tube part are arranged in the front hard part, and the ring array ultrasonic transducer is arranged in the front hard part. The ultrasonic transducer of any one. 10 . The ultrasonic endoscope system according to claim 9 , wherein the endoscope ultrasonic excitation system comprises a secondary excitation system that excites the inner electrode layer and the outer electrode layer respectively. 11 .

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