JPH0448466B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a microwave treatment device that performs heat treatment by irradiating microwave output to cancer.

[Technical background of the invention]

Conventionally, in heating therapy using microwaves, two electrodes C and D are placed on the body surface of patient A, sandwiching the location of cancer (hereinafter referred to as the affected area) B, as shown in Figure 1.
13.56MHz or 433.92M from microwave generator E
Applying microwaves of Hz or 2450MHz, irradiating microwaves from a horn antenna F or parabolic antenna toward the affected area B as shown in Figure 2, or inserting a coaxial antenna G directly into the body cavity as shown in Figure 3. The affected area B was heated by applying microwaves.

However, in the methods shown in Figures 1 and 2, if the affected area is in the body, particularly in the stomach or intestines, the power of microwave irradiation at the affected area will be weaker when the microwave is irradiated from outside the body.
Not only cannot a sufficient therapeutic effect be obtained, but also it is not possible to accurately heat the localized affected area. Furthermore, in order to measure temperature during treatment using this method, it is necessary to insert a temperature sensor such as a thermistor inside the body into the affected area through normal tissue, which is quite painful for the patient. It is.

Furthermore, in the method shown in FIG. 3, the position is set under X-ray fluoroscopy or by hand, which poses problems of difficulty and inaccuracy in positioning the irradiation. Therefore, all of the above-mentioned methods have a very narrow range of therapeutic targets that can improve their therapeutic effects.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention was devised in view of the above circumstances, and is a microwave therapy method that enables microwave therapy to be performed on affected areas within body cavities such as the stomach and intestines accurately and with minimal pain to the patient. The purpose is to provide equipment.

[Summary of the invention]

That is, in order to achieve the above object, the present invention uses a scope for intracorporeal examination, such as a fiberscope, and provides a coaxial antenna inside the fiberscope that can be moved forward and backward from the outside, and also provides a temperature sensor on this coaxial antenna. By inserting the fiberscope into the body cavity, the tip of the coaxial antenna within the fiberscope can be brought close to or in contact with the affected area within the body cavity,
To perform treatment by directly heating the affected area by radiating microwaves from a coaxial antenna, and to directly measure the temperature of the affected area by guiding the output of a temperature sensor provided on the antenna to the outside.

[Embodiments of the invention]

4 to 9 regarding one embodiment of the present invention.
This will be explained with reference to the figures.

First, an outline of a conventional fiberscope will be explained with reference to FIG. A fiberscope is an instrument for intrabody cavity examinations and surgeries that mainly uses an optical fiber F for observation that guides images. , consisting of an operation section 5 for external operation,
In addition, a universal cord 6 is connected to guide light from the light source section 5 to a light guide, which will be described later, in order to project light from the tip 1 to the front thereof for illumination. The tip 1 is equipped with an objective lens (not shown) for guiding an image to the optical fiber F, a light guide 7 for projecting light guided by the universal cord 6, an air/water supply port (not shown), and a suction or forceps (not shown). A forceps port 8 for sending out the forceps, etc. are provided. The operating unit 4 is ergonomically compact and allows operations such as angle, air supply/water supply, and suction to be performed smoothly with one hand. In addition, the forceps port 8 is connected to the operating section 4 side by a conduit 8a, so that suction can be performed from the operating section 4 side through the conduit 8a, or a sample can be collected from the body cavity by inserting the forceps. It's summery.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an embodiment of the fiberscope-equipped microwave treatment device of the present invention.
The feature of the present invention is to utilize the above-mentioned fiberscope and apply microwaves to the affected area from the tip of the fiberscope. are given the same reference numerals, and their explanation will be omitted. In this device, the light guide 7 in the fiberscope is replaced with one having the following configuration. That is, the light guide 10 of this device is an optical fiber 10.
A tubular central conductor 9 serving as a microwave coaxial cable is coaxially disposed at the center of a, and an optical fiber 10a on the outer periphery is also used as a dielectric of the coaxial cable. Further, the outer periphery of the light guide 10 is a layer of a flexible outer conductor 10b, and the outer side of the light guide 10 is covered with an outer cover for internal protection. A branching unit 11 is provided between the light source section 5 and the universal cord 6, and the end of the optical fiber 10a of the light guide 10 is guided from within this branching unit 11 to the light source section 5. Pull out one end side of the center conductor 9 of the light guide 10 to the lower end side and connect the branch unit 11.
A string-like drive line 14 made of a flexible insulator is inserted through the center conductor 9 from the housing side to the distal end 1 side of the fiberscope. A release lever 14a is provided at the end of the drive line 14 on the branch unit 11 side.
By moving forward and backward in the axial direction, the drive line 14 can be moved in the axial direction within the center conductor 9. Furthermore, a needle-shaped microwave antenna ANT, the details of which will be described later, is fixed to the tip 1 side of the drive line 14. Further, a lead wire is buried inside the drive line 14 and extends from the operating end side, which is the release lever side, to the antenna ANT, and this lead wire is led to the temperature measuring device 12 such as a thermocouple thermometer. ing.

13 is a microwave oscillator, the output terminal of which is connected to the central conductor 9 and the outer conductor 10b.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the details of the tip of the fiberscope of the present invention, where 15 is an objective lens provided on the tip side of the monitoring optical fiber F, 16 is an air/water supply port, and 17 is a suction/forceps port 8. The forceps 9 coming out from the light guide 10 are a flexible conductor pipe coaxially provided inside the light guide 10, that is, the center conductor of the microwave coaxial cable, 10b.
ANT is a flexible conductor pipe coated coaxially on the outside of the light guide 10, that is, the outer conductor of the microwave coaxial cable, and ANT is an antenna element, one end of which is fixed to the drive line 14. It is a metal rod with a pointed tip that is moved forward and backward from the center conductor 9 by the central conductor 9.

In this device, the antenna element ANT made of the metal rod and the outer conductor 10b form a microwave coaxial antenna.

FIG. 7 is a vertical cross-sectional view illustrating the coaxial antenna portion in FIG. 6 in detail, and FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view AA in FIG. 7. In FIGS. 7 and 8, a temperature sensor St such as a thermistor is provided on the metal rod (or external) which is the coaxial antenna element ANT, and a lead wire R to an external temperature measuring device 12 is connected to this temperature sensor St. It is connected. Also,
The antenna element ANT made of a metal rod is equipped with one or more contact pieces Ct on its outer circumferential side for electrical connection with the center conductor 9 inside the light guide 10. Further, the antenna element ANT is integrated within the center conductor 9 with a drive line 14 made of an insulating material such as Teflon and having the same thickness.

The antenna element ANT and the drive line 14 may be integrated by being cast during molding of the drive line, or may be connected later by bonding or tightening with a band.

In addition, since a coaxial antenna is configured with the antenna element ANT, the outer conductor 10b is folded at the antenna portion, that is, the tip portion, to the outer periphery of the outer sheath Cv that covers the outermost periphery of the light guide 10 to form a skirt S. . Skirt S is outer conductor 10b
It may be formed by spreading it out as it is and turning it over, but it may also be formed by connecting it using another cylindrical conductor. This skirt S and antenna element ANT constitute a microwave antenna. The length of the skirt S and the length of the portion of the antenna element ANT that protrudes outside from the center conductor 9 is 1/4 of the wavelength of the microwave, which is approximately 3 cm in the case of 2450 MHz.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a branching unit, and Jt is a portion to which the universal cord 6 shown in FIG. 5 is connected, and is coupled by an optical connector not shown. Cn is an input terminal for inputting microwaves from the microwave oscillator 13, and the center conductor and outer conductor of this input terminal Cn are the center conductor 9 and the outer conductor of the optical connector, respectively, which have the same cross-sectional structure as the light guide 10. It is connected to conductor 10b. L is an impedance matching coil. Cl is an input terminal portion of light from the light source section 5, which is connected by an optical connector (not shown), and only the optical fibers 10a from the light guide of the optical connector on the universal cord 6 side are collected.
As for the optical connector structures of the first two, basically known ones are used, so a description thereof will be omitted. The drive line 14 is connected to the release lever 14a, and the antenna element constituting the microwave antenna is connected to the connection point of the drive line 14.
The lead wire R from the temperature sensor St inside the ANT is taken out. Lead wire R is a low pass filter
It is connected to the temperature measuring device 12 through the LPF.

Next, the operation of this device having the above configuration will be explained. The distal end 1 of this device inserted into the stomach or intestine is a monitoring light that illuminates the inside of the body cavity with light guided by the optical fiber 10a of the light guide 10, which also serves as the dielectric of the microwave coaxial cable. Operate the angle adjustment dial on the operation unit 4 while monitoring with the fiber,
The curved part 2 is bent vertically and horizontally to search for the affected area and position the distal end part 1. Next, push in the release lever 14a protruding from the branch unit 11 and move the antenna element from the center of the tip of the light guide.
Make ANT stand out. The antenna element ANT has a sharp tip and can be inserted into the affected area if necessary. At this time, the antenna element ANT may be inserted while pinching and pulling the affected area using the forceps 17.

Once the positioning and setting of the antenna element ANT is completed, the microwave oscillator 13 is operated, and when the microwave is oscillated, it passes through the center conductor 9 and hits the contact piece.
Microwaves are transmitted through the antenna element ANT via Ct, and the microwaves are radiated from the antenna element ANT to heat the surrounding affected area. The temperature of the affected area is detected by a temperature sensor St inside the antenna element ANT, and is led to an external temperature measuring device 12 through a lead wire R wired within the drive line 14, where the temperature is measured. While the microwave is being applied, the antenna element ANT becomes slightly hotter than the surrounding affected area, so the accurate temperature should be measured after the microwave has stopped. Thereby, heat treatment and temperature measurement of the affected area can be performed with high precision, and temperature measurement can be performed without placing any special burden on the patient.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, and can be implemented with appropriate modifications within the scope of the gist thereof, for example,
In the above embodiment, an example is shown in which a fiberscope is used, but the present invention is not limited to this, and any scope can be used as long as the tip can be remotely controlled in a desired direction.

〔Effect of the invention〕

In this way, heating therapy using microwaves is used to inspect body cavities, etc., and uses a scope whose tip can be remotely controlled in a desired direction, such as a fiberscope, and a coaxial antenna that can be moved forward and backward from the outside is attached to this fiberscope. At the same time, a temperature sensor was attached to this coaxial antenna, and the coaxial antenna was inserted into the body cavity and microwaves were applied to the affected area from this coaxial antenna to perform heating treatment. In addition to making it easier and more accurate to perform treatment in body cavities such as the intestines, the temperature sensor installed in the coaxial antenna enables accurate temperature measurement of the affected area. Since the optical fiber used for the light guide is also used as the dielectric of the coaxial cable for microwave transmission, a microwave treatment device can be configured with approximately the same thickness as a conventional fiberscope, allowing treatment and temperature measurement to be carried out directly on the patient. It is possible to provide a microwave treatment device that has excellent features such as being able to perform treatment with minimal burden.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 to 3 are diagrams for explaining the conventional microwave treatment method, Figure 4 is a diagram showing the schematic configuration of a conventional fiberscope, and Figure 5 is the microwave treatment with fiberscope of the present invention. A schematic configuration diagram showing one example of the device, and FIGS. 6 to 9 are diagrams for explaining the configuration of each main part thereof. 1...Tip part, 2...Curved part, 3...Soft part,
4...Operation unit, 5...Light source unit, 6...Universal cord, 7...Light guide, 8...Suction/forceps mouth, 9...Center conductor, 10...Light guide,
10a...Optical fiber, 10b...Outer conductor, 1
1... Branch unit, 12... Temperature measuring device, 13
...Microwave oscillator, 14...Drive line, 14a
...Release lever, 14b...Outer conductor, 15
...Objective lens, 16...Air/water supply port, 17...
…forceps, St…temperature sensor, R…lead wire,
Ct...Contact piece, Cv...Outer cover, S...Skirt,
L...Coil, LPF...Low pass filter.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Used by being inserted into a body cavity, the tip thereof can be remotely controlled in a desired direction, and an image of the inside of the body cavity can be captured from the tip and guided to the outside. A coaxial antenna for transmitting microwaves consisting of an outer conductor and a central conductor with a sharp tip is provided within the scope, and the central conductor of this coaxial antenna can be moved forward and backward from inside the outer conductor to the outside of the tip of the scope by an operating means. A microwave treatment device comprising: a temperature sensor built into the center conductor to enable temperature detection; and a conductive path for guiding the microwave through the scope. . 2. The scope has at least two light guide paths, one for observation and one for illumination, and the light guide path for illumination uses an optical fiber, which also serves as a dielectric material, and a tubular internal conductor on the center side. In addition, the outer conductors are arranged coaxially on the outer side, and a needle-shaped antenna element is provided at the tip of the insulating wire body, which is introduced into the inner conductor so that it can be moved and operated from the outside. 2. The microwave treatment device according to claim 1, wherein the antenna element is used as a coaxial antenna, and the outer conductor and the center conductor are used as conductive paths.