JPH07104490B2 - Endoscope device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus that emits illumination light or increases the amount of illumination light at predetermined time intervals.

[Problems to be Solved by Conventional Techniques and Inventions] In recent years, by inserting an elongated insertion portion into a body cavity, a procedure such as observing an organ in the body cavity or inserting the treatment instrument channel as necessary is performed. Endoscopes that can be used for various medical treatments have become widely used.

In the conventional endoscope, the tissue in the body cavity is irradiated with illumination light, and the reflected light from the surface of the tissue is received to observe the surface in the body cavity. However, recently, there is a demand for observing not only the surface of the tissue in the body cavity but also the inside of the tissue, for example, blood vessels and tumors in the back side of the stomach wall and in the mucous membrane.

Therefore, for example, as shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 54-21678, it has been proposed to illuminate from outside the body and observe using the light transmitted through the tissue.

By the way, when illuminating from outside the body in this way and observing using the light transmitted through the tissue, a large amount of illumination light is required to obtain a good image because the light transmittance of the living body is low. Met. However, in the conventional endoscope, since the human body is continuously irradiated with a constant amount of illumination light including the above-mentioned illumination from outside the body, when the body surface or the like is heated by the large amount of illumination light. There is a problem that there is.

Incidentally, in the conventional example, in synchronization with the photographing operation of the photographing mechanism,
The external lighting mechanism is flashed to prevent living body burns. However, in this conventional example, a continuous image cannot be obtained.

[Object of the Invention] The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and can reduce the influence of heat from illumination light on the human body.
Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to provide an endoscope apparatus that can obtain continuous images.

[Means and Actions for Solving Problems] An endoscope apparatus according to the present invention is provided with an imaging unit, and an illumination unit that emits light or increases the amount of light at predetermined time intervals, and an emission of this illumination unit. Alternatively, an image processing unit that holds an image captured by the image capturing unit in synchronization with an increase in the light amount and outputs the held image during a period in which the illumination unit does not emit light or does not increase the light amount is provided to illuminate in comparison with continuous light emission. The amount of heat generated by light is suppressed and a continuous image is obtained.

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

1 and 2 relate to the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing the configuration of the endoscope apparatus, and FIG. 2 is a waveform diagram showing the operation of the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the endoscope apparatus 1 includes an electronic endoscope 2
An extracorporeal illumination device 3 for applying illumination light to the electronic endoscope 2 from outside the body, and a control device 4 connected to the electronic endoscope 2.
And a monitor 5 as display means connected to the control device 4. The electronic endoscope 2 is composed of an elongated insertion portion 7 and a large-diameter operation portion 8 that is connected to the rear end of the insertion portion 7. The insertion part 7 may be soft or rigid and can be inserted into the body cavity 10a of the human body 10 from the oral cavity or the like. An imaging optical system 12 composed of an objective lens or the like is provided at the tip 11 of the insertion portion 7, and a solid-state imaging device 13 such as a CCD is arranged at the imaging position of the imaging optical system 12 as imaging means. It is set up. This solid-state image sensor
13 is driven by a driver 16 connected through a signal line 15 inserted through the insertion section 7, and the read signal is transferred through a signal line 17 inserted through the insertion section 7 It is input to the preamplifier 18 in the control device 4. And
After being amplified by this preamplifier 18, it is converted to a video signal by a video signal processing circuit 19 including a process circuit,
Further, the image is input to the monitor 5 via the image recording means 20 composed of a frame memory and the like, and the observation image is displayed on the monitor 5. The driver 16 and the video signal processing circuit 19 are controlled based on the vertical synchronizing signal VD output from the synchronizing signal generating circuit 21.

On the other hand, the extracorporeal lighting device 3 includes the lamp 23 and the lamp.
The light source controller 24 controls the light emission of the light source 23. The light emitted from the lamp 23 is the surface of the human body 10.
It is supposed to be irradiated at 30. And this body surface
The solid-state image sensor 13 captures a projected image of the living tissue by the extracorporeal illumination light applied to the body 30.

As the lamp 23, a xenon lamp, a halogen lamp, a strobe lamp, or the like is used, and the wavelength range of the emitted light may be any one or two kinds of the ultraviolet range, the visible range, and the infrared range, or all of them. Region, and may be appropriately selected depending on the wavelength region to be observed.

In this embodiment, a counter 25 is provided in the control device 4 for inputting the vertical synchronizing signal VD from the synchronizing signal generating circuit 21 and outputting a pulse every time the vertical synchronizing signal VD is counted by a predetermined number. There is. Then, the light source control device 24
The lamp 23 intermittently emits light or increases the amount of light in synchronization with the output pulse of the counter 25.

The image recording means 20 records an image captured when the lamp 25 emits light or the amount of light increases in synchronization with the output pulse of the counter 25, and then the counter 25
During the period from when the pulse is output to when the light emission is not increased, the recorded image is output to the monitor 5 instead of the image actually captured.

A condenser lens 27 is attached to the tip portion 11 of the electronic endoscope 2.
A light receiving element 28 for receiving the light condensed by the condenser lens 27 is provided. Then, this light receiving element 28
The amount of received light is detected by this, and the information of this amount of received light is input to the light source control device 24 through the signal line 29 inserted into the insertion portion 7. The light source control device 24 controls the light emission amount of the lamp 23 based on the information on the light reception amount so that the light reception amount becomes substantially constant.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the counter 25 is
A pulse is output every time the vertical synchronizing signal VD output from the synchronizing signal generating circuit 21 is counted by a predetermined number, for example, n (where n is an integer of 1 or more). In synchronization with the output pulse of the counter 25, as shown in FIG.
23 intermittently emits light or the amount of light increases. The light emitted from the lamp 23 is applied to the body surface 30, penetrates the living tissue, and reaches the inside of the body cavity 10a. Then, the solid-state image sensor 13 captures a projected image of the living tissue by the extracorporeal illumination light. The output signal of the solid-state imaging device 13 is amplified by the preamplifier 18, converted into a video signal by the video signal processing circuit 19, and then input to the image recording means 20. The image recording means 20, as shown in FIG.
In synchronization with the output pulse of the lamp 25, an image when the light emission or the light amount of the lamp 25 is increased is recorded, and then the counter 25
During the period in which the light emission or the light amount is not increased from the pulse output to the pulse output, the recorded image is output to the monitor 5 instead of the image actually captured. Therefore, the monitor 5 continuously displays the images of the light emission of the lamp 25 or the increase of the light amount as a moving image. However, since the image information per second is 1 / n with respect to the normal video signal composed of 60 image signals per second, the motion is slightly rough.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the light emission time of the lamp 23 is shortened as compared with the continuous light emission, so that the amount of heat generated by the illumination light is reduced and the influence of heat on the human body 10 is reduced. Moreover, the projected image of the living tissue by the extracorporeal illumination light can be continuously observed as a moving image.

In addition, the inside of the tissue, for example, blood vessels and tumors inside the mucous membrane and the mucous membrane are observed by the projection image of the external illumination light.
Observation is facilitated by using infrared light that easily penetrates a living body as the extracorporeal illumination light.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the endoscope apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

In the present embodiment, the respiration detection means 31 and the pulsation detection means 32 are provided, and the information of the respiration timing obtained by the respiration detection means 31 and the timing of the pulsation of the heart obtained by the pulsation detection means 32 Information and information are input to the counter 25 via the changeover switch 33. The counter 25 outputs a pulse to the light source control device 24 and the image recording means 20 in synchronization with the timing of breathing or the timing of pulsation of the heart that is selectively input via the changeover switch 33. Has become.

Some internal organs move in response to breathing and heart beats, but according to this embodiment, it is possible to perform imaging by increasing the light emission or the light amount in accordance with breathing and heart beats. An image with little blurring can be obtained, and it can be observed as a still image.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the endoscope apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

In the present embodiment, a thermometer such as a non-contact thermometer 35 is provided to measure the temperature of the body surface 30. The temperature of the body surface 30 measured by the non-contact thermometer 35 is compared with the comparison means 36.
Is compared with the set temperature. The output of the comparison means 36 is input to the count step control means 37 which controls the pulse interval of the counter 25. This counting step control means 37, based on the output of the comparison means 36, the body surface 30
The counter 25 is controlled so that the pulse interval is lengthened when the temperature is higher than the set temperature and is shortened when the temperature of the body surface 30 is lower than the set temperature.

According to the present embodiment, the lamp is kept within the temperature limit of the body surface 30.
23 can emit light or increase the amount of light at the shortest interval.

5 and 6 relate to the fourth embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the endoscope apparatus, and FIG. 6 is a waveform diagram showing the operation of the present embodiment.

In the present embodiment, for example, a body illumination light source that emits visible light
41 are provided. The light emitted from the internal illumination light source 41 is condensed and is incident on the light guide 42 formed of a flexible fiber bundle. The light guide 42 is inserted into the insertion portion 7 of the electronic endoscope 2, and the in-body illumination light incident on the light guide 42 is emitted from the emission end of the light guide 42 at the tip 11. The observation area is irradiated. On the other hand, the infrared light is emitted from the lamp 23 of the extracorporeal lighting device 3.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the pulse output from the counter 25 that counts the vertical synchronization signal VD by a predetermined number passes through the light source control device 24 of the extracorporeal illumination device 3 and the inverter 42. Is input to the internal illumination light source 41. Then, as shown in FIGS. 6C and 6D, when a pulse is output from the counter 25, the lamp 23
The external illumination light is emitted from the light source, and at other times, the internal illumination light source 41 emits the internal illumination light to time-division the illumination light.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6 (e), the video signal processing circuit
From 19, when a pulse is output from the counter 25, a signal corresponding to the projected image of the biological tissue by the extracorporeal illumination light is output, and at other times, a signal corresponding to the reflected image by the intracorporeal illumination light is output. Is output.

Since the heat source of light is mainly in the infrared region, the temperature rise of the body surface 30 can be prevented by intermittently irradiating the infrared light which is the extracorporeal illumination light as in the present embodiment.

Incidentally, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and may be one for performing normal internal illumination, or for illuminating from inside the body and observing from outside the body by utilizing the light transmitted through the living tissue. May be

Further, in the case of using a solid-state image pickup device as the image pickup means, the illumination light is converted into R (red), G (green), B (blue) and R, W (white), B
It is also possible to obtain a color image by a field sequential method in which the color image is sequentially switched to the above or the like, or a single plate method in which a color filter is attached to the front surface of the solid-state image sensor. Further, the image is transmitted not only by the solid-state image pickup device but by an image guide, and the transmitted image can be observed by a television camera having a sensitivity in a desired wavelength region, or by a still camera, an ordinary film or an infrared film can be formed. It may be recorded or a combination thereof.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention as described above, the lighting means is arranged to emit light or increase the amount of light at predetermined time intervals, so that it is possible to reduce the influence of heat on the human body due to the illumination light. In addition, an image processing means is provided for holding the image captured by the image pickup means in synchronization with the light emission or the light amount increase of the illumination means, and outputting the held image during a period in which the light emission means or the light amount is not increased. Therefore, there is an effect that a continuous image can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 and 2 relate to the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing the configuration of the endoscope apparatus, FIG. 2 is a waveform diagram showing the operation of this embodiment, and FIG. Is an explanatory view showing the constitution of the endoscope apparatus of the second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing the constitution of the endoscope apparatus of the third embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 5 and 6 FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of the endoscope apparatus of FIG. 5 according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a waveform diagram showing an operation of the present embodiment. 1 ... Endoscope device, 2 ... Electronic endoscope 3 ... External body illumination device, 5 ... Monitor 7 ... Insertion part, 11 ... Tip part 13 ... Solid-state image sensor 19 ... Video signal processing circuit 20 ... Image recording means 21 ... Sync signal generation circuit 23 ... Lamp, 24 ... Light source control device 25 ... Counter

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An endoscope apparatus equipped with an image pickup means, wherein an illuminating means that emits light or increases its light quantity at a predetermined time interval, and an image is picked up by said image pickup means in synchronization with the light emission or the increase in light quantity of this illuminating means. An endoscope apparatus comprising: an image processing unit that holds an image and outputs the held image during a period in which the illumination unit does not emit light or increase the amount of light.