JPH05115463A - Metabolism information measuring system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the metabolism information measuring system which can exactly measure the metabolism information of the deep part of a biotissue. CONSTITUTION:Plural irradiating surfaces 7a which exit inspecting light to the cardiac muscle 19 and plural photodetecting surfaces 8a which receive the inspecting light are provided in a circular conical part 6 at the front end of a probe 4. The cardiac muscle 19 is irradiated with the inspecting light from the irradiating surfaces 7a. The inspecting light transmitted through the deep part of the cardiac muscle 19 is received by the photodetecting surfaces 8a and the photodetection signals obtd. in these plural photodetecting surfaces 8a are subjected to computation between each other, by which the metabolic information of the tissue is measured in accordance with the results of the computation.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring metabolic information of biological tissue, which is suitable for measuring biological information such as oxygen saturation in biological tissue and organs such as heart and brain using light, that is, oxygen metabolism. Regarding

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Light in the red to near-infrared region has high permeability to living tissues and its light absorption and oxygen binding information to substances that control oxygen metabolism of living organisms such as hemoglobin, myoglobin, and cytochrome oxidase. It has features such as corresponding changes in absorption spectrum.

Utilizing such characteristics, USP422
As shown in 3680, US Pat. No. 4,281,645, a method of measuring oxygen metabolism of various organs such as heart and brain in a living body is known. This is 700-1300n
Light in the near-infrared region of m is applied to an organ or a tissue in a living body, reflected light reflected from the deep organ or tissue or light transmitted therethrough is detected, and light intensity between wavelengths is compared and calculated. It measures blood volume, hemoglobin and cytochrome oxygenation.

Here, the cytochrome is a pigment protein (oxidized Cu2 + reduced Cu +) having copper existing in the mitochondria of cells. Usually, 80% is an oxidative type, but during ischemia, it becomes a reducing type early. Therefore, the redox state of cytochrome can be measured from the absorption amount at each wavelength, and it can be used as an index of tissue oxygen metabolism.

When myocardial infarction occurs, myocardial necrosis is caused in the worst case, but in early or acute cases, myocardial activity is stopped but sometimes it is not. In such a case, PTCA and bypass are effective. So far
I used PET to diagnose whether myocardium was alive or dead, and decided to perform bypass surgery.
ET devices are extremely expensive and not very popular.

When measuring the myocardial tissue, in practice, a scope is inserted from the aorta of the lower extremity, and as shown in FIG. 8, a balloon previously placed in the coronary artery while pressing the tip 2 of the scope 1 against the myocardium 3. Diagnosis is made by measuring the metabolic changes in the myocardium by occluding the same for a predetermined period. At this time, since there is no metabolic change when the myocardium is dead, it is possible to diagnose whether the myocardium is alive or dead.

By the way, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-230533, which is known as a conventional metabolic information measuring apparatus, projects light from a light source onto a living tissue through a light projecting fiber,
The reflected light from the living tissue is transmitted to the light receiving part using a plurality of optical fiber bundles, and after being separated by different wavelength filters provided on the end faces, the intensity of the reflected light is measured for each wavelength and the target living body It measures the information of the organization.

Further, Japanese Patent Publication No. 61-11614 discloses
Near-infrared regions including light of various wavelengths within a spectrum range of 700 to 1300 nm are alternately and intermittently projected onto a living tissue in a predetermined cycle, and reflected light from the living tissue is received by a light receiving unit, Information on the target biological tissue is measured by measuring the intensity of reflected light for each wavelength.

[0009]

By the way, USP42
In both patents of 23680 and USP 4281645,
The applicant emphasizes that when measuring oxygen metabolism using light in the near infrared region, the light path must be relatively long. In other words, the fact that it spans a long path can include the metabolic information of the deep part in the target tissue.

Further, in the case of irradiating and detecting the metabolism of an organ with light from one direction (this is called a reflection system), in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the light irradiation part and the detection part are separated from each other by several centimeters. States that it is necessary. “Monitoring cerebral oxygen metabolism during external circulation using near-infrared biometrics” In artificial organ 19 (1) 535-538 (1990), the irradiation part and the detection part are 3 to measure oxygen metabolism in the brain. 4 cm apart.

In recent years, an endoscope which uses an optical fiber bundle to observe not only the stomach and large intestine but also the inside of blood vessels has been used in general medicine. This endoscope has a characteristic that a disease can be diagnosed accurately and early by directly observing an organ that cannot be seen from the outside from the body cavity.

Furthermore, the endoscope is provided with a hole called a channel, and a treatment instrument such as biopsy forceps or an electric scalpel can be inserted into the body through the channel from the outside. Used for medical treatment.

Recently, an optical fiber probe for measuring oxygen saturation using this channel is inserted to diagnose metabolic information of a lesion site, or an optical probe is directly inserted under X-ray fluoroscopy to detect organs. Studies are being conducted to determine the oxygen metabolism of.

Regarding the optical probe, "Medical reflection spectrum analyzer using optical fiber probe" Medical Electronics and Biotechnology Vol.28 No3 (1990), JP-A-59-2305
Detailed in 33.

By the way, the above-mentioned optical fiber probe has a small outer diameter at the insertion portion of the probe so that it can be inserted into the body cavity, and therefore the irradiation portion for irradiating light and the detecting portion for detecting are extremely close to each other. It is arranged.

Since pulsed light having a time width sufficiently longer than the speed of light is used, light passing through the tissue surface without detecting a relatively long path is detected. That is, such a method measures the metabolic information only on the surface of the tissue, and the metabolic information in the deep tissue cannot be measured because it is strongly influenced by the epidermis of the tissue, the body fluid attached to the surface of the epidermis, and blood.

Further, although the tip of the probe is held in contact with the portion to be measured of the biological tissue at the time of measurement, when the living body moves during the measurement due to insufficient fixation to the movement of the biological body. There was a problem that it could not be measured accurately.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide metabolic information capable of accurately measuring the metabolic information of the deep part of the biological tissue by transmitting the inspection light to the deep part of the biological tissue. To provide a measuring device.

[0019]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a probe with a conical portion, and the conical portion is provided with a plurality of inspection light emitting portions and a plurality of inspection light receiving portions. The present invention is to provide metabolic information measuring means for calculating the received light signals obtained by the plurality of inspection light receiving units and measuring the metabolic information of the tissue based on the calculation result.

[0020]

The test light emitted from the plurality of test light emitting portions provided on the conical portion at the tip of the probe is transmitted through the deep portion of the biological tissue, and the transmitted light is received by the plurality of test light receiving portions.
By calculating between the received light signals obtained by the plurality of inspection light receiving parts, the metabolism information of the deep part of the tissue is measured based on the calculation result.

[0021]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 to 3 show the first embodiment, FIG. 1 shows a probe 4 for detecting metabolic information, and FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of a metabolic information measuring apparatus for living tissue. An acute-angled conical portion 6 is provided at the tip of the insertion portion 5 of the metabolic information detection probe 4.

A plurality of irradiation fibers 7 for emitting inspection light and a plurality of light receiving fibers 8 for receiving inspection light are incorporated in the insertion portion 5. Then, in the conical portion 6 of the insertion portion 5, a plurality of irradiation surfaces 7a as inspection light emitting portions corresponding to the plurality of irradiation fibers 7 and a plurality of inspection light receiving portions corresponding to the plurality of light receiving fibers 8 are provided. Multiple light-receiving surfaces 8
a is provided.

Reference numeral 9 is a laser diode drive circuit,
It is provided with first to fourth laser diodes 9a to 9d which emit near-infrared light of 700 nm to 950 nm which is absorbed by cytochrome and hemoglobin containing oxygen metabolism information.

These first to fourth laser diodes 9a
The incident end 7 of the irradiation fiber 7 is provided on the exit side of ~ 9d.
The light-receiving fiber 8 is installed so that b is positioned.
At the output end 8b of the light receiving element 10a made of Photomal,
10b and 10c are installed facing each other. Then, the light is received by the light receiving elements 10a, 10b, 10c,
The light-receiving elements 10a, 10b, 10c are connected to a spectrum analyzer 11 that measures changes in blood volume, oxidative and reduced hemoglobin levels, and oxygen-metabolizing enzyme in living tissue by near-infrared light.

The data from the light receiving elements 10a, 10b and 10c are processed as shown in FIG. That is, an A / D converter 12 for converting data from the light receiving elements 10a, 10b, 10c into digital data, and A
A CPU 13 for processing digital data from the / D converter 12, a timing generation circuit 14 for generating timing of the entire system, and a memory circuit 15 for storing data processed by the CPU 13. And a monitor driving circuit 16 for displaying the data written in the memory circuit 15, and a monitor 17 for displaying.

According to the probe 4 for detecting metabolic information constructed as described above, the insertion portion 5 of the probe 4 is inserted into the body cavity, and the conical portion 6 of the insertion portion 5 is the myocardium 19 as a living tissue.
Abutting on the measured part of.

In this case, since the conical portion 6 is formed at an acute angle, the myocardium 19 is deformed following the shape of the conical portion 6, and the surface of the myocardium 19 is in close contact with the irradiation surface 7a and the light receiving surface 8a. become.

In this state, when the pulsed lights are sequentially emitted from the first to fourth laser diodes 9a to 9d, they are incident on the irradiation fiber 7 from the incident end 7b of the irradiation fiber 7. The light incident on the irradiation fiber 7 is irradiated by the irradiation surface 7a.
The irradiating light emitted from irradiates the myocardium 19.

The light radiated to the myocardium 19 is reflected by the light receiving surface 8a which is scattered near the surface of the living tissue and in the deep portion thereof, and the transmission optical path for transmitting the living tissue is, for example, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, there are five types, A1, A2, A3, B1 and B2. Therefore, the irradiation surface 7 from the center of the probe 4
The light radiated from a is divided into two types of transmitted light, that is, light A2 that has penetrated the deep portion of the living tissue and light B1 that has transmitted the shallow portion of the living tissue as shown by the dotted line. Exists.

The transmitted light is received by the light receiving fiber 8 and is received by the light receiving elements 10a, 10b and 10c, and the data from the light receiving element 10 is received by the spectrum analyzer 1.
1 to detect each light receiving element 10a, 10b, 10c
Information in the depth direction of the living tissue can be selectively obtained by the arithmetic processing between them.

That is, the light receiving elements 10a, 10b, 10
The data from c is converted into digital data by the A / D converter 12. The digital data from the A / D converter 12 is processed by the CPU 13, and when the biological tissue data of the optical path of A2 is obtained, the light received by the light receiving element 10b is the optical path of B1 and A2. Since the information transmitted through the optical path A is mixed, there is a difference from the data of the light receiving element 10c having the information of the optical path of A1.
The information of No. 2 is calculated by the CPU 13.

The calculated result is stored in the memory circuit 15
The data that has been stored in the memory and has been processed is C
It is output from the monitor drive circuit 16 via the PU 13 and displayed on the monitor 17.

Although the living body or the probe 4 may move during the measurement, since the conical portion 6 of the insertion portion 5 is in a state of biting into the myocardium 19, it has a conical shape with respect to the myocardium 19. The part 6 does not move, and accurate measurement is possible.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show a second embodiment, which is an apparatus for measuring metabolic information of a measurement site in a lumen such as a blood vessel. A tip 20 having a conical portion 20a is provided at the tip of the insertion portion 5 of the probe 4. The conical portion 20a of the chip 20 is provided with a plurality of irradiation surfaces 7a and a plurality of light receiving surfaces 8a.

With this structure, the irradiation light emitted from the plurality of irradiation surfaces 7a provided on the chip 20 is transmitted through the inside of the living tissue of the lumen as indicated by the dotted line, and the plurality of light receiving surfaces 8a are formed. As a result, the metabolic information of the living tissue can be measured as in the first embodiment, and
Information in the depth direction of the lumen can be measured. Furthermore, chip 2
Since 0 adheres to the inner wall of the lumen, efficient and accurate measurement can be performed.

FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b) show the third embodiment, in which the conical portion 20a of the tip 20 is provided with eight irradiation surfaces 21 ... Is provided with four light receiving surfaces 22a to 22d. 8 illuminated surfaces 2
1 are opposed to one end of the irradiation fibers 23, which are independent of each other, and the other end is opposed to the irradiation light source 24.

The four light receiving surfaces 22a to 22d face one ends of the independent light receiving fibers 25a to 25d, and the other ends are optically connected to the light receiving element 28 via the mirror 26 and the half mirror 27. Has been done.

With this structure, the irradiation light emitted from the plurality of irradiation surfaces 21 ... Is transmitted through the inside of the living tissue of the lumen and is received by the four light receiving surfaces 22a to 22d. By selectively receiving the transmitted light received by the individual light receiving surfaces 22a to 22d by the light receiving element 28,
It is possible to measure metabolic information in each part of the lumen in the circumferential direction.

FIG. 6 shows a fourth embodiment, in which one irradiation surface 29 is provided on the tip side (inside in front view) of the conical portion 20a of the tip 20, and the base end side (outside in front view). ), A plurality of light receiving surfaces 30a to 30c are arranged in a line.
Therefore, the sushi light emitted from one irradiation surface 29 passes through the living tissue, and the transmitted light is transmitted to the plurality of light receiving surfaces 30a.
The light can be received at up to 30c, and a deep region can be measured over a wide range of living tissue. The other parts are the same as in the third embodiment.

FIG. 7 shows a fifth embodiment of the present invention, in which the irradiation surfaces 29a, 29b of the conical portion 20a of the tip 20 are directed from the tip side (inside in front view) to the base side (outside in front view).
And light receiving surfaces 30a and 30b are alternately arranged in one row.

Further, the irradiation surfaces 29a and 29b are optically connected to the irradiation light source 33 via the irradiation fibers 31a and 31b and the mirrors 32a and 32b, and the irradiation surface 30
The a and 30b are optically connected to the light receiving element 36 via the light receiving fibers 34a and 34b and the mirror 35. The mirrors 32a and 35 are the mirror control device 3
It is configured to be controlled by 7.

Therefore, by moving the mirror 32a by the mirror control device 37, the irradiation light source 33
Irradiation light emitted from the plurality of irradiation fibers 31
a, 31b can be selected and guided, and the mirror 3
By moving 5 a plurality of light receiving fibers 3
The light can be guided to the light receiving element 36 by selecting from 4a and 34b. Therefore, the deep region can be measured over a wide range of the living tissue. The other parts are the same as in the fourth embodiment.

[0044]

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of emitting portions a for emitting the inspection light to the living tissue and a plurality of light receiving portions for receiving the inspection light are provided on the conical portion at the tip of the probe. A portion is provided and the living tissue is irradiated with the inspection light from the emitting portion. The inspection light transmitted through the living tissue is received by the light receiving section,
By calculating between the light reception signals obtained by the plurality of light receiving units, the metabolism information of the tissue is measured based on the calculation result, so that the inspection light can be transmitted to the deep part of the biological tissue, and the biological tissue can be transmitted. There is an effect that metabolic information in the deep part of can be accurately measured.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal side view of a probe according to a first embodiment of the present invention and a perspective view of a metabolic information measuring device.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a metabolic information measuring device according to the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a tip portion of a probe according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a front view of the probe of the example.

FIG. 5 is a metabolic information measuring device according to a third embodiment of the present invention, (a) is a block diagram of the metabolic information measuring device,
(B) is a front view of the probe.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a metabolic information measuring device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a metabolic information measuring device according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a general measurement state of a myocardium.

[Explanation of symbols]

4 ... Probe, 5 ... Insert part, 6 ... Conical part, 7 ... Irradiation fiber, 7a ... Irradiation surface, 8 ... Receiving fiber, 8
a ... Light receiving surface.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page (72) Inventor Seiji Kuramoto 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yasuhiko Omagari 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yoshio Tashiro 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Inside Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Koichi Umeyama 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yoshinao Daimei 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shuichi Takayama 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olympus Optical Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Seiji Yamaguchi 2-43-2 Hatagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo Olin Scan Optical Industry Co., Ltd. in

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A metabolic information measuring device capable of measuring metabolic information of a biological tissue by irradiating a measuring site with measuring light capable of measuring metabolic information of the biological tissue and detecting the test light transmitted through the measuring site. In, a probe having a conical portion formed at the tip, a plurality of inspection light emitting portions provided in the conical portion, a plurality of inspection light receiving portions provided in the conical portion, the plurality of 5. A tissue metabolism state measuring device, comprising: a metabolic information measuring unit that calculates between received light signals obtained by the inspection light receiving unit and measures metabolic information of a tissue based on the calculation result.