JP6383192B2 - Probe for optical coherence tomographic image generator - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a probe used in an optical coherence tomographic image generation apparatus that captures a tomographic image of a subject using coherent light.

  Optical coherence tomography (hereinafter referred to as OCT apparatus) for taking tomographic images of tissues inside the oral cavity of dental patients distributes laser light emitted from a light source into measurement light and reference light. ing. The measurement light is irradiated from the probe to the oral cavity tissue, and the reference light is irradiated to the reference mirror. Then, the scattered light reflected and returned from the oral tissue is collected by the probe, the scattered light and the reflected light from the reference mirror are combined by an optical multiplexer, and the interference light is analyzed to generate a tomographic image. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

JP 2014-61089 A

  As a conventional probe, a metal support member protrudes from the distal end of the housing, and the probe is prevented from shaking by pressing the distal end of the support member against the oral tissue. There is. However, the above-described conventional probe has a problem that the tip of the support member is easily slid with respect to the oral cavity tissue.

  It is an object of the present invention to provide a probe that can solve the above-described problems and can be stabilized with respect to oral tissues.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention is a probe for an optical coherence tomographic image generation apparatus that irradiates a subject with measurement light and collects scattered light reflected and returned from the subject. The probe includes a housing in which optical paths of the measurement light and the scattered light are provided, and a support member connected to a front end opening of the housing. Further, a resin-made holding member is provided at the distal end portion of the support member, and the holding member protrudes in the radial direction of the attachment portion, the attachment portion covering the distal end portion of the support member, and And a plurality of protrusions bent toward the distal end side.

In this configuration, since the resin-made holding member is pressed against the oral tissue, the frictional resistance between the support member and the oral tissue can be made larger than when the metal supporting member is pressed against the oral tissue. it can.
Further, the contact area between the holding member and the oral cavity tissue is increased by pressing the holding member against the oral cavity tissue while being bent.
Thereby, in the probe of this invention, since the front-end | tip part of a supporting member becomes difficult to slip with respect to intraoral tissue, a probe can be stabilized with respect to intraoral tissue.
Moreover, since the contact area of a holding member and an intraoral tissue becomes large by pressing against a tooth | gear part, bending a protrusion part, stability of the probe with respect to an intraoral tissue can be improved.

  In addition, when the metal member is pressed against the oral tissue, pain or discomfort due to pressing force or galvanic current may occur, but in the probe of the present invention, the resin-made holding member is pressed against the oral tissue, Pain and discomfort can be prevented from occurring in dental patients.

  In the probe for the above-described coherent tomographic image generation apparatus, when the holding member is detachable from the support member, the holding member can be easily replaced.

  In the probe for an interference tomographic image generation apparatus described above, when the support member is insert-molded on the holding member, it is possible to prevent the holding member from being detached from the support member during imaging.

According to the present invention, since the probe can be stabilized with respect to the intraoral tissue, the probe can be prevented from shaking during imaging, and a tomographic image of the intraoral tissue can be clearly captured by the OCT apparatus. .
In the probe of the present invention, since the resin holding member is pressed against the oral tissue, it is possible to prevent the dental patient from causing pain or discomfort.

It is the figure which showed the probe of 1st embodiment, (a) is a perspective view, (b) is a perspective view of a supporting member. The perspective view of the state which pressed the holding member against the tooth | gear part in the figure which showed the use condition of the probe of 1st embodiment. It is the figure which showed the modification of the probe of 1st embodiment, (a) is a perspective view of the holding member which provided three protrusion parts, (b) pressed the holding member which provided three protrusion parts on a tooth part FIG. It is the figure which showed the modification of the probe of 1st embodiment, and is a perspective view of the holding member which provided four protrusion parts. It is the figure which showed the modification of the probe of 1st embodiment, and is a perspective view of the structure by which the axial part is insert-molded by the holding member. It is the figure which showed the probe of the reference example , (a) is the perspective view which looked at the supporting member from upper direction, (b) is the perspective view which looked at the supporting member from the downward direction. It is a perspective view of the state where a tooth part was inserted between both protrusion parts of a probe of a reference example .

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings as appropriate.
In the description of the embodiment and the reference example , the same constituent elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.
In this embodiment, a probe used in an OCT apparatus for taking a tomographic image of a tissue in a mouth of a dental patient will be described as an example.

[First embodiment]
The OCT apparatus captures a tomographic image of intraoral tissue using light coherent, and includes a probe, an optical unit, and a control unit.
In the OCT apparatus, laser light emitted from a light source in an optical unit is distributed to measurement light and reference light. The measurement light is irradiated from the probe to the intraoral tissue, and the scattered light reflected and returned from the intraoral tissue is collected by the probe. Further, the reference light is applied to a reference mirror in the optical unit. Then, the scattered light and the reflected light from the reference mirror are combined by the optical multiplexer by the optical unit, and the tomographic image is generated by analyzing the interference light by the control unit.

As shown in FIG. 1A, the probe 1A irradiates the intraoral tissue with measurement light and collects scattered light that has been reflected and returned from the intraoral tissue.
The probe 1 </ b> A includes a housing 10 provided with optical paths for measurement light and scattered light, and a support member 20 attached to the distal end portion of the housing 10.

  When taking a tomographic image of intraoral tissue using the OCT apparatus, the user holds the housing 10 in his hand and presses the tip of the support member 20 against the tooth. Then, the measurement light introduced from the optical unit into the housing 10 is irradiated to the oral cavity tissue from the distal end opening portion 11a of the housing 10 (see FIG. 2). Furthermore, the scattered light reflected and returned from the intraoral tissue is collected at the tip opening 11a of the housing 10 and transmitted to the optical unit.

  The housing 10 is a linear hollow resin case, the insertion portion 11 is formed at the distal end portion, and the cable 50 is inserted through the proximal end portion 12. An intermediate portion of the housing 10 in the axial direction is formed in a rectangular cross section, and is a part that the user grips with hands.

  The insertion portion 11 is formed in a circular cross section, and a circular tip opening 11a is formed on the tip surface. In the insertion portion 11, a condensing lens for condensing measurement light and irradiating the surface of the oral cavity tissue is accommodated.

A support member 20, which is a cylindrical metal part, is attached to the distal end opening portion 11 a of the insertion portion 11.
The support member 20 is a member for determining the interval between the oral tissue and the insertion portion 11 and stabilizing the probe 1A with respect to the oral tissue when taking a tomographic image of the oral tissue (FIG. 2). reference).

  As shown in FIG. 1B, the support member 20 includes a base portion 21 inserted into the tip opening 11a, a ring-shaped tip portion 23, and an intermediate portion formed between the base portion 21 and the tip portion 23. 22.

The base portion 21 has a peripheral wall portion having a circular cross section. The support member 20 is attached to the distal end portion of the housing 10 by inserting the base portion 21 into the distal end opening portion 11 a.
The intermediate portion 22 is configured by three shaft portions 22a protruding from the opening edge portion on the distal end side of the base portion 21 toward the distal end side. The shaft portions 22 a are arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction of the support member 20.
The tip portion 23 is a circular portion connected to the tip of each shaft portion 22a. A holding member 30 is provided at the distal end portion 23.

  The holding member 30 is a resin member pressed against the tooth portion (see FIG. 2). The holding member 30 is insert-molded with the tip 23 of the support member 20, and the tip 23 is covered with the holding member 30. Thus, the holding member 30 is configured not to be detached from the support member 20.

The holding member 30 is formed of a heat-resistant resin material such as silicon rubber, fluorine rubber, acrylic rubber, ethylene propylene rubber, or butyl rubber, for example. Therefore, the holding member 30 can be sterilized together with the support member 20 by an autoclave or the like.
Moreover, the holding member 30 is formed of a resin material that is not toxic even when inserted into the oral cavity.

  The holding member 30 includes an attachment portion 31 and a pair of projecting portions 32 and 32 protruding from the attachment portion 31. The attachment portion 31 covers a portion other than the inner peripheral surface of the tip portion 23.

A pair of projecting portions 32, 32 project from the outer peripheral portion of the attachment portion 31. Both projecting portions 32 and 32 are formed symmetrically on both sides of the mounting portion 31 in the radial direction.
The protruding portion 32 protrudes in the radial direction of the mounting portion 31 and is bent at a right angle toward the distal end side.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the hardness of the protruding portion 32 is set such that when the protruding portion 32 is pressed against the tooth portion A <b> 1, the protruding portion 32 is bent outward by the pressing force.

  When a cross-sectional image of the intraoral tissue A is taken by the OCT apparatus using the probe 1A, the distal end portion of the insertion portion 11 is inserted into the oral cavity of the dental patient as shown in FIG. The holding member 30 provided at the distal end portion 23 is pressed against the tooth portion A1.

  At this time, in the holding member 30, both the protrusions 32 and 32 are bent so that both the protrusions 32 and 32 are opened. Thereby, it will be in the state where both protrusion parts 32 and 32 were pushed and expanded, and the inner surface of both protrusion parts 32 and 32 will be pressed on the surface of tooth | gear part A1.

  In a state where the holding member 30 is pressed against the tooth portion A1, the measurement light is irradiated from the distal end opening portion 11a of the insertion portion 11 through the support member 20 to the surface of the oral tissue A. Then, the scattered light reflected and returned from the intraoral tissue A is collected from the tip opening 11a through the support member 20 and transmitted to the optical unit. In this way, a tomographic image of the intraoral tissue A can be taken by the OCT apparatus.

In the probe 1A as described above, since the resin-made holding member 30 is pressed against the intraoral tissue A as shown in FIG. 2, the metal support member 20 is supported more than when pressed against the oral tissue A. The frictional resistance between the member 20 and the intraoral tissue A can be increased.
Moreover, since both the protrusions 32 and 32 are pressed against the oral tissue A while being bent, the contact area between the protrusions 32 and 32 and the oral tissue A is increased.
Thereby, in probe 1A, since tip part 23 of support member 20 becomes difficult to slip to oral tissue A, probe 1A can be stabilized with respect to oral tissue A.
Therefore, it is possible to prevent the probe 1A from shaking at the time of imaging, and a tomographic image of the intraoral tissue A can be clearly captured by the OCT apparatus.

  When the metal member is pressed against the oral tissue A, pain or discomfort may occur due to the pressing force or galvanic current. However, in the probe 1A, the resin holding member 30 is pressed against the oral tissue A. Can prevent pain and discomfort in dental patients.

  Further, in the probe 1A, as shown in FIG. 1B, since the distal end portion 23 of the support member 20 is insert-molded in the holding member 30, it is possible to prevent the holding member 30 from being detached from the support member 20. .

As mentioned above, although 1st embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to said 1st embodiment, In the range which does not deviate from the meaning, it can change suitably.
In the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1B, the holding member 30 is provided with a pair of protrusions 32, 32. However, the number of protrusions 32 provided on the holding member 30 is not limited. Alternatively, one or three or more protrusions 32 may be provided on the holding member 30.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, three protrusions 32 may be provided on the attachment portion 31 of the holding member 30. In this configuration, projecting portions 32 are provided on both the left and right sides and the lower side of the mounting portion 31. As shown in FIG. 3B, when the support member 20 is pressed against the intraoral tissue A, the lower protrusion 32 is inserted into the back side of the tooth portion A1, so that the support member 20 is brought into the intraoral tissue A. Can be stabilized.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, four protrusions 32 may be provided on the attachment portion 31 of the holding member 30. In this configuration, since the four protrusions 32 are pressed against the oral tissue, the contact area between the holding member 30 and the oral tissue is increased, so that the support member 20 can be stabilized with respect to the oral tissue. .

  In the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1B, the holding member 30 is provided with the protruding portion 32. However, the shape of the holding member 30 is not limited, and the protruding portion 32 is provided. It does not have to be. As described above, even when the holding member 30 is not provided with the protrusion 32, the friction between the support member 20 and the oral tissue is caused by pressing the resin holding member 30 (attachment portion 31) against the tooth portion. The resistance can be increased.

  Further, the shape of the protruding portion 32 is not limited. For example, when a protrusion is formed on the inner surface of the protrusion 32 and the protrusion is configured to be caught between the tooth portions A1 and A1, the support member 20 is more difficult to slide with respect to the oral cavity tissue A. be able to.

  Further, in the first embodiment, the distal end portion 23 of the support member 20 is insert-molded in the holding member 30, but the holding member 30 is molded separately from the support member 20, and the holding member 30 is formed in the distal end portion 23. On the other hand, it may be configured to be detachable.

Further, in the first embodiment, the distal end portion 23 of the support member 20 is insert-molded in the holding member 30, but as shown in FIG. 5, the distal end side of each shaft portion 22 a of the support member 20 is formed in the holding member 30. The part may be insert-molded.
In this configuration, the holding member 30 can be reliably fixed to the support member 20, the holding member 30 is detached from the support member 20, or the holding member 30 rotates with respect to the distal end portion 23 of the support member 20. Can be prevented.

  Further, the holding member 30 may be attached to the distal end portion 23 of the support member 20 so as to be rotatable around the axis of the support member 20. In this configuration, the protrusion 32 can be reliably pressed by rotating the holding member 30 with respect to the tip 23 and adjusting the position of the protrusion 32 relative to the tooth.

  Further, in the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1A, the housing 10 is formed in a linear shape, but the shape is not limited, and a cross shape (pistol shape) or an inverted L shape is used. A shaped housing may be used.

[ Reference example ]
Next, the probe 1B of the reference example will be described. As shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the probe 1B of the reference example has substantially the same configuration as the probe 1A of the first embodiment described above (see FIG. 1A), and the configuration of the support member is the same. Is different.

The support member 40 of the reference example is an oblique mirror that changes the traveling directions of the measurement light and the scattered light.
The support member 40 of the reference example includes a rod 41 extending from the distal end surface of the insertion portion 11 toward the front, a circular reflecting mirror 42 attached to the distal end portion of the rod 41, and a distal end attached to the reflecting mirror 42. Part 43.

  The reflecting mirror 42 is inclined at an angle of 45 degrees downward with respect to the traveling direction of the measurement light emitted from the distal end opening 11 a of the insertion portion 11. Accordingly, the measurement light emitted from the distal end opening portion 11a of the insertion portion 11 is reflected by the reflecting mirror 42 and proceeds downward. The scattered light reflected and returned from the intraoral tissue is reflected by the reflecting mirror 42 and travels toward the tip opening 11a.

With the probe 1B of the reference example , as shown in FIG. 7, it is possible to photograph a direction orthogonal to the opening direction of the distal end opening portion 11a (see FIG. 6A) of the insertion portion 11. Thereby, the site | part with which it is difficult to confront the front-end | tip opening part 11a of the insertion part 11 like tooth | gear part A1 in the back | inner_mouth is easily imaged.

As shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the tip portion 43 is connected to the tip portion of the reflecting mirror 42. The distal end portion 43 of the reference example is a ring-shaped portion like the distal end portion 23 (see FIG. 1B) of the first embodiment.
The distal end portion 43 of the reference example is open in the vertical direction, and the central axis of the distal end portion 43 is orthogonal to the axial direction of the insertion portion 11.

As in the first embodiment, the holding member 30 is provided at the distal end portion 43 of the reference example . Both projecting portions 32, 32 of the reference example are formed symmetrically on both sides of the mounting portion 31 in the radial direction.
In addition, a protrusion 32a extending in the width direction is formed on the inner surface of the protrusion 32 of the reference example .

In the probe 1B of the reference example , as shown in FIG. 7, the tooth A1 is held by the probe 1B by sandwiching the tooth A1 by both the protrusions 32 and 32, and the inner surfaces of both the protrusions 32 and 32 are substantially omitted. The whole can be pressed against the surface of the tooth part A1.
Thereby, since the support member 40 becomes difficult to slide with respect to the intraoral tissue A, the probe 1B can be stabilized with respect to the intraoral tissue A.
Therefore, it is possible to prevent the probe 1B from shaking at the time of imaging, and a tomographic image of the intraoral tissue A can be clearly captured by the OCT apparatus.

Having described exemplary embodiment of the present invention, as in the first embodiment, prior Symbol BUT NOT LIMITED TO reference example and can be appropriately changed without departing from its spirit.

1A probe (first embodiment)
1B probe ( reference example )
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Housing 11 Insertion part 11a Tip opening part 20 Support member (1st embodiment)
21 Base part 22 Middle part 23 Tip part 30 Holding member 31 Attachment part 32 Projection part 40 Support member ( reference example )
41 Rod 42 Reflector 43 Tip part A Oral tissue A1 Tooth part

Claims (3)

A probe for an optical coherence tomographic image generation device that irradiates a subject with measurement light and collects scattered light reflected and returned from the subject,
A housing provided with optical paths of the measurement light and the scattered light;
A support member coupled to the front end opening of the housing,
At the tip of the support member, a resin holding member is provided ,
The holding member is
An attachment portion covering the tip of the support member;
A probe for an coherent tomographic image generation apparatus, comprising: a plurality of protrusions that protrude in a radial direction of the attachment portion and are bent toward the distal end side . The probe for an interference tomographic image generation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the holding member is detachable from the support member. Coherent tomography generator probe for according to claim 1, wherein the support member to the holding member is characterized by being insert molded.

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