JP4071475B2 - Biological light measurement device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
[Technical field to which the invention belongs]
This invention irradiates a living body with light, detects light reflected on the surface of the living body, or passing through the vicinity of the surface, obtains biological information such as blood circulation, hemodynamics, hemoglobin change, etc. from the light quantity and images it. The present invention relates to a biological light measurement device, and more particularly to a biological light measurement device suitable for measurement in a relatively wide area.
[0002]
[Prior art]
The living body light measuring device irradiates the living body with wavelengths in the visible to infrared region, detects light reflected from the living body or light passing through the living body (hereinafter collectively referred to as transmitted light), and measures the inside of the living body. Therefore, biological information such as hemodynamics inside the living body can be obtained simply and non-invasively with low restraint on the subject. An apparatus capable of measuring a wide area by using a probe in which tips of a plurality of optical fibers are arranged as a light irradiator and a light receiver is being applied to clinical practice (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 57-115232, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 57-115232). Sho-63-275323 etc.).
[0003]
Examples of clinical applications of such a biological optical measurement device include, for example, an activated state of hemoglobin change in the brain and local focus identification of epileptic seizures.
Currently, the biological light measuring device used for the head is, for example, a probe in which a light irradiation part and a light receiving part are arranged in a 4 × 4 matrix, alone or as a pair. Alternatively, the biological information of the probe mounting area calculated based on the amount of light detected by the pair of probes, for example, the hemoglobin amount distribution is imaged and displayed.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, in biological light measurement, there is a demand for obtaining biological information for a wider area. For example, in the above-described local focus identification of epileptic seizures, a plurality of focal points exist in the brain depending on the patient, and thus the focus identification requires measuring the hemoglobin change in the brain for the entire head.
[0005]
However, a probe that covers the entire examination site has not been put to practical use because of the complexity of the shape of the surface of the living body and restrictions such as workability in connecting the tip of the optical fiber and the probe. Therefore, at present, the examination site is divided into a plurality of measurement areas, probes are attached to the measurement areas, and the measurement results are confirmed on separate screens. It is difficult to grasp the above, and the identification of the focal position described above requires time and labor for diagnosis and identification.
[0006]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a biological light measurement apparatus that can observe biological information (topography) of an entire comparatively wide examination region including a plurality of measurement regions on the same screen. It is another object of the present invention to provide a biological light measurement device that can observe a wide range of topography at a position on a morphological image including a measurement region. Furthermore, an object of the present invention is to provide a living body light measurement device capable of obtaining an image of the entire examination region including a non-measurement portion existing between measurement regions.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The biological light measurement device of the present invention that achieves the above object includes a probe having a plurality of light irradiation units and a light receiving unit, a light measuring unit that detects a light amount received by the probe for each measurement position, and a detected light amount. A biological light measurement apparatus comprising: a signal processing unit that calculates biological information of the subject based on a signal corresponding to the signal, and forms and displays a biological information image; and the signal processing unit includes a plurality of the subject For each measurement region, a plurality of biological information images are created, and the plurality of biological information images are arranged and displayed in accordance with the position and direction of the corresponding measurement region.
[0008]
According to such a biological light measurement device, biological information images of a plurality of measurement areas can be viewed on one screen, and observation of the entire examination site is facilitated.
In the biological light measurement device of the present invention, the signal processing unit includes a storage unit that stores a morphological image of the examination region of the subject, and the plurality of biological information images are superimposed on the morphological image stored in the storage unit. To display.
[0009]
According to this biological light measurement device, the biological information of the entire examination region is displayed on the subject image, so that it becomes easier to grasp the examination region. As the morphological image, an image obtained by modeling a living body or an image obtained by another diagnostic imaging apparatus can be used, and these can be stored in advance in the storage unit of the signal processing means.
[0010]
In the biological light measurement device of the present invention, the signal processing means includes means for estimating biological information between adjacent measurement areas, and the biological information of a plurality of measurement areas and the biological information between the estimated areas. A continuous biometric information image is formed based on the above.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the biological light measurement device of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0012]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall outline of the biological light measurement device of the present invention. This biological optical measurement device mainly includes an optical topography device 101 that performs optical measurement of a biological body, and a signal processing device 108 that processes a hemoglobin signal measured by the optical topography device 101 and generates biological information.
[0013]
The optical topography apparatus 101 includes a laser generator 102 for irradiating light of a predetermined wavelength to the examination site of the subject, light transmitted through the examination site of the subject, or light reflected and scattered by the examination site (hereinafter, Optical measurement unit (105 to 107) that detects transmitted light (collectively referred to as transmitted light), optical fiber for irradiation 103 that guides the light from laser generation unit 102 to the examination site of the subject, and transmitted light from the examination site In order to bring each tip of the detection optical fiber 103 guided to the part into contact with the examination site of the subject, a probe 104 is provided that detachably fixes each tip.
[0014]
The laser generator 102 includes a semiconductor laser that emits a plurality of wavelengths in the wavelength range from visible light to infrared, for example, light of 780 nm and 830 nm, and modulation for modulating the light of these two wavelengths at a plurality of different frequencies. And a plurality of optical modules provided with a vessel. The two-wavelength light emitted from the semiconductor laser is mixed, modulated to a different frequency for each optical module, and irradiated to the examination site of the subject through the optical fiber 104.
[0015]
The optical measurement unit is connected to the detection optical fiber 103, and converts the light guided by the detection optical fiber 103 into an electrical signal corresponding to the amount of light, and the electrical signal from the photodiode 105. And a continuously variable amplifier 107 that amplifies the signal from the lock-in amplifier 106. The lock-in amplifier 106 selectively detects a modulation signal corresponding to the irradiation position and wavelength. The lock-in amplifier 106 includes at least the same number of lock-in amplifiers as the number of signals to be measured.
[0016]
The probe 104 has an optical fiber connection socket arranged in a matrix of an appropriate size such as 3 × 3, 4 × 4, etc. so that the tip of the irradiation optical fiber and the tip of the detection optical fiber are alternately arranged. It is. In the present embodiment, such probes are arranged in a plurality (here, 5) of regions (1) to (5), respectively, as shown in FIG. I try to cover it.
[0017]
The optical topography device 101 uses a multi-channel device corresponding to the number of probes (the number of regions) or a plurality of optical topography devices 101. The multi-channel device is an apparatus in which the optical module of the laser generator 102 and the lock-in amplifier 106 are installed more than the number of signals to be measured (the number of signals measured by one probe × the number of probes). FIG. 3 shows a case where a plurality of optical topography apparatuses 101 are provided. In this configuration, a plurality of optical topography apparatuses 101 are provided corresponding to a plurality of probes attached to the subject, and measurement results obtained by the plurality of optical topography apparatuses 101 are input to one signal processing apparatus 108. It is like that.
[0018]
The signal processing device 108 can be constructed on a general-purpose personal computer, processes a voltage signal stored in the memory 109, a memory 109 that stores a voltage signal (digital signal) sent from the optical topography device 101, A central processing unit CPU110 that performs conversion to a signal representing biological information, specifically, a hemoglobin signal representing the hemoglobin concentration of a measurement site, and creation of a topography image, and a storage unit 111 such as a hard disk that stores processing results in the CPU 110 And a monitor 112 for displaying the processing result.
[0019]
Details of the CPU 110 are shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the CPU 110 includes a main control unit 114, a calculation unit 115, an image forming unit 116, and a display processing unit 117, and inputs and outputs such as a keyboard and a mouse for inputting various commands relating to image processing to the CPU 110. The unit 113 is provided. In addition, the hard disk 111 stores images such as a two-dimensional image, a wire frame image, and the like in which the head is modeled in advance.
[0020]
Next, the operation of the biological light measurement device having such a configuration will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a first embodiment of the biological light measurement device according to the present invention.
[0021]
First, as shown in FIG. 2, the probe 104 is attached to a plurality of locations (plural regions) of the subject's head, and the tips of the irradiation optical fiber and the detection optical fiber are inserted into the probe socket (not shown). Each probe 104 and the optical topography apparatus 101 are connected. After that, near-infrared light is generated from the laser generator 102 and irradiated to the brain surface on which the probe 104 is attached. Near-infrared light that has been absorbed and reflected by hemoglobin on the brain surface is detected by the optical measurement unit via the optical fiber 103, and is a measurement point located between the tip of the irradiation optical fiber and the tip of the detection optical fiber. Is input to the memory 109 of the signal processing device 108.
[0022]
The CPU 110 of the signal processing device 108 processes the measurement point signal for each probe in the calculation unit 115 and converts it into a hemoglobin signal, creates a hemoglobin change signal, and stores this in the hard disk 111. Such an operation is performed for each probe (FIG. 5, step 501). The display processing unit 117 performs processing of pasting the hemoglobin change signal for each region on a two-dimensional image (hereinafter referred to as a model image) of the head model stored in advance in the hard disk 111, and displays it on the monitor 112 ( Step 502).
[0023]
FIG. 6 shows hemoglobin change signal images 603 to 607 of the respective areas displayed on the model image 602 in the window screen 601 of the monitor 112. As a default, the position of the hemoglobin change signal image of each region pasted on the model image 602 is, for example, in the order of probe numbers (1), (2), (3), (4), (5) in the figure. The order is determined so that the left (left temporal lobe), right (right temporal lobe), upper center (frontal lobe), middle (parietal lobe), lower center (occipital lobe) are aligned, and the hemoglobin change signal image is displayed. Includes measurement direction confirmation markers 608 to 612 indicating the probe number and the position of the measurement channel 1ch in addition to the hemoglobin change signal for each measurement channel.
[0024]
Next, while looking at such a display, the position and direction of the measurement area are designated (FIG. 5, step 503). This operation is an operation to match the position and orientation of each actually mounted probe with the position and direction of the displayed measurement region. For example, the hemoglobin change signal image displayed on the monitor 112 is This can be done by the user moving arbitrarily by an operation such as dragging with the mouse. The measurement direction can be determined by moving the measurement direction confirmation marker so that the probe is actually attached.
[0025]
Thereby, the hemoglobin change signal images 603 to 607 in a plurality of measurement regions can be displayed on the corresponding locations in the model image 602 (step 504).
[0026]
Next, a topography is created from such a hemoglobin change signal and displayed (step 505). In the topography, a hemoglobin change signal between each measurement point is interpolated, and the hemoglobin change signal at a certain time is displayed as a contour image. Interpolation for creating the topography is performed by the calculation unit 115 of the CPU 110, and the topography is formed by the image forming unit. The display processing unit 117 pastes the topography of each measurement area on the model image and displays it on the monitor. An example of the display screen 701 of the topography 703 to 707 is shown in FIG. In the figure, darker areas indicate an increase in hemoglobin variation, and lighter areas indicate a decrease in hemoglobin variation. In order to explain the concept of interpolation, probe measurement points 708 are shown, but no measurement points are displayed on the screen 701 that is actually displayed on the monitor. Further, the topography may be reproduced as an animation not only as a still image but also as a moving image along a time series. Thereby, for example, intracerebral hemodynamics during task execution can be observed.
[0027]
For these topographies, the probe number and measurement direction confirmation marker may be displayed at the same time so that the position and direction of the measurement region can be specified in the same manner as the hemoglobin change signal image. First, the hemoglobin change as shown in FIG. It is practical to display the topography images 703 to 707 by selecting the topography display screen 701 via the input / output device 113 after specifying the position and direction on the signal display screen 601.
[0028]
As described above, according to the present embodiment, the measurement results of a plurality of areas can be displayed on the model image displayed on one screen, so it is very easy to grasp the information of the entire plurality of areas. Thus, a biological optical measurement device with high diagnostic value can be obtained.
[0029]
Next, display on a three-dimensional image will be described as a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 shows a procedure for displaying a plurality of region topography images on a three-dimensional wire frame image that models the head.
[0030]
Also in this embodiment, it is possible to mount a plurality of probes 104 on a plurality of regions of the head, perform measurement by the optical topography apparatus 101, and store measurement data (hemoglobin signal) for each probe in the hard disk 111. This is the same as the embodiment of FIG. 2 (step 801). The display processing unit 117 creates an image in which the hemoglobin change signal image for each probe is pasted at a fixed position on the three-dimensional wire frame stored in the hard disk 111 in advance and displays the image on the monitor 112 (step 802). .
[0031]
Since this fixed position can also be determined in advance by default as in the case of FIG. 6, the user can use the probe number and the measurement direction confirmation marker displayed together with the hemoglobin change signal image for each measurement region as an index. Similarly to the sixth embodiment, the position and direction of the measurement area are manually specified (step 803). In this case, by rotating the wire frame image and displaying it from a plurality of surfaces, it is possible to easily specify even when the entire region cannot be displayed on only one surface.
[0032]
Alternatively, the probe position may be detected and designated using a position measuring device (not shown). As the position measurement device, a three-dimensional position measurement device such as an optical type, a mechanical type, or an ultrasonic type can be adopted, and is separately arranged in the measurement room. When using such a position measuring device, as shown as subroutines (8031 to 8033) in FIG. 8, first, the coordinate system of the position measuring device and the position of the wire frame of the display system are associated with each other. (Step 8031). Next, in a state where the predetermined probe number displayed by the input / output unit 113 is selected, the position measurement device detects the position of the measurement region (real space region) where the probe of that number is attached, and the CPU 110 Input (step 8032). CPU 110 affixes the hemoglobin change signal image obtained from the probe with the selected probe number to the position of the wire frame corresponding to the coordinates of the measured real space (step 8033).
[0033]
By using the position measurement device in this way, the position and direction of the measurement area can be easily specified even when the entire measurement area cannot be displayed on one side or when the measurement area has a complicated shape.
[0034]
When the designation of the position and direction of the measurement region is thus completed, a topography image is created from the hemoglobin change signal (step 804) and displayed at the designated position on the three-dimensional wire frame (step 805). An example of the display is shown in FIG. FIG. 9 shows a state in which topography 902 to 905 of four regions among five topographies displayed on the wire frame 901 can be seen. For example, such a wire frame image is displayed with the body axis as the central axis. By rotating, the entire head can be observed.
[0035]
Also in this embodiment, the topographic image of each region may be reproduced as a moving image along the time series.
[0036]
Next, display of continuous topographic images will be described as a third embodiment of the present invention. The procedure of this embodiment is shown in FIG.
[0037]
First, the hemoglobin change signal of the area not measured is interpolated and estimated from the hemoglobin change signal of the actually measured area. Interpolation estimation is performed using a technique such as an approximate curve of data of the measured area, spline interpolation, or the like. In order to perform such interpolation for the entire examination region, three-dimensional data in which measured data is arranged at three-dimensional coordinates is created (step 1001). This can be easily created, for example, by using the data of each measurement region pasted on a three-dimensional wire frame image as the pasting position data.
[0038]
Next, such three-dimensional data is sliced in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction, and interpolation in each cross section is performed. That is, for example, the data 1012 of the non-measured region is first interpolated using the measured point data 1011 on the same slice of the horizontal section (step 1002). Such horizontal direction cross section data interpolation is sequentially performed for a plurality of slices, and all horizontal cross section data are interpolated (step 1003). Next, using the measured point data 1013 on the same slice in the vertical direction, the data 1014 of the unmeasured area is interpolated (step 1004). Such horizontal direction cross section data interpolation is sequentially performed on a plurality of slices, and all horizontal cross section data are interpolated (step 1005). Finally, a topography is created using the three-dimensional data for the entire region thus obtained and displayed on the three-dimensional wire frame image (step 1006).
[0039]
An example of the display is shown in FIG. As shown in the drawing, the topography 1102 of the entire head is displayed on the wire frame 1103. In the figure, reference numeral (white circle) 1101 indicates a measured point. A dark area indicates an increase in hemoglobin change amount, and a light area indicates a decrease in hemoglobin change amount. Also in this case, the wire frame image can be rotated and displayed around a desired axis, or may be reproduced as a moving image in time series.
[0040]
Furthermore, the topography on the three-dimensional wire frame image thus obtained may be projected in a desired direction. FIG. 12 shows an example of a display screen 1201 in which the topography of FIG. 11 is projected in the vertical direction and displayed on the two-dimensional model image 1202. Reference numeral 1203 indicates a measured point, and a dark region indicates an increase in hemoglobin change amount, and a light region indicates a decrease in hemoglobin change amount. Also in this case, it may be played back as a moving image in time series.
[0041]
According to this embodiment, it is possible to obtain the topography of the entire examination region by performing interpolation estimation on the part that is not measured, and the entire grasp becomes easier.
[0042]
As mentioned above, although each embodiment of the biological optical measurement apparatus of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, A various change is possible. For example, in the above embodiment, a two-dimensional image or a three-dimensional wire frame that models the examination site of the subject is used as a morphological image that superimposes and displays a hemoglobin change signal image or topography. A subject image acquired by another diagnostic imaging apparatus such as an MRI or X-ray CT apparatus can also be used as a morphological image.
[0043]
In this case, the subject image obtained by the image diagnostic apparatus is taken into the storage unit 111 of the signal processing apparatus 101, and a position measuring apparatus is used for aligning the hemoglobin change signal image or the topography. That is, first, the coordinates of the captured morphological image and the object whose position is measured by the position measurement apparatus are registered, and the measurement region of the probe number selected on the image matches the probe position of that number. It is possible to display the hemoglobin change signal image in the corresponding area on the morphological image by moving the hemoglobin change signal image.
[0044]
In the above embodiment, a case has been described in which probes are attached to a plurality of measurement regions and measurement is performed simultaneously. For example, data obtained by sequentially measuring a plurality of regions with one probe is stored in a storage unit. It is also possible to display a plurality of measurement region images on a two-dimensional or three-dimensional model image after the measurement of all regions is completed.
[0045]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, measurement results over a plurality of regions can be observed on one screen. Moreover, according to this invention, the whole test | inspection site | part containing a some area | region can be observed on the form image of a test | inspection site | part. Thereby, improvement of diagnostic efficiency can be aimed at.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall outline of a biological light measurement device of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a probe mounting state in biological light measurement of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a signal processing device of the biological light measurement device of FIG. 1. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a procedure of an embodiment of the biological light measurement of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of display in the biological light measurement device of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a procedure of one embodiment of the biological light measurement of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a display in the biological light measurement device of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a procedure of an embodiment of the biological light measurement of the present invention. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of display in the biological light measurement device of the present invention. Akira]
101 ・ ・ ・ Optical topography device
103 ・ ・ ・ Optical fiber
104 ... Probe
105-107 ・ ・ ・ Optical measurement unit
108 ... Signal processing device
110 ... CPU
111 ・ ・ ・ Storage unit (hard disk)
112 ・ ・ ・ Monitor

Claims (7)

A probe including a plurality of irradiation units and a light receiving unit; a light measuring unit that detects a light amount received by the probe for each measurement region; and a living body of the subject based on a signal corresponding to the detected light amount In a biological light measurement device comprising: signal processing means for calculating information and creating and displaying a biological information image;
The probes are arranged in a plurality of different measurement areas of the subject ;
The signal processing means includes
Biological information image creating means for creating a biological information image for each measurement region from a signal corresponding to the amount of light received by the probe ;
Display means for displaying each biological information image created by the biological information image creating means ,
The biological information image includes a probe number that identifies the probe used for measurement of the signal that created the biological information image, and a measurement direction confirmation marker that indicates a position of a predetermined channel.
The biological light measuring device , wherein the display means arranges and displays the biological information image at a position predetermined by the probe number . It further includes an input means for receiving an instruction from the user,
The display means moves the biological information image according to an instruction received from the user via the input means, and the position of the measurement region where the probe used for measurement of the signal that created the biological information image is arranged. And a living body light measuring device arranged and displayed in accordance with the direction. The signal processing means comprises storage means for storing a morphological image of the examination site of the subject,
The biological light measurement apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the display unit superimposes the biological information image on a morphological image stored in the storage unit . The biological light measurement device according to claim 3, wherein the morphological image is an image obtained by another image diagnostic device. The living body optical measurement device according to claim 3, wherein the morphological image is an image of a living body model. The signal processing means is an estimation means for estimating measurement data which is a measurement area in which each of the plurality of probes is arranged, and which is a signal corresponding to the amount of light received by each of the plurality of probes between adjacent measurement areas. With
The estimation unit creates three-dimensional data in which measurement data, which is a signal corresponding to the amount of light received by each of the plurality of probes, is arranged in three-dimensional coordinates, and slices the three-dimensional data in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction, respectively. Estimated by performing interpolation on the cross section of each slice ,
The biological information image creation means creates a continuous biological information image using measurement data that is a signal corresponding to the amount of light received by each of the plurality of probes and measurement data estimated by the estimation means.
The biological light measurement device according to claim 1, wherein: The biological information image generation means includes a two-dimensional projection image creation means for projecting the continuous biological information image in a predetermined direction to create a two-dimensional image.
The living body light measuring device according to claim 6 characterized by things .

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