JPS6247359A - Ultrasonic bone stimulating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an ultrasonic bone stimulation device, in particular, a bone stimulation device that stimulates fractured bones or joints by irradiating ultrasonic energy to the fractured bones or joints. Alternatively, the present invention relates to an ultrasonic bone stimulation device for treating joints and the like.

[Prior art] In recent years, it has been practiced to irradiate the heart with ultrasound to stimulate the 11 organs and blood vessels of the heart to restore their functions. gender is recognized.

It is expected that such ultrasound stimulation will have some effect not only on the heart but also on other tissues in the body.
Although there is no established theory regarding the medical mechanism, it is possible to promote the ossification of bone tissue, which is necessary for the repair and bonding of fractured areas and the recovery treatment of bones and joints after external oblique surgery.
Furthermore, it has been confirmed that it is possible to perform orthopedic treatment for skeletal deformities and orthodontic treatment by stimulating the jawbone, and the effectiveness of ultrasonic stimulation is being recognized.

Using such ultrasonic stimulation, it has been experimentally applied to the ultrasonic stimulator for the treatment of fractures, etc. mentioned above. An apparatus that can perform ultrasonic irradiation in various patterns with a high degree of radiation is desired.

[Problem to be solved by the invention 1 Conventional problems However, conventional stimulating ultrasonic irradiation is performed continuously for a certain period of time, and such monotonous stimulation cannot efficiently promote ossification. It has the disadvantage that it cannot be applied well, and it cannot give a high impact that can effectively act on bone tissue.

Purpose of the Invention The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems.The purpose of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic bone material that efficiently stimulates bone tissue by irradiating ultrasonic waves with a high degree of freedom, and that is highly effective in treating bone diseases. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a sound wave stimulator.

[Means and operations for solving the problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a transmitting pulse generator that generates a transmitting pulse of ultrasonic waves that stimulates bone tissue, and The apparatus includes a transducer that generates sound waves, and is characterized in that it irradiates bone tissue with ultrasonic stimulation pulse waves at an arbitrary repetition period that is compatible with the state of the tissue.

With such a configuration, the bone tissue is irradiated with ultrasonic stimulation pulse waves at various repetition periods, and ultrasonic stimulation can be obtained in accordance with the condition of the bone tissue in various bone diseases.

[Example] Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a basic first embodiment of an ultrasonic bone stimulation device, in which a transducer 10 that generates ultrasonic waves is supplied with transmission pulses from a transmission pulse generator 12. As shown in FIG.

A characteristic feature of the present invention is that not a continuous ultrasonic wave but an ultrasonic pulse wave is irradiated at an arbitrary repetition period.
At 4, a transmission pulse is generated.

This transmission pulse generator 12 is composed of the above-mentioned pulse generation circuit 14, oscillator 16 and amplifier 18, and the output of the pulse generation circuit 14 is transmitted to the oscillator 1 which generates a high frequency.
6, and is made into a high frequency pulse with a constant repetition period. The output of this oscillator 16 is supplied to an amplifier 18, amplified to a desired maximum output, and supplied to the transducer 10.

The pulse generating circuit 14 can freely change the repetition period for transmitting pulse waves, and can select the repetition period most suitable for the condition of the bone tissue to be treated. Therefore, the stimulating ultrasound emitted from the transducer 10 becomes a stimulating pulse wave suitable for each bone disease, has a high effective impact on bone tissue with various pathologies, and achieves efficient treatment. In this embodiment, the stimulating ultrasonic waves are selected within the frequency range of several hundred k)lz to several MH2.

Next, a second embodiment will be described in which a cycle considered to be effective for bone tissue in various diseases, that is, a pulse cycle is applied as the above-mentioned repetition cycle.

In the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, a pulse synchronization circuit 20 that supplies transmission pulses to the transducer 10 at a period synchronized with the pulse is connected to the transmission pulse generator 12. Accordingly, a pulse synchronization signal is provided to the pulse generation circuit 14, which then operates as described above to the oscillator 16. Since it is supplied to the transducer 10 via the amplifier 18,
The transducer 10 generates stimulating ultrasonic waves synchronized with the pulse.

In the pulse synchronization circuit 20, the reference pulse signal is obtained from a pulse meter, but it can also be obtained from an electrocardiograph or heart rate monitor. Good ultrasound irradiation is performed.

The flow velocity of the blood flow in the capillaries that circulates to the bone tissue or surrounding tissues fluctuates with the pulse cycle, and the bone tissue actively works in response to the fluctuations in blood flow.
It is understood that synchronizing the ultrasonic stimulation with the pulse as in the second embodiment has an extremely large influence on the tissue.

In this way, it is possible to provide effective stimulation to bone tissue in various conditions, and it is also possible to obtain stimulation conditions that suit the purpose by varying the intensity of the ultrasonic stimulation. FIG. 3 shows a third embodiment of the device according to the invention, which is capable of changing the ultrasound stimulation intensity by modulating the amplitude of the transmitted pulse train.

In the figure, an amplitude modulator 22 is provided between the oscillator 16 and the amplifier 18 of the transmission pulse generator 12, and a function wave generator 24 is connected to the amplitude modulator 22.

The function wave generator 24 includes an exponential wave generator 26, a triangular wave generator 28, and a triangular wave generator 28. Sine wave generator 330 and complex function wave generator 3
Each generator generates various amplitude modulated waves.

That is, in the exponential function wave generator 26, as shown in FIG.
As shown in , an exponential modulation wave of e±1 is generated by selecting the sign of the exponent of the exponential function according to increase/decrease, and selecting the values of the time constant α and effective time t.

As shown in FIG. 4(b), the triangular wave generator 28 generates an arbitrary triangular modulated wave by selecting the rising or falling slope and its time domain.

In the sine wave generator 30, as shown in FIG. 4(C), a desired sine wave (fragment waveform ) is generated.

Further, the composite function wave generator 32 inputs the output signals of the above-mentioned exponential function wave generator 26, triangular wave generator 28, and sine wave generator 30, and generates a composite signal as shown in FIG. 4(d), for example. Outputs a modulated waveform.

In this way, the modulated waves generated by each generator are transferred to the switch 3.
In the amplitude modulator 22, the peak value of the high-frequency pulse train inputted from the oscillator 16 is amplitude-modulated with each modulated wave, and
is supplied to Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4(e), the transmission pulse train output from the transmission pulse generator 12 becomes a transmission pulse train amplified to the intensity where the highest pulse height value is set to the highest value of the modulated wave. The transducer 10 emits ultrasonic waves of varying intensity.

Therefore, in the device of the third embodiment, it is possible to irradiate the bone tissue by varying the intensity of the stimulation ultrasound, so that the ultrasound transmission action suitable for functional recovery of the bone tissue can be achieved, for example, with a gentle change or a rapid change. This makes it possible to stimulate bone tissue to undergo various changes, and to provide efficient stimulation tailored to individual bone diseases.

The transducer 10 is similar to a commonly used medical ultrasonic transducer, and a thin electrode is attached to the side surface of the electric-vibration conversion element, and an ultrasonic vibration absorber is attached to the back surface of the transducer 10. The structure is such that the entire body is covered with an insulating thin film, and the front surface of the irradiation port is covered with a thin film made of a material that easily matches the acoustic impedance of the living body.

Next, a method of actually irradiating bone tissue with stimulating ultrasound waves will be explained.

Basically, the transducer 10 is brought into contact with the body surface and ultrasonic waves are irradiated to the bone tissue to be treated using a sector method or a linear method. In many cases, it is not possible to make exact contact.

In such a case, as shown in FIG. 5, a liquid bag 34 filled with liquid is provided between the transducer 10 and the surface of the living body 36 such as a leg or arm,
The transducer 10 is firmly fixed by the arm 38.4O provided at the transducer 10, and can prevent the efficiency of ultrasonic waves from decreasing due to air interposed between the body surface and the transducer 10.

Further, the liquid in the liquid bag 34 is kept at a constant temperature by refluxing the liquid, and as a result, the temperature of the liquid in the liquid bag 34 increases when the stimulation ultrasound irradiation time becomes relatively long. This makes it possible to perform good treatment using stimulated ultrasound without causing pain to the patient.

[Advantageous Effects of the Invention 1] As explained above, according to the present invention, the ultrasonic waves that stimulate bone tissue are irradiated as pulsed ultrasonic waves with an arbitrary repetition period, so that the bone tissue can be efficiently stimulated with high intensity. can be given to promote ossification and contribute to the repair and integration of fractured bones or the recovery and integration of bones and joints after surgery.

Furthermore, by arbitrarily selecting the repetition period, it is possible to apply highly flexible stimulation to the bone tissue corresponding to various bone diseases, thereby achieving treatment with rapid functional recovery.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a preferred first embodiment of the ultrasonic stimulation device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a second embodiment according to the present invention, and FIG. Figure 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a modulated wave that changes the intensity of stimulating ultrasound; Figure 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a liquid bag placed between the transducer and the body surface. It is. 10... Transducer 12... Transmission pulse generator 20... Pulse synchronization circuit 24... Function wave generator 26... Exponential wave generator 28... Triangular wave generator 30... Sine wave generator 32... Complex function wave generator 34... Liquid bag 36... Living body. Figure 1 12m pulse generator Figure 2 Figure 3 +23 pulse % generator Figure 5

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) It includes a transmission pulse generator that generates a transmission pulse of ultrasound that stimulates bone tissue, and a transducer that generates an ultrasound based on the transmission pulse, and transmits the ultrasound stimulation pulse wave at an arbitrary repetition period. An ultrasonic bone stimulation device characterized by emitting radiation toward bone tissue. (2) An ultrasonic bone stimulation device according to claim (1), characterized in that the transmitted pulse signal is synchronized with a pulse and the ultrasonic waves are emitted at a pulse cycle. (3) The device according to claim (1) includes a function generation circuit that generates an exponential wave, a triangular wave, a sine wave, or a function wave that is a combination thereof, and amplitude modulates the transmitted pulse train with the function wave. An ultrasonic bone stimulator featuring: (4) In the device according to claims (1), (2), and (3), a liquid bag filled with liquid is arranged between the transducer and the body surface, and ultrasonic waves are irradiated to the stimulated tissue. Ultrasonic stimulator for bones characterized by increased efficiency. (5) An ultrasonic bone stimulation device according to claim (4), characterized in that the liquid in the liquid bag is refluxed to suppress a rise in temperature of the liquid.