TWI769818B - Scanning assist device and conducting membrane assembly for breast ultrasound scanning - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a scanning assist device for breast ultrasound scanning, which is used in an ultrasound scanning device. The scanning assist device includes a mounted opening and a linear array transducer. The linear array transducer is located at the mounted opening. The scanning assist device includes a carrier and a conducting membrane assembly. The carrier is disposes on the mounted opening, and includes an accommodating groove and a first opening. The linear array transducer is accommodated in the first opening. The conducting membrane assembly includes a soft main body and a conducting unit. The soft main body has a second opening, and the conducting unit is located at the second opening. The conducting membrane assembly is disposed in the accommodating groove by the conducting unit corresponding to the first opening, so that the conducting unit contacts with the linear array transducer.

Description

Detection auxiliary device and conductive membrane assembly for whole breast ultrasound examination

The present invention relates to a detection auxiliary device for whole breast ultrasound detection, in particular to a conductive membrane assembly of the detection auxiliary device.

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in women, and regular detection is very important for early detection and treatment. Among them, early detection of breast cancer by mammography is quite common, which uses low-dose X-rays to see through breast tissue for angiographic analysis. However, mammography can produce false negative results due to the density of breast tissue. Therefore, in some cases, breast ultrasound is used.

The principle of breast ultrasound detection is to use high-frequency sound waves to pass into breast tissue from the probe, and then be received by the probe after being reflected or scattered back. . Among them, the returned sound waves present different results depending on the physical properties of the breast tissue (such as tissue density), so different types of tissue can be distinguished. For example, mucous-filled cysts in the breast can be distinguished from solid tissue (tumors), so breast ultrasound is often used as an auxiliary imaging tool for the detection of dense breasts.

Early breast ultrasound examinations required a physician or technician to slowly move a hand-held ultrasound probe to look for abnormal tissue. Therefore, it depends on the experience and skills of doctors or technicians, and it is difficult to achieve reproducibility, and the detection time is long. In recent years, medical equipment manufacturers have provided a whole breast ultrasound inspection system according to the aforementioned needs, which includes a diagnosis bed and an ultrasound inspection device (or an ultrasonic image capture device), and the ultrasound inspection device has a rotating component, The examinee can lie on his back or lie down on the diagnostic bed, and the probe in the rotating assembly corresponds to the patient's breast, and the examinee's breast is completely inspected according to the preset rotation trajectory.

In order to ensure that the ultrasonic transmission will not be disturbed, a conductive glue plate will be set up, and the conductive glue will be applied to the upper and lower surfaces of the membrane module. the breasts of the person. Since the conductive glue will cause inconvenience in cleaning, there is also a method of directly using the conductive film. The conductive film is directly placed on the plastic plate, and the plastic plate has an opening for accommodating the probe, so that the probe can directly contact one surface of the conductive film, and the other surface is close to the breast of the subject. However, when the probe rotates, the conductive film also rotates, so that the subject's breast skin is constantly rubbed, causing discomfort to the subject, and it is necessary to improve.

In view of the above problems, the main purpose of the present invention is to provide an auxiliary detection device and a conductive membrane assembly for whole breast ultrasound inspection. Conductive membranes can be difficult to clean or cause discomfort to the subject.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an auxiliary detection device for whole breast ultrasound detection, which is applied to an ultrasound image capturing device. The ultrasonic image capturing device includes an installation opening and a linear array probe, and the linear array probe is located in the installation opening. The detection auxiliary device includes a carrier and a conductive membrane assembly. The carrier is disposed in the installation opening. The carrier includes an accommodating groove and a first opening, and the linear array probe is accommodated in the first opening. The conductive membrane assembly includes a soft body and a conductive unit. The soft body has an opposite first surface, a second surface, and a second opening, and the first surface faces the accommodating groove. The conduction unit is located in the second opening. The conductive membrane assembly corresponds to the first opening with the conductive unit and is disposed in the accommodating groove, so that the conductive unit is in contact with the linear array probe.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention further provides a conductive membrane assembly for whole breast ultrasound examination, which is applied to an auxiliary examination device. The detection auxiliary device includes a carrier, and the carrier includes an accommodating slot and a first opening, and the first opening accommodates a linear array probe. The conductive membrane assembly includes a soft body and a conductive unit. The soft body has an opposite first surface, a second surface, and a second opening, and the first surface faces the accommodating groove. The conduction unit is located in the second opening. The conductive membrane assembly corresponds to the first opening with the conductive unit and is disposed in the accommodating groove, so that the conductive unit is in contact with the linear array probe.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the conducting unit includes a protruding portion and an extending portion. The configuration of the protruding portion corresponds to the second opening, and the extending portion is formed by extending from one side of the protruding portion. The protruding portion is accommodated in the second opening of the soft body, and the extension portion is in contact with the first surface of the soft body.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the friction coefficient of the second surface of the soft body is between 0.1 and 1.6.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the soft body includes a soft layer and a smooth coating, the smooth coating is coated on one surface of the soft layer, and the smooth coating forms the second surface of the soft body.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the soft body has a concave structure on the second surface.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the second surface of the soft body is an arc surface, and the arc of the second surface is greater than 130 mm.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the soft body has a central area and an arc area on the second surface, the arc area is adjacent to the central area, and the arc of the arc area is greater than 60 mm.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the carrier further includes at least one limiting portion disposed in the accommodating groove. The soft body correspondingly has at least one concave portion on the first surface, and the limiting portion is accommodated in the concave portion.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the carrier further includes three limiting portions, wherein the two limiting portions are adjacent to two opposite sides of the first opening.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the carrier further includes at least one sealing member disposed on the periphery of the first opening and in contact with the conducting unit.

Based on the above, the detection auxiliary device for whole breast ultrasound detection according to the present invention includes a carrier and a conductive membrane assembly. The conductive membrane assembly includes a soft body and a conductive unit, and the conductive unit is located at the second opening of the soft body. In addition, the conductive membrane assembly is disposed in the accommodating groove of the carrier with a conductive unit, so that the conductive unit is in contact with the linear array probe, so as to transmit ultrasonic waves. With the design that the conduction unit is accommodated in the soft body, the subject's breast is mainly in contact with the soft body. When the conductive membrane assembly performs the rotational displacement movement, since the friction force of the soft body on the breast of the subject is small, it will not cause excessive discomfort to the subject, so as to achieve the effect of alleviating the discomfort of the subject.

In order to enable your examiners to better understand the technical content of the present invention, the preferred specific embodiments are described as follows.

First of all, the detection auxiliary device for whole breast ultrasound detection in this embodiment is a detection auxiliary device that can be applied to a whole breast ultrasound system, and is used in conjunction with the ultrasound image capturing device of the system to perform whole breast ultrasound For sonic detection, the architecture of the whole breast ultrasound system is explained below. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the application of the detection aid device in an embodiment of the present invention to a whole breast ultrasound system, FIG. 2 is an exploded schematic diagram of the whole breast ultrasound system shown in FIG. 1 , and FIG. 3 is a whole breast ultrasound system shown in FIG. 1 . A schematic cross-sectional view of an ultrasonic system. FIG. 4A is an exploded schematic view of the ultrasonic image capture device shown in FIG. 2 , and FIG. 4B is an exploded schematic view of the carrier and the conductive membrane assembly shown in FIG. 4A . Please also refer to FIGS. 1-2 shown in 4B. The whole breast ultrasound system S of this embodiment includes an ultrasound image capturing device 1 , a detection auxiliary device 2 and a diagnosis bed 4 . Among them, the present embodiment is described by taking a lying-type whole breast ultrasound system S as an example. The ultrasound image capturing device 1 is arranged inside the diagnosis bed 4, and the diagnosis bed 4 has an opening 41 near the front end. The capturing device 1 is disposed corresponding to the opening 41 .

The ultrasonic image capturing device 1 includes an installation opening 11 , a driving module 12 and a linear array probe 13 . The ultrasonic image capturing device 1 can be installed into the interior of the diagnosis couch 4 from the opening 41 , so that the driving module 12 and the linear array probe 13 can correspond to the opening 41 of the diagnosis couch 4 . In addition, the linear array probe 13 is connected to the driving module 12 and located in the installation opening 11 , and the driving module 12 drives the linear array probe 13 to scan according to a preset (rotational) trajectory. It should be noted that, in order to simplify the drawing, the ultrasonic image capturing device 1 in FIG. 4A only draws the casing and the linear array probe 13 , but does not draw the driving module 12 .

As shown in FIG. 4B , the detection auxiliary device 2 includes a carrier 20 and a conductive membrane assembly 30 . The carrier 20 can be a conductive plastic disc made of plastic material, such as but not limited to ABS resin or acrylic material, and is disposed in the installation opening 11 . In addition, the carrier 20 can be connected to the driving module 12, so that the driving module 12 can simultaneously drive the linear array probe 13 and the carrier 20 to perform rotational displacement motion. Specifically, the carrier 20 includes an accommodating groove 21 and a first opening 22 . One surface of the conductive membrane assembly 30 corresponds to the carrier 20 and is disposed in the accommodating groove 21 of the carrier 20 . The subject is lying on the diagnosis table 4 , and the subject's breast is in contact with the other surface of the conductive membrane assembly 30 (relative to the surface of the carrier 20 ). In addition, the linear array probe 13 is accommodated in the first opening 22 and partially passes through the first opening 22 , so that the linear array probe 13 can directly contact the conductive membrane assembly 30 .

In this embodiment, the conductive membrane assembly 30 includes a soft body 31 and a conductive unit 32 . The soft body 31 has a first surface 311 and a second surface 312 opposite to each other, and a second opening 313 . The first surface 311 faces the accommodating groove 21 of the carrier 20 and is placed in the accommodating groove 21 . The second surface 312 is the side surface that is in contact with the breast of the subject. The second surface 312 of the soft body 31 in this embodiment is made of a material with a small friction coefficient on human skin, for example, the friction of the second surface 312 The coefficient can be between 0.1 and 1.6.

The soft body 31 and the conducting unit 32 can be made of biocompatible materials, and the conducting unit 32 is a thin film structure or a colloid structure that can transmit ultrasonic waves and is not easily disturbed by external factors. In this embodiment, the conductive unit 32 is a thin film structure, which can be, for example, but not limited to, a water-soluble polymer, a high molecular polymer, or a polyethylene terephthalate (PET for short) or its Derivatives alcoholated polyester material (PETG), polyethylene (Polyethylene), medical grade polyvinyl chloride (medical grade PVC), polycarbonate (Polycarbonate), polypropylene (polypropylene), polyether ether ketone (PEEK), polyurethane ( polyurethane) and other films. In other embodiments, the conducting unit 32 can also be an ultrasonic conducting glue, or a water-containing element (eg, a water bag).

The conduction unit 32 is located in the second opening 313 of the soft body 31 . The conduction unit 32 in this embodiment is a thin film, so it can be directly accommodated in the second opening 313 of the soft body 31 . As shown in FIG. 4B , the conductive unit 32 of this embodiment preferably includes a convex portion 321 and an extension portion 322 . The configuration of the convex portion 321 corresponds to the second opening 313, so that the convex portion 321 can be accommodated in the second opening 313 of the soft body 31, as shown in FIG. schematic diagram.

For example, the second opening 313 is a rectangular opening. Correspondingly, the protruding portion 321 is a long strip with a similar size, so that the protruding portion 321 can be inserted into the second opening 313 . In addition, the extending portion 322 is formed by extending from one side of the convex portion 321 , and the extending portion 322 in this embodiment is formed by extending outward from four sides of the convex portion 321 . When the protruding portion 321 is accommodated in the second opening 313 of the soft body 31 , the extending portion 322 is in contact with the first surface 311 of the soft body 31 . Therefore, the conductive extension 322 can be pressed by the soft body 31 to fix the position of the conductive unit 32 . In other embodiments, if the conductive unit 32 is a colloidal structure, it can be coated on the linear array probe 13 so that the conductive unit 32 and the linear array probe 13 are accommodated in the second opening 313 of the soft body 31 together.

Preferably, the carrier 20 further includes at least one sealing member 23 , which is disposed on the periphery of the first opening 22 and is in contact with the conducting unit 32 . FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the assembled carrier shown in FIG. 4B , please refer to FIG. 6 . Specifically, the sealing member 23 can be made of soft and waterproof silicone rubber, and has a rectangular structure matched with the inner edge of the first opening 22 . In addition, the sealing member 23 has a through opening for accommodating the linear array probe 13, so that the sealing member 23 is in close contact with the linear array probe 13 to achieve a sealing effect.

In addition, in the conductive membrane assembly 30, after the conductive unit 32 corresponds to the first opening 22, the conductive membrane assembly 30 is disposed in the accommodating groove 21, so that the conductive unit 32 can be in contact with the linear array probe 13 to conduct ultrasonic signals transmission. It should be noted that, the carrier 20 and the linear array probe 13 can jointly perform rotational displacement movement, so as to perform ultrasonic scanning detection on the entire breast of the subject. In addition, the present embodiment is not limited to taking an image while rotating and moving, and it can also be rotated to a specific position and then stop rotating and take an image. Since the conductive membrane assembly 30 is directly disposed in the accommodating groove 21 of the carrier 20 , the conductive membrane assembly 30 can perform rotational displacement movement at the same time. Among them, most of the subject's breasts are in contact with the soft body 31 , which can provide the subject with a comfortable feeling. In addition, when the conductive membrane assembly 30 performs the rotational displacement movement, since the frictional force of the soft body 31 on the breast of the subject is small, it will not cause excessive discomfort to the subject.

Preferably, the soft body 31 includes a soft layer 314 and a smooth coating 315 . Specifically, the main body of the soft body 31 is the soft layer 314 , and the smooth coating 315 is coated on one surface of the soft layer 314 , so that the smooth coating 315 forms the second surface 312 of the soft body 31 . The soft layer 314 is a high molecular polymer, which can be, for example, but not limited to, silicone, or a combination of it and polyurethane (PU for short). In addition, the present embodiment does not specifically limit the material of the smooth coating 315 , and only needs to achieve the effect of making the friction coefficient of the second surface 312 (smooth coating 315 ) of the soft body 31 between 0.1 and 1.6. With the arrangement of the smooth coating 315 , when the conductive membrane assembly 30 performs the rotational displacement movement, the frictional force on the skin of the subject can be reduced, so as to alleviate the discomfort during the examination.

Preferably, the second surface 312 of the soft body 31 can be a concave structure, which can be, for example, but not limited to, a U-shaped or V-shaped concave structure. Specifically, the first surface 311 of the soft body 31 is a plane structure, so as to be flatly placed in the accommodating groove 21 of the carrier 20 . The second surface 312 in contact with the subject's breast can be a concave structure, so that the subject's breast can be accommodated in the concave structure, so as to reduce the pressure on the subject's breast. As shown in FIG. 5 , in this embodiment, the soft body 31 has an arc area 3121 and a central area 3122 on the second surface 312 . The central area 3122 is located at the center of the soft body 31 , and the arcuate area 3121 is adjacent to the central area 3122 and extends outward from the central area 3122 .

FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the conductive membrane assembly shown in FIG. 5 , please refer to FIG. 7 . Preferably, the arc of the arc surface area 3121 may be greater than 60 millimeters (mm) to reduce the compression on the subject's breast. In practical application, a plurality of soft bodies 31 can also be prepared, and the arc regions 3121 of which have different radians respectively, and the soft bodies 31 with different radians can be provided according to the breast size of the subject. In other embodiments, the second surface 312 can also be directly a curved surface, and the curvature of the second surface 312 is greater than 130 mm, which can also achieve the effect of reducing the compression on the subject's breast.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of the soft body shown in FIG. 4B on the first surface. Please refer to FIG. 6 and FIG. 8 at the same time. In order to make the bearing member 20 and the conductive membrane assembly 30 rotate and displace synchronously, the bearing member 20 preferably further includes at least one limiting portion 24 . In this embodiment, three limiting portions 24 are used as an example to illustrate. The limiting portion 24 is disposed in the accommodating slot 21 , preferably, two limiting portions 24 a are adjacent to two opposite sides of the first opening 22 , and the other limiting portion 24 b can be located at any position in the accommodating slot 21 , preferably located on the opposite side of the first opening 22 . Correspondingly, the soft body 31 has at least one concave portion 316 on the first surface 311 , and the soft body 31 of this embodiment has three concave portions 316 , the positions of which correspond to the limiting portion 24 . When the soft body 31 is assembled to the carrier 20 , the limiting portion 24 is accommodated in the concave portion 316 to ensure that the carrier 20 can simultaneously drive the conductive membrane assembly 30 to perform rotational displacement movement.

Furthermore, the present invention further provides a conductive membrane assembly for whole breast ultrasound detection, which is applied to an auxiliary detection device. The detection auxiliary device includes a carrier, and the carrier includes an accommodating slot and a first opening, and the first opening accommodates a linear array probe. The conductive membrane assembly includes a soft body and a conductive unit. For details of other components and connection relationships, reference may be made to the auxiliary detection device 2 and the conductive membrane assembly 30 in the foregoing embodiment, and details are not described herein.

To sum up, the detection auxiliary device for whole breast ultrasound detection according to the present invention includes a carrier and a conductive membrane assembly. The conductive membrane assembly includes a soft body and a conductive unit, and the conductive unit is located at the second opening of the soft body. In addition, the conductive membrane assembly is disposed in the accommodating groove of the carrier with a conductive unit, so that the conductive unit is in contact with the linear array probe, so as to transmit ultrasonic waves. With the design that the conduction unit is accommodated in the soft body, the subject's breast is mainly in contact with the soft body. When the conductive membrane assembly performs the rotational displacement movement, since the friction force of the soft body on the breast of the subject is small, it will not cause excessive discomfort to the subject, so as to achieve the effect of alleviating the discomfort of the subject.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments are given as examples for the convenience of description, and the scope of the claims claimed in the present invention should be based on the scope of the patent application, rather than being limited to the above-mentioned embodiments.

1: Ultrasonic image capture device 11: Mounting openings 12: Driver module 13: Linear array probe 2: Detection auxiliary device 20: Carrier 21: accommodating slot 22: The first opening 23: Seals 24, 24a, 24b: Limiting part 30: Conductive membrane assembly 31: Soft body 311: First Surface 312: Second Surface 3121: Arc Area 3122: Central District 313: Second Opening 314: Soft Layer 315: Smooth Coating 316: Recess 32: Conduction unit 321: convex part 322: Extensions 4: Clinic bed 41: Opening S: Whole Breast Ultrasound System

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a whole breast ultrasound system applied to an auxiliary detection device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an exploded schematic view of the whole breast ultrasound system shown in FIG. 1 . FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the whole breast ultrasound system shown in FIG. 1 . FIG. 4A is an exploded schematic view of the ultrasonic image capturing device shown in FIG. 2 . FIG. 4B is an exploded schematic view of the carrier and the conductive membrane assembly shown in FIG. 4A . FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the conductive membrane assembly shown in FIG. 4B after being assembled. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the assembled carrier shown in FIG. 4B . FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the conductive membrane assembly shown in FIG. 5 . FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of the soft body shown in FIG. 4B on the first surface.

1: Ultrasonic image capture device

2: Detection auxiliary device

4: Clinic bed

41: Opening

S: Whole Breast Ultrasound System

Claims (11)

A detection auxiliary device for whole breast ultrasound detection, applied to an ultrasonic image capture device, comprising an installation opening and a linear array probe, the linear array probe is located in the installation opening, and the detection auxiliary device comprises: a The carrier is arranged in the installation opening, and the carrier includes: an accommodating slot; a first opening, the linear array probe is accommodated in the first opening; and at least one limiting part is arranged in the accommodating slot ; And a conductive membrane assembly, comprising: a soft body having a first surface and a second surface opposite to, and a second opening, the first surface facing the accommodating groove, the soft body on the first surface Correspondingly has at least one concave portion, the limiting portion is accommodated in the concave portion; and a conducting unit is located in the second opening, wherein the conducting membrane assembly corresponds to the first opening with the conducting unit and is disposed in the accommodating groove , so that the conductive element is in contact with the linear array probe. The detection auxiliary device according to claim 1, wherein the conducting unit comprises a protruding portion and an extending portion, the configuration of the protruding portion corresponds to the second opening, and the extending portion extends from one side of the protruding portion to so that the protruding portion is accommodated in the second opening of the soft body, and the extension portion is in contact with the first surface of the soft body. The detection auxiliary device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the friction coefficient of the second surface of the soft body is between 0.1 and 1.6. The detection auxiliary device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the soft body comprises a soft layer and a smooth coating, the smooth coating is coated on one surface of the soft layer, and the smooth coating forms the surface of the soft body the second surface. The detection auxiliary device according to claim 1, wherein the soft body has a concave structure on the second surface. The detection auxiliary device according to claim 5, wherein the soft body is an arc surface on the second surface, and the arc of the second surface is greater than 130 mm. The detection auxiliary device according to claim 5, wherein the soft body has a central area and an arc area on the second surface, the arc area is adjacent to the central area, and the arc of the arc area is greater than 60 mm . The detection auxiliary device according to claim 1, wherein the carrier further comprises three limiting portions, two of which are adjacent to two opposite sides of the first opening. The detection auxiliary device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the carrier further comprises at least one sealing member disposed on the periphery of the first opening and in contact with the conducting unit. A conductive membrane assembly for whole breast ultrasound detection, applied to an auxiliary detection device, which includes a bearing member, and the bearing member includes an accommodating groove and a first opening, the first opening accommodates a linear array probe, characterized in that the carrier further includes at least one limiting portion disposed in the accommodating groove, and the conductive membrane assembly includes: a soft body , has an opposite first surface, a second surface, and a second opening, the first surface faces the accommodating groove, the soft body correspondingly has at least one concave portion on the first surface, and the limiting portion accommodates in the concave portion; and a conducting unit located at the second opening, wherein the conducting membrane assembly corresponds to the first opening and is disposed in the accommodating groove so that the conducting unit is in contact with the linear array probe. The conductive film assembly as claimed in claim 10, wherein the conductive unit comprises a protruding portion and an extending portion, the configuration of the protruding portion corresponds to the second opening, and the extending portion extends from one side of the protruding portion to so that the protruding portion is accommodated in the second opening of the soft body, and the extension portion is in contact with the first surface of the soft body.

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