JPH03136639A - Ultrasonic endoscope - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To regularly correct the scanning surface of an endoscope to conform to a standard image and rapidly conduct diagnosis by the image on a CRT by automatically changing the scanning direction of an ultrasonic tomographic image on the basis of a scope code set according to the applied portion of the endoscope. CONSTITUTION:The portion in which an ultrasonic endoscope 1 is used, for example, stomach or colon, is selected by the scope code switch 6 in the endoscope 1, and this switch is closed. The scanning direction changing switch 7 in an observing device 4 is switched by an operator to obtain an image suitable to a diagnostic image according to the inserting quantity and angle quantity of an ultrasonic probe. When the output of an EX-OR 8 is 'H', or a counter 9 is counted up by the inputs from both the switches, then, the display image of an ultrasonic image obtained by rotating and scanning an ultrasonic oscillator 2 is counterclockwise displayed, and when the output of the EX-OR is 'L', or the outer is counted down, the image is clockwise taken into a field memory 14 and displayed.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention provides an ultrasonic endoscope, more specifically, an ultrasonic transducer for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves at the distal end of the endoscope's insertion section into a body cavity. The ultrasonic probe scans the ultrasonic probe to receive ultrasonic echoes in the subject, and displays an ultrasonic tomographic image inside the subject based on the ultrasonic echoes.
This invention relates to an ultrasonic endoscope that performs diagnosis.

[Prior Art] This type of ultrasound diagnostic apparatus using an ultrasound endoscope generally emits ultrasound toward a subject within a body cavity and emits ultrasound reflected waves from the subject, that is, ultrasonic waves. An ultrasound endoscope has an ultrasound probe that receives echoes and converts them into electrical signals, and an ultrasound endoscope that processes the ultrasound reception signals and displays an ultrasound tomographic image on a display unit such as a CRT, and also stores the same data in field memory. It consists of an ultrasonic observation device that records image signals.

By the way, in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus configured as described above, the displayed tomographic image does not show how the ultrasonic probe was inserted into the subject and what angle of inclination it was detected on the image. The problem was that I couldn't figure it out.

For example, because the display scanning direction is the same for an ultrasound endoscope for the so-called upper gastrointestinal tract, such as the stomach and duodenum, and an ultrasound endoscope for the lower part, such as the large intestine, the human body Ultrasonic endoscope I for the upper gastrointestinal tract inserted from B's oral cavity Ba
The rotational scanning direction a of A and the rotational scanning direction of the lower ultrasound endoscope mlB inserted from the anus Bb of human body B have the same rotational scanning direction in order to share the flexible shaft. Therefore, the rotational scanning direction of the displayed image looking down from the head as shown in FIG. 8(A) and the displayed image looking up from the feet as shown in FIG. 8(B) are the same. However, as a doctor, I want an image that looks down from the head when it comes to the lower part of the image.

Therefore, it is necessary to change the scanning direction when scanning the lower part, but this is very troublesome due to its mechanism.

In addition, in order to eliminate the above-mentioned problems,
The scanning position of an ultrasonic probe as in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4-70674.

An ultrasonic diagnostic device that displays the angle on the CR7 screen, or an ultrasonic diagnostic device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-222140, displays the position and orientation of the ultrasonic probe on the human body using a clear pattern of the diagnostic area. There have also been proposed devices in which the direction of curvature is displayed on the tomographic image, such as an ultrasonic diagnostic device for examining body cavities disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-96642. .

[Problem to be solved by the invention] Even when a marker indicating the scanning direction of the probe is placed on the ultrasound tomographic image while moving, the ultrasound image, C
Unlike standardized images for both T-images, the images have to be rotated to match the orientation after the photo is taken, which poses a problem that makes diagnosis time-consuming.

An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic endoscope in which the scanning plane of the ultrasonic endoscope is modified so as to always match the standard image, and diagnosis can be made quickly using images on a CRT, in order to eliminate the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks. is to provide.

[Means and effects for solving the problem] In the present invention,
In order to achieve the above purpose, in an ultrasound endoscope that has an ultrasound transducer at the tip and obtains ultrasound tomographic images using the ultrasound transducer, a scope code indicating the application site of the ultrasound endoscope is provided. and a changing means for automatically changing the scanning direction of the ultrasound tomographic image based on the scope code, the method is characterized by comprising: a changing means for automatically changing the scanning direction of the ultrasound tomographic image based on the scope code, and the method is characterized in that the type of ultrasound endoscope to be used, the insertion Based on the output of a detector that detects depth and curvature angle, the ultrasonic tomographic image displayed on the CRT of the ultrasonic viewing 4P1 device was made to be a standard image.

[Example] The present invention will be explained below with reference to illustrated embodiments.

1 and 2 show a first embodiment of the present invention, in which an ultrasonic endoscope 1 has an ultrasonic transducer 2 equipped with an ultrasonic transducer 2 at its distal end. Consists of probes. In FIG. 1, the left half shows the configuration of the main parts of the ultrasonic endoscope 1, and the right half shows the structure of the main parts of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 4. The ultrasonic transducer 2 that generates an ultrasonic transmission/reception signal has its ultrasonic reception signal amplified by an amplifier 3 and inputted to a reception signal processing circuit 5 in an ultrasonic observation device 4 .

In addition, a scope code switch 6 is provided in the ultrasound endoscope 1 to indicate the application area of the endoscope 1, and the output of the switch 6 and the scanning direction change provided in the observation device 4 are provided. The outputs of the switches 7 are input to exclusive OR circuits (hereinafter referred to as EX-OR) 8, respectively. The output of this EX-OR8 is U of the UP/DOWN counter 9.
The origin signal of the encoder 10 in the endoscope 1 is input to the P/DOWN input terminal, and the origin signal of the encoder 10 in the endoscope 1 is input to the clear (CLEAR) terminal of the counter 9, and the origin signal is input to the clock (CLK) terminal of the counter 9. The incremental outputs of the encoder 10 are respectively input. A drive motor 11 is further disposed inside the ultrasonic endoscope 1, and the motor 11 rotates the ultrasonic transducer 2 and encoder 10 in the insertion direction of the endoscope 1. It is designed to scan a vertical plane. Further, this motor 11 is connected to the switch 1 of the power supply 12 in the ultrasonic observation device 4.
3, and the outputs of the processing circuit 5 and the counter 9 are connected to the field memory 14.
It is now entered into

In addition, in this first embodiment, when the scope code switch 6 is closed, the ultrasound endoscope vL1 is used for the so-called upper gastrointestinal tract of the stomach and duodenum, as shown in FIG. When the switch 6 is opened, it is set to correspond to the so-called lower digestive tract, such as the large intestine, and after the switch 6 is set to either the upper or lower digestive tract, this is changed during operation. Never.

Next, the operation of the ultrasonic endoscope 'a1 of the first embodiment configured as described above will be explained. Or the large intestine is selected. and,
The switch 6 is opened and closed as described above. Further, the scanning direction changing switch 7 in the observation device 4 is switched by an operator such as a doctor so that an image suitable for a diagnostic image can be obtained in accordance with the insertion amount and angle of the ultrasonic probe. Then, the EX-OR 8 performs an exclusive OR based on the inputs from the scope code switch 6 and the scanning direction change switch 7, and the count of the counter 9 is switched between up and down. That is, when the output of EX-OR 8 is "Hl", when the counter 9 counts up, the display image of the ultrasound image obtained by the rotational scanning of the ultrasound transducer 2 is displayed counterclockwise, and -The output of OR8 is “
When the value is "L", that is, when the counter 9 counts down, the data is taken into the field memory 14 in a clockwise direction and displayed.

In this case, when the ultrasound endoscope 1 is used in the stomach, that is, in the upper gastrointestinal tract, the scope code switch 6 is closed and the scanning direction change switch 7 is opened, as described above, so that the EX-OR8 The output becomes "Hl". In this state, as shown in FIG. The ultrasonic transducer 2 is always controlled to rotate clockwise, and at the same time, the transducer 2 is driven by a drive circuit (not shown) in synchronization with the incremental signal of the encoder 11 to generate ultrasonic waves. The ultrasonic waves are reflected from the subject, received again by the ultrasonic transducer 2, converted into electrical signals, amplified by the amplifier 3, processed by the processing circuit 5, and input into the field memory 14.

Further, the origin signal of the rotated encoder 10 is input to the clear terminal of the counter 9, and the counter 9 is initialized.
The writing start position of the field memory 14 is determined by the counter 9.
The incremental signal of the encoder 10 is input to the clock terminal of the counter 9, and the rotation angle accompanying the rotational scanning of the ultrasonic transducer 2 is sequentially set to the output of the counter 9. On the other hand, in the field memory 14, the processing circuit 5
The output is stored as data at the address set by the counter 9. The ultrasound image at this time is displayed counterclockwise.

On the other hand, when the scope code switch 6 is closed and the scanning direction change switch 7 is closed, the output of the EX-OR 8 becomes "L" and is input to the counter 9. Therefore,
The incremental signal of the encoder 10 counts up and the address is set so that the output of the processing circuit 5 stored in the field memory 14 rotates clockwise.

Similarly, when the scope code switch 6 is opened and the scanning direction change switch 7 is closed, the display is counterclockwise, and when the scope code switch 6 is open and the scanning direction change switch 7 is also open, the display is displayed counterclockwise. is displayed clockwise.

Next, FIG. 3.4 shows a second embodiment of the present invention. In this second embodiment, instead of the scanning direction change switch 7 in the first embodiment, the output of the insertion amount detector 15 at the zero position of the patient is input to the scanning direction judgment circuit 16. The output is input to EX-OR8. The rest of the structure is the same as that of the first embodiment.

In the first embodiment, the scanning direction of the ultrasonic image determined at the application site of the ultrasonic endoscope 1 is reversed based on the insertion amount. In this second embodiment, the insertion amount of the ultrasonic probe is detected by the insertion amount detector 15, and when the insertion amount reaches the insertion amount preset in the scanning direction judgment circuit 16, the EX-OR8
Outputs an “H” signal. When an "H" signal is input from the judgment circuit 16 to the EX-OR 8, the state of the scope code switch 6, that is, if the display is counterclockwise in the case of the upper gastrointestinal tract, the display is clockwise. The Rukoto.

As described above, reversing the scanning direction by detecting the insertion amount as in the second embodiment is particularly effective in the lower gastrointestinal tract as shown in FIG. That is, the probe of the ultrasound endoscope 1 is inserted into the anal canal 20. When the ultrasonic transducer 2 is inserted into the descending colon 23 via the rectum 21 and the sigmoid colon 22, the display is rotated clockwise. However, when the ultrasonic transducer 2 passes through the descending colon 23 and moves into the ascending colon 24, the direction of the ascending colon 24 connected to the ileum 25 is opposite to that of the descending colon 23. Therefore, it is easier to diagnose if the display is in the counterclockwise rotational scanning direction, so the rotational scanning direction may be switched by the insertion amount detection means.

According to this second embodiment, since the scanning direction, which is automatically changed depending on the application site, can be changed according to the insertion amount predetermined by the user, the user's effort can be further reduced and the user can concentrate on diagnosis.

FIG. 6 shows a third embodiment of the present invention. In this third embodiment, the output of the scanning direction determining circuit 16 in the second embodiment is input to the angle amount determiner 18 instead of the EX-OR 8, and the output of the angle detector 17 is input to the angle amount determiner 18. The output of the angle amount determiner 18 is input to the EX-OR 8, and the signal from the scope code switch 6 is input manually to the scanning direction determination circuit 16. The other configurations are the same as those of the second embodiment.

Further, as the angle detector 17, for example, a detector such as that disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 63-99829 previously filed by the present applicant is used to detect the angle of the ultrasonic probe.

Here, when the amount of insertion is small and the angle of the ultrasound probe exceeds, for example, 180', the ultrasound image will match the standard image if the scanning direction of the application site is reversed, so the angle detector The scanning direction is reversed by the output of 17. This increases the visibility of the ultrasound image. Also, if the insertion amount is medium, the angle amount is 90"
The reversal of the scanning direction differs depending on the angle detected by the angle detector 17 of the ultrasonic probe depending on the insertion amount, such as when the insertion amount becomes large or exceeds 180° again. Therefore, the scanning direction determination circuit 16 detects the insertion amount using the insertion amount detector 15, and the scope code switch 6 detects the insertion amount using the insertion amount detector 15.
A set value for scanning and reversing is output to the angle amount determiner 18 in accordance with the application site set by. The angle amount determiner 18 outputs an output to the EX-OR 8 according to the angle amount detected by the angle detector 17.

According to the third embodiment, in addition to the second embodiment, since the angle amount can be detected and the scanning direction can be changed, even a user who has used an ultrasound endoscope for the first time can easily understand the human anatomical diagram. Comparison can be easily performed and diagnostic efficiency can be improved.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the CRT
The display direction of the ultrasound image displayed above can be changed automatically, so there is no need to manually reset the ultrasound image according to the area to be applied when making a diagnosis, making it extremely easy to operate. A scope can be provided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of the main parts of an ultrasound endoscope and an ultrasound observation device showing a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the state inserted into the upper gastrointestinal tract, FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of the main parts of an ultrasound endoscope and ultrasound viewing ΔPI device showing a second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a state in which the ultrasound endoscope of Example 2 is inserted into the upper gastrointestinal tract of a patient.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state in which the ultrasound endoscope of the embodiment is inserted into the lower gastrointestinal tract of a patient. Configuration diagram of main parts,
Figure 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the scanning rotation direction of a conventional ultrasound endoscope. Figures 8 (^) and (B) are tomographic images viewed from the head and tomograms viewed from the foot. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing respective image display images. 1... Ultrasonic endoscope 2... Ultrasonic transducer 6... Scope code switch (scope code means)

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In an ultrasonic endoscope having an ultrasonic transducer at the tip and obtaining an ultrasonic tomographic image using the ultrasonic transducer, a scope code means indicating an application area of the ultrasonic endoscope; An ultrasonic endoscope comprising: changing means for automatically changing the scanning direction of an ultrasonic tomographic image based on a code.