JPS6151893B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a pressurized optical probe for optically measuring the surface of biological tissue.

BACKGROUND ART Visual observation of living tissues or organs has traditionally been an important technique in clinical diagnosis and medical research. Furthermore, in recent years, the use of light transmitting materials such as optical fibers used in gastrocameras has made it possible to directly observe many parts of living bodies with the naked eye, greatly contributing to diagnosis. However, observation with the naked eye depends on the skill level of the doctor, and objective and quantitative diagnosis cannot be made. Furthermore, when light is irradiated away from the surface of an organ or tissue, there is a large amount of reflection from the surface of the organ or tissue, and this reflection is a so-called Fresnel reflection, which has almost no spectral characteristics and contains information unique to the sample. Because they are not present, it becomes a serious hindrance when measuring reflected light from inside organs or tissues.
In order to eliminate this disturbance of surface reflection, it is necessary to bring the optical transmission device into close contact with the surface of the organ or tissue, but in this case, the organ or tissue surface will inevitably be compressed, and depending on the degree of this compression, The pigments in organs and tissues change in various ways, and this also impedes the reliability of findings by visual observation.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for optically diagnosing a living body, which solves the above-mentioned problems when observing with the naked eye.

The device of the present invention is effective for early detection of lesions in organs and tissues. In other words, healthy areas and diseased areas can be distinguished at a time when no difference is visible to the naked eye. For example, in healthy tissue, the spectral reflection characteristics differ markedly depending on whether or not it is compressed, and when it is compressed, the reflected absorbance generally decreases (it becomes whitish). On the other hand, in abnormal tissue, the spectral reflection characteristics hardly change whether pressure is applied or not. Furthermore, when no pressure is applied to the abnormal area and the normal area, the reflection characteristics are substantially the same, and therefore, when no pressure is applied, the healthy area and the abnormal area cannot be distinguished with the naked eye. This phenomenon is a precursor to cancer, and the presence or absence of changes in the reflective properties of the tissue due to the presence or absence of pressurization provides diagnostic information.

In any case, it is extremely beneficial to be able to accurately control the biological pressure applied by the optical probe.
In spectroscopic measurements on the external surface of the human body, it is relatively easy to control the pressure applied by an optical probe.
When measuring the spectral characteristics of an organ surface, an appropriate method for controlling the pressure applied to the organ surface by an optical probe has not yet been proposed.

One of the reasons why it is difficult to control the pressure applied to the probe when inserting an optical probe into the body cavity to measure the spectral characteristics of the organ surface is that the optical probe penetrates the body cavity wall and is held freely by the body cavity wall. In particular, in actual measurements, air is injected into the abdominal cavity to inflate it, and then the tip of the optical probe is brought into contact with the intraperitoneal organs, so the part where the optical probe penetrates the abdominal wall must be airtight. must be held, and the optical probe is therefore constrained even more tightly. However, even if it were possible to remove the restraint of the optical probe on the abdominal cavity wall, the entire device including the optical probe would have considerable weight, and that weight and other various forces would not be added to the pressure applied to the organ surface. There is another difficulty in doing so.

The present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned difficulties and provide an optical probe that allows the pressure applied to the surface of an organ to be controlled freely and accurately.

An optical probe that performs optical measurements on the surface of living tissue consists of a bundle of optical fibers.Illumination light enters from the rear end of the bundle and exits from the tip, and the reflected light from the surface of the living tissue is emitted from the tip of the optical fiber. incident and sent to a spectrometer.
The tip of the optical fiber or a transparent portion provided at the tip is brought into contact with the tissue surface and serves as a portion that pressurizes the tissue. Figure 1 shows an overview of the conventional device, where 1 is an optical fiber and 2 is an optical fiber.
An outer cylinder surrounds the optical fiber, and the optical fiber and the outer cylinder are airtightly fixed, and together constitute the tip of the probe. The tip of the probe is further slidably inserted into the sleeve 3, and a spring 4 is interposed between the bottom of the sleeve 3 and the rear end surface of the outer cylinder 3.
is slidably led out from the bottom of the sleeve 3. B represents the abdominal cavity wall of the human body, and M represents the internal organs. An opening is made in the abdominal cavity wall, a tracard 5 is fitted, and the tip of the probe is slidably inserted into the tracard. The space between the opening of the abdominal cavity wall and the tracard and between the tracard and the probe tip 2 must be airtight. Therefore, a seal S is interposed between the track card 5 and the outer cylinder 2. When the sleeve 3 is pushed to the left in the figure, the spring 4 is compressed and pushes the outer cylinder 2 to the left, so that the tip of the probe is pressed against the surface of the organ M. This pressing force can be determined by the amount of compression of the spring 4. However, in order to accurately determine the singing pressure with this structure, it is necessary for the sliding parts in various places to move smoothly, and with this structure, the amount of compression of the spring 4 acts between the sleeve 3 and the tip of the probe. The force actually acting on the organ surface is the force F transmitted through the optical fiber 1 behind the sleeve 3 (to the right in the figure) and the force due to the compression of the spring 4. Here, the force F is not constant and unknown depending on the position of the optical fiber itself and the device connected to the rear, the support method, etc. Therefore, the pressurizing force on the surface of the organ can also be accurately calculated. It becomes impossible to understand.

In principle, the present invention fixes the sliding part a between the optical fiber 1 and the sleeve 3 in FIG. The sleeve 3 is inserted into the track card 5 so that the integral part of the outer tube 2 and the optical fiber can freely slide on the sleeve 3. In this way, there is no need for sliding between the tracard and the sleeve, and sufficient airtightness is maintained, and the force shown in FIG. Only the outer cylinder can slide easily. Therefore, if the sleeve 3 is properly held (actually held by hand), the only force applied to the organ will be the compressive force of the spring 4.

Next, the present invention will be explained with reference to examples. Embodiments of the present invention are shown in FIG. 2 and below. 1 is an optical fiber, 2 is an outer cylinder, 3 is a sleeve, and 4 is a spring. The optical fiber 1 and the outer cylinder 2 are integrally fixed in an airtight manner and constitute the tip of the optical probe. The outer cylinder 2 is loosely fitted into the sleeve 3 and can slide lightly. Also, one side of the rear half (the right half in FIG. 2) of the outer tube 2 is cut out to form a window W, and the optical fiber 1 comes out from this window W to form a loop L, and then the sleeve 3 is inserted.
It passes through the side of the body and is led rearward. A cover 7 is airtightly attached to the sleeve 3 so as to cover the loop L. The tip of the optical fiber 1 and the part led out from the sleeve 3 are perpendicular to each other, and the part b of the optical fiber that passes through the sleeve 3 is located in the sleeve 3.
Fixed. A portion of the side surface of the sleeve 3 facing the window W of the outer cylinder 2 is also cut out to form a window X, and the loop L of the optical fiber 1 extends outside of this window X. The cover 7 covers this window X. The sleeve 3 extends rearward (to the right in FIG. 2) from the window X, and has a spring 4 inserted therein to push against the rear end surface of the outer cylinder 2. Due to this structure, the tip of the optical fiber 1 (including the outer cylinder 2) can freely move back and forth with respect to the sleeve 3, and the loop L becomes larger or smaller as a result of the back and forth movement of the tip of the optical fiber 1. Absorbs changes in distance d. By making the loop L appropriately large, the resistance to bending can be reduced to almost zero.

With the structure described above, the tip of the sleeve 3 is sealed S.
The outer tube 2 is inserted into the tracard 5 through the sleeve 3, and the outer tube 2 slides back and forth within the sleeve 3 to bring the tip of the optical fiber into contact with the tissue surface and pressurize the tissue surface. Therefore, only the compression of the spring 4 is transmitted to the tip of the optical fiber 1. The outer cylinder 2 and the sleeve 3 are loosely fitted and no seal is used, so airtightness is not maintained, but the entire sleeve has a closed bag-like structure, and the outer cylinder 2 moves back and forth within it. Therefore, even if the inside of the sleeve is in airtight communication with the abdominal cavity, the sleeve itself maintains an airtight seal between the abdominal cavity and the outside air.

In the conventional example shown in FIG. 1, the outer cylinder 2 is airtight and can slide against the track card 5, but this sliding part has a seal S, so frictional resistance is large and the spring 4 It is unclear how much of the compressive force is applied to the tissue surface, and the force that moves the sleeve 3 is transmitted to the optical fiber 1 through the friction in the area a shown in Figure 1, so the tissue pressing force has an even larger error. Become something.

In contrast, in the present invention, the sleeve has an airtight structure and is airtightly fixed to the external wall of the living body, and the optical fiber is freely distracted and bent within the sleeve, so there is no sliding part that requires airtightness, and Only the compressive force of the spring 4 pushing the tube 2 is almost purely transmitted to the tip of the optical fiber.

Note that P in the figure is a potentiometer, and a pin placed on the side of the outer cylinder 2 is engaged with a long hole provided in the arm A attached to the rotating shaft of the slider. It is stored in the attached Box C. The movement of the outer cylinder 2 relative to the sleeve 3 is converted via the arm A into an angular position of a slider of a potentiometer P, which is further converted into a voltage signal by the potentiometer. The amount of movement of the outer cylinder 2 relative to the sleeve 3 is the amount of compression of the spring 4, and is therefore proportional to the pressing force on the surface of the organ, and therefore the output voltage of the potentiometer P represents the pressing force. Spring 4
has a weak portion 4', and when the screw cap 6 at the rear end of the sleeve is initially screwed in, this weak portion 4' is compressed and slightly pushes out the outer cylinder. This operation ensures that the tip of the optical probe comes into contact with the organ. Thereafter, when the sleeve 3 is moved closer to the subject, the strong part of the spring 4 begins to be compressed and pressure is applied to the organ, and the pressure is converted into a voltage signal by the potentiometer P and output.

The optical probe device of the present invention has the above-described configuration, and since no extra force is applied to the tip of the probe other than the compressive force of the spring, it is possible to accurately control the pressurizing force, improve measurement reproducibility, and improve diagnostic information. A great effect of increasing the amount can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a longitudinal side view showing an outline of the conventional example;
The figure is a vertical side view showing an outline of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the same embodiment, and FIG. 4 is an external perspective view of the same embodiment. 1... Optical fiber, 2... Outer tube, 3... Sleeve, 4... Spring, P... Potentiometer.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An outer cylinder, a sleeve into which the outer cylinder is slidably inserted, a spring inserted into the sleeve to press the outer cylinder, and the vicinity of the tip of the outer cylinder integrated with the outer cylinder. and an optical fiber that is fixed to the sleeve with slack at the rear of the part held by the outer cylinder and guided to a light source, photometer, etc. An optical probe device for biological measurement. 2. The optical probe device for biological measurement according to claim 1, wherein the slack portion of the optical fiber forms a loop.