JP2018161320A - Endoscope device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To confirm a position of a scope tip part in an extracorporeal observation mode while reducing an impact of heat at the scope tip part.SOLUTION: In an endoscope device having a video scope 10 with a scope tip part 10T to which a temperature sensor 16 is provided, a light volume is increased by controlling drive of LED 20 when switched to an extracorporeal observation mode. Then, the light volume is adjusted so as not to exceed a threshold value T1.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus that captures an image of a subject such as an organ, and more particularly, to position confirmation of a distal end portion of a scope (endoscope) from outside the body.

  In the endoscope apparatus, a flexible endoscope insertion portion is inserted into the body, the digestive organs and the like are observed, and treatment and surgery are performed as necessary. Since the lumen shapes of the large intestine, the small intestine and the like are complicated and winding shapes, it is difficult for an operator (operator) to grasp the insertion portion shape and the distal end portion position. For this reason, an extracorporeal observation mode for confirming the position of the distal end of the scope in the body is provided (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  Here, when the normal observation mode is switched to the extracorporeal observation mode, the light amount / intensity of the illumination light from the light source is increased. The operator can confirm the position of the tip portion in the body by the illumination light leaking outside the body. When the amount of illumination light is increased, the mucous membrane may be affected by heat. Therefore, the light quantity increase period is limited to a certain period, and when the certain period has elapsed, the mode is switched to the normal observation mode.

Japanese Patent No. 2542089

  The configuration of the scope tip varies depending on the model, and the influence of heat due to an increase in the amount of light also differs depending on the configuration of the tip where the imaging device, the optical system, and the like are arranged. Therefore, even if the amount of light is increased for a predetermined time, depending on the type of the video scope, there is a risk of affecting the organ mucous membrane.

  Therefore, it is required to appropriately manage the temperature at the distal end of the scope when in the in-vitro observation mode.

  The endoscope apparatus of the present invention includes a light source that emits illumination light, a temperature sensor provided at the distal end portion of the endoscope, and a control unit that adjusts the amount of illumination light, and the control unit is in an in-vitro observation mode. When switched, the light quantity is increased and the light quantity is adjusted according to the temperature detected by the temperature sensor. For example, when the control unit executes the automatic light control process in the normal observation mode and is switched to the extracorporeal observation mode, the control unit increases the light amount so as to exceed the maximum light amount in the normal observation mode. The light source can be provided in the endoscope.

  The control unit can increase or decrease the amount of light based on the detected temperature and the first threshold value. In addition, when the control unit is switched to the extracorporeal observation mode, it is possible to increase the amount of light if the detected temperature is equal to or lower than a second threshold value that is lower than the first threshold value.

  An endoscope according to another aspect of the present invention includes a light source that emits illumination light, a temperature sensor that is provided at the distal end portion of the endoscope, and a control unit that can adjust the amount of illumination light. When switched to the extracorporeal observation mode, the amount of light is increased and the amount of light is adjusted according to the temperature detected by the temperature sensor.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to confirm the position of the scope tip in the extracorporeal observation mode while suppressing the influence of the heat at the scope tip.

It is a block diagram of the endoscope apparatus in this embodiment. It is a flowchart of the light quantity adjustment process in the extracorporeal observation mode. It is the figure which showed the time change of the temperature detected when an in-vivo observation mode is performed. It is the figure which showed the temperature change at the time of switching to the extracorporeal observation mode ON again after setting the extracorporeal observation mode to OFF.

  Below, the endoscope apparatus which is this embodiment is demonstrated with reference to drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an endoscope apparatus according to this embodiment.

  The endoscope apparatus includes a video scope 10 and a processor 30 to which the video scope 10 is detachably connected. When performing observation, treatment, etc. of an affected area, the insertion section 10M of the video scope 10 is inserted into the body. . A monitor 40 that displays an observation image is connected to the processor 30.

  An LED 20 is provided as a light source at the scope distal end 10T of the video scope 10. The light emitted from the LED 20 is irradiated toward the subject from the scope distal end portion 10T via an objective lens (not shown). Reflected light from the subject forms an image on the imaging element 14 provided at the distal end 10T of the scope via the objective lens 12, thereby forming a subject image. The LED control circuit 24 provided in the connector portion 10C of the video scope 10 drives the LED 20. A distal end substrate 13 on which the LEDs 20 and the like are disposed is provided at the scope distal end portion 10T.

  An image processing unit 25 provided in the connector unit 10 </ b> C of the video scope 10 performs amplification processing, digitization processing, color conversion processing, and the like on the pixel signal for one field / frame read out from the image sensor 14. Thereby, a color image signal is generated.

  The image processing unit 32 of the processor 30 performs edge enhancement processing, superimposition processing, and the like on the color image signal sent from the video scope 10 and outputs a video signal to the monitor 40. As a result, the observation image is displayed on the monitor 40.

  The system control circuit 34 of the processor 30 controls the entire operation of the processor 30. On the other hand, the scope controller 26 of the video scope 10 controls the entire operation of the video scope 10. When the video scope 10 is connected to the processor 30, data communication is performed between the system control circuit 34 and the scope controller 26.

  The scope tip 10T of the video scope 10 is provided with a temperature sensor 16 that detects the temperature of the scope tip 10T. The scope controller 26 outputs a control signal to the LED control circuit 24 based on the detected temperature. The LED control circuit 24 adjusts the amount of illumination light by increasing or decreasing the current value to the LED 20. In the normal observation mode, based on the luminance value (average luminance or the like) of the pixel signal for one field / frame detected by the image processing unit 25, the brightness of the subject image is maintained at an appropriate brightness. The light quantity / intensity of the LED 20 is adjusted.

  The front panel 36 of the processor 30 is provided with a mode switching button (not shown) capable of switching between the normal observation mode and the extracorporeal observation mode. When switched to the extracorporeal observation mode by the mode switching operation by the operator, the scope controller 26 controls the LED control circuit 24 to increase the amount of light so that the illumination light leaks outside the body.

  The temperature sensor 16 detects the temperature of the scope distal end 10T at a predetermined time interval (for example, several mm seconds), and transmits a detection signal to the scope controller 26. While the scope controller 26 can confirm the position of the scope distal end portion 10T during the extracorporeal observation mode, the scope controller 26 adjusts the amount of illumination light based on the temperature detection signal so that the detected temperature does not exceed a predetermined temperature. This will be described in detail below.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart of light amount adjustment processing in the extracorporeal observation mode. Processing is started when the operator switches from the normal observation mode to the extracorporeal observation mode.

  When the detected temperature T is equal to or lower than the threshold T2, the amount of illumination light is increased (S101, 102). Specifically, the current value sent from the LED control circuit 24 to the LED 20 is increased by a predetermined amount.

  During the extracorporeal observation mode, the light amount is adjusted based on the difference between the detected temperature T and the threshold value T1 (S103, S104). The threshold value T1 here is set to a temperature lower than the temperature at which the organ mucosa may be burned. When the detected temperature T exceeds the threshold value T1, the current value is decreased by a predetermined amount so as to decrease the light amount by a predetermined amount (S103, S104). The amount of decrease in current value at this time is smaller than the amount of increase in current value in step S101. When the detected temperature T after the light amount decrease is lower than the threshold value T1, the light amount is increased.

  While the operator confirms the position of the scope distal end portion 10T in the extracorporeal observation mode, the light amount is adjusted by feedback control. When the mode is switched to the normal observation mode, the light amount adjustment according to the extracorporeal observation mode ends (S105), and the process returns to the automatic light control processing. Note that the threshold values T1 and T2 may be stored in advance in a memory such as a ROM.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a temporal change in temperature detected when the extracorporeal observation mode is executed. In FIG. 3, the detected temperature change is represented by a curve C.

  In the normal observation mode, the automatic light control process is executed as described above. The detected temperature T has a correlation with the amount of light applied to the subject, and the detected temperature T rises due to the illumination light after the start of the endoscopic work. When the detected temperature reaches the temperature T2, a thermal equilibrium state is established, and the detected temperature T is maintained in the vicinity of the temperature T2 (hereinafter referred to as a normal observation temperature). In the automatic light control process, the amount of light applied to the subject is limited, and the current value corresponding to the maximum light amount is set as an upper limit value so that the temperature near the scope tip 10T does not reach a temperature at which there is a risk of burns. Yes.

  When the normal observation mode is switched to the extracorporeal observation mode in this state (external observation mode ON), the detection temperature T increases as the amount of light increases because the detection temperature T has a correlation with the amount of light applied to the subject. . If the detected temperature T exceeds the threshold value T1, the organ mucous membrane may be affected. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the amount of light so that the detected temperature T does not exceed the threshold value T1. On the other hand, if the amount of light is reduced more than necessary, that is, if the detection temperature T is too low, in-vitro observation is hindered.

  Here, since feedback control is performed with the threshold value T1 as a target value, the amount of illumination light is limited so that the amount of light appropriate for in-vivo observation is maintained while the amount of light that may cause burns is not reached. In this light amount adjustment, the light amount is increased or decreased in a range exceeding the maximum light amount in the normal observation mode, and the current value is adjusted in a range exceeding the maximum current value of the LED 20 set in the normal observation mode. When the operator switches back to the normal observation mode (external observation mode OFF), the automatic light control process is executed again. The detected temperature T decreases to the normal observation temperature T2 over time.

  The temperature change characteristics due to the illumination light at the distal end of the scope vary depending on the type of image sensor provided inside, the structure of the substrate, the optical system (edge surface, etc.), and the way the temperature rises varies depending on the type of video scope. To do. For example, in video scopes with different observation target organs (digestive organs, bronchi), the size of the image sensor and the temperature rise are different. In addition, in the case of a videoscope in which a light source such as an LED is provided at the distal end of the scope, the temperature rise due to the increase in the amount of illumination is likely to be larger than the videoscope using the light source provided on the processor side, which is affected by heat Arise.

  For this reason, even if the extracorporeal observation mode is limited to a certain period, the temperature at the distal end of the scope may reach a temperature at which the organ mucosa may burn. However, in the present embodiment, since the light amount is adjusted so as not to exceed the threshold value T1 after the light amount is increased, the work can be continued sufficiently safely even if the period of the extracorporeal observation mode becomes relatively long.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a temperature change when the extracorporeal observation mode is turned off and then the extracorporeal observation mode is turned on again.

  In some cases, after the in-vitro observation mode is set to OFF, the in-vitro observation mode is switched to ON again in order to reconfirm the distal end position of the scope distal end, or in order to reconfirm the position of the scope distal end after advance / retreat. . If the extracorporeal observation mode is switched to ON again before the detection temperature T drops to the normal observation temperature T2, the light quantity increase is executed in a state where heat is not sufficiently released, which may affect the organ inner wall and the like. There is.

  However, in this embodiment, when the extracorporeal observation mode is turned on, if the detected temperature T exceeds the normal observation temperature T2, the light quantity increase is not executed (step S101 in FIG. 2). After the time DL has elapsed since the extracorporeal observation mode is turned on, the light quantity increase is executed. If the temperature of the scope distal end 10T is lowered to the normal observation temperature T2, the influence of heat can be prevented even if the extracorporeal observation mode is switched on again.

  In step S101 of FIG. 2, the normal observation temperature T2 is used as a threshold value and compared with the detection temperature T. However, the temperature may be set higher than the normal observation temperature T2, or may be set lower. is there. Further, since the degree of temperature rise varies depending on the type of video scope, threshold values T1 and T2 may be set for each type of video scope.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, in the endoscope apparatus including the video scope 10 in which the temperature sensor 16 is provided in the scope distal end portion 10T, the LED 20 is driven and controlled to increase the light amount when switched to the extracorporeal observation mode. Let And light quantity adjustment is performed so that threshold value T1 may not be exceeded.

  In this embodiment, the LED 20 as the light source is arranged in the video scope 10, but the present invention can also be applied to an endoscope apparatus using a lamp or the like provided in the processor or in the light source device as a light source. In this case, automatic light control processing using a diaphragm mechanism may be performed as the automatic light control processing.

10 Videoscope 20 LED (light source)
24 LED control circuit (control unit)
26 Scope controller (control unit)

Claims (6)

A light source that emits illumination light;
A temperature sensor provided at the distal end of the endoscope;
A control unit capable of adjusting the amount of illumination light,
An endoscope apparatus, wherein when the control unit is switched to an extracorporeal observation mode, the light amount is increased and the light amount is adjusted according to a temperature detected by the temperature sensor.   The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit increases or decreases the amount of light based on the detected temperature and the first threshold value.   The endoscope according to claim 1, wherein when the control unit is switched to the in-vivo observation mode, the light amount is increased if the detected temperature is equal to or lower than a second threshold value lower than the first threshold value. apparatus.   The control unit according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein when the controller performs automatic light control processing in the normal observation mode and is switched to the extracorporeal observation mode, the light amount is increased so as to exceed a maximum light amount in the normal observation mode. The endoscope apparatus according to any one of the above.   The endoscope apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the light source is provided in an endoscope. A light source that emits illumination light;
A temperature sensor provided at the distal end of the endoscope;
A control unit capable of adjusting the amount of illumination light,
An endoscope, wherein when the control unit is switched to the extracorporeal observation mode, the light amount is increased and the light amount is adjusted according to a temperature detected by the temperature sensor.

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