JP2001128979A - Intra-celom ultrasonic probe - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To hardly give pains to a subject and improve the operability for a diagnostician in switching a vibrator to delineate cross sections different from each other in an inter-celom ultrasonic probe having two or more vibrators. SOLUTION: This intra-celom ultrasonic probe is formed by plural vibrators 1, 11 for making two or more vibrators 1, 11 come close to each other, and one acoustic lens 7.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic probe in a body cavity mounted on a medical ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an intracavity diagnosis using an intracavity ultrasonic probe, a plurality of transducers are used to depict the entire diagnostic region on both a plane parallel to the shaft and a plane perpendicular to the shaft. And delineating orthogonal cross sections of the same site are crucial for more accurate diagnosis.

A transducer provided in a conventional intracavity ultrasonic probe generally has a configuration as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-76242.

Hereinafter, the configuration of a conventional intracavity ultrasonic probe will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. In addition,
3 and 4, hatching of the vibrator and the acoustic lens is omitted for convenience.

[0005] As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the intracavity ultrasonic probe called a biplane has two array-type transducers 31 and 41. Here, the vibrators 31 and 41 are composed of a composite in which piezoelectric vibrators 35 and 45 and acoustic matching layers 36 and 46 are provided on the upper surfaces of the back load members 34 and 44 on the reinforcing plates 32 and 42. The vibrators 31 and 41 are provided with acoustic lenses on the upper surfaces of the acoustic matching layers 36 and 46, respectively. The long side of the vibrator 41 is disposed so as to be parallel to the central axis of the shaft 33, and the long side of the vibrator 31 is
Are arranged so as to intersect at right angles to the central axis, and are fixed to the shaft 33, respectively.

Next, the operation of the conventional example will be described.

Normally, the diagnostician uses both the transducer 41 provided in parallel with the probe shaft 33 or the transducer 31 orthogonal to the shaft 33, and a plane parallel to the central axis of the shaft 33 and the shaft. Diagnosis is performed by looking at a cross-sectional image of a diagnostic site on a plane orthogonal to the central axis of 33.

[0008]

However, in the above conventional example, the vibrator 31 and the vibrator 41 are 5 mm to 1 mm.
The bridge 38 is fixed to the shaft 33 at an interval of about 0 mm. Therefore, in order to render the cross section orthogonal to the cross section of the organ drawn by the transducer 31 with the transducer 41, the probe must be moved at least 5 mm to 10 mm more.

Therefore, in order to draw a plane parallel to the shaft 33, the insertion distance to be inserted into the body cavity becomes long.
This has caused a problem that the subject is distressed and the operability is deteriorated.

The present invention has been made to solve such a conventional problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic probe in a body cavity which reduces the pain of a subject and improves the operability of a diagnostician. It is the purpose.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, an ultrasonic probe in a body cavity according to the present invention comprises two or more transducers and a plurality of transducers corresponding to the transducers. And one acoustic lens provided on the subject side of the child.

With this configuration, by eliminating extra space and minimizing the insertion distance, the pain of the subject can be reduced and the operability of the diagnostician can be improved.

[0013] The intracavity ultrasonic probe of the present invention comprises two or more transducers and a plurality of acoustic lenses provided on the subject side of the plurality of transducers corresponding to the plurality of transducers. And an acoustic lens configured as an integral type by joining the parts.

[0014] With this configuration, since the extra space is eliminated and the insertion distance is minimized, the pain of the subject can be reduced and the operability of the diagnostician can be improved.

[0015] By providing the intracavity ultrasonic probe to which the one acoustic lens is attached, when different cross sections of the diagnostic site are switched and drawn, or when all of the diagnostic sites are drawn in a plane parallel to the shaft. When rendering with images,
This has the effect of minimizing the distance to be inserted into the body cavity, reducing the pain of the subject, and improving the operability of the diagnostician.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing of an intracavity ultrasonic probe showing the configuration of the first embodiment of the present invention. The biplane has two transducers for displaying cross sections orthogonal to each other. It is an ultrasonic probe.

In FIG. 1, a convex type vibrator 1 is shown.
Renders an image of a plane orthogonal to the shaft 3. The linear vibrator 2 draws an image of a plane parallel to the shaft 3.

The vibrator 1 and the vibrator 11 are provided with piezoelectric vibrators 5 and 15 on the upper surfaces of the back load members 4 and 14 provided on the reinforcing plates 2 and 12, respectively. Are provided with acoustic matching layers 6 and 16. The reinforcing plates 2 and 12 are made of metal or a hard resin material, and the vibrator 1 and the vibrator 11 are mechanically fixed by screws or the like using the reinforcing plates 2 and 12 or mutually bonded by an adhesive or the like. It is fixed to the shaft in a joined or closely contacted state. Further, on the upper surfaces of the vibrators 1 and 11, there is provided an integrally formed acoustic lens 7 covering the surfaces in accordance with the two vibrators.

In the case where an image of a plane orthogonal to the shaft 3 is first drawn using the above-mentioned ultrasonic probe in the body cavity, the following procedure is performed.

First, the diagnostician uses the vibrator 1 to draw an image of a plane orthogonal to the shaft 3 at the diagnostic site. afterwards,
By further inserting the probe, an image of the diagnostic site on a plane parallel to the shaft 3 is drawn.

As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, the vibrator 1 and the vibrator 11 are covered with the acoustic lens 7 formed as an integral type, and the distance between the vibrators 1 and 11 is about 1 mm. By providing a biplane intracavity ultrasound probe approached to the following, the distance to move the probe when rendering the orthogonal cross section of the diagnostic site is minimized, and the shaft 3 By minimizing the distance to be inserted into the body cavity even when rendering the entire diagnostic region on a parallel surface, pain to the subject can be reduced and the operability of the diagnostician can be improved.

The vibrators 1 and 11 may be any of a phased array type, a convex array type or a linear array type.

Similar effects can be obtained also when the acoustic lenses 7 provided on the upper surfaces of the vibrators 1 and 11 are bonded and integrated to form an integral type.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing an ultrasonic probe in a body cavity according to a second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, a convex array type vibrator 21 for drawing a plane parallel to the shaft 3 is different from a convex array type vibrator 1 for drawing a cross section orthogonal to the shaft 3. The same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained for the ultrasonic probe provided in the section.

The same effect can be obtained even if the vibrator 21 is a phased array type vibrator.

The same effect can be obtained when the acoustic lens 27 provided on the upper surfaces of the vibrators 1 and 21 is joined by bonding to form an integral type.

Components having the same functions as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, the vibrator and the acoustic lens are omitted from hatching for convenience.

[0030]

As described above, according to the ultrasonic probe in the body cavity of the present invention, a biplane constituted by a plurality of transducers which are close to or close to each other and a single acoustic lens. By providing an ultrasonic probe within the body cavity, when drawing the orthogonal cross section of the diagnostic site, the distance to move the probe is minimized, and the entire diagnostic site is parallel to the shaft. By minimizing the distance to be inserted into the body cavity when drawing, the pain on the subject can be reduced and the operability of the diagnostician can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a schematic plan view of the tip of an ultrasonic probe according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1B is a schematic view of an ultrasonic probe according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Schematic sectional view of the tip

FIG. 2A is a schematic plan view of a tip of an ultrasonic probe according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2B is a schematic view of an ultrasonic probe according to a second embodiment of the present invention. Schematic sectional view of the tip

3A is a schematic plan view of a conventional ultrasonic probe. FIG. 3B is a schematic cross-sectional view of a conventional ultrasonic probe.

FIG. 4A is a schematic plan view of the tip of a conventional ultrasonic probe. FIG. 4B is a schematic cross-sectional view of the tip of a conventional ultrasonic probe.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 11, 21 Transducer 7, 27 Acoustic lens

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An intracavity ultrasonic probe comprising: two or more transducers; and one acoustic lens provided on the subject side of the transducers corresponding to the transducers. . 2. A plurality of transducers, which are two or more transducers, and a plurality of acoustic lens portions provided on the subject side of the transducers corresponding to the transducers, are integrally formed. Ultrasound probe having a closed acoustic lens.