JPH03184549A - Acupuncture and acupuncturing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate the minute adjustment of the temp. and time of thermal stimulation and to simply perform treatment by providing a hollow acupuncture main body, the heating tip provided to the leading end part of the acupuncture main body and converting light energy to heat energy and the light waveguide provided in the acupuncture main body and guiding light to the heating tip. CONSTITUTION:In acupuncture 1 and an acupuncturing apparatus 9, the laser beam from a laser beam source 8 is applied to the heating tip 3 provided to the leading end of an acupuncture main body 2 from an optical fiber cord 7 through a light waveguide 4 and the light energy of the laser beam is instantaneously converted to heat energy and the heating tip 3 generates heat. The heating temp. of the heating tip 3 is determined by the output of the laser beam from the laser beam source 8 or the size of the heating tip 3 and a heating interval can be controlled by regulating the pulse interval of laser beam. Since the heating temp. and time of the heating tip 3 can simply be and finely adjusted, the thermal stimulation finely corresponding to the state of the affected part can be applied. This apparatus is used in the treatment of cancer and a tumor and can effectively be used as the heating source of hyperthermia.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] This invention relates to acupuncture and needle treatment devices used in acupuncture and the like.

[Conventional technology]

In the vLflit technique, an acupuncture needle is brought into contact with the body surface and punctured, applying mechanical shock to the body and causing a certain biological reaction.
Correcting abnormalities in the functions of internal organs and contributing to the healing of diseases,
It is a type of treatment that has been practiced since ancient times on the East Coast.
Generally, it is simply called "hari".

One type of acupuncture treatment uses moxibustion needles.

In this method, a grass dish is attached to the handle of the needle, and this dish burns the grass and heats the needle itself, giving both mechanical stimulation and thermal stimulation at the same time, thereby achieving the simultaneous effects of acupuncture and moxibustion. That's what I was aiming for.

However, in acupuncture using this moxibustion needle,
It is difficult to finely adjust the temperature and time of thermal stimulation depending on the affected area, and the treatment requires skill and is time-consuming.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Therefore, the problem to be solved by this invention is to develop acupuncture and acupuncture that can easily perform delicate adjustments to the temperature and time of thermal stimulation, can be easily performed, and can also be applied to the recently developed thermal therapy. The objective is to provide equipment for

[Means to solve the problem]

In this invention, a heat-generating chip that converts light energy into thermal energy is provided at the tip of the needle body, and an optical waveguide that guides light to the heat-generating chip is provided within the water-reducing body.
Problem 1 was solved.

[Effect]

The heat-generating chip generates heat by guiding light such as a laser beam into the optical waveguide and irradiating this light onto the convex-emitting chip and converting it into heat. Therefore, by adjusting the intensity and blinking interval of light such as a laser beam, the thermal stimulation by the W-emitting chip can be subtly and easily adjusted.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 shows an example of an acupuncture needle and an acupuncture device according to the present invention, and reference numeral 1 in the figure indicates an acupuncture needle. This fll,tl is
It is roughly composed of an acupuncture body 2, a heating tip 3, and a light g-wave path 4. The acupuncture body 2 is a hollow cylindrical body made of a material such as ≦), silver, an alloy thereof, stainless steel, etc., and one end thereof is closed and sharply pointed to form a needle shape. . The length of this carpet body 2 is about 3 to 10 cm, the outer diameter is about 0.2 to 0.3 mm, and the inner diameter is about 0.1 mm.
It is about 5 to 0.25 mm. A heating tip 3 is attached inside one closed end of the acupuncture body 2. This heating tip 3 is made of carbon or graphite, and its tip is sharply pointed like the inner surface of the tip of the acupuncture body 2, and has a needle-like shape, and its base has a slotted hole 3a. is formed.

Further, a tip fiber 4 serving as an optical waveguide is pushed through the hollow interior of the acupuncture body 2. For this optical fiber 4, an ion crystal fiber other than a silica fiber is used,
In addition to standard size fibers with a cladding diameter of 125 μm, large-diameter optical fibers suitable for optical energy transmission, such as those with a core diameter of 200 μm and a cladding diameter of 300 ttm, are also used.

In this example, the bare optical fiber 4 from which the coating has been removed is pushed through the acupuncture body 2, and several supporting metal rings 7, 10, etc. are inserted into the gap between the acupuncture body 2 and the bare optical fiber 4. By passing it through the bare optical fiber 4, the optical fiber F! [14 is fixed. Further, the tip end of the bare optical fiber 4 is pushed into a dome-shaped hole 3a formed in the heat generating chip 3.

Further, the bare optical fiber 4 has an optical fiber cord 7 coated with a coating 5 and a lace 6 at the portion exposed to the outside from the acupuncture body l, and the end of the optical fiber cord 7 is The acupuncture device 9 of the present invention is constructed by connecting the first output ta of a laser light source 8 such as a YAG laser or an argon laser to the end using a connector or the like.

FIG. 2 shows another example of the acupuncture needle of this invention. In this example, the needle 1 has a hole 3 formed at the base of the heating tip 3.
In the previous example, the shape of a is made into a warhead shape, the shape of the tip of the bare optical fiber 4 is also ground into the shape of a warhead in this hole 3a, and this is fixed in the hole 3a as a matchmaker. acupuncture 1
This is the difference. In this tJjcl, the tip of the bare optical fiber 4 is warhead-shaped, so light is emitted from the entire tip, and heat is generated from the entire heat generating chip 3, which is uniform over a certain depth of the tissue. It has the advantage of being able to be heated. On the other hand, in the acupuncture needle 1 of the previous example, the tip of the bare optical fiber 4 is automatically positioned at the center of the heating tip 3, which has the advantage of good axial alignment (centering).

In the acupuncture needle 1 and the acupuncture device 9, the laser light from the laser light source 8 passes from the optical fiber cord 7 through the light 1 wave path (optical fiber) 4 to the heating tip 3 at the tip of the acupuncture body 2.
Here, the optical energy of the laser beam is instantaneously converted into thermal energy, and the heat generating chip 3 generates heat. The heat generation temperature of the heat generating chip 3 is determined by the output of the laser light from the laser light source 8 or the size of the heat generating chip 3, and the heat generation interval can be controlled by adjusting the pulse interval of the laser light.

To perform acupuncture using such an acupuncture needle and acupuncture device 9, the wLl is inserted into a predetermined acupuncture point on the body surface in the same manner as before.
This is carried out by guiding a laser beam to the heating tip 3 in the tip of the needle 1 to raise the temperature to approximately 40 to 45°C. For the Ml insertion method, the twisted acupuncture needle, the canal acupuncture needle, and the like are used, and the degree of insertion of the needle 1 is determined depending on the disease, such as contact, shallow needle, or deep needle.

This simultaneously applies mechanical stimulation and thermal stimulation to the affected area, resulting in synergistic healing.
be done. In particular, as mentioned above, the heat generation, heat temperature, air generation interval, etc. of the heat generating chip 3 can be easily and finely adjusted.
It is possible to give a special treatment that carefully responds to the situation of the affected area. In addition, in traditional moxibustion acupuncture using acupuncture needles, the patient is given 5 IT (J'l!?,
<However, the acupuncture needle of this invention does not have such disadvantages.

Furthermore, since the acupuncture needle can be made sufficiently thin, it can also be applied to body tissues. In recent years, 111n
If the tumor or 5tIS-like tissue part of the body is higher than the
, 1, kill sad cells by crystallizing 1111' at a time! ++! Heat therapy): The acupuncture and acupuncture device of this invention is used in the treatment of cancer and ulcers. 1A, Q Therapy: Power I1.4 It can be used as a source of attack.

In the above embodiment, the optical waveguide 4 of the needle 1 and the optical fiber connecting it to the laser light source 8 are connected to -,41
Although the optical fiber cord 7 shown in FIG. It can also be removably connected using a small connector or the like.

Furthermore, it goes without saying that the light guided to the optical waveguide of the needle I is not limited to laser light, and may be light from a xenon lamp, a halogen lamp, or the like.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the needle of this invention has a hollow needle body,
The acupuncture device has a heating tip provided at the tip of the acupuncture body to convert light energy into energy, and an optical waveguide provided inside the acupuncture body to guide light to the heating tip. The optical waveguide of this acupuncture needle was connected to a laser light source using an optical fiber, so 1. It is possible to provide the samurai with thermal stimulation and mechanical stimulation at the same time to the intimate area, and it is also possible to finely adjust the temperature and duration of thermal stimulation over a wide range, allowing treatment to be precisely tailored to the disease of the affected area. It becomes possible. It is also used as a heating source for hyperthermia therapy, which treats malignant tumors.Since the area to be heated can be narrowed, it selectively targets only malignant cells and is highly effective.
Have 11 abilities such as being able to attack well.

, 1, 1Z + Simple explanation of Figure 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an example of the acupuncture needle and acupuncture device of the present invention, and Figure 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the main parts showing an example of the acupuncture pond of the present invention. [Z
].

1. Acupuncture needle, 2.. Acupuncture body, 3.. Heat generating tip, 4. Waveguide (bare optical fiber), 7.. End fiber cord, 8.. Laser light source, 9..・Acupuncture device.

Distributor To Fujikura Electric Wire Co., Ltd. Figure 1

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) It has a hollow needle body, a heat generating tip provided at the tip of the needle body to convert light energy into thermal energy, and an optical waveguide provided inside the needle body to guide light to the heat generating tip. acupuncture. (2) An acupuncture device in which the acupuncture optical waveguide according to claim (1) is connected to a laser light source via an optical fiber.