JPS61149142A - Ultrasonic warm heat treatment 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 [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an ultrasonic thermotherapy device that treats RtA by localized heating using ultrasonic waves.

[Technical background of the invention and points of interest]

Regarding treatment methods for m4, surgical therapy, chemical therapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy have traditionally been carried out under the name of multimodality therapy, but in addition to these therapies, there are also treatments that have recently been attracting attention. This is heat therapy (hypathermia).

This treatment method utilizes the fact that the lethal temperature of MA cells is lower than that of normal cells, and as it is a non-invasive method, it is extremely effective for treating unresectable lesions. It is possible, but heat treatment has traditionally been carried out without confirming that the vaginalis is selectively heated and that heat is being administered selectively, so it is unclear how effective the treatment is. Just in case there is a problem.

[Purpose of the invention]

An object of the present invention is to provide an entire ultrasonic thermotherapy device that can be heated by ultrasonic waves and perform treatment while checking the distribution of the heat dose at the next site.

[Summary of the invention]

This invention provides an imaging ultrasound probe that transmits and receives ultrasound to obtain tomographic images inside a living body, a heating ultrasound probe that heats the inside of a living body, and an imaging ultrasound probe that transmits and receives ultrasound waves at regular intervals. Temperature distribution is determined from the change in sound velocity obtained by the pressure of the receiving probe, which is used for transmission and is placed so that the transmission area intersects within the body, and a heat dose distribution is created by calculating the heating time and temperature distribution. , is characterized in that it is displayed in conjunction with the tomographic image obtained by the signal from the imaging ultrasound probe.

〔'Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, the +! [4] Heat treatment can be performed while checking the heat dose distribution for 4, and the treatment effect can be easily determined and the treatment can be performed at an appropriate temperature and time.

[Embodiments of the invention]

The configuration of an ultrasonic thermotherapy device according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 1. A quarter bath 2 is provided in contact with the body surface of a living body 1, and an imaging ultrasonic probe 3, a heating ultrasonic probe, and a 4% ultrasonic receiving probe 5 are arranged.

The quarter bus 2 matches the acoustic impedance of the ultrasonic probes 4, 5, 6 degrees and the living body 1.
This is to suppress the temperature rise on the surface of the

The imaging ultrasound probe 3 together with the B-mode system 6,
This is a precautionary measure to obtain tomographic image information within the living body 1 by performing sector electronic scanning. For example, if the imaging ultrasound probe 3 is composed of a play transducer, the %B mode system 6
Specifically, it includes a scanning circuit that focuses and deflects ultrasound by driving each transducer through a delay circuit;
It is constituted by a signal processing circuit which extracts signals from each vibrator of the probe 3 via the delay circuit, performs processing such as amplification and detection, and obtains a B-mode image signal 7t-.

On the other hand, the heating ultrasonic probe 4 is driven by a drive circuit 8, and irradiates continuous waves with relatively high energy as heating ultrasonic waves to a desired region within the living body 1, that is, a tangential region.

Normally, the switch S1 operates in state a, and the switch S2 operates in state C, performing the above operations, but the timer 9 switches the switch to switch 51ib at fixed intervals (for example, 3 minutes) for the imaging ultrasound probe. 3 and a transmitter 9 are connected. At the same time, the switch S2 is switched to d, and the heating ultrasonic probe 4 and the drive circuit 8 are disconnected. In this state, the transmitter 99 and the ultrasonic probe for image display 3. The ultrasound receiving probe 5 and the temperature measuring device 10 measure the sound velocity distribution at the mA region within the living body 1 and convert it into a temperature distribution.

It is said. In other words, by accurately measuring the speed of sound, the temperature change can be determined, and the temperature distribution can be obtained based on the sound speed of the living tissue and body temperature before heating.

The method of actual sound velocity measurement is described below 5. Ultrasonic probe for image display 3 and probe for ultrasonic reception 5
The arrays of receiving transducers 51 and 52 are arranged so that their center axes (centers of transmitted wave beams) are on the same plane, and the center axes of the receiving transducers 51 and 52 are arranged in parallel.

On the other hand, the central axis of the image display ultrasonic probe 3 is at an angle with the receiving transducers 51 and 52. degree θ. It is a trap so that you can meet each other. At this time, the time difference between the time tl and t2 required for the sound waves emitted from the image displaying ultrasonic probe 3 to be received by the receiving transducer 51 and 52 is influenced by the sound speed and distance of the beam intersection tissue. 51°52 spacing, transmitting and receiving beam intersection angle θ,
The speed of sound is determined by measuring t.

The transmitter 9 is capable of focusing and deflection scanning of the ultrasonic waves in the B mode, as described in the system 6, and is capable of scanning the scanning difference of the B mode while supplying the beam intersection angle θ to the temperature measurement unit 10. The speed of sound is measured in the temperature measuring section 10 within the range, and the temperature distribution is determined.

After the temperature distribution has been determined, the switch 81 is set to a.

Switch S2 is switched to C.

The obtained temperature distribution number is supplied to the heat dosage calculation section 11.

The heat dosage calculation unit 11 is activated by the input temperature distribution signal and the timer 9 (in this embodiment, activated every 3 minutes).
, the heat dose is calculated. The calculation method for the heat dose is not fixed and is expressed as temperature x heating time, but as shown in Figure 2, the percentage of 7tt^ that survived heat treatment (
The survival rate) decreased exponentially, and the heating temperature was 42℃ 1F.
Since the survival rate suddenly decreases at the r: threshold, in this embodiment, the heating temperature is multiplied by a weighting function and then inversely calculated by the heating time and output as the heat dose distribution signal 12.

This heat dose distribution signal 12 is fed to a summer 13;
It is combined with the image signal 7 from the B-mode system 6. The output of the adder 13 is converted into a television video signal by an image processing device 14 using a digital scan converter or the like, and then sent to a CRT display (television monitor) 15.
supplied to

The CRT 7' display (television monitor) 15 displays the heat dose as a fine distribution on the tomographic image of normal tissues and tissues including MtAt obtained by the B-mode system 6, for example, in colors differentiated by the heat dose. It is displayed like a contour curve, and not only the difference between normal tissue and MA, but also the difference in heat dosage within the tube is appropriately displayed.

[Other embodiments of the invention]

In this embodiment, the R mode scanning and the sound velocity measurement pulse are switched, but the same device may be used.

Although changes in the speed of sound are used as a means of measuring temperature, nonlinearity of ultrasonic waves, etc. may also be applied.

Similarly, there are no restrictions on the display method. Further, the heat dosage calculation unit is not necessarily a calculation circuit, but may be a memory (ROM chichill) that outputs a heat dosage determined in advance from the temperature and heating time.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure K1 is a configuration diagram of an ultrasonic thermotherapy device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 2 is a diagram showing the relationship between survival rate and temperature. 1... Biological body 2... Quarter bus 3,
...Ultrasonic probe for imaging 4...Ultrasonic probe for heating 5...Probe for ultrasonic reception 6...B
Mode system 7...Image signal 8...Drive circuit 9...Tie Y-10...Temperature measurement section 11...
・Heat dose calculation unit 12...Heat dose distribution signal 1
3... Adder 14... Image processing device 1
5...CRT agent Patent attorney Kensuke Norichika (and 1 other person) Figure 1

Claims (1)

[Claims] An imaging ultrasound probe that transmits and receives ultrasound to obtain a tomographic image inside a living body, and a heating ultrasound probe that focuses and irradiates ultrasound to a desired region within a living body to heat the region.
A means for detecting the heating temperature by the heating ultrasonic probe, a means for detecting the amount of heat administered based on the heating temperature and elapsed heating time detected by this means, and a means for detecting the amount of heat administered by this means. 1. An ultrasonic thermal treatment apparatus comprising: means for displaying quantity information on a tomographic image obtained from a signal from the imaging ultrasonic probe.