JPH03284251A - Treatment apparatus using energy wave - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To measure the liquid amount of the medium solution in an applicator with high accuracy by a simple means by moving the medium solution between the applicator and a tank corresponding to a measured result and controlling the liquid amount of the medium solution in the applicator. CONSTITUTION:The shock wave generating source 11 of an applicator 10 is constituted into a spherical shell shape as a whole by arranging piezoelectric elements in a concentric circular state and driven by a drive circuit 29 generating a high voltage pulse. The output signals from water sensors 21, 22, 23 are inputted to a water level measuring circuit 24. The outputs of the water sensors are logically judged to calculate the water level in a tank 19 and the measured result is inputted to a water amount control circuit 25. For example the water amount control circuit 25 is constituted of a CPU and controls a pump driving circuit 26 and a solenoid valve driving circuit 27 according to the measured result to control the amount of the water in the applicator 10. By this method, the setting of the amount of the standard solution in the applicator and control for preventing the damage of the container of the applicator can be automatically performed.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a treatment device that performs treatment by irradiating an affected area with energy waves, such as a stone crushing device or a thermal treatment device.
In particular, the present invention relates to a treatment device that houses a therapeutic energy wave source and uses an applicator for coupling the energy wave source to the patient's body surface.

(Prior technology) As a stone crushing device that treats stones such as kidney stones and gallstones in the body by irradiating them with focused shock waves from outside the body, it houses a shock wave generation source and connects the shock wave generation source with the patient's body surface. A device using an applicator for forming a shock wave propagation path by improving the coupling of the shock wave is known.

In addition, a similar abductor is used in a thermotherapy device that heats cancer cells to a lethal temperature by irradiating them with ultrasonic waves from outside the body to treat cancer that has grown in internal organs and tissues. Are known.

A conventional lithotripter using an applicator is configured as shown in FIG. 6, for example. In FIG. 6, the applicator 60 is composed of an expandable bag-like container 64 consisting of a shock wave generation source 61, a bellows part 62 provided to cover the front thereof, and a body surface contact membrane 63, and the inside of the container 64. is filled with a medium liquid (for example, water) 65 for propagating shock waves. A tank 68 is connected to the container 64 via a pipe 66 and a water supply and drainage pump 67.

The applicator 60 includes a shock wave generation source 6 outside the patient's body.
It functions as a path for propagating and passing shock waves from 1 to the affected area, and is required to be in close contact with the patient's body surface. Since the patient's body shape and the depth of the affected area differ from patient to patient, in order for the applicator 60 to achieve these functions and requirements, the amount of the medium liquid 65 in the applicator 60 (container 64) must be adjusted for each patient. It will be necessary to make adjustments. Furthermore, depending on the structure of the shock wave generation source and the structure of additional equipment for more accurate treatment, such as the structure of an ultrasonic tomography probe (not shown), operations such as supplying and draining the medium liquid 65 may be required. be.

During such adjustments and operations, the medium in the applicator 60 should be kept in check to prevent excessive water supply from increasing the contact pressure of the applicator 60 and causing discomfort to the patient or rupturing the container 64. The amount of liquid 65 (
It is preferable to measure the volume of the container 65 and keep the liquid volume at an optimum level. For this purpose, a method may be considered in which an integrated flow meter is provided in the water supply and drainage pipe 66 and the amount of liquid medium 65 in the applicator 60 is measured from the flow rate. However, the integrating flowmeter has poor accuracy (error of ±10% or more). In addition, this method requires separate measurements for both directions of water supply and drainage, resulting in a problem that the system becomes complicated.

Due to these circumstances, conventional automatic J measurement of liquid volume has not been performed, and only visual monitoring by the operator has been performed. Therefore, it is not possible to automate liquid volume control to prevent excessive water supply, control to standard liquid volume when changing patients, etc., which poses problems in terms of reliability and a heavy burden on the operator. was there.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As mentioned above, with conventional treatment devices, the amount of liquid medium in the applicator cannot be easily and accurately measured.
The reality is that liquid volume control cannot be automated, which poses problems in terms of reliability and a heavy burden on the operator.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a treatment device that can measure the amount of medium liquid in an applicator with high precision and simple means, and can automatically control the amount of liquid.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the treatment device of the present invention is provided with a measuring means for measuring the liquid level of the medium liquid in a tank for storing the medium liquid. The present invention is characterized in that the amount of the medium liquid in the applicator is controlled by moving the medium liquid between the applicator and the tank according to the measurement result.

(Function) In the present invention, instead of directly measuring the liquid level in the applicator, by measuring the liquid level in the tank,
Indirectly monitors the amount of liquid in the applicator. In other words, the sum of the amount of liquid in the tank and the amount of liquid in the applicator is constant at the amount of liquid initially stored in the tank, so the amount of liquid in the tank is calculated as follows: Liquid amount = liquid level x tank bottom area The amount of liquid in the applicator can be determined from the liquid level in the tank.

Then, by controlling the movement of the medium between the applicator and the tank, that is, controlling the supply and drainage of the medium based on this measurement result, the amount of the medium in the applicator is automatically controlled. For example, as the liquid level in the applicator increases, the liquid level in the tank decreases, so water supply should be stopped when the medium liquid has been supplied to the applicator until this reaches the liquid level corresponding to the maximum capacity of the applicator. This avoids overwatering.

To determine whether the medium liquid in the applicator is more than the standard liquid volume or less than the standard liquid volume, set a standard liquid level in the tank that corresponds to the standard liquid volume of the applicator, and compare this with the measured liquid level. This can be known from the relationship with In other words, if the measured liquid level is below the standard liquid level, it means that the applicator is being supplied with more than the standard liquid level. By draining the medium liquid, the medium liquid in the applicator becomes the standard liquid volume.

(Example) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a stone crushing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the same figure, the applicator 10 includes a shock wave generation source 11, an expandable bag-like container 14 which is made up of a bellows 12 and a body surface contact membrane 13 provided to cover the front side of the shock wave source 11.
It is composed of The shock wave generation source 11 is, for example, a ring-shaped piezo element arranged concentrically to form a spherical shell shape as a whole, and is driven by two drive circuits that generate high-voltage pulses.

Inside the container 14, there is a liquid medium for propagating shock waves.
In this example, water 15 (preferably degassed water) is filled. Note that depending on the type of therapeutic energy wave, deionized water or treated water such as ionized water may be used as the medium liquid. The body surface contact membrane 13 is made of, for example, a rubber membrane, and is brought into contact with the body surface of the patient on the bed during treatment. As a result, the shock waves generated from the shock wave generation source 1 pass through the water 15 and the body surface contact membrane 13 and are focused and irradiated onto the stone in the patient's body.

A tank 19 is connected to the container 14 via a pipe 16, a water supply and drainage pump 17, and a solenoid valve 18. A thin tubular side water column 20 is vertically provided on the side wall of the tank 19 and communicates with the upper and lower parts of the tank 19, and three water sensors 21, 22, and 23 are installed in this side water column 20 at predetermined intervals. There is. These water sensors 21, 22, 23 have outputs that change, for example, from a low level to a high level when water is detected.

Here, the height position of the water sensor 21 located at the top is set corresponding to a water level position corresponding to a state in which the water level in the container 14 of the applicator 10 is zero, that is, the container 14 is empty. The water sensor 22 located in the middle is a standard water level sensor, and its height position is set corresponding to the water level position where the amount of water in the container 14 becomes the standard water level. The water sensor 23 at the bottom is the maximum water flow sensor, and its height position is the same as the container 14.
The numbers inside are set corresponding to the water level position where the maximum water flow occurs.

Output signals from the water sensors 21, 22, and 23 are input to the water level measurement circuit 24. The water level measuring circuit 24 determines the water level in the tank 19 by logically determining the outputs of the water sensors 21, 22, and 23, and the measurement results are input to the water amount control circuit 25.

The water amount control circuit 25 is constituted by, for example, a CPU, and controls the amount of water in the applicator 10 by controlling the pump drive circuit 26 and the electromagnetic valve drive circuit 27 according to the measurement results of the water level measurement circuit 24. The operation console 28 is used to give start commands and stop commands to the water flow control circuit 25, and to give commands for the operator to directly control the pump drive circuit 26 and the solenoid valve drive circuit 27, regardless of the measurement results of the water level measurement circuit 24. It is provided.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

FIG. 2(a) shows a control procedure for setting the amount of water in the applicator 10 to a standard amount, which is used when changing patients or when starting up the apparatus. In this control procedure, first, it is determined whether the output of the standard water amount sensor 22 is at a high level, that is, whether water is detected (step 5ll). If detected, the solenoid valve 18 is opened and the water supply and drainage pump 17 is operated to drain water. In parallel, it is determined whether the standard water amount sensor 22 is detecting water or not, and steps SL2 to 813
), perform the draining operation until no water is detected. As a result, the amount of water in the applicator 10 reaches the standard amount of water.

0 On the other hand, if the standard water amount sensor 22 does not detect water in step Sll, the water supply and drainage pump 17 is operated to supply water, and at the same time it is determined whether the standard water amount sensor 22 is detecting water (steps 314 to S1.5). , water supply operation is performed until water is detected. As a result, the amount of water in the applicator 10 reaches the standard amount of water. After the standard amount of water has been reached in this way, the solenoid valve 18 is closed.

FIG. 2(b) shows a control procedure for setting the amount of water in the applicator 10 within the maximum amount of water, that is, for preventing excessive water supply exceeding the maximum amount of water. With this control procedure, for example, when an operator instructs water supply to the applicator 10 from the operation console 28, even if the operator mistakenly continues to instruct water supply more than necessary, water will not be supplied in excess of the maximum amount of water. Container] 4 is prevented from being damaged. In this control procedure, first, the output of the maximum water flow sensor 23 is at a high level;
In other words, it is determined whether or not water is detected (step 521), and if it is detected, the solenoid valve] 8 is opened and the water supply/drainage pump 17 is operated to supply water, and in parallel with this, the maximum water flow sensor 23 detects water. (steps 322 to 523), and water supply operations are performed until no water is detected. This causes the amount of water in the applicator 10 to reach its maximum amount. After reaching the standard water volume in this way, solenoid valve 1
8 is closed.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described. 2 and 3 show other examples of water level measuring means in the tank 19.

In Fig. 2, a water level measurement transmitter 31 that emits light or ultrasonic waves towards the water surface and a water level measurement receiver 32 that receives reflected waves from the water surface are installed at the top of one tank. The configuration is such that a signal is supplied to the water level measuring circuit 33 according to the angle of incidence of light to the tank 32 and the time of arrival of the ultrasonic waves to the distance to the water surface, that is, the water level in the tanker 9.

In this case, since the signal obtained from the water level measurement receiver 32 is generally an analog signal, the water level measurement circuit 33 is equipped with a circuit that determines the level of the signal into a binary signal 2 .

In FIG. 3, a water pressure sensor 42 is connected to the bottom of the tank 19 via a pipe 41, and the output of this water pressure sensor 42 is input to a water level measuring circuit 43 to determine the water level in one tank. There is. That is, since the water pressure at the bottom of the tank 19 is proportional to the water level, the water level can be determined from the water pressure.

In this case as well, since the output of the water pressure sensor 42 is generally an analog signal, it is necessary for the water level 31 measuring circuit 43 to determine the level of this signal into a binary level signal.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a thermotherapy device, and since the basic configuration is almost the same except for the applicator 50, common parts are given the same reference numerals and detailed explanation is omitted. do.

The applicator 50 consists of ultrasonic radiators 51 and 52 for thermal treatment that are placed opposite to each other while holding a patient in between, and ice bag containers 53 and 54 provided on each front surface of the ultrasonic radiators 51 and 52.
4 is filled with water 55 as a liquid medium. The ultrasonic radiators 51 3 52 are driven by a drive circuit 56 . Applicator 5
The bag-shaped containers 53 and 54 of 0 are connected to the pipe 16 as in FIG.
and a tank 19 via a pump 17 and a solenoid valve 18, or a heat exchanger 57 is inserted between the pump 17 and the solenoid valve 18 to heat the water supplied to the applicator 50. There is.

Also in this embodiment, the water level in the tank 19 is measured by, for example, the sensors 21 to 23 and the water level measuring circuit 24, and based on this, the water flow control circuit 25 controls the pump 17 and the solenoid valve 18.
By controlling the amount of water in the containers 51 and 52 of the applicator 50, it is possible to appropriately control the amount of water in the containers 51 and 52 of the applicator 50.

[Effects of the Invention] According to the present invention, the amount of liquid in the applicator, in which it is difficult to measure the amount of the medium liquid inside because the container is expandable and retractable, can be adjusted by adjusting the amount of liquid in the tank storing the medium liquid to be supplied to the applicator. It can be easily measured from the liquid level of can be controlled automatically.

Therefore, discomfort and danger to the patient can be eliminated, and the burden on the operator is greatly reduced, making it possible to carry out comfortable and safe treatment.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a stone crushing device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b) show a case where the water volume in the applicator is set to a standard water volume and a maximum water volume in the same embodiment. 3 is a flowchart showing the water flow control procedure when setting the water level within A diagram showing an example, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a thermotherapy device according to another embodiment of the present invention,
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the configuration of a conventional stone crushing treatment device. 10...Applicator, 1]...Shock wave generation source, 1
2... Bellows, 13... Body surface contact membrane, 14... Container, 15... Water (medium liquid) 16... Pipe, 17.
...5 Water supply and drainage pump, 18... Solenoid valve, 19... Tank,
20... Water measuring column, 21-23... Water sensor, 241
．．・Water level measurement circuit, 25... Water flow control circuit, 26...
- Pump drive circuit, 27... Valve drive circuit, 28...
Operation console, 29... Shock wave generation source drive circuit, 31...
Transmitter for water level measurement, 32...Receiver for water level measurement, 33
... Water level measurement circuit, 4] ... Pipe, 42 ... Water pressure sensor, 43 ... Water level measurement circuit, 50 ... Applicator, 5], , 52 ... Ultrasonic generation source, 53. 54・
... Container, 55.56 ... Water (medium liquid), 57 ... Heat exchanger.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A therapeutic energy wave generation source; an applicator provided in front of the therapeutic energy wave generation source and having an expandable container filled with a medium liquid; and an applicator that stores the medium liquid. a tank, a measuring means for measuring the liquid level of the medium liquid in the tank, and a medium liquid being moved between the applicator and the tank according to the measurement result of the measuring means; and means for controlling the volume of the medium liquid.