JP5063593B2 - Chemical injection device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a medical fluid injector that is used together with a medical fluoroscopic imaging device and injects a chemical into a subject who captures a fluoroscopic image.

Currently, X-ray CT (Computed
Tomography) scanner, MRI (Magnetic)
Resonance Imaging), PET (Positron)
Emission Tomography) devices, ultrasonic diagnostic devices, CT angio devices, MRA (MR Angio) devices, and the like are known.

  When using a device as described above, it is often performed to inject a medical solution such as a contrast medium, a radioactive substance, and physiological saline into a subject in order to obtain a good fluoroscopic image or for other purposes. In addition, a chemical liquid injector for injecting these chemical liquids has been put into practical use. For example, when injecting a contrast agent, the contrast agent injection is divided into a plurality of phases so that an optimal CT value can be obtained within the scanning period of the CT apparatus, and the injection rate is changed for each phase. Attempts have been made to change the contrast agent concentration.

  For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-113475 (Patent Document 1) describes multistage injection having a phase in which the injection rate changes. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-298549 (Patent Document 2) freely displays an injection graph using a pen input device on a display having a touch panel in which the horizontal axis indicates time and the vertical axis indicates the injection speed. A method of determining a change in contrast agent injection speed with time (hereinafter referred to as an injection protocol) by drawing a curve is described. Patent Document 2 also describes that when a plurality of passing points are input, a free curve that sequentially passes the plurality of points is generated.

  However, as shown in FIG. 10, for example, when the injection speed of the second phase changes discontinuously from the injection speed of the first phase, it is impossible for the motor of the injection device to accurately follow the injection speed graph. is there. In the case of the injection protocol of FIG. 11, the speed when changing from the first phase to the second phase is continuous, but since the acceleration is discontinuous, the motor must decelerate rapidly. Even if the injection protocol is determined by a curve as in Patent Document 2, if the radius of curvature of the curve is small, a large load is applied to the motor.

As described above, if the motor does not follow the rapid change in the injection speed, excessive injection or insufficient injection occurs, and the injection of the chemical solution becomes inaccurate. In addition to the difference between the graphical representation of the injection protocol and the actual injection, there is a problem in that the contrast agent is not used effectively and is wasted. In addition, since an excessive load is applied to the motor, there is a problem that current consumption increases.
JP 2004-113475 A JP 2004-298549 A

  The present invention has been made to further improve the prior art, and provides a chemical solution injection device capable of performing accurate injection according to a displayed injection rate graph by displaying an executable injection protocol on a display. The purpose is to do.

  The present invention relates to the following matters.

1. Chemical injection means;
Display means for displaying an injection graph showing the injection speed of the chemical solution on the vertical axis and the injection time on the horizontal axis;
An input means for inputting a chemical injection graph;
Analyzing the input injection graph, and having a curve correction means for correcting the curve on the graph in which the injection rate exceeds the allowable change rate, including before and after the range, so as to be equal to or less than the allowable value. A chemical injection device.

  2. 2. The chemical liquid injector according to claim 1, wherein the allowable change rate of the injection speed is set by an injection acceleration given by time differentiation of the injection speed.

  3. 2. The chemical injection device according to 1 above, wherein the allowable change rate of the injection speed is set by a curvature radius on a graph.

  4). The display means displays a grid screen that also serves as a scale of an injection graph, the input of the injection graph is performed by designating a point on the grid screen, and the input injection graph is given as a line 4. The chemical injection device according to any one of 1 to 3 above.

  5). 5. The chemical injection device according to any one of the above items 1 to 4, further comprising display switching means for an input injection graph and a curve-corrected injection graph.

  6). The liquid medicine injection according to any one of the above 1 to 5, which is equipped with a syringe containing a contrast medium and a syringe containing a physiological saline, and has a curve correcting means for each injection graph. apparatus.

  According to the injection device of the present invention, by displaying an actually possible injection protocol on the display, it is possible to provide a chemical solution injection device capable of accurate injection according to the displayed injection rate graph. Therefore, the injection accuracy is high, the contrast agent is effectively used, and the load on the motor can be reduced.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a fluoroscopic imaging system to which the present invention is applied. It is a perspective view which shows the external appearance of one example of an injection device. It is a perspective view which shows the state which equips the injection | pouring head of an injection device with a chemical | medical solution syringe. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a structure of this invention. It is a screen which receives an input, and is a figure which shows a mode that the injection | pouring speed | rate is a vertical axis | shaft and the injection time is displayed on a horizontal axis. It is a figure which shows the screen which displays the state by which the point was input into the grid screen, and was connected with the straight line. It is a figure which shows the injection | pouring graph by which curve correction by one example of this invention was carried out. It is a figure which shows the example of curve correction with a loose approximation with respect to the straight line which connects an input point. It is a figure which shows the example of the curve correction approximated to the acceptable level with respect to the straight line which connects an input point. It is a figure which shows one example of the conventional injection | pouring protocol. It is a figure which shows one example of the conventional injection | pouring protocol.

Explanation of symbols

100 Chemical Injection Device 101 Injection Control Unit 102 Cable 103 Main Operation Panel 104 Display Unit 107 Hand Unit 108 Cable 110 Injection Head 111 Stand 112 Arm 113 Head Body 114 Recess 120 Display Means 121 Input Means 123 Curve Correction Means 130 Piston Drive Mechanism 131 Injection Control means 132 Contrast medium injection mechanism 133 Saline injection mechanism 135 Injection means 200C, 200P Syringe 210 Cylinder 220 Piston 230 Connection tube 300 CT scanner 301 Scanner body 302 Control unit 1000 Fluoroscopic imaging system

<Embodiment 1>
An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, a fluoroscopic imaging system 1000 in which the chemical injection device of the present invention is used has a chemical injection device 100 and a CT scanner 300 that is a fluoroscopic imaging device. The scanner 300 is connected by wire. The CT scanner 300 includes a scanner main body 301 and a control unit 302.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the chemical injection device 100 has an injection head 110 mounted on the upper part of an arm 112 connected to a stand 111 and is connected to a separate injection control unit 101 by a cable 102. Yes. The injection control unit 101 includes a main operation panel 103, a display unit 104, a hand unit 107 connected by a cable 108, and the like.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the injection head 110 has two concave portions 114 formed on the upper surface of the head body 113 as a syringe holding mechanism, and the two syringes 200 </ b> C and 200 </ b> P are attached to the concave portion 114. The syringes 200 </ b> C and P have a cylinder 210 and a piston 220. For example, the syringe 200C is filled with a CT contrast agent as a chemical solution, and the syringe 200P is filled with physiological saline. The tips of the two syringes attached to the head main body 113 are connected by a connecting tube 230. In addition, the piston 220 of each syringe is pushed by the piston drive mechanism 130 that can move independently, so that the contrast agent, the physiological saline, and the both can be injected simultaneously.

  As a general configuration such as a piston drive mechanism and a control mechanism, known configurations described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 can be adopted.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the chemical liquid injector according to the present invention. 5 to 9 show screens of the display unit 104 of the main operation panel. The configuration of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5 to 9. The means or mechanism described with reference to FIG. 4 exists as at least a part of the configuration described with reference to FIGS. Moreover, even if it exists as hardware, what exists as a logical configuration is also included.

  In the present embodiment, the display unit 104 of the main panel serves as both the display unit 120 and the input unit 121. In the initial screen that accepts the input of the injection rate, the injection rate is the vertical axis and the injection time is shown in FIG. A horizontal axis grid screen is displayed. The display unit is preferably a touch panel, and can input an injection rate at a specific elapsed time by, for example, pen input.

  In this embodiment, the time lapse of the injection rate is designated and input in points. When a plurality of points are input, the points are sequentially connected by straight lines as shown in FIG. Data is sent from the display unit 120 to the curve correction unit 123, and the curve correction unit 123 performs an operation of correcting the injection graph indicated by the broken line into a curve. When the injection device receives, for example, the click of the “curve correction” icon or the switch press by the operator, the screen is switched, and an injection graph with a corrected curve is displayed as shown in FIG.

  When correcting a curve from a straight line, the calculation function in the curve correction means analyzes the input injection graph and rounds the corners of the broken line so that the change rate of the injection rate is less than the allowable change rate. Done. The degree of “rounding” is rounded at least within a range that can be followed by the motor, and is preferably adjusted in consideration of the load on the motor and power consumption.

  Specifically, the curve correction is preferably performed so that the absolute value of the injection acceleration obtained by time differentiation of the injection speed is equal to or less than a predetermined value determined in consideration of the motor capability. Further, if the absolute value of the injection acceleration is continuous or discontinuous, it is also preferable that the curve correction is performed so that the discontinuous value is equal to or less than a predetermined value. Particularly preferably, the absolute value of the injection acceleration is continuous. It is extremely preferable that the curve correction is performed so that the absolute value of the injection acceleration is continuous and the absolute value of the injection acceleration is not more than a predetermined value. Alternatively, the curve correction may be performed so that the maximum curvature on the injection graph is equal to or less than a predetermined value determined in consideration of the motor capability in advance. The allowable change rate that mainly depends on the performance of the motor is preferably set in advance so as to be stored in the curve correcting unit 123, but may be changed by input.

  The correction conversion from a polyline to a curve is preferably performed by spline curve interpolation. In this curve correction method, as shown in FIG. 7, interpolation is performed so that the vertex of the broken line does not pass. Note that if the polygonal line connecting the input points is simply spline curve interpolated, it may be far away from the input points as shown in FIG. 8, but the calculation function in the curve correction means may cause, for example, FIG. As described above, a virtual point Vp may be set in the vicinity of the input point, and a spline curve including the virtual point Vp may be obtained. At this time, if the virtual point is too close to the input point, the rate of change of the injection rate exceeds the allowable rate of change, so it is necessary to separate the rate so that the rate of change of the injection rate is less than the allowable rate of change.

  After the curve correction is performed in this way, when an injection start command (clicking on the start icon on the screen or pressing the start switch) is received, the injection is injected from the display unit 120 to the injection control unit 131 in the injection unit 135. Data is sent and controlled by the injection control means 131 to activate the contrast medium injection mechanism 132, and actual drug injection is performed according to the injection protocol displayed on the display unit. Although the contrast agent has been described here, in the preferred embodiment, physiological saline is also input to the display unit with points, and the injection graph of the broken line connecting the points is corrected by the curve, and injected by the physiological saline injection mechanism 133. The

  In addition to the functions of the first embodiment described above, the apparatus of the present invention may further have additional functions.

  For example, it is also preferable to have display switching means between an input injection graph displayed as a broken line and a curve-corrected injection graph. It is also preferable to further include means for changing the input point. For example, these points are implemented by dragging and changing points already input on the display screen.

<Embodiment 2>
In the first embodiment, the points are input and the points are connected by straight lines. However, as in Patent Document 2, the injection graph may be input by a curve. The curve correction in this mode is such that the calculation function in the curve correction unit analyzes the input injection graph as in the first embodiment so that the change rate of the injection rate is equal to or less than the allowable change rate. Rounded curves with sharp angles are performed. As described in the first embodiment, the rounding degree is specifically corrected so that the absolute value of the injection acceleration obtained by time differentiation of the injection speed is not more than a predetermined value. preferable. It is extremely preferable that the curve correction is performed so that the absolute value of the injection acceleration is continuous and the absolute value of the injection acceleration is not more than a predetermined value. Alternatively, the curve correction may be performed so that the maximum curvature on the injection graph is equal to or less than a predetermined value determined in consideration of the motor capability in advance.

  In the above description, CT contrast medium injection has been described as an example, but the present invention can also be applied to MRI contrast medium injection and other chemical liquid injection.

Claims (7)

Chemical injection means;
Display means for displaying an injection graph showing the injection speed of the chemical solution on the vertical axis and the injection time on the horizontal axis;
An input means for inputting a chemical injection graph;
Analyzing the input injection graph, and having a curve correction means for correcting the curve on the graph in which the injection rate exceeds the allowable change rate, including before and after the range, so as to be equal to or less than the allowable value. A chemical injection device.   2. The chemical injection device according to claim 1, wherein the allowable change rate of the injection rate is set by an injection acceleration given by time differentiation of the injection rate.   The chemical injection device according to claim 1, wherein the allowable change rate of the injection speed is set by a radius of curvature on a graph.   The display means displays a grid screen that also serves as a scale of an injection graph, the input of the injection graph is performed by designating a point on the grid screen, and the input injection graph is given as a line The chemical | medical solution injection device in any one of Claims 1-3 characterized by the above-mentioned.   The chemical injection device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising display switching means for an input injection graph and a curve-corrected injection graph.   The medical solution according to any one of claims 1 to 5, which is equipped with two syringes, a syringe for storing a contrast medium and a syringe for storing a physiological saline, and has a curve correcting means for each injection graph. Injection device. The chemical injection device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the display means is capable of switching and displaying an input injection graph and a curve-corrected injection graph.

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