JPH0639684Y2 - Intracorporeal ultrasound probe - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an intracorporeal ultrasonic probe used for obtaining an ultrasonic tomographic image of an in-vivo organ by inserting the intracorporeal ultrasonic probe.

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, an ultrasonic probe is inserted into a living body through a body cavity, for example, the rectum, urethra, or esophagus, and an ultrasonic tomographic image of the in-vivo organ is obtained to diagnose the in-vivo organ from the inside of the living body. Has become popular. The ultrasonic probe used for this diagnosis is generally called an intracavity ultrasonic probe, and an example of the intracorporeal ultrasonic probe is, for example, JP-A-59-1313.
As described in Japanese Patent No. 39, a configuration is known in which an ultrasonic transducer is rotated to obtain a fan-shaped tomographic image of an in-vivo organ from inside a body cavity. A conventional body cavity ultrasonic probe will be described below with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 3, 101 is a pulse motor, 102 is a micro gear head, 103 is a rotary shaft, 104 is a damper, 105 is a vibrator, and 1
06 is a rotating shaft support plate, 107 is a case, 108 is a stomach, duodenum,
It is a living tissue such as the rectum.

Next, the operation of the above conventional example will be described. Pulse motor
By driving 101, the rotation speed is reduced by the micro gear head 102, and the rotating shaft 103, the damper 104, and the vibrator 105 are rotated. During this period, a fan-shaped tomographic image of the living tissue 108 can be obtained by transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves by the vibrator 105. The cross section of the fan-shaped tomographic image obtained in this case is a plane orthogonal to the insertion direction shown in FIG. 3, that is, a cross section orthogonal to the insertion direction of the ultrasonic probe in the body cavity into the body cavity.

However, in the configuration of the conventional ultrasonic probe in the body cavity as described above, only the information of the cross section in the direction orthogonal to the insertion direction is obtained, and It was not possible to obtain a tomographic image of the cross section. As a result, it was virtually impossible to observe, for example, the vagina and the uterus and the organs adjacent to the uterus. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the outer shape of the conventional ultrasonic probe in the body cavity is mainly composed of a single relatively thick columnar shape, so that the subject is not affected by the insertion or insertion. It was accompanied by pain.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and it is possible to obtain a tomographic image of a cross section in the front in the insertion direction, which was conventionally unobservable. An object of the present invention is to provide an intracavity ultrasonic probe capable of reducing pain.

Means for Solving the Problems And the technical means of the present invention for solving the above problems include a case having a thin shaft-like portion on the rear side of the ultrasonic transducer housing, and the ultrasonic transducer. An ultrasonic transducer that is housed in a storage portion and that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to and from the front side in the insertion direction is provided.

Action The action of the above technical means is as follows. That is, by transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves with the ultrasonic transducer, a tomographic image in the front in the insertion direction can be obtained. Further, at the time of insertion, since the rear side of the ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving section is a thin shaft-shaped section, it is possible to reduce the pain of the subject.

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

1 and 2 show an ultrasonic probe in a body cavity according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view of the whole body, and FIG. 2 is a line II-II in FIG. FIG. First
As shown in the figure, the case 1 is composed of a housing portion 2 of a driving portion, a shaft-shaped portion 3, and an acoustic window 4 having a generally spherical shape at the tip portion which is an ultrasonic transducer housing portion. The shaft-shaped portion 3 is formed thin, the acoustic window 4 is connected to the front widening portion, and the housing portion 2 of the driving portion is screwed to the rear widening portion with the connecting member 5. Inside the acoustic window 4, an ultrasonic transducer 6 and a support 7 that supports the ultrasonic transducer 6 are housed. The ultrasonic transducer 6 is supported on the outer surface of a support body 7, and the support body 7 is rotatably supported by a support member 8 attached to the shaft-shaped portion 3 by a shaft 9 orthogonal to the insertion direction A. A drive shaft 10 is provided in the shaft-shaped portion 3, and a tip portion of the drive shaft 10 is rotatably supported by a support member 8. A motor 11, which is a driving means, is supported by the connecting member 5, and an encoder 12 is connected to the motor 11. The rear side of the drive shaft 10 is connected to the shaft 13 of the motor 11 and the shaft coupling 14
Are connected by. The drive shaft 10 is adapted to transmit a rotational force to the support body 7 by a power transmission means. As an example, a gear 15 is mounted on the front end of the drive shaft 10 and a gear 16 is mounted on the side surface of the support body 7, and these gears 15 and 16 are meshed with each other. Acoustic window 4 and shaft 3
Inside is filled with degassed water or an ultrasonic wave propagating liquid 17 such as butanediol, and an oil seal 18 is interposed between the connecting member 5 and the motor shaft 13. By providing the oil seal 18 at such a position, the shaft-shaped portion 3 can be made thinner.

As shown in FIG. 2, the shaft-shaped portion 3 is an outer cylinder made of synthetic resin.
It has a double structure of 19 and a metal inner cylinder 20, so that the metal inner cylinder 20 enhances the strength against bending and the synthetic resin outer cylinder 19 prevents accidents due to leak current. It has become. A hole 21 for inserting a lead wire is formed in the inner cylinder 20 made of metal along the axial direction.
The ultrasonic transducer 6 and the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body can be connected to each other by using a lead wire. By dropping the inner cylinder 20 made of metal to the ground, the external noise mixed in the lead wire can be reduced, and information with good S / N can be obtained.

As an example, the acoustic window 4 which is an ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving unit has an outer diameter of about
20mm, the length is about 30mm, the shaft 3 has an outer diameter of about 10m
m, length is about 110mm.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described. Inserted into the body cavity from the side of the acoustic window 4 and driven by the motor 11, the motor shaft 13,
The shaft coupling 14 and the drive shaft 10 are rotated. This turning force is a gear
Orthogonal transformation is performed by 15 and 16, whereby the support 7 and the ultrasonic transducer 6 rotate. During this time, the ultrasonic transducer 6 transmits / receives an ultrasonic beam to / from the living tissue through the ultrasonic wave propagating liquid 17 and the acoustic window 4, and a fan-shaped ultrasonic tomographic image in the front in the insertion direction A can be obtained. At this time, encoder 12
Thus, the rotation of the motor 11 can be monitored and the rotation speed of the support 7 can be made constant. When the ultrasonic probe is inserted into the body cavity, the shaft-shaped portion 3 is formed to be thinner than the acoustic window 4 which is the ultrasonic transducer housing, and the operation of the ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving portion in the acoustic window 4 is also ensured. Since it is formed of the minimum number of parts and the outer diameter is formed to be as thin as possible, the pain of the subject can be reduced.

According to the above-described embodiment, the acoustic window 4 which is the ultrasonic transducer housing portion to be inserted into the body cavity is made as thin as possible, and the shaft-like portion 3 is made thinner than that. It can be made as narrow as possible. Therefore, for example, in the case of observing the uterus and living organs close to the uterus via the vagina, the diameter of the shaft-like portion 3 is reduced when inserting and observing the acoustic window 4 which is the ultrasonic transducer housing. Therefore, it is less likely to press the hymen portion where nerves are concentrated, and the pain of the subject can be significantly relieved. Further, the storage unit 2 of the drive unit can be moved left and right and up and down around the ultrasonic transducer storage unit 4, and the test area can be effectively enlarged. This is an advantage applicable not only to the case of observing via the vagina but also to a so-called general body cavity probe.

Further, since the shaft-shaped portion 3 has a double structure of the outer cylinder 19 made of synthetic resin and the inner cylinder 20 made of metal, it is possible to prevent a very serious accident in which the thin shaft-shaped portion 3 is broken in the body cavity. With
An accident due to a leak current can be prevented, and a highly safe intracavity ultrasonic probe can be realized.

The support 7 may include a single ultrasonic oscillator 6 or a plurality of ultrasonic oscillators 6. In the case of a plurality of ultrasonic oscillators 6, the ultrasonic oscillators 6 are rotated in one direction.
The support 7 may be reciprocally rotated (swinged) within a fixed angle range. The case where the ultrasonic transducer 6 is mechanically rotated to obtain a fan-shaped tomographic image has been described. However, the transducer is, for example, a linear array, a faced array, or a convex array type, and is electronically scanned. Alternatively, a tomographic image may be obtained.

As described above, according to the present invention, the case is formed with a thin shaft on the rear side of the ultrasonic transducer housing, and the ultrasonic transducer is inserted into the ultrasonic transducer housing toward the front in the insertion direction. The ultrasonic transducer is housed so that it can transmit and receive waves. Therefore, it is possible to safely obtain a tomographic image in the front of the insertion direction, which was conventionally unobservable. Also, since the rear of the ultrasonic transducer housing is a thin shaft-like part, it is possible to avoid It has an effect that the pain of the subject can be remarkably reduced.

Furthermore, since the shaft-shaped part is composed of an outer cylinder made of synthetic resin and an inner cylinder made of metal, it does not bend and is not damaged. It is possible to easily move the probe by inserting and removing the probe, and moving the probe horizontally, up and down, and rotate it directly by operating the grip part.The ultrasonic tomography is performed over a wider area in front of the probe insertion direction. It has an effect that an image can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 and 2 show an ultrasonic probe in a body cavity according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway side view, and FIG. 2 is a cross section taken along line II-II of FIG. FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway side view of a conventional ultrasonic probe in a body cavity. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Case, 3 ... Shaft-shaped part, 4 ... Acoustic window (ultrasonic vibrator storage part), 6 ... Ultrasonic vibrator, 7 ... Support body, 10 ... Drive shaft,
11 ... Motor, 12 ... Encoder, 17 ... Ultrasonic wave propagating liquid, 19 ...
Outer cylinder made of synthetic resin, 20 ... Inner cylinder made of metal, 21 ... Hole for inserting lead wire.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An ultrasonic transducer for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from the front in the insertion direction, and an ultrasonic transducer accommodating portion having a substantially spherical tip for accommodating the ultrasonic transducer so as to be rotatable. It is formed by an outer cylinder made of synthetic resin and an inner cylinder made of metal electrically grounded, and a drive shaft for rotationally driving the ultrasonic transducer penetrates through a hollow portion of the inner cylinder, in the axial direction of the inner cylinder. A cylindrical shaft portion that is formed along with a lead wire that is taken out from the ultrasonic transducer and is thinner than the ultrasonic transducer housing portion and does not bend, and a motor that drives the drive shaft. A body cavity characterized by including a case that stores therein, and operating a case located outside the subject to move the ultrasonic transducer storage unit inserted into the subject to obtain a tomographic image in the front in the insertion direction. Internal ultrasonic probe.