JPH10201748A - X-ray examination apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To select optionally a saving action for preventing any interference by arranging a means to turn optionally ON/OFF the saving action to be taken place for another axis so that no action for an axis causes any interference. SOLUTION: The entries by the operation panel 40 are sent to the CPU 31 signaling any command to the drive unit 33 via the D/A converters 32 for actions at each axis to drive the driving motors 34 of each axial direction to have each axis act toward each direction. The position detection signals for each direction is impressed at the input of the action range limiting circuit 35, then, calculates an action range to be limited, whose limiting signals are then fed back into the CPU 31. The operator then allocates a pushbutton on the operation panel 40 for turning OFF the saving action. Upon depressing this pushbutton to turn OFF the saving action, the CPU 31 sends a non-action command to the saving control circuit 36 to turn it 36 OFF and to go the action range limiting circuit 35 only into action.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an X-ray inspection apparatus used for medical diagnosis and the like, and more particularly to an X-ray inspection apparatus capable of freely determining the X-ray fluoroscopic direction and position.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an X-ray image system (consisting of an X-ray tube, an image intensifier, a television camera, etc.) is held by a combination of various mechanisms such as a linear motion mechanism and a rotary motion mechanism. There is known an X-ray inspection apparatus in which the position and direction of an X-ray beam (perspective field) with respect to a subject are determined to freely determine the direction and position of X-ray fluoroscopy. In such an X-ray inspection apparatus, the operating range is limited for each of various moving directions so that the respective movements of the mechanisms do not interfere with each other or collide with the subject, or one moving direction is used. In the case where interference occurs due to the movement in the moving direction, the evacuation operation by moving in another moving direction is automatically performed.

That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, in a C-arm type X-ray fluoroscope in which an X-ray tube 21 and an image intensifier 22 (and a television camera) are held at the tip of a C-arm 24, FIG.
There is a danger of colliding with the subject 10 when rotated as shown by the arrow in FIG. 3, so the bed top plate 11 is moved as shown by the arrow in FIG. Even when rotated to such a state, no interference occurs.

[0004]

However, when such an evacuation operation for preventing interference is automatically performed, it is rather inconvenient for a doctor to diagnose. In the example of FIG. 4, if an X-ray beam is applied to the left portion of the subject 10 to diagnose the portion in FIG. 4A, the C-arm 24 is rotated. The bed top plate 11 has been moved, and the predetermined position has shifted, so that the positioning must be performed again. Once the position and direction of the X-ray beam have been determined in this way, it is better to simply limit the movement range without performing a retreat operation for preventing interference even if the X-ray beam is moved thereafter.

[0005] In view of the above, the present invention determines whether the evacuation operation for interference prevention is merely performed to limit the operation range or the evacuation operation for interference prevention is performed by the situation or the intention of a doctor or the like. It is an object of the present invention to provide an X-ray inspection apparatus improved so that it can be arbitrarily selected each time.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, in an X-ray inspection apparatus according to the present invention, X-ray imaging means and moving means for moving the X-ray imaging means in respective directions of a plurality of axes are provided. Means for restricting the operation in each axis to prevent mutual interference from their positional relationship;
It is characterized in that there are provided means for performing a retreat operation on another axis so as not to cause interference with the operation on the axis, and means for arbitrarily turning on and off the retreat operation.

[0007] When movement is performed on one axis, a collision with another may occur due to a positional relationship. Therefore, in order to prevent this interference, the movement in one axis is restricted according to the positional relationship, and if a collision is about to occur, it is stopped just before the collision. In addition, the evacuation operation on another axis can be performed so as not to cause interference, and the operation on one axis can be continued. It is possible to arbitrarily select whether to continue the operation in one axis with the retreat operation or simply stop due to operation range limitation.

[0008]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control system according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is applied to an X-ray inspection apparatus as shown in FIG. This X-ray inspection apparatus is a kind of C-arm type X-ray fluoroscope, and can be used also for inspection of a circulatory organ. For convenience of explanation, FIG.
In this figure, an X-ray tube 21 and an X-ray imaging device in which a television camera 23 is coupled to an image intensifier (II) 22 are attached to both ends of a C-shaped arm 24. A bed top plate 11 for laying down the subject is arranged. The C-arm 24 is held by an arm holding block 25, and the arm holding block 25 is attached to a slide block 26.
The slide block 26 is configured to be movable on a slide rail 27, and the slide rail 27 is attached to a semicircular falling frame 28. The raising frame 28 is held by a base 29. The bed top plate 11 is attached to the upside-down frame 28.

Here, the operation (moving direction) of each part will be described. The falling frame 28 is held on the base 29 so as to be rotatable in the direction of arrow 08 along the semicircle of the frame 28. Therefore, when the frame 28 rotates, the bed top plate 11 also rotates integrally therewith. The bed top plate 11 has arrows 01, 02, 03 while being held by the tilting frame 28.
It can be moved in each direction. In other words, the right and left direction of the bed top plate 11 (the left and right direction of the subject lying thereon) 01, the length direction of the bed top plate 11 (the height direction of the subject) 02, and the plane perpendicular to the surface of the bed top plate 11. It is movable in the direction 03. These directions 01, 02, 03
In the state as shown in the figure, the direction coincides with the X direction, the Y direction, and the Z direction which is the vertical direction in the horizontal plane.

[0010] The slide block 26 is a
8 can be moved linearly along the slide rail 27 fixed to 8 as shown by an arrow 07. The direction of the arrow 07 rotates with the rotation of the tilting frame 28. The arm holding block 25 is held by the slide block 26 so as to be rotatable in the direction of arrow 06. That is, the arm holding block 25 is
It is rotatable around an axis (horizontal axis) perpendicular to (sliding direction indicated by arrow 07).

The C-shaped arm 24 is held by the arm holding block 25 so as to be rotatable in the direction of arrow 05 along the C-shape. Therefore, the direction of the X-ray beam emitted from the X-ray tube 21 and incident on the image intensifier 22 is rotatable around three axes as indicated by arrows 05, 06, and 08, and the position of the X-ray beam is changed. Can move linearly with respect to the bed top plate 11 (the subject thereon) as indicated by an arrow 07. Further, the image intensifier 22 and the television camera 23 coupled thereto are
At the tip of the mold arm 24, it can move linearly as indicated by an arrow 04 to approach or move away from the X-ray tube 21.

As described above, there are eight moving axes, and the position and direction of the X-ray beam can be arbitrarily determined by freely moving with these eight axes. In order to operate the movement in these eight axes, as shown in FIG. 3, the operation panel 40 has levers 41, 42, 43,.
53,... Are provided. Further, the operation panel 40 is provided with a display device 61 such as a liquid crystal display device for displaying an auxiliary message for operation and the like. The lever 41 is a joystick lever, which is moved in the front-rear direction (LAO
-RAO direction), the horizontal direction (C
When tilted in the RAN-CAUD direction, the C-arms 24 can be rotated in the directions of arrows 06 respectively. Thus, the direction (viewing direction) of the X-ray beam can be set to an arbitrary direction.

The lever 42 is an operation lever for determining the position of the X-ray beam (the field of view of the fluoroscopy). When the lever 42 is tilted up and down, the slide block 26 moves in the direction of arrow 07 to move the position of the field of view in the height direction of the subject. When the bed top plate 11 is tilted in the left-right direction, the bed top plate 11 moves in the direction of arrow 01, and the position of the visual field can be moved in the left-right direction of the subject. When the lever is tilted up and down while pressing the button 49 at the tip of the lever, the bed top plate 11 moves in the direction of arrow 02 without moving the slide block. The vertical movement (the direction of the arrow 03) of the bed top plate 11 is performed by pressing the push buttons 51 and 52. Rotational movement of the tilting frame 28 (tilting in the direction of arrow 08) is performed by operating the lever 43.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the inputs from these operations on the operation panel 40 are sent to the CPU 31, and the CPU 31 basically issues a command for the operation in each axis as input. The operation command for each axis is
Each is sent to a driving device 33 via a D / A converter 32, and a driving motor 34 in each axial direction is driven to perform an operation in each direction. In case that the operations in each direction interfere with each other, the position in each direction is detected, and the position detection signal in each direction is output to the operation range limiting circuit 35.
Has been entered. The operating range limiting circuit 35 calculates an operating range to be limited from the position of each part in each direction,
The limit signal is sent to the CPU
Returned to 31.

Therefore, when the lever 41 is operated to rotate the C-shaped arm 24 as shown in FIG. 4A, when the subject 10 (or the bed top plate 11) is rotated to the position shown in FIG. Is determined by the operation range limiting circuit 35, and the collision is temporarily stopped just before the collision position. When the operation of the lever 41 is further continued, the positions of these C-arms 24 and the bed top plate 11
The evacuation control circuit 36 operates based on the position detection signal to issue an evacuation operation command to the CPU 31, and the CPU 31 moves the bed top plate 11 in the left-right direction (arrow 01 direction) to a position where the image intensifier 22 does not collide. An operation command is issued, and this is sent to the driving device 3 via the D / A converter 32.
3 and the motor 34 for moving in the left-right direction rotates, and the bed top plate 11 moves as shown by the arrow in FIG.

In this case, if it is assumed that the visual field is positioned in the state of FIG. 4A, the bed top plate 11 is moved by the retreating operation as described above, and the positioning needs to be reset, which is complicated. It is. Therefore, if it is desired to avoid such complication, an operator such as a doctor performs an operation for turning off the evacuation operation. For example, a push button 53 on the operation panel 40 is assigned as an operation switch for this purpose. The push button 53 is located on the lower side of the display device 61, and is displayed on the screen of the display device 61 so that its presence can be easily understood. Further, on this screen, the selection state of ON / OFF of the evacuation operation is displayed. It is displayed.

When the push button 53 is pressed to turn off the evacuation operation, the evacuation control circuit 36
, And the circuit 36 is turned off. As a result, only the operation range limiting circuit 35 operates. In this case, when the lever 41 is operated to rotate the C-arm 24 as shown in FIG. 4A, the image intensifier 22 or the like is moved to the subject 10 as shown in FIG.
The operating range of the C-arm 24 is limited so that there is no danger of collision, and the rotation of the C-arm 24 is stopped shortly before the collision. Instead of stopping the operation due to such operation restriction, the evacuation operation is performed so that the C-arm 2
If it is desired to advance the rotation of No. 4, the push button 53 is pressed again to turn on the evacuation operation.

The above description relates to one example, and various changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, a switch other than the push button 53 may be used as a switch for turning on / off the evacuation operation.
Even if the push button 53 is used, its position is not limited to the one shown. Also, the on / off display may not be performed by the display device 61 but may be performed by a separately provided LED or the like. In addition to the on / off switching, when the lever 41 is operated while pressing the push button, the movement continues with the evacuation operation, and when the lever 41 is operated without being pressed, the evacuation operation is not performed and the operation is restricted by the operation range restriction circuit 35. May be performed only.

The operating range limiting circuit 35 and the evacuation control circuit 36 can be configured as hardware separate from the CPU 31, but can also be configured as software in the CPU 31. In this case, the position detection signal is directly input to the CPU 31. Further, the present invention is not limited to the X-ray inspection apparatus shown in FIG.
The present invention can also be applied to other types of X-ray inspection apparatuses such as a mold arm type X-ray fluoroscope.

[0020]

As described above, according to the X-ray inspection apparatus of the present invention, the operation on one axis is continued with the retreat operation on the other axis, or the operation on the other axis is Whether to stop just before the danger area without performing the evacuation operation can be left to the operator's intention, and the operability is improved because the operator can arbitrarily select according to the situation etc. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a control system of an X-ray inspection apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view schematically showing the entire appearance of the X-ray inspection apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an operation panel of the X-ray inspection apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining an operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

10
Subject 11
Bed top plate 21
X-ray tube 22
Image Intensifier 23
TV camera 24
C-arm 25
Arm holding block 26
Slide block 27
Slide rail 28
Semi-circular falling frame 29
Base 31
CPU 32
D / A converter 33
Drive device 34
Motor 35
Operating range limiting circuit 36
Evacuation control circuit 40
Operation panel 41, 42, 43, ... Lever 51, 52, 53, ... Push button 61
Display device

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Katsuhiro Masuo, inventor, Shimazu Works Sanjo Plant, No. 1 Kuwabaracho, Nishinokyo, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An X-ray imaging means, a moving means for moving the X-ray imaging means in each of a plurality of axes, and a restriction on an operation in each axis in order to prevent mutual interference from their positional relationship. An X-ray inspection apparatus comprising: an adding unit; a unit for performing a retreat operation on another axis so that an operation on one axis does not cause interference; and a unit for arbitrarily turning on and off a retreat operation. .