JP2839865B2 - Local sweat measurement device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a local sweat measuring apparatus for performing an autonomic nervous function test or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There are two types of sweating, thermal sweating and mental sweating. Of these, mental sweating is often found on the palms and soles of the feet and is known to be strongly affected by the autonomic nervous system. . For this reason, such a site is selected for the measurement of the amount of sweat in the autonomic nervous function test, and the diagnosis has been made by comparing the amount of sweat with that of a normal person.

[0003] Various devices for measuring the amount of perspiration have conventionally been developed, and for example, there is a device using a method called a ventilation capsule method. This uses a capsule that is in close contact with the skin, and the capsule is open on the side to be attached to the skin, and the interior is partitioned into two chambers that communicate with each other. One chamber (a chamber for measuring perspiration on the side close to the skin) communicates with a cylinder of dry gas (eg, nitrogen gas) via a tube, and the other chamber has a built-in humidity sensor. I have. Thus, in one room, the perspiration moisture and the dry gas that emanate from the skin are mixed, and an electric signal corresponding to the amount of moisture in the mixed air is continuously output from the humidity sensor, and the control device controls the perspiration amount. It was measured as a temporal transition.

[0004]

However, when testing for autonomic nervous function, the water to be detected must be based only on sweating. However, in reality, it is inevitable that air in the measurement environment is mixed in the tube between the dry gas cylinder and the capsule.
Such contamination of air is caused by the fact that when the capsule is removed from the skin, the capsule enters the tube through the capsule. Therefore, it is necessary to purge the air in the tube before starting the measurement.

In the prior art, the amount of perspiration must be measured after almost completely purging the mixed water, and a long waiting time is required during this period. However, in reality, the measurement is often started without waiting for the completion of the purge, so that the reliability of the measurement accuracy is impaired.

By the way, the supply temperature of the dry gas depends on the temperature of the measurement environment, while the skin temperature is almost constant, so that the environment in the capsule also varies depending on the temperature of the measurement environment. It was supposed to change depending on the environment. In this case, if the measurement environment is different, accurate comparison between the measurement results cannot be performed. Therefore, conventionally, the measurement was usually performed in an environment where the measurement conditions (room temperature and the like are kept constant) called an artificial climate chamber were prepared. There was a problem that it took time to create an environment.

Further, the conventional sweating amount measuring device merely measures the state of sweating (temporal change of sweating, etc.), that is, analyzes the relationship with other phenomena (heartbeat) associated with autonomic nervous activity. Nothing has been done. That is, the conventional device lacks the viewpoint of analyzing the entire autonomic nervous activity through the sweating phenomenon, and no device for measuring the interrelation of various phenomena associated with such autonomic nervous activity has been developed. .

The present invention has been devised in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a local sweating amount measuring device capable of improving the measuring accuracy with a simple device. It is to be.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a local perspiration measuring apparatus for measuring the state of perspiration by feeding a gas into a capsule mounted on the skin surface, and taking in the perspiration and moisture emanating from the skin into a measuring section. And a skin temperature detecting means capable of detecting the skin temperature is provided, and a heater is provided in the middle of a gas supply path to the capsule, and a detection signal from the skin temperature detecting means is provided in the heater. The temperature of the skin is maintained at a set temperature by connecting a temperature controller for adjusting the temperature of the gas based on the temperature.

[0010]

[0011]

[0012]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the temperature controller controls the heating operation of the heater based on the skin temperature detected by the skin temperature detecting means, and makes the temperature of the gas equal to or arbitrary from the skin temperature. In this case, the temperature inside the capsule can be set to any substantially constant temperature. Therefore, it is possible to measure the amount of perspiration while minimizing the influence of the temperature of the measurement environment.

Accordingly, a highly accurate measurement result can be obtained, and since there is no need to wait until the conventionally required completion of the purge, the measurement start time can be advanced.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the heart rate signal of the subject is recorded on the display section of the measuring section together with the temporal transition of the amount of sweating water obtained as described above. ,
You can also learn about the relationship between sweating and heart rate.

[0015]

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. -First Embodiment- Figs. 1 to 6 show a first embodiment of the present invention.
First, an outline of the entire measuring apparatus will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 1 denotes a capsule to be attached to the skin, 2 denotes a cylinder filled with dry gas (low humidity nitrogen gas), and the inlet side of the capsule 1 and the cylinder 2 are made of a flexible tube. It is connected by a passage 3 and receives supply of dry gas from the cylinder 2. A discharge path 4 made of a flexible tube is provided on the outflow side of the capsule 1.
A flow meter 5 is connected via the. And the amount of gas supplied to the capsule 1 can be kept constant by measuring the amount of gas passing through the discharge passage 4 and adjusting the amount of gas supplied from the cylinder 2. Like that.

A first humidity sensor 6 for detecting the amount of moisture contained in the dry gas is provided in the middle of the supply path 3.
Is connected to the discharge path 4 side, and a second humidity sensor 7 for measuring the amount of water mainly due to perspiration in the capsule 1 is connected. The first and second humidity sensors 6 and 7 are both connected to the measuring section 8 so as to input respective moisture detection signals. The measuring unit 8 performs a predetermined process based on the moisture detection signal. The measuring unit 8 further includes a printer 9 for displaying the processing result (temporal transition of the amount of sweating). It is connected.

Next, a more specific structure will be described. The capsule 1 is formed of a synthetic resin material into a disk shape, and the lower half (portion to be mounted on the human body) has a hollow shape opening toward the human body. On the other hand, the base 1A as a solid body is continuous in the upper half. Then, inside the outer wall arranged on the outer peripheral edge of the lower half, a double inner wall is formed concentrically, whereby the inside of the capsule 1 is divided into a total of three chambers. Is a medicine input chamber 10, and the innermost chamber is a measurement chamber 11. In the chamber between these, the drug solution (for example, an aqueous solution containing acetylcholine as a main component and having a sweat-promoting effect on the skin) administered to the drug input chamber 10 is directly measured in the measurement chamber 1.
1 is an intermediate chamber 12 for preventing the intrusion into the inside. The walls partitioning these three chambers are formed with substantially the same height, so that when the capsule 1 is mounted on a human body, each chamber is partitioned almost in a watertight manner.

On the other hand, the base 1A of the capsule 1 is formed with two through holes 13 and 14 from the outer surface thereof, each of which penetrates into the measurement chamber 11, and one side of which is a dry gas. And is connected to the supply path 3 in a sealed state. Further, the other side is an outflow side of the gas mixed with perspiration and moisture generated in the measurement chamber 11, and is connected to the above-mentioned discharge path 4 side in a sealed state.

An electric wire 15 is attached in a ring shape along the entire circumference at a predetermined height position on the outer peripheral surface side in the medicine introduction chamber 10. And these both ends are the base 1
A is connected to an anode-side terminal fitting 16 protruding from the upper surface of A, and this anode-side terminal fitting 16 is connected to a current supply device (not shown). The current supply device can supply a constant current (approximately 2 mA), and the cathode side is connected to the human body via a cathode plate covered with a lead plate covered with flannel and immersed in saline.

Further, on the upper surface of the base 1A, a medicine introduction chamber 1 is provided.
0 through the two holes, each with a pipe 1
7, 18 are press-fitted. One pipe 17 is for charging a chemical solution, and the other pipe 18 functions as an air vent. A pair of mounting brackets 19 protrude from the upper surface of the base 1A, and a terminal of a mounting belt (not shown) is mounted on these.

Next, the configuration of the measuring section 8 will be described with reference to FIG.
The output signal from the first humidity sensor 6 and the output signal from the second humidity sensor 7 are input to the subtraction unit 20. From the detection value of the first humidity sensor 6, the second
The detection value of the humidity sensor 7 is subtracted and output. The subtracting unit 20 is connected to an amplifying unit 21 for amplifying the output value, and the amplifying unit 21 is connected to a printer 9 for printing an amplified signal of the subtracted value. The change of quantity is printed.

Next, the operation and effect of this embodiment configured as described above will be specifically described. The capsule 1 is mounted on a human body, and a cathode plate connected to the cathode side of a current supply device (not shown) is pasted near the capsule 1 mounting site. Then, a perspiration enhancer, which is a 10% aqueous solution of acetylcholine, is introduced into the medicine introduction chamber 10 so that at least the electric wires are immersed. By doing so, sweating in the measurement chamber 11 is promoted by an action called skin axon reflex. The skin axon reflex refers to a phenomenon in which, when a terminal of a post-skin sympathetic ganglion fiber is stimulated with a drug or the like, sweating also occurs in a part that is not directly stimulated through a branch of the post-skin sympathetic ganglion fiber. .

On the other hand, a low-humidity nitrogen gas is supplied from the cylinder 2 to the measurement chamber 11 in the capsule 1 via the supply path 3.
For this reason, in the measurement room 11, the water vapor and the low-humidity nitrogen gas accompanying the axon-reflective sweating are mixed, and the air-fuel mixture is exhausted to the exhaust passage 4.

The amount of water in the air-fuel mixture, that is, the amount of water in the discharge passage 4 is detected by the second humidity sensor 7, and a detection signal is input to the subtraction unit 20 in the measurement unit 8. On the other hand, the amount of water in the supply path 3, that is, the amount of water mixed in the flexible tube or the like constituting the supply path 3 is detected by the first humidity sensor 6, and the detection signal is sent to the subtraction unit of the measurement unit 8. The subtraction unit 20 subtracts the value detected by the first humidity sensor 6 from the value detected by the second humidity sensor 7. As a result, the amount of mixed water contained in the supply path 3 is reduced, and almost only the amount of water associated with perspiration is detected.

The output value from the subtractor 20 is amplified by the amplifier 21 and the amplified signal is input to the printer 9. As a result, the change in the amount of perspiration and the frequency of perspiration during the measurement time are printed on the printer 9.

As described above, at the start of the measurement, moisture in the air enters the supply path 3 or the measuring section 8 through the capsule 1 or the like. However, according to the first embodiment, by subtracting the detection value of the first humidity sensor 6 from the detection value of the second humidity sensor 7, the water content in the supply path 3 is eliminated, and Since only the amount of perspiration water to be measured can be measured, the measurement can be started immediately without waiting for the purge time as in the conventional case. In the prior art, if the purging is incomplete, the reliability of the measurement accuracy is impaired. However, according to the present embodiment, the amount of water to be purged is reliably eliminated. Therefore, a highly accurate measurement value can be obtained. In addition, since the amount of perspiration and its change over time are expanded and recorded on the printer 9 by the amplifier 21, precise measurement is possible. Therefore, discovery of a disease or the like that has been overlooked in the past can also be expected. -Second Embodiment-Fig. 7 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. In the second embodiment, the sweating action can be measured in relation to the heart rate. In the present embodiment, the humidity sensor 22 is connected only to the discharge path 4 to detect the moisture content of the air-fuel mixture passing therethrough. May be used to perform a subtraction process). Then, the detection signal is amplified by the amplifier 23, and is amplified by the multiplexer 24 and the A / D converter 25.
The input is made to U26. On the other hand, in the second embodiment, a cuff 27 for attaching to a human arm is provided,
Air is supplied to the inside by a diaphragm pump 28 so that air can be sealed therein. A pressure pulse wave sensor 29 is connected in the middle of a flexible tube connecting the diaphragm pump 28 and the cuff 27,
The air pressure fluctuation in the flexible tube accompanying the heartbeat is converted into an electric signal and output as a heartbeat signal. An amplifier 30 for amplifying a heartbeat signal is connected to the pressure pulse wave sensor 29, and the amplifier 30 is connected to the CPU 26 via a multiplexer 24 and an A / D converter 25.
It is connected to the.

The CPU 26 performs predetermined processing based on the perspiration signal from the humidity sensor 22 and the heartbeat signal from the pressure pulse wave sensor 29. The calculation result is displayed on the display device 32 and the D / A. The data is output as analog data through the converter 31 and the pen recorder 33
And the like. Specifically, the temporal change of the amount of sweating is recorded in relation to the heartbeat cycle.

The configuration of the capsule 1 and the like is the first.
This is the same as the embodiment.

According to the above-described second embodiment, the cuff is mounted so as to cover the radial artery of the upper arm, and the capsule 1 is mounted near the cuff. Then, in the same manner as in the first embodiment, the dry gas is supplied, and the amount of water accompanying the perspiration is detected by the humidity sensor 22 on the discharge side. The perspiration signal from here is input to the A / D converter 25 through the multiplexer 24 via the amplifier 23, converted into a digital signal here, and then input to the CPU 26. On the other hand, the diaphragm pump 28 is driven so that compressed air is sealed and held in the cuff 27. By doing so, the air in the cuff 27 pulsates in conjunction with the heartbeat, and the pulsation of the air pressure is detected by the pressure pulse wave sensor 29. Then, the detection signal is input to the CPU 26 in the same manner as the above-mentioned perspiration signal, where predetermined calculation processing is performed, and the display device 32 such as a monitor is used.
Are displayed on the recorder 33 and the like, and the sweating state is measured in relation to one heartbeat.

As described above, in the second embodiment, the sweat wave is measured in relation to one heartbeat, and it is possible to expect a detailed analysis of the autonomic nervous activity and the disease. In this embodiment, the pressure pulse wave sensor 29
Is used to enable non-invasive measurement, but other measurement means such as a laser blood flow meter may be used as long as a heartbeat signal can be detected. Third Embodiment FIG. 8 shows a third embodiment of the present invention. Since the basic configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment, the first and second humidity sensors, the measuring unit, and the like are used. And illustration thereof will be omitted.

In the third embodiment, a dry gas having the same temperature as the skin temperature is supplied. In particular,
In the capsule 1, a first temperature sensor 34 capable of detecting the skin temperature in close contact with the skin is incorporated. On the other hand, in the middle of the supply path 3 connecting the cylinder 2 and the capsule 1, a relay tank 3 is provided.
6, a second temperature sensor 35 for detecting the temperature of the dry gas in the tank 36 and a heater 37 are provided.
And is incorporated. The first and second temperature sensors 34 and 35 are both connected to the temperature controller 38, and when there is a difference between the dry gas detected by the two temperature sensors 34 and 35 and the skin temperature, The heater 37 is energized until the dry gas reaches the same temperature as the skin temperature.

Therefore, according to the third embodiment, the dry gas supplied into the capsule 1 has the same temperature as the skin temperature. Can be measured. For this reason, since measurement can be performed without being affected by the temperature of the surrounding environment, a large-scale device such as a conventional artificial climate chamber is not required. -Fourth Embodiment-Figs. 9 and 10 show a fourth embodiment of the present invention. In this example, the inside of the capsule 1 is not partitioned into a plurality of chambers, that is, a medicine introduction chamber and an intermediate chamber are formed. Without doing
Only the measurement chamber 11 is formed. The capsule 1 incorporates a skin temperature detection sensor 39 for detecting skin temperature and a blood flow sensor 40 for detecting blood flow. By incorporating both of these sensors in the capsule 1, the handleability is excellent, and by providing the blood flow measurement site near the sweat measurement site, the correspondence between perspiration and blood flow can be measured more clearly.

The specific configuration will be described. The capsule 1 is made of resin, is formed in a disk shape, and a measurement chamber 11 is formed in the center of the lower surface side, leaving a peripheral wall.
Two pipes protrude into the peripheral wall from the side so as to communicate with the measurement chamber 11, and these are connected to the supply path and the discharge path as in the other embodiments. A humidity sensor (not shown) for measuring the amount of perspiration is connected in the middle of the discharge path.

The skin temperature detecting sensor 39 is embedded in the opening end face of the capsule 1, and its detecting portion can be brought into close contact with the skin. The skin temperature detection sensor 39 is connected to a temperature controller (not shown here) similar to that of the third embodiment, and the temperature controller is connected to a heater (also not shown) interposed in the supply path, The dry gas supplied to the capsule 1 through the supply path is set to the same temperature as the skin temperature.

The blood flow sensor 40 is vertically attached to the center of the base of the capsule 1, and the tip thereof faces the inside of the measurement chamber 11. The blood flow sensor 40 irradiates the skin with a laser beam and detects the reflected light to convert the change in the blood flow in the blood vessel into a change in the electrical signal, and measures the change. It is connected to a measurement unit (not shown here) similar to the first embodiment together with a humidity sensor not shown. Therefore, in the measuring section, the blood flow signal from the blood flow sensor 40 is input together with the sweat signal from the humidity sensor, and after various computer processings are performed based on these signals, the time course of the sweat and the blood flow in the printer is measured. Display at the same time. It can be expected that the relationship between perspiration and blood flow will be analyzed in more detail through these two waveforms.

The present invention can be modified in various ways.
The following modifications are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

In the first embodiment, the detection value of the first humidity sensor 6 is always subtracted from the detection value of the second humidity sensor 7. However, at the time when a certain time has elapsed from the start of the measurement. The difference between the two detection values may be stored, and the difference may be subtracted from the detection value of the second humidity sensor 7 as a fixed value for subtraction.

In the third embodiment, the skin temperature is detected. However, since the skin temperature is almost constant at 36 ° C., the inside of the relay tank may be set to be always at this temperature.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a bottom view of a capsule.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a capsule.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a capsule.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the inside of a capsule.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a layout of a measuring apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a measuring unit.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a layout of a measuring apparatus according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a layout of a measuring apparatus according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view of a capsule according to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the same capsule.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Capsule 6, 7, 22 ... Humidity sensor 8 ... Measuring part 34, 35 ... Temperature sensor 37 ... Heater 38 ... Temperature controller

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-63-57031 (JP, A) JP-A-59-225340 (JP, A) JP-A-8-131406 (JP, A) JP-A-7-107 236643 (JP, A) JP-A-4-71532 (JP, A) JP-A-2-49503 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) A61B 5/00 A61B 5 / 0245

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A local perspiration measuring device for measuring the state of perspiration by injecting perspiration moisture emanating from the skin into a capsule mounted on the skin surface while sending gas into the capsule, and detecting the skin temperature. While a possible skin temperature detecting means is provided, a heater is provided in the middle of the gas supply path to the capsule, and the heater controls the temperature of the gas based on a detection signal from the skin temperature detecting means. A local sweat amount measuring apparatus, wherein the skin temperature is maintained at a set temperature by connecting a temperature controller.