JP2003144437A - Organism light measuring device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an organism light measuring device allowing observation of topography of the whole relatively wide examined part on the same screen. SOLUTION: A signal processing means of this organism light measuring device creates a plurality of organism information images (topography) respectively on a plurality of measuring regions of a subject, and arranges and displays a plurality of organism information images in conformity to the positions and directions of the corresponding measuring regions on the image modeled on the subject. At this time, non-measured data between the regions are created by interpolative estimation from the measured data to display the topography of the whole examined part including a plurality of regions.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to biological information such as blood circulation, hemodynamics and hemoglobin changes, which are obtained by irradiating a living body with light, detecting the light reflected on the surface of the living body, or detecting the light passing near the surface. The present invention relates to a biological optical measurement device for obtaining an image, and particularly to a biological optical measurement device suitable for measuring a relatively wide area.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A biological light measuring device irradiates a living body with wavelengths in the visible to infrared region, detects light reflected from the living body or light passing through the living body (hereinafter collectively referred to as transmitted light), and It is a device for measuring the inside, and it is possible to obtain biological information such as hemodynamics inside the living body in a simple and non-invasive manner with low constraint on the subject. An apparatus capable of measuring a wide area by using a probe in which the tips of a plurality of optical fibers are arranged as a light emitting section and a light receiving section is being clinically applied (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 57-115232, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 57-115232). Sho 6
3-275323 etc.).

Examples of clinical applications of such a biological optical measuring device include, for example, activation state of hemoglobin change in the brain and local focus identification of epileptic seizures. Currently, the biomedical optical measurement device used for the head uses, for example, a probe in which a light irradiation unit and a light receiving unit are arranged in a 4 × 4 matrix, alone or as a pair. Alternatively, the biological information of the probe mounting area calculated based on the light amount detected by the pair of probes, for example, hemoglobin amount distribution is imaged and displayed.

[0004]

By the way, in biological optical measurement, there is a demand for obtaining biological information in a wider area. For example, in the above-described local focal identification of epileptic seizures, multiple focal points exist in the brain depending on the patient, and therefore focal point identification requires measuring the hemoglobin change in the brain for the entire head.

However, due to the complicated shape of the surface of the living body and the workability of connecting the tip of the optical fiber and the probe, a probe covering the entire examination site has not been put into practical use. For this reason, it is currently practiced to divide the inspection site into multiple measurement areas, attach probes to each of the multiple measurement areas, measure, and check the measurement results on separate screens. Is difficult to grasp, and the above-mentioned identification of the focus position requires time and effort for diagnosis and identification.

[0006] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a living body optical measuring device capable of observing living body information (topography) of a relatively wide examination site including a plurality of measurement regions on the same screen. It is another object of the present invention to provide a biological optical measurement device capable of observing a wide range of topography at a position on a morphological image including a measurement region. A further object of the present invention is to provide a living body optical measurement system capable of obtaining an image of the entire examination site including non-measurement areas existing between measurement areas.

[0007]

A living body light measuring apparatus of the present invention which achieves the above object detects a probe having a plurality of light irradiating parts and a light receiving part, and detects the amount of light received by the probe for each measuring position. In a biological optical measurement device including optical measurement means and signal processing means for calculating biological information of the subject based on a signal corresponding to the detected light amount and forming and displaying a biological information image, A means is provided with means for creating a plurality of biometric information images for each of the plurality of measurement areas of the subject, and arranging and displaying the plurality of biometric information images in accordance with the positions and directions of the corresponding measurement areas. Is.

According to such a living body optical measuring device, the living body information images of a plurality of measurement regions can be viewed on one screen, and the entire examination site can be easily observed. Further, in the biological optical measurement device of the present invention, the signal processing unit includes a storage unit that stores a morphological image of the examination site of the subject, and the plurality of biological information images are superimposed on the morphological image stored in the storage unit. It is something to display.

According to this living body optical measurement device, since the living body information of the entire examination region is displayed on the image of the subject, it becomes easier to grasp the examination region. As the morphological image, an image of a living body or an image obtained by another image diagnostic apparatus can be used, and these can be stored in advance in the storage unit of the signal processing means.

Further, in the biological optical measurement device of the present invention, the signal processing means is provided with means for estimating biological information between adjacent measurement regions, and the biological information of a plurality of measurement regions and the estimated regions are measured. A continuous biometric information image is formed based on the biometric information of.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of a living body optical measurement system of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall outline of a biological optical measurement device of the present invention. This biological optical measurement device is mainly
The optical topography device 101 performs optical measurement of a living body, and the signal processing device 108 that processes the hemoglobin signal measured by the optical topography device 101 and creates biological information.

The optical topography device 101 is a laser generator for irradiating light having a predetermined wavelength on an inspection site of a subject.
102, a light measuring unit (105 to 107) for detecting light transmitted through the inspection region of the subject or light reflected and scattered at the inspection region (hereinafter collectively referred to as transmitted light), and light from the laser generation unit 102. Fiber for irradiation that guides light to the inspection site of the subject
A probe 10 that detachably fixes each tip of the detection optical fiber 103 that guides the transmitted light from the 103 and the examination site to the optical measurement unit so that the tip contacts the examination site of the subject.
It has 4 and.

The laser generator 102 emits light of a plurality of wavelengths in the wavelength range from visible light to infrared light, for example, light of 780 nm and 830 nm, and modulates these two wavelengths of light at a plurality of different frequencies. And a plurality of optical modules equipped with modulators for. The light of two wavelengths emitted from the semiconductor laser is mixed, then modulated to a different frequency for each optical module, passed through the optical fiber 104, and applied to the inspection site of the subject.

The optical measuring unit is connected to the detection optical fiber 103, and a photoelectric conversion element such as a photodiode 105 for converting the light guided by the detection optical fiber 103 into an electric signal corresponding to the amount of light, and the photodiode 105. The lock-in amplifier 106 for inputting the electric signal of 1 and selectively detecting the modulation signal corresponding to the irradiation position and the wavelength, and the continuously variable amplifier 107 for amplifying the signal from the lock-in amplifier 106. The lock-in amplifier 106 includes at least the same number of lock-in amplifiers as the number of signals to be measured.

The probe 104 has sockets for connecting optical fibers so that the tips of the irradiation optical fibers and the ends of the detection optical fibers are alternately arranged in a matrix of an appropriate size such as 3 × 3, 4 × 4. It is arranged. In the present embodiment, such probes are arranged in a plurality of (here, 5) regions of the subject, as shown in FIG. 2, for example, so as to cover the entire head, which is the inspection site.

The optical topography device 101 uses a multi-channel device corresponding to the number of probes (the number of regions), or a plurality of optical topography devices 101 are provided side by side. The multi-channel device is a device in which the optical module of the laser generator 102 and the lock-in amplifier 106 are installed in a number equal to or more than the number of signals to be measured (the number of signals measured by one probe × the number of probes). Also, multiple optical topography devices 10
Figure 3 shows the case where 1 is installed side by side. In this configuration, a plurality of optical topography devices 101 are provided in association with a plurality of probes mounted on the subject, and the measurement results of the plurality of optical topography devices 101 are input to one signal processing device 108. It is like this.

The signal processing device 108 can be constructed on a general-purpose personal computer, and stores the voltage signal (digital signal) sent from the optical topography device 101 in the memory 109 and the voltage signal stored in the memory 109. A central processing unit CPU110 that processes and converts a signal representing biological information, specifically, into a hemoglobin signal representing the hemoglobin concentration of a measurement site, and creating a topography image;
The CPU 110 is provided with a storage unit 111 such as a hard disk for storing the processing result, and a monitor 112 for displaying the processing result.

Details of the CPU 110 are shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the CPU 110 includes a main control unit 114, a calculation unit 115, an image forming unit 116, and a display processing unit 117, and inputs / outputs of a keyboard, a mouse, etc. for inputting various commands related to image processing and the like to the CPU 110. The unit 113 is provided. In addition, on the hard disk 111, a two-dimensional image in which the head is modeled in advance,
Images such as wireframe images are stored.

Next, the operation of the biological optical measurement device having such a configuration will be described. FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the first embodiment of the biological optical measurement device according to the present invention.

First, as shown in FIG. 2, the probes 104 are attached to a plurality of places (a plurality of regions) of the head of the subject, and the irradiation optical fiber and the detection optical fiber are attached to a socket (not shown) of the probe. Insert the tip and connect each probe 104 to the optical topography device 101. After that, the laser generator 102
The near-infrared light is generated from the light source and irradiates the brain surface on which the probe 104 is attached. The near-infrared light absorbed and reflected by hemoglobin on the brain surface is detected by the optical measurement unit via the optical fiber 103, and is a measurement point located between the irradiation optical fiber tip and the detection optical fiber tip. Is input to the memory 109 of the signal processing device 108.

The CPU 110 of the signal processing device 108 includes an arithmetic unit 11
In 5, the signal at the measurement point is processed for each probe and converted into a hemoglobin signal to create a hemoglobin change signal, which is stored in the hard disk 111. This operation is performed for each probe (Fig. 5, step 50).
1). The display processing unit 117 performs a process of attaching the hemoglobin change signal for each area to a two-dimensional image of the head model (hereinafter referred to as a model image) stored in the hard disk 111 in advance, and displays it on the monitor 112 ( Step 502).

FIG. 6 shows the hemoglobin change signal images 603 to 607 of the respective regions displayed on the model image 602 in the window screen 601 of the monitor 112. The position of the hemoglobin change signal image of each area pasted on the model image 602 is
As a default, for example, the probe number,
In order of ,, in the figure, the left (left temporal lobe), right (right temporal lobe), central upper (frontal lobe), central (parietal lobe), central lower (occipital lobe) are arranged in order. In addition to the hemoglobin change signal for each measurement channel, the display of the hemoglobin change signal image also includes measurement direction confirmation markers 608 to 612 indicating the probe number and the position of the measurement channel 1ch.

Next, while observing such a display, the position and direction of the measurement area are designated (FIG. 5, step 503). This operation changes the position and orientation of each probe actually attached.
This is a work to match the position and direction of the displayed measurement region. For example, the user arbitrarily moves the hemoglobin change signal image displayed on the monitor 112 by an operation such as dragging with the mouse of the input / output unit 113. Can be done by The measurement direction can be measured by moving the measurement direction confirmation marker so that the probe is actually attached.

As a result, the hemoglobin change signal images 603 to 607 of the plurality of measurement regions can be displayed on the corresponding places of the model image 602 (step 504).

Next, a topography is created from such a hemoglobin change signal and displayed (step 505).
Topography is an image in which the hemoglobin change signal between each measurement point is interpolated and the hemoglobin change signal at a certain time is displayed as a contour line image. The interpolation for creating the topography is performed by the calculation unit 115 of the CPU 110, and the image forming unit 116 forms the topography.
The display processing unit 117 attaches the topography of each measurement region to the model image and displays it on the monitor. Topography 703
7 shows an example of the display screens 701 of ˜707. In the figure, a darker area indicates an increase in the hemoglobin change amount, and a lighter area indicates a decrease in the hemoglobin change amount. Although the measurement point 708 of the probe is shown in order to explain the concept of the interpolation, the measurement point is not displayed on the screen 701 actually displayed on the monitor. Further, the topography is not limited to a still image, and may be animated as a moving image in time series. Thereby, for example, the hemodynamics in the brain during the task execution can be observed.

Also for these topography, the probe number and the measurement direction confirmation marker may be displayed at the same time so that the position and direction of the measurement region can be designated similarly to the hemoglobin change signal image. First, as shown in FIG. After specifying the position and direction on the display screen 601 of the hemoglobin change signal, the topography display screen 701 is displayed via the input / output device 113.
It is practical to display the topography images 703 to 707 by selecting.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the measurement results of a plurality of areas can be displayed on the model image displayed on one screen, so that the information of the entire plurality of areas can be grasped. It becomes extremely easy to obtain a biological optical measurement device with high diagnostic value.

Next, display on a three-dimensional image will be described as a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 shows a procedure for displaying a topographic image of a plurality of areas on a three-dimensional wire frame image in which a head is modeled.

Also in this embodiment, a plurality of probes 10 are used.
4 to multiple areas of the head, optical topography device 101
According to the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the measurement according to the step (1) and the measurement data (hemoglobin signal) for each probe are stored in the hard disk 111 (step 80).
1). The display processing unit 117 creates an image in which the hemoglobin change signal image for each probe is pasted at a fixed position on the three-dimensional wire frame stored in the hard disk 111 in advance, and displays it on the monitor 112 (step 802). .

This fixed position can also be preset by default as in the case of FIG. 6, so the user
With the probe number and measurement direction confirmation marker displayed together with the hemoglobin change signal image for each measurement area as an index,
Similar to the embodiment of FIG. 6, the position and direction of the measurement area are manually specified (step 803). In this case, by rotating the wire frame image and displaying it from a plurality of surfaces, it is possible to easily specify even if the entire area cannot be displayed on only one surface.

Alternatively, the position of the probe may be detected and designated by using a position measuring device (not shown). Position measuring devices include optical type, mechanical type, ultrasonic type, etc.
A dimensional position measuring device can be adopted and is separately placed in the measuring room. When such a position measuring device is used, first, as shown by the subroutines (8031 to 8033) in FIG. 8, the coordinate system of the position measuring device is associated with the position of the wire frame of the display system. Put (Step 80)
31). Next, in a state in which the predetermined probe number displayed by the input / output unit 113 is selected, the position measuring device detects the position of the measurement region (real space region) in which the probe of that number is mounted, and the CPU 110 Enter (Step 803)
2). The CPU 110 pastes the hemoglobin change signal image obtained from the probe of the selected probe number at the position of the wire frame corresponding to the measured coordinates in the real space (step 8033).

By using the position measuring device as described above, the position and direction of the measuring region can be easily specified even when the entire measuring region cannot be displayed on one surface or when the measuring region has a complicated shape. .

When the designation of the position and direction of the measurement region is completed in this way, a topography image is created from the hemoglobin change signal (step 804) and displayed at the designated position on the three-dimensional wire frame (step 805). An example of the display is shown in FIG. FIG. 9 shows a state in which the topography 902 to 905 in four areas out of the five topography displayed on the wire frame 901 can be seen, and such a wire frame image is set with the body axis as the central axis. By rotating, the whole head can be observed.

Also in this embodiment, the topography image of each area may be reproduced as a time-series moving image.

Next, as a third embodiment of the present invention, display of continuous topographic images will be described. The procedure of this embodiment is shown in FIG.

First, the hemoglobin change signal of the region not measured is interpolated and estimated from the hemoglobin change signal of the region actually measured. Interpolation estimation is performed using a method such as an approximate curve of data of the measured area or spline interpolation. In order to perform such interpolation for the entire examination site, three-dimensional data in which the measured data are arranged in three-dimensional coordinates is created (step 1001). This is for example 3
The data of each measurement region pasted on the three-dimensional wire frame image can be easily created by using the data of the pasting position.

Next, such three-dimensional data is sliced in the horizontal and vertical directions, and interpolation is performed in each cross section. That is, for example, first, the data 1011 of the measured point on the same slice of the horizontal cross section is used to interpolate the data 1012 of the non-measured area (step 1002).
Interpolation of such horizontal section data is sequentially performed for a plurality of slices, and data of all horizontal sections is interpolated (step 1003). Next, the data 1013 of the measured point on the same slice in the vertical direction is used to interpolate the data 1014 of the non-measured area (step 1004). Interpolation of such horizontal section data is sequentially performed for a plurality of slices, and all horizontal section data is interpolated (step 1005). Finally,
A topography is created using the three-dimensional data for the entire region thus obtained and displayed on the three-dimensional wire frame image (step 1006).

FIG. 11 shows an example of the display. Top view of the entire head on the wireframe 1103 as shown
1102 is displayed. In the figure, reference numeral (white circle) 1101 indicates a measured point. A dark region indicates an increase in hemoglobin change amount, and a light region indicates a decrease in hemoglobin change amount. Also in this case, the wire frame image can be rotated and displayed around a desired axis, or may be reproduced as a moving image in time series.

Further, the topography on the thus obtained three-dimensional wire frame image may be projected in a desired direction. A display screen 1 shown in FIG. 12 in which the topography of FIG. 11 is vertically projected and displayed on a two-dimensional model image 1202.
An example of 201 is shown. Reference numeral 1203 indicates a measured point, and a dark region indicates an increase in hemoglobin change amount, and a light region indicates a decrease in hemoglobin change amount. Also in this case, the moving image may be reproduced in a time series.

According to the present embodiment, the topography of the entire examination site can be obtained by performing the interpolation estimation for the non-measured portion, and the whole grasp becomes easier.

Although the respective embodiments of the biological optical measurement device of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made. For example, in the above-described embodiment, as a morphological image for superimposing and displaying a hemoglobin change signal image or topography, a two-dimensional image or a three-dimensional wire frame that models the examination site of the subject is used, but not such a model image, MRI and X-ray C
It is also possible to use the subject image acquired by another image diagnostic apparatus such as the T apparatus as the morphological image.

In this case, the object image obtained by the image diagnostic apparatus is loaded into the storage unit 111 of the signal processing apparatus 101, and a position measuring apparatus is used for aligning the hemoglobin change signal image or the topography. That is, first, the coordinates of the captured morphological image and the object whose position is to be measured by the position measuring device are registered, and the measurement area of the probe number selected on the image matches the probe position of that number. By moving the hemoglobin change signal image to, the hemoglobin change signal image can be displayed in the corresponding region on the morphological image.

In the above embodiment, the case where the probes are attached to the plurality of measurement areas and the measurements are performed simultaneously has been described. For example, the data obtained by sequentially measuring the plurality of areas with one probe is stored in the storage unit. It is also possible to store the image in a plurality of measurement areas and display the images of a plurality of measurement areas on the two-dimensional or three-dimensional model image after the measurement of all areas is completed.

[0045]

According to the present invention, the measurement results over a plurality of areas can be observed on one screen. Further, according to the present invention, the entire inspection site including a plurality of regions can be observed on the morphological image of the inspection site. This can improve the diagnostic efficiency.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall outline of a biological optical measurement device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a probe mounting state in the biological optical measurement of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a biological optical measurement device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a signal processing device of the biological optical measurement device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a procedure of one embodiment of the biological optical measurement of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a display in the biological optical measurement device of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a display in the biological optical measurement device of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the procedure of an embodiment of the biological optical measurement of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a display in the biological optical measurement device of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the procedure of an embodiment of the biological optical measurement of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a display in the biological optical measurement device of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a display in the biological optical measurement device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

101: Optical topography device 103 ・ ・ ・ Optical fiber 104 ・ ・ ・ Probe 105-107 ・ ・ ・ Optical measurement unit 108-Signal processing device 110 ... CPU 111 ... Storage unit (hard disk) 112 ... Monitor

Continued front page    F term (reference) 2G059 AA05 AA06 BB12 CC18 EE01                       EE02 EE11 FF02 FF06 GG01                       GG03 GG06 HH01 HH02 HH06                       JJ17 KK03 MM01 MM10 NN06                       PP04                 4C038 KK00 KK01 KL05 KL07 KM00                       KX01 KX02

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A probe provided with a plurality of light irradiators and a light receiver, an optical measuring means for detecting the amount of light received by the probe at each measurement position, and a signal corresponding to the detected amount of light. In a living body optical measurement device comprising a signal processing means for calculating biological information of a subject and forming and displaying a biological information image, the signal processing means, for a plurality of measurement regions of the subject, a plurality of living bodies, respectively. Create an information image,
A living body optical measurement device comprising means for arranging and displaying the plurality of biological information images in accordance with the positions and directions of corresponding measurement regions. 2. The signal processing means includes a storage unit that stores a morphological image of an examination region of the subject, and displays the plurality of biometric information images in a superimposed manner on the morphological image stored in the storage unit. The biological optical measurement device according to claim 1, which is characterized in that. 3. The biological optical measurement device according to claim 2, wherein the morphological image is an image obtained by another image diagnostic device. 4. The biological optical measurement device according to claim 2, wherein the morphological image is an image of a living body modeled. 5. The signal processing means comprises means for estimating biometric information between adjacent measurement areas, and a continuous biometric information based on the biometric information of the plurality of measurement areas and the estimated biometric information between areas. The biological optical measurement device according to claim 1, which forms an information image.