JP3321235B2 - Medical capsule and medical capsule detection 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 medical device to be placed in a living body.
The present invention relates to a capsule for medical use and a medical capsule detecting device for detecting the capsule from outside the body.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to perform long-term measurement of physical quantities in a body cavity, such as temperature, pH, and pressure, while suppressing invasion of a patient, a sensor and a small transmitter are provided. 2. Description of the Related Art There is a medical capsule for transmitting biological information inside a body outside the body by wireless. In this case, the position of the medical capsule in the body cavity is detected by X-ray fluoroscopy.

[0003]

However, when the position of the medical capsule in the body cavity is detected by X-ray fluoroscopy, it is necessary to take measures to prevent the X-ray from damaging the patient or the operator's body. This is the biggest problem and the most difficult problem in the detection work.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a medical capsule detection device and a power supply capable of safely detecting the position of a medical capsule without danger to the human body. Low consumption medical
To provide a capsule .

[0005]

In order to solve the above problems, the medical capsule according to the first aspect of the present invention is emitted from a predetermined transmitting means provided outside a predetermined living body . Predetermined when a predetermined physical wave is detected
A detecting means for outputting a detection signal, output from said detecting means
A force has been the detection signal, characterized in that a transmission means for transmitting to a predetermined calculation means provided outside the body of the living body for calculating the position of said detecting <br/> means based on said detection signal . Further, the medical capsule according to the second aspect detects biological information in a predetermined living body and outputs a predetermined biological information detection signal.
And a detecting means for outputting a predetermined detection signal when detecting a predetermined physical wave emitted from a predetermined transmitting means provided outside the body of the living body.
A stage , a detection signal detected by the detection means, and the biological information
A superimposing means for superimposing the living body information detection signal detected by the detection means, the superimposed signal superimposed by the superimposing means, superposition
Transmitting means for calculating a position of the detection means based on the detection signal constituting the signal and transmitting the position to a predetermined calculation means provided outside the body of the living body. Further, the medical capsule detecting device according to claim 3 is a raw capsule detecting device.
Detected predetermined physical waves emitted from outside the body
Detecting means for outputting a predetermined detection signal when
Transmitting means for transmitting the detection signal output from the means to the outside of the body of the living body, and the predetermined object detected by the detecting means of the medical capsule
A transmitting unit that emits a physical wave, an extracorporeal receiving unit that receives a signal from the transmitting unit of the medical capsule outside the living body, and the detection of the medical capsule based on the signal received by the extracorporeal receiving unit. Calculating means for calculating the position of the means. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a medical capsule detecting device configured to detect biological information in a predetermined living body and output a predetermined biological information detection signal.
Information detection means, and a predetermined
Outputs a predetermined detection signal when a physical wave is detected
Detecting means, a detection signal detected by the detecting means,
Superimposing means for superimposing a biological information detection signal detected by the biological information detecting means; and a superimposing signal superimposed by the superimposing means.
A medical capsule having a transmitting means for transmitting outside the body of the living body, a transmitting unit for emitting the predetermined physical wave detected by the detecting means of the medical capsule, and wherein the superimposed signal from the transmitting means vivo
And external receiving means for receiving outside the body of the inspection of the medical capsule, based on the received superimposed signal at the external receiving unit
It characterized by having a calculating means for calculating a position of knowledge means.

Therefore, the position of the medical capsule can be detected by, for example, a magnetic field that is not dangerous to the human body without emitting X-rays to the patient from outside the body. In addition, the medical capsule detects a predetermined wave transmitted from outside the body.
Since the means is provided, a signal indicating the position can be transmitted from the capsule inside the body to the outside only when a predetermined wave is transmitted from outside the body. Therefore, power consumption can be suppressed as much as possible as compared with a case where a signal is constantly transmitted from the capsule.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 4 show a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1A, the medical capsule detection device 9 of the present embodiment transmits a magnetic field, and a magnetic field source 6 is provided outside the body as a transmitting unit, and the magnetic field source 6 transmits the magnetic field. Magnetic field detecting coil 3 as a receiving unit provided in medical capsule 1 for receiving a magnetic field
(See FIG. 1B), a detection device 7 for detecting the position of the medical capsule 1 by detecting the relative position of the magnetic field detection coil 3 with respect to the magnetic field source 6, and the position of the medical capsule 1 in the body cavity. TV monitor 8 for displaying
And

As shown in FIG. 4, the magnetic field source 6 has a substantially cubic shape having three magnetic field generating coils orthogonal to each other on three axes. By driving a pulse current to each magnetic field generating coil of the magnetic field source 6 in order by the drive circuit (source drive circuit) 23, a reference magnetic field in each of x, y, and z directions is set in the surrounding space including the magnetic field source 6. generate.

The magnetic field detecting coil 3 is of a substantially cubic shape having three magnetic receiving coils orthogonal to the three axes, similarly to the magnetic field source 6. This detects the magnetic field generated by the magnetic field source 6 and detects its own position. An induced current is generated in each magnetic receiving coil of the magnetic field detecting coil 3 in each axial direction by the reference magnetic field. Then, the detection device 7 detects and calculates the vector of the magnetic field based on the induced current, so that the magnetic field source 6 and the magnetic field detection coil 3 are detected.
To determine the three-dimensional relative position of. In particular,
A magnetic field generated in the magnetic field source 6 by driving the drive circuit (source drive circuit) 23 is detected by the magnetic field detection coil 3, and this detection signal is input to the arithmetic processing device (arithmetic circuit) 21 through the detection circuit 10 to perform arithmetic processing. Thus, the position of the detection coil 3 with respect to the magnetic source 6 can be obtained. The details will be described later.

As shown in FIG. 1B, a medical capsule 1 includes a sensor 2 for detecting various amounts in a body cavity, a magnetic field detecting coil 3 for detecting a magnetic field emitted from outside the body, A circuit unit 4 for transmitting the detection signal to the outside of the body and a battery 5 for driving the circuit unit 4 are provided.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the circuit section 4 built in the capsule. Signals from the respective magnetic receiving coils 3x, 3y, 3z wound in the respective axial directions of the magnetic field detecting coil 3 are amplified by the respective detecting circuits 10, 10, 10 connected to the respective magnetic receiving coils 3x, 3y, 3z. After that, the detection circuits 10, 10, 10 are multiplexed into a single signal by the first multiplexing circuit 12 connected collectively. on the other hand,
The detection signal of the biological information detected by the sensor 2 is input to the second multiplexing circuit 14 via the amplification and modulation circuit 13 together with the output signal of the first multiplexing circuit 12. The output signal output from the second multiplexing circuit 14 is a signal obtained by multiplexing the signal of the magnetic field detection circuit 3 and the signal of the sensor 2. This output signal is input to a carrier wave circuit 15 as transmission means connected to the second multiplexing circuit 14, and is transmitted wirelessly outside the body. Note that signal multiplexing methods include frequency division multiplexing and time division multiplexing.

A detecting device 7 for obtaining a three-dimensional relative position of the magnetic field source 6 and the magnetic field detecting coil 3 has a circuit portion as shown in FIG. The signal from the carrier circuit 15 transmitted from the capsule 1 to the outside of the body is
Are input to the carrier demodulation circuit 16 and become a multiplexed signal. This multiplexed signal is divided by the first multiplexing decoding circuit 17 into a sensor signal and a magnetic field detection coil signal. Of these, the sensor signal is input to the demodulation circuit 18 and returned to the form of a detection signal, and is converted into a value corresponding to the detection signal of the sensor 2 by the display circuit 19 and displayed. Further, the magnetic field detection coil signal is separated by the second multiplexing decoding circuit 20 into detection signals of the respective magnetic receiving coils in the three orthogonal directions, and input to the arithmetic circuit 21.

The drive control circuit 22 sequentially drives the magnetic field generating coils of the magnetic field source 6 one by one at certain time intervals through the source drive circuit 23 at predetermined time intervals. At this time, in order to detect which axis of the magnetic field source 6 has detected the magnetic field generated by the magnetic field generating coil of the magnetic field source 6, the drive control circuit 22 sends the source coil detection signal to the arithmetic circuit 21. Is output.

The arithmetic circuit 21 calculates the distance and direction of the magnetic field detecting coil 3 (ie, the medical capsule 1) with respect to the magnetic source 6 based on the input signal. This information is provided by the magnetic source 6
Is input to the synthesizing circuit 24 together with the data 25 of the in-vivo image (MRI, ultrasonic CT, etc.) of the same patient 11 corresponding to the position. Then, the output signal of the synthesizing circuit 24 is input to the TV monitor 8, and the position of the medical capsule 1 in the body cavity is displayed. As described above, the medical capsule detection device 9 of the present embodiment can detect the position of the medical capsule 1 in the body cavity by using a magnetic field that is not dangerous to the human body without using any radiation such as X-rays. It is.

FIGS. 5 to 8 show a second embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, the medical capsule detection device 30 according to the present embodiment includes a near-infrared light source unit 3 that emits near-infrared light such as xenon, halogen, and laser light having good biological permeability.
2, an infrared light detector 34 composed of a photodiode provided around the entire periphery of the medical capsule 33 for detecting infrared light from the near infrared light source section 32, and a signal from the medical capsule 33. A detection device 35 for detecting the position of the
It has a TV monitor 36 for displaying the position of the medical capsule 33 in the body cavity. The near-infrared light source section 32 has a configuration in which light sources 50 are arranged in a matrix as shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a circuit section built in the medical capsule 33. In this circuit configuration, first, a detection signal from the infrared light detector 34 is input to the detection modulation circuit 7. The output signal of the detection modulation circuit 7 is
Is input to a multiplexing circuit 40 together with a sensor detection signal output from a sensor 38 for detecting biological information provided through a sensor detection modulation circuit 39, and is synthesized into a single signal. The single signal multiplexed by the multiplexing circuit 40 is input to the carrier wave circuit 41 and transmitted outside the body. As described above, the signal multiplexing method includes frequency division multiplexing and time division multiplexing.

The circuit section of the detection device 35 is configured as shown in FIG. In this circuit configuration, the medical capsule 33
The single signal transmitted from the carrier wave circuit 41 is input to the carrier wave demodulation circuit 42. The carrier wave demodulation circuit 42 outputs a multiplexed signal of the sensor detection signal and the infrared light detection signal. The multiplexed signal is separated by the multiplexing decoding circuit 43 into a sensor detection signal and an infrared light detection signal. Of these, the sensor detection signal is returned to the form of the detection signal by the demodulation circuit 44, and is converted to a value corresponding to the detection signal by the display circuit 45 and displayed. Further, the infrared light detection signal is input to the arithmetic and control circuit 47 via the demodulation circuit 46. The arithmetic control circuit 47 issues a control signal for controlling the lighting state of the near-infrared light source 32, sequentially scans each light source 50 of the near-infrared light source 32 by this control signal, and transmits the transmitted light in the body cavity. The position of the medical capsule 33 is obtained from the detected intensity and the positional relationship between the detected intensity and the light source 50 at that time. in this case,
If the positional relationship between the near-infrared light source 32 and the subject 49 is grasped in advance, the position of the medical capsule 33 in the body cavity can be known. This information is output from the arithmetic and control circuit 47 to the TV monitor 36, and is output to the medical capsule 3.
3 is displayed as position information.

FIG. 9 shows another means for detecting the position of the medical capsule 60. Inside the housing 61 of the medical capsule 60, a pH measurement system 66 for measuring pH outside the housing 61, and a pH measurement system 66
Communication system 67 for communicating the pH information obtained in
And a battery 65 for operating the pH measurement system 66 and the communication system 67. Also,
The medical capsule 60 is provided with a contrast agent storage chamber 62 that stores a contrast agent that responds to an ultrasonic echo of an ultrasonic observation device (not shown) such as a microbubble. Is connected to the outside of the housing 61. Further, a thermal expansion actuator 63 that expands when heated is provided adjacent to the contrast agent storage chamber 2.

In the above configuration, first, the medical capsule 60 is inserted into the body, for example, orally, and the pH of the body fluid is measured by the pH measuring system 66 in the medical capsule 60 inside the digestive tract in the body. Then, the obtained pH information is transmitted by radio waves to the receiving system installed in the body by the communication system 67.

The pH measuring system 66 and the communication system 67
Is driven by the battery 65. To know the exact position in the body where the pH measurement was performed, first
5, the thermal expansion actuator 63 is thermally expanded. By the expansion of the thermal expansion actuator 63,
Contrast agent storage chamber 62 adjacent to thermal expansion actuator 63
Is compressed, and the contrast agent stored in the contrast agent storage chamber 62 is discharged to the outside of the medical capsule 60 through the nozzle 64. The emitted contrast agent prevents passage and reflection of the ultrasonic echo, and thus can be captured as an image of the ultrasonic observation apparatus. Therefore, the position of the medical capsule 60 in the body can be drawn and identified by the ultrasonic observation apparatus. In addition, instead of the contrast agent, meglumine gatopentetate is stored in the contrast agent storage chamber 2, and the magnetic field is used instead of the ultrasonic observation apparatus. The position of the medical capsule 60 may be detected by observation using a resonance observation apparatus.

[0021]

As described above, the medical capsule detecting apparatus of the present invention does not use any radiation such as X-rays and detects the position of the medical capsule in a body cavity by using a magnetic field which is not dangerous to the human body. It is safe because it can be. Further, since the medical capsule of the present invention has a detecting means for detecting a predetermined wave transmitted from outside the body, a signal indicating the position from the capsule inside the body only when the predetermined wave is transmitted from outside the body. Can be transmitted outside the body. Therefore, power consumption can be suppressed as much as possible as compared with a case where a signal is constantly transmitted from the capsule.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1A is a schematic configuration diagram of a medical capsule detection device showing a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B is an internal configuration diagram of a medical capsule.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a circuit unit built in the medical capsule.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a circuit unit of the detection device constituting the medical capsule detection device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the principle of detecting a relative position between a magnetic field source and a magnetic field detection coil.

FIG. 5A is a schematic configuration diagram of a medical capsule detection device showing a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5B is an external view of the medical capsule.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a circuit unit built in the medical capsule.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a circuit section of the detection device constituting the medical capsule detection device of FIG. 5;

8 is a configuration diagram of a near-infrared light source unit included in the medical capsule detection device of FIG.

9A and 9B show other means for detecting the position of the medical capsule, wherein FIG. 9A is a state diagram when the capsule is not operating, and FIG. 9B is a state diagram when the capsule is operating.

[Description of Signs] 1,33: Medical capsule, 2, 38: Sensor ( biological information
Detecting means ), 3 ... magnetic field detecting coil ( detecting means ), 6 ... magnetic field source (transmitting unit), 7, 35 ... detecting device, 9, 30 ...
Medical capsule detecting device, 14, 40: multiplexing circuit (superimposing means), 15, 41: carrier wave circuit (transmitting means), 16,
42 ... Carrier wave demodulation circuit (external receiving means), 21, 47 ...
Arithmetic circuit (calculating means), 32 ... Near infrared light source section (transmitting section), 34 ... Infrared light detector ( detecting means ).

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Yoshihiro Kosaka 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside O-Limpus Optical Industry Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yuichi Ikeda 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside the Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Yasuhiro Ueda, inventor 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside the Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. Tatsuya Yamaguchi 2-43-2, Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside the Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Kuniaki Kami, Inventor 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside the Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Sumihiro Uchimura 2-43-2, Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo (72) Inventor Kenji Yoshino 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo O-limpus (56) References JP-A-3-136636 (JP, A) JP-A-2-31738 (JP, A) JP-A-2-224650 (JP, A) JP-A-1-305925 (JP JP, A) JP-A-2-159254 (JP, A) JP-A-59-8938 (JP, A) JP-A-2-25207 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , (DB name) A61B 5/07

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. When a predetermined physical wave emitted from a predetermined transmitting means provided outside a predetermined living body is detected.
A detecting means for outputting a predetermined detection signal to the can, the detection signal output from said detecting means, provided outside of the living body for calculating the position of the sensing means based on the detection signal <br/> No. And a transmitting means for transmitting to the predetermined calculating means. 2. A detecting biological information within a given biological predetermined
A biological information detecting means for outputting a biological information detecting signal of the living body, and a predetermined transmitting means provided outside the body of the living body .
When a predetermined physical wave is detected,
Detecting means for outputting a signal, a detection signal detected by the detecting means and the biological information detecting means.
A superimposing means for superimposing the living body information detection signal detected by the stage, a superimposed signal superimposed by the superimposing means, configured to the superposed signal
A transmission means for calculating a position of the detection means based on the detection signal to be transmitted to a predetermined calculation means provided outside the body of the living body. 3. A predetermined physical substance emitted from outside the body of a living body
Detection that outputs a predetermined detection signal when a natural wave is detected
Means for detecting the detection signal output from the detection means.
A medical capsule having a transmitting means for transmitting the medical capsule outside the body, a transmitting unit for emitting the predetermined physical wave detected by the detecting means of the medical capsule, and a transmitting unit for transmitting the medical capsule from the transmitting means. Signal to the living body
A medical capsule detecting device, comprising: an extracorporeal receiving means for receiving the extracorporeal information, and a calculating means for calculating a position of the detecting means of the medical capsule based on a signal received by the extracorporeal receiving means. 4. A detecting biological information within a given biological predetermined
Biological information detecting means for outputting a biological information detection signal, and detecting a predetermined physical wave generated from outside the body of the living body
Detecting means for outputting a predetermined detection signal when the
The detection signal detected by the detection means and the biological information detection means
A medical capsule having superimposing means for superimposing the detected biological information detection signal, and transmitting means for transmitting the superimposed signal superimposed by the superimposing means to the outside of the living body; and detecting by the detecting means of the medical capsule Said
A transmitting unit for emitting a given physical wave, the superimposed signal from the transmitting unit of the medical capsule
A medical capsule detecting device, comprising: an extracorporeal receiving means for receiving outside the body of a living body; and a calculating means for calculating a position of the detecting means of the medical capsule based on a superimposed signal received by the extracorporeal receiving means. .