JPS6115849Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an ultrasonic puncture probe, particularly to an improvement in an ultrasonic puncture probe using an electronic scanning probe.

2. Description of the Related Art A puncture method in which a puncture needle is inserted into a predetermined tissue of a human body is well known and is used as a highly effective method for examining or treating diseased tissue, such as a malignant tumor. At the time of this puncture, in order to accurately puncture the desired tissue with the puncture needle, devices have been known that perform the puncture while observing the tissue from the outside using an ultrasonic diagnostic device. This method has the advantage that the puncturing operation can be performed reliably and quickly while observing the needle accurately and observing the insertion state of the puncturing needle.

Linear electronic scanning probes, which have traditionally been widely used for abdominal diagnosis and other purposes, are
It is difficult to set the position relative to the puncture needle, and it is necessary to insert the puncture needle into the tissue through an opening provided on the transducer array surface of the probe. In order to provide an opening for needle insertion, there was a problem in that the ultrasonic beam was interrupted at this opening. Therefore, conventional probes have the disadvantage that some parts of the organ cannot be observed due to interruptions in the ultrasound beam, and that it is not possible to accurately observe the state of insertion of the puncture needle. Ta.

The present invention was devised in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its purpose is to provide an improved ultrasonic probe for puncturing that has no missing parts in a tomographic image in practical use.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an ultrasonic puncture probe that has a notch opening for puncture needle insertion on the vibrating element array surface and performs electronic scanning. It is characterized by arranging a group of elements to eliminate interruptions in the ultrasonic beam.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

The figure shows an embodiment of the invention, with a probe 10
has a built-in plurality of vibrating elements arranged at equal intervals, and the vibrating element array surface 12 is disposed in close contact with and opposed to the puncturing surface of the human body (not shown). Further, the probe 10 is provided with a grip portion 14, and the examiner can hold the grip portion 14 and move the probe 10 to an arbitrary puncture position. An ultrasonic excitation signal is supplied to the vibrating element via a cord 16, and a reflected echo from the living tissue is separately provided via the cord 16 and supplied to a signal processing circuit.

A notch opening 12a for inserting a puncture needle is provided in a part of the vibrating element array surface 12, and the puncture needle 18 is inserted into the notch opening 12a through a guide fitting (not shown) provided near the notch opening 12a. inserted into the human body. Therefore, the insertion state of the puncture needle 18 is shown in the tomographic image by the linearly scanned probe 10.

The characteristic feature of the present invention is that the opening 12
A short auxiliary vibration element group 20 is arranged on the side surface 12b of a, and this auxiliary vibration element group 2
0 has a smaller wave transmitting/receiving surface than the group of vibrating elements arranged on the vibrating element array surface 12, but it has a sufficiently large wave transmitting/receiving surface compared to a conventional device in which no vibrating elements are provided on the side surface 12b. Ultrasonic beam transmission and reception can be performed to form recognizable tomographic images. Therefore, in the present invention, by removing interruptions in the ultrasound beam, there are no missing parts of the tomographic image, so unlike conventional probes, parts of the tissue that require puncture and puncture can be avoided. This makes it possible to reliably and quickly perform a puncturing operation without causing a situation where the insertion state of the puncturing needle cannot be observed.

Since the auxiliary vibrating element group 20 has a small wave transmission/reception surface, the image will be slightly different compared to other vibrator groups, but for this reason, large excitation energy is supplied when the auxiliary vibrating element group 20 is excited. It is also possible to improve the uniformity of the image by, for example,

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an ultrasonic probe for puncturing that improves partial omission of tomographic images and is easy to perform puncturing operations.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figure is a perspective view of essential parts showing a preferred embodiment of the ultrasound probe for puncture according to the present invention. 10... Probe, 12... Vibration element array surface, 1
2a...Opening, 18...Puncture needle, 12b...Side surface, 20...Auxiliary vibration element group.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] In an ultrasonic puncture probe that has a cutout opening for puncture needle insertion on the vibrating element array surface and performs electronic scanning, a group of auxiliary vibrating elements is arranged on the side of the puncture needle insertion opening to prevent interruptions in the ultrasound beam. An ultrasonic probe for puncture, characterized in that it has been removed.