JPH0492655A - Laser probe and laser medical treatment device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the influence caused by adhesion of scattered matter, etc., to a probe in the course of medical treatment, and also, to prevent the transpiration of a film body by forming the film body for converting a laser light to heat energy on the surface of the tip part of the probe main body, and forming a protective film so as to cover this film body. CONSTITUTION:On the surface of the tip part 13 of a probe main body 11, a laser light absorbing film 14 consisting of a material for absorbing a laser light and converting it to heat energy is formed, and also, on this laser light absorbing film 14, and in a side area in which the laser light absorbing film 14 is not formed, a protective film 15 is formed. The protective film 15 is constituted of a substance for reflecting specularly the laser light for advancing in the probe main body 11 by the boundary surface of the protective film concerned 15 and the surface of the probe main body 11. Accordingly, even if foreign matter 60 adheres to the outside surface of the protective film 15, a variation is not generated in reflecting condition of the laser light. Therefore, such inconvenience as the medical treatment capacity is deteriorated due to adhesion of scattered matter, etc., is not generated. Also, since the laser light absorbing film 14 is placed thereon, even at the time of high temperature, no transpiration is generated, and durability is remarkably high.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] U Industrial Application] The present invention is directed to, for example, a laser that concentrates the energy of a laser beam on a diseased part of living tissue such as a human body to perform coagulation, hemostasis, evaporation, incision, or heating. The present invention relates to a probe and a laser treatment device using the laser probe.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, laser scalpels have been known that perform surgery by concentrating the energy of a laser beam on living tissue of an affected part of a human body, etc., and burning out the affected part. This laser scalpel uses a laser probe for focusing laser light and concentrating the energy of the laser light.

Laser probes that have been commonly used in the past focus laser light directly on living tissue and generate heat in the living tissue itself to perform coagulation, hemostasis, evaporation, incision, or heating for hyperthermia. It was a non-contact laser probe. Such non-contact laser probes absorb laser light into the biological tissue itself and convert it into thermal energy, so depending on the wavelength of the laser beam used and the type of biological tissue, reflection on the surface of the biological tissue may occur. Because of their large size, the conversion efficiency into thermal energy was poor, and in some cases, it was difficult to make smooth incisions.

Therefore, in recent years, this laser probe has been developed by processing a light-transmitting member into a tapered shape that becomes thinner toward the distal end, so that the laser light incident from the base end is totally reflected on the tapered surface and concentrated at the distal end. In addition, a so-called contact-type laser probe has been proposed in which the surface of the tip is coated with a material that absorbs laser light (such as manganese dioxide), and the tip of the laser probe itself generates heat. (For example, Utility Model Application No. 61-10040
(See Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-318934).

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the above-mentioned conventional contact type laser probe has the following problems.

■ If debris generated during incision of the affected tissue adheres to the tapered total reflection surface of the laser probe, the laser beam will be absorbed there, and the energy of the laser beam will not be concentrated at the tip, causing the laser probe to The ability to perform incisions and other treatments is significantly reduced.

■The coating film made of carbon, etc., formed on the tip of the laser probe to absorb laser light and convert it into thermal energy, reacts with oxygen in the atmosphere when heated in the atmosphere.
Since it evaporates at about 500°C, it is not durable enough. The present invention was made against the above-mentioned background, and it eliminates the influence of flying objects adhering to a laser probe during incision or other treatments, and also provides a membrane body that converts laser light into thermal energy. The object of the present invention is to provide a laser probe and a laser treatment device that can prevent transpiration and always exhibit stable treatment performance.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention solves the above problems by having the following configuration.

(1) The energy of the laser beam incident from the proximal end of the probe body made of a translucent member is concentrated at the tip,
In a laser probe that treats an affected area by bringing the distal end into contact with or close to the affected area, at least a part of the surface of the distal end of the probe body is made of a material containing a substance that converts the laser light into thermal energy. A protective film is formed on at least a part of the surface of the probe body by forming a film body, and covers the part where the film body is formed, and a protective film is formed on at least a part of the surface of the probe body. A configuration characterized by using a material that totally reflects the traveling laser beam at the interface between the protective film and the surface of the probe body, or a material that specularly reflects the traveling laser light at the surface of the protective film that is in contact with the surface of the probe body.

(2) a laser generator; a laser beam transmission means for guiding the laser beam generated by the laser generating apparatus; and a laser beam transmission means coupled to the tip of the laser beam transmission means for transmitting the laser beam guided by the laser beam transmission means. A laser treatment device comprising a laser probe that enters from the base end and concentrates the energy of the laser light on the distal end, and treats the affected area by bringing the distal end into contact with or close to the affected area, the laser probe comprising: , a probe body made of a light-transmitting member, and a film formed on a part of the surface of at least the tip of the probe body where the energy of the laser beam is concentrated, which converts the laser beam into thermal energy. a protective film formed on at least a part of the surface of the probe body, covering the part where the film body is formed, and a material constituting the protective film. is composed of a material that totally reflects the laser light traveling inside the probe body at the interface between the protective film and the surface of the probe body, or a material that specularly reflects the laser light traveling through the probe body at the surface of the protective film that is in contact with the surface of the probe body. The structure is characterized by:

[Operation] According to the above configuration (1), when laser light is incident from the base end of the laser probe, the laser light is converted into thermal energy by the film formed on the surface of the tip of the laser probe. be done. This heats the tip of the laser probe. Therefore, this tip can perform treatments such as coagulation, hemostasis, evaporation, incision, or heating of the affected area of the human body. In this case, at least a portion of the surface of the probe body, including a film body that absorbs laser light and converts it into thermal energy, is covered with a protective film, which prevents evaporation of the film body and prevents incisions and other treatments. Even if scattered objects adhere to the surface of the probe body inside, it will not affect the reflection ability such as total internal reflection at the interface between the probe body and the outside, so the ability to concentrate the energy of the laser beam at the tip will be reduced. Deterioration is effectively prevented. Further, according to configuration (2), it is possible to obtain a laser treatment device that takes advantage of the features of the laser probe of configuration (1).

[Example] ! Fig. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a laser treatment device according to an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of section A in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is an enlarged section B of Fig. 2. It is a diagram. Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to these drawings.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 is a laser probe, and reference numeral 20 is a laser probe.
Reference numeral 30 indicates a probe connection portion, numeral 30 indicates a laser beam transmission means, numeral 40 indicates a laser oscillator, and numeral 50 indicates a laser control device.

The laser probe 10 is connected to one end of a laser beam transmission means 30 by a probe connection part 20, and the other end of this laser beam transmission means 30 is connected to a laser oscillator 40 by a laser connection fitting 41. This laser oscillator 40 is controlled by a laser control device 50 to generate a predetermined laser beam.

The laser probe 10 performs treatment such as incision by concentrating the energy of the laser beam transmitted by the laser beam transmission means 20 at the tip and bringing the tip into contact with the affected tissue to be treated.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, this laser probe 10 includes a laser light absorbing film 14 and a protective J115 on the surface of a probe body 11 made of a material that is transparent to the laser light used. It was formed by The probe body 11 extends from the proximal end 12 (left end in the figure) to the distal end 1.
The side surface in the middle is tapered so that it gradually becomes thinner toward 3 (the right end in the figure), and the whole has a conical shape, and the tip surface absorbs laser light. A laser light absorbing film 14 made of a material that converts energy into thermal energy is formed. Furthermore, a protective film 15 is provided on the laser light absorption film 14 and on the side surface area of the probe body 11 where the laser light absorption film 14 is not formed.
is formed.

The protective film 15 is configured to mirror-reflect the laser beam L1 traveling within the probe body 11 at the interface between the protective film 15 and the surface of the probe body 11.

Here, the material of the probe body 11 may be any material as long as it transmits the laser beam used. For example, if the laser beam is from visible to near infrared (0.2 to 3 μm), ruby,
It is possible to use quartz glass, fluoride glass, germanium glass, or the like. In addition, laser light absorption Jl (
Carbon and other materials are used as the material constituting the protective film 14, and gold (Au), silver (Ag), aluminum (
Au7) etc. can be used.

When the laser light absorption film 14 is made of carbon, the carbon film can be formed in the following manner using, for example, a so-called chemical vapor deposition method (CVD method).

First, a region of the probe body 11 where the laser light absorption film 14 is not formed is covered with a mask made of, for example, tungsten. Next, put the probe body 11 into the vacuum device and
After creating a vacuum of about 0-7, methane gas and hydrogen gas were pumped into the second vacuum device at 80cc and 20c per minute, respectively.
Introduced at a rate of c. Next, in this state, the probe body 11 is heated to 300° C. or higher by high-frequency heating. Due to this high-frequency heating, methane gas and hydrogen gas react to form a carbon film (laser light absorption film 14) on the probe body 11.
or formed. Note that this carbon film (laser light absorption film 14
) is usually about 0.5 to 10 μm.

In addition to the above-mentioned methods, the carbon film can also be formed by, for example, a sputtering method, an ion-blating method, or a method in which a material such as petroleum pitch is applied and fired.

The protective WA 15 (Au film) can be formed using a so-called sputtering method as follows.

First, a region of the probe body 11 where the protective film 15 is not formed is covered with a mask made of, for example, nickel. next,
After placing the probe body 11 in a vacuum device and creating a vacuum of about 10-3, the probe body 11 is heated to 100'C or more. Next, in this state, a cathode voltage is applied to the probe body 11, and at the same time a strong electric field is generated by a magnetron to cationize the argon in the atmosphere and cause it to collide with the target gold piece, causing the gold atoms on the surface to sputter and evaporate. An Au (gold) film is formed by adhering to the probe body 11 of the cathode. Note that the thickness of this Au film (protective film 15) is usually about 1 μm. Further, the Au film can be formed by, for example, an ion blating method, a CVD method, an electrolytic plating method, etc. in addition to the above-mentioned method.

Now, the laser probe 10 has a probe connecting portion 20.
It is connected to the laser beam transmission means 30 through. Next, the configurations of the probe connection section 20 and the laser beam transmission means 30 will be explained with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 2, the probe connecting portion 20 is a female connector 21 for coupling fixed to the base end 12 of the laser probe 10.
and an end fixing fitting 22 fixed to the tip of the laser beam transmission means 30. This end fixing fitting 22
is provided with a male connector portion 22a, and the laser probe 10 is connected to the laser beam transmission means 30 by coupling the female connector 21 to this male connector portion 22a.

The laser beam transmission means 30 has an optical fiber 31 housed in an outer tube 32, and the end of the optical fiber 31 is fixed by an end fixing fitting 22.

This optical fiber 31 has a cladding 31 on the outside of the core 31a.
b is formed, and the cladding 31b is further covered with a protective jacket 31c.

Further, a gap 33 is formed between the outer circumferential surface of the optical fiber 31 and the inner circumferential surface of the outer tube 32, and a cooling fluid (for example, air) f is introduced into the gap 33. This cooling fluid f passes through a fluid passage slit 22b provided in the end fixing fitting 22, and further connects the inner circumferential surface of the male connector 21 and the outer circumferential surface of the exposed cladding 31b of the optical fiber 31. The fluid is discharged to the outside from the fluid discharge hole 21a provided in the female connector 21 through the gap therebetween. This results in
Light output end 31d of optical fiber 31 and laser probe 1
．． It is possible to cool the base end 12 and the like of 0. Note that this cooling fluid f is supplied to the other end of the laser beam transmission means 30 to connect the laser beam transmission means 30 to the laser oscillator 4.
The cooling gas is supplied from an external cooling gas supply source (not shown) through a cooling gas inlet 41a provided in the laser connection fitting 41 for connection to the laser connection fitting 41.

In this embodiment, the laser oscillator 40 has a built-in semiconductor laser (wavelength: 810 nm), and the laser control device 50 has a built-in power supply for the excitation light source and a control circuit that performs necessary control for laser oscillation. A predetermined laser beam is emitted from a laser oscillator 40 under the control of a control device 50. Note that, as the laser resonator, a solid-state laser consisting of a laser medium, a laser resonator, an excitation light source, etc. can also be used instead of a semiconductor laser.

In the above configuration, when the control device 50 is operated to cause the laser oscillator 40 to oscillate a predetermined laser beam, the laser beam L1 is transmitted by the optical fiber 3 of the laser beam transmission means 30, and The light is emitted from the light emitting end 31d of the laser probe 10 and enters the probe body 11 from the base end 12 of the laser probe 10. Here, a protective film 15 is formed on the surface of the probe body 11. This protection WA1
5, the laser beam L1 traveling inside the probe body 11,
Since the protective film 15 is made of a material that causes specular reflection on the surface in contact with the surface of the probe body 11, the laser beam L1 repeatedly undergoes internal reflection and reaches the tip portion 13. Then, it is converted into thermal energy by the laser light absorption film 14.

As a result, the probe tip 13 is heated. Therefore, by bringing the probe tip 13 into contact with an affected part of the human body, an incision or the like can be performed.

In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, even if the flying objects 60 adhere to the surface of the protective film 15, the laser beam L1
Reflection conditions etc. are not affected. That is, since the laser beam I-1 is specularly reflected by the surface of the protective film 15 that is in contact with the surface of the probe body 11, even if foreign matter adheres to the outer surface of the protective film 15, the laser beam L1 will not be reflected. No changes occur in the conditions. Therefore, inconveniences such as a decrease in therapeutic performance due to the adhesion of scattered objects, etc. do not occur.

Further, since the laser light absorption film 14 is covered with the protective film 15, the surface of the laser light absorption film 14 is not exposed to the atmosphere.
It evaporates even at high temperatures of 2,000 to 3,000°C, making it extremely durable.

FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view showing a modification of the laser probe 10 of the above-described embodiment.

In this example, protection M150 is used instead of protection M15 in the above-described embodiment, and the other configurations are the same as in the above-described embodiment. This protective film 150 prevents the laser beam L1 traveling within the probe body 11 from being transmitted through the protective film 150.
It is made of a substance that undergoes total reflection at the interface between the probe body 11 and the surface of the probe body 11.

Now, if the refractive index of the probe body 11 is nl,
In order for the laser beam L1 to be totally reflected at the interface between the probe body 11 and the protective film 150 at an incident angle θi, the refractive index n2 of the protective film 150 is n2 < nl −sin ( θl) ...There is a ze/kata that satisfies the condition of ■. If we find the condition for 01 from the formula (2), we get θi >sin" (n2 /nl) - (2). In other words, from the formula (2), we can define the shape of the probe body 11 as follows: Is it necessary to design it so that it is incident at an angle greater than the angle shown?

For example, when the 10-piece main body 11 is made of sapphire and the protective film 150 is made of 8102, nt (sapphire) = 1.72, n2 (Si 02 ) = 1
．． 4, it is sufficient if it is θ1 or 54° or more.

A design example is, for example, θl-84°.

This protection M150 can be formed using a so-called sol-gel method as follows.

First, the region of the glove body 11 where the protective Jli 150 is not formed is covered with a mask made of, for example, nickel.

Next, the probe body 11 is immersed in the metal alkoxide solution of S i 02, then pulled out and left indoors for about 1 minute to dry. Next, it is placed in an electric furnace and heated at 500° C. for about 1 hour, and then cooled outside the furnace. Then, the above steps are repeated until the required film thickness is achieved. In addition, here, 5i02
The metal alkoxide solution includes silicon tetraethoxide, ethanol, distilled water, and hydrochloric acid in a ratio of 1:5:40.
Use a solution that has been mixed at a ratio of 1:1 and stirred for about 30 minutes.
Also in this modification, the laser beam L1 is transmitted to the probe body 1.
1 and the protective film 150 and is totally reflected at the tip portion 13.
The laser beam is guided by the laser beam and converted into thermal energy by the laser light absorption film 14, thereby allowing treatment to be performed. In this case, as shown in FIG.
Even if it adheres to the surface of 50, it has no effect on the total reflection conditions at the interface, so there is no deterioration in treatment ability.

Moreover, since the surface of the laser light absorbing film 14 is covered with the protective film 150, evaporation is prevented and durability is significantly improved.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, the present invention, in short, forms a film body made of a material containing a substance that converts laser light into thermal energy on at least a part of the surface of the tip of the probe body, A protective film is formed on at least a part of the surface of the probe body to cover the portion where the film body is formed, and a material constituting the protective film is used to direct the laser light traveling inside the probe body to the protective film. This is characterized by the use of a substance that causes total reflection at the interface between the laser beam and the surface of the probe body, or a substance that specularly reflects the surface of the protective film that is in contact with the surface of the probe body. At the same time, by covering the laser light absorbing film with a protective film, it prevents evaporation of the laser light absorbing film, thereby preventing the incision from occurring. A laser probe that eliminates the effects of debris adhering to the laser probe during other treatments, and also prevents evaporation of the film that converts laser light into thermal energy, ensuring stable treatment performance at all times. and a laser treatment device.

It is something that

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a laser treatment device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of section A in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of section B in FIG. The figure is an explanatory diagram of the operation of one embodiment.
FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view of a modified example, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the modified example. 10... Laser probe, 11... Probe body,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12... Base end part, 13... Tip part, 14... Laser light absorption film, 15.150... Protective film, 20... Probe connection part, 30... Laser light transmission means, 40...
- Laser oscillator, 50... laser control device. − version

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) The energy of the laser beam incident from the proximal end of the probe body made of a translucent member is concentrated at the tip,
In a laser probe that treats an affected area by bringing the distal end into contact with or close to the affected area, at least a part of the surface of the distal end of the probe body is made of a material containing a substance that converts the laser light into thermal energy. A protective film is formed on at least a part of the surface of the probe body by covering the portion where the film body is formed. A laser probe characterized by using a material that totally reflects the traveling laser beam at the interface between the protective film and the surface of the probe body, or a material that specularly reflects the traveling laser light on the surface of the protective film that is in contact with the surface of the probe body. . (2) A laser generator, a laser beam transmission means for guiding the laser beam generated by the laser generator, and a laser beam coupled to the tip of the laser beam transmission means and guided by the laser beam transmission means. A laser treatment device comprising: a laser probe that enters light from the proximal end, concentrates the energy of the laser beam at the distal end, and treats the affected area by bringing the distal end into contact with or close to the affected area; The probe includes a probe body made of a light-transmitting member and a film body formed on a part of the surface of at least the tip of the probe body where the energy of the laser beam is concentrated, and converts the laser beam into thermal energy. a film body made of a material containing a substance that converts to The material is a material that totally reflects the laser light traveling inside the probe body at the interface between the protective film and the surface of the probe body, or a material that specularly reflects the laser light traveling through the probe body at a surface of the protective film that is in contact with the surface of the probe body. A laser treatment device characterized by: