JPS5922534A - Ultrasonic diagnostic endoscope - 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 relates to an endoscope, and in particular, when performing endoscopic ultrasound diagnosis, it is important to use one ultrasound transducer array that can electrically scan in one direction. This invention relates to an endoscope capable of ultrasonic diagnosis that can be rotated to obtain ultrasonic tomographic images 2 from at least two directions.

In recent years, in the medical field, ultrasonic diagnostic methods, in which ultrasonic pulses are emitted into the body, and ultrasonic echoes reflected from internal organs are received, are used to generate ultrasound tomographic images of living bodies based on acoustic information within the body. Ultrasound diagnostic methods, which image and diagnose diagnosing, are becoming popular as a method of clinical diagnosis, and are beginning to play a major role in diagnosis.

For this type of ultrasound diagnostic method, there are two known methods: an in vitro method and an intracorporeal method using either an endoscope or a glove type. ,
A method using an endoscope that not only is not affected by bones that block the transmission of ultrasound waves or subcutaneous fat that absorbs and scatters ultrasound waves, but also makes it easy to recognize the diagnostic site is attracting attention.

Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment that uses such an endoscope is an ultrasonic transducer array χ endoscope that transmits ultrasonic pulses into the living body and receives ultrasound reflected echoes from internal organs, etc. It is placed at the distal end of the mirror's insertion part into the body cavity or somewhere in the middle. However, in this type of endoscope that has been proposed so far, it is desirable that the insertion part into the body cavity be as thin as possible to avoid imposing pain on the subject, and there is a lack of space. For these reasons, the reality is that we have no choice but to provide only one ultra-blind wave transducer array. By the way, the ultrasonic transducer array that can be applied to such an endoscope is limited by size etc. and can only electrically scan in one direction.
The scanning direction may differ depending on the mounting direction of the ultrasonic transducer array.
If you are trying to obtain two ultrasonic tomographic images in the determined and near-view direction, the orientation of the insertion part into the body cavity must be changed in two places + (■ Angle operation), which is a drawback. In view of the foregoing, the present invention provides an ultrasonic diagnostic rtJ' function that allows accurate diagnosis by obtaining an ultrasonic tomographic image 7 in a desired direction without any special manipulation of the body cavity insertion part. Endoscope?Provide.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an endoscope capable of ultrasonic diagnosis according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In FIG. 1, A indicates an endoscope body, B indicates a light source device, and C indicates an ultrasonic diagnostic device. The endoscope main body A includes a body cavity insertion section 10, a hand operation section 20, and a connecting section 30 connected to a light source device B and an ultrasonic diagnostic device C. The body cavity insertion section 10 has an observation window 11 and an illumination window 12 on its side surface.
It is configured to be a so-called side-viewing endoscope with a Y arrangement.The connecting portion 30 is formed such that one end is fixed to the hand operation portion 20 and the other end is branched into three. The first branch part 31V3 is equipped with an air/water supply tube connected to an air/water supply port (not shown) disposed near the observation window 11, and the light source device B
By connecting to the light source device B, the air/water supply and suction tubes are connected in a predetermined manner to predetermined equipment disposed within the light source device B or the like. Further, in the second branch part 32, an output end faces the illumination window 12 and an input end faces the light source device B.
There is an internal illumination light that faces the light source lamp when connected to the lamp. f, f. Inside the third branch section 33, as described later, is a signal cable electrically connected to the ultrasound transducer array 40 disposed in the body cavity insertion section 10 and the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus C. 41α and 41b are installed inside. The ultrasonic transducer array 40 is disposed within the ultrasonic wave deep section 13 provided at the distal end of the body cavity insertion section 10 shown in FIG. That is, the ultrasonic transducer array 40 is an ultrasonic transducer array chamber 4 formed within the ultrasonic probe section 13.
2, which is fixed on the backing material 43 and formed by the ultrasonic transmission medium, and is disposed so as to face the probe window 42h forming the ultrasonic sensor array chamber 42χ. . The above-mentioned punching material 43 forms the ultrasonic vibrator play chamber 42 (1-4) is rotatably supported on the bottom wall 42rL, and is fixed to the JAM excitation shaft 44-L, which will be described later. The ultrasonic transducer array 40χ is held in the ultrasonic transducer array chamber 42 by the driving operation based on the configuration, and the signal cable 41α and the signal cable 41h connected to the ultrasonic transducer ray 40 are rotated without request. (The signal cables 41α and 41b are provided in the vicinity 71 where they connect to the super-wave transducer array 40 so that they can sufficiently follow the rotation. ).

In addition, the upper NC ultrasonic transducer array chamber 42 is degassed to increase the transmission efficiency of ultrasonic waves and is filled with a non-conductive liquid ultrasonic medium '1-61, and the signal cable 41a
and 4 l hy drawer opening χ rubber gasket 4
2 CY, the probe window 42b and the drive shaft 44 are each sealed with an O-ring or the like.

The drive shaft 44 penetrates into the drive chamber 45 and pulley 46
The pulley 46 has one end locked to the pulley 46 itself and the other end fixed to the bottom wall 42α.
It is held in place and is biased to rotate in one direction by a single coil spring 47. The pulley 46 is connected to the operation pulley 21 disposed inside the hand operation section 20.
The operation wire 49 is passed through the guide tube 48 and into the body cavity insertion section 10, and has its proximal end fixed to the IJ-21K.The distal end of the operating wire 49 is wound and fixed. As shown in FIG. 3, the operating pulley 21 is fixed to an operating shaft 23 that is rotatably supported in a shaft hole 22α passing through the inside and outside of the housing body 22 of the hand operating section 200. The operating shaft 23 has an operating knob 24 on the outside of the operating shaft.
The IJ-21 is rotated integrally by an operating shaft 23 and an operating knob 24, and is secured by a click groove 26 provided on the inner surface of the housing body 22 and a click groove 26 provided on the inner surface of the operating pulley 21. It can be rotated and locked in any position depending on the fit. Note that an indicator 24α is attached to the operation knob 24, and a symbol H1 indicating the horizontal direction and a vertical direction χ
The ultrasonic J radiator array 40 corresponds to the symbol V shown.
When using the endoscope configured as described above and capable of ultrasonic diagnosis, insert the body cavity inserter 1tB10 into the body cavity and perform the endoscopic operation. Under observation, the ultrasonic tomographic image '42b' is placed in close contact with the inner wall of the body cavity to be ultrasonically diagnosed, and the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus C is operated to activate the ultrasonic tomographic image array 40? '11 Perform atmospheric scanning to obtain the ultrasonic section Ji1i in the desired direction. In this case, for example, after turning the operating knob 24 to the position of m1 II, rotating the ultra-wave oscillator array 407 to the state shown in FIG. The ultrasonic transducer array 40 is rotated to the position V, and the ultrasonic transducer array 40 is rotated to the state shown in Fig. 5, and electrical scanning is performed in the V direction. It is possible to obtain ultrasonic tomographic images of the area, making it possible to perform more accurate diagnosis than before.

As stated above, according to the ultrasonic diagnostic endoscope of the present invention, the number of signal cables is increased by 11. Accurate ultrasound diagnosis uIQ without creating a form that causes pain to the patient! :. I also made it possible to change the tangential direction of the super J-wave transducer array, so
It is extremely advantageous in terms of operation to be able to change the ultrasonic scanning direction 2 without changing the position of the body cavity insertion part, for example, by performing an angle operation or the like. Figure 1 shows an overview of an embodiment of an endoscope capable of ultrasound diagnosis according to the present invention, and Figure 2 is a side sectional view of the main parts of the ultrasound probe. ,
FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view showing the counterfeit part of the operating section, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are explanatory views. 40...Ultrasonic transducer play, 41a, 41b...Signal cable 24...Operation knob Applicant: Fuji Photo Co., Ltd. Figure 2, Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] In an endoscope capable of ultrasonic diagnosis, in which an ultrasonic transducer array capable of electrically scanning in one direction is disposed in an insertion section into a body cavity, and ultrasonic pulses of a living body are emitted from within the body cavity, the ultrasonic transducer array described above is provided. The ultrasonic transducer array is arranged so as to be rotatable in a plane including the arrangement direction 2, and the hand operation unit is provided with an operating means for rotating the ultrasonic transducer array.-2 Features An endoscope capable of ultrasound diagnosis.