JPS581438A - Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention scans an object to be diagnosed with an ultrasonic directional beam, emits ultrasonic pulses, and transmits the reflected waves to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

Conventional ultrasonic diagnostic equipment emits ultrasonic pulses, receives the reflected waves, and detects the distance from the liquid sending point to the reflecting point. According to this conventional device, it was not possible to detect the qualitative state of the medium of the living body to be diagnosed, such as the attenuation rate. A diagnostic device using XS is a so-called X-ray tactile system, which measures and displays the attenuation state of X-rays inside a living body. This is a very good device. However, when using XS, the line can only be applied to a part of the living body -)'. -) It is not possible to diagnose areas that cannot be exposed to X-rays.

On the other hand, similar to X-ray tomography, ultrasound tomography is also being considered, but this does not involve emitting ultrasound waves and detecting the ultrasound waves that have passed through the living body. Therefore, the areas where such ultrasound tomography can be used are limited to only a small part of the living body.

The purpose of this invention is to make it possible to detect not only the shape inside a living body but also its qualitative characteristics by utilizing the reflection characteristics of ultrasound waves.

According to this invention, ultrasonic pulses are emitted into a living body by a transmitter with sharp directivity, and the ultrasonic pulses are directly emitted into a living body.

Since it detects radiated waves, the ultrasonic waves propagate as scattered waves in each part of the living body as it travels through the body. At each location, the point of reflection of the received scattered wave at the intersection of these directional directions is known, and the ultrasonic pulse is emitted and transmitted through the ultrasonic path in the trench where the wave is received through the reflection point. Measure the time taken. By two-dimensionally moving and scanning such intersections of the ultrasound direction directions, the elapsed time of the ultrasound pulse corresponding to each part of the p1 living body is measured, and, for example, the velocity of the ultrasound at each part of the living body is determined. Therefore, it is possible to display the speed of sound in various parts of a living body.For example, it is possible to easily find places such as malignant tumors, where the speed of sound is fast.

For example, as shown in FIG.
is opened, and the object to be diagnosed 13 is placed in a portion of and above the container 11 so as to close the opening 12. The container 11 is filled with an ultrasonic coupling medium, e.g. The transmitter 15 has sharp directivity, and the ultrasonic pulses emitted from the transmitter 16 along this directional ultrasonic beam 16 proceed in the coupling medium 14 without reflection. , is incident on the object 13, and travels inside the object 13 while being scattered at each point.

In Jin's invention, the scattered waves are received by a receiver with sharp directivity. That is, a receiver 18 is provided with a directional direction 17 that intersects with the transmitted beam 16, and the receiver 18 receives ultrasonic waves in a direction other than the directional direction 17, and receives ultrasonic waves from directions other than this direction as much as possible. The configuration should avoid this. For example, as shown in this example, a horn 19 for cutting off ultrasonic waves is provided at one MIC in front of the receiver 18, and as shown in FIG. It's good to do that. In this manner, the receiver 18 receives the reflected light in the direction 17 of the scattered ttIL generated at the intersection 21 of the transmitted beam 16 and the direction 17 of the receiver.

the position of the transmitter 15 and the angle of the beam 160 pointing direction;
The intersection point 21 of both orientation directions can be determined from the position of the delivery device 18 and the angle of the O orientation direction 17. Therefore transmitter 1
5, it is possible to know the path on which the round-angle sound wave is scattered at the intersection 21 and reach the delivery point 1118. This allows us to know the average speed along that route.

While the direction of the transmitted beam 16 is kept constant and the direction of the receiver 18 is shifted by 170 degrees or the horizontal position, scattered waves are received at each point on the transmitted beam 16, and the transmitted pulse is and measure the time required to receive the wave. Furthermore, by shifting the angle or position of the transmitting beam 160 and similarly receiving the scattered waves at each point on the transmitting beam, the same process is performed, and as shown in the figure, the object 13 is shaped like an eye on the base, for example. When the ultrasonic waves are divided into micro-regions 22 and each micro-region 22 is used as a reflection point, the time at which the ultrasonic radiation is received by the receiver aS is measured.

For example, the position on the transmitter 15017 coordinates and the radiation beam 1
6 is set by controlling the mechanism section 31 with the control section 32, and data xsyus indicating the position of the transmitter 18 of the control section a2 is inputted to the coordinate calculation section O. Similarly, the position on the X7 coordinates of the delivery device 180 and the angle of the pointing direction are controlled by the control unit 36 of the mechanism unit 34, and data XH7fi#fi indicating the position of the received wave 1) 18 is sent from the control unit 35 to the multi-coordinate calculation unit. 38 manpower. The coordinate calculation unit 33 is controlled by these control units 82,
Each small region 2 of the object 13 where a received pulse can be obtained from data on each position of the transmitter and receiver of 35 and its pointing direction.
The coordinate position to which 2 belongs is calculated, and the address generating section 36 generates a 9 address corresponding to the coordinate position. In other words, the coordinate calculation unit 33 calculates each coordinate position of the intersection 21 between the directional beam 16 and the directional direction 17 of the delivery device.

The transmitter 37 excites the transmission wave 4815 to emit an ultrasonic pulse, and the output of the receiver 18 is received and amplified by the receiver 38, but after the transmitter 37 transmits the signal, A time measurement unit 39 measures the time in the trench where the reception pulse is obtained by the reception unit 38 .

The measurement time T for the measurement is specified by the address of the address generation section 86 and stored in the storage section 41.

The storage unit 41 stores the average time of the ultrasonic wave path from the nine transmitters IB to the receiver 18 corresponding to each point when the object 13 is broken down into its small regions 22.

If the length of each minute area (more precisely, the length in the ultrasonic path direction) is St, and the sound speed of the ultrasonic wave in that area is Vi, then the transmitter 11s passing through each minute area passes through the crossing point 21. ] The value Σxlsi obtained by adding the product of the length 81 of each minute area on the path leading to the delivery device 18 and Xi at each point is the average time TI measured for that area point. Therefore, by solving linear simultaneous equations in which the time Xi in each minute region 22 is an unknown quantity, the sound velocity M1 in each minute region 22 can be determined. Such calculations are retrieved from the storage section 41 and performed by the calculation section 42 to determine the speed in each minute region 22. Object 13
The speed of the minute area 22 in two dimensions, the display by the representation unit 4'3 during calculations in the calculation unit 42, and the storage in the storage unit 41, etc., are performed in a remote part separate from this device. Good too.

As described above, according to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, the ultrasound diagnosis method uses the reflection method instead of the transmission method by receiving the scattered ultrasound waves at each point on the path of the ultrasound waves. This makes it possible to detect the qualitative state of the medium rather than the shape of a minute region inside the living body.

In the case based on the transmission method, bones and 7. The device of the present invention can measure areas that are not constant due to gas and, surprisingly, does not cause problems such as exposure to X-rays. In this way, it is possible to detect the qualitative states of various organs, which was previously impossible.

As shown in FIG. 1 of FIG.
The intersection point of the transmitting beam and the receiving direction is moved and scanned in each two-dimensional micro region in the transmitter 1, for example.
5 or rotate as necessary, and move or rotate the receiver 18 as necessary. For example, it is possible to utilize the transducer beam scanning means of a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, such as the one shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 52-484. can use means. Furthermore, not only one but a plurality of receivers 18 are operated at the same time. For example, in FIG. 11)1
By transmitting the ultrasonic pulse O twice and receiving the O ultrasonic wave from a plurality of scattering points in the traveling direction, the two-dimensional scanning f' of the intersection can be performed at a high speed.

As mentioned above, it is preferable to use a rounded, horn-shaped shielding body 19 that delivers extremely sharp directivity by transferring unnecessary waves a18. As shown in FIG. 1, when an object 18 and a coupling medium 14 are used to make ultrasonic waves incident on the object 18, there is almost no scattering in the coupling medium 14, and the sound velocity of the coupling medium is constant and With known rounding, a line reflection is obtained at the interface between the coupling medium 14 and the object 13, and the interface can be known, and accordingly, the configuration is such that calculations on this coupling medium 14 are omitted. , the amount of calculation can be reduced accordingly, and the storage capacity of the L, t& storage section 41 can be reduced.

Furthermore, in order to improve the reliability of the data, the transmitter and the receiver are of the same type, and in the ultrasonic path, one emits ultrasonic pulses, the other receives the waves, and then the other emits the ultrasonic pulses. It is also possible to send a wave and then exchange it on the other hand, and if the same data is obtained for both parties, that data may be used as correct data.

In general, ultrasonic diagnostic equipment uses a carrier wave of 8M, for example.
Hz, but it also generates frequency components lower than 3 MHz. Therefore, by using low component reflected and scattered waves such as IMlb for reception,
It is also possible to receive 1LtIIL with as little attenuation as possible.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing means for sharpening the directivity of a wave receiver. 15: Transmitter, 13: Object to be diagnosed, 16: Ultrasonic transmission beam, 17: Reception direction, 18: Delivery device, 21: Intersection, 22: Microscopic area of object, 31: Drive of transmitter Mechanism department,
32: Control unit, 33: Coordinate calculation unit, 34: Delivery device drive mechanism unit, 35: Control unit, 36: Address signal generation unit, 3
7: Ultrasonic pulse transmitter, 3B = Ultrasonic pulse receiver,
39: Time measurement section, 41: Storage section, 42: Arithmetic section, 43
: Display section. Patent Applicant: Asahi Medical Co., Ltd. Kinshadai Tsuyoshi Kusano

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A transmitter with beam-like directivity, an ultrasonic pulse transmitter that excites the transmitter and emits ultrasonic pulses, and a sharp directivity that intersects with the directivity direction of the transmitter. an ultrasonic pulse receiving unit that receives and amplifies the output of the received wave IIO; and an ultrasonic pulse receiving section that receives and amplifies the output of the received wave IIO; 0 at the trench where the pulse diffuser wave is received by the ultrasonic pulse receiving section.
An ultrasonic diagnostic device comprising: a time measuring section that measures time.