JP7413215B2 - Gastrointestinal endoscope - Google Patents

Description

The present disclosure relates to a gastrointestinal endoscope that makes it possible to easily detect diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.

A gastrointestinal endoscope is known as a device for observing the inside of the digestive system. By using a gastrointestinal endoscope, the inside of the digestive system can be observed with less stress on the subject's body.

Patent application 2020-061457

In diagnosis using a gastrointestinal endoscope, the inside of the digestive organ is photographed as a visible light image, and if no disease is seen on the surface of the inner wall of the digestive organ reflected in the visible light image, it is determined that there is no abnormality.

A capsule endoscope is known as one type of gastrointestinal endoscope. A capsule endoscope with a temperature sensor according to a related art (see Patent Document 1) developed by the inventor of the present application includes a capsule that is at least partially transparent and protects built-in components, and a transparent capsule endoscope that protects built-in components. The capsule includes a temperature sensor that is attached to the outer surface of the capsule and whose color changes depending on the temperature within the digestive tract, and a camera that is placed inside the capsule and photographs the temperature sensor.

The capsule endoscope with a temperature sensor is swallowed by the subject, passes through the digestive tract, and is expelled from the body. During this process, the temperature sensor is photographed by a camera, so that it is possible to check the appearance of the surface of the inner wall of the digestive organ and whether there is a change in the color of the temperature sensor, thereby measuring the temperature inside the digestive organ.

When the inventor of the present application brought a capsule endoscope with a temperature sensor shown in the related art into contact with the inner wall of the digestive organ and measured the temperature on the surface of the inner wall of the digestive organ, it was found that It has been discovered that even if there is no disease on the surface or the area has healed on the surface, if the disease is deep down or remains, the surface temperature becomes high. Therefore, the inventor of the present application recognized that it is important to measure the temperature of the surface of the inner wall of the digestive tract in order to understand diseases within the digestive tract.

A capsule endoscope equipped with a temperature sensor can pinpoint the temperature at the point where the temperature sensor contacts the inner wall of the digestive tract. Furthermore, by moving a capsule endoscope with a temperature sensor along the inner wall of the digestive organ while maintaining contact between the temperature sensor and the inner wall of the digestive organ, the temperature on the surface of the inner wall of the digestive organ can be measured in one-dimensional sweeps. I can do it. If this can be extended to capture and measure the temperature within the digestive tract, it will be possible to detect diseases within the digestive tract without exception and quickly. Furthermore, if the temperature measured on a surface can be displayed in different colors, it will be possible to easily grasp the temperature within the digestive tract visually. Furthermore, if visual information such as the shape of the inner wall of the digestive organ and the temperature inside the digestive organ can be displayed simultaneously as a single image, diseases within the digestive organ can be more easily understood from a visual angle.

Based on the above discovery, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a gastrointestinal endoscope that can simultaneously confirm the temperature inside the digestive organ measured from a surface and the visual information inside the digestive organ.

In order to achieve the above object, the gastrointestinal endoscope of the present disclosure includes a visible light image capturing section, a thermography image capturing section, and an image processing section that combines the visible light image and the thermography image.

Specifically, the gastrointestinal endoscope according to the present disclosure includes a light source unit that irradiates a subject, a visible light image capturing unit that captures the irradiated subject as a visible light image, and a thermography unit that captures the irradiated subject as a visible light image. The apparatus includes a thermographic image capturing section that captures an image, and an image processing section that creates an image of the subject based on image information from the visible light image capturing section and the thermographic image capturing section.

The gastrointestinal endoscope according to the present disclosure further includes one or more mirrors that reflect far infrared rays at arbitrary angles, and the thermographic image capturing unit captures a thermographic image of the subject reflected by the mirror. You can.

The gastrointestinal endoscope according to the present disclosure is a tube-type gastrointestinal endoscope, further comprising a nozzle that applies temperature stimulation to the subject, and the visible light image capturing section and the thermography image capturing section each include a nozzle that applies temperature stimulation to the subject. The state of the subject before and after applying the temperature stimulation may be captured as the visible light image or the thermography image.

In the gastrointestinal endoscope according to the present disclosure, the image processing unit may extract the shape features of the subject from the visible light image, and synthesize the shape features with the thermography image.

In the gastrointestinal endoscope according to the present disclosure, the image processing unit cuts out a region that is higher or lower than an arbitrarily settable set temperature from the thermography image, and converts the region into a corresponding portion of the visible light image. It may be synthesized into

In the gastrointestinal endoscope according to the present disclosure, the image processing unit may superimpose the thermography image whose transparency can be adjusted on the visible light image.

Note that the above inventions can be combined as much as possible.

According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a gastrointestinal endoscope that can simultaneously confirm the temperature inside the digestive organ measured from a surface and the visual angle information inside the digestive organ.

1 shows an example of a schematic configuration and usage pattern of a gastrointestinal endoscope according to Embodiment 1. FIG. 1 shows an example of a schematic configuration and usage pattern of a gastrointestinal endoscope according to Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a visible light image captured by the gastrointestinal endoscope according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a thermography image captured by the gastrointestinal endoscope according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a composite image created by the gastrointestinal endoscope according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a composite image created by the gastrointestinal endoscope according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a composite image created by the gastrointestinal endoscope according to the first embodiment. 10 shows an example of a schematic configuration and a usage pattern of a gastrointestinal endoscope according to a second embodiment.

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Note that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments shown below. These implementation examples are merely illustrative, and the present disclosure can be implemented with various changes and improvements based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art. Note that components with the same reference numerals in this specification and the drawings indicate the same components.

(Embodiment 1)
An example of a schematic configuration of a gastrointestinal endoscope according to this embodiment is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The gastrointestinal endoscope 10 includes a light source section 11 , a visible light image capturing section 12 , a thermography image capturing section 13 , and an image processing section 14 . FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example in which the visible light image capturing unit 12 and the thermography image capturing unit 13 capture electromagnetic waves passing through a visible light path 201 and a far infrared path 202 to image a subject 101. FIG. 2 shows that the visible light image capturing section 12 is the same as that in FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of capturing an image of the subject 101 by capturing electromagnetic waves passing through a path 203. FIG.

The gastrointestinal endoscope 10 in this embodiment can be applied to a tube-type gastrointestinal endoscope or a capsule-type gastrointestinal endoscope. A light source section 11, a visible light image capturing section 12, and a thermographic image capturing section 13 may be provided in the insertion section in the case of a tube-type gastrointestinal endoscope, and inside the capsule in the case of a capsule-type gastrointestinal endoscope. In that case, the image processing section 14 may be located in a part separate from the visible light image capturing section 12 and the thermographic image capturing section 13, and may communicate with the visible light image capturing section 12 and the thermographic image capturing section 13 via a cable or wirelessly. . Furthermore, the gastrointestinal endoscope 10 includes a setting unit 16 (not shown) that allows setting of parameters and image processing details when imaging the subject 101, and an image display that displays images created by the image processing unit 14. 17 (not shown), and an operation section 18 that can control the imaging timing of each of the visible light image capturing section 12 and the thermography image capturing section 13.

The configuration and operation of the gastrointestinal endoscope 10 according to the present embodiment will be specifically described below using FIGS. 1 and 2. The light source unit 11 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 irradiates the subject 101 in the digestive organ. The light source unit 11 may be supplied with power from a light source device (not shown) that is electrically connected to the light source unit 11 . Further, the light source section 11 may be powered by a battery. The light source section 11 may emit light limited to a specific color. Examples include blue light and green light used in NBI (Narrow Band Imaging).

The visible light image capturing section 12 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 includes a lens (not shown), a visible light image capturing element (not shown), and a visible light image transmitting section (not shown). Among the visible light emitted by the light source unit 11, the lens collects the visible light reflected by the subject 101, for example, the visible light passing through the visible light path 201, onto the visible light image pickup device. The visible light image sensor converts received visible light information into an electrical signal. The visible light image transmitting section transmits an electric signal as visible light image information 301 to the image processing section 14 via a cable or wireless communication.

The thermographic image capturing section 13 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 includes a lens (not shown) or a mirror (not shown), a thermographic image capturing element (not shown), and a thermographic image transmitting section (not shown). The lens or mirror focuses the far infrared rays emitted by the subject 101, for example, the far infrared rays passing through the far infrared path 202 or 203, onto the thermographic imager. When using a lens, germanium, which easily transmits far infrared rays, may be used. A metal-coated reflector can be used as the mirror. A thermographic image sensor converts received far-infrared information into an electrical signal. The thermography image transmitting section transmits the electric signal as thermography image information 302 to the image processing section 14 via a cable or wireless communication.

The visible light image capturing section 12 and the thermography image capturing section 13 may each face the subject 101 and capture images, as shown in FIG.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the gastrointestinal endoscope 10 further includes a mirror 15 that reflects far infrared rays at an arbitrary angle, and the visible light image capturing section 12 and the thermography image capturing section 13 are oriented in different directions. You can. In this case, the thermographic image capturing unit 13 captures the far infrared rays reflected by the mirror 15, for example, the far infrared rays passing through the far infrared path 203, so that the visible light image capturing unit 12 and the thermographic image capturing unit 13 are The subject 101 is imaged as a visible light image and a thermography image, respectively. As the mirror 15, a metal-coated reflecting mirror can be used. It is desirable that the mirror 15 be placed near the lens of the visible light image capturing section 12 so that the visible light image capturing section 12 and the thermography image capturing section 13 can image the subject 101 at the same angle. A plurality of mirrors 15 may be used, or the curvature of the mirror 15 may be adjusted so that the angle of view or magnification of the thermography image approaches the angle of view or magnification of the visible light image. Even if a sufficient distance between the subject 101 and the thermographic image capturing section 13 cannot be secured in a narrow space within the digestive tract, the thermographic image capturing section 13 can be The subject 101 can be brought into focus. The mirror 15 having curvature is not affected by the wavelength dependence of the refractive index, and therefore can easily collect far-infrared rays. To focus far-infrared rays, a mirror made of aluminum or the like can be realized at a lower cost than a lens made of germanium or the like.

The image processing unit 14 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 creates a visible light image and a thermography image of the subject 101, respectively, based on the received visible light image information 301 and thermography image information 302. A visible light image of the subject 101 is shown in FIG. 3, and a thermography image is shown in FIG. FIG. 3 shows a visible light image of the subject 101 including the digestive organ inner wall 102, the protrusion 103, and the digestive organ lumen 104. The image processing unit 14 may create an index indicating the relationship between color and temperature together with the thermography image, as shown in FIG. 4 . Although the thermography image in FIG. 4 expresses differences in temperature using four types of patterns, the present invention is not limited to this. The image processing unit 14 may also prepare an upper limit temperature and a lower limit temperature that can be set by the setting unit 16, and create a thermography image that expresses only the temperatures between the set lower limit temperature and the upper limit temperature by color coding. good. By doing so, a desired temperature difference within the thermography image can be confirmed by the difference in color. Further, the color distribution of the thermography image may be changed by the setting unit 16.

If the object 101 in the thermography image and the visible light image are not in the same position and size, one or both of them may be corrected so that the object 101 in each image is in the same position and size, for example, the image It is desirable to crop the image, enlarge or reduce the image, etc.

The gastrointestinal endoscope 10 may further include a temperature sensor (not shown) and a humidity sensor (not shown) to measure the temperature and humidity of the gastrointestinal lumen 104. The image processing unit 14 may correct the temperature information acquired by the thermography image capturing unit 13 based on the values measured by these sensors.

The image processing unit 14 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 creates a composite image of the subject 101 using a visible light image and a thermography image of the subject 101. Specific examples of the composite image of the subject 101 are shown in FIGS. 5 to 7. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the image processing unit 14 cuts out a region 111 that is higher or lower than a set temperature that can be arbitrarily set via the setting unit 16 from the thermography image, and converts the region 111 into a visible light image. It may be synthesized in the relevant part. FIG. 5 shows an example in which a region 111 having a higher temperature than the set temperature is cut out. The set temperature may be an absolute temperature. The set temperature may be the average temperature within the thermography image. In order to compare with other parts in the thermography image, the temperature of a specified point on the image may be set as the set temperature. A plurality of temperature settings may be possible, and the image processing unit 14 may cut out, for example, a region 111 that is higher than or equal to the first temperature setting and lower than or equal to the second temperature setting from the thermography image.

When the set temperature is an absolute temperature and the extracted region 111 is local, the disease site can be identified. On the other hand, when the set temperature is an absolute temperature and the entire subject 101 is extracted as the region 111, it is detected that the body temperature itself is high, which is useful for pathological determination. In addition, when the body temperature is high, the diseased area becomes even hotter, so the diseased area can be displayed in a different color from the entire subject 101 on the thermography image, making it possible to identify the diseased area in addition to pathological judgment. I can do it. On the other hand, when the temperature within the digestive tract is used as the set temperature, the extracted region 111 indicates that the temperature is higher or lower than the region where the set temperature is reached, so it can be identified as a diseased region.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the image processing unit 14 may extract a shape feature such as the uneven shape of the protrusion 103 from the visible light image, and synthesize the shape feature with the thermography image. By combining the shape features with the thermography image, it becomes possible to grasp the shape of the subject 101 that cannot be expressed using only the thermography image. In addition, in the composite image shown in FIG. 6, by displaying the shape features, it becomes easy to understand the correspondence between the temperature distribution shown by the thermography image and the position of the subject 101, and the disease site can be identified.

FIG. 7 is a diagram in which a thermography image with a transparency of 50% is superimposed on a visible light image. As shown in FIG. 7, the image processing unit 14 may superimpose a thermography image whose transparency can be adjusted on the visible light image. Transparency is not limited to this. Adjustment of transparency may be possible using the setting section 16. With the composite image shown in FIG. 7, both the temperature distribution shown by the thermography image and the subject 101 can be confirmed at the same time, the correspondence between the temperature distribution and the position of the subject 101 can be easily understood, and the disease site can be identified.

The image display unit 17 displays the image of the subject 101 created by the image processing unit 14. The image to be displayed may be selected by the operator of the gastrointestinal endoscope 10 via the setting unit 16. The image of the subject 101 to be displayed may be the visible light image itself or the thermography image itself, in addition to the three composite images described above.

The image display section 17 may display the temperature at a designated point among the visible light image, thermography image, or composite image. At this time, the image processing unit 14 calculates the temperature of the designated point based on the temperature information acquired by the thermography image capturing unit 13 based on the thermography image information 302. If there is a temperature sensor or humidity sensor, the values measured by these sensors may be used to calculate the temperature at that point. Furthermore, if a temperature sensor or a humidity sensor is provided, the image display section 17 may display values measured by these sensors.

As described above, the gastrointestinal endoscope 10 according to the present disclosure includes the visible light image capturing section 12, the thermography image capturing section 13, and the image processing section 14 that combines the visible light image and the thermography image. By including this, it is possible to provide a gastrointestinal endoscope that can simultaneously confirm the temperature inside the digestive organ measured by a surface and the visual angle information inside the digestive organ.

The digestive system has a large amount of blood flow to control digestion and absorption, so it has high thermal conductivity and maintains homeostasis as a core body temperature. The fat that envelops the digestive organs also acts as an insulator, blocking the exchange of heat between the digestive organs and the outside of the body. Therefore, the temperature inside the digestive organ is kept constant regardless of the location. It has been found that within the digestive tract, areas where the temperature is locally high or low are likely to be diseased. Furthermore, since the inside of the digestive tract has good thermal conductivity as mentioned above, heat generated by diseases deep within the digestive tract is also transferred well, and it is assumed that the surface temperature of the inner wall of the digestive tract becomes high. Therefore, by using thermography, it is possible to detect not only diseases on the inner surface of the digestive tract, but also diseases deep in the digestive tract that cannot be detected with an endoscope that only uses visible light images.

Furthermore, since thermography images express far-infrared rays emitted according to temperature in colors, it is possible to confirm the temperature distribution of the subject. On the other hand, thermography images often cannot express visual angle information, such as the shape characteristics of a subject with a small temperature difference, among the visual angle information that can be confirmed with visible light images. In the composite image obtained by the gastrointestinal endoscope 10 according to the present embodiment, visual angle information and temperature distribution of the subject can be confirmed simultaneously in the same image, and it is easy to see where the temperature distribution corresponds to the subject. .

(Embodiment 2)
The gastrointestinal endoscope 10 according to this embodiment adds a new function to the gastrointestinal endoscope 10 of the first embodiment, which is a tube-type gastrointestinal endoscope. The additional functions will be explained below. Further, points not described below are the same as those in the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 shows a front view of the distal end 20 of the insertion section of the gastrointestinal endoscope 10 according to the present embodiment. The distal end 20 has a plurality of holes, and a light source section 11, a visible light image capturing section 12, and a thermography image capturing section 13 are attached to each hole, and the distal end 20 faces the subject 101 when imaging the subject 101. The tip 20 may further be provided with holes, and a plurality of light source units 11 may be attached thereto. Further, the mirror 15 described in the first embodiment may be attached to the hole of the thermographic image capturing section 13. The gastrointestinal endoscope 10 further includes a nozzle 19 whose one end is included in the distal end 20 and which applies temperature stimulation to the subject 101. The nozzle 19 passes through the gastrointestinal endoscope 10, and the other end of the nozzle 19 may be connected to an injection part (not shown). The injection part has a button, and when the button is pressed, water and air from a pump (not shown) and a water tank (not shown) are injected into the nozzle 19 from the other end of the nozzle 19, and one end of the nozzle 19 is injected into the nozzle 19. Alternatively, water or air may be blown out. Examples of temperature stimuli include cold water, hot water, cold air, and warm air.

Each of the visible light image capturing unit 12 and the thermography image capturing unit 13 captures the state of the subject 101 before and after applying the temperature stimulation as a visible light image or a thermography image. Each of the visible light image capturing unit 12 and the thermography image capturing unit 13 may capture images in conjunction with a button on the injection unit, or may capture images at any timing by operating the operating unit 18 after applying temperature stimulation. You may do so.

For example, when cold water is poured on the subject 101 whose blood flow is low due to a disease or the like as a temperature stimulus, it takes time for the temperature to recover. On the other hand, when the subject 101 is in the healing process and cold water is similarly poured on the subject 101 when the blood flow is transient, the blood flow increases and the temperature recovers quickly. In other words, by applying a temperature stimulus and observing the time change of the reaction to the temperature stimulus using visible light images and thermography images, the state of the subject 101 can be dynamically captured, and when observed statically, the state of the subject 101 can be dynamically captured. You can check diseases that cannot be cured and their healing status.

The gastrointestinal endoscope 10 according to the present disclosure includes a visible light image capturing section 12, a thermographic image capturing section 13, and an image processing section 14 that synthesizes a visible light image and a thermographic image. It is possible to provide a gastrointestinal endoscope that can simultaneously check the measured temperature inside the digestive system and visual information inside the digestive system.

The gastrointestinal endoscope according to the present disclosure can be applied to the medical device industry.

10: Gastrointestinal endoscope 11: Light source section 12: Visible light image capturing section 13: Thermography image capturing section 14: Image processing section 15: Mirror 16: Setting section 17: Image display section 18: Operation section 19: Nozzle 20: Tip 101: Subject 102: Digestive organ inner wall 103: Protrusion 104: Digestive organ inner lumen 111: Area 201: Visible light paths 202, 203: Far infrared path 301: Visible light image information 302: Thermography image information

Claims (6)

a light source unit that irradiates the subject;
a visible light image capturing unit that captures a visible light image of the irradiated subject;
a thermographic image capturing unit that captures a thermographic image of the subject;
an image processing unit that combines the visible light image and the thermography image;
Equipped with
The image processing unit displays a diseased area where temperature recovery is locally slow in response to temperature stimulation in a manner different from that of the entire area.
Gastrointestinal endoscopy. Further comprising one or more mirrors that reflect far infrared rays at any angle,
The gastrointestinal endoscope according to claim 1, wherein the thermographic image capturing section captures a thermographic image of the subject reflected by the mirror. A tube-type gastrointestinal endoscope,
further comprising a nozzle that applies temperature stimulation to the subject,
3. The visible light image capturing section and the thermography image capturing section capture the state of the subject before and after applying the temperature stimulus as the visible light image or the thermography image, respectively. The gastrointestinal endoscope described. The digestive system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the image processing unit extracts a shape feature of the subject from the visible light image and synthesizes the shape feature with the thermography image. Instrument endoscope. 1 . The image processing unit cuts out a region having a temperature higher or lower than an arbitrarily settable set temperature from the thermography image, and combines the region with a corresponding portion of the visible light image. The gastrointestinal endoscope according to any one of 3 to 3. The gastrointestinal endoscope according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the image processing unit superimposes the thermography image whose transparency can be adjusted on the visible light image.

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