JPH0436830Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] Industrial Application Field This invention relates to a thermotherapy device that heats and treats tissue affected by cancer or the like. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Recently, as a method of treating cancer, in addition to medical treatments such as surgery and medication, thermotherapy methods have been used to cure cancer cells by heating them to cause necrosis. Conventionally, attempts have been made to use devices for implementing this method, such as devices that irradiate and heat affected tissue with infrared rays or laser beams.

However, devices that use infrared rays or laser beams can easily generate the temperature necessary for treatment, but they require equipment that generates the beam, adjusts the amount of light, and converges the beam on the affected area. Therefore, there are problems in that the device is large and expensive, and requires a specialized operator. Therefore, in order to directly heat the cancerous tissue, the applicant constructed a small-diameter tube that is inserted into the affected area as a heat pipe, and by making the middle part of the small-diameter tube a heat insulating structure, the applicant aimed to heat the cancerous tissue intensively. A special request was made for a treatment device that applies heat.
It was already proposed in No. 61-137050 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 62-292159).

Problems that the invention aims to solve: However, in the case of the above-mentioned treatment device, a small-diameter heat pipe is passed through normal cell tissue, and the heat radiating part at the tip is inserted into cancer cell tissue to perform thermal treatment. Because of the need to alleviate patient pain, a thin heat pipe with an outer diameter of 3 mm or less is often used as the small diameter pipe, and the posture of the treatment instrument during actual treatment is such that the tip With the heat dissipation section down and the evaporation section up,
It was most frequently used in the so-called top heat mode, which treats the affected tissue by inserting it from above.

Therefore, in the above-mentioned treatment device, since the inner diameter of the heat pipe is extremely small, the amount of evaporated working fluid flowing to the heat radiating section is small, resulting in insufficient heat transport and the inside of the heat radiating section. Because of its small volume, the liquid level of the liquid-phase working fluid condensed in the heat dissipation section tends to rise, and when the liquid level rises, the effective heat dissipation area of the heat dissipation section is reduced and the heat dissipation efficiency decreases. There was a problem that sufficient heat could not be obtained. Furthermore, when used in top heat mode, the working fluid in the liquid phase condensed in the heat dissipation section located below is moved to the evaporation section located above by capillary pressure, resulting in poor reflux of the working fluid. This causes the liquid level in the heat radiating part to rise faster, and the amount of heat transported by the heat pipe becomes insufficient.As a result, the affected tissue cannot be heated over a wide range, and the efficiency of thermal treatment deteriorates. It was hot.

This idea was created in view of the above problems.
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a thermotherapy device that can secure a sufficient amount of heat transport even in the top heat mode, and that has a small diameter probe that is inserted into the affected area.

Means for Solving the Problems As a means for solving the above-mentioned problems, the thermotherapy device of this invention is a tube needle-shaped probe with a heat dissipation part made of a material with good thermal conductivity formed at the tip to be inserted into the affected tissue. an outer tube having an evaporator on the distal end side and an evaporator section equipped with a heating means connected to the proximal end side, and an open end of the outer tube that is loosely inserted into the probe and disposed at the distal end inside the heat radiating section. , and an inner tube whose other end extends from the proximal end of the probe to the outside of the outer tube in an airtight manner and is connected to the evaporator section through a pump means in an airtight manner. - It is characterized in that it has a closed reflux path in the form of a loop, and only condensable fluid is sealed in this closed reflux path.

Effect By configuring as described above, the liquid phase working fluid condensed in the heat radiating section is forcibly returned to the evaporation section via the inner pipe by the pump means, thereby increasing the effective heat radiating area of the heat radiating section. The area is secured and high heat transport efficiency is obtained. Therefore,
In order to reduce patient pain during treatment, even if the portion of the probe inserted into the affected area is formed to have a small diameter, a sufficient amount of heat transport can be ensured, making it possible to perform effective thermal treatment over a wide range.

Example Hereinafter, the first example of the thermotherapy device of this invention will be described.
This will be explained based on the figure and FIG.

In FIG. 1, a thermotherapy device 1 includes a round-bottom flask-shaped evaporator 2, an outer tube 3 whose proximal end is connected to the upper part of the evaporator 2, and a distal end inserted into the outer tube 3. It is equipped with an inner tube 4. The outer tube 3 is a flexible small-diameter tube with an outer diameter of 3 mm or less that can be easily bent, and a needle-shaped probe 3a having a pointed head at the tip is formed on the tip side of the outer tube 3. The tip portion including the pointed portion is made of a material with good thermal conductivity and serves as a heat radiation portion 3b.

In addition, the inner tube 4 inserted into the outer tube 3
is an extremely small diameter tube with an outer diameter of about 1 mm, and its tip side is
The inner tube 4 is inserted into the probe 3a with a space around it, and is disposed such that its open tip 4a is located at the tip inside the heat radiating section 3b. The inner tube 4 extends from the proximal end of the tube 3 to the outside of the outer tube 3 while maintaining airtightness, and a pump 5 is provided at the proximal end of the inner tube 4 extending from the outer tube 3. The discharge side of the pump 5 is connected to the bottom of the evaporation section 2 in an airtight manner, thereby forming a closed reflux path in the form of a closed loop as a whole. A heater 6 is disposed on the outer periphery of the bottom of the evaporator 2, and an auxiliary cooler such as a water cooling jacket is provided on the outer periphery of the extended portion of the inner pipe 4 at a position on the upstream side of the pump 5. 7 is provided.

The closed reflux path is formed by the evaporation section 2, an outer tube 3 including a probe 3a and a heat radiation section 3b, and an inner tube 4 that reaches the evaporation section 2 through the pump 5 inside the outer tube 3. After removing internal gas such as air by means such as creating a vacuum, the inside is filled with only a condensable working fluid 8 such as ethanol that changes phase into a liquid-phase working fluid 8a and a gas-phase working fluid 8b. It is sealed.

Next, a case will be described in which the thermotherapy device of this embodiment configured as described above performs thermotherapy to heat and necrotize cancer cell tissue.

Insert the tubular needle-shaped probe 3a of the thermotherapy device 1 into the affected area, and insert the heat dissipation part 3b at the tip of the probe 3a.
is placed in advance so that it is located approximately in the center of the cancer cell tissue to be heated, and then the liquid phase working fluid 8a is heated.
The evaporating section 2 in which is stored is heated by the heater 6, and the pump 5 interposed in the part of the inner tube 4 extending to the outside of the outer tube 3 is started, or the evaporating section 2 is heated, and With the pump 5 in operation, insert the probe 3a into the affected area, and
Treatment is performed by arranging the heat dissipating portion 3b at the distal end of the tube at a predetermined position.

When the liquid-phase working fluid 8a in the evaporator 2 is heated, it evaporates and becomes a high-temperature gas-phase working fluid 8b, which flows from the upper part of the evaporator 2 into the outer tube 3, and passes through the inside of the probe 3a with light oil to form a gas-phase working fluid 8b at the tip. It reaches the heat radiation part 3b.

High-temperature gas-phase working fluid 8b that has reached the heat radiation section 3b
Since the heat dissipation part 3b is formed of a material with good thermal conductivity, the heat dissipation part 3b is heated, and the heated heat dissipation part 3b heats the low temperature cancer cell tissue with which the outer peripheral part is in contact. However, heat is removed from the internal high-temperature gas-phase working fluid 8b to continue heating the cancer cell tissue. On the other hand, the gas-phase working fluid 8b is cooled by removing heat in the heat radiation part 3b, and is condensed to become the liquid-phase working fluid 8a, forming a liquid pool in the heat radiation part 3b. However, since the open end 4a of the inner tube 4 is disposed at the position where the liquid pool is formed in the heat radiation part 3b and the pump 5 sucks the liquid, the liquid phase working fluid 8a in the heat radiation part 3b is sucked by the pump 5, passes through the inner tube 4, and is forcibly refluxed into the evaporation section 2. Therefore, the liquid-phase working fluid 8a that accumulates in the heat dissipation section 3b is suppressed to a small amount, and the reduction in the effective heat dissipation area of the heat dissipation section 3b due to the accumulation of liquid is prevented, and a sufficiently large heat dissipation area is ensured for operation. By maintaining the reflux efficiency of the fluid 8 at a high level, the heat transport efficiency can be increased and a sufficient amount of heat required for thermotherapy can be obtained.

Further, in this embodiment, an auxiliary cooler 7 is provided at a position on the upstream side of the pump 5 in a portion of the inner tube 4 extending from the outer tube 3, so that the inner tube 4 is cooled from the outer periphery. Therefore, even if the vapor phase working fluid 8b before being condensed together with the liquid phase working fluid 8a in the heat dissipation section 3b is sucked and flows into the inner pipe 4, it is cooled by the auxiliary cooler 7 and converted into a liquid phase. Working fluid 8a
The gas phase working fluid 8b is introduced into the pump 5 by changing its phase to
This prevents a decrease in pump efficiency that would occur if water flows into the pump.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the probe 3a has a flexible double-tube structure, so if the probe is bent according to the positional relationship between the affected area and organs around the affected area, the probe can be inserted easily. Easy to operate.

FIG. 2 shows a probe portion of a thermotherapy device according to another embodiment, in which a probe 13a formed on the distal end side of the outer tube 13 has a pointed head at the distal end, as in the previous embodiment. A small-diameter inner tube 14 is inserted into the inner tube, and the liquid-phase working fluid 8a condensed in the heat dissipation section 13b at the tip of the probe 13a is passed through the inner tube 14. It is configured to forcibly reflux to an evaporation section (not shown).

A heat insulating coating 15 is wrapped around the outer periphery of the probe 13a over almost the entire length of the probe 13a, excluding the heat dissipating section 13b at the tip. Further, a temperature sensor 16 is provided in the heat radiation section 13b, and a lead wire 1 connected to the temperature sensor 16 is provided.
7 extends to the outside of the outer tube 13 together with the inner tube 14 in an airtight state, and is connected by wire to a heater control section (not shown) disposed outside the evaporation section, so as to control the temperature of the heat radiation section 13b. is detected, and the heating temperature etc. by the heater are automatically adjusted based on the detected temperature inside the heat radiation section 13b.

Therefore, in the thermotherapy device equipped with the probe 13a, since the heat insulating coating 15 is wrapped around the tip of the probe 13a except for the heat dissipation part 13b, when the probe 13a is inserted into the affected area, the probe 13
Since heat is emitted only from the heat dissipating part 13b at the tip of the tip of the tube and heats the surrounding area, it is possible to effectively heat only the area such as cancer cell tissue that requires thermal treatment, and the probe inserted into the affected area can be heated. 13
Unnecessary heating of cell tissues that do not require thermotherapy that are in contact with parts other than the heat dissipation part 13b of a is prevented, necrosis of normal cell tissues due to heating is prevented, and efficient thermotherapy can be performed. It also eliminates patient pain due to heating of normal tissue.

In addition, since the amount of heat transport is controlled by controlling the heating by the heater based on the temperature detected by the temperature sensor 16 disposed in the heat radiation section 13b, the amount of evaporation of the liquid phase working fluid in the evaporation section is adjusted. ,
The temperature of the heat dissipating section 13a is maintained at a predetermined temperature, and there are effects such as being able to achieve appropriate thermal treatment according to the size of the cancer cell tissue in the affected area.

Effects of the Invention As explained above, the thermotherapy device of this invention is equipped with a tubular needle-shaped probe at its tip, which is inserted into the affected tissue and has a heat dissipation section made of a material with good thermal conductivity, and is equipped with a heating means. An outer tube having an evaporation section connected to the proximal end thereof; one end of the outer tube that is loosely inserted into the probe, the open end of which is disposed at the distal end of the heat dissipation section, and the other end of the outer tube is disposed at the distal end of the heat dissipation section; A closed loop-shaped closed reflux path is formed by an inner pipe extending from the side to the outside of the outer pipe in an airtight state and connected to the evaporation part in an airtight state via a pump means. This closed reflux path is configured to contain only condensable fluid, and the condensed liquid-phase working fluid in the heat radiating section is forcibly refluxed to the evaporation section via the inner pipe by means of a pump, so that the heat radiating section Even in the top heat mode, where the temperature is downward, there is no problem of working fluid reflux unlike in conventional devices that return liquid-phase working fluid to the evaporation section using capillary pressure, and efficient heat transport is carried out in all usage positions. This makes it possible to secure a sufficient amount of heat necessary for thermotherapy.

Further, even if the portion of the probe inserted into the affected area has a small diameter, a sufficient amount of heat transport can be ensured, and effective thermal treatment can be achieved. Furthermore, by making it possible to reduce the diameter of the probe portion, it has the effect of greatly reducing patient pain during treatment.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional side view showing the entire thermotherapy device according to an embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional side view showing a probe portion of a thermotherapy device according to another embodiment. 1... Heat treatment device, 2... Evaporation section, 3, 13
...Outer tube, 3a, 13a...Probe, 3b, 1
3b... Heat radiation part, 4, 14... Inner tube, 4a, 14
a... Open tip, 5... Pump, 6... Heater, 7... Auxiliary cooler, 8... Working fluid, 8a...
...Liquid phase working fluid, 8b... Gas phase working fluid, 15...
...Heat insulation coating, 16...Temperature sensor, 17...Lead wire.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] (1) A tube needle-shaped probe with a heat dissipating part made of a material with good thermal conductivity formed at the tip to be inserted into the affected tissue, and an evaporating part equipped with a heating means. An outer tube is connected to the proximal end, the outer tube is loosely inserted into the probe, one open end is disposed at the distal end of the heat dissipation section, and the other end is inserted from the proximal end of the probe into the outer tube. A closed reflux path in the form of a closed loop is formed by an inner pipe extending to the outside in an airtight state and connected to the evaporation section in an airtight state via a pump means. A thermotherapy device characterized in that only a condensable fluid is sealed inside. (2) The thermotherapy according to claim 1 of the utility model registration claim, characterized in that an auxiliary cooling means is provided at a position on the upstream side of the pump means in a portion of the inner tube extending from the outer tube. Device. (3) The thermotherapy device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the probe portion has a flexible double tube structure. (4) The thermotherapy device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the outer periphery of a portion of the probe closer to the proximal end than the heat radiating portion is coated with heat insulation. (5) The thermotherapy device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, which is characterized in that a temperature sensor is disposed within the heat radiation section of the probe.