JPH0852150A - Ultrasonic medical treatment device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To level the volume of supersonic waves to be radiated per unit to avoid inconveniences such as a burn by controlling delay of supersonic wave radiation timing according to the focal distance which is set based on the mea sured distance from the surface of the part to be treated. CONSTITUTION:A ultrasonic picture of the part 1 to be treated of the living body 2 is taken by a ultrasonic diagnosis device which consists of a ultrasonic probe 4, a transmission circuit 15, a receiving circuit 16, an indicator 21, etc. Then a system controller 26 recognizes the depth of the part 1 to be treated from this ultrasonic picture, and according to the information of the depth, the focal distance determination part 31 determines the focal distance so that the focus of the ultrasonic waves is set at the same depth as of the part 1 to be treated. After that, the main controller 11 reads out the data on the delay corresponding to the determined focal distance from the delay data memory 12, and sends control instruction to the delay controller to follow the delay timing. After these processes, the focal distance of supersonic waves radiated from each vibrator 7 is identical with the determined depth.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic therapeutic apparatus for irradiating a treatment target region of a subject with strong ultrasonic waves for treatment, and more particularly to a technique for protecting the skin surface of the subject.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, ultrasonic medical treatment apparatuses have been widely used as medical diagnostic apparatuses have been developed. The ultrasonic therapy device has a therapeutic applicator and an ultrasonic probe, and takes an ultrasonic image near the treatment site using the ultrasonic probe, and identifies the treatment site while observing the ultrasonic image, Treatment is performed by irradiating strong ultrasonic waves from the ultrasonic applicator. The treatment at this time is, for example, when a stone formed in the body such as a gallstone is irradiated with a shock wave and crushed,
There is a case of hyperthermia treatment in which a tumor generated in the body is heated for a long time and necrosed.

In such an ultrasonic treatment apparatus, the diameter of each ultrasonic transducer mounted on the treatment applicator,
Since the curvature is constant, for the treatment target area where the depth from the body surface is different, adjust the water volume of the water bag interposed between the applicator and the body surface to adjust the distance between the applicator and the body surface. The ultrasonic focus was changed to match the treatment target site.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between such a conventional ultrasonic focus and the depth of the treatment target region. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 101 indicates the body surface of the subject, and the treatment target region. The irradiation path of the ultrasonic wave is 103 depending on the depth of
a, 103b, 103c, and accordingly, the ultrasonic focus positions are denoted by reference numerals 102a, 102b, 102.
It changes to c. Therefore, the area where the ultrasonic waves pass through the body surface becomes smaller as the depth of the ultrasonic focus becomes shallower, as indicated by reference numerals 104a, 104b and 104c. For this reason, the ultrasonic irradiation amount per unit area increases as the depth of the ultrasonic focus decreases.

[0005]

As described above, in the conventional ultrasonic therapeutic apparatus, since the diameter and the curvature of the vibrator attached to the ultrasonic applicator are constant, the ultrasonic wave can be changed depending on the depth of the treatment target region. The position of the sonic applicator needs to be changed. When the depth is shallow, the ultrasonic irradiation amount per unit area due to the ultrasonic waves passing through the body surface becomes large, and the operator cannot monitor this irradiation amount, which may cause severe pain to the subject. However, there is a drawback that damage such as burns occurs.

The present invention has been made to solve such a conventional problem, and an object thereof is to perform ultrasonic treatment without affecting the skin surface or other normal tissues. An object is to provide an ultrasonic therapy device.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the first invention of the present application has a plurality of ultrasonic transducers arranged two-dimensionally, and a drive voltage is applied to the ultrasonic transducers. In an ultrasonic treatment apparatus that supplies and irradiates a strong ultrasonic wave toward a treatment target region in a subject to perform treatment, a delay control unit that controls a delay timing of ultrasonic irradiation by each ultrasonic transducer. A delay data storage unit that stores a delay timing corresponding to the focal length of the ultrasonic wave in advance, and a focal length setting unit that determines a distance from the body surface of the treatment site and sets the focal length based on the distance. Is characterized by having.

Further, the second invention of the present application has a plurality of ultrasonic transducers arranged two-dimensionally and is powerful toward the treatment target region in the subject under the set ultrasonic irradiation conditions. In an ultrasonic treatment apparatus for performing treatment by irradiating ultrasonic waves, a calculation means for calculating a powerful ultrasonic irradiation amount to be irradiated to a subject tissue based on the ultrasonic irradiation conditions, and a powerful calculation for the calculation means. Display means for displaying the ultrasonic irradiation amount on the screen,
It is characterized by having.

[0009]

According to the first aspect of the present invention configured as described above, when the ultrasonic focus is set by the focal length setting means based on the depth from the body surface of the region to be treated, it is stored in the delay data storage means. The delay timing of each ultrasonic transducer is read by the delay control means, and ultrasonic waves are emitted from each transducer according to the delay data. Therefore, the ultrasonic focus can be adjusted to the treatment target site without adjusting the water bag interposed between the applicator and the body surface and changing the distance between the applicator and the body surface. Therefore, since the area of the body surface through which the ultrasonic waves pass is always almost constant,
Problems such as pain and burns to the subject can be solved.

In the second invention of the present application, the accumulation of ultrasonic pressure or ultrasonic energy applied to the body surface of the subject or other normal tissues is determined from the irradiation conditions of the ultrasonic waves radiated into the subject. Then, these data are displayed on the screen of the monitor. Therefore, by setting a limit value for the accumulation of these ultrasonic pressures and ultrasonic energy, the operator can recognize before reaching this limit value, and avoid problems such as causing pain and causing burns. You will be able to.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an ultrasonic therapeutic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, this ultrasonic treatment apparatus has a plurality of ultrasonic transducers 7 and a living body 2
And the applicator 6 for contacting the treatment site 1 in the living body 2 with strong ultrasonic waves, and the treatment site 1
And an ultrasonic probe 4 that transmits and receives an ultrasonic wave for capturing an ultrasonic image of a region including.

Each of the ultrasonic transducers 7 is connected to a pulser 8 provided for each ultrasonic wave so as to be supplied with an ultrasonic pulse, and each pulser 8 is driven by a drive voltage controller 10.
The ultrasonic pulse is output by the drive voltage from. Further, each pulsar 8 is connected to a delay circuit 9 which operates under the control of the delay control unit 11, whereby each pulse output from each pulsar 8 is delayed to control the focal position of the intense ultrasonic wave. . In addition, the delay control unit 11 and the drive voltage control unit 10
Are collectively controlled by the main control unit 13, and the main control unit 13
Is connected to a delay data memory 12 in which delay data is stored in advance.

On the other hand, the ultrasonic probe 4 is connected to the transmitting circuit 15 and the receiving circuit 16 via the multiplexer 14,
The ultrasonic waves for imaging are output to the living body 2 and the ultrasonic echoes generated in the imaging area are received. The pulse signal is supplied to the transmission circuit 15 from the imaging pulser 17.
The ultrasonic echoes collected by the receiving circuit 16 are supplied to the signal processing circuit 18 to create an image signal. This image signal is displayed on the display device 21 via the image memory 19 and the image processing unit 20.

Further, the ultrasonic treatment apparatus has a probe position controller 2 for controlling the position of the ultrasonic probe 4.
3. An applicator position controller 25 for controlling the position of the applicator is provided and is controlled under the control of the system controller 26. Also,
The focus marker controller 24 also operates under the control of the system controller 26 to display the focus marker 22 on the ultrasonic image.

The system controller 26 is also connected to a focal length setting unit 31 which sets the focal length of the applicator 6 according to the distance from the body surface of the treatment site 1.
The setting result is supplied to the main controller 13. Further, the system controller 26 is connected to the calculation unit 32, and the output of the calculation unit 32 is supplied to the display device 21.

The computing unit 32 computes the ultrasonic pressure on the body surface through which the ultrasonic waves pass, and the amount of accumulated energy, based on conditions such as the irradiation intensity of the ultrasonic waves emitted from each transducer 7 and the irradiation time. The calculation result is displayed on the display device 21.

2A and 2B are explanatory views showing various kinds of ultrasonic applicators 6. FIG. 2A is a plane type in which the vibrators 7 are arranged in a plane, and FIG. In the figure, (c) shows a polyhedron type in which each transducer 7 is arranged in the shape of a spherical shell.

Next, the operation according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, the delay control unit 11 delays the ultrasonic waves emitted from each transducer 7, thereby adjusting the depth of the ultrasonic focus. That is, first, the ultrasonic probe 4, the transmission circuit 15, the reception circuit 16 shown in FIG.
The living body 2 is detected by the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus including the display device 21 and the like.
An ultrasonic image of the treatment site 1 present inside is taken. Then, the system controller 26 recognizes the depth of the treatment region 1 from this ultrasonic image, and outputs this depth information to the focal length setting unit 31. As a result, the focal length setting unit 31
Then, the focal length is determined so that the ultrasonic focus is set at the same depth as the treatment site 1.

Thereafter, the main control unit 11 stores the delay data corresponding to the set focal length in the delay data storage unit 12.
And the control command is supplied to the delay control unit so as to achieve this delay timing. As a result, the ultrasonic wave from each transducer 7 is delayed, and the focal length reaches the set depth. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a change in the depth of focus and the path of an ultrasonic wave to be emitted.
As it becomes shallower at c, 43b, 43a, the irradiation path of the ultrasonic wave becomes steeper at 42c, 42b, 42a. As is clear from the figure, the area of the body surface 41 through which the ultrasonic waves pass is constant even if the depth of the ultrasonic focus changes.
Therefore, even if the depth changes, the ultrasonic irradiation intensity per unit area on the body surface becomes constant, and problems such as causing pain to the subject and causing burns can be avoided.

Next, the operation according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this embodiment, it is necessary to determine whether or not ultrasonic waves having a degree of causing pain to the body surface of the subject are irradiated, and when it is determined that there is a possibility of causing pain, an alarm is output to notify the operator. is there. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6 shown in the conventional example, the distance between the applicator and the body surface changes according to the depth of the treatment site. The details will be described below. The system controller 26 determines ultrasonic wave irradiation conditions such as ultrasonic wave intensity and ultrasonic wave irradiation time when performing ultrasonic treatment, and the irradiation conditions are supplied to the calculation unit 32. Then, the calculation unit 32 calculates the ultrasonic irradiation amount (ultrasonic pressure, energy accumulation, etc.) on the surface of the subject based on the irradiation conditions and the body surface area through which the ultrasonic waves pass. Then, the result is displayed on the display device 21. as a result,
For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the limit value M1 of the ultrasonic irradiation amount is set, and an area larger than that is set as the dangerous area.

When the depth of the ultrasonic focus is shallow, the amount of ultrasonic waves applied to the body surface per unit area is large, so that the amount of irradiation is rapidly increased as the treatment time elapses, as shown in FIG. Increase to. Therefore, immediately the limit value M1
Therefore, the irradiation of ultrasonic waves is temporarily stopped at this point,
The treatment is performed while repeating the operation of starting irradiation again after a while. Further, when the depth of focus is deep, it takes a long time to reach the limit value M1 as shown in S3 of FIG. Therefore, it is possible to irradiate the ultrasonic wave for a longer period of time than that at the time of S1, and thereafter, the irradiation is similarly stopped when the limit value M1 is reached. Then, after a while, the irradiation is started again.

By performing such an operation, ultrasonic waves are not emitted until the dangerous area is reached on the body surface. Further, if an alarm is output when the limit value M1 is reached, the safety can be further improved. It should be noted that S2 shown in the figure indicates an intermediate position between S1 and S3.

FIG. 5 is a characteristic diagram showing data used for obtaining the ultrasonic irradiation intensity on the body surface. FIG.
6 is a characteristic diagram showing the attenuation of the ultrasonic wave intensity E with respect to the depth Z, and the intensity E decreases exponentially as the depth Z becomes deeper. Further, as shown in FIG. 7B, the energy to be applied increases exponentially as the diameter of the ultrasonic transducer increases. Further, the pressure on the body surface increases linearly as the depth Z increases as shown in FIG.
Then, the calculation unit 32 shown in FIG. 1 obtains the ultrasonic wave irradiation intensity on the body surface based on the above-mentioned characteristic diagrams.

As described above, according to the second embodiment of the present invention, the ultrasonic waves are not emitted until the dangerous area is reached on the body surface, and the subject is not injured or burned. Safety is ensured.

[0025]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, since the area through which ultrasonic waves pass is constant on the body surface, the ultrasonic irradiation amount per unit area is constant. Therefore, even if the focus is set at a position with a shallow depth, it is possible to avoid problems such as causing pain to the subject and causing burns. Further, according to the second invention of the present application, since the ultrasonic irradiation amount to be irradiated on the body surface is displayed on the screen, the operator can recognize this when the irradiation amount is large, and it is possible to safely It becomes possible to emit sound waves.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an ultrasonic therapeutic apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an array configuration of various vibrators mounted on the applicator.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing changes in the ultrasonic focus and changes in the ultrasonic path according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a characteristic diagram showing a relationship between a treatment time and an ultrasonic irradiation amount according to the second example.

FIG. 5 is a characteristic diagram showing data necessary for obtaining an ultrasonic irradiation amount according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a change in ultrasonic focus and a change in ultrasonic path in the related art.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Treatment site 2 Living body 3 Imaging area 4 Ultrasonic probe 5 Water bag 6 Applicator 7 Transducer 8
Pulser 9 Delay circuit 10 Drive voltage control unit 11 Delay control unit 12 Delay data memory 13 Main control unit 14
Multiplexer 15 Transmission circuit 16 Reception circuit 17 Imaging pulser 18 Signal processing circuit 19 Image memory 20 Image processing unit 21 Display device 22 Focus marker 23 Probe position controller 24 Focus marker controller 25 Applicator position controller 26 System controller 27 Keyboard 31 Focal distance setting unit 32 calculation part 41 body surface 42a, 42b, 42c ultrasonic path 43a, 43b, 43c ultrasonic focus 102a, 102b, 102c ultrasonic focus 103a, 103b, 103c ultrasonic path 104a, 104b, 104c body surface passage area

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of ultrasonic transducers arranged two-dimensionally, and a driving voltage is supplied to the ultrasonic transducers to generate strong ultrasonic waves toward a treatment target region in a subject. In an ultrasonic treatment apparatus for irradiating and performing treatment, delay control means for controlling delay timing of ultrasonic irradiation by each of the ultrasonic transducers, and delay data in which delay timing according to a focal length of ultrasonic waves is stored in advance. An ultrasonic treatment apparatus comprising: a storage unit; and a focal length setting unit that determines a distance of the treatment site from a body surface and sets the focal length based on the distance. 2. A treatment, comprising a plurality of ultrasonic transducers arranged in a two-dimensional manner, irradiating a powerful ultrasonic wave toward a treatment target region in a subject under set ultrasonic irradiation conditions. In the ultrasonic treatment apparatus for performing, the calculation means for obtaining the intense ultrasonic wave irradiation amount to be irradiated to the subject tissue based on the ultrasonic wave irradiation condition, and the powerful ultrasonic wave irradiation amount obtained by the calculating means on the screen. And a display unit for displaying the ultrasonic therapy device. 3. The ultrasonic irradiation amount is ultrasonic pressure,
The ultrasonic therapeutic apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the ultrasonic therapeutic apparatus is ultrasonic energy. 4. The ultrasonic therapy apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising alarm means for outputting an alarm when the intensity of the ultrasonic irradiation exceeds a predetermined limit value. 5. The ultrasonic therapeutic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the strong ultrasonic wave is a shock wave for crushing stones. 6. The ultrasonic therapeutic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the strong ultrasonic waves are ultrasonic waves for performing hyperthermia treatment.