JPH06154262A - Hiperthermia apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To correct simply a measured value of a temp. sensor to a temp. value along a specified unit system. CONSTITUTION:A hiperthermia apparatus 10 is provided with a temp. sensor measuring the temp. of a diseased part of a living body, a computer 16 operating temp. information based on the output signal of this temp. sensor 12, a floppy disc 27 inputting correcting information correcting these temp. informations into the computer 16 and a panel unit 18 displaying the value of temp. operated and corrected by this computer 16.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a hyperthermia device for heating an affected part of a living body such as cancer and treating it.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In hyperthermia therapy, temperature measurement of an affected area is one of important factors. Information from the temperature sensor that measures the temperature of the affected area is sent as an electric signal such as voltage, and the electric signal is processed and used for displaying the temperature and controlling the heating device. For example, a thermocouple is used as such a temperature sensor, and a processing circuit that processes an electric signal from the temperature sensor is preliminarily corrected in order to perform accurate temperature display in a unit system that is normally used.

This correction is generally carried out by immersing the temperature sensor in a constant temperature bath and using the temperature of the constant temperature bath as a reference for offset or span. When correcting an actual hyperthermia device, for example, offset adjustment is first performed at 0 ° C., and then 45 ° C. to adjust the spans. This correction is performed by adjusting a plurality of variable resistors of the processing circuit when the product is completed.

According to the hyperthermia device which has completed the temperature correction in this way, the electric signal sent from the temperature sensor is sent to the computer as information indicating an accurate temperature through the amplifier and the A / D conversion circuit. Then, the computer controls the applicator on the basis of this temperature information and performs required heating.

[0005]

However, since such correction is performed by a skilled engineer individually adjusting a plurality of variable resistors and the like, the correction is rarely completed by one adjustment. , Must be repeated several times to several tens of times, which requires extremely complicated operations. In particular, the value varies depending on the product, and there is a possibility that a certain degree of deviation may occur depending on the technician performing the adjustment.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a hyperthermia device which can very easily and surely correct the output signal of a temperature sensor.

[0007]

A hyperthermia device according to the present invention includes a temperature sensor for measuring the temperature of an affected area, a calculation means for calculating temperature information based on an output signal of the temperature sensor, and a correction for the temperature information. And a temperature correction information input means for inputting correction information to the calculation means.

[0008]

According to this hyperthermia device, the output signal of the temperature sensor is sent to the calculating means as unadjusted temperature information, and the correction information including the data obtained in advance from the experiment is calculated by the temperature correction information input means. Entered into the means. The calculation means performs a calculation based on the temperature information and the correction information, and corrects the temperature value to an accurate temperature value along a predetermined unit system. This temperature value is displayed on the display device and used for temperature control.

[0009]

1 is a conceptual diagram of a hyperthermia apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The hyperthermia device 10 includes a heating unit 10a that heats an affected part of a living body such as cancer, and a control unit 10b that controls the heating unit 10a. The heating unit 10a has an applicator 11 arranged along with the affected part and a temperature sensor 12 arranged on the outer peripheral part of the applicator 11 to detect the temperature of the affected part. In addition, the control unit 10b receives a signal from the heating unit 13 that supplies heating energy to the applicator 11, a cooling unit 14 that cools the applicator 11 to prevent burns on the affected area, and a signal from the temperature sensor 12. And a heating unit 13 and a cooling unit 14 based on the temperature value calculated by the computer 16 for converting the signal into a signal which can be used by the computer 16 as a calculation means.
The computer 16 includes a control unit 17 for controlling the operation and a panel unit 18 for performing switch operation and temperature display.
The correction program stored in the temperature correction information input means, which is an OM, corrects the temperature information from the signal conversion circuit 15 based on the correction information including data obtained in advance from an experiment or the like to obtain an accurate temperature value of the affected area. calculate. The temperature value corrected by this correction program is used as a parameter for heating control.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the hyperthermia device 10 thus formed. The heating portion 10a of the hyperthermia device 10 is provided with an applicator 11 for ultrasonic heat treatment, and the applicator 11 is fixed to a peripheral portion of the tip of the applicator 11 at a required site in a body cavity of a living body. A balloon 11a for preventing burns on the affected area is arranged, and a thermocouple as a temperature sensor 12 for detecting the temperature of the affected area is arranged at a required portion on the outer peripheral portion of the balloon 11a.

The control section 10b also includes an electromagnetic wave oscillator 23 for ultrasonically vibrating the applicator 11 and the cooling water tank 2.
2, a pump 24 for sending cooling water to the balloon 11a, an A / D conversion circuit 25 for converting the voltage of the temperature sensor 12 into a digital signal via an amplifier 21, and this A / D
A computer 26 that corrects the temperature information received from the conversion circuit and controls the electromagnetic wave oscillator 23 and the pump 24 to control the heating of the applicator 11. A CRT 28 for displaying temperature and other information is connected to the computer 26, and the temperature sensor 1 is operated according to the temperature correction information and the correction program recorded on the floppy disk 27.
The temperature information of 2 is calculated and corrected to obtain an accurate temperature value along a predetermined unit system. When the hyperthermia device 10 is used to heat the affected area of the living body, the heating is performed as follows.

First, the applicator 11 of the heating section 10a is placed along the affected area to be heated, and the floppy disk 2
The computer 5 is operated in accordance with the operation program in 7 to control the electromagnetic wave oscillator 23 and the pump 24 to heat the affected area while monitoring the temperature of the affected area based on the temperature information from the temperature sensor 12 formed of a thermocouple. I do. At this time, the cooling water is circulated in the balloon 11a by the pump 24 so that the periphery of the applicator 11 is not burned. When the balloon 11a is inflated with cooling water, the applicator 11 is fixed to a required site in the body cavity and does not move carelessly.

The amplifier 21 and the A / D conversion circuit 25
Although the temperature information of the temperature sensor 12 sent to the computer 26 through the computer is unadjusted, the computer 26 corrects this unadjusted temperature information to obtain an accurate temperature value, and the evaluation is performed based on this accurate temperature value. Made electromagnetic wave oscillator 2
3 and the pump 24 are controlled.

A correction program for this correction is stored in the operation program of the floppy disk 27,
For example, the process is performed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. Here, T is a measured value, T1 and T2 are correction values, ΔT is an offset value, and f is a function for correction.

As shown in FIG. 3, this correction program first adds the offset ΔT to the measured value T of the temperature sensor 12 to obtain a correction value T1 (step S1), and puts this correction value T1 into the function f to obtain the final correction value. Obtain T2 (step S
2). This function can be obtained by, for example, an interpolation method.

As a matter of course, the offset ΔT and the constants used in the interpolation method are determined in advance by experiments or the like.
It must be saved as temperature correction information in the operating program. This stored temperature correction information can be obtained, for example, by measuring the voltage value of the thermocouple as the temperature sensor 12 corresponding to each of 30 ° C., 35 ° C., 40 ° C., and 45 ° C. As a result, the offset ΔT
Can be obtained by averaging the respective deviations, and when the function f is obtained by the interpolation method, the respective measured values can be used as constants as they are.

When the data as the temperature correction information is generated, the temperature sensor 12 is immersed in a constant temperature bath, and this output signal is input to the input side of the A / D converter through an amplifier. A
A plurality of resistors are connected in parallel on the input side of the / D converter, and the resistor whose output of the A / D converter is closest to the temperature of the constant temperature bath is searched by a predetermined program and connected through an electronic switch. . Thereby, data at various temperatures can be obtained as temperature correction information.

As described above, the temperature correction information measured in advance is stored in the correction program, and the actually measured value T of the temperature sensor is corrected by the computer 26 according to the correction program. Since it is represented as a numerical value, the labor of the person performing the adjustment is reduced, and the actual measurement value T of the temperature sensor 12, which is the temperature information, can be extremely easily corrected to the temperature value T2 along a predetermined unit system.

Obviously, instead of inputting such temperature correction information from the floppy disk 27, it may be directly input to the computer 26 via a keyboard or the like (not shown).

FIG. 4 shows a hyperthermia device 10 according to another embodiment. The hyperthermia device 10 is adapted to heat an affected part by microwaves, and the applicator 11 of the heating part 10a is formed by an antenna that radiates microwaves, and the temperature provided on the outer peripheral surface of the applicator 11 is increased. The sensor 12 is formed of an optical fiber thermometer. In addition, the control unit 10b includes a magnetron 33 that generates microwaves and a CP that controls the magnetron 33.
U336 and.

The hyperthermia device 10 of this embodiment is
The temperature correction information for performing the correction is stored in the ROM 37 as the temperature correction input means, and the temperature information from the temperature sensor 12 is input to the CPU 36 through the temperature measuring circuit 35.
A correction is executed by the CPU 36 according to a predetermined correction program, and the magnetron 33 is controlled by the corrected temperature value T2 (FIG. 3), and at the same time, the temperature value is displayed by the LED which is the display device 38.

As in the embodiment of FIG. 2, the actual measurement value T of the temperature sensor 12 is corrected by the CPU 36 based on the temperature correction information according to the correction program, and the correction can be easily executed.

Further, in such microwave hyperthermia therapy, there is a sum of electromagnetic wave energy radiated from the applicator 11 including an antenna as a parameter for evaluating heating. The value is measured by radiating output and its time, [Energy (J)] =
It is obtained by obtaining the formula of [output (W)] x [time (sec)]. As described above, in order to obtain the total electromagnetic wave energy radiated from the applicator 11, it is necessary to accurately obtain the output of the electromagnetic wave energy and its emission time, and it is extremely difficult to actually measure this.

FIG. 5 schematically shows a method of approximating the total sum of the electromagnetic wave energy. FIG. 5 is a temperature transition diagram of the heating treatment in which the vertical axis represents the temperature H and the horizontal axis represents the time t. The temperature is measured every predetermined time. In this example, this temperature measurement interval was set to 1 second. The temperature moves up and down around the set temperature Tc. In the figure, the dotted line parallel to the vertical axis indicates the temperature at the time of temperature measurement, and the curve connecting the tips of these dotted lines indicates the temperature transition. A symbol A between the adjacent dotted lines indicates a region where the temperature is higher than that at the time of immediately preceding temperature measurement, and a symbol B indicates the opposite region.

Here, since the temperature of the region A obtained in FIG. 5 is rising, the heating is continued during that time, and the temperature of the region B is decreasing, so that it is not heated during that time. Conceivable. Therefore, when the output is constant, the total sum of radiant energy is simply expressed by the formula [number of A] × [output], and can be easily obtained.

FIG. 6 shows a hyperthermia device 10 according to this embodiment. The control part 10b of the hyperthermia device 10 is an electromagnetic wave oscillator 43 for heating the affected part through the applicator 11 and a thermocouple for measuring the heating of the affected part. A temperature sensor 12 and a temperature measuring circuit 42 for extracting a voltage proportional to the temperature; and a set temperature comparing circuit 44 for comparing the temperature measured by the temperature measuring circuit 42 with a set temperature Tc (FIG. 5). It is provided with a timer 45 that counts the treatment time and emits a pulse at fixed time intervals, and a computer 46 that calculates the total output. When the affected part is heated by the hyperthermia device 10 of this embodiment, it is performed as follows.

The temperature of the affected area is a thermocouple, which is a temperature sensor 12.
Is measured by the temperature measurement circuit 42 and then set temperature comparison circuit 4
In step 4, it is compared with the set temperature Tc. The set temperature comparison circuit 44 turns on the electromagnetic wave oscillator 43 when the measured temperature value is lower than the set temperature Tc, and turns it off in the opposite case. The control of the electromagnetic wave oscillator 43 is performed at any time from the start to the end of the treatment. On the other hand, the timer 45 sends a signal to the switch 47 at a fixed time interval (1 second interval in this embodiment) from the start of treatment. The switch 47 closes when it receives a signal, so that, for example, every second, a voltage signal proportional to temperature is applied to the computer 4.
Taken in 6. Inside the computer 46, the total sum of electromagnetic wave energy is calculated as described with reference to FIG. 5, and the energy value can be obtained extremely easily.
FIG. 7 shows a hyperthermia device 10 according to another embodiment.
Indicates.

The heating unit 1 of this hyperthermia device 10
In 0a, an optical fiber thermometer is used as the temperature sensor 12 for measuring the temperature of the affected area. In addition, the control unit 10b uses a temperature measuring circuit 52 that makes the information of the temperature sensor 12 a voltage proportional to temperature, a magnetron 53 that radiates microwaves through the antenna unit 11b to heat the affected area, and burns on the affected area. The control circuit 5 includes a cooling unit 54 for preventing and a control circuit 56 for controlling the magnetron 53 and the cooling unit 54 to perform safe heating.
A computer 58 for temperature monitoring and energy calculation is connected to 6. In addition, the temperature sensor 12 formed by an optical fiber thermometer and the antenna unit 1 of the magnetron
1b and the cooling water passage of the cooling unit 54 are integrally connected at the tip end thereof to form an applicator as in the embodiment of FIG.

The hyperthermia device 10 of this embodiment is
Heating is performed so that the temperature is controlled around the set temperature. On the other hand, the computer 58 displays the temperature of the affected area to inform the operator of the heating condition, and calculates the energy according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 8, the computer 58 takes in the temperature signal measured by the temperature sensor 12 and substitutes it into H1 when the treatment is started (step ST1). Then, for example, wait for a fixed time of 2 seconds (step ST2),
After determining whether or not heating has ended (step ST
3) If the heating is not completed, set the second temperature signal to H2
(Step ST4). Then, the temperature signal H1
And H2 are compared (step ST5), and H2> H
If 1, W ₀ (= [output (W)] × [2 (seconds)])
Is added to the total output W to newly set W (step ST6).
If T2 <T1, do nothing. Finally, H2 is substituted for H1 (step ST7), the process returns to the waiting time (step ST2), and after a certain time, it is judged whether or not the heating is completed (step ST3). Has
Control ends. Therefore, the energy value can be easily obtained. FIG. 9 shows a hyperthermia device 10 capable of recording a power output which is a heating parameter of hyperthermia therapy.

The hyperthermia device 10 includes a high frequency oscillator 63 for heating, an applicator 62 having two electrodes for emitting high frequency to the affected area, a power meter 61 for measuring high frequency power, and a power meter 61. A / D converter 64 for converting a signal into a digital signal, and A / D converter 64
The computer 66 for receiving the signal of (1) and the printer 68 of the output stage are provided.

The output of the high frequency oscillator 63 is measured by the power meter 61, enters the computer 66 through the A / D converter 64, is corrected, and is output and recorded in the printer 68. This output record can be used as a reference for later treatment. FIG. 10 shows a hyperthermia device 10 according to another embodiment.

This hyperthermia device 10 has a magnetron 73 for emitting microwaves, a voltage controller 75 for controlling the voltage supplied to the magnetron 73, an A / D converter 74 for converting this voltage into a digital signal, and this A
Computer 76 for receiving the signal from the D / D converter 74
And a floppy disk 78 at the output stage.

Since the output of the magnetron 73 can be controlled by the input voltage, the output is controlled by the voltage controller 75 and the information is stored in the computer 76.
Is output to. The computer 76 corrects this information and records it on the floppy disk 78. The information recorded on the floppy disk 78 can be effectively used as a reference for later treatment.

[0035]

As is apparent from the above, according to the hyperthermia device of the present invention, the measured value of the temperature sensor can be corrected very easily and reliably.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram schematically showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of an embodiment of a hyperthermia device used for ultrasonic heat treatment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for correcting an actual temperature measurement value of the hyperthermia device of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of a hyperthermia device used for heat treatment with microwaves.

FIG. 5 is a graph showing a relationship between temperature and time of a diseased part due to electromagnetic wave energy radiated from an antenna.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of a hyperthermia device that controls heating based on the sum of electromagnetic wave energy radiated from an electromagnetic wave oscillator.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an embodiment of a hyperthermia device that controls heating by using a computer.

8 is a flow chart for performing temperature control of the hyperthermia device of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a hyperthermia device capable of recording output.

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of another embodiment of a hyperthermia device similar to that of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Hyperthermia device, 10a ... Heating unit, 10b
... Control unit, 11 ... Applicator, 12 ... Temperature sensor, 1
3 ... Heating unit, 14 ... Cooling unit, 15 ... Signal conversion circuit, 16, 26, 46, 56, 66, 76 ... Computer, 17 ... Control unit, 18 ... Panel unit,
23, 43 ... Electromagnetic wave oscillator, 33, 53, 73 ... Magnetron.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A temperature sensor for measuring the temperature of an affected area, a calculation means for calculating temperature information based on an output signal of the temperature sensor, and a temperature correction for inputting correction information for correcting the temperature information to the calculation means. A hyperthermia device comprising information input means.