JP4534459B2 - Surgical X-ray machine - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a surgical X-ray apparatus that includes a C-shaped arm that can three-dimensionally change a relative position with a subject and displays a fluoroscopic / photographed X-ray image on an image display means such as a monitor.

  As a conventional surgical X-ray apparatus of this type, a C-type arm capable of three-dimensionally changing a relative position with respect to a subject and an end side of the C-type arm are provided in the apparatus main body. An X-ray tube for irradiating an X-ray, an X-ray detector for detecting transmitted X-rays provided on the other end of the C-arm, a TV camera attached to the X-ray detector, Examples include an image processing unit that processes image data and a monitor that displays an image based on the image data processed by the image processing unit (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

In the conventional apparatus configured in this way, for example, the subject is irradiated with X-rays from an X-ray tube, the transmitted X-rays are detected by an X-ray detector, and the transmitted X-ray image is monitored via a TV camera. Confirm with. Then, fluoroscopy is performed while observing the monitor, and the position of the C-type arm is adjusted so that the region of interest is positioned approximately at the center of the field of view, and then the region of interest is imaged.
JP 2001-43994 A

However, the conventional example having such a configuration has the following problems.
In other words, when the image projected on the monitor is tilted, the conventional apparatus rotates the TV camera attached to the X-ray detector appropriately to perform the fluoroscopy again, so that the top and bottom of the image is displayed on the monitor. Adjust the tilt so that it is correct. Therefore, there is a problem that extra exposure is given to the subject before the final image is taken.

  In addition to the rotation angle of the image as described above, in order to perform desired imaging, imaging may be performed by changing the setting of a movable aperture of the X-ray tube, for example, a parallel collimator or an octagonal collimator. In addition, as described above, trial and error are performed so that an appropriate setting is obtained. Accordingly, there is a problem that the subject is similarly exposed to excessive exposure.

  To adjust the rotation of the TV camera and the setting of the movable aperture of the X-ray tube described above, the buttons provided on the support base side supporting the C-arm are operated. There is also a problem that adjustment is complicated because the operation unit is located away from the monitor.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances. By directly setting and displaying the result virtually, the setting for shooting can be easily performed. It aims at providing the surgical X-ray apparatus which can reduce the exposure to a test substance.

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention has the following configuration.
That is, the invention described in claim 1 is provided with a C-type arm configured to be three-dimensionally displaceable to change a relative position with respect to the subject, and provided on one end side of the C-type arm. An X-ray tube for irradiating X-rays, an X-ray detector for detecting transmitted X-rays provided on the other end of the C-arm, a TV camera attached to the X-ray detector, and the TV A surgical X-ray apparatus comprising: image processing means for processing image data from a camera; and image display means for displaying an image based on the image data processed by the image processing means. said at least one of a TV camera rotation angle of the setting, an instruction unit for finger Shimesuru Te on a display screen of said image display means, the image being displayed on the image display means, wherein The setting instructed by the instruction means And a virtual processing unit for displaying the manner applied image on the image display unit, wherein in a state in which the virtually subjected image displayed on the image display means, based on the setting instructed by the instruction means, wherein A control unit that actually performs one of the movable aperture of the X-ray tube or the rotation of the TV camera is provided.

  [Operation / Effect] According to the first aspect of the invention, the setting of the movable aperture and the rotation angle is instructed directly on the display screen of the image display means by the instructing means, and the setting is virtualized by the virtual processing means. The result is displayed on the image display means. In this way, setting is directly instructed by the instruction means, and the result of the setting is virtually displayed. Therefore, the result of the setting can be easily predicted, and settings for shooting can be easily performed. it can. In addition, since the number of trial and error X-ray irradiations can be reduced, exposure to the subject can be reduced.

  Here, “directly instruct” means, for example, instructing the vicinity of the image on the screen by the instruction means, specifying the rotation direction of the image so that the top and bottom of the image is correct, or moving the movable diaphragm. The destination is designated near the image on the screen by the instruction means.

In each invention, before Symbol indicating means is preferably a pointing device for instructing, based on moving the cursor displayed on the display surface of the image display means (claim 3). In the pointing device such as a mouse or trackball can be a direct instruction to move the cursor on the screen.

  In addition, it is preferable that the instruction unit instructs the image or setting displayed on the image display unit based on a drag-and-drop operation that moves the image or setting to a desired setting (Claim 4). For example, by directing a part of an image and dragging and dropping it to rotate it by the angle you want to rotate, you do not need to perform detailed operations or specify numerical values, making it more intuitive for the photographer to set It can be performed.

  According to the surgical X-ray apparatus of the present invention, the setting of the movable diaphragm and the rotation angle is directly instructed on the display screen, the setting is virtually performed, and the result is displayed. In this way, setting is directly instructed by the instruction means, and the result of the setting is virtually displayed. Therefore, the result of the setting can be easily predicted, and the setting for photographing can be easily performed. In addition, since the number of trial and error X-ray irradiations can be reduced, exposure to the subject can be reduced.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is an external view showing a schematic configuration of a surgical X-ray apparatus according to this embodiment, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the schematic configuration, and FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a display example of an image display monitor. It is.

  The apparatus main body 1 configured to be movable of the apparatus includes an X-ray tube 3 that irradiates a subject with X-rays, and an image intensifier as an X-ray detector that detects transmitted X-rays transmitted through the subject M. 5 is provided with an X-ray imaging mechanism 9 configured to be attached to both ends of the C-arm 7 in a state of being opposed to each other with the subject M interposed therebetween.

  The C-arm 7 is configured to be vertically movable (R1) with respect to the apparatus body 1 and to be movable back and forth (R2) in the horizontal direction. Furthermore, the arm support 11 is attached to be rotatable (R3) around a vertical axis. The C-type arm 7 is rotatable around a horizontal axis (R4) and attached to the arm support 11 so as to be movable in an arc shape (R5).

  At the time of fluoroscopy / photographing, the C-arm 7 is moved and adjusted in the above-described directions to adjust the photographing direction, photographing position, photographing range (photographing magnification), and the like.

  A base portion 13 is provided at the lower portion of the arm support 11 on the base 12 side. The control part 15 is provided in the inside. The control unit 15 controls a high voltage device that supplies a high voltage to the X-ray tube 3 and adjusts the opening degree of a collimator 16 (a movable diaphragm, also called an iris) attached to the X-ray tube 3. Or adjusting the rotation (R6) with respect to the X-ray tube 3. The control unit 15 also controls the TV camera 17 attached to the image intensifier 5 and adjusts the rotation angle (R7) of the TV camera 17 with respect to the image intensifier 5.

  The above-described selection of the directions R1 to R7 and the amount of movement thereof, the setting of the opening of the collimator 16, the rotation of the TV camera 17, and the like are performed by the photographer on the operation panel 19 provided on the upper surface of the base unit 13. The operation and the operation amount are input to the control unit 15. Then, an operation on the collimator 16 is performed via the aperture driving unit 21, and an operation on the TV camera 17 is performed via the TV camera rotation driving unit 23.

  In the vicinity of the apparatus main body 1, a cart 25 that is connected to the apparatus main body 1 by a cable (not shown) and configured to be movable is disposed. The carriage 25 includes a processing unit 27, two image display monitors 29A and 29B (image display means), a keyboard 31, and a mouse 33 (pointing device).

  The processing unit 27 includes an image memory 35 that stores image data that is a signal from the TV camera 17. The storage capacity is preferably set so as to be able to store a plurality of frames of captured images, but is preferably a capacity capable of storing at least the last fluoroscopically / photographed image. The image data in the image memory 35 is once written in the display memory 37 and output to the image display monitors 29A and 29B. Thereby, for example, an image immediately after being seen through and photographed is displayed on the image display monitor 29A, and an image that has been seen through and photographed is superimposed on a menu display (to be described later) on the image display monitor 29B.

  A touch panel 39 is attached to the display surface side of the image display monitor 29B. The touch panel 39 detects a two-dimensional position and outputs the signal, and the position signal is given to a virtual processing unit 41 (virtual processing means). A similar position signal is also output from the mouse 33.

  As will be described later, the virtual processing unit 41 determines the position of the cursor and the photographer's finger with respect to the menu display based on the position signal, and performs various virtual processes as described later depending on which process is selected. Thereafter, when a shooting switch (not shown) is operated, the aperture driving unit 21 and the TV camera rotation driving unit 23 are controlled via the control unit 15 according to the virtual processing, and fluoroscopy and shooting are performed.

For example, a menu display as shown in FIG. 3 is displayed on the image display monitor 29B.
That is, the field area 43 of the image intensifier 5 set in the captured image display area 42 occupying most of the right side of the display surface, and the menu area 45 occupying the left side of the field area. In the visual field area 43, the last image that has been seen through and photographed is displayed, and an operation image during and after an operation as will be described later by the photographer is displayed.

  The menu area 45 includes, in order from the top, a rotation process 47, a parallel collimator rotation process 49, a parallel collimator opening adjustment process 51, an octagonal collimator opening adjustment process 53, and the like. The rotation processing 47 includes, in order from the left, a selection button 47a for selecting / deselecting the processing, a first button 47b for rotating a predetermined angle in the counterclockwise direction, and a first button for rotating the predetermined angle clockwise. 2 buttons 47c. Similarly, the parallel collimator rotation process 49 includes a selection button 47a, a first button 47b, and a second button 47c. The parallel collimator opening adjustment processing 51 includes a selection button 51a, a first button 51b that opens the collimator 16 in parallel and narrows the opening, and a second button 51c that widens the opening. I have. The octagonal collimator opening adjustment process 53 includes a selection button 53a, a first button 53b that operates the collimator 16 as an octagonal collimator to reduce its diameter, and a second button 53c that increases its diameter.

  Note that the selection buttons 47a, 49a, 51a, and 53a are provided to prevent a problem that the mouse 33 and the touch panel 39 are touched and operated against the photographer's intention.

  The virtual processing unit 41 performs various processes based on position signals from the mouse 33 and the touch panel 39 as described below. Here, as processing, an image rotation process and an octagonal collimator aperture adjustment process will be described as an example with reference to FIGS. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a mode for instructing image rotation, FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing another mode for instructing image rotation, and FIG. 6 shows a mode for instructing adjustment of an octagonal collimator. FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an image taken after adjusting the octagonal collimator.

First, a case where the photographer gives an instruction by operating the mouse 33 will be described with reference to FIG.
In this case, it is assumed that the operation panel 19 of the apparatus main body 1 has already been operated to perform fluoroscopy or photographing, and images at that time are displayed on the image display monitors 29A and 29B. It is assumed that the image is an image f in which the top and bottom are inclined to the left as shown by the alphabet A in the drawing.

  In order to correct the top and bottom of the image, the photographer operates the mouse 33, first moves the cursor C to the menu area 45, and clicks the selection button 47a of the rotation processing 47 to give an instruction. Next, while clicking the second button 47c, the process is repeated until the top of the image f (shown by a solid line in FIG. 4) displayed in the visual field area 43 is correctly displayed (shown by a dotted line in FIG. 4). Alternatively, a so-called drag and drop operation is performed in which the cursor C is positioned in the visual field region 43, the button of the mouse 33 is clicked and maintained at a predetermined position, the cursor C is moved at a predetermined angle, and the button is released at that position. . For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the cursor C is moved to the vicinity of the top of the alphabet A of the image f, clicked, and dragged as shown by a two-dot chain line to release the button. Note that this operation may be performed at a place other than the top of the image f, for example, in the captured image display area 42. In addition, an operation may be performed in which the cursor C is moved to a position desired to be in the 12 o'clock direction in the image f and clicked there. Thereby, the rotation processing is performed so that the portion of the image f is oriented in the 12 o'clock direction.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 5, the photographer may use his / her fingertip without operating the mouse 33.
That is, after the operation button 47a is instructed with a finger, the finger FG is moved in the clockwise direction while touching the vicinity of the top of the alphabet A of the image f, similarly to the operation with the mouse 33 described above, and the top of the image f is The finger FG is released from the touch panel 39 in the correct state (an image f indicated by a solid line and an image f indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 5). Even if operated in this way, the same operation as that performed by the mouse 33 described above can be performed.

  When the above-described processing is performed, the rotation processing is virtually performed by the virtual processing unit 41, and the result is displayed on the image display monitor 29B. This display indicates an indication of adjustment to the photographer. If the photographer determines that this is acceptable, a photographing switch (not shown) is operated. Then, information corresponding to the rotation process is sent from the virtual processing unit 41 to the control unit 15, and the control unit 15 drives the TV camera rotation driving unit 23 to rotate the TV camera 17 by an angle corresponding to the operation amount. After that, actual shooting is performed. As a result, on the image display monitor 29A, almost the same image f as the process that was virtually performed previously is displayed correctly.

  Next, an octagonal collimator opening adjustment process 53 will be described as an example with reference to FIG.

  Here, it is assumed that the image f has already been adjusted correctly, but the image f is displayed small in the approximate center of the visual field region 43. In this case, for example, the selection button 53a of the octagonal collimator opening adjustment processing 53 is clicked, and then the mouse 33 is operated to move the cursor C to the vicinity of the maximum diameter of the visual field region 43 (indicated by the solid line in FIG. 6). The mouse 33 is clicked and dragged to the vicinity of the image f, and then the mouse 33 is released and dragged (indicated by a dotted cursor C in FIG. 6). Then, an octagonal collimator frame 55 (shown simply as a circle) indicated by a dotted line is displayed in accordance with the drag. When a drop is performed at an appropriate position surrounding the image f, an octagonal collimator frame 55 (dotted line in the figure) is displayed at that position. This is a guide for adjustment for the photographer. Alternatively, when the cursor C is moved to a certain point in the image f and clicked without dragging, an octagonal collimator frame 55 may be displayed at that point.

  When it is determined that the position of the octagonal collimator frame 55 is good by the photographer and a photographing switch (not shown) is operated, information corresponding to the opening adjustment processing of the collimator 16 is sent from the virtual processing unit 41 to the control unit 15. The control unit 15 drives the aperture driving unit 21 to operate the collimator 16 as an octagonal collimator and adjust the aperture diameter according to the operation amount, and then actual photographing is performed. As a result, on the image display monitor 29A, the image f that is substantially the same as the processing that was virtually performed previously is displayed together with the octagonal collimator.

The display is as shown in FIG. 7, for example.
That is, the image f is displayed on the image display monitor 29A, and the shadow by the collimator 16 is displayed in a state where the outer edge of the visual field is shielded in black from the position corresponding to the octagonal collimator frame 55 directly adjusted as described above. Is done. This indicates that the shadow is located up to the position where the octagonal collimator frame 55 is directly moved in the adjustment processing of the octagonal collimator 55 described above, and can be predicted in advance by performing the virtual processing described above. Is. In other words, by performing virtual processing, it means that adjustment for finally capturing a desired image can be easily performed without repeating trial and error of irradiating X-rays.

  As described above, the setting of the movable aperture and the rotation angle is instructed directly by the mouse 33 or the finger on the display screen of the image display monitor 29B, and the setting is virtually performed by the virtual processing unit 41, and the result is obtained. The image is displayed on the image display monitor 29B. As described above, the setting is directly instructed by the mouse 33 or the finger, and the result of the setting is virtually displayed. Therefore, the result of the setting can be easily predicted, and the setting for photographing can be easily performed. be able to. In addition, since the number of trial and error X-ray irradiations can be reduced, the exposure to the subject M can be reduced.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be modified as follows.

  (1) In the embodiment described above, the image intensifier 5 has been described as an example of the X-ray detector, but instead, for example, a large number of X-ray detection elements are arranged in an array. A flat panel detector (FPD) or the like may be employed.

  (2) In the above-described embodiment, two image display monitors 29A and 29B are employed as the image display means. However, three or more image display monitors may be used, or only one image display monitor. May be used.

  (3) In the above-described embodiment, the mouse 33 is exemplified as the instruction unit and the pointing device. However, for example, a trackball or a stylus pen may be employed.

  (4) In the embodiment described above, the configuration shown in FIG. 4 is adopted as the menu displayed in the menu area 45 of the image display monitor 29B. This is an example, and the display differs depending on the contents to be operated.

It is an external view which shows schematic structure of the surgical X-ray apparatus which concerns on an Example. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the surgical X-ray apparatus which concerns on an Example. It is the schematic diagram which showed the example of a display of an image display monitor. It is the schematic diagram which showed the aspect which instruct | indicates image rotation. It is the schematic diagram which showed the other aspect which instruct | indicates image rotation. It is the schematic diagram which showed the aspect which instruct | indicates adjustment of an octagonal collimator. It is a schematic diagram which shows the example of the image image | photographed after adjustment of the octagonal collimator.

Explanation of symbols

M ... Subject 1 ... Main body 3 ... X-ray tube 5 ... Image intensifier (X-ray detector)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 7 ... C type arm 9 ... X-ray imaging mechanism 16 ... Collimator 17 ... TV camera 21 ... Aperture drive part 23 ... TV camera rotation drive part 29A, 29B ... Image display monitor (image display means)
33 ... Mouse (instruction means, pointing device)
39 ... Touch panel (instruction means)
41 ... Virtual processing unit (virtual processing means)
45 ... Menu area 55 ... Octagonal collimator frame C ... Cursor f ... Image

Claims (4)

A C-shaped arm configured to be three-dimensionally displaceable to change a relative position with respect to the subject, an X-ray tube provided on one end side of the C-shaped arm and irradiating the subject with X-rays; An X-ray detector for detecting transmitted X-rays provided on the other end side of the C-arm, a TV camera attached to the X-ray detector, and an image processing means for processing image data from the TV camera And an image display means for displaying an image based on the image data processed by the image processing means, wherein the movable aperture of the X-ray tube and the rotation angle of the TV camera are set. at least one, said an instruction unit for finger Shimesuru Te on the display screen of the image display means, wherein the image displayed on the image display means, a setting instructed by the instruction means virtually The image display means And a virtual processing unit for displaying the state in which the virtually subjected image displayed on the image display means, based on the setting instructed by the instruction means, stop moving the X-ray tube, or the TV camera A surgical X-ray apparatus comprising a controller that actually performs one of the rotations of The surgical X-ray device according to claim 1,
The control unit receives an instruction from a photographer in a state where the virtually displayed image is displayed on the image display unit, and based on the setting instructed by the instruction unit, the movable aperture of the X-ray tube, or A surgical X-ray apparatus characterized by actually performing one of the rotations of the TV camera .   2. The surgical X-ray apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the instruction unit is a pointing device that performs an instruction based on moving a cursor displayed on a display surface of the image display unit. X-ray equipment.   The surgical X-ray apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the instruction unit instructs the image or setting displayed on the image display unit and is moved to a desired setting. A surgical X-ray apparatus characterized in that instructions are given based on the above.

Images