JPS624131B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an ultrasound probe for ultrasound diagnosis for insertion into a body cavity, which can be used by directly inserting into the body, for example, in combination with an endoscope.

In recent years, the application of ultrasound to the medical field for diagnosis has become popular. The principle of this diagnostic device that uses ultrasonic pulses is that when an ultrasonic beam is emitted into the body intermittently for a very short period of time, as the ultrasonic waves propagate into the human body tissue, the tissues and organs become acoustically sensitive depending on the type. Because their physical properties are somewhat different, some of them are reflected back from the boundaries of different organizations.

When this ultrasound pulse propagates through the body, we detect the reflected echoes that occur one after another and display them on a cathode ray tube, etc., and look at the distribution of acoustic properties of tissues in the body. They have different properties, and the presence or absence of an abnormality within the tissue and its location can be determined from the pattern displayed on the cathode ray tube.

Therefore, in the past, the transducer of an ultrasound probe was brought into contact with the external surface of the living body, and diagnosis was made using ultrasound echoes from within the body. If it is an internal organ, the distance from the vibrator is long, and the resolving power is significantly reduced due to the effects of intervening organs, air layers, etc. Particularly in the case of the pancreas, etc., the backbone becomes an obstacle, and the final resolution is not necessarily suitable for diagnosing minute lesions.

Therefore, in order to improve the above-mentioned drawbacks, attempts have been made to use a transducer in combination with an endoscope and guide it directly to the target site in the body for diagnosis, but this method obstructs the field of view of the endoscope and prevents insertion. Therefore, a small transducer had to be used, making it impossible to obtain a high-resolution cross-section of an organ, making it extremely difficult to put it into practical use.

The present invention was made based on the above circumstances, and its purpose is to be able to use a large transducer without obstructing the field of view of an endoscope, and to perform high-resolution ultrasound diagnosis. An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic probe for insertion into a body cavity.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3. Figure 1 shows ultrasonic probe 1
The ultrasonic probe 1 includes a transducer 2, a small-diameter operating shaft 3 fixed to one end of the transducer 2 in an eccentric state, and a thin operating shaft 3 that is inserted through the operating shaft 3. It is composed of the vibrator 2 and a signal cable 4 connected to it. In addition, the signal cable 4
The other end thereof is connected to the pulse generation circuit 5 and the amplification/detection circuit 6. This detection circuit 6 is connected to a display device 7 such as a cathode ray tube.

Further, the vibrator 2 has a thick disk shape, and the other end surface to which the operating shaft 3 is not attached serves as an ultrasonic emitting/receiving surface 8 for emitting ultrasonic waves and receiving ultrasonic echoes.

Therefore, when the ultrasonic probe 1 configured as described above is used in combination with a laparoscope 9, which is a type of endoscope, the ultrasonic probe 1 is inserted through a guide trocar 10 as shown in FIG. The ultrasound probe 1 is directly inserted into the body. Next, as shown in FIG. 3, the transducer 2 is rotated by approximately 180 degrees by rotating the operating shaft 3 so as not to obstruct the field of view 11 of the laparoscope 9 using eccentricity. Thereafter, the laparoscope 9 is inserted into the guide trocar 10 and guided to the target site while observing. Next, the ultrasonic wave emitting/receiving surface 8 of the vibrator 2 is brought into close contact with the target organ 12 . At this time, if the operating shaft 3 is made of a hard material such as metal, it will be stiff and easy to operate when pressing the vibrator 2.
In this state, the pulse generating circuit 5 causes the vibrator 2 to
When an ultrasonic pulse is emitted from the ultrasonic wave emitting/receiving surface 8, the ultrasonic wave propagates through the human tissue. and,
Reflected echoes reflected from tissue boundaries and tissue abnormalities are displayed as a tomographic image on a display device 7 via an amplification/detection circuit 6. Therefore, the presence or absence of an abnormality existing in the target organ 12 and its location can be known from the tomographic image displayed on the display device 7.

After diagnosing in this way, the laparoscope 9 is pulled out and the operating shaft 2 is rotated so that the transducer 2 is opposed to the front end opening of the guide trocar 10 as shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. The guide trocar 10 is then accommodated and pulled out.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the case where the ultrasound probe 1 of the present invention is used in combination with the laparoscope 9 was explained, but as shown in FIG. The channel 14 may also be used for operation. That is, when inserting into a body cavity, the transducer 2 is placed so as to face the front end surface of the endoscope 13 as shown by the two-dot chain line, and after entering the body cavity, the transducer 2 is placed so that it does not obstruct the visual field 11. It is also possible to perform the same operation as in the above-mentioned embodiment by eccentrically moving it to the solid line position. Note that when used in a flexible endoscope, the operating shaft 3 has a known flexible structure, so that the flexible endoscope can be operated freely.

In addition, the transducer 2 has a shape having an ultrasonic wave emitting/receiving surface 8 on the end face side corresponding to the axial direction of the operating shaft 3, but as shown in FIG. It may be formed on the circumferential surface of the direction so that it can be used in combination with a side-viewing endoscope 15 as shown in FIG.

In addition, it goes without saying that the present invention can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist of the invention.

In addition, in the description of the other embodiments (FIGS. 4 to 6) described above, the same parts as those of the above-mentioned embodiment are given the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

As explained above, the present invention includes a vibrator, a small-diameter operating shaft fixed at one end in an eccentric state on one end surface of the vibrator, and a small-diameter operating shaft that is inserted through the operating shaft and connected to the above-mentioned vibrator. An ultrasonic probe characterized in that it is equipped with a signal cable. Therefore, even if a large transducer with good diagnostic accuracy is used, by deflecting it after insertion using eccentricity, it will not obstruct the field of view of the endoscope, etc., and it will ensure that the target inside the body can be detected. It can be guided to the site and high-resolution cross-sectional images of organs can be obtained. In addition, the gap between the endoscope and the guide trocar, or the diameter of the endoscope channel, does not need to allow the transducer itself to pass through, but rather allows the small-diameter operating shaft to pass through. This has the effect of not causing pain to the patient due to the increased diameter of the trocar.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a partially cross-sectional side view of an embodiment of the ultrasonic probe of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view of the same embodiment when it is inserted using a guide trocar.
FIG. 3 is a side view showing how an embodiment of the present invention is used in combination with an endoscope, FIG. 4 is a side view showing how an embodiment of the present invention is used in combination with a channel endoscope, and FIG.
This figure is a side view showing another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is a side view showing the usage state of the same embodiment. 1... Ultrasonic probe, 2... Vibrator, 3... Operating axis, 4... Signal cable.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An endoscope body inserted into a body cavity, and an ultrasound probe having a transducer that is inserted into the body cavity together with the endoscope body and brought into contact with a target site in the body cavity. In this ultrasonic diagnostic device for insertion into a body cavity, the ultrasonic probe is equipped with an operating shaft that is thinner than the outer diameter of the transducer and has a signal cable connected to the transducer, and a tip of the operating shaft. The above vibrator is mounted eccentrically on the
The ultrasonic transducer for insertion into a body cavity is characterized in that the operation shaft allows the transducer to be selectively rotated between the front side of the endoscope inside the body cavity and the side that avoids the field of view of the endoscope. Sonic diagnostic equipment.