JP2003299619A - Slit-lamp microscope - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a slit-lamp microscope capable of clearly observing a partial lesion part of an examined eye and simultaneously clearly observing the whole image including the periphery, in various observation positions to the examined eye in an observation system. <P>SOLUTION: This slit-lamp microscope 1 has: an illumination system 8 irradiating the examined eye E with slit light through a prism 12 to observe a cross- sectional image of an observation portion of the examined eye E; a background illumination system 70 illuminating a peripheral part of an irradiation field of the examined eye E by the illumination system 8 to observe a peripheral part of the observation portion; and an observation system 6 observing the observation portion of the examined eye E and the peripheral part. The slit-lamp microscope 1 has: a fixed guide body detachably disposed near the prism 12 of the illumination system 8; and an irradiation unit 74 holding a light guide 71 guiding background illumination light from a light source 51 provided in the illumination system 8, disposed such that the irradiation unit 74 draws a turn track around a reflection point R of the prism 12 to the fixed guide body, and irradiating the prism 12 with the background illumination light from a different direction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a slit lamp microscope, and more specifically, in addition to irradiating an eye to be examined with local (slit-like) illumination light, a background illumination system has been devised so that the eye to be examined is improved. The present invention relates to a slit lamp microscope capable of clearly observing the peripheral part of a specific observation site of.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a slit lamp microscope as a type of microscope used in the field of ophthalmology. This is always used in the daily examination of an ophthalmologist, and it is possible to observe various lesions of the eye to be examined by devising a lighting method.

In such a slit lamp microscope, background illumination means for irradiating the slit-shaped illumination light with which the illumination system irradiates the subject's eye, that is, other illumination light for illuminating the entire subject's eye, in addition to the slit light. By illuminating the eye to be inspected with the background illumination light at the same time as the slit light, and using a video camera attached to the observation optical system to image the slit image (for example, corneal cross-sectional image) and the whole image of the eye. Is being done.

FIG. 18 shows a schematic structure of an illumination system 101 and background illumination means 102 in a conventional slit lamp microscope.

The background illumination means 102 is an illumination system 101.
The background illumination light from the light source provided inside the optical fiber 103
And an irradiation unit 10 fixedly arranged on the illumination system 101.
4 irradiates the reflection point R from diagonally above the prism 105 that constitutes the illumination system 101, and the illumination system 1 is applied to the eye E to be inspected.
The background illumination light is emitted together with the slit light of 01.

[0006]

However, in the case of the slit lamp microscope provided with such a conventional background illumination means 102,
Since the irradiation unit 104 of the background illuminating unit 102 is fixedly arranged, the background illuminating light is always applied to the eye E through the constant reflection point R of the prism 105.

On the other hand, the observation system is configured to rotate the prism 105 to the left and right instead of at a fixed position and observe the eye E from various directions.

As a result, the irradiation field of the background illumination light by the background lighting means 102 deviates from the observation field of the above-mentioned observation system, and the whole image of the eye E to be examined, for example, the tissue around the cross section of the cornea (sclera, iris), etc. There is a problem that it becomes difficult to observe and photograph the image of.

Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible not only to clearly observe a local lesion of the eye to be examined at various observation positions of the eye to be inspected in the observation system, but also to observe the entire image including the periphery thereof at the same time. An object of the present invention is to provide a slit lamp microscope.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a slit lamp microscope capable of moving a reflection bright spot generated on a cornea due to background illumination light in a photographed image.

[0011]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 is capable of observing a cross-sectional image of an observation site of the eye to be examined by irradiating the eye to be examined with slit light through a prism. The illumination system, the background illumination system that illuminates the peripheral part of the irradiation field of the eye to be inspected by the illumination system, and makes it possible to observe the peripheral part of the observation site, and observes the observation site of the eye and its peripheral part In a slit lamp microscope having an observation system, a fixed guide body detachably arranged near the prism of the illumination system and a light guide member for guiding background illumination light from a light source provided in the illumination system are held and fixed. The guide body is arranged so as to draw a rotation locus around the reflection point of the prism or a point in the vicinity thereof, and the background illumination light emitted from the light guide member is emitted toward the prism from different directions to the subject's eye. Lighting that changes the irradiation field It is characterized in further comprising a unit.

According to a second aspect of the invention, in the slit lamp microscope according to the first aspect, the irradiation unit includes a click mechanism for positioning the irradiation guide unit at a reference position with respect to the fixed guide body, and both ends of the rotation position are provided. It is characterized in that it is provided with a both-ends rotational position regulating mechanism for regulating.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the slit lamp microscope according to the first or second aspect, the irradiation unit causes the luminous flux diameter of the background illumination light emitted from the light guide member to be large or small by a sliding operation. It is characterized by comprising a light flux switching plate for switching to.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, in the slit lamp microscope according to any one of the first to third aspects, the irradiation unit is below the reflection point of the prism with respect to the fixed guide body. Is arranged so as to draw a rotation locus around the point of, and is configured to be able to move the reflection bright point generated on the cornea by the background illumination light emitted from the light guide member from different directions toward the prism. It is characterized by that.

According to the present invention, the irradiation unit of the background illumination light to the eye to be inspected is changed by rotating the irradiation unit around the reflection point of the prism in accordance with various observation positions of the eye to be inspected in the observation system. This makes it possible to clearly observe not only the local lesion of the eye to be inspected but also the entire image including the periphery thereof.

Further, according to the present invention, since the click mechanism for positioning the irradiation unit at the reference position with respect to the fixed guide body and the both-end rotation position regulation mechanism for regulating both ends of the rotation position are provided, the operability is improved. You can often change the rotation position of the irradiation unit.

Further, according to the present invention, since the light flux switching plate for switching the light flux diameter of the background illumination light emitted from the light guide member to the large or small by the slide operation is provided, the local lesion area of the eye to be inspected. By operating the light flux switching plate during observation and appropriately changing the light amount of the background illumination light, it is possible to observe the entire image including the periphery of the subject's eye with optimum brightness.

Further, according to the present invention, since the reflected bright spot generated on the cornea can be moved by the background illumination light, the irradiation field of the background illumination light on the eye to be examined can be changed in a wider range.

[0019]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. The slit lamp microscope 1 of the present embodiment shown in FIG.
A base 4, which is supported on the table 2 so as to be movable in the horizontal and vertical directions through a moving mechanism 3, and an operation handle 5 for displacing the base 4 in the horizontal and vertical directions by tilting operation. And an observation system 6 supported by the base 4, an illumination system 8 having a light source and a slit, and a jaw holder for a subject facing a lens barrel body 9 accommodating an objective lens of the observation system 6. The chin rest 10 has a portion 10a and a forehead rest 10b.

On the side surface of the lens barrel body 9, a rotation shaft for changing the magnification of the observation is provided so as to project, and the outer periphery of the rotation shaft indicates the observation magnification of the observation system 6, 6, 10, 16 and 25. The operation knob 11 with a numeral such as 40 is attached.

FIG. 2 shows an outline of an optical configuration of the slit lamp microscope 1 of the present embodiment. The slit lamp microscope 1 is shown in FIG.
Is a lens barrel body 9 that constitutes the observation system 6, and this lens barrel body 9
The imaging device 20 attached to the observation system 6, an illumination optical system 21 that constitutes the illumination system 8 that is orthogonally arranged with respect to the prism 12 facing the eye E to be examined, and background illumination arranged near the prism 12. And the system 22.

The observation system 6 changes the prism 12, the objective lens 31, the variable magnification optical system 32, the condenser lens 33, the beam splitter 34, the relay lens 35, and the optical path to the side of the eyepiece tube 9a. The prism 36 and the eyepiece lens 37 arranged on the eyepiece tube 9a are provided, and an image of the eye E is shown in FIG.
An image is formed at the image forming point P shown in (4) so that it can be observed by the examiner's eye Eo.

The image pickup device 20 has a condenser lens 41 for condensing the light beam split by the beam splitter 34.
And a mirror 42 that bends the light beam from the condenser lens 41 at a right angle of 90 degrees, and an imaging camera 43.

Illumination optical system 21 constituting the illumination system 8
Is a light source 51 such as a halogen lamp, condenser lenses 52 and 53 for condensing light from the light source 51, and slits (slits) for passing only a part of the light passing through the condenser lenses 52 and 53. ) 54, a condenser lens 55 for condensing the light passing through the slit 54, the light source 51 and the condenser lens 52.
Strobe light source 56 such as a xenon lamp placed between
And a background illumination system 70 is added.

The background illumination system 70 is in the vicinity of the prism 12 with respect to the housing portion 8a of the illumination system 8, that is, the prism 12
In addition to holding the fixed guide body 73 that is detachably arranged at an obliquely upper position, and the light guide 71 and the light guide 71 that use an optical fiber that is a light guide member derived from the vicinity of the light source 51, Fixed guide body 7
An irradiation unit which is attached to the prism 3 so as to draw a rotation locus around the reflection point R of the prism 12 and irradiates the prism 12 with background illumination light from different directions to change the irradiation field for the eye E to be inspected. And 74.

The slit 54 and the eye E to be inspected are arranged so as to be in a conjugate position with respect to the condenser lens 55, and as a result, through the prism 12, for example, to the cornea of the eye E to be inspected. By irradiating a gap light (local illumination light), a corneal cross-sectional image of the eye E can be observed.

Next, the background illumination system 70 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

A fixed guide body 73 of the background illumination system 70.
As shown in FIGS. 3, 8 and 10, the arc-shaped guide plate includes a pair of mounting pins 82 that are detachably mounted in a pair of receiving holes 8b provided in the housing portion 8a of the illumination system 8. 81.

The upper side 81a and the lower side 81b of the arc-shaped guide plate 81 are formed in a shape that draws an arc centered on the reflection point R of the prism 12 when mounted on the housing portion 8a.

The irradiation unit 74 holds the light emitting end 71a of the light guide 71 in the accommodation hole 84, and
A slide box body 83 slidably fitted on the arc-shaped guide plate 81 is provided. An opening 84a for transmitting light is formed in the lower portion of the accommodation hole portion 84.

As shown in the enlarged view of FIG. 4, the slide box body 83 has an arc-shaped upper side 85a fitted to the arc-shaped guide plate 81 and has the accommodating hole portion 84 and an opening at the bottom. A box body portion 85 formed with 85b and an outer wall portion of the accommodation hole portion 84 are attached with screws 89,
The slide fitting plate 86 in which the arc-shaped upper side 86a is fitted to the lower side 81b of the arc-shaped guide plate 81, the light flux switching plate 87 slidably arranged below the opening 85b, and the light flux switching plate 87 on the lower side. It is provided with a lower lid plate 88 which is attached to the lower side of the box body portion 85 and the slide fitting plate 86 by using screws 89 while covering from above. The lower lid plate 88 also has an opening 88c for transmitting light as shown in FIGS. 4, 6 and 7.

As shown in FIG. 10, the light flux switching plate 87 is provided with two large and small transmission holes 87a and 87b. Further, the light flux switching plate 87 includes an operation projection piece 87 d that projects between the box body portion 85 and the lower lid plate 88 on the side opposite to the mounting pin 82. By sliding the operation protrusion 87d, either of the transmission holes 87a and 87b is made to face the light emission end 71a of the light guide 71, and the light amount of the background illumination light is changed.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, a small ball 92 urged by a spring 91 housed in a recess provided in the bottom of the box body 85 in a recess 87e provided in a part of the light flux switching plate 87. Are engaged with each other, whereby the light flux switching plate 87 is positioned with a click feeling. By sliding the operation projection 87d of the light flux switching plate 87, the entire image including the periphery of the eye E can be optimized by appropriately changing the amount of background illumination light when observing a local lesion of the eye E. It becomes possible to observe with the brightness of.

Next, a description will be given of the positioning mechanism for the reference position of the irradiation unit 74 with respect to the arc-shaped guide plate 81 and the left and right rotating positions.

As shown in FIG. 5, the positioning of the irradiation unit 74 at the standard value is performed by a spring 93 housed in a recess 81e provided in the arc-shaped guide plate 81 and a recess provided in the bottom of the box body 85. The click mechanism is configured to engage the small balls 94 that are urged by.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the irradiation unit 74 is positioned at both left and right rotational positions by projecting a stopper projection 81f having a substantially trapezoidal shape and an arc shape on the lower side at the center of the lower side of the arc-shaped guide plate 81. When the irradiation unit 74 is rotated with respect to the arc-shaped guide plate 81, the end portions 81 on both sides of the stopper protrusion 81f are extended as shown in FIG.
While sliding c and 81d along the upper side of the slide fitting plate 86, the upper surface corners 88a and 88b of the lower lid plate 88 are formed.
It is designed to be carried out by a both-ends rotational position regulating mechanism which is brought into contact with each other. The click mechanism and the both-end rotation position regulation mechanism can change the left and right end rotation positions around the reference position of the irradiation unit 74 with a click feeling and good operability.

That is, in the irradiation unit 74, with respect to the arc-shaped guide plate 81, the end portion 81c of the stopper projection 81f contacts the upper surface corner portion 88a of the lower lid plate 88 with the reference position shown in FIG. 9 as the center. The right end position in contact with the stopper protrusion 81
The end 81d of f is configured to be rotatable over the left end position where it abuts on the upper surface corner 88b of the lower lid plate 88, whereby the irradiation unit 74 moves relative to the fixed guide body 73. Drawing a rotation locus about the reflection point R of the prism 12 and irradiating background illumination light from different directions from the light emitting end 71a of the light guide 71 toward the prism 12,
The irradiation field for the eye E to be inspected is changed.

Next, the operation of the slit lamp microscope 1 described above will be described.
The state of changing the irradiation field of the background illumination light by the rotating operation of the irradiation unit 74 will be mainly described and will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 to 15.

The light emitted from the light source 51 illuminates the slit 54 through the condenser lens 52. Since the slit 54 and the subject's eye E are arranged conjugate with each other, the slit light formed by passing through the slit 54 passes through the condenser lens 55 and the prism 12 and, for example, as shown in FIG. The cornea cross-section Ed is irradiated.

On the other hand, the background illumination light emitted from the light emitting end 71a of the light guide 71 of the irradiation unit 74 toward the prism 12 is reflected by the prism 12 and the eye E to be inspected.
The iris and the cornea around the corneal cross section Ed are irradiated and reflected.

In this way, the light radiated to the eye E to be examined and reflected by the corneal cross section Ed of the eye E and the reflected light of the background illumination light radiated to the iris or cornea of the eye E are the prism 12 described above. Then, the light enters the objective lens 31 of the observation system 6, and further, through the beam splitter 34, a part thereof forms an image at the image forming point p shown in FIG. 2 and is observed by the examiner's eye Eo.

The light beam split by the beam splitter 34 passes through the mirror 42 and the image pickup camera 4
3, the observation image that is the same as the observation image of the corneal cross section Ed of the examiner's eye Eo is captured by the imaging camera 43.

Such an observation image can be observed in a state where good contrast is maintained, and the entire image including the iris and the like in the eye E can be clearly observed at the same time as the image of the corneal cross-section Ed of the eye E to be observed. It is possible to observe and image a lesion while grasping the entire image of the eye E to be inspected.

In such an operation of the slit lamp microscope 1, when changing the relative position of the observation system 6 with respect to the prism 12 to change the observation direction of the observation system 6 with respect to the eye E, the irradiation unit 74 When the reference position as shown in FIG. 12 is left as it is, the background illumination light may not reach the eye E such as the iris or cornea.

In such a case, the irradiation unit 7
4 is rotated with respect to the arc-shaped guide plate 81 around the reflection point R of the prism 12 shown in FIG. 13 from the reference position shown in FIG. 12 (as viewed from the eye E side), and FIG.
4 to the left end position (as viewed from the eye E side),
Background illumination light is emitted from the light emitting end 71a of the light guide 71 toward the prism 12 from different directions to change the irradiation field with respect to the eye E to be inspected.

As a result, even when the observation system 6 is rotated left and right to change the relative position with respect to the prism 12, that is, the observation position with respect to the eye E, the eye E with the image of the corneal cross-section Ed of the eye E is examined. It is possible to clearly observe the entire image including the iris and the like.

FIG. 16 shows a state in which the irradiation unit 74 is accommodated in the lens barrel main body 9 when it is not used. A pair of receiving holes similar to the receiving holes 84 provided in the upper side wall of the lens barrel main body 9 are shown in FIG. , A pair of mounting pins 8 of the irradiation unit 74
2 is attached to the lens barrel body 9 so as to be detachably accommodated.

FIG. 17 shows a modified example of the irradiation unit 74. In the above-described embodiment, the irradiation unit 74 has a structure in which the reflection point R of the prism 12 is the rotation center with respect to the fixed guide body 81. As described above, as shown in FIG. 17, the irradiation unit 74 may be configured such that the point R1 below the reflection point R of the prism 12 with respect to the fixed guide body 81 is the center of rotation. With this configuration, it is possible to move the reflected bright spots generated on the cornea of the eye to be inspected by the background illumination light to a position different from the case of the configuration of the above-described embodiment, and it is possible to obtain a wider background illumination field. Becomes

[0049]

According to the present invention, even when the observation position of the observation system with respect to the eye to be inspected is changed, not only the local lesion of the eye to be inspected but also the entire image including the periphery thereof is clearly observed at the same time. It is possible to provide a slit lamp microscope capable of doing so.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a slit lamp microscope capable of changing the rotational position of the irradiation unit with good operability and observing the whole image including the periphery of the eye to be examined with optimum brightness. Can be provided.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a slit lamp microscope capable of moving the reflection bright spots generated on the cornea by the background illumination light and obtaining a wider background illumination field.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a slit lamp microscope according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an optical system of the slit lamp microscope of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an optical path from a prism of background illumination light emitted by the background illumination system of the present embodiment to a subject's eye.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross section of a fixed guide body and an irradiation unit in the background illumination system of the present embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a partial cutaway sectional view of the fixed guide body and the irradiation unit according to the present embodiment as seen from above.

FIG. 6 is a partial cutaway sectional view of the fixed guide body and the irradiation unit according to the present embodiment as viewed from the back side.

FIG. 7 is a bottom view of the fixed guide body and the irradiation unit of the present embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view showing a mounting state of the fixed guide body and the irradiation unit of the present embodiment when viewed from above to the illumination system.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of the fixed guide body and the irradiation unit according to the present embodiment as viewed from the back side.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing a mounting state of the fixed guide body and the irradiation unit of the present embodiment when viewed from the bottom side of the illumination system.

FIG. 11 is a partially enlarged view of the fixed guide body and the irradiation unit of the present embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing the emission state of background illumination light at the reference position of the irradiation unit that is mounted on the fixed guide body according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing the emission state of background illumination light at the right end position of the irradiation unit that is mounted on the fixed guide body according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram showing the state of emission of background illumination light at the left end position of the irradiation unit that is mounted on the fixed guide body according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing a state where the background illumination light from the irradiation unit according to the present embodiment is applied to the subject's eye.

FIG. 16 is a schematic perspective view showing a state in which the irradiation unit of the present embodiment is accommodated in the lens barrel body when not in use.

FIG. 17 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing a modified example of the irradiation unit of the present embodiment.

FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of an illumination system and a background illumination means in a conventional slit lamp microscope.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Slit lamp microscope 2 tables 4 bases 6 Observation system 8 Lighting system 8a housing part 8b Receiving hole 9 barrel body 9a Eyepiece tube 10 jaw rest 12 prism 20 Imaging device 21 Illumination optical system 22 Background lighting system 31 Objective lens 43 Imaging camera 51 light source 54 Slit 70 Background lighting system 71 Light Guide 71a light emitting end 73 Fixed guide body 74 irradiation unit 81 arc guide plate 81a Upper side 81b lower side 81c end 81d end 81e recess 81f Stopper protrusion 82 mounting pin 83 Slide box 84 receiving hole 84 accommodation hole 84a Open hole 85 Box 85a arc upper side 85b Open hole 86 slide fitting plate 86a arc top 87 Light flux switching plate 87d operation protrusion 87e recess 88 Lower lid plate 88a Top corner 88b Top corner E eye to be examined Eo examiner's eye Ed cornea cross section R reflection point

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An illumination system that irradiates slit light to a subject's eye through a prism so that a cross-sectional image of an observation site of the subject's eye can be observed, and a peripheral portion of an irradiation field of the subject's eye is illuminated by the illumination system. In a slit lamp microscope having a background illumination system for observing the peripheral portion of the observation region and an observation system for observing the observation region of the eye to be examined and the peripheral portion thereof, the slit lamp microscope is attachable / detachable in the vicinity of the prism of the illumination system. And a fixed guide body arranged in the same direction, and a light guide member for guiding the background illumination light from a light source provided in the illumination system, and rotation around the reflection point of the prism or a point near the reflection point of the prism with respect to the fixed guide body. A slit lamp microscope, which is arranged so as to draw a locus, and which has an irradiation unit that irradiates the background illumination light emitted from the light guide member toward the prism from different directions to change the irradiation field for the subject's eye. 2. The irradiation unit includes a click mechanism for positioning the fixed guide member at a reference position and a both-end rotation position regulation mechanism for regulating both ends of the rotation position. The slit lamp microscope according to 1. 3. The irradiation unit includes a light flux switching plate that switches a light flux diameter of the background illumination light emitted from the light guide member between a large light flux and a small light flux by a slide operation.
Alternatively, the slit lamp microscope according to claim 2. 4. The irradiation unit is arranged so as to draw a rotation locus around a point below the reflection point of the prism with respect to the fixed guide body, and guides light from a different direction toward the prism. The slit lamp microscope according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the background illumination light emitted by the member is configured to move a reflection bright spot generated on the cornea.