JPH0716223A - Ultrasonic diagnostic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a cubic fault image by rotating ultrasonic oscillators lined up in a line. CONSTITUTION:In a tip end section main body 10, in order to rotate a rotary disc 11 on which ultrasonic oscillators are mounted, by means of remote control, paired operating wires 17 are engaged with a pulley 13 connected to the rotary disc 11, the operating wires 17 are led to the inside of an operating section via a slack prevention member at the halfway, and they are designed to be operated so as to be pushed on/pulled in by a motor, so that the rotating angle of the motor is detected by an encoder 23. In order to control the rotating angle of the rotary disc 11 to be 80 deg., a rotation side control section 40 is projected by the angular portion of 90 out of the inner surface of the pulley 13, and a fixed side control section 41 is also projected by the angular portion of 90 deg. out of a holder 14, so that the fixed side control section 14 can relatively be slid with respect to the inner surface of the pulley 13.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention can be inserted into a body cavity,
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of acquiring a three-dimensional ultrasonic image when performing ultrasonic scanning.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus used for performing ultrasonic diagnosis by inserting it into a body cavity is equipped with an ultrasonic transducer at the tip of an insertion portion into the body cavity of a patient, and the ultrasonic transducer is inserted from outside the body. The ultrasonic wave transducer is arranged at the site to be diagnosed by operating the section, the ultrasonic pulse is made incident from the inner wall of the body cavity, and the reflected echo is received. Here, as a scanning method using an ultrasonic transducer, there are a mechanical scanning method and an electronic scanning method. In the one configured to perform electronic scanning, a plurality of ultrasonic transducers are linearly arranged.

[0003]

By the way, as the electronic scanning, linear scanning, sector scanning and the like are possible.
In any case, the ultrasonic tomographic image obtained by this electronic scanning ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is, of course, in the array direction of the ultrasonic transducers. When it is necessary to obtain information on the proximity position of this scanning line during scanning by such an electronic scanning method, the position of the ultrasonic transducer must be moved to the position to be scanned. However, it is extremely difficult to control the movement amount of the ultrasonic transducer due to the fact that it is inserted into the body cavity. Further, in the case where the ultrasonic transducers are arranged in a line, scanning cannot be performed so that the affected area or the like can be grasped three-dimensionally. Of course, if the ultrasonic transducers are two-dimensionally arranged, the above-mentioned scanning is possible, but the number of ultrasonic transducers increases, and the number of cables increases significantly accordingly. here,
When the number of cables inserted into the insertion portion increases, the cables become bulky and the risk of disconnection increases, which is a problem.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and makes it possible to obtain a three-dimensional ultrasonic tomographic image with an ultrasonic probe using ultrasonic transducers arranged in a line. That is the purpose.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a rotary disc mounted on the distal end of an insertion portion and having a plurality of ultrasonic transducers arranged in a line, and the rotary disc. A rotary drive unit that rotationally drives the disc, a rotational force transmission unit that is connected to the rotary drive unit, and that remotely rotates the rotary disc, an encoder that detects a rotational angle by the rotational force transmission unit, and a rotary disc. And a detection member for detecting that the rotating disc has rotated to an angle regulated by the rotation angle regulating portion, and the rotational force transmitting means comprises: Although operating, the detection member detects that the rotating disk is stopped at the regulation angular position, and during that time, it is configured by a control means for invalidating the output signal of the encoder. To do.

[0006]

By arranging a plurality of ultrasonic transducers in a line on the rotating disk, the number of cables can be reduced as compared with a two-dimensional arrangement of ultrasonic transducers. Then, by inputting a drive pulse to the ultrasonic transducer while rotating the rotating disk, a circular scanning region having a diameter of the length of the line where the ultrasonic transducers are arranged can be obtained. Therefore, if the rotating disk provided with the ultrasonic transducer is faced to the affected area or the like and scanning is performed while rotating the rotating disk, the scanning range in the body cavity is cylindrical (linear scanning). Case) or frustoconical (for sector scanning).

By the way, when the rotating disc is rotated in one direction, the cable is twisted.
If you connect the cable to a rotatable connector, you can always rotate it in one direction, but even though the ultrasonic transducers are arranged in a line, a considerable number of cables It becomes necessary, and the structure of the rotatable type connector is remarkably complicated and large. Therefore, by providing a rotation angle regulation unit, the rotation amount of the rotary disc is regulated to 180 °, and by reversing at the end position of this rotation stroke, scanning can be performed without burdening the cable. Become.

However, since the rotary disc is provided at the tip of the insertion part, and the drive part for rotationally driving the rotary disc needs to be arranged outside the body cavity, it is necessary to connect between them by remote control means. . If the insertion part is formed of a hard member, it is not necessary to allow the remote operation means to have play.However, if the insertion part is formed of a flexible member, when the remote operation means is formed of the operation wire, It must be equipped with a mechanism for preventing loosening, or with a mechanism capable of transmitting a rotational force even in a bent state such as a close contact coil spring. For this reason, a rotation delay of the rotating disk occurs with respect to the operation of the drive unit. here,
To acquire an ultrasonic image, a position signal of the position and angle of the ultrasonic transducer and a reception signal of an ultrasonic echo are required. When scanning in the rotation direction, the position signal is acquired to obtain the position signal. Although a rotary encoder is provided, it is provided at or near the position where the drive unit is provided in order to reduce the diameter of the insertion unit. Therefore, when the rotation delay of the rotating disk occurs, the ultrasonic echo signal and the position signal cannot be matched, and accurate ultrasonic scanning cannot be performed.

In consideration of the above points, in order to invalidate the output of the position signal by the rotary encoder from the time when the movement of the rotating disc is restricted by the rotation angle restricting portion to the start of the reversal, the detection member Detects that the rotating disk is stopped at the regulated angular position, sends this detection signal to the control means, and invalidates the rotary encoder position signal output during this period. And
The position signal of the rotary encoder is taken into the control means when the rotary disk actually starts moving.
As a result, the ultrasonic echo signal and the position signal are accurately matched.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. In the figure, 1 is an insertion part into a body cavity, 2 is an operation part, and 3 is an ultrasonic observation apparatus. The insertion part 1 is
Most of the parts are formed of a flexible member, and the tip forming portion 1a is a hard member. The operating unit 2 is to be held and operated by an operator.
Is provided with various operating members. For example, when the insertion portion 1 is provided with an angle portion, a knob or the like for bending the angle portion is provided, and as will be described later, ON / OFF control of the ultrasonic transducer 12 is performed. A button 4 for turning on and a button 5 for turning on and off the motor 21 for rotating the rotary disk 11 are provided. Further, the ultrasonic observation apparatus 3 processes a control unit 3a and an ultrasonic reflection echo signal by the control unit 3a to generate an ultrasonic image and displays the ultrasonic image.
and b.

FIG. 2 shows a cross section of the tip forming portion 1a of the insertion portion 1, and FIG. 3 shows an exploded perspective view of the internal structure of the tip forming portion 1a. As is clear from the figure, the tip forming portion 1a
Has a tip body 10 made of a hard member, and an opening 10a is formed in the center of the tip body 10, and a rotating disk 11 is mounted in the opening 10a. A plurality of ultrasonic transducers 1 are provided on the surface of the rotating disk 11.
2 pass through the center of rotation and are arranged in a row over a length substantially corresponding to the diameter. A pulley 13 is continuously provided on the back side of the rotating disk 11, and the pulley 13 is slidably accommodated in a holder 14. Also,
An acoustic lens 15 is fitted and fixed to a portion of the rotary disc 11 where the ultrasonic transducer 12 is provided, and is slidable with respect to the outer periphery of the acoustic lens 15 and the inner surface of the opening 10a of the tip body 10. And the seal member 1 between them.
6 is interposed.

FIG. 4 shows the structure of a mechanism for rotationally driving the rotary disk 11 having the ultrasonic transducer 12 mounted thereon by remote control. As is clear from this figure, the pulley 13 is formed with concave grooves 13a, 13a on its outer periphery, and operation wires 17, 17 for transmitting rotation are engaged with the concave grooves 13a, The operation wires 17, 17 pass through the wire lead-out holes 14 a, 14 a formed in the holder 14, pass through the inside of the insertion portion 1, and are guided into the inside of the operation portion 2 to drive the drive pulley 1.
It is wound around 8. A rotary shaft 19 is attached to the drive pulley 18, and a gear 20 is attached to the rotary shaft 19. A gear 22 connected to the output shaft of the motor 21 meshes with the gear 20.
Is operated, the gear 22 is rotated and transmitted to the gear 20, the drive pulley 18 is rotated, and the operation wires 17, 17
Is pushed and pulled, and the rotary disc 11 is moved together with the pulley 13.
Is rotated. A gear 24 of an encoder 23, which detects the rotation angle of the gear 20 and outputs a signal for each predetermined angle, is meshed with the gear 20.

As shown in FIG. 5, the operation wire 17 is provided with a slack preventing member 30 at an intermediate position thereof. The slack prevention member 30 has a casing 31, and the operation wire 17 is inside the casing 31.
It is divided (in this FIG. 5, the operation wire 17
The wire portion on the winding side of the pulley 13 of the casing 31 is denoted by 17a, the wire portion on the winding side of the driving pulley 18 by 17b), and the wire insertion passage is provided on the side of the casing 31 where the wire portion 17a is inserted. 31a is bored, and a bulge 32 is formed at the end of the wire portion 17a to prevent the wire portion 17a from deviating from the wire insertion passage 31a. Therefore, the wire portion 17a can be displaced within a predetermined range within the casing 31, and is normally urged by the spring 33 in the direction of pulling the wire portion 17a into the casing 31. Also, the other wire portion 17b
A screw member 34 is attached to the wire portion 17b, and by screwing the screw member 34 into the female screw portion 31b of the casing 31, the wire portion 17b fixes the casing 31. In this way, the operation wire 17 is attached to the slack prevention member 3
By providing 0, when the insertion portion 1 bends along the insertion path, the wire portion 17a of the operation wire 17 advances and retreats into the casing 31, maintaining the flexibility of the insertion portion 1 and maintaining a predetermined tension. It is designed to be held in the state of having.

As described above, by pushing and pulling the operating wire 17, the rotary disk 11 having the ultrasonic transducer 12 mounted thereon rotates, but the rotation angle is restricted to 180 °. As the rotation angle regulating member, as shown in FIG. 6, a rotation side regulating portion 40 is provided on the inner surface of the pulley 13 by an angle of 90 °, and the holder 14 has a fixed side regulating portion. 41 is formed by 90 °, and the fixed-side restricting portion 41 extends toward the inner surface of the pulley 13 and can slide relative to the inner surface of the pulley 13. Therefore, the pulley 13 is rotated 180
When rotated, the restricting portions 40 and 41 come into contact with each other, and the restricting portions 40 and 41 are restricted from rotating further.
Further, switches 42 and 43 as detection members for detecting that the rotary disc 11 has rotated to the rotation stroke end position are provided at both ends of the restricting portions 40 and 41.
The switches 42 and 43 have a pair of contacts 42a,
43a, 42b, and 43b. When the pulley 13 rotates 180 ° in either left or right direction, the contact 42a
And 43a or the contacts 42b and 43b are connected to detect that the pulley 13 has rotated to the rotation stroke end position. These contacts 42a, 4
The cables from 3a, 42b, and 43b are bundled with the cables connected to the ultrasonic transducers 12, and are attached to and detached from the ultrasonic observation device 3 from the inside of the insertion portion 1 through the operation portion 2 as a flexible cable cord 44. It is possible to be connected. The cable from the encoder 23 is also joined to the cable cord 44 in the operation section 2.

The present embodiment is constructed as described above, and its operation will be described below. Assuming that the ultrasonic transducers 12 arranged in one row can perform sector scanning, the ultrasonic transducers 12 can be operated by operating the button 4 while the motor 21 is stopped. When 12 is operated, an ultrasonic tomographic image along the scanning line as shown by the solid line in FIG. 7 can be acquired, and this ultrasonic tomographic image can be displayed on the monitor device 3b.
Since the operation of the sector scanning is well known in the art, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

On the other hand, when the button 5 is operated, the motor 21
Is operated, the drive pulley 18 rotates, the operation wire 17 wound around the drive pulley 18 is pushed and pulled, and the pulley 13 connected to the rotary disc 11 rotates. The rotating disk 11 having the ultrasonic transducer 12 mounted thereon rotates. During this time, the rotation angle of the rotating disk 11 is detected by the encoder 23,
The position signal of the ultrasonic transducer 12 from the encoder 23 is taken into the control unit 3a of the ultrasonic observation device 3,
By supplying the trigger signal to the ultrasonic transducer 12 at every predetermined angle, the ultrasonic pulse signal is incident from the inner wall of the body cavity and the reflected echo signal is received, and the received signal is transmitted to the ultrasonic observation device 3. Then, if predetermined signal processing is performed, an ultrasonic tomographic image in a substantially frusto-conical range can be acquired as shown by a virtual line in FIG. 7. Based on this information, the ultrasonic observation apparatus By performing predetermined image processing by the control unit 3a of No. 3 and displaying it on the monitor device 3b, it becomes possible to obtain information capable of stereoscopically grasping the affected area, and ultrasonically scan a certain linear position. Even when the information of the vicinity portion is obtained based on the obtained information, such information can be easily obtained by performing the ultrasonic scanning at the position where the rotary disc 11 is rotated by a predetermined angle. Like

Thus, the ultrasonic transducer 12 is the rotating disk 11
Since they are arranged over the length corresponding to the diameter through the center of rotation, the above-mentioned frustoconical shape (in the case where this ultrasonic transducer 12 is adapted to perform linear scanning, it is cylindrical) In performing ultrasonic scanning in the range of
There is no need to rotate this rotating disk 11 by 360 °,
Even if it is rotated by 80 °, information over 360 ° can be obtained. Therefore, in order to prevent the cable cord 44 connected to the rotary disc 11 from being twisted, the rotation amount of the rotary disc 11 is regulated to 180 ° so that the rotary disc 11 is reciprocally rotated.

That is, the operation wire 17 is pushed and pulled,
When the rotating disk 11 rotates and reaches the stroke end position, the rotation-side restricting portion 40 that is connected to the pulley 13 contacts the fixed-side restricting portion 41 provided in the holder 14 and cannot rotate any more. And with this, the switch 42
Alternatively, since 43 is closed, it is detected that the rotary disc 11 is displaced to the stroke end position. And
This signal is taken into the control unit 3a of the ultrasonic observation apparatus 3 via the cable cord 44, the rotation direction of the motor 21 is reversed based on the signal from this control unit 3a, and the rotary disc 11 is moved in the opposite direction. Rotate to. In this way
By joining the rotating disc 11 to the restriction portions 40 and 41, the ultrasonic scanning can be continuously performed by repeating the inversion every time the stroke end position is reached. When the rotation of the motor 21 is stopped, ultrasonic scanning in the linear direction is performed at that position.

By the way, since the operation wire 17 is provided with a slack prevention member 30, and the wire portion 17a enters or extends into the casing 31, one of the operation wires 17 and 17 that is a pair is formed. From the state in which the drive pulley 18 side is pulled and the other is pushed out from the drive pulley 18 side, after the rotation direction of the drive pulley 18 is reversed and the other operation wire is pulled, this slack prevention The operation wire 17 is expanded and contracted by the member 30, and the rotating disk 11 is held in a stopped state during this. However, since the encoder 23 detects the rotation of the gear 22 attached to the rotating shaft 19 that rotates the drive pulley 18, the position signal is immediately output when the rotation of the drive pulley 18 is started. Therefore, from the start of rotation of the drive pulley 18, the rotary disc 1 is actually
Unless the position signal is invalidated until 1 starts to rotate, matching cannot be obtained between the ultrasonic reflected echo signal and the position signal.

When the rotating disk 11 is stopped at the stroke end position, the contacts 42a and 43a or 42b and 43 are contacted.
The switch 42 or 43 is held in the closed state by being connected to b. Therefore, these switches 42 and 43
Signal from the switch 4 is captured by the controller 3a,
While any one of the switches 2 and 43 is kept closed, even if the position signal is output from the encoder 23, the control unit 3a does not discard it as an invalid signal, and the switches 42 and 43 are operated. It is controlled so as to take in the position signal from the encoder 23 only when it is opened. As a result, the ultrasonic echo signal and the position signal are accurately matched.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a timing chart of the above operation. When the switch 5 is operated, the motor 21 is actuated, and the rotary disc 11 rotates, for example, in the right direction.
The scan line rotates in this direction. When the rotary disk 11 rotates to the stroke end position in this direction, the switch 42 closes and the motor 21 immediately reverses. However, the rotating disk 11 does not immediately rotate in the opposite direction, and there is a delay in operation. During this time, switch 42
Are held closed. Therefore, during this period, even if the position signal is output from the encoder 23, this signal becomes an invalid signal. Then, after a lapse of a certain time, a pulling force from the operation wire 17 is applied to the rotating disc 11,
The rotating disk 11 starts rotating to the left. At the same time, the switch 42 is opened, so that the position signal from the encoder 23 is taken in. During this time,
When the motor 21 is stopped in the middle of the rotation to the left by operating the switch 5, the rotating disk 11 is stopped at that position.
Stops. When the switch 5 is operated again to operate the motor 21, the rotation of the rotating disk 11 to the left continues. Here, since the operation wire 17 is held in a state in which tension is applied, if the motor 21 is restarted after the rotating disc 11 is once stopped, the rotating disc 11 immediately moves, so that the position from the encoder 23 is changed. There is no need to disable the signal. When the rotary disc 11 rotates to the left stroke end position, the switch 43 is closed, and the motor 21 immediately starts reversing based on this signal, but the rotary disc 11 is rotated to the right with a predetermined delay. It will rotate in the direction. It is needless to say that the position signal from the encoder 23 is invalid during the period from the reversal of the motor 21 to the start of rotation of the rotating disk 11.

In short, the switches 42 and 43 are means for detecting that the rotary disc 11 has reached the stroke end position, means for reversing the motor 21, and the rotary disc 11
Has three functions as means for detecting that the position is stopped and invalidating the position signal from the encoder 23.

As means for rotating the rotary disc by remote control, in addition to the above-mentioned means, for example, as shown in FIG. 9, a worm 51 is provided at the tip of a flexible shaft 50 composed of multiple or multi-contact coil springs. And a rotary disc 53 in which a large number of ultrasonic transducers 52 are arranged in a row.
A ring-shaped gear 54 may be attached to the gear so that the worm 51 meshes with the gear 54. Then, similarly to the first embodiment described above, a rotation angle restricting portion that restricts the rotation angle of the rotating disk 53 to 180 ° and a switch composed of a pair that detects the stroke end position of the rotating disk 53 (both shown in FIG. (Not shown). With this configuration, when the flexible shaft 50 is rotationally driven by a driving unit such as a motor, the worm 51 rotates, the rotation of the worm 51 is transmitted to the gear 54, and the rotary disc 53 rotates. You can Even in this case, when the drive means is operated, the worm 51
Since a certain time delay occurs until the rotational force is transmitted up to, the limit switch can perform control to invalidate the position signal output from the encoder as described above.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, the rotation angle of the rotating disc on which the ultrasonic transducers are arranged is regulated to about 180 ° by the rotation angle regulating portion, and the rotation circle is regulated by the detecting member. It detects that the plate has rotated to the angle regulated by this rotation angle regulation unit, and the rotational force transmitting means for rotating the rotating disc by remote control is operating. It is configured to detect that the output signal of the encoder is invalidated during the period when it is detected by the detection member, so that the line connected to the ultrasonic transducer does not burden the cable. The ultrasonic transducers arranged in a line can be scanned while moving not only in the line direction but also in the rotation direction,
In addition, even if the rotary disc is behind the rotary drive means, the ultrasonic reflected echo signal and the position signal can be accurately matched.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a distal end constituent portion of an insertion portion.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of an internal component member of the tip component portion.

FIG. 4 is a structural explanatory view of a remote control mechanism for a rotating disc equipped with an ultrasonic transducer.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a slack prevention member.

6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line XX of FIG.

FIG. 7 is an operation explanatory view showing a scanning range by the ultrasonic transducer.

FIG. 8 is a timing chart showing the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

FIG. 9 is a structural explanatory view showing a rotary drive mechanism of a rotary disc in a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Insertion part 1a Tip configuration part 2 Operation part 3 Ultrasonic observation device 3a Control part 10 Tip part main body 11,53 Rotating disk 12,52 Ultrasonic transducer 13 Pulley 17 Operating wire 21 Motor 23 Encoder 30 Loosening prevention member 40 Rotation Side regulating part 41 Fixed side regulating part 42, 43 Switch 42a, 42b, 43a, 43b Contact point 50 Flexible shaft 51 Worm 54 Gear

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rotary disc mounted on the distal end of an insertion part and having a plurality of ultrasonic transducers arranged in a line, a rotary drive part for rotationally driving the rotary disc, and a connection to the rotary drive part. And a rotary force transmitting means for rotating the rotary disc by remote control, an encoder for detecting a rotary angle by the rotary force transmitting means, and a rotary angle regulating portion for regulating the rotary angle of the rotary disc to about 180 °. , A detection member that detects that the rotating disc has rotated to an angle regulated by the rotation angle regulating portion, and the rotating force transmitting means is operating, but the rotating disc stops at the regulating angle position. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is characterized by being configured by the control means for detecting that the output signal of the encoder is invalid during the detection by the detection member.