JPS62243549A - Laser apparatus for ermedy - 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 [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to a therapeutic laser device that irradiates a living body with a laser beam to perform treatment.

[Prior art] For example, there is a device that uses the highly focused property of laser light to irradiate concentrated high energy to the affected area to locally destroy, coagulate, vaporize, etc. It is disclosed in Publication No. 54-8997. In such a treatment device.

The therapist operates a joystick while observing the affected area, and performs treatment while changing the irradiation position of the laser beam within the treatment area.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in such conventional devices, the irradiation position of the laser beam is manually displaced, so the laser beam may be irradiated outside the treatment area against the therapist's intention. Or, due to excessive energy concentration in a part of the treatment area over time, normal tissue may be destroyed, or due to lack of energy concentration over time, the treatment may not be sufficient and a lesion may remain. was recognized. Furthermore, since the therapist performs high-energy laser beam irradiation, he or she is under extreme strain during the operation and often suffers from fatigue.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a therapeutic laser device that can automatically set a laser beam at a predetermined position.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a method for setting a target value regarding the laser beam irradiation position in a therapeutic laser device that irradiates a living body with a laser beam to perform treatment. With the means of operation that occurs.

A storage means for storing the target value; a detection means for detecting the actual irradiation position of the laser beam; a driving means for driving the optical system to change the irradiation position of the laser beam; and a stored target value regarding the irradiation position. and a control means for generating a control signal to the drive means according to the deviation from the actual value, the target value of the laser beam irradiation position generated by the operation means is stored, and the drive means is controlled via the control means. We adopted a configuration in which the laser beam is driven and the laser beam irradiation position matches the stored target position.

[Function] In such a configuration, the target irradiation position of the laser beam is set and stored in advance via the operating means or the like, and then the irradiation of the treatment area with the laser beam is started by operating the start switch. The actual irradiation position of the laser beam is compared with the above-mentioned memorized target position, and the irradiation position is automatically moved to the target position while operating the driving means for moving the laser beam, thereby completing the treatment without erroneous irradiation. I can do it.

In addition, the laser beam wavelength (laser beam to be used), beam spot size, energy density, pulsed wave irradiation, continuous wave irradiation, etc. can be selectively combined and used, either set within the device or newly installed by the therapist. This makes it possible to provide easy and appropriate treatment.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the example shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment showing the arrangement of an optical system of a therapeutic laser device according to the present invention.

Observation illumination light 11 obtained from an illumination light source (not shown) is projected onto the affected part P of the living body through a projection prism 10 . The affected part P of the living body illuminated by the illumination light source is moved by the movable mirror 12.
Objective lens 13, half mirror 14, imaging lens 15,
It is configured to be observed through a prism 16° 17 and an eyepiece 18. The half mirror 14 placed between the objective lens 13 and the imaging lens 15 can be replaced with a wavelength selective mirror, etc., and the affected area P reflected by the half mirror is transmitted to the image sensor 20 via the imaging lens 19. imaged on top. Affected area P and image sensor 2
The images on 0 have an optically conjugate relationship, and if this conjugate relationship is established, the half mirror is not limited to the illustrated position, but may be placed at other positions. Objective lens 13
An attenuator 21 is disposed in front of the attenuator 21, and is configured so that when the attenuator 21 is inserted into the optical path, the attenuated amount of light reaches the infinity lens.

An optical system for guiding therapeutic laser light is arranged on the opposite side of the illumination optical system. Laser light 30 arranged from a laser light source (not shown) passes through a variable laser spot optical system 31, passes through a condenser lens 32, is reflected by a movable mirror 12, and is irradiated onto the affected area P, thereby performing treatment. There is.

Further, a positioning aiming beam 34 is incident on the same optical axis as the therapeutic laser beam, and this beam 34 is reflected via a mirror 35 composed of a perforated mirror, a half mirror 1, a wavelength selective mirror, or the like. , condenser lens 32
It is reflected by the movable mirror 12 and reaches the affected area P together with the laser irradiation optical path. This aiming beam may be a laser beam that has been weakened to the extent that it does not damage living tissue, or may be placed within the observation illumination optical path. The thermal acid beam is moved by moving the movable mirror 12 or by moving an index at a position optically conjugate with the affected area P. In addition, if an aiming beam is provided in the observation illumination optical path, It is necessary to provide a means for moving the aiming index in the X and Y directions separately from that for laser irradiation.

The mechanism for moving the movable mirror 12 in the X and Y directions is a second
This is illustrated in detail in FIG. In order to operate the variable λ movable mirror 12, an operating member 40 shown in the figure is used. This operating member 40 is, for example, a joystick, and has an operating lever 41. When the operating lever 41 is moved in the X direction perpendicular to Y, L
The character bar 40 rotates, and this rotation causes the crown gear 43 to rotate around the shaft 43a, thereby actuating the X potentiometer 44 and detecting the X direction of the operating lever 41. Similarly, when the operating lever 41 is moved in the Y direction,
The crown gear 45 is rotated about the shaft 45a, the Y potentiometer 46 is operated, and the amount of operation of the operating lever 41 in the Y direction is detected.

The outputs of these x and Y potentiometers 44 and 46 are:
As shown in FIG. 4, after being amplified by the amplifier 60, the values are input to the A/D converter 54 of the control unit 50, converted into digital quantities, and then input to the memory 56, where these values are stored. .

The control unit 50 includes a laser spot variable drive motor driver 51, a laser irradiation shutter driver 52, a motor driver 53, and an arithmetic comparison circuit 57, which are controlled by a CPU 55 to perform predetermined control operations. It is connected to a laser spot variable drive motor 62, thereby controlling the laser spot,
It works to change the spot size etc. Also driver 5
2 is connected to a laser irradiation shutter, and laser irradiation can be shut off or opened in response to a signal from a driver 52.

The output from the motor driver 53 drives X and Y direction drive motors 63 and 64 as shown in FIG.

When the X-direction drive motor 63 is driven, the pinion gear 6
The shaft 63b rotates in the X direction via 3a, thereby rotating the movable mirror 12 in the X direction. Further, when the Y-direction drive motor 64 is operated, the shaft 64b moves up and down via the pinion gear 64a, thereby rotating the movable mirror 12 in the Y-direction via the lever 64c. The amount of movement of the movable mirror due to the drive of the X-direction drive motor 63 is detected by the Hall element 65 that detects the movement of the lever 65 that meshes with the pinion gear 63, and the amount of movement of the movable mirror in the Y-direction by the Y-direction drive motor 64 is detected by the , is detected by the Hall element 66 which detects the movement of the lever 66a operated via the pinion gear 64a.

In this way, by operating the operating lever 41 of the operating member 40 in the X and Y directions, the movable mirror 12 can be rotated in the X and Y directions, thereby directing the laser beam and aiming beam to the area of the affected area P. is deflected at This deflection position is detected by the image sensor 20 placed at an optical position relative to the affected area, and as shown in FIG. 4, the position is converted into a digital signal by the A/D converter 54 via the amplifier 60. After that, it is stored in the memory 56. Further, the amount of movement of the movable mirror 12 is determined by the Hall element 65.6.
6, and the amount is detected via amplifier 61.
The signal is input to the D converter 54, converted into a digital signal, and then input to the memory 56.

Further, an external interface 70 is provided near the control unit 50.
The scan speed of the laser beam to be irradiated, the laser beam spot size, the laser beam to be used, the selection of pulsed irradiation or continuous irradiation, the laser output level signal, etc. are inputted via this interface 70, and these are inputted. It is stored in memory 56.

Next, the operation of the device configured in this way will be explained.

First, as shown in step S1 in FIG. 5, the therapist turns on the observation light source and aiming beam, and performs 1. The operator operates the operating lever 41 of the operating member 40 while observing the beam portion P and the aiming beam through the eyepiece 18. The amount of movement of /<-41 is determined by the potentiometer 44.
46 and its output signal is converted into a digital quantity by an A/D converter 50 via an amplifier 60 and then input to a memory 56 . The CPU 55 operates the motor driver 53 according to this movement amount.

The X and Y direction drive motors 63 and 64 are driven to swing the movable mirror 12 in the X and Y directions to deflect the aiming beam. The irradiation position of this laser beam is also detected by the image sensor 22, and data regarding the amount of movement of the potentiometer or the irradiation position on the image sensor is input into the memory 56 (step S2). When the affected area P to be treated is specified. In this case, this position is stored in the memory 56 as a target value of the position to be irradiated. Next, step S3. As shown in step S4, treatment conditions are set and calculated via the external interface 70, and treatment with therapeutic laser light is started in step S5. In this case, the attenuator 21 is inserted into the optical path to prevent the laser beam from directly entering the eye of the therapist through the eyepiece 18 (step S6).

Furthermore, the amount of movement of the movable mirror 12 is determined by the Hall element 65.66.
The signal from the Hall element is detected through the amplifier 61
After being input to the A/D converter 54 and converted into a digital quantity, it is input to the memory 56 and is compared via the arithmetic comparison circuit 57 to see if it matches the target value already stored in the memory 56. (Step S7). If the target value stored in the memory and the position of the movable mirror detected by the Hall elements 65 and 66 do not match, the deviation signal is input from the CPU 55 as a control signal to the driver 53, and the position is inputted to the driver 53 until the target value is matched. Drive the motor 63.64,
Move the movable mirror in the X and Y directions (step S8.
S9) When the target value is reached, the motor 63 is stopped, and the affected area P is then treated by irradiating the laser (step sio). If the treatment has not yet been completed, the process returns to step S7, whereas if the treatment has been completed, the attenuator 21 is removed from the optical path and all steps are completed (Sll, 512).

FIG. 6 shows a configuration in which the irradiating laser light and the irradiating beam are deflected using a galvanometer mirror. In such a configuration, the laser beam and the aiming beam are irradiated onto the affected area P via the mirror 71a of the galvanometer mirror 71, the mirror 72a of the galvanometer mirror 72, the condenser lens 73, and the fixed mirror 74. Even in such a configuration, it is of course possible to detect the amount of deflection of the galvano mirrors 71 and 72 and store it in the memory.

In addition, the target position of the irradiation position is stored in the memory via the output amount of the image sensor and potentiometer, and also
As shown in the figure, it is also possible to input the target value into the memory 56 using a pointing device 81 such as a light pen. In this case, the output from the image sensor 20 is displayed on the TV monitor 82, and the target position can be stored in the memory 56 by indicating this using the pointing device 81.

A method of storing target values via such a pointing device is illustrated at 80 in FIG.

〔effect〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, the target position of laser beam irradiation is first stored in a memory, and the movable mirror is moved until the target value stored in this memory matches the actual irradiation position. This allows the laser beam to be automatically irradiated to the set position, making it possible to perform reliable treatment. Furthermore, in addition to storing the location to be treated in the memory, the therapeutic laser device according to the present invention can also be used to set the irradiation speed, spot size, laser beam to be used, irradiation method, output level, etc. , treatment can be performed with various energy densities or spot sizes, making efficient and safe treatment possible.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is an optical layout diagram showing the arrangement of the optical system of the device of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a sectional view showing the detailed structure of the operating member, and Fig. 3 is a sectional view showing the detailed structure of the operating member.
The figure is a perspective view showing the configuration for moving the movable mirror.
The figure is a block diagram showing the configuration of a control section that sets the laser beam to a target value. FIG. 5 is a flowchart explaining the operation, FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing another embodiment for deflecting the laser and aiming beam, and FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment for storing the target position to be irradiated. It is. 11... Observation illumination light 12... Movable mirror 18.
...Eyepiece lens 20...Image sensor 30...
・Treatment laser light 50...Control unit 56...Memory 63.64
...Drive motor No. 2m Ei5 diagram

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1) A therapeutic laser device that irradiates a living body with a laser beam to perform treatment, comprising: an operation means for generating a target value regarding a laser beam irradiation position; a storage means for storing the target value; a detection means for detecting the actual irradiation position of the laser beam; a driving means for driving the optical system to change the irradiation position of the laser beam; and a detection means for driving the optical system to change the irradiation position of the laser beam; The driving means is provided with a control means for generating a control signal, the target value of the laser beam irradiation position generated by the operation means is stored, the driving means is driven via the control means, and the laser beam irradiation position is stored. A therapeutic laser device characterized in that it matches a target position. 2) moving the laser beam irradiation position by the operating means;
The therapeutic laser device according to claim 1, wherein the movement is detected by an image sensor and a target value is set. 3) The therapeutic laser apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a target value is set by detecting the amount of movement of the operating means. 4) The therapeutic laser device according to claim 1, wherein the operating means is a joystick. 5) The therapeutic laser device according to claim 4, wherein the amount of movement is detected by a potentiometer that is interlocked with a joystick. 6) The therapeutic laser apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the laser beam irradiation position is observed on a TV monitor and a target value is set using a pointing device. 7) The therapeutic laser device according to claim 1, wherein the detection means for detecting the actual laser beam irradiation position is a Hall element.