JP2000023982A - Ultrasonograph - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the formation of areas where the concentration of data is small. SOLUTION: The planes of radial scans within a linear body cavity are equally spaced, while the intervals between the planes of radial scans within a curved linear body cavity are dense inside the diameter of a curve and coarse outside it, resulting in the formation of an area where the concentration of data is small. Therefore, the generation of such an area is detected and voice calling attention is issued from a loudspeaker by a voice generator 21 provided in a microcomputer 20, to urge an operator to perform such a curving operation as to avoid the formation of areas where the concentration of the data is small.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and more particularly, to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized by a magnetic field detection data processing portion for detecting the position of the tip of an ultrasonic endoscope.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an ultrasonic endoscope having an ultrasonic transducer has been inserted into a body cavity, ultrasonic waves have been transmitted and received from the ultrasonic transducer, and the state of the body has been drawn from the echo signals. Ultrasound image diagnostic apparatuses that make diagnoses according to general requirements are commonly used.

[0003] An ultrasonic endoscope in such an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus is generally provided with an ultrasonic vibrator provided at the tip of a flexible shaft, and the outer periphery thereof is covered with a cylindrical sheath.

[0004] A radial scan system in which ultrasonic waves are irradiated in a radial direction by rotating ultrasonic vibrations through a flexible shaft,
The linear scan type, in which the flexible shaft and the ultrasonic transducer are moved in the insertion axis direction to emit ultrasonic waves in a direction orthogonal to the axial direction of the flexible shaft, the radial scan type described above, and the linear scan type Various types of the spiral scan method (three-dimensional method) combining the scan methods have been proposed.

In the above-mentioned spiral scan system, since a linear scan is performed simultaneously while performing a radial scan, a plurality of continuous ultrasonic tomographic images can be obtained. And the echo data (image data) obtained by this
Is subjected to some processing to obtain three-dimensional image data.

[0006] This type of ultrasonic image diagnostic apparatus usually captures echo data of a test site as an ultrasonic tomographic image of a plurality of continuous two-dimensional images, and obtains a three-dimensional image of the test site from the captured echo data. An image is constructed and displayed.

However, in the above-described ultrasonic image diagnostic apparatus for constructing a three-dimensional image, since the linear scan is generally performed by inserting and removing the ultrasonic endoscope by the operator's hand, the position of the distal end in the linear scan is Is inaccurate, and it is not possible to construct an accurate three-dimensional image.

Therefore, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 6-261900, a magnetic source comprising a coil is provided at the tip, and a magnetic field from this magnetic source is detected by a magnetic sensor provided outside, and an ultrasonic wave in a linear scan is detected. There has been proposed an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus capable of constructing an accurate three-dimensional image by calculating an axial position of a transducer and a scan plane direction in a radial scan.

[0009]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, there is a problem that a narrow portion and a sparse portion are formed in the radial scan plane in a curved body cavity, and a region having a low data density is generated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of preventing generation of a region having a low data density.

[0011]

An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention includes a transmitting coil for generating a magnetic field, and a receiving coil for detecting a magnetic field generated by the transmitting coil, wherein the transmitting coil and the receiving coil are provided. Any one of which is disposed at the distal end of the ultrasonic endoscope, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having a position calculating means for calculating the position of the distal end of the ultrasonic endoscope based on the detection signal detected by the receiving coil The ultrasonic endoscope is configured to include a warning unit that detects a bending of the distal end of the ultrasonic endoscope and issues a warning based on the bending.

In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, the warning means detects the bending of the distal end of the ultrasonic endoscope and issues a warning based on the bending, thereby preventing an area having a small data density. It is possible to do.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 5 relate to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a configuration of a distal end of an ultrasonic endoscope, and FIG. 2 is provided with the ultrasonic endoscope of FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of FIG. 2, and FIG. It is a figure which shows the effect | action of the modification of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of FIG.

(Construction) As shown in FIG. 1, the ultrasonic endoscope 1 has a hard rigid portion 3 at the distal end of the insertion portion 2 and is integrally connected to the distal end of the hard portion 3. A sheath 4 is provided. An ultrasonic vibrator 5 is rotatably connected to the flexible shaft 6 passing through the insertion portion 2 and the rigid portion 3.
Is filled with an ultrasonic transmission medium 7. Also,
The hard portion 3 has a built-in magnetic source 8 for generating a magnetic field in, for example, two orthogonal axes.

As shown in FIG. 2, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 11 of the present embodiment drives the ultrasonic endoscope 1 and the ultrasonic transducer 5 and the flexible shaft 6 of the ultrasonic endoscope 1. And an ultrasonic image processing apparatus 12 for processing echo data from the ultrasonic transducer 5 to form a three-dimensional ultrasonic image, and a patient 14 in which the insertion section 2 of the ultrasonic endoscope 1 is inserted into a body cavity. A magnetic sensor 16 composed of a plurality of, for example, 16 coils for detecting a magnetic field generated by the magnetic source 8 of the rigid portion 3 of the ultrasonic endoscope 1 provided on the bed 15 on which the
A position detecting device 17 for supplying a current to the magnetic source 8 to generate a magnetic field and inputting a magnetic field detection signal from the magnetic sensor 16 to calculate the position and orientation of the magnetic source 8; A personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as a personal computer) 20 for inputting a two-dimensional ultrasonic image and displaying an image based on the position and orientation of the magnetic source 8 obtained by the position detecting device 17 on a monitor 18 is provided.

(Operation) The operation of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described.

As shown in FIG. 3, the radial scan planes in a linear body cavity are equally spaced, but the radial scan planes in a curved linear body cavity are denser inside the curved diameter. The outside becomes sparse, and an area with a low data density is created. Therefore, the following method is used to detect the occurrence of such an area, and to generate a sound that calls attention from the speaker 22 by the sound generator 21 provided in the microcomputer 20, so as to prevent the area having a low data density from being generated. Prompt the operator for operation.

That is, in the present embodiment, during the ultrasonic observation, as shown in FIG. 4, in step S1, the magnetic field generated from the magnetic source 8 is applied to each voltage signal V _i (i) by each coil of the magnetic sensor 16. = 1 to 16) and input to the position detecting device 19, and in step S2, the position calculating circuit 22
And the position r (t) and orientation g of the magnetic source 8 at time t
(T) is calculated. The position r (t) and the orientation g (t)
Are both vectors.

In step S3, the microcomputer 20 differentiates the calculated position r (t) and orientation g (t) by the position r (t) in step S3. determine if greater than a predetermined allowable value gamma _0, and continue the change of the orientation g (t) with respect to changes in the position r (t) if a predetermined allowable value gamma ₀ or less is less returns to step S1 observation, differential If it is determined that the value γ is larger than the predetermined allowable value γ ₀ , an area with a small data amount will be generated, so that the bend exceeds the allowable value in step S6. Notify the surgeon and call attention.

(Effect) As described above, in the present embodiment, the bending state is constantly monitored during the ultrasonic diagnosis, and the ultrasonic endoscope 1
Since a warning is given by voice that linear scanning is performed when the amount of curvature at the tip of the data exceeds a predetermined allowable value, it is possible to easily prevent the occurrence of an area having a low data density.

It is to be noted that a warning is issued by voice in order to prevent a linear scan in which the bending amount exceeds a predetermined allowable value. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and as shown in FIG. The monitor 18 is provided with a display unit 24 for inputting the numerical data and displaying the numerical data.
A warning may be issued by the numerical value displayed in 4 to prevent the occurrence of an area having a low data density.

[Supplementary note] (Supplementary note 1) A transmitting coil for generating a magnetic field, and a receiving coil for detecting a magnetic field generated by the transmitting coil are provided, and one of the transmitting coil and the receiving coil is more than one. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising: a position calculating unit disposed at a distal end of an ultrasonic endoscope and calculating a position of the distal end of the ultrasonic endoscope based on a detection signal detected by the receiving coil. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: a warning unit that detects a bend at the tip of the device and issues a warning based on the bend.

(Additional Item 2) The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to Additional Item 1, wherein the warning means gives a warning by voice.

(Additional Item 3) The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to Additional Item 1, wherein the warning means gives a warning by displaying the amount of the bending.

[0026]

As described above, according to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention, the warning means detects the bending of the tip of the ultrasonic endoscope and issues a warning based on the bending, so that the data density is low. There is an effect that generation of a region can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a configuration of a distal end of an ultrasonic endoscope according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus including the ultrasonic endoscope of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view showing the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an operation of a modification of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Ultrasonic endoscope 2 ... Insertion part 3 ... Hard part 4 ... Sheath 5 ... Ultrasonic transducer 6 ... Flexible shaft 7 ... Ultrasonic transmission medium 8 ... Magnetic source 11 ... Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 12 ... Ultrasonic image processing Device 16 ... Magnetic sensor 17 ... Position detecting device 18 ... Monitor 20 ... Personal computer 21 ... Sound generator 22 ... Speaker

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Ichiro Odate 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Toshiro Ishimura 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Within Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Tomonao Kawashima 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Sumihiro Uchimura 2-43-2, Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo No. Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Ken Kawabata 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Jun Hasegawa 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo No. Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hideki Koyanagi 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olimpa Optical Industry Co., Ltd. in the F-term (reference) 4C061 AA00 BB08 CC00 DD00 FF35 GG11 HH51 JJ17 NN05 WW16 WW20 4C301 AA02 BB03 BB28 BB30 CC10 EE20 GA15 GC01 GD06 JB30 KK17 LL17

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A transmitting coil for generating a magnetic field, and a receiving coil for detecting a magnetic field generated by the transmitting coil, wherein one of the transmitting coil and the receiving coil is a tip of an ultrasonic endoscope. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus provided with a position calculating unit that calculates a position of the distal end of the ultrasonic endoscope based on a detection signal detected by the receiving coil, wherein a bending of the distal end of the ultrasonic endoscope is detected. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus further comprising a warning unit for issuing a warning based on the bending.