JP2003135440A - X-ray photographing device loaded with arm - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent the occurrence of unintended operations and to safely perform an examination even while suppressing obstruction of operations required for examination items by presetting operation propriety information of individual moving means for each examination item. SOLUTION: The operation propriety information is set for a plurality of driving units 21 and 27-33 and stored in a memory 49 beforehand for each examination item. A control part 25 refers to the operation propriety information stored in relation to each examination item and allows or inhibits the respective operations of the plurality of the driving units 21 and 27-33 in photographing. Thus, even while suppressing the obstruction of the operations required for the examination item, the occurrence of the unintended operations is prevented. As a result, the examination is safely performed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an X-ray tube, an image intensifier, an X-ray sensor such as a panel type X-ray sensor, and the like.
The present invention relates to an arm-mounted X-ray imaging apparatus for imaging a region of interest of a subject by relatively moving an arm provided with an X-ray imaging unit having a line detector and the like in multiple directions.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an arm-mounted X-ray imaging apparatus of this type, a top plate on which a subject is placed, a C arm for supporting an X-ray tube and an X-ray detector in opposition, and this C arm Some have a plurality of moving mechanisms that move relative to the top. The plurality of moving mechanisms includes a plurality of rotating shafts, swinging shafts, etc., and swings the C-arm around the body axis of the subject placed on the top plate or in the direction of the body axis, or moves the body of the subject. While rotating in the axial direction, the top plate is moved up and down, and moved back and forth in the body axis direction or in a direction orthogonal to the body axis.

In such an apparatus, there are a manual operation for arbitrarily moving each axis, an automatic operation utilizing a memory function, etc., and an instruction lever or switch corresponding to them is provided. Therefore, it is widely used as a device capable of multipurpose photographing. Since interference may occur depending on the positional relationship between the top plate and the C-arm, the operation of each unit is preset based on the relative positional relationship between them.

[0004]

However, the conventional example having such a structure has the following problems. That is, in the conventional device, the operator operates the levers and switches according to his / her intention to appropriately perform imaging according to the examination items such as a gastrointestinal contrast examination, and each unit is controlled within the operation limit of interference prevention. It may be operated freely.
On the other hand, unintended operation of each part may occur,
In particular, the subject may be at risk in the following situations.

When inserting a catheter, the field of view may be moved during surgery, but the breathing of the operator and operator may not match at that time. -When the operator's proficiency level in operations and inspections is low. -A person unrelated to the surgical technique or shooting accidentally touches the levers or switches. -If the lever or switch fails during shooting or surgery.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to prevent an operation required for an inspection item by setting in advance whether or not each movement means can be operated for each inspection item. Arm mounted type X that can suppress the occurrence of unintended movements while safely suppressing the inspection
It is an object to provide a radiographic apparatus.

[0007]

The present invention has the following constitution in order to achieve such an object. That is, the invention according to claim 1 is an arm-mounted type equipped with a plurality of moving means for relatively moving the arm equipped with the X-ray imaging means and the top plate on which the subject is placed in multiple directions. In an X-ray imaging apparatus, a setting means for setting operable or inoperable information to each of a plurality of moving means according to an inspection item, and an operation availability information set through the setting means are inspection items. A storage unit that stores the data in association with each other; and a control unit that controls the operation of the plurality of moving units based on the operation availability information corresponding to the inspection item stored in the storage unit at the time of photographing. It is characterized by that.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the arm-mounted X-ray radiographing apparatus according to the first aspect, when an attempt is made to operate a moving means set to be inoperable, a notifying means for notifying the user Is further provided.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the arm-mounted X-ray imaging apparatus according to the first or second aspect, a display means for displaying various kinds of information is further provided, and the display means is operable. It is characterized in that the setting status is displayed for each transportation means when setting the information.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the arm-mounted X-ray imaging apparatus according to the third aspect, the display means includes a plurality of moving means in which all inspection items are registered. It is characterized in that it is displayed together with the operation propriety information regarding.

[Operation] The operation of the invention described in claim 1 is as follows. That is, the operation availability information is set in each of the plurality of moving means according to the inspection item, and is stored in advance in the storage means for each inspection item. The control means refers to the operation availability information stored in association with each inspection item, and permits or prohibits the operation of each of the plurality of moving means according to the inspection item at the time of imaging.

According to the second aspect of the invention, when the user tries to operate even though the operation is set to be disabled, the user is informed of the fact and the operation is set to be disabled. Inform the person.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the setting status of each moving means can be easily visually confirmed at the time of setting.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, it is possible to easily confirm the operation propriety information corresponding to each of all the set inspection items by looking at the display means.

[0015]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 3 relate to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a C-arm mounted X-ray imaging apparatus according to the embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a C-arm mounted X-ray imaging apparatus.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a radiographic apparatus, and FIG.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the contents of a memory.

This C-arm mounted X-ray radiographing apparatus is provided with a C-arm 5 in which an X-ray tube 1 and an image intensifier 3 are opposed to each other with a top plate 4 for placing a subject placed therebetween. There is. The transmitted X-rays visualized by the image intensifier 3 are
The image is taken by the television camera 7 attached to the.

The C arm 5 corresponds to the arm of the present invention, and the image intensifier 3 corresponds to the X-ray photographing means of the present invention.

The C-arm 5 is supported by an arm support block 9, and this arm support block 9 is arranged on a slide block 11. Further, the slide block 11 is slidably attached to the slide rail 13 and is movable integrally with the arm support block 9 and the C arm 5. The slide rail 13 is attached to a raising and lowering frame 15 having a semicircular shape, and the raising and lowering frame 15 is attached to a base 17. The top plate 4 described above is a frame 1 shown by a dotted line in the figure.
It is attached to the tilting frame 15 via 9.

The tilting frame 15 is swingable on the base 17 in the direction of arrow 08 along a semicircle. When the tilting frame 15 swings, the top plate 4 integrally rotates in the direction of arrow 08. Further, the top plate 4 is movable in each direction of arrows 01, 02, 03 while being held by the tilting frame 15. That is, the top plate 4 is set in three directions, that is, the 01 direction which is the left-right direction of the top plate 4, the 02 direction which is the longitudinal direction of the top plate 4, and the 03 direction which is the direction perpendicular to the surface of the top plate 4. Is configured to be movable. These 01, 02, 03 directions coincide with the X direction, the Y direction in the horizontal plane and the Z direction which is the vertical direction in the state shown in FIG. 1, but when the tilting frame 15 rotates, it rotates accordingly. It is like this.

The above-mentioned slide block 11 is linearly movable in the direction of arrow 07 along the slide rail 13 attached to the tilting frame 15. The 07 direction rotates as the tilting frame 15 swings. An arm support block 9 is provided on the slide block 11 so as to be rotatable in the direction of arrow 06. That is, the arm support block 9 is rotatable about an axis (horizontal axis) perpendicular to the 07 direction. The C-arm 5 is rotatably supported by the arm support block 9 in the direction of arrow 05 along the C-shape.

In the apparatus configured as described above, the direction of the X-ray beam emitted from the X-ray tube 1 and incident on the image intensifier 3 is such that arrows 05,
It can be rotated like 06, 08, and the irradiation position of the X-ray beam is an arrow 0 with respect to the top plate 4 (the subject on it).
It can move linearly in seven directions. Further, the TV camera 7 attached to the image intensifier 3 is C
The tip of the arm 5 moves up and down linearly with respect to the direction of arrow 04 to move toward and away from the X-ray tube 1.

As described above, the apparatus has eight moving axes, and these eight axes can freely move to move the position / position of the X-ray beam.
The direction can be set as desired. The 05 direction is the rotational direction around the body axis of the subject placed on the top plate 4, and is called the LAO-RAO direction.
The direction is the direction of rotation in a vertical plane that includes the body axis of the subject, and is called the CRAN-CAUD direction.

Next, the control system of the apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG.

The above-mentioned movement of the top plate 4 in the direction of arrow 01 is performed by the 01-direction drive unit 21. Although not shown, the 01-direction drive unit 21 includes a motor for moving the top plate 14 in the left-right direction, an encoder for detecting a moving distance, and the like. Therefore, the motor is rotated based on an instruction signal from the control unit 25 in response to an instruction from the operation lever 23 operated by the operator or a direct instruction signal from the control unit 25, and the motor is output according to the movement thereof. The control unit 25 outputs a stop signal based on the distance signal.

The movement of the top plate 4 in the above-mentioned arrow 02 direction and arrow 03 direction is performed by the above-mentioned 01-direction drive unit 21.
02-direction drive unit 27 with the same configuration and functions as
And the 03-direction drive unit 28.

Further, the image intensifier 3 is moved up and down in the direction of arrow 04 by the 04-direction drive unit 29, and the movement of the C arm 5 in the direction of arrow 05 is performed by the 05-direction drive unit 30. Similarly, the rotation of the C-arm 5 in the direction of arrow 06 is determined by the 06-direction drive unit 3
1, the movement of the slide block 11 in the arrow 07 direction is performed by the 07-direction drive unit 32,
The swing of the slide rail 13 in the direction of arrow 08 is performed by the 08-direction drive unit 33. Each drive unit described above outputs an angle signal instead of the distance signal depending on the operation target.

The above-mentioned drive units 21, 27
.About.33 correspond to a plurality of moving means in this invention.

The display control circuit 41 is a circuit for controlling the display mode on the display 43 provided with a flat display device such as a liquid crystal display, and outputs a display signal to the display 43 based on an instruction from the control section 25. Output. A touch sensor 45 is attached to the front surface of the display unit 43. The signal from the touch sensor 45 is sent to the touch sensor input circuit 47.
Is converted into a position signal corresponding to the display area of the display unit 43 and is supplied to the control unit 25. Control unit 2
5 determines which area of the display 43 the operator has touched by the signal.

Tests carried out by this apparatus include biliary tract tests, which are non-vascular tests, angiographic tests of the head and lower limbs, which are vascular tests, and orthopedic tests of shoulders, hips, etc., as orthopedic region tests. -Angiographic examination of the head and lower limbs, and bronchoscopic examination of spinal angiography, etc. are exemplified.

The memory 49 corresponding to the storage means in the present invention stores these inspection items and the optimized positions of the above-mentioned drive units 21, 27 to 33 in association with each other. The optimized position is defined as an inspection item at the start of the inspection among the relative positional relationship between the X-ray tube 1, the image intensifier 3, and the top plate 4 (more precisely, the subject on the top plate 4). It is a positional relationship that facilitates appropriate shooting. Further, the memory 49 is preliminarily input with a positional relationship in which the respective configurations interfere with each other based on design values or the like. Based on these positional relationships, the control unit 25 controls so as to restrict movement to positions where each unit interferes.

Further, in the memory 49, the following "operation availability information" is stored in association with each inspection item.
That is, after moving to the above-described optimized position, it specifies whether each of the plurality of drive units 21, 27 to 33 is allowed or prohibited to operate from that position.

As will be described in detail later, a desired item of the inspection items for which the optimized position is registered is called and displayed on the display 43, and the registration screen is displayed. And 01
The touch sensor 45 corresponding to the direction or 08 direction is touched to enable or disable the operation in each direction. When setting is completed, inspection items and each drive unit 2
The operation availability information of Nos. 1, 27 to 33 is stored in the memory 49 in association with each other. The storage mode is, for example, as shown in FIG.

That is, items such as the head are set as the inspection items, and the drive units 21, 27 to 33 (01 in the figure).
(Shown as ~ 08 direction) as a set value for "mov
e "and" stop "are set. The set value actually stored may be binary information such as "0" or "1". When actually performing an inspection, the operator first selects an inspection item from the touch sensor 45 and instructs execution. Then, the optimized position corresponding to the selected inspection item is read from the memory 49, and the control unit 25 controls the drive units 21, 27 to 33 in accordance with these. After that, when the operator operates the operation lever 23 to drive each of the drive units 21 and 27 to 33 for a reason such as moving the imaging field of view, the set value of the operation availability information becomes “move”. While the set value can be operated, the set value set to "stop" cannot be operated.

The release switch 50 is a switch for temporarily canceling the operation propriety information associated with the inspection item. This is operated by a person skilled in the operation when performing delicate position adjustment, etc., and all the drive units 21, 27-3 are irrespective of the setting of the operation availability information.
3 can be operated.

The above-mentioned control section 25 corresponds to the control means in the present invention, the display 43 corresponds to the display means, and the touch sensor 45 corresponds to the setting means.

[Setting Process] Next, the setting process of the operation availability information will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a display example of the display device 43, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process of setting operation availability information for each inspection item.

It should be noted that it is assumed that the inspection items that are frequently used after the registration work have been previously performed are already stored in the memory 49, and the optimization position is associated with each inspection item.

Further, in the following description, an example is taken of an operation (operative method) in which a catheter tube is inserted from the upper arm of the subject and is advanced toward the body axis direction and guided to the head. Take and explain. Therefore, since the catheter tube may move abruptly in the advancing / retreating direction when the top plate 4 is advancing / retreating, raising / lowering, and ascending / descending in the body axis direction, these operations are prohibited.

Step S1 The operator operates the inspection selection switch 51 shown in FIG. 4A to select a desired inspection item from an inspection item selection screen (not shown). When the operation is completed, the inspection item in the inspection item display area 52 of the display 43 is changed to the selected item. Furthermore, each drive unit 21, 27-33 is driven according to the optimized position associated with the selected inspection item. The display of the position state display area 53 changes accordingly.

In the numerical value display area 54, the positional relationship is displayed in numerical values in real time, and the detailed positional relationship can be easily known. The “SID” displayed at this time is a distance from the focus of the X-ray tube 1 to the image receiving surface of the image intensifier 3, which is called Source Image Distance (focus image receiving surface distance).
“G” is a photographing magnification, which is sequentially calculated by the control unit 25 based on the positional relationship and displayed in real time. In this example, it is assumed that the X-ray tube 1 and the image intensifier 3 are moved to the subject's head side of the top plate 4 as shown in the position state display area 53.

Step S2 The operation propriety information is set for each drive unit 21, 27-33, and the procedure is as follows, for example.

First, when the inspection detail selection switch 55 shown in FIG. 4 (a) is operated, the display on the display 43 is changed to that shown in FIG. 4 (b).
The screen changes to the operation propriety setting information screen as shown in. On this screen, the inspection item is displayed on the upper left, and the rectangular cursor C
Is there and is blinking. In addition, under the inspection item, each drive unit 21, 27-33 in the 01-08 direction.
An operation permission / prohibition setting area 57 for is arranged. The item selection cursor DOWN switch 59 and the item selection cursor UP switch 61 move the cursor C in the vertical direction, and select a desired direction in the operation permission / prohibition setting area 57. Also, the item selection cursor RIGHT switch 63 and the item selection cursor LEFT switch 65.
Has a function of moving the cursor in the left-right direction.

The operator operates the switches 59, 61 and 6 described above.
3 and 65 are operated to move the cursor C in a desired direction. Then, the cursor C is moved to “move” which permits the movement in each of the 01 to 08 directions or “stop” which prohibits the movement. To set, select S
The ET switch 67 is operated.

In this example, since the examination item is the head, as shown in FIG. 4B, the top plate 4 is moved up and down in the 02 direction in which the top plate 4 is moved in the body axis direction of the subject. The 03 direction and the 08 direction of raising and lowering the top plate 4 are prohibited. In the figure, the operation with the underline is selected, and in this example, movement in the 02, 03, 08 directions is prohibited and movement in the remaining directions is permitted.

Step S3 The operation propriety information can be set as described above until the TOP screen switch (not shown) is operated. On the other hand, when the setting of the desired operation propriety is completed and the TOP screen switch (not shown) is operated, the process proceeds to the next step S4.

Step S4 The screen of the display 43 returns from FIG. 4 (b) to FIG. 4 (a).
Along with this, the operation availability information described above in association with the inspection items is stored in the memory 49 (see the schematic diagram of FIG. 3).

As described above, since the setting is made while displaying the operation enable / disable state on the display 43,
Each drive unit 21, 27 to 3 at the time of setting the operation availability information
The setting status of No. 3 can be easily visually checked to facilitate the work.

Shooting Operation Next, the operation when “head” is selected as the inspection item will be briefly described. First, the optimized position associated with the inspection item is read from the memory 49, and the control unit 25 responds to this by the drive units 21, 27 to 33.
To drive. As a result, the positional relationship between the X-ray tube 1 and the top plate 4 becomes a state as shown in FIG.

Next, a catheter tube is inserted into the upper arm of the subject and advanced from the upper arm toward the head. At this time, the field of view is moved from the upper arm toward the head. Therefore, the operator operates the operation lever 23 to drive each of the drive units 21, 27 to 33 to move the imaging visual field to a desired position. However, the movement in the direction in which the catheter tube is advanced, that is, FIG. 4 (b)
As shown in, the movement in the 02, 03, 08 direction is prohibited. Therefore, they cannot be moved in those directions, and the imaging field of view is moved only by moving in the 01, 04 to 07 directions.

Thus, the plurality of moving units 21, 2
The operation propriety information is set for each of 7 to 33 and stored in advance for each inspection item. The control unit 25 refers to the operation availability information stored in association with each inspection item,
A plurality of moving units 21, 27 to 33 at the time of photographing
Each operation can be allowed or prohibited depending on the inspection item. Therefore, it is possible to prevent an unintended operation from occurring while suppressing an operation required for the inspection item. As a result, it is possible to perform the inspection safely.

By operating the release switch 50, the control unit 25 temporarily stops the reference of the operation availability information. As a result, the prohibition operation described above is released, and movement in all directions is possible. This release switch 50
For example, it is operated when it is necessary to move in all directions during an emergency procedure.

Further, when the movement is made in the direction in which the movement is prohibited while the operation availability information is being referred to, the control section 25 detects this and displays a display corresponding to the notifying means. The device 43 issues an alarm as shown in FIG. That is, the warning display area 69 displays a message such as "The tilting motion cannot be operated!"

With this configuration, if the operator tries to operate the device even though it is set to be inoperable, the operator can know from the alarm display that the device is inoperable. . Therefore, the operator can know that the operation is intentionally prohibited instead of not operating due to a trouble such as a failure.

Instead of the alarm display as described above, it may be notified by light from a lamp (not shown) or a sound such as a buzzer (not shown).

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned actual embodiment, and various modifications can be made as follows.

(1) The display device 43 may display all the registered inspection items and the associated operation availability information in a list form. Thereby, it is possible to easily confirm the operation availability information corresponding to each of all the set inspection items by looking at the display 43.
Therefore, it is possible to easily confirm the setting status for the desired inspection item and determine whether the desired operation can be performed for the desired inspection item.

(2) In the above apparatus, the touch sensor 45 attached to the display 43 is used to perform operations such as registration, but a pointing device such as a mouse is used as an alternative registration means. May be.

(3) The X-ray photographing means is not limited to the image intensifier 3 and various photographing devices may be used instead. For example, panel type X
A line sensor may be used.

(4) Each drive unit 2 as moving means
The present invention is not limited to a device that includes 1, 27 to 33 and can move in eight directions, and is a device that can move in more directions than this, or a device that can only move in less directions. However, the present invention can be applied.

(5) The inspection item in the memory 49 and the operation propriety information can be associated by various methods, and the method is not limited to the method shown in FIG.

(6) In the above apparatus, the C-arm 5 having a C-shape is used as the arm, but an arm having a U-shape or the like is used instead of the C-arm 5. It may be a device.

[0062]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the invention described in claim 1, the operation availability information is set for each of the plurality of moving means, and is stored in advance for each inspection item. The control means can refer to the operation availability information stored in association with each inspection item, and allow or prohibit the operation of each of the plurality of moving means at the time of imaging according to the inspection item. Therefore, it is possible to prevent an unintended operation from occurring while suppressing an operation required for the inspection item. As a result, it is possible to perform the inspection safely.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when an operation is to be performed even though it is set to be inoperable, the user is informed of that fact and the operation is set to be inoperable. Inform the person. Therefore, the operator can know that the operation is intentionally prohibited instead of not operating due to a trouble such as a failure.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the setting status of each moving means can be easily checked visually at the time of setting, and the work can be performed easily.

According to the invention described in claim 4, since it is possible to easily confirm the operation propriety information corresponding to each of all the set inspection items by looking at the display means,
It is possible to easily confirm the setting status of the desired inspection item and determine whether the desired operation can be performed with respect to the desired inspection item.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a C-arm mounted X-ray imaging apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a control system of a C-arm mounted X-ray imaging apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the contents of a memory.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of a display device.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process of setting operation availability information for each inspection item.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of a display device informing that the operation is disabled.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... X-ray tube 3 ... Image intensifier (X-ray imaging means) 5 ... C-arm 7 ... Television camera 21, 27-33 ... 01-08 Direction drive unit (moving means) 45 ... Touch sensor (setting means) 51 ... Inspection selection switch 52 ... Inspection item display area 53 ... Position status display area 54 ... Numerical value display area 55 ... Inspection detail selection switch 57 ... Operation enable / disable setting area 59 ... Item selection cursor DOWN switch 61 ... Item selection cursor UP switch 63 Item selection cursor RIGHT switch 65 Item selection cursor LEFT switch 67 Selection selection SET switch 69 Alarm display area C Cursor

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Hirotaka Isono             1st Nishinokyo Kuwabara, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto             Shimadzu factory (72) Inventor Mikihiko Kato             1st Nishinokyo Kuwabara, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto             Shimadzu factory (72) Inventor Masanori Nakamura             1st Nishinokyo Kuwabara, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto             Shimadzu factory F-term (reference) 4C093 AA07 CA33 CA38 DA01 DA02                       EC16 EC57 EC58 FB11 FB12                       FG13 FG16

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An arm-mounted X-ray imaging apparatus having a plurality of moving means for relatively moving an arm equipped with X-ray imaging means and a top plate on which a subject is placed in multiple directions, Setting means for setting operable / impossible operation availability information to each of the plurality of moving means in accordance with the inspection item, and operation availability information set via the setting means are stored in association with each inspection item. And a control means for controlling the operation of the plurality of moving means based on the operation availability information corresponding to the inspection item stored in the storage means at the time of photographing. Arm mounted X-ray imaging device. 2. The arm-mounted X-ray imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a notifying means for notifying a user of a disabled moving means when the moving means is operated. Arm mounted X-ray imaging device. 3. The arm-mounted X-ray imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a display unit for displaying various kinds of information, wherein the display unit moves each moving unit when setting the operation availability information. An arm-mounted X-ray imaging apparatus characterized in that the setting status is displayed for each. 4. The arm-mounted X-ray imaging apparatus according to claim 3, wherein all the inspection items are displayed on the display unit together with operation availability information regarding a plurality of moving units registered in each. An arm-mounted X-ray imaging apparatus characterized in that