JPH01256976A - Thermal treating device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a burn by high frequency energy of a patient whose normal living anatomy is cooled with no circulation of a cooling medium by removably providing it in the vicinity of an electrode. CONSTITUTION:In the case of thermal treatment, in order to prevent a burn of surfaces in a living body 23 coming into direct contact with an electrode 14, a cooling medium 15, provided in a recessed part 13 of a soft member 12, cools the surfaces of the living body 23 through the electrode 14. When the thermal treatment is continued for not less than the predetermined time, a temperature of the cooling medium 15 increases, and its cooling power deteriorates. The temperature of the cooling medium 15 is detected by a temperature sensor 27 and displayed in a temperature display device 28. Accordingly, the cooling medium 15, when its temperature exceeds a reference temperature, for instance, 10 deg.C, is replaced with the other cooling medium 15 cooled to about 0 deg.C, thus enabling the burn to be surely prevented of the living body 23 in its surface.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a thermotherapy device that heats and treats affected areas within a living body and affected areas (such as tumors) that are necrotic due to heat.

[Prior Art] It is known that cells of malignant tumors such as cancer that occur in living bodies can be killed by heating them at a temperature around 43°C for about one hour and repeating this heating at regular intervals. Various thermotherapy devices are known for performing such treatments.

It is known that the above-mentioned thermotherapy device dielectrically heats the affected area with high-frequency energy, and a device having the structure shown in FIG. 6 has conventionally been used. That is, numeral 1 in the figure is an intracorporeal applicator inserted into a patient's body cavity. An extracorporeal applicator 3 is disposed on the body surface facing the intracorporeal applicator 1 with the affected area 2 interposed therebetween. Each bricator 1.3 has an electrode 1a.

3a and balloons 1b, 3b, these electrodes 1
a, 3a are connected to a high frequency power source 4.

When the high frequency power source 4 is activated, the affected area 2 is heated by the high frequency energy.

Further, a cooling liquid stored in a reservoir 5 is configured to circulate through the balloon 3b of the extracorporeal applicator 3. That is, the cooling liquid is supplied to the balloon 3b by a pump 7 via a heat exchanger 6 for cooling the liquid, cools the body surface there, and then returns to the reservoir 5 for circulation. . This cools the body surface heated by high-frequency energy and prevents normal tissue near the body surface from being burned.

There is.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, according to the thermotherapy device having such a structure, the cooling liquid is circulated in order to prevent burns on the patient's body surface. Therefore, a large cooling liquid circulation unit consisting of a reservoir 5, a heat exchanger 6, and a pump 7 is required, which complicates the entire structure, complicates operation, and significantly increases the cost of the device. There were some things that led to an increase.

Furthermore, since the extracorporeal applicator 3 must be connected to a cooling liquid circulation unit consisting of a reservoir 5, a heat exchanger 6, and a pump 7 through a tube, the extracorporeal applicator 3 cannot be moved freely, and the limited by the distance between the unit and the circulation unit. Therefore, it may be inconvenient to handle.

This invention was made based on the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a thermal treatment device that has a simple structure and can cool a patient's normal tissues without causing burns. It is about providing.

[Means and Effects for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a thermal treatment device that supplies high frequency energy from a high frequency oscillation means to a living body via an electrode, in which a cooling medium is provided near the electrode. is provided so that it can be attached and detached.

The patient's normal living tissue is cooled without circulating a cooling medium, thereby preventing burns from being caused by high-frequency energy.

[Embodiment] A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The thermotherapy device shown in FIG. 1 has a pair of applicators 11. The thermotherapy device shown in FIG. This applicator 11 consists of a flexible frame member 12 formed into a rectangular plate shape from silicone, urethane, latex, etc., and this flexible frame member 12 is provided with an open rectangular recess 13 on one side, that is, on the top surface. It is being An electrode 14 made of a flexible metal such as a plate or a mesh is provided at the bottom of the recess 13 so as to form part of the bottom, that is, exposed on the lower surface.

A cooling medium 15 is removably provided in the recess 13 . This cooling medium 15 is a gel-like substance 1 having a specific heat of 1 or more.
6 is wrapped in a thin outer cover 17 made of vinyl or the like, cooled to about 0° C., and placed in the recess 13.

The cooling medium 15 provided in the four parts 13 is held by the band member 18. That is, a pair of first velvet fasteners 19 are provided at a predetermined interval in the middle of the band member 18, and these first velvet fasteners 19
are fastened to second velvet fasteners 21 provided at both ends of the upper surface of the flexible member 12. Thereby, the cooling medium 15 is held by the strip member 18 so that it does not fall out of the four parts 13.

Furthermore, third velvet fasteners 22 are provided at both ends of the band member 18, respectively. This third velvet fastener 22 connects the pair of applicators 11 to the living body 23.
It is used to hold the That is, after joining the pair of applicators 11 to the surface of the living body 23 across the affected area 24 that has occurred inside the living body 23, the pair of band members 18 are rotated so as to surround the living body 23, and the third The pair of applicators 11 can be held on the living body 23 by engaging the velvet fasteners 22, respectively. Since the ends of the pair of band members 18 are overlapped and engaged, the third velvet fastener 22 is provided on the outer surface of one end of the band member 18 and on the inner surface of the other end.

The electrodes 14 of the pair of applicators 11 are connected to a matching circuit 25
It is connected to the high frequency power supply 26 via.

Further, the electrode 14 in the recess 13 of the flexible member 12 and the cooling medium 1
5, a temperature sensor 27 such as a thermocouple or an optical fiber thermometer is provided. This temperature sensor 27 is connected to a temperature display device 28, so that the detected temperature is displayed.

In order to perform thermal treatment on the affected area 24 with such a thermal treatment device, a pair of applicators 11 are connected to the affected area 24 as shown in FIG.
If it is attached to the living body 23 with 4 in between, the high frequency power supply 2
6 is activated. Then, since a high frequency voltage is applied between the electrodes 14 of the pair of applicators 11, the affected area 24 between them can be heated to about 43°C.

During such heating treatment, the recess 1 of the flexible member 12 is designed to prevent burns on the surface of the living body 23 that the electrode 14 comes into direct contact with.
The cooling medium 15 provided in the body 23 cools the surface of the living body 23 via the electrode 14.

If the heating treatment continues for a predetermined period of time or longer, the temperature of the cooling medium 15 will rise, and its cooling capacity will decrease. The temperature of the cooling medium 15 is detected by a temperature sensor 27 and displayed on a temperature display device 28. Therefore, if the temperature of the cooling medium 15 exceeds the reference temperature, for example 10°C, cooling the cooling medium 15 to about 0°C and replacing it with another one will ensure that the surface of the living body 23 is not burned. can be prevented.

3 and 4 show a second embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, a flexible frame member 12 has four parts 13 open on its lower surface.
The openings of the four parts 13 are liquid-tightly closed with thin sheets 31 adhesively fixed to the flexible frame member 12, and the electrodes 14 and gel-like substance 16 are accommodated in the recesses 13. Then, the lower surface of the flexible frame member 12 on which the sheet 31 is provided is joined to the living body 23. That is, in this embodiment, the entire flexible frame member 12 is used as a cooling medium. Furthermore, a first connector 32 connected to the electrode 14 and a second connector 33 connected to the temperature sensor 27 are provided on the upper surface of the flexible frame member 12 . Note that the temperature sensor 27 is provided in contact with the outer surface of the sheet 31.

On the other hand, a first cable connector 35 is provided at the other end of the cable 34 whose one end is connected to the matching circuit 25, and a second cable connector is provided at the other end of the cable 36 whose one end is connected to the temperature display device 28. 37 are provided. These first and second cable connectors 35.37 are removably connected to the first and second connection connectors 32.33, respectively.

Note that the means for holding the pair of applicators 11 on the living body 23 is the same as in the first embodiment.

In such a configuration, by heating the affected area 24 in the same manner as in the first embodiment, the gel material 1 is removed.
6 rises, the entire flexible frame member 12 is heated to 0°C.
Just replace it with a new one that has cooled down to a certain level.

Further, since the gel-like substance 16 sealed in the recess 13 of the flexible frame member 12 can be brought into contact with the living body 23 via the thin sheet 31, the adhesion is improved and the cooling effect can be improved.

In this second embodiment, the opening surface of the recess 13 is closed with the sheet 31 to seal the four parts 13, but instead of using the sheet 31, a liquid-tight space is formed in the flexible frame member 12 in advance. Of course, it is also possible to mold it and fill it with the gel-like substance 16.

FIG. 5 shows a third embodiment of the present invention, which is used in combination with an intrabody cavity applicator 41 to treat an affected area 24 on the surface of a body cavity 23a of a living body 23. That is, the intrabody cavity applicator 41 includes a tube 42, an electrode 43 provided at the tip of the tube 42, and a balloon 44 covering the electrode 43. Circulating water maintained at a substantially constant temperature by a thermostatic circulation device 45 circulates within the balloon 44, thereby cooling the surface of the body cavity 23a to maintain it at a constant temperature. Note that the surface temperature of the body cavity 23a is detected by a temperature sensor 46 provided on the surface of the balloon 44.

The applicator 1 of the present invention is placed on the surface of the living body 23 so as to face the intrabody cavity applicator 41 across the affected area 24.
1 is provided. and a pair of applicators 11.4
The first electrode 14.43 is connected to a high frequency power source 26 via a matching circuit 25, and the temperature sensor 27.46 is connected to a temperature display device . The temperature sensor 27.
The output of the high frequency power supply 26 is controlled by the detection signal 46, and the affected area 24 is heated to about 43°C.

Even when the affected area 24 is heated in this way, the applicator 11 provided on the surface of the living body 23 can be easily handled as in each of the above embodiments.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the present invention provides a thermotherapy device that supplies high-frequency energy from a high-frequency oscillation means to a living body via an electrode, in which a cooling medium is detachably provided near the electrode. . Therefore, since the cooling medium does not need to be circulated as in the conventional case, the structure of the entire device can be simplified, and handling can be facilitated and costs can be reduced.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention in a state of use, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the applicator, and FIG. 3 is a diagram of a configuration of a second embodiment of this invention in a state of use. , FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the applicator, FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram showing a third embodiment of the present invention in a state of use, and FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a conventional thermotherapy device. 11... Applicator, 12... Soft frame member, 13
... recess, 14 ... electrode, 15 ... cooling medium, 1
6...gel-like substance, 26...high frequency power supply. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Atsushi Tsuboi Procedural amendment 1. Display of the case Japanese Patent Application No. 63-83007 2, Name of the invention Thermal treatment device 3, Person making the amendment Relationship to the case Patent applicant (037) Olympus Optical Industry Co., Ltd. 4, Agent 3-chome Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 7-2 UBE Building 7,
Contents of the amendment (1) On the 6th line of the second page of the specification, “Each bricator 1.3
" has been corrected to "each applicator 1.3". (2) Similarly, on the 18th line of the third page, the phrase "Subject to restrictions." is corrected to "Subject to restrictions." (3) Similarly, on page 4, lines 1 to 3, the phrase ``The structure is simple and allows for...'' to be changed to ``The structure is simple so as not to burn normal tissue.''"This makes it possible to cool the surface of the patient's body." (4) Similarly, on page 4, lines 9 and 10, the phrase ``and, without circulating the cooling medium,'' was replaced with ``and,
With a cooling medium that does not require this circulation, it is corrected as follows. (5) Similarly, in the second and third lines of page 7, the phrase "...if attached to the living body 23," is corrected to "...after being attached to the living body 23." (6) Similarly, in the 13th and 14th lines of page 7, the phrase ``The cooling capacity will be reduced.'' is corrected to ``The cooling capacity may be reduced.''

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A thermotherapy device that supplies high-frequency energy from a high-frequency oscillation means to a living body via electrodes, characterized in that a cooling medium is detachably provided near the electrodes.