JPS6329545B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical field to which the invention pertains] The present invention relates to the application of ultrasonic diagnostic equipment. In particular, the present invention relates to a device that displays a tomographic image of the position of a needle inserted into a living body for treatment or tissue collection.

[Description of prior art]

Bringing a probe equipped with an array of ultrasonic transducing elements into contact with the surface of a living body, transmitting ultrasonic pulses from this array of ultrasonic transducing elements into the living body, and receiving reflected waves reflected from tissues in the living body. A technique is known in which a needle is punctured from the surface of a living body while visually confirming the inside of the living body using images. This is, for example, JP-A-51-
The device is disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 87384, and its main parts are illustrated in FIG. The probe 1 has a large number of rows of ultrasonic transducing elements 2 on its bottom surface, is brought into contact with a living body, and a puncture needle 4 is inserted into the living body through a guide slit 3.

In this case, it is possible to display an image of an approximately constant width in the y direction on a plane parallel to the plane indicated by xz in FIG. If you go outside, you will lose track of the tip. At this time, there is a risk that the user may be under the illusion that the tip of the puncture needle 4 is at the limit point of the width that can be visually recognized by this device, and may perform an operation to puncture deeper.

[Object of the present invention]

The present invention improves this and provides a device that allows the user to recognize when the tip of the puncture needle is out of the tomographic plane that can be displayed as an image using ultrasound. With the goal.

[Summary of the invention]

The first aspect of the present invention is that the ultrasonic transducer elements are arranged in two rows, and the two element rows are electrically switched so that each row can be used for driving separately. do.

The second aspect of the present invention is that the image is displayed on a color screen, one of the two element rows is displayed in the first color and the other in the second color, and the two rows are used at the same time. The display is characterized by being configured to display a third color consisting of a composite color of the first and second colors.

[Explanation based on examples]

FIG. 2 is a structural diagram of a probe of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The surface of the probe 1 that comes into contact with the living body is characterized by a large number of ultrasonic conversion element rows 2a and 2b arranged in two rows. 5 is a puncture needle passage hole.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the device in use, showing a state in which the probe 1 is in contact with the surface of the living body 7 and the puncture needle 4 is punctured into the living body 7. When the ultrasound transducer arrays 2a and 2b arranged in two rows are driven by a common electric signal and are commonly used as receiving elements, ultrasonic pulses are transmitted from the element arrays 2a and 2b to the living body 7. , the reflected waves are received, and the state of the tissue can be displayed as an image within a range of approximately width C. When only one row 2a of these element rows is used, its display width is approximately a range, and when only the other row 2b is used, its display width is approximately b.
is within the range of

The puncture needle 4 should originally be punctured along the center line (dotted chain line), but it has now deviated from this center line and its tip is beyond the visible range C.

When switching between the state in which the element rows 2a and 2b are used in common and the state in which only one of the element rows 2a or 2b is used, the part of the puncture needle 4 that is projected is different in the case shown in Fig. 3. Since it is visible, it is possible to identify that the puncture is not along the centerline.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 11 is a transmitting/receiving circuit, 12 is a scanning circuit, 13
is a color CRT. The ultrasonic transducing element rows 2a and 2b of the probe 1 are connected to the transmitting/receiving circuit 11 via switching circuits 15 and 16 in separate circuits, respectively. The scanning circuit 12, the transmitting/receiving circuit 11, and the color CRT 13 are known devices.
The ultrasonic signal is transmitted to the center, the reflected wave is received, and the received signal is displayed on a CRT screen so that it can be recognized as a tomographic image.

Switching circuits 15' and 16' are connected to the color signal switching circuit of this color CRT.
and 16'. When the switching circuit 15' is closed, the CRT screen is displayed in a first color (for example, orange), and when the switching circuit 16' is closed, the CRT screen is displayed in a second color (for example, blue). a third color (e.g. white) when the switching circuits 15' and 16' are closed together;
is displayed.

With such a configuration, a different color is displayed on the screen of the color CRT 13 depending on which of the ultrasonic transducer arrays 2a and 2b of the probe 1 is used. Therefore, when the puncture needle 4 is not parallel to the visible xz plane as shown in FIG. 3, when the opening/closing circuits 15 and 16 are opened and closed, different parts of the puncture needle 4 are visible depending on the color. You can see that it is not parallel to the xz plane.
When the angle of the probe 1 is slightly adjusted so that the center line indicated by the dashed line coincides with the puncture needle 4, the puncture needle 4 can be displayed as an image in the same state in the first to third colors.

The opening/closing circuits 15 and 16 may be configured so that either one of them can be closed or both of them can be closed simultaneously by manual operation, and that they can be automatically repeatedly switched to each state.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the arrangement of ultrasonic transducer element arrays in another embodiment of the present invention. In this example, ultrasonic conversion element rows 2a and 2b are divided into two rows.
are arranged so that they partially overlap. By configuring in this way, when switching and displaying each column, more parts can be displayed from either side, and the tip position of the puncture needle 4 can be adjusted. This is useful for accurately recognizing the

FIG. 6 shows the sensitivity curves in the y direction of the two ultrasonic transducing element rows 2a and 2b, and A and B are the sensitivity curves for the element rows 2a and 2 when they are arranged separately as shown in FIG.
The sensitivity of b is shown. In addition, A' and B' are the element rows 2a and 2a when they are arranged partially overlapping each other, as shown in FIG.
2b sensitivity is shown. How to determine the relative positions of these two element rows can be arbitrarily selected and designed depending on the acoustic characteristics, purpose of use of the probe, etc.

[Explanation of effects]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to correctly recognize when the tip of the puncture needle has deviated from, or is likely to deviate from, a tomographic plane that can be imaged using ultrasound. According to the device of the present invention, erroneous operations such as erroneously inserting the puncture needle deeply can be prevented.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing how a probe of a conventional device is used. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the structure of a probe of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the state in use. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing another probe structure of the apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 6 is a characteristic diagram of sensitivity to distance in the y direction. 1... Probe, 2... Ultrasonic conversion element array, 3...
...Guide slit, 4...Puncture needle, 5...Puncture needle passage hole, 7...Living body, 11...Transmission/reception circuit, 12...
...Scanning circuit, 13...Color CRT, 15,1
5', 16, 16'...Opening/closing circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A probe that is brought into contact with a living body, and an array of ultrasonic transducer elements arranged on a surface of the probe that contacts the living body, and that penetrates the contact surface of the probe and enters the living body. configured to be able to puncture with a puncture needle,
For biological puncture, the device is equipped with a means for displaying an image of the position of the puncture needle in the living tissue using ultrasound transmitted from the ultrasound transducer array and reflected waves of the ultrasound received by the ultrasound transducer array. The ultrasonic imaging device is configured such that the ultrasonic conversion element rows are arranged side by side in two rows, and the two ultrasonic conversion element rows can be electrically switched to use each row individually. The display means includes a color image display means, and when one row of the two rows of ultrasonic transducer elements is used, the color image display means displays the first color, and the ultrasonic waves of the two rows are displayed in a first color. When the other row of conversion elements is used, a second color is displayed on the color image display means, and when the two rows of ultrasound conversion element rows are used at the same time, a third color is displayed on the color image display means. 1. An ultrasound imaging device for biological puncture, characterized in that the ultrasound imaging device is configured to be displayed in the following colors.