JPS63150058A - Ultrasonic probe for body cavity - 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 ultrasound probe for use in body cavities, and particularly to transvaginal scanning (inserting an ultrasound probe into the vagina and scanning ultrasound waves). The present invention relates to an ultrasonic probe suitable for puncturing an ovary or the like to collect follicles while carrying out the following steps.

[Prior art]

As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, conventional ultrasound probes for use in body cavities extend the power connection shaft of a mechanical sector scanning ultrasound probe to generate vibrations that house the transducer. The child housing 1 and its connecting shaft 2 (with a sheath) serve as an insertion portion into a body cavity. By inserting this probe into the vagina and scanning ultrasound, it is possible to obtain tomographic images of the uterus, ovaries, etc., for which it was difficult to obtain sufficient diagnostic information even by scanning ultrasound from the surface of the body. be able to. Furthermore, by adding a puncture device, the puncture needle 4 guided by the puncture needle sheath 3 is inserted into the vagina and punctured into the ovary to collect follicles while observing an ultrasonic tomographic image.

This follicle collection is performed for the purpose of in vitro fertilization.

In FIGS. 10 and 11, 5 is a grip, and 6 is a grip.
is a cable, 7 is a support member that supports the puncture needle sheath 3,
8 is an ultrasonic scanning surface, and 9 is an insertion section into a body cavity.

The technology related to the intrabody cavity ultrasound probe equipped with the puncture device is, for example, developed by Human Reproduction (!I
Uman Reproduction) Vol. 1
, No. 1.

pp21-24, 1986 (IRL Press
Limlted).

Furthermore, since the follicle is small, high puncturing precision is required. Furthermore, unlike percutaneous puncture, which is performed in hard skin, the puncture needle is required to move quickly because it is performed in the soft vagina. For this reason, the puncture needle is not moved manually, but is fired by a spring or the like.

In this case, it goes without saying that the position and movement of the target must be reliably known from the ultrasonic tomographic image.

Furthermore, in order to reduce the burden on the subject, it is necessary to reduce the cross-sectional area within the vagina.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, in the conventional technology, the probe is configured to mechanically scan one transducer to obtain an ultrasound image.
The number of image frames (the number of frames obtained per second) is about 8 frames per second, which lacks real-time characteristics, making it difficult to track the movement of the target in real time. For this reason, there is a problem in that it takes a long time and effort to perform a reliable puncture, which places a burden on the examiner and the patient's partner.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems.

An object of the present invention is to provide a technique that can improve real-time performance in an intrabody cavity ultrasound probe and reduce the burden on the examiner and the patient's partner.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

[Means for solving problems]

A brief overview of one typical invention disclosed in this application is as follows.

That is, a tubular housing is provided at one end of the grip,
An intrabody cavity ultrasonic probe having a group of ultrasonic transducers disposed at its tip, the ultrasonic transducer group comprising a plurality of ultrasonic transducers arranged on a curved surface having a constant curvature. It is characterized by:

Further, the ultrasonic transducer group is characterized in that the ultrasonic probes are arranged in an array such that the long axis direction of the ultrasonic probes is substantially perpendicular to the arrangement direction.

Further, the ultrasonic transducer group is characterized in that the center of the array group is shifted by a predetermined position from the array group position centered on the axis of the housing.

[Effect]

According to the above means, by arranging the ultrasonic transducer group of the intrabody cavity ultrasonic probe on a curved surface having a constant curvature, the ultrasonic tomography apparatus uses a linear electronic scanning ultrasonic tomography apparatus. Since the ultrasonic waves can be scanned in sectors, real-time performance can be improved and the burden on the examiner and the patient's partner can be reduced. For example, even when collecting follicles by puncture, a high frame rate can be achieved, so it is possible to obtain about 2 to 3 times as many frames as the conventional technology.

Additionally, electronic focusing can be employed and the resolution is uniform, which is particularly advantageous for applications requiring this type of high precision.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings.

Note that throughout the description of the embodiments, parts having the same functions are given the same reference numerals, and repeated explanations thereof will be omitted.

[Example I]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of Example I of an intracorporeal ultrasound probe of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 1--2 in FIG.

3 is an enlarged view showing the detailed configuration of the tip portion of FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing the range scanned by Example I shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. It is a figure which shows the ultrasound image in the scanning range shown in FIG.

Embodiment I of the intrabody cavity ultrasound probe of the present invention is, as shown in FIGS. An insertion portion 10A is provided to be inserted therein. A grip 11 is attached to the end of the housing 10 to be held by the inspector. At the tip of the insertion portion 10A of the housing 10, an ultrasonic transducer 12 made of a tanzaku-shaped piezoelectric ceramic or the like has a certain curvature, for example, a radius of curvature of 10 mm.
Multiple pieces are arranged on the curved surface of . In other words, a curved array (curved linear array) system is adopted, and the ultrasonic transducers 12 are arranged in an array such that the long axis direction thereof is approximately perpendicular to the arrangement direction.

In the array group of the ultrasonic transducers 12, each ultrasonic transducer 12 is supported at a constant pitch by a backing material 13 that absorbs the ultrasonic waves radiated from the back surface thereof. The lead wire 14 bonded to each ultrasonic transducer 12 is
It is electrically connected to wiring 16 formed on flexible wiring board 15. The flexible wiring board 15 is
From the tip of the insertion portion 10A of the housing 10 to the housing 1
0 and extends to the inside of the grip 11, and each of the wirings 1
6 into the grip 11. And each wiring 16,
Ultrasonic cutting M! Each wiring 19 in the multicore coaxial cable 17 from the circuit of the main body of the device is connected via a connection plate 18 mounted in the grip 11.

Furthermore, a matching layer (membrane) 20 made of two layers of resin is adhered to the front surface of each ultrasonic transducer 12 in order to match the acoustic impedance with that of the living body.

An acoustic lens 21 made of silicone rubber is bonded onto the matching layer 20 to focus the ultrasonic waves into a beam.

In this way, an intrabody cavity ultrasound probe in which a plurality of ultrasound transducers 12 are arranged on a curved surface having a constant curvature can be electronically transmitted using a linear electronic scanning ultrasound tomography device. Ultrasonic waves can be scanned in sectors. This can improve real-time performance and reduce the burden on the examiner and the patient's partner. For example, in Figure 4 (in the figure,
23 is a puncture needle, and 24 is an ultrasonic scanning range (ultrasonic scanning angle). An ultrasonic image 23A of the puncture needle 23 is obtained in the ultrasonic echo image 25 as shown in FIG.

In this way, even when collecting follicles, a high frame rate can be achieved, so it is possible to obtain about 2 to 3 times as many frames as the conventional technology. Furthermore, since electronic focusing can be employed, the resolution is uniform, which is particularly advantageous for applications requiring this type of high precision.

[Example ■]

FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway sectional view showing the schematic structure of Example H of the intrabody cavity ultrasound probe of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view showing the detailed configuration of the tip portion of FIG. 6, FIG. 8 is an explanatory view showing the range scanned by the embodiment 2 shown in FIG. 6, and FIG. It is a figure which shows the ultrasound echo image in the scanning range shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 6, the intrabody cavity ultrasound probe of this embodiment H has a puncture needle when used with the puncture device 22 added to the body cavity ultrasound probe of embodiment 1. In order to be able to visualize the entire image of 23, without increasing the number of ultrasonic transducers 12, the wiring group of Example 2 is set such that the center of the array group is set in the axial direction of the housing 10 as the center O of the array group. at a predetermined angle θ
The arrangement position of the wiring group of the ultrasonic transducer 12 is changed by rotating the ultrasonic transducer 12 to the right, and the center thereof is moved to the 0' position. That is, by increasing the number of ultrasonic transducers 12, it is possible to visualize the entire image of the puncture needle 23, but the number of frames decreases, resulting in poor real-time performance.

Therefore, focusing on the fact that the test subject's hives are located on the left and right sides and not in the center of the human body, the scanning range 24 is
is tilted upward by 40° (θ=40°) in the arrangement direction. This can be achieved by moving the position of the array of ultrasonic transducers 12.

In this way, by changing the array position of the array group of ultrasound transducers 12 without increasing the number of ultrasound transducers 12, it is possible to visualize the entire image of the puncture needle 23 without losing real-time performance. I can do it. By rotating the intracorporeal ultrasound probe around the insertion direction, the inside of a human body can be imaged from all angles.

The present invention has been specifically explained above using examples, but
It goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and can be modified in various ways without departing from the spirit thereof.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

By arranging the transducer group of the intrabody cavity ultrasound probe on a curved surface having a constant curvature, ultrasound is electronically scanned in sectors using a linear electronic scanning ultrasound tomography device. Because it is possible to improve real-time performance,
The burden on the examiner and the patient's partner can be reduced. For example, even when collecting follicles by puncture, it is possible to achieve a high frame rate, so it is possible to obtain about 2 to 3 times as many frames as in the prior art. This allows ovarian puncture to be performed quickly and safely.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of Example 2 of the intrabody cavity ultrasound probe of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line ■--■ in FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing the detailed configuration of the tip portion of FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing the range scanned by Example I shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a partially cutaway sectional view showing the schematic configuration of Example H of the intrabody cavity ultrasound probe of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the range scanned by Example H shown in FIG. 6; FIG. It is a figure showing an echo image. FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 are diagrams for explaining problems when a puncture device is added to a conventional ultrasound probe for use in a body cavity. In the figure, 10... Housing, 10A... Housing insertion part, 12... Ultrasonic transducer, 13... Backing material, 14... Lead wire, 15... Flexible wiring board, 16 ...Wiring on flexible wiring board, 17
Coaxial cable, 20 Matching layer, 21 Acoustic lens, 22 Puncture device, 23 Puncture needle, 2
4... Scanning range, 25... Ultrasonic echo image of the puncture needle.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) An ultrasonic probe for use in a body cavity, in which a tubular housing is provided at one end of the grip, and a group of ultrasonic transducers is provided at the tip of the housing, the ultrasonic transducer group being arranged on a curved surface having a certain curvature. An ultrasound probe for use in a body cavity, comprising a plurality of ultrasound transducers arranged in a body cavity.