KR100412011B1 - Needle-like tool used in interventional ultrasound application - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention is used in the field of interventional ultrasound, the surface-treated needle tool 101 to facilitate the positioning by the operator in the two-dimensional or three-dimensional ultrasound image provided in real time by the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 200 ). The needle tool 101 includes a pipe-shaped inner layer 104 formed to be easily introduced into the human body 110, and an outer layer 102 of ultrasonic reflective material formed on the surface of the inner layer 104. . In addition, the present invention is a pipe-shaped inner layer 104 formed to be easily introduced into the human body 110, and the inner layer 104 by the operation of the operator when the inner layer 104 is introduced into the human body 110. There is provided a couch tool including a micro-retardation 300 formed on the leading end of the) and an encoding unit 330 provided at one end of the inner layer 104 and measuring the movement of the micro-retardation 300 in real time. .

Description

NEEDLE-LIKE TOOL USED IN INTERVENTIONAL ULTRASOUND APPLICATION}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the field of ultrasound diagnostics, and more particularly to the couch tool used in two-dimensional or three-dimensional ultrasound images provided in real time by an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus in the field of interventional ultrasound.

As is widely known, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes a transducer having a function of transmitting and receiving ultrasonic energy. In such an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, when the transducer is placed on a predetermined skin of a patient and ultrasound energy is transmitted into the patient's body, part of the transmitted ultrasound energy is reflected by the internal structure, and the reflected ultrasound signal is transmitted through the transducer. Is received. The reflected ultrasonic signal received by the transducer is converted into an electrical signal and transmitted to the signal processing device, which processes the input signal and displays a video image of the organs in the body reflecting the ultrasonic energy in real time on a monitor. .

The interventional ultrasound field uses such an ultrasound diagnostic device to observe a patient in real time and insert a medical device such as a biometric meter into a specific part of the body to diagnose and treat a disease such as taking a sample of a tissue. it means.

Conventionally, in order to detect the position of a biometer used in the field of interventional ultrasound, for example, a method of coating an echo enhancer on the surface of the biometer and a method of vibrating the biometer itself are used. The method of coating the eco-enhancer material is to coat the surface of the biometer using biopolymer coating technology, as disclosed in US Pat. Nos. 6,110,483 and 6,106,473, and adheres well to the material of the biometer. For example, a coating material suitable for forming a hemispherical hollow hole to capture the surrounding microbubbles is used. However, in the biometric meter reading by this conventional method, since the time for maintaining the difference in the effective acoustic impedance of each bubble in the coated part in the human body is uneven and short, the performance is greatly increased depending on the use time and the number of times. There is a disadvantage that it is lowered and sufficient operating time of the biometric meter cannot be secured.

On the other hand, the method for vibrating the biometric meter, as disclosed in US Patent No. 5,967,991, by vibrating the biometer meter using a piezo driver assembly (pizo driver assembly), the ultrasonic energy reflected by the vibration Doppler effect ( By processing with color doppler imaging based on the Doppler effect, the position of the biometric meter is detected. As is well known, color Doppler imaging transmits and receives ultrasonic waves in the form of pulses on a vibrator, just as it does when a monochrome tomographic image is obtained. At this time, the velocity of each blood flow at a plurality of points on the reception beam is displayed in color and superimposed on the tomographic image. However, such a vibration method also cannot obtain sufficient biometric distinguishing images due to the degradation of resolution, which is an inherent problem in Doppler imaging, and the angular dependence between the transmitting ultrasound beam and the direction of vibration. Moreover, there is a fear that the determination of the biometric meter becomes more difficult when there is a peripheral blood vessel.

Accordingly, a main object of the present invention is to provide a couch-like tool that is used in the field of interventional ultrasound and is surface-treated for easier positioning by an operator in a two-dimensional or three-dimensional ultrasound image provided in real time by an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus. It's there.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram for explaining the operation of the ultrasound transducer having a transmission and reception function in the couch tool and the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention.

2-6 are schematic diagrams illustrating biopsy needles as a needle-tool produced in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention.

7 is a schematic diagram of an RF ablation needle as a needle tool in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

101: needle tool (biopsy or ablation needle)

102, 105, and 107: outer layer

103: inside of the couch tool

104: inner layer

106: bubble

108: home

110: tissue surface

115: target area

120: ultrasonic transducer

130: signal processing unit

140: monitor

200: ultrasonic imaging system

300: Extractor of Ablation Needles

310: ablation needle

330: encoding unit

In order to achieve the above object, according to an embodiment of the present invention, in the needle tool used in the field of the interventional ultrasound, a pipe-shaped micro main body formed to be easily introduced into the human body, and formed on the surface of the micro main body A needle tool is provided comprising an outer layer of ultrasonic reflective material.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, in the needle bed tool used in the field of interventional ultrasound, a pipe-shaped micro main body formed to be easily introduced into a human body, and formed on the tip of the micro main body by an operator and used as an electrode. A needle tool is provided, which comprises a functioning electrode forming portion and measuring means provided at one end of the fine body and measuring the movement of the electrode forming portion in real time.

The electrode forming portion is configured in the shape of a rake or a pipe-like fine retardation, and has a temperature sensing element whose electrical impedance changes with temperature. The temperature sensing element is preferably a thyristor.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail.

1 is a schematic diagram for explaining the operation of the ultrasonic transducer 120 to perform the transmission and reception function in the biological meter reading 101 and the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 200 according to the present invention. 2 to 6 is a schematic diagram showing a biometer reading prepared according to various embodiments of the present invention.

The biometric meter 101 of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention is formed in a cylindrical shape as shown in FIG. 2, and is deposited on the tip of the inner 103, the inner layer 104, and the inner layer 104. Has an outer layer 102. The outer layer 102 deposited on the tip of the biometer meter 101 has a non-uniform surface to facilitate reflection, diffraction or scattering of ultrasonic echoes of various transmission frequencies, instead of using the conventional biopolymer coating techniques described above. Treated in irregular form (described below). Hereinafter, the procedure of the interventional ultrasound treatment for a specific part of the patient using the biometer meter 101 and the ultrasound diagnosis apparatus 200 will be described.

First, the operator inserts the biometer reading 101 toward the target treatment site 115 such as a tumor in the patient's skin 110. Next, the operator abuts the ultrasound transducer 120 of the ultrasound diagnosis apparatus 200 on the skin 110 corresponding to the treatment target region 115, as shown in FIG. Ultrasound energy is emitted in the direction of the treatment target region 115. Thereafter, the operator moves the ultrasonic transducer 120 little by little in all directions in order to detect the ultrasonic energy signal reflected from the biological meter reading 101. The ultrasonic energy signal emitted toward the biometric meter 101 is reflected by the outer layer 102 formed at the tip of the biometer meter 101.

The ultrasonic transducer 120 transmits the ultrasonic signal reflected from the biometric meter 101 to the signal processor 130. The signal processor 130 converts the reflected ultrasound signal from the ultrasound transducer 120 into an electric signal suitable for forming an ultrasound image on the monitor 140 and outputs the converted ultrasound signal to the monitor 140. The monitor 140 displays the tip image of the biometric meter 101 in real time using the converted electrical signal corresponding to the treatment target area 115 of the patient. In addition, on the monitor 140, an ultrasound image obtained from a normal ultrasound imaging process, that is, an ultrasound image of the target portion 115 and the area around the display is displayed.

As a result, the operator can safely perform the sampling or the procedure for the treatment target region 115 such as the tumor of the patient while determining the position of the biometric meter 101 through the image displayed on the monitor 140. Will be.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the outer layer 102 has been described as being formed at the tip of the biometric meter 101, it may be formed over the whole of the biometer meter 101, or may be formed intermittently at regular intervals Of course. According to another embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, the outer layer (which is filled with a plurality of bubbles 106 at the distal end thereof) can be more clearly determined by the operator. A biometric meter 101 provided with 105 is provided. As will be appreciated, the bubbles 106 have good ultrasonic reflectivity, which is useful for increasing the visibility of the biometric meter 101 with respect to the ultrasound image. The outer layer 105 may be formed of, for example, a porous material formed by encapsulating a plurality of bubbles 106 in advance. In addition, the outer layer 105 of the porous material may be formed over the whole of the biometer meter 101, or may be formed intermittently at regular intervals.

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram showing the shape of a biometric meter according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, the outer layer 107 in which the some hemispherical groove 108 was formed on the surface is deposited in the front-end | tip part of the biopsy meter 101. As shown in FIG. By capturing a few micron-sized microbubbles around the target region 115 in the plurality of hemispherical grooves 108, the ultrasonic reflectivity as described above is good, and the visibility of the ultrasonic image of the biological meter 101 is visible. Useful for raising In this case, an example of the fine bubbles trapped in the groove 108 is a contrast agent. In addition, the groove 108 may further increase the visibility of the biometer meter 101 by changing the diameter and shape of the groove in consideration of the waveform shape of the ultrasound transmission center frequency transmitted from the ultrasound transducer 120.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a biometric meter having an outer layer in which a plurality of non-uniform grooves are formed on a surface according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of grooves 108 having different sizes and intervals of grooves are formed on the surface of the outer layer 107. When the size and spacing of the grooves 108 are adjusted in accordance with the conditions of the ultrasonic transmission frequency, the biometric meter 101 may be scattered, reflected, or diffracted by the beams 108 by the grooves 108 whenever the transmission frequency is changed. The visible part will be different. In this case, when the multi-frequency probe is used in the ultrasonic transmission, the whole image of the biometric meter 101 can be more clearly formed by synthesizing the B-mode image obtained for each frequency. In addition, by the groove 108, the angle dependence of the transmission beam and the biometric meter 101 is greatly improved, so that an image of the biometer meter can be obtained regardless of the angle.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a biometric meter according to still another embodiment of the present invention, in which a plurality of grooves 108 having different sizes and intervals are formed on a surface thereof.

Further, according to the present invention, in order to match the acoustic impedance of the biometer meter 101, in particular, the outer layer 107 formed at the tip portion with the acoustic impedance of the surrounding material, the material of the outer layer 107 is made of a surrounding material (eg, a human body). By selecting the same or approximate acoustic impedance). Ultrasonic reflection at the interface between these materials can be reduced to increase the interaction between ultrasound and bubbles.

By this increase in the interaction, the quality of the reflected ultrasonic signal can be improved, so that the visibility of the image to the biometric meter 101 can be increased. The matching impedance of the outer layer 107 and the surrounding material (ie, the tissue 110) can be calculated as follows.

Where Zml is the matching impedance, Zt is the acoustic impedance of the tissue 110, and Zm is the acoustic impedance of the outer layer 107 in the biometer meter 101.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the position of the biometer meter 101 may be determined by magnetic sensing by manufacturing the biometer meter 101 itself or its front end part with a general magnetic material.

7 is a schematic diagram of an RF ablation needle according to another embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 7, reference numeral 300 designates an electrode as a prong in a conventional ablation needle 310, and a description thereof will be omitted. In general, the site of the abnormal state such as the tumor is higher in temperature than the surrounding normal tissue, so that it is possible to image the tumor site if the resolution in the temperature mapping can be sufficiently secured. To this end, according to the present invention, the surface of the rake 300 is coated with a temperature sensing element (eg, a thyristor) whose electrical impedance changes with temperature. By using the rake 300 having such a temperature sensing element and the temperature mapping mode inside the human body, an abnormal state position such as tumor tissue in the human body can be detected. In addition, according to the present invention, in order to more accurately detect abnormal state positions, such as tumor tissue in the human body, as shown in FIG. 7, an encoding unit 330 is provided at one end of the ablation needle 310. The encoding unit 330 calculates the deployment degree of the rake 310 of the ablation needle 300 in real time and provides the calculated value to the operator in a wired or wireless manner through an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, thereby performing the operation of the operator. It can be easily supported. By using the rake 300 and the encoding unit 330 having such a temperature sensing element, the operator can accurately grasp the degree of development of the rake in the tissue of the human body, enabling a more accurate and safe procedure.

In FIG. 7, the ablation needle with a rake was described, but the temperature sensing element can be applied to the ablation needle itself without the rake, and in order to grasp the progress of the needle at its end in real time, It is of course possible to mount one encoding unit.

As mentioned above, although preferred embodiment of this invention was described, those skilled in the art can change variously, without deviating from the claim of this invention.

Therefore, according to the present invention, by showing the exact position of the biopsy or ablation needle on the ultrasound image, it is possible to reduce errors for biopsy and tumor treatment at the exact target point, and to reduce the operation or examination time.

Claims (17)

In the bed tool used in the field of interventional ultrasound, A pipe-shaped fine body formed to be easily introduced into a human body, Outer layer of ultrasonic reflective material formed on the surface of the fine body Including, The micro-body has a plurality of diameters and shapes corresponding to the ultrasonic wavelength corresponding to the center frequency of the ultrasonic transmission, so that when the ultrasonic transmission using the multi-frequency probe, to obtain a composite image of each cross-sectional image corresponding to each frequency Has a surface formed by the groove of And the ultrasonic reflective material of the outer layer is a porous material in which a plurality of bubbles are formed in advance. The method of claim 1, The outer layer is a needle tool, characterized in that formed on the tip of the fine body. The method of claim 2, The outer layer is a needle tool, characterized in that formed over the entire length of the fine body. The method of claim 3, wherein The outer layer is a needle tool, characterized in that intermittently formed on the fine body at regular intervals. delete The method of claim 1, And the ultrasonic reflective material of the outer layer is formed by a plurality of grooves having a diameter and a shape corresponding to the waveform of the ultrasonic transmission center frequency. The method of claim 6, The plurality of grooves are different in size, the needle tool, characterized in that formed irregularly on the outer layer. delete The method of claim 1, The plurality of grooves are different in size, the needle tool, characterized in that formed irregularly on the surface of the fine body. The method of claim 1, And the ultrasonic reflective material of the outer layer is a material that matches the acoustic impedance of the surrounding tissue in the human body to increase the interaction between the transmitting ultrasonic waves and the bubbles. The method of claim 10, The matching impedance of the outer layer and the surrounding tissue is obtained by the root of the acoustic impedance of the surrounding tissue and the acoustic impedance of the outer layer. The method of claim 1, The fine tool is characterized in that the fine body is made of a magnetic material. The method of claim 1, And the outer layer is made of a magnetic material. In the bed tool used in the field of interventional ultrasound, A pipe-shaped fine body formed to be easily introduced into a human body, An electrode forming portion formed on the tip end of the micro main body by operation of an operator when the micro main body is introduced into the human body, and functioning as an electrode; A needle tool provided at one end of the fine body, the measuring means for measuring the movement of the electrode forming portion in real time. The method of claim 14, The electrode forming portion is formed in the shape of a rake, the needle tool, characterized in that it has a temperature sensing element whose electrical impedance changes with temperature. The method of claim 15, The electrode forming unit is configured in the shape of a pipe-like fine retardation, the needle tool, characterized in that it has a temperature sensing element whose electrical impedance changes with temperature. The method according to claim 15 or 16, The temperature sensing element is a needle tool, characterized in that the thyristor (thyristor).