JP2001137218A - Apparatus and method for noninvasive living body reaction measurement - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a noninvasive living body reaction measuring apparatus and method allowing a user to know the both stresses which cause changes in physiological condition of a living body, and degree of relaxation. SOLUTION: The noninvasive living body reaction measuring apparatus includes a light source portion for irradiating a part of the living body including blood vessels, an image pickup portion for picking up images of the part of the living body irradiated, an analysis portion for setting an analytical area in the images picked up and for measuring and analyzing the blood vessels in the analytical area, and a display portion for displaying the results of analysis. The image pickup portion picks up images of the part of the living body plural times with the lapse of time, and the analytical portion specifies the analytical area containing the same blood vessel for the plurality of images picked up and obtains living body information about the blood vessel in the specified analytical area to calculate changes therein.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a noninvasive biological reaction measuring apparatus and method for analyzing a plurality of captured images of the same vascular site and calculating the amount of change in the obtained biological information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, diseases in which no organic abnormality is recognized and diseases which are considered to be caused by stress are increasing. However, stress can only be expressed in a sensory manner, and the degree of stress varies from person to person. It is common to grasp the subjective symptoms of the person by questioning, and various questionnaire tables for examining psychological stress are devised and used.However, the feelings and expressions differ depending on the subject, and they become subjective. Easy and not an objective indicator.

[0003] Various methods have been tried to quantitatively measure stress by measuring non-invasively what reflects autonomic nervous activity in living organisms. For example, a method of measuring a pulse wave change due to stress by measuring brain waves at a fingertip or the like, a method of measuring a change in temperature of a peripheral portion such as a fingertip at the time of stress, or a method of measuring a change of a peripheral blood vessel at the time of stress. Are being considered. However, since the pulse wave and the peripheral temperature also change due to factors other than stress, it is difficult to determine whether the change is due to stress, and the evaluation of the measurement method has not yet been determined. Also, the method of measuring changes in peripheral blood vessels is only an echo, and it has not been easy to measure easily. On the other hand, it is not easy to measure a relaxed state, as opposed to stress, similarly to stress.

[0004] It is generally said that when a human receives a stimulus such as stress, the sympathetic nerve is stimulated and vasoconstriction occurs. When the human enters a relaxed state, the parasympathetic nerve is stimulated and the blood vessels are dilated.

[0005] Incidentally, a transmission image of a blood vessel contained in a part of a living body such as a finger is obtained with a simple device configuration, and the image is analyzed to determine the blood vessel width, the blood component concentration and the concentration of the blood component concentration ratio. In general, a device for non-invasive measurement has been devised (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-323). According to the device, it is possible to measure biological information (blood vessel width, blood component concentration, and concentration of blood component concentration ratio) over time.

[0006] However, there is no disclosure of knowing the degree of stress or relaxing state that causes a physiological change in the living body.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides a non-invasive biological reaction measuring apparatus and method capable of knowing the degree of stress or relaxation that causes a physiological change in a living body. Is provided.

[0008]

According to the present invention, there is provided a non-invasive biological reaction measuring apparatus for irradiating a part of a living body including a blood vessel, an imaging part for imaging a part of the irradiated living body, An analysis area is set in the image, and an analysis section is provided for measuring and analyzing a blood vessel portion in the analysis area, and a display section for displaying the analysis result. The analysis unit specifies an analysis region including the same blood vessel portion in a plurality of captured images, obtains biological information about the blood vessel portion in the specified analysis region, and calculates a change amount thereof. There is a feature. In addition, the non-invasive biological reaction measurement method includes: (a) capturing a captured image of at least one same blood vessel portion of a living body before giving a physiological state change to the living body;
Setting an analysis area in the captured image and calculating biological information; (b) calculating biological information in the same manner as above after giving a physiological state change to the biological body;
The method is characterized in that the amount of change in the biological information obtained in the steps (a) and (b) is calculated.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the non-invasive biological reaction measuring apparatus of the present invention, a part of a living body is not a tissue separated from a living body (preferably a mammal) but a part of a living tissue as it is. Any part that is suitable for is acceptable. In the case of a human, a finger or an earlobe is an example. In the case of a rat or mouse, it may be the tail.

[0010] The detecting section of the product of the present invention comprises a light source section, a light receiving section and a holding section. A semiconductor laser (hereinafter, LD), LED, or halogen light source can be used for the light source unit, and the light source unit may directly irradiate a part of the living body or irradiate through a fiber. The wavelength is preferably in the range of 600 to 950 nm, which transmits through the living tissue and does not absorb much water.

[0011] The imaging section can be composed of an optical system such as a lens and an imaging device such as a CCD. In the imaging unit, density distribution information of a blood vessel portion is obtained. As an image sensor, a line sensor or a photodiode array can be used in addition to the CCD. Alternatively, one photodiode can be driven in a direction crossing a blood vessel to obtain density distribution information. The optical system of the imaging unit may be configured using only a TV lens. When the light source unit irradiates a part of the living body with the light source unit, the imaging unit can receive the transmitted light or the reflected light and image the part of the living body.

Further, in order to obtain more preferable optical information, the imaging section preferably includes a holding member for holding the light source section and the imaging section to a part of a living body. When a part of the living body is, for example, a finger of a human hand, the holding member may be a member that detachably holds the finger between the light source unit and the imaging unit. A type in which the finger is inserted into a hole or groove corresponding to the shape of the finger, or a type in which the finger is sandwiched between the movable pieces from both sides can be used.

The analyzing unit can use a microcomputer comprising a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and an I / O port or a commercially available personal computer. It is possible to specify an analysis region including the same blood vessel portion for the plurality of images, obtain biological information about the blood vessel portion in the specified analysis region, and calculate the amount of change.

The display unit can use a display device such as a CRT or a liquid crystal display, or a printing device such as a printer.

The biological information is information on the form (shape, size, number, etc.) of the biological tissue, the concentration of the biological component, and the like.
Specifically, it includes the blood vessel width, the concentration of blood components (for example, hemoglobin, hematocrit, etc.) and the concentration ratio of blood components (for example, blood oxygenation rate, etc.). More preferably,
Good blood vessel width.

As a substance that gives a change in the physiological state to a living body, it is conceivable that aromatherapy that relaxes the mood by fragrance, stress on the living body due to stimulation of light, sound, smell, or the like, or ingestion of foods and drugs. .

[0017]

FIG. 1 is an external view of an embodiment of a non-invasive biological reaction apparatus according to the present invention, in which a mouse-like detection unit 1 is mounted on a mounting unit 4 of an analysis unit 3 of a notebook type personal computer. Is shown. FIG. 2 is an overall block diagram functionally expressing the non-invasive living body reaction device of FIG.

The detecting section 1 mounted on the mounting section 4 is electrically and mechanically connected to a connector 7 on the detecting section 1 side and a connector 8 on the analyzing section 3 side. In order to obtain a degree of freedom in measurement and handling, the detection unit 1 is detached from the mounting unit 4 of the analysis unit 3, and the detection unit 1 and the analysis unit 3 are connected with a connection cord with a connector.
It is also possible to connect and use.

The detecting section 1 comprises an arm 5 and a housing 6 rotatable with respect to the arm 5. A light source section 11 is built inside the arm 5, and an image pickup section 12 is provided inside the housing 6 facing the arm 5. Built-in. Holding a human finger 14 between the arm 5 and the housing 6,
Light is applied to the back of the finger at the joint, and a transmitted light image is taken from the abdomen of the finger. The finger is elastically clamped from both sides of the finger.

The light source unit 11 includes a plurality of LEDs having different wavelengths.
Comprising a light emitting element having L3989 (manufactured by Hamamatsu Photonics KK) having a center wavelength of 830 nm and a half-value width of 40 nm is used as the first LED, and L25656 (manufactured by Ibid.) Having a center wavelength of 890 nm and a half-value width of 50 nm is used as the second LED. . When measuring the blood vessel width, the first LE
Only D is turned on, and the first and second LEDs are turned on when measuring the blood component concentration.

The analysis section 3 comprises a data processing section 2, an output section (liquid crystal monitor) 10, and an operation section (a plurality of keys) 9.
The analysis unit 3 is provided with an insertion slot 13 for a floppy disk as an external storage medium, and can externally store measurement information and the like.

FIG. 2 is an overall block diagram of the non-invasive living body reaction apparatus of the present embodiment. The entity of the data processing unit 2 of the analysis unit 3 is a computer having a CPU and a memory, and calculates the density distribution of the blood vessel portion in the analysis area in the captured image of the finger 14 obtained by the imaging unit 12 of the detection unit 1. Density profile extraction function to extract as profile, function to create standardized concentration profile from extracted concentration profile, quantification function to quantify morphological features of standardized concentration profile, based on quantified features It has an arithmetic function for calculating biological information such as blood vessel size and blood component concentration, and a function for calculating the amount of change in data over time of biological information.

The procedure for measuring the blood vessel width will be specifically described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Here, the same person's finger is imaged multiple times over time using one wavelength, and the change over time in the blood vessel width at the same blood vessel site is measured to calculate the amount of change.

First, the finger 14 is illuminated and imaged by the first LED (first wavelength), and a transmission image combining the blood vessel (vein) images existing on the skin surface of the finger 14 is obtained (step S).
1). FIG. 4 shows the obtained transmission image as a schematic diagram.
An analysis region set so that a region indicated by a rectangle vertically crosses a blood vessel is shown.

Next, the data processor 2 performs the following processing. An analysis area is set in the obtained captured image (step S2), and a density profile in a direction perpendicular to the blood vessel (FIG. 5) is created in the set analysis area by the imaging density profile extraction function (step S3).

The baseline of the density profile is obtained by the quantification function and standardized (step S4). Here, the baseline is a straight line obtained by the least square method from the concentration profile of the part other than the blood vessel,
The luminance of the background of the blood vessel portion is shown. Further, the density profile is normalized by dividing it by the baseline and further logarithmized, whereby a standardized density profile (FIG. 6) that does not depend on the amount of incident light or the gradient of the background luminance can be obtained.

The distribution width (half width) w1 at the peak heights h1 and (1/2) h1 as the morphological features is calculated from the standardized density profile (step S5), and the biological information is obtained and stored.

The half width w1 obtained from the standardized density profile is calculated as the blood vessel width (step S7).

When the measurement is completed, a graph or a table showing the time-series change is created from the calculated blood vessel width, and at the same time, the amount of change is displayed on the output unit 10 (liquid crystal display) (steps S8 and S9).

Although an example of measuring the blood vessel width using one wavelength has been described above, the hemoglobin concentration can be measured using a plurality of wavelengths. That is, the hemoglobin concentration can be calculated from the form of the standardized concentration profile obtained for each wavelength. See International Publication WO
Reference can be made to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 97/24066 or the like, and a description thereof is omitted here.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing the change over time in the blood vessel width due to the aromatherapy effect and the amount of change.
As shown in FIG. 1, a subject is set a finger on the non-invasive bioreactor, and a time-dependent change graph of the blood vessel width is obtained in a state where the subject is allowed to absorb the peppermint herb. T1 in the time-dependent change graph indicates the time point at which the fragrance is started, and T2 indicates the time point at which the blood vessel width becomes maximum. This indicates that the subject was allowed to absorb the peppermint-based herb, whereby the blood vessel width was widened and the subject became in a relaxed state. Then, when the variation ΔD = D (T2) −D (T1) of the blood vessel width at the time T1 and the time T2 was obtained, the variation ΔD was 0.15 [mm]. Here, the change amount ΔD reflects the degree of relaxation.

As described above, by using the noninvasive biological reaction measuring device of the present invention, it is possible to know the stress state and the relaxed state of a human by measuring the change in the blood vessel width. In addition, it would be possible to apply such information to applications such as lie detectors. Furthermore, as biological information other than the blood vessel width, the concentration of a blood component (for example, hemoglobin,
Hematocrit, etc.) and the concentration ratio of blood components (eg, blood oxygenation rate, etc.) can be used to examine the amount of change due to ingestion of health foods, drugs, etc., and obtain effective data for the development of health foods, drugs. It is also possible.

[0033]

According to the non-invasive biological reaction measuring device of the present invention, the amount of change in biological information over time can be obtained, and the stress state and relaxed state of the mammal can be known. In addition, by obtaining the amount of change in biological information due to ingestion of food or the like, the influence of the food or the like on the body can be known.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an image obtained by an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a density profile.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a standardized density profile.

FIG. 7 is a graph showing a temporal change of a blood vessel width.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Detection part 2 Data processing part 3 Analysis part 9 Operation part 10 Output part 11 Light source part 12 Imaging part 14 Human finger

Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Shuichi Sugimoto 1-5-1, Wakihama Kaigandori, Chuo-ku, Kobe F-term (reference) in Sysmex Corporation 2G059 AA01 BB12 CC18 FF01 GG01 GG02 KK04 MM09 MM10 4C038 KK00 KK00 KK05 KL05 KL07 KM00 KX02 PP03 PQ00 PR00 PR01 PR04 PS00 VA04 VB13 VC01 VC05

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A light source unit for irradiating a part of a living body including a blood vessel, an imaging unit for imaging a part of the irradiated living body, an analysis area set in the captured image, An analysis unit that measures and analyzes a blood vessel portion and a display unit that displays the analysis result are provided.The imaging unit is configured to image a part of the living body a plurality of times over time, and the analysis unit is configured to perform a plurality of imaged operations. A non-invasive biological reaction measurement apparatus characterized in that an analysis area including the same blood vessel part is specified for an image, biological information is obtained for a blood vessel part in the specified analysis area, and a change amount is calculated. 2. (a) a step of capturing a captured image of at least one same blood vessel portion of a living body before giving a physiological state change to the living body, and setting an analysis region in the captured image and calculating biological information (B) calculating the biological information in the same manner as described above after the physiological state change is given to the living body, and calculating the amount of change in the biological information obtained in the above steps (a) and (b). A non-invasive biological reaction measurement method characterized by a step of calculating. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the biological information is a blood vessel width. 4. The non-invasive biological reaction measurement method according to claim 2, wherein the change in the physiological state of the living body is based on aromatherapy. 5. The non-invasive biological reaction measurement method according to claim 2, wherein the change in the physiological state of the living body is caused by stress. 6. The non-invasive biological reaction measurement method according to claim 2, wherein the change in the physiological state of the living body is caused by oral ingestion of food or medicine.