KR102238604B1 - Apparatus for Scanning the Digestive Canals by Detecting Sounds from the Inside of the abdomen of the Patient - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a digestive tract scanning device capable of scanning the digestive tract by detecting the stomach sound of a surgical patient. The digestive tract scanning apparatus of the present invention includes a plurality of microphones attached to a plurality of spaced apart points on the patient's abdomen, detects the sound made from the abdomen after swallowing, and analyzes the audio signal in the patient's digestive tract. Recognize the location of the sound.

Description

Apparatus for Scanning the Digestive Canals by Detecting Sounds from the Inside of the abdomen of the Patient}

The present invention relates to an apparatus for scanning the digestive tract as a method of detecting the stomach sound of a patient, and to a digestive tract scanning apparatus capable of confirming a position of an intestinal stricture or intestinal adhesion by using a sound from the digestive tract.

The large intestine, which is a part of the human digestive system, is about 1.5m long, but the small intestine is a fairly long organ of about 6m to 7m. Therefore, in the small intestine, intestinal strictures that narrow the tubes or intestinal adhesions that stick together may occur. Intestinal stricture or adhesion can cause other serious problems while causing intestinal perforation or intestinal obstruction, so it can be an emergency situation requiring surgery or other treatment if necessary.

Even a patient undergoing intestinal stenosis may not feel pain continuously, so it is difficult to recognize the location with a stethoscope and diagnose intestinal stenosis or adhesion. Computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is taken with an improved method. Since it is not easy to find, it may cause over-treatment problems due to occasional repetitive imaging.

Meanwhile, there are several types of surgical treatments performed in hospitals, one of which is open surgery performed by opening the patient's abdomen. For example, when a part of the stomach is excised to treat gastric cancer, resection surgery is performed after opening the stomach. After the gastric resection is finished, the internal organs are reorganized, and the stomach is sewn again to complete the operation. Since the small intestine is 6-7m long, even if the doctor has arranged it well, it may happen that a part of the operation is finished in a twisted or bent state and the belly is sewn again. In some patients with very severe bowel kinks or bends, food cannot go down further from the area, and if this condition is maintained for a certain period of time or longer, perforation may occur in the area. If a perforation occurs, you have no choice but to operate again. Intestinal adhesions may already be accompanied when perforation occurs, and if the operation is repeated, intestinal adhesions are more likely to occur.

If, after surgery, it is possible to confirm in advance that there is such a problem in the patient's small intestine, laparoscopic surgery or other relatively low-risk methods can be used without performing laparotomy again. However, as in diagnosing intestinal stenosis or intestinal adhesions, there is currently no easy way to determine the location of a twisted or bent small intestine. As described above, it is often difficult to find intestinal strictures and perforations even with computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging. Even with an endoscope, you can check from the neck to the stomach and from the rectum to the large intestine, but you cannot see the small intestine.

An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for scanning the digestive tract as a method of detecting the sound of the stomach of a patient, which can diagnose intestinal stricture or intestinal adhesions using sounds made from the digestive tract and confirm the location thereof.

The digestive tract scanning apparatus according to the present invention for achieving the above object includes a sensor module, a data processing unit, and an analysis unit to recognize a location of a gastrointestinal tract sound generated in a patient's digestive tract. The sensor module includes a plurality of microphones that are attached to a plurality of spaced apart points on the patient's abdomen and detect sound from the abdomen after swallowing. The data processing unit converts analog signals generated by the plurality of microphones into digital audio signals. The analysis unit may classify the digestive tract sound from among the plurality of audio signals converted by the data processing unit to recognize the location of the microphone that has obtained the signal classified as the digestive tract sound as the location where the digestive tract sound is generated.

According to an embodiment, the sensor module includes: the plurality of microphones of the unidirectional; The plurality of microphones are accommodated in a state that is spaced apart from each other, and includes an adhesive pad portion in a form that can be attached to the abdomen of the patient. Furthermore. It is preferable that the plurality of microphones are spaced apart from each other at intervals in which at least two or more microphones detect the same digestive tract sound.

According to an embodiment, the digestive tract scanning apparatus of the present invention may further include a display unit that displays a two-dimensional planar grid map. Here, the plurality of microphones are disposed at positions corresponding to intersections of the grid map, and the analysis unit may visually display the positions of the microphones that detect the digestive tract sound on the two-dimensional plane grid map.

According to another embodiment, the digestive tract scanning apparatus of the present invention includes a plurality of indicator lights attached to each of the plurality of microphones; According to the control of the analysis unit, it may further include a driving unit for turning on the indicator attached to the microphone that has detected the digestive tract sound among the plurality of indicators.

According to another embodiment, the digestive tract scanning apparatus of the present invention may further include a speaker that outputs the detected digestive tract sound under the control of the analysis unit.

The digestive tract sound classification of the analysis unit can be performed by various algorithms. According to an exemplary embodiment, the generation positions of the plurality of audio signals are compared with each other, and an audio signal whose generation position is outside a predetermined distance from the generation position of other audio signals may be treated as noise. According to another embodiment, the analysis unit includes typical characteristic data of the sound of the digestive tract, and classifies an audio signal having the same characteristic as the characteristic data as a digestive tract sound through spectrum analysis of each of the plurality of audio signals. I can. Here, the characteristic data may be a combination of frequencies peculiar to the sound of the digestive tract.

The digestive tract scanning apparatus of the present invention diagnoses an intestinal stenosis or intestinal adhesion state by detecting the sound of a patient's stomach, recognizes the location, and displays it to the user.

The gastrointestinal tract scanning apparatus of the present invention can easily identify intestinal stricture or adhesion by displaying the location of sounds made in the digestive tract by food consumed by a patient on a two-dimensional plane map.

Using the digestive tract scanning apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to diagnose intestinal stenosis or adhesion and recognize its location even in a state in which the patient does not feel pain continuously. Therefore, depending on the patient's condition, even if it is difficult to diagnose intestinal stenosis with a stethoscope, etc., it can be easily diagnosed. Computed tomography (CT) or repeated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are used to diagnose intestinal stenosis. There are no medical problems.

In particular, by using the scanning device of the present invention after open surgery, it is possible to block early intestinal stenosis or adhesion proceeding to proceed to intestinal perforation or intestinal obstruction while the surgical patient does not recognize pain.

1 is a block diagram of a digestive tract scanning apparatus of the present invention,
2 is a view showing an example of the digestive tract scanning apparatus of the present invention,
A block diagram of a digestive tract scanning apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention of FIG. 3,
4 is a diagram showing an example of a digestive tract sound detection map displayed on a display;
5 is a flow chart provided to explain the operation of the digestive tract scanning apparatus of the present invention, and
6 is a block diagram of a digestive tract scanning apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.

1 and 2, the digestive tract scanning apparatus 100 of the present invention includes a sensor module 110 attached to a patient's abdomen, a data processing module 130, and an analysis module 150, Recognize the'originating location' of the sounds generated in the digestive tract (hereinafter referred to as'digestive tract sounds'). The data processing module 130 may be implemented in a separate configuration from the sensor module 110 attached to the abdomen of the patient, or may be implemented integrally as shown in FIG. 2. According to another embodiment, the data processing module 130 and the analysis module 150 may be implemented as a single device, such as a kiosk, and the sensor module 110 may be connected to a kiosk.

The sensor module 110 is attached to the abdomen of the patient and includes a plurality of microphones 111 for detecting sounds generated from the abdomen of the patient, and an adhesive pad unit 113 for accommodating the plurality of microphones 111 It is equipped with. The sensor module 110 receives operation power from the data processing module 130, and analog audio signals acquired by the plurality of microphones 111 are provided to the data processing module 130.

First, the adhesive pad unit 113 must be in a shape capable of accommodating a plurality of microphones 111 in a state spaced apart from each other and attaching to the abdomen of a patient. Therefore, it is preferable that the material of the adhesive pad part 113 can be changed in shape such as synthetic resin, fiber, silicone, or the like. As shown in FIG. 2, the adhesive pad unit 113 may be implemented as a single pad accommodating all of the microphones 111, or may be implemented in the form of three or four pads in which the entire microphones 111 are divided and disposed.

Since the present invention uses a method of recognizing the location of the microphone that recognizes the sound of the digestive tract as the point of occurrence of the sound of the digestive tract, the microphone 111 uses a unidirectional microphone with good sensitivity to sound in one direction. It is better, and the narrower the receiving area, the better. Considering that the sensor module 110 is mounted on the abdomen of the patient as shown in FIG. 2, it is preferable to be arranged to detect sound coming from a direction perpendicular to the adhesive pad unit 113. Furthermore, in order to prevent external noise from being collected by the microphone 111 as much as possible, even if the microphone 111 is accommodated in the adhesive pad unit 113, the sound collecting surface of the microphone 111 is attached to the patient's abdomen. I like the form that I can do.

The plurality of microphones 111 accommodated in the adhesive pad unit 113 must be attached to or in close contact with a plurality of spaced apart points of the patient's abdomen area (or a smaller small intestine area). Since the scanning apparatus 100 of the present invention is for diagnosing intestinal stricture or intestinal adhesion, the microphone 111 is usually disposed in consideration of the thickness of the small intestine and a general position in the abdomen. Since the small intestine is a digestive tract that is relatively narrow and quite long, but not unfolded and maintained in a clustered state, the more densely arranged the microphone 111 is, the better. It is preferable that the sound of the digestive tract generated at one point is arranged at intervals such that at least two or more microphones 111 can detect the sound of the digestive tract. Considering these circumstances, the sensor module 110 may include dozens of microphones 111. In FIGS. 1 and 3, a plurality of microphones 111 are spaced at equal intervals and disposed in a two-dimensional matrix form to cover the abdomen (or small intestine area) of a patient. Of course, the plurality of microphones 111 may be spaced apart from each other at different intervals according to the arrangement of the small intestine obtained through experiments or statistics.

The sensor module 110 detects sound from the abdomen and provides it to the data processing module 130. According to the method of using the scanning device 100 of the present invention, after a patient swallows food for diagnosis of intestinal stenosis, the digestive tract sound generated when the food (or digested food) passes through the digestive tract is detected. Although the sensor module 110 is attached to the patient's abdomen and each microphone 111 is unidirectional, external noise other than the sound of the stomach can be collected, and among the sounds of the stomach, sounds from organs other than the digestive tract Can be collected.

The data processing module 130 supplies operating power to the sensor module 110 and converts the digestive tract sound detected by the sensor module 110 into a digital signal and provides it to the analysis module 150. To this end, the data processing module 130 includes a connection unit 131, a communication interface 133, a power supply unit 135, and a data processing unit 137.

The power supply unit 135 supplies operating power to the sensor module 110 as well as the data processing module 130. Power supply to the plurality of microphones 111 directly connects the output terminal of the power supply unit 135 to each microphone 111 through serial and/or parallel connection. In the embodiment of FIG. 3 described below, the power supply unit 135 also supplies power necessary for lighting the indicator 311.

The connection unit 131 provides the analog audio signals acquired by the plurality of microphones 111 to the data processing unit 137. The analog audio signals collected by the plurality of microphones 111 are provided to the data processing unit 137 through individual channels to be distinguished from each other. However, since it is difficult for the general data processing unit 137 to have dozens of channels (or input terminals), the connection unit 131 muxes the analog audio signals provided by the plurality of microphones 111 to perform the data processing unit 137 ). Therefore, if the data processing unit 137 has dozens of channels (or input terminals), the connection unit 131 is not required.

The communication interface 133 is a communication means for connecting the data processing unit 137 and the analysis unit 151, and is used when the data processing module 130 and the analysis unit 151 are implemented as separate devices. Therefore, the communication interface 133 is not an essential component of the present invention, and may be unnecessary when the data processing module 130 and the analysis unit 151 are integrally implemented. The communication interface 133 may use a wired interface or a wireless interface as shown in FIG. 2.

The data processing unit 137 converts an audio signal for each channel input through the connection unit 131 into a digital signal, and provides it to the analysis unit 151. The data processing unit 137 may perform basic noise filtering to remove noise such as white noise or sound less than a preset size.

The analysis module 150 shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 is separated from the data processing module 130 and connected through a communication channel. However, as described above, the analysis module 150 and the data processing module 130 may be integrally implemented.

The analysis module 150 may recognize a location where a gastrointestinal sound occurs using a digital audio signal provided by the data processing module 130 and display the location. To this end, the analysis module 150 includes an analysis unit 151 and a display unit 153. Hereinafter, the operation of the analysis unit 151 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

<Collection of sound: S501>

The sensor module 110 collects sound from the patient's abdomen using a plurality of microphones 111, and the data processing unit 137 converts the audio signal provided through the plurality of channels into a digital signal, and the analysis unit 151 ).

<Gastrointestinal sound classification and location recognition: S503, S505>

The analysis unit 151 classifies the sound of the digestive tract among digital audio signals of a plurality of channels provided by the data processing unit 137. The sound collected by the sensor module 110 may include various noises other than the sound of the digestive tract, and in some cases, only other noise may be collected without the sound of the digestive tract.

The specific digestive tract sound classification method of the analysis unit 151 may be implemented with various algorithms. For example, (1) the analysis unit 151 may classify all sounds of a predetermined size or more as digestive tract sounds. The digestive tract scanning apparatus 100 of the present invention is an auxiliary device for diagnosing intestinal stricture or intestinal adhesion, and since the final diagnosis is the area of a doctor or a medical professional, it may be necessary to recognize all sounds of a certain size or more and display the location thereof. .

(2) As another example, the analysis unit 151 may include typical characteristic data of the sound of the digestive tract. Here, the'feature data' may be a combination of frequencies peculiar to the sounds of the digestive tract, and such characteristic data can be obtained through an experiment. The analysis unit 151 classifies an audio signal having the same characteristics as the pre-owned feature data as a digestive tract sound through spectrum analysis of each of the audio signals of a plurality of channels, and classifies an audio signal without the same characteristics as the feature data as noise. can do.

(3) On the other hand, no matter what shape the small intestine is arranged in the stomach of the patient, it is one connected tube, so it is captured as a single flow from a plurality of microphones 111 arranged in a matrix or array. Thus, digestive tract sounds that are not included in a series of connected streams can be classified as noise. For example, when comparing generation positions of a plurality of audio signals with each other, an audio signal whose generation position is outside a predetermined distance from the generation position of other audio signals may be treated as noise.

If there is a digestive tract sound among the digital audio signals of a plurality of channels provided by the data processing unit 137, the analysis unit 151 determines the location (that is, the location of the microphone) at which the signal classified as the corresponding digestive tract sound is collected. Ghana can be recognized as a location.

<Indicating the location of the fire extinguisher sound: S507>

The analysis unit 151 may display a location at which the audio signal classified as a digestive tract sound is collected to an administrator or a patient. Here, the analysis module 150 can be displayed in various ways. First, the purpose of the display of the analysis unit 151 is to display the location of the digestive tract sound. When the patient tracks the sound of the digestive tract after eating, it tracks where the food is passing through the digestive tract. If there is an intestinal stenosis or intestinal adhesion, it is indicated that the movement of the food is no longer progressing. Therefore, if the sound of the digestive tract stops while progressing, the doctor may suspect that there is an intestinal twist, bend, intestinal stricture, or intestinal adhesions in the area. Therefore, the analysis module 150 must display the location where the signal classified as the digestive tract sound is collected, that is, the location where the digestive tract sound is generated.

As one of the methods, as in FIGS. 1 and 3, the analysis module 150 may include a display unit 153. The display unit 153 is a general display device such as an LCD, an LED, an OLED, and a picture tube. The analysis unit 151 may display a matrix map or a grid map as shown in FIG. 4 on the display unit 153. Marks (including a1, a2, a3, a4, a5) corresponding to the plurality of microphones 111 of the sensor module 110 are displayed at the intersections of the matrix. The analysis unit 151 displays the location of the microphone 111 that has detected the sound of the digestive tract on a two-dimensional plane grid map. 4, 12 marks (a1, a2) are displayed in a lit state, and the 13th mark (a3) is displayed as blinking, indicating that the last digestive tract sound has been obtained at the current 13th mark (a3). have. Thus, the doctor can confirm that the food is moving in the direction of the arrow. If, the digestive tract sounds captured at other locations (eg, a4, a5) that are not included in a series of connected flows can be classified as noise.

3 shows a digestive tract scanning apparatus 300 according to another embodiment of the present invention. The scanning device 300 of FIG. 3 is the same device as the scanning device 100 of FIG. 1, except that the sensor module 310 further includes a plurality of indicator lights 311 along with a plurality of microphones 111, The data processing module 330 further includes a driving unit 331 for driving the indicator 311. The power supply unit 135 also supplies power necessary for lighting the indicator 311.

The indicator 311 is attached to each of the plurality of microphones 111 mounted on the scan module 310. The driving unit 331, under the control of the analysis unit 151, lights up the indicator 311 attached to the microphone 111 where the gastrointestinal sound is detected, so that the current position where the gastrointestinal sound is detected is displayed on the abdomen of the patient. can do. Since the position displayed on the display unit 153 does not indicate a specific position of the patient's abdomen, the position displayed on the display unit 153 may be displayed on the patient's abdomen through the indicator 311. The indicator 311 may use an LED or other similar type of lamp.

The driving unit 331 is a switch block connecting between the power supply unit 135 and the plurality of indicator lights 311, and individually regulates the supply of operating power to the plurality of indicator lights 311. In this case, the driving unit 331 may open a specific switch according to a separate control signal so that only the specific indicator 311 is turned on. When the analysis unit 151 recognizes the position where the digestive tract sound is detected, the corresponding position is transmitted to the driving unit 331 through the data processing unit 137.

According to another embodiment, the digestive tract scanning apparatus 300 of the present invention may further include a speaker 155 that outputs the detected digestive tract sound under control of the analysis unit 151. An experienced doctor will be able to distinguish whether the corresponding sound is the sound of the digestive tract by using the sound output through the speaker 155.

In the above manner, the digestive tract scanning apparatus of the present invention operates.

Example

In FIGS. 1 and 3, one data processing module 130 and a sensor module 110 are connected to the analysis module 150. However, according to another embodiment, a plurality of data processing modules may be connected to the analysis module 150. In the scanning device 600 of FIG. 6, a plurality of data processing units 531, 533, and 535 are connected to the analysis module 150, and sensor modules 511 and 513 are individually connected to each of the data processing units 531, 533, and 535. , 515) is connected.

The sensor modules 511, 513, and 515 are examples in which one sensor module 110 is implemented as a plurality of pads as described in the embodiments of FIGS. 1 and 3. Therefore, the configuration or operation is the same as the sensor module 110. However, the number of microphones 111 provided in the individual sensor modules 511, 513, and 515 is only smaller than that of the sensor modules 110 of FIGS. 1 and 3.

The data processing units 531, 533, and 535 distribute the roles of the data processing unit 130 of FIGS. 1 and 3. The internal configuration of each of the data processing units 531, 533, and 535 is the same as that of the data processing unit 130, but the number of processed audio channels is small. Accordingly, the data processing units 531, 533, and 535 may not need the connection unit 131.

The analysis unit 551 is connected to a plurality of data processing units 531, 533, and 535, and a description of the method of classifying the sound of the digestive tract and displaying the sound generation location is the same as that of the analysis unit 551 of FIGS. 1 and 3. Do.

In the above, preferred embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, but the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, and is generally used in the technical field to which the present invention pertains without departing from the gist of the present invention claimed in the claims. Of course, various modifications may be made by those skilled in the art, and these modifications should not be understood individually from the technical idea or perspective of the present invention.

Claims (8)

As a digestive tract scanning device,
A sensor module having a plurality of microphones attached to a plurality of spaced apart points of the patient's abdomen to detect sound generated from the abdomen after swallowing food;
A data processing unit that converts the analog signals generated by the plurality of microphones into digital audio signals; And
Including an analysis unit for classifying the gastrointestinal sound generated in the gastrointestinal tract of the patient among the plurality of audio signals converted by the data processing unit, recognizes the location of the microphone that detects the gastrointestinal tract sound as a location where the gastrointestinal sound is generated,
Further comprising a display unit for displaying a two-dimensional planar grid map, wherein the plurality of microphones are disposed at a position corresponding to an intersection of the grid map,
The digestive tract scanning apparatus, characterized in that the analysis unit displays the location of the microphone that has detected the digestive tract sound on the two-dimensional plane grid map.
As a digestive tract scanning device,
A sensor module having a plurality of microphones attached to a plurality of spaced apart points of the patient's abdomen to detect sound generated from the abdomen after swallowing food;
A data processing unit that converts the analog signals generated by the plurality of microphones into digital audio signals; And
Including an analysis unit for classifying the gastrointestinal sound generated in the gastrointestinal tract of the patient among the plurality of audio signals converted by the data processing unit, recognizes the location of the microphone that detects the gastrointestinal tract sound as a location where the gastrointestinal sound is generated,
A plurality of indicator lights attached to each of the plurality of microphones; And
Under the control of the analysis unit, the digestive tract scanning apparatus further comprising a driving unit for lighting an indicator attached to the microphone that has detected the digestive tract sound among the plurality of indicators.
The method according to claim 1 or 2,
The sensor module,
The plurality of microphones of the cardiogram; And
A digestive tract scanning apparatus comprising: an adhesive pad unit that accommodates the plurality of microphones in a state that is spaced apart from each other and can be attached to the abdomen of the patient.
The method of claim 3,
The adhesive pad portion digestive tract scanning apparatus, characterized in that accommodating the plurality of microphones so that at least two or more microphones are spaced apart.
delete The method according to claim 1 or 2,
Digestive tract scanning apparatus, characterized in that further comprising a speaker for outputting the detected digestive tract sound under the control of the analysis unit.
The method according to claim 1 or 2,
The analysis unit,
Digestive tract scanning apparatus, characterized in that: extracting locations of occurrence of the plurality of audio signals, and processing an audio signal out of a predetermined distance from locations of other audio signals among the plurality of audio signals as noise .
The method according to claim 1 or 2,
The analysis unit,
An audio signal having typical characteristic data of the digestive tract sound and having the same characteristic as the characteristic data through spectrum analysis of each of the plurality of audio signals is classified as a digestive tract sound,
The feature data is a digestive tract scanning apparatus, characterized in that the combination of frequencies peculiar to the sounds of the digestive tract.

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