JPH02277446A - Intracavitary ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To execute proper ultrasonic diagnosis by providing an image rotation switch controlling a means displaying an ultrasonic image to make the ultrasonic image rotatable and movable on a TV monitor. CONSTITUTION:One picture on a TV monitor 13 is drawn by one revolution of an ultrasonic probe 4 and the Z-phase pulse being the start pulse from an address unit 15 controls the taking-in of the echo signal from a receiver 12 to a DSC unit through a synchronous circuit 10. When an image rotation switch B is operated, a delay circuit 7 is operated to control the Z-phase pulse and, therefore, it can be arbitrarily set that an echo signal at which rotary position of the ultrasonic prove 8 is set to the beginning to write of one picture. As a result, the ultrasonic image displayed on the TV monitor 13 can be rotated and moved to an arbitrary position contrastable with an optical visual field direction.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an intrabody cavity ultrasonic diagnostic device that is equipped with an ultrasonic probe at the tip of an intrabody cavity insertion section and is capable of ultrasonic diagnosis of deep parts of the body cavity. .

[Conventional technology]

In order to precisely diagnose organs deep within a body cavity, various types of intrabody cavity ultrasound diagnostic apparatuses have been proposed in which an ultrasound probe is provided at the tip of an endoscope insertion section.

This intrabody cavity ultrasound diagnostic apparatus can be roughly divided into a mechanical scanning method and an electronic scanning method depending on the scanning method of the ultrasound probe. Among the mechanical scanning methods, the radial scanning method, in which the ultrasound probe is rotated in a direction perpendicular to the insertion axis of the endoscope insertion section, is effective for ultrasound diagnosis from within the lumen of the gastrointestinal tract. has been done.

Among these, as a radial scanning type ultrasonic endoscopic diagnostic device, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-227740 and Japanese Utility Model Application No. 60-227740,
There is one proposed in Japanese Patent No. 1-57908. In these devices, an ultrasonic transducer provided at the tip of the endoscope insertion section is rotated from a drive section near the operator's hand via a flexible shaft extending four times into the endoscope insertion section. In this case, the position detecting device for the rotating ultrasonic transducer is provided in the drive section near the operator's hand in order to reduce the diameter and shorten the tip of the endoscope insertion section. FIG. 6A is a schematic diagram of such a conventional endoscope insertion section 20 and drive section 2I.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, when using the above-mentioned conventional ultrasound endoscopic diagnostic apparatus, when the endoscope insertion section is inserted deep into a body cavity, the endoscope insertion section is bent or the curved section near the tip is curved. As a result, sliding resistance is applied to the rotating flexible shaft that extends inside, and the rotation phase of the ultrasonic transducer at the tip of the endoscope lags behind the rotation of the drive unit near the operator's hand (
(arrows a and b in FIG. 6B), there is a problem in that the ultrasound image on the monitor of the observation device is rotated. FIG. 6C shows such a state, in which the ultrasound image rotates in the direction of the arrow as shown in the figure below.

Normally, in an ultrasonic endoscopic diagnostic apparatus, it is necessary to compare the optical viewing direction and the ultrasonic image, and for this purpose, for example, the image displayed directly below the top of the monitor is set as the optical viewing direction. However, if the rotation of the ultrasonic transducer is out of phase with the rotation of the drive unit as described above, the image that should be displayed directly below the top of the monitor will not be displayed. Furthermore, there is a risk that subtle lesions may be overlooked, leading to misdiagnosis.

On the other hand, if an attempt is made to return the ultrasound image to a position opposite to the optical viewing direction, the endoscope insertion portion will be twisted within the body cavity, which is not desirable in terms of durability. Furthermore, if the endoscope insertion portion is located within a narrow lumen within a body cavity, there is a risk that the lumen may be perforated due to twisting.

Furthermore, when an endoscope insertion tube is inserted into the deep colon in a body cavity, it is difficult to transmit the twisting rotation at hand to the tip of the insertion tube, so it is rarely possible to rotate the ultrasound image and display it at the desired position on the monitor. It's impossible.

In addition, in the case of a so-called miniature probe that is inserted into the channel of an endoscope and a part of it is guided out from the tip of the endoscope insertion part for ultrasonic scanning, the ultrasonic image UP direction is marked on the tip of the miniature probe body. There is a delay between the display and the actual writing position of the ultrasonic image by the ultrasonic transducer that rotates through a flexible shaft extending inside the main body. This is due to the sliding resistance applied to the flexible shaft as described above.

The present invention has been proposed in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide an intrabody cavity ultrasound diagnostic device that can perform proper ultrasound diagnosis by easily rotating and moving the ultrasound image on a monitor. This is the purpose.

[Means and effects for solving the problem] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides an ultrasonic probe at one end of a flexible shaft extending inside the endoscope insertion section, and the other end is attached to the side near the operator's hand. In an intrabody cavity ultrasound diagnostic device that is connected to a drive unit, rotates the ultrasound probe, and displays ultrasound images on the TV monitor of the observation device, the system captures ultrasound information and displays the ultrasound images on the TV monitor. An image rotation switch is provided to control the display means and rotate the ultrasound image on the TV monitor.

By providing the image rotation switch in this way, the ultrasound image on the monitor can be rotated to any desired position, allowing proper ultrasound diagnosis to be performed.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention. Broadly speaking, it has an ultrasound endoscope main body 1 and an observation device 6, and a motor 2 is provided in the drive section of the former, and a flexible shaft 3 is connected to the motor 2, which rotates the ultrasound probe 4. I have to. An encoder 5 is attached to the motor 2 to detect rotation of the ultrasonic probe 4. in this case,
The rotation detection signal is a Z phase, 1 start pulse.
It is transmitted as an A-phase position signal of a plurality of pulses (for example, 256 pulses) with equal width during each cycle.

A delay circuit 7 is provided between the encoder 5 and the observation device 6, and the delay of the Z phase as the rotation detection signal is arbitrarily controlled by an image rotation switch 8 provided in the operation section within the ultrasound endoscope body 1. I try to do that.

Inside the observation device 6, there are a synchronization circuit 10, a DSC (digital scan converter) unit 11, which are controlled by a control unit 9. Receiver 12, TV monitor 13
has been established. The synchronization circuit 10 is a scanner control circuit 14
and the DSC unit 11.

The DSC unit 11 receives a signal from the receiver 12 connected to the ultrasound probe 4 of the ultrasound endoscope body 1 while being controlled by the address unit 15, and sends the signal to the TV monitor 13. The scanner control circuit 14 controls the motor 2 within the ultrasound endoscope main body 1. The address unit 15 receives the rotation detection signal from the encoder 5 in the ultrasound endoscope body 1 as it is for the A phase and the delay circuit 7 for the Z phase.
received through. The pulser 16 is connected to the encoder 5 and the ultrasound probe 4 within the ultrasound endoscope main body l.

In order to perform ultrasonic diagnosis using this embodiment configured as described above, first, the control unit 9 starts the synchronization circuit 10.
is activated, and further the scanner control circuit 14 is activated to rotate the motor 2. Simultaneously with the rotation of the motor 2, the ultrasonic probe 4 rotates via the flexible shaft 3. Then, the encoder 5 generates a Z phase as a start pulse and an A phase as a position signal, and sends them to the address unit 15.

In addition, the signal activates the pulser 16 and the ultrasonic probe 4
Excite.

After the ultrasonic probe 4 receives the reflected echo of the ultrasonic beam emitted to the subject by excitation of the ultrasonic probe 4, the received signal is processed by the receiver 12 and sent to the DSC unit 11 controlled by the address unit 15. sent,
It is displayed on the TV monitor 13 as an ultrasound image.

In this case, one screen on the TV monitor 13 is drawn by one rotation of the ultrasound probe 4. The Z phase, which is the start pulse from the address unit 15, controls the reception of the echo signal from the receiver 12 into the DSC unit 1 via the synchronization circuit 10.

Then, when the image rotation switch 8 is activated, the delay circuit 7 is activated and the Z-phase pulse is controlled, so that the echo signal at which rotational position of the ultrasound probe 4 is
You can arbitrarily set whether to export the screen. Therefore, the ultrasound image displayed on the TV monitor 13 can be rotated to any position that can be compared with the optical viewing direction.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention, in which parts corresponding to those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals (
The same applies to the following examples).

In this embodiment, unlike the first embodiment, a delay circuit is not provided in the ultrasound endoscope main body 1, but is provided between the address unit 15 provided in the observation device 6 and the DSC unit 11. The other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment.

In this embodiment as well, the Z phase which is the start pulse from the address unit 15 is sent to the DSC unit 1 via the synchronization circuit 10.
In this case, when the image rotation switch 8 is activated, the coordinate conversion circuit 17 is activated, converting the address unit 150 control signal, and converting the address unit 150 control signal to the DSC unit 11.
control.

In this way, the ultrasound information captured in the observation device 6 is converted, and the ultrasound image is rotated on the monitor.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a third embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment differs from the first embodiment in the method of delaying the Z phase, which is the start pulse of the ultrasound endoscope main body l, and a transmission phase adjustment mechanism 18 is provided between the motor 2 and the encoder 5. , the transmission phase can be adjusted using an image rotation switch 8. The other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment.

By doing this, the rotational phase of the motor 2 can be controlled, so that it is possible to arbitrarily set at which rotational position of the ultrasonic probe 4 the echo signal is set as the writing position for one screen.

4 is a perspective view of a device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, a catheter-type ultrasound probe 1a is inserted into a channel of an endoscope 1. By leading out from the distal end of the body cavity insertion part, the probe is further inserted into the body cavity for ultrasonic scanning. On the other hand, FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the same, but the apparatus includes a catheter-type ultrasonic probe la, a drive unit lb, and an observation device 6.

The catheter-type ultrasonic probe 1a and the drive unit lb are connected via the joint part 1c, and the drive force of the drive unit lb is transmitted to the ultrasonic transducer 4, as well as transmitting and receiving ultrasonic signals. . The drive unit Hb has a hinged arm 6a fixed to the observation device 6.
It is provided through. For other configurations, please refer to the above
This is similar to the example.

With this configuration, in order to perform ultrasound diagnosis, first perform the necessary endoscopic II diagnosis or endoscopic treatment, and then
The catheter-type ultrasonic probe 1a is inserted into the channel through the forceps port of the endoscope, and a portion thereof is guided out from the tip. Then, the ultrasonic probe 4 is
Excite. Then, the reflected echo of the ultrasound beam is subjected to predetermined signal processing and then displayed on the TV monitor 13 of the observation device 6 as an ultrasound image.

In this case, when the image rotation switch 8 is activated, the delay circuit 7 is activated and the Z-phase pulse is controlled, so that the ultrasound probe 4 in the catheter chill type ultrasound probe la is activated as in the first embodiment. It is possible to arbitrarily set the rotational position at which echo signals are to be exported on one screen.Therefore, the catheter-type ultrasound probe 1a
In this embodiment, a delay circuit is used, but a coordinate conversion circuit is used instead. Needless to say, it is okay.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be modified and modified in many ways. For example, the image rotation switch is not limited to being provided in the operating section of the ultrasound endoscope body. , may be provided in the observation device, and when the image rotation switch is activated, an indicator such as an LED may be provided on the operation unit or displayed on the screen of the TV monitor to rotate the ultrasound image. A configuration may also be adopted in which the operator is informed of the presence or absence of correction due to movement.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, by providing an image rotation switch in an ultrasound endoscopic diagnostic device,
The ultrasound image on the TV monitor can be easily rotated arbitrarily to contrast with the optical viewing direction. Therefore, it is possible to improve safety during ultrasonic diagnosis and improve the operability of the device without applying unreasonable twist to the endoscope insertion portion.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a third embodiment of the invention. , FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a fourth embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a block diagram thereof, and FIGS. 6A, B, and C are explanatory diagrams showing a conventional example. 1...Ultrasonic endoscope body 2...Motor 3...
Flexible shaft 4... Ultrasonic probe 5... Encoder 6.
... Observation device 7 ... Delay circuit 8 ... Image rotation switch 9 ... Control unit 10 ... Synchronization circuit 11 ... DSC unit 12 ... Receiver 13 ... TV monitor 14 ... Scanner control circuit 15...Address unit 16...Pulser Fig. 1 Fig. 3 Fig. 2 Fig. 4 Fig. 5 Fig. 6

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. An ultrasonic probe is provided at one end of a flexible shaft extending into the endoscope insertion section, the other end is connected to a drive unit on the operator's hand side, and the ultrasonic probe rotates and scans. In an intrabody cavity ultrasound diagnostic device that displays ultrasound images on the TV monitor of the observation device, the ultrasound image is displayed on the TV monitor by controlling means for capturing ultrasound information and displaying the ultrasound image on the TV monitor. 1. An intrabody cavity ultrasound diagnostic device characterized by being provided with an image rotation switch that enables rotational movement on the top of the body.