JPH04319342A - Ultrasonic diagnostic system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an ultrasonic wave diagnostic system which can make an ultrasonic wave vibrator provided at the tip of a catheter conduct semicircular scanning and display on a screen an ultrasonic diagnostic image in the blood vessel-inside depth direction and conduct the diagnosis of a disease in the blood vessel. CONSTITUTION:By making a bevel gear A14 having a drive cam shaft 16 move in rotation, it becomes possible that an ultrasonic wave vibrator 12 having a drive cam 13 contained in the tip of a catheter 11 is made to conduct semicircular scanning with a rotary center shaft 20 as a fulcrum. The rotary action control of the bevel gear A14 is conducted by controlling a bevel gear B17 connected to the gear A14, by means of a bevel gear rotation control portion 19, and an ultrasonic wave tomographic image is provided by the catheter 11 inserted into a blood vessel.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for diagnosing and treating diseases such as stenosis and occlusion within a blood vessel using ultrasonic waves from within the blood vessel.

0002

[Prior Art] In recent years, angioplasty surgery, which diagnoses and treats diseases such as stenosis and occlusion in blood vessels using catheters inserted into blood vessels, has become more convenient than bypassing blood vessels through open-heart surgery. Attention has been paid. This method of diagnosing diseases such as stenosis from inside blood vessels is known, for example, from Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 63
-3834 is known.

A conventional angioscope video system will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a catheter portion of a conventional angioscope video system. In FIG. 6, 41 is a catheter, 42 is a transparent liquid injection port for blood removal, 43 is an optical fiber port for image transmission, 44 is an optical fiber port for guiding illumination light, 45 is a blood vessel, and 46 is an obstruction or stenosis. It is atheroma.

The operation of the angioscope video system configured as described above will be explained below. First, the catheter 41 is inserted into the blood vessel 45 and moved to the vicinity of the atheroma 46. When the tip of the catheter 41 reaches the vicinity of the atheroma 46, the optical fiber port 4 for guiding the irradiation light
4. Illuminate the affected area. Since the inside of the blood vessel 45 is opaque due to blood, in order to obtain a visual field, a transparent liquid such as physiological saline is injected from the transparent liquid injection port 42 for blood removal, and endoscopic diagnosis in the blood vessel is possible through the optical fiber port 43 for image transmission. Become.

[0005]

However, in the conventional configuration described above, the state of the atheroma is diagnosed endoscopically using visible light, and therefore sufficient information in the depth direction cannot be obtained. Furthermore, since diagnosis is performed while injecting physiological saline into the blood vessels, there is a problem that a large amount of physiological saline may be injected into the living body.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and provides an ultrasonic diagnostic device that enables intravascular diagnosis in a simple manner without injecting foreign substances such as physiological saline into blood vessels. With the goal.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve this object, the present invention includes an ultrasonic transducer contained in the distal end of a catheter, a drive cam connected to the ultrasonic transducer, and a rotating bevel gear. , two position detection sensors, a transmitter that generates a signal to drive the ultrasonic transducer, a receiver that converts the reflected signal into an electrical signal, a detector, a scan converter, and a display. have.

[0008]

[Operation] With the above-described configuration, the present invention can convert the rotating motion of the bevel gear into a fan-shaped motion, cause the ultrasonic transducer to scan in a fan-shaped manner, and obtain a two-dimensional ultrasonic tomographic image.

[0009]

【Example】

(Embodiment 1) Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 11 is a catheter, 12 is an ultrasonic transducer that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves contained in the tip of the catheter 11, and 13 is an ultrasonic transducer 1.
2, 14 is a bevel gear A, 15 is a bevel gear rotation shaft of the bevel gear A14, 16 is a drive cam shaft located at a different position from the bevel gear rotation shaft 15 on the bevel gear A14, 17
is the bevel gear B that rotates the bevel gear A14, 18 is the wire that rotates the bevel gear B17, and 19 is the wire 1
8 is connected to a bevel gear rotation control unit, 20 is a rotational center axis of the ultrasonic transducer 12, 21 is a position detection sensor A disposed on the inner wall of the catheter 11, and 22 is a drive cam connected to the position detection sensor A21. The position detection sensor B arranged on the shaft 16, 23 is a transmitter connected to the ultrasonic transducer 12,
24 is a receiving section connected to the ultrasonic transducer 12, 25 is a detection section connected to the receiving section 24, and 26 is a position detection sensor A.
22 is an angle calculation unit connected to the sensor 22; 27 is a scan conversion unit connected to the detection unit 25 and the angle calculation unit 26; 28 is a display unit including a television monitor and the like and connected to the scan conversion unit 27; 29 is the catheter 11; 30 is a propagation medium filled between the ultrasonic transducer 12 and the membrane 29 , 31 is a balloon placed on the outer wall of the catheter 11 for treatment, 32 is a blood vessel, and 33 is a blood vessel 32 This is an atheroma, which is a blockage or narrowing within the body.

The operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus configured as described above will be explained. First, the catheter 11 is inserted into the blood vessel 32 and moved to the vicinity of the atheroma 33. When the tip of the catheter 11 is located near the atheroma 33, the ultrasonic transmission signal is transmitted from the transmitter 23 to the ultrasonic transducer 1.
Transfer to 2. The ultrasonic transducer 12 converts the transferred ultrasonic transmission signal into an ultrasonic wave and transmits it forward. The ultrasonic wave transmitted from the ultrasonic transducer 12 propagates through the propagation medium 30 and reaches the membrane 29. Membrane 29 is made of a thin, stretchable film and blocks blood from the propagation medium 30.

A part of the ultrasonic waves that have reached the membrane 29 are transmitted, propagate through the blood, and reach the atheroma 33 . A portion of the ultrasound that has reached the atheroma 33 is reflected and returns to the ultrasound transducer 12, and a portion is transmitted. The ultrasonic waves propagating through the atheroma 33 are reflected one after another due to the difference in acoustic impedance and return to the ultrasonic transducer 12. The reflected ultrasound is converted into an electrical signal by the ultrasound transducer 12, amplified by the receiver 24, and detected by the detector 25.

The beam irradiation direction of the ultrasonic transducer 12 is scanned in a fan-shaped manner by rotating the bevel gear A14. When the bevel gear A14 is rotated, the drive camshaft 16 on the bevel gear A14 is rotated. The rotating drive cam shaft 16 causes the drive cam 13 connected to the ultrasonic vibrator 12 to move in a fan shape with the rotation center shaft 20 as a fulcrum. In accordance with the movement of the drive cam 13, the ultrasonic vibrator 12 also moves in a fan shape. The bevel gear A14 is rotated by the bevel gear B17. The bevel gear B17 can be rotated by rotating the wire 18 connected to the bevel gear B17 by the bevel gear rotation control section 19, and the bevel gear rotation control section 18 can rotate the bevel gear A1.
4 and the fan-shaped motion of the ultrasonic transducer 12.

[0014] In order to obtain angle information of the ultrasonic transducer 12,
There are a position detection sensor A21 and a position detection sensor B22. The position detection sensor B22 arranged on the drive camshaft 16 is
Every time the bevel gear A14 rotates once, it contacts the position detection sensor A21 disposed on the inner wall of the catheter 11 once. A simplified illustration of the electrical signal obtained at this time is shown in FIG. FIG. 2 shows an example of the output signal of the position detection sensor A22, in which the position detection sensor B22 is connected to the position detection sensor A21.
The output signal level when it is in contact with is PH, and the output signal level at other times is PL.

The reference position of the drive camshaft 16 can be known from this output signal. In addition, as shown in FIG.
6. Considering the positional relationship and shape of the rotation center axis 20, position detection sensor A21, and position detection sensor B22, bevel gear A
14 can be approximated by constant angular velocity motion, the beam irradiation direction of the ultrasonic transducer 12 can be calculated. The beam irradiation direction is calculated by the angle calculation section 26.

The output of the angle calculation section 26, which is beam irradiation direction information of the ultrasonic transducer 12, and the output of the reflected signal detection section 25 are converted into standard television output by a scan conversion section 27. A two-dimensional ultrasonic tomographic image is displayed on the display unit 28 based on the output of the scan conversion unit 27, and an ultrasonic diagnosis of the inside of the blood vessel 32 is performed. Next, the catheter 11 is moved so that the balloon 31 on the outer wall of the catheter 11 is positioned at the narrowed part of the atheroma 33, and the balloon 31 is inflated to perform blood vessel formation and treatment to improve the blood flow state.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the bevel gear A14 housed in the catheter 11 is rotated by the bevel gear rotation control section 19 via the bevel gear B17 and the wire 18, and the bevel gear A14 is rotated by the rotating operation of the bevel gear A14. By providing a mechanism that allows the driving cam 13 connected to the ultrasonic transducer 12 to scan in a fan-shaped manner and the ultrasonic waves transmitted from the ultrasonic transducer 12 to scan in two dimensions, atheroma can be removed from within the blood vessel 32. 33 can be diagnosed with a simple configuration.

(Embodiment 2) A second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the distal end of the catheter 11 of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 3, 11 is a catheter, 12 is an ultrasonic transducer, 13 is a drive cam, 20 is a rotation center shaft,
The above configuration is similar to the configuration shown in FIG. The difference from the configuration in FIG. 1 is that the membrane 29 is bonded, for example, to the side surface of the ultrasonic transducer 12 so as not to block the front surface of the ultrasonic transducer 12, and the propagation medium 3 between the ultrasonic transducer 12 and the membrane 29 is
0 is unnecessary, and a stretchable structure, for example, a bellows shape, is used so as not to interfere with the fan-shaped scanning of the ultrasonic transducer 12.

The operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus configured as described above will be explained below. The ultrasonic transducer 12 is scanned in a sector-like manner by scanning the drive cam 13 connected to the ultrasonic transducer in a sector-like manner as described in the first embodiment. Since the membrane 29 is stretchable and has a bellows shape, for example, it expands and contracts in accordance with the fan-shaped scanning of the ultrasonic transducer 12, and does not interfere with the fan-shaped scanning of the ultrasonic transducer. Since there is no membrane 29 on the front surface of the ultrasound transducer 12, ultrasound can be directly transmitted from the ultrasound transducer 12 into the blood without a propagation medium.

2 during the fan-shaped motion of the ultrasonic transducer 12
The method for acquiring a dimensional ultrasound tomographic image is the same as in Example 1, and will therefore be omitted.

As described above, according to this embodiment, by providing the structure in which the membrane 29 is connected to the side surface of the ultrasonic transducer 11, the propagation medium 29 on the front surface of the ultrasonic transducer 11 is made unnecessary. be able to.

(Embodiment 3) A third embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the distal end of the catheter 11 of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 4, 12 is an ultrasonic transducer;
29 is a rotation center axis, and 29 is a membrane, which is the same as the structure shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. The difference in configuration is that the tip of the catheter 11 is shaped like a chevron so that the shape of the ultrasonic transducer can be larger than the inner diameter of the catheter 11.

The operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus configured as described above will be explained below. The rotational center shaft 20 of the ultrasonic transducer 12 is connected to the sharp tip of the catheter 11 . Since the distal end of the catheter 11 is chevron-shaped, the shape of the ultrasonic transducer 12 can be made larger than the inner diameter of the catheter 11 in the direction perpendicular to the central axis of rotation 20. The ultrasonic transducer 12 and catheter 11 are connected by a stretchable membrane 29 as described in the second embodiment.

The ultrasonic transducer 12 is scanned in a fan-shaped manner as described in the first embodiment, and the method of acquiring a two-dimensional ultrasonic tomographic image during the fan-shaped movement of the ultrasonic transducer 12 is the same as in the first embodiment. Omitted.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the tip of the catheter 11 is formed into a chevron shape, and by providing a structure in which the central rotation shaft 20 is connected to the pointed portion of the tip of the catheter 11, the ultrasonic transducer 11 The shape of the catheter 11 can be made larger than the inner diameter of the catheter 11.

(Embodiment 4) A fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the distal end of the catheter 11 of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 5, 18 is a wire, 21 is a position detection sensor A, and the above configuration is similar to that in FIG.
11 is a catheter, 12 is an ultrasonic transducer, 20 is a rotation center axis, and 29 is a membrane, which is the same as the configuration shown in FIG. 3. The difference from the configuration in Figure 1 is that the ultrasonic transducer 1
The drive cam 13 connected to the drive cam 13 is made into a rod 34 with an L-shaped tip, and the bevel gear A14, drive cam shaft 16, and bevel gear B17 are cut diagonally into the tip to move the rod 34 back and forth. The rotor 35 and bearing 36 have grooves, and the position detection sensor B, which was placed on the drive camshaft 16, is placed on the rotor 35.

The operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus configured as described above will be explained below. First, the L-shaped tip of the rod 34 connected to the ultrasonic transducer 12 is placed in the obliquely cut groove of the rotor 35. When the wire 18 is rotated to rotate the rotor 35 as described in the first embodiment, the tip of the rod 34 moves along the groove of the rotor 35, and the rod 34 is moved back and forth by the bearing 36. The ultrasonic transducer 12 scans in a sector-like manner with the central axis of rotation 20 as a fulcrum by the longitudinal movement of the rod 34 . Every time the rotor 35 rotates once, the position detection sensor A21 disposed on the inner wall of the catheter 11 and the position detection sensor B22 disposed on the rotor 35 come into contact once.

2 during the fan-shaped motion of the ultrasonic transducer 12
The method for acquiring a dimensional ultrasound tomographic image is the same as in Example 1, and will therefore be omitted.

As described above, by providing the rod 34 with an L-shaped tip, the rotor 35 with a groove at the tip, and the bearing 36, it is possible to cause the ultrasonic transducer 12 to scan in a fan-shaped manner, and the blood vessels 32 The morphology of the atheroma 33 within can be diagnosed with a simple configuration.

In the first embodiment, the ultrasonic transducer 12 was constructed to be enclosed within the catheter 11, but the fourth embodiment
The ultrasonic transducer 12 may have a structure in which it comes into contact with blood, as in the embodiment. Further, in the fourth embodiment, the ultrasonic transducer 12 has a structure in which it comes into contact with blood, but it goes without saying that the ultrasonic transducer 12 may have a structure in which it is included in the catheter 11 as in the first embodiment. stomach.

[0037]

As described above, the present invention provides a catheter that can be inserted into a blood vessel, an ultrasonic transducer contained in the tip of the catheter, a drive cam connected to the ultrasonic transducer, and a catheter that can be inserted into a blood vessel. a bevel gear A having a drive camshaft at a shifted position;
A bevel gear B connected to the bevel gear A, a bevel gear rotation control section that controls the rotation of the bevel gear B, a position detection sensor B disposed on the drive camshaft, and a position detection sensor disposed on the inner wall of the catheter. A, an angle calculation section connected to the position detection sensor A, a transmission section and a reception section connected to the ultrasonic transducer, a detection section connected to the reception section, and an angle calculation section connected to the detection section. By providing a scan converter and a display connected to the scan converter, the ultrasonic transducer contained in the catheter can be scanned in a fan-shaped manner with a simple configuration to detect foreign objects such as physiological substances in the blood vessel. It is possible to realize an excellent ultrasonic diagnostic device that can diagnose and treat atheroma in front of a catheter without using saline or the like.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial block diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a waveform diagram showing the output of the position detection sensor of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the catheter tip of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a side view of the catheter tip of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a side view of the catheter tip of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[Figure 6] Side view of the tip of a conventional video system

[Explanation of symbols]

11 Catheter 12 Ultrasonic transducer 13 Drive cam 14 Bevel gear A 15 Bevel gear rotation axis 16 Drive camshaft 17 Bevel gear B 18 Wire 19 Bevel gear rotation control section 20 Rotation center axis 21 Position detection sensor A 22 Position detection sensor B 23 Transmission section 24 Receiving section 25 Detection section 26 Angle calculation section 27 Scan conversion section 28 Display section 29 Membrane 30 Propagation medium 31 Balloon 32 Blood vessels 33 Atheroma 34 Rod 35 Rotor 36 Bearing 41 Catheter 42 Transparent liquid inlet for blood removal 43 Optical fiber port for image transmission 44 Optical fiber port for illumination light guidance 45 Blood vessels 46 Atheroma

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A catheter that can be inserted into a blood vessel, a membrane attached to wrap the tip of the catheter to prevent blood from entering the catheter, and an ultrasonic transducer included in the tip of the catheter. , a propagation medium filling between the membrane and the ultrasonic transducer;
a drive cam connected to the ultrasonic transducer; a first bevel gear having a drive cam shaft at a position offset from the rotation axis for causing the ultrasonic transducer to scan in a fan-shaped manner with the drive cam; a second bevel gear that rotates a bevel gear; a bevel gear rotation control unit that controls a rotational operation of the second bevel gear;
a wire connecting the second bevel gear and the bevel gear rotation control section; a first position detection sensor disposed on the inner wall of the catheter; and a second position detection sensor disposed on the drive camshaft; an angle calculation section connected to the first position detection sensor; a transmission section and a reception section connected to the ultrasonic transducer; a detection section connected to the reception section; and the angle calculation section and the detection section. What is claimed is: 1. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: a scan conversion section connected to the scan conversion section; and a display section connected to the scan conversion section. 2. The ultrasonic diagnosis according to claim 1, further comprising a stretchable membrane attached between the catheter and the ultrasonic transducer so as not to obstruct the front surface of the ultrasonic transducer at the tip of the catheter. Device. 3. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the tip of the catheter is chevron-shaped so that the ultrasonic transducer can be made larger than the inner diameter of the catheter. 4. A rod connected to an ultrasonic vibrator and having an L-shaped tip; a rotor having a groove for moving the rod back and forth; and a bearing for moving the rod only back and forth. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a position detection sensor B disposed on the rotor.