JPS6129731B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] This invention relates to an ultrasonic probe.

2. Description of the Related Art It is widely known that ultrasound diagnostic devices are used to diagnose organs within the body, such as the liver or kidneys.

As shown in FIG. 1 or 2, for example, this ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus has a structure in which a large number of ultrasonic transducer elements 2 are arranged in a row on the bottom surface of a support 1 having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. By placing the ultrasonic probe 3 with its bottom surface in contact with the subject's body and sequentially driving each of the ultrasonic transducing elements 2, a The ultrasound transducer 2 captures the echoes of the ultrasound emitted to the body as an image signal, and displays a tomographic image of the body on a display (not shown).

Incidentally, in recent years, attempts have been made to use such ultrasound diagnostic equipment to palpate organs exposed by applying the ultrasound probe directly to the exposed organs after surgery. In order to diagnose this organ, the ultrasonic probe is inserted between the rib cage and the liver, and the presence or absence of metastasis of liver cancer is checked by palpation.

However, in the case of conventional ultrasound probes in which many ultrasound transducing elements are arranged in parallel on the bottom surface of the support whose smallest side is one side, ultrasound When the bottom surface of the ultrasonic probe, which is equipped with a conversion element, comes into contact with the other organs, the other organs will be compressed by the ultrasonic probe, and this operation will have a major negative impact on the human body, similar to surgery. Become.

This invention was made based on the above circumstances, and provides an ultrasonic probe that can perform diagnosis without putting pressure on organs that have an adverse effect on the human body, even when palpating organs that come into contact with other organs. The purpose is to provide

Hereinafter, this invention will be explained in detail using Examples.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the ultrasonic probe according to the present invention. In the same figure, first,
There is a support 5 in the form of a rectangular parallelepiped having a bottom surface 4 having the smallest side as one side. This support body 5 is made of, for example, a hollow synthetic resin material. A large number of ultrasonic transducer elements 6 are disposed on one side of the support body 5 perpendicular to the longitudinal side of the bottom surface 4, and are arranged in parallel in the longitudinal direction of the bottom surface. The sound wave transducing element 6 is connected to a cable 7 within the support 5, and the cable 7 is adapted to be drawn out from a surface facing the bottom surface 4, for example. A cable 7 connected to each ultrasonic transducer element 6 is connected to a display via a suitable processing circuit, and is brought into contact with each ultrasonic transducer element 6 by sequentially driving each ultrasonic transducer element 6. A tomographic image of the organ can be displayed on the display.

In this way, it is placed close to the bottom surface of which one side is the smallest of the sides of the nearly rectangular support.
By arranging a large number of ultrasonic transducing elements in parallel on one side perpendicular to the length direction of the bottom surface, it is possible to palpate the liver 10 under the ribs 9 of the body 8, for example, as shown in FIG. In this case, if the ultrasonic probe is inserted between the ribs 9 and the liver 10 with its bottom surface first, each ultrasonic transducer element 6 of the ultrasonic probe shown in FIG. Become. For this reason, in order to bring each ultrasonic transducer element provided on the bottom of the support body into contact with the liver in contact with the ribs, as was conventionally done, it is difficult to We do not want to cause pressure on the supporting bones or the liver by rotating it nearly 90 degrees.

FIGS. 5a and 5b are block diagrams showing other embodiments of the ultrasonic probe according to this invention. In the figure, the same reference numerals as in FIG. 3 indicate the same materials. The bottom portion 4a of the support 5 in FIG. On each side 11 perpendicular to the side,
They are connected via a rotational connection part 12. The boundary between the bottom part 4a, which rotates about an axis parallel to the direction in which the ultrasonic transducing elements 6 are arranged, and other parts is sealed with a rubber band 13, and is attached during diagnosis. This prevents bodily fluids from penetrating into the support 5 and the trouble of carrying out careful disinfection afterwards.

Since the ultrasonic probe configured in this way can freely rotate the bottom portion 4a where a large number of ultrasonic transducer elements 6 are provided, it can The parallel surfaces of the ultrasonic transducer elements 6 can be brought into contact with each other, making diagnosis easier.

In each of the embodiments described above, the bottom surface of the support body generally has a size of about 20 mm x 90 mm, but by providing it on one side of the support body 1 of the ultrasonic transducer element 6, the width of the bottom surface can be reduced. can be made smaller. In this case, the ultrasonic probe can be more easily inserted between organs, so that the effects of the present invention can be further enhanced.

As explained above, according to the ultrasonic probe according to the present invention, the ultrasonic probe is placed close to the bottom surface, which is the smallest side of each side of the support made of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped, and on one side perpendicular to the length direction of the bottom surface. Since the ultrasonic transducing elements are arranged in parallel, the ultrasonic transducing elements can be brought into direct contact with the organs by simply inserting the ultrasonic probe between each organ with its bottom surface first. Therefore, even when palpating an organ that is in contact with another organ, diagnosis can be made without putting pressure on the organ that would have an adverse effect on the human body.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIGS. 1 and 2 are block diagrams showing an example of a conventional ultrasonic probe, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an ultrasonic probe according to the present invention, and FIG.
The figure is an explanatory diagram for showing the effect of the ultrasonic probe according to the present invention, and FIGS. 5a and 5b are configuration diagrams showing other embodiments of the ultrasonic probe according to the present invention. 1, 5... Support body, 2, 6... Ultrasonic conversion element, 3... Ultrasonic probe, 7... Cable, 9
...Rib, 10...Liver, 12...Connection, 13
……rubber band.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A substantially rectangular parallelepiped support having a bottom whose smallest side is one side, and a side surface perpendicular to the longitudinal side of the bottom that is close to the longitudinal side of the bottom. An ultrasonic probe comprising a large number of ultrasonic transducing elements arranged in parallel. 2. The ultrasonic converter according to claim 1, wherein the support is rotatable about an axis parallel to the direction in which the ultrasonic converting elements are arranged, at the bottom where the ultrasonic converting elements are provided. probe.