JPH05312804A - Measuring method for erythrocyte sedimentation rate and its measuring device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a measuring method for erythrocyte sedimentation rate and its measuring device capable of obtaining the closest possible result to a measured value through visual observation by incorporating information on color. CONSTITUTION:A luminescence element 11, provided in a measuring head 1, is equipped with a red LED 13 and an orange LED 14. The detection signal of a light-intercepting element 12 is processed in a measuring circuit 4 so as to make two kinds of light quantity data representing the light quantity of red and orange detected light. The mutual ratio of the light quantity data is computed, and color information representing color change in the vertical direction of a blood sample is prepared based on the ratio. Thereby the boundary position between the blood corpuscle layer and the blood plasma layer of the blood sample is automatically determined based on the color information.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for measuring the erythrocyte sedimentation rate of a blood sample injected into a blood tube.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in measuring the erythrocyte sedimentation rate, a decrease in the boundary position between a blood cell layer and a plasma layer of a blood sample in a blood sedimentation tube is visually observed. On the other hand, in order to improve the measurement efficiency, the light emitting element (6) and the light receiving element (61) are arranged on both sides of the blood tube (3) as shown in FIG. , A erythrocyte sedimentation rate measuring device for automatically detecting the boundary position between the blood plasma layer (52) and the blood cell layer (51) of the blood sample (5) has been proposed (for example, JP-A-59-147265).
issue).

[0003]

By the way, in the blood of a healthy human body, the blood cell layer (51) and the plasma layer (52) are completely separated to form a two-layer state. When the erythrocyte sedimentation rate is measured, the blood plasma layer (52) and the blood cell layer (51) are not clearly separated as shown in FIG. 7, and the blood cell layer (51) and the plasma layer ( A layer with unclear boundaries may be formed between 52). When such a boundary layer was formed, the erythrocyte sedimentation rate was measured by visual observation, paying attention to the continuous change in color from the transparent plasma layer (52) to the red blood cell layer (51). The boundary position was determined. On the other hand, in the conventional erythrocyte sedimentation velocity measuring device, since the boundary position is determined only based on the amount of light received by the light receiving element, the information about the color is not captured, and there is a difference between the measured value by visual observation and the problem. was there.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for measuring the erythrocyte sedimentation rate, which can obtain a result as close as possible to a measurement value by visual observation by incorporating color information.

[0005]

A method for measuring the erythrocyte sedimentation rate according to the present invention comprises irradiating a blood sample with a plurality of types of light having different wavelengths, and based on a plurality of types of detection light obtained for each irradiation light, Color information representing the vertical color change of the blood sample is created, and the boundary position between the blood cell layer and the plasma layer of the blood sample is determined based on the color information.

In the erythrocyte sedimentation velocity measuring device according to the present invention, the light emitting element (11) includes a light source for emitting a plurality of types of irradiation light having different wavelengths, and the measuring circuit (4) has a function for each irradiation light. Means for creating light quantity data representing the quantity of the obtained plural kinds of detection light, and the mutual ratio of the light quantity data for each irradiation light are calculated, and based on the ratio, color information representing the vertical color change of the blood sample. And a means for determining the boundary position between the blood cell layer and the plasma layer of the blood sample based on the color information.

[0007]

[Function] By irradiating a blood sample with a plurality of types of light having different wavelengths, according to the color of the blood sample at the light irradiation position,
A plurality of types of detection light having different wavelengths and light amounts for each irradiation light can be obtained. Therefore, for example, by moving the irradiation position in the vertical direction and calculating the mutual ratio of the light amounts of the detection lights obtained for the respective irradiation lights, the color information representing the vertical color change of the blood sample can be obtained. When determining the boundary position between the blood cell layer and the plasma layer of the blood sample based on the color information, even if an unclear boundary layer is formed between the blood cell layer and the plasma layer, The transition is incorporated in the color information, and it is possible to make a judgment similar to the measurement method by visual inspection.

[0008]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION According to the method and apparatus for measuring the erythrocyte sedimentation rate according to the present invention, since the information on the color is captured as the measurement data, it is possible to obtain a result as close as possible to the value visually measured. ..

[0009]

The examples are for the purpose of illustrating the present invention and should not be construed as limiting the invention or limiting the scope of the invention.

FIG. 2 shows the mechanical structure of the erythrocyte sedimentation velocity measuring device, in which a blood sedimentation tube (3) into which a blood sample (5) is injected is mounted on a machine base (25). In addition, the machine base (2
5) is provided with a head elevating mechanism (2) for elevating the measuring head (1) along the blood tube (3). The head lifting mechanism (2) comprises a pair of pulleys (23) and (24) arranged on the upper and lower parts of a machine base (25) and a belt (22) stretched between the pulleys (23) and (24). ) And a stepping motor (21) for rotationally driving one pulley (23), and the measuring head (1) is fixed to the belt (22). Therefore, stepping motor
Measuring head (1) by rotating (21) forward and backward.
Moves up and down within a moving range according to the height of the blood tube (3).

Further, the machine base (25) is provided with a vertically long window (26) through which the irradiation light from the measuring head (1) and the reflected light from the blood sample (5) can pass. On the upper side, a reference surface (27) to which the measuring head (1) reaching the rising end should face is formed. The reference surface (27) is used for normalizing the measuring head (1) as described later, and is formed of, for example, a white reflecting surface.

The measuring head (1) has a light emitting element (1
1), built-in light receiving element (12) and optical system (15)
(11) is two light sources that emit light of different wavelengths, that is, FIG.
LED (13) that emits red light and LE that emits orange light
It is configured with D (14). These LEDs (13)
The light emitted from (14) passes through the above-mentioned common optical system (15) and is applied to the blood sample.

The measuring circuit (4) shown in FIG. 1 is connected to the measuring head (1) and the stepping motor (21). The measuring circuit (4) comprises an LED control circuit (43) for controlling the light emitting operation of each LED of the measuring head (1), an amplifier circuit (44) for amplifying the detection signal of the light receiving element (12), and a stepping motor. (2
Motor drive circuit (45) for driving 1) and LED control circuit (4
3) and a signal processing circuit that outputs a control signal to the motor drive circuit (45) and processes the detection signal obtained from the amplification circuit (44)
The signal processing circuit comprises a microcomputer (41) and a memory (42) for storing various data to be described later, and the signal processing circuit is composed of a microcomputer.

An example of a method for measuring the erythrocyte sedimentation rate using the above measuring device will be described below. [Step 1] With the measuring head (1) installed at the lower end as shown by the chain line in FIG. 2, the red LED of the light emitting element (11) is turned on to emit red light to the blood cell layer (5) of the blood sample (5). Irradiate the lower part of 51). Light reflected by the blood cell layer (51) is photoelectrically converted by the light receiving element (12), and light amount data Dr indicating the amount of received light is obtained.
And store it in memory. [Step 2] The measuring head (1) is installed at the rising end as shown by the broken line in FIG. 2, the orange LED of the light emitting element (11) is turned on, and the orange light is applied to the reference surface (27). The light amount data thus obtained is stored in the memory as the orange reference value Ro.

[Step 3] With the orange LED turned on, the measuring head (1) is moved down from the ascending end at a constant speed, and a series of light amount data obtained along with this is stored in the memory as the orange measured value Mo. .. [Step 4] The measurement head (1) is installed again at the rising end, the red LED is turned on, the red light is emitted to the reference surface (27), and the light amount data obtained thereby is used as the red reference value Rr.
Is stored in memory as. [Step 5] Ratio Rr / Ro of red reference value and orange reference value
Is stored in the memory as a normalized conversion value A. Further, the ratio Dr / Do of the red light amount data Dr obtained for the lower blood cell layer of the blood sample and the light amount data Do for the lower blood cell layer of the orange measured value is calculated, and the boundary determination is made based on the calculation result. Calculate the reference value B. The boundary determination reference value B can be obtained, for example, by multiplying the light amount data ratio Dr / Do by a fixed ratio (for example, 0.5). Further, the boundary judgment reference value B is divided by the normalized conversion value A to calculate a normalized boundary judgment reference value Cb.

[Step 6] While the red LED is on, the measuring head (1) is moved down from the rising end at a constant speed, and a series of light amount data (red measured value Mr) obtained along with this is at the same height. The orange measured value Mo at the position
The ratio Mr / Mo is sequentially calculated, and the calculation result is further divided by the normalized conversion value A to create the normalized color information Cd.
Then, the normalized color information Cd and the normalized boundary determination reference value Cb are compared, and the height position where both data match is
The boundary position between the blood cell layer and the plasma layer of the blood sample is determined. The position data representing the boundary position is stored in the memory. [Step 7] Steps 1 to 6 are repeated at fixed time intervals, and the sedimentation velocity at the boundary position between the blood cell layer and the plasma layer of the blood sample is calculated based on the series of position data obtained thereby.

FIG. 5 shows an example of changes in the color information and the normalized color information. In this example, the ratio of the red reference value Rr and the orange reference value Ro obtained on the reference surface, that is, the normalized conversion value A is 2, The ratio of the red light amount data Dr and the orange light amount data Do obtained for the lower blood cell layer is 6. When the light quantity data ratio Dr / Do is multiplied by, for example, a fixed ratio of 0.5 and the boundary judgment reference value B is set to 3, the normalized boundary judgment reference value Cb becomes 1.5. Therefore, when the color information Mr / Mo changes from 2 to 6 as illustrated, the normalized color information Cd changes from 1 to 3,
The position where the normalized color information matches the normalized boundary determination reference value 1.5 can be determined as the boundary position between the blood cell layer and the plasma layer of the blood sample.

When the blood cell layer of the blood sample is close to black,
The light intensity data ratio for red and orange is small. For example, when the color information about the blood cell layer has a value of 2 or less, if the boundary determination reference value is set as described above, the value becomes 1 or less, and the normalized color information cannot determine the boundary position. Becomes Therefore, in the present embodiment, the boundary determination reference value Cb is fixed to 1.1 when the normalized color information at the lower part of the blood cell layer is 2.2 or less as shown in FIG.

In the above measuring method, as shown in FIG. 5, the measurement data (color information) is normalized based on the color information obtained on the reference surface, so that, for example, the red LED (13) of the light emitting element (11) is used. Error due to variations in characteristics of the orange LED (14) and the like can be corrected, and an accurate measurement value can be obtained.
Also, when setting the boundary judgment reference value, since the color information in the blood cell layer of the blood sample that is the actual measurement object is used as the basic data, an appropriate boundary judgment reference value is set for each blood sample with different properties. , This makes it possible to obtain objective measurement results. Furthermore, since the measuring head (1) processes the light of the two LEDs (13) and (14) by the common optical system (15), there are few optical error factors and high measurement accuracy can be obtained. Have advantages. A white light source is used instead of the light emitting element, and a plurality of light receiving elements are arranged on the light receiving side.
It is also possible to obtain color information by receiving the light reflected by the blood sample through different optical filters.

The above description of the embodiments is for explaining the present invention, and should not be construed as limiting the invention described in the claims or limiting the scope. The configuration of each part of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and it is needless to say that various modifications can be made within the technical scope described in the claims.

For example, the scanning direction of the measuring head (1) may be not only from top to bottom but also from bottom to top, and the red LED (13)
The order of scanning with the orange LED (14) does not matter. Also, after capturing all red light amount data by scanning with the red LED (13), all orange light amount data is captured by scanning with the orange LED (14), and finally these data are subjected to arithmetic processing to determine the boundary position. A method of determining The measuring head (1) can be of a transmissive type as well as a reflective type. Furthermore, the plural types of irradiation light having different wavelengths are not limited to the two types of red and orange,
It is also possible to use other colors and more than two light sources.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an erythrocyte sedimentation velocity measuring device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a schematic configuration of a measuring head and a head lifting mechanism.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing the arrangement of a light emitting element and a light receiving element in the measuring head.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing the arrangement of red LEDs and orange LEDs in a light emitting element.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing changes in color information and normalized color information with changes in measurement position.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing a change in a boundary determination reference value.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view showing a state in which a boundary layer is formed between a blood cell layer and a plasma layer of a blood sample.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional erythrocyte sedimentation rate measuring method and apparatus.

[Explanation of sign]

 (1) Measuring head (11) Light emitting element (12) Light receiving element (13) Red LED (14) Orange LED (3) Blood centrifuge tube (5) Blood sample (51) Blood cell layer (52) Plasma layer

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A blood sample in a blood tube is irradiated with light, light reflected by the blood sample or transmitted through the blood sample is detected, and the erythrocyte sedimentation rate of the blood sample is measured based on the detected light. In the method, a plurality of types of light having different wavelengths are irradiated to a blood sample, and based on the plurality of types of detection light obtained for each irradiation light, color information representing a color change in the vertical direction of the blood sample is created, and the color A method for measuring a erythrocyte sedimentation rate, which comprises determining a boundary position between a blood cell layer and a plasma layer of a blood sample based on information. 2. A light emitting element (11) for irradiating light toward a blood sample (5) in a blood tube (3), and a light receiving device for detecting light reflected by the blood sample or transmitted through the blood sample. Element (12),
In a erythrocyte sedimentation rate measuring device comprising a measuring circuit (4) for measuring the erythrocyte sedimentation rate of a blood sample based on the light detected by the light receiving element (12), the light emitting element (11) comprises a plurality of types having different wavelengths. Measuring circuit (4) with a light source that emits the irradiation light of
Is a means for creating light amount data representing the light amount of a plurality of types of detection light obtained for each irradiation light, and calculates the mutual ratio of the light amount data for each irradiation light, and the vertical direction of the blood sample based on the ratio. A device for measuring the erythrocyte sedimentation rate, comprising: means for creating color information representing the color change of the blood sample; and means for determining the boundary position between the blood cell layer and the plasma layer of the blood sample based on the color information. ..