JP2735280B2 - Heated therapy device and blood flow measurement device including the same - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of application of the invention

The present invention relates to a heating treatment device suitable for treating a malignant tumor or the like, and a blood flow measurement device including the same.

[Prior art]

As a treatment for heating a malignant tumor by utilizing the fact that a malignant tumor tissue has a lower resistance to heating as compared with a normal tissue, a hammer-thermia therapy is known. As the heating means necessary for this therapy, effective means with low invasiveness such as electric field, magnetic field, and ultrasonic wave have already been developed and exist. In contrast, non-invasive means such as radio waves, NMR, and ultrasonic waves have been actively studied as the temperature monitoring means necessary for this therapy, but the results are still insufficient, and thermocouples and thermistors are used in clinical practice. At present it depends on invasive means such as. According to these invasive means, there is no choice but to penetrate the tumor and promote the metastasis of the tumor or delay the recovery of the patient.
The biggest factor that has hindered the success of noninvasive temperature measurement of living organisms is that the temperature coefficient of living tissues, which is not so large from the source of signals such as radio waves, NMR, and ultrasonic waves, depends on the tissues of living organisms and It is not constant depending on the biological conditions in which the signals are placed, and it is difficult to convert the changes of the signals into temperatures even if the changes themselves can be measured. On the other hand, the amount of heat per unit time (SAR) given to each tissue of the living body by the low-invasive heating means is calculated based on the absorption coefficient of each tissue of the living body, such as electric field, magnetic field, and ultrasonic wave. Taking into account the attenuation and the like, the prediction can be made relatively accurately by computer simulation or the like. In order to convert this SAR into temperature, it is generally necessary to know the specific heat, thermal conductivity, and blood flow of each tissue of the living body.
Can estimate with relatively high accuracy, while the latter changes moment by moment in response to the temperature of the living tissue during heating, and its estimation is extremely difficult unless there is a means for measuring in real time. is there. However, Abstracts of 5th International Symposium o
n Hyperthermic Oncology) (August 29-September 3, 1988)
Sun) As described on page 284, when heating is performed in a short time, the temperature rise of about 1 second does not depend on blood flow or heat conduction, but is almost equivalent to SAR and biological tissue. It is determined only by specific heat. Therefore, the temperature of the living tissue after heating for a short time of about 1 second can be estimated relatively accurately without directly measuring the temperature.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, with the above-mentioned heating technique alone, it is possible to once raise the tumor temperature to the target treatment temperature by short-time heating (short-time heating). Can not be maintained. This is because if the heating is continued for a long time, the temperature will be affected by the blood flow, and it will not be possible to accurately estimate the temperature. Therefore, in the above-mentioned heating method, after heating the tumor to the target temperature by heating for a short time, stopping the heating for a time sufficient to cool the tumor to the normal temperature, and then heating again for a short time. The intermittent heating schedule. In this case, the ratio of the effective heating time to the entire treatment time becomes extremely small, and it is difficult to perform efficient treatment. An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem and to monitor the temperature of a treatment target region (region) non-invasively without using invasive temperature measurement means, and to set the treatment target region to a target temperature. It is an object of the present invention to provide a highly safe and efficient heating treatment device that enables efficient heating and a blood flow measurement device including the same.

[Means for solving the problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a pulse echo type ultrasonic transmission / reception system of a heating treatment apparatus,
Measure and record the ultrasonic echo signal of the treatment target site before and after the short-time heating, and record the measured value of the ultrasonic echo signal during steady-state heating to maintain the temperature at the target temperature. The present invention proposes to provide a heating treatment apparatus having a temperature monitoring control means for obtaining temperature monitoring information by comparing with a heating treatment apparatus and a blood flow measurement apparatus including the same. The sound velocity, attenuation coefficient, and nonlinear coefficient of ultrasonic waves in living tissue have a temperature coefficient of 0.1 to several percent / ° C. This temperature coefficient is not constant depending on each tissue of the living body and the biological conditions in which each tissue is placed, but heats the treatment target site (region) to a treatment temperature or a temperature close thereto by heating for a short time, By measuring the sound velocity, the attenuation coefficient, or the nonlinear coefficient before and after that, it is possible to calculate a target value of what these measured values should show at the treatment temperature. Then, the heating power is controlled so that these measured values approach the target values. Further, in the present invention, the blood flow rate of the heating target site is determined based on the time constant of the time change of the sound speed, attenuation coefficient, and nonlinear coefficient of the ultrasonic wave at the living tissue site after the heating is stopped for a short time. It is proposed to configure to estimate and control.

[Action]

The spatial distribution T of the temperature rise from the normal temperature of the living tissue by the invasive heating means such as an electric field, a magnetic field, and an ultrasonic wave is represented by the heat quantity per unit time (SAR) Q given to the living tissue by the heating means. Bioheat equation Ad T / dt = KΔT + Q-BT (1) including the specific heat A per unit volume of the living tissue, the thermal conductivity K, and the product B of the blood flow per unit time per unit volume of the blood and the specific heat of blood. It is described with sufficient accuracy. At a normal or higher blood flow rate, the outflow path of the input heat is mainly blood flow rather than heat conduction. This can be performed by the omitted equation Ad T / dt = Q-BT (2). Solving this for T, t
When the response to the heating of Q = Q starting from = 0 is obtained, T = (Q / B) [1-exp (−Bt / A)] (3), and if t is sufficiently smaller than the time constant A / B, , T = (Q / A) t (4), and the increase T of the living tissue temperature from the normal temperature is determined only by the heat quantity Q given by the heating means, the specific heat A, and the heating time t. As described above, since the specific heat of the living tissue can be estimated relatively well, an estimated value of the specific heat of blood,
The blood flow can be determined from the product B of the blood flow and the specific heat of the blood. In the following description, the product B of the blood flow and the specific heat of the blood is simply referred to as the blood flow B for simplicity in the sense of the amount reflecting the blood flow. Even if the blood flow B is estimated to be about twice the normal value, the time constant A /
Since B is about 100 seconds, if the heating time t is several seconds or less,
The temperature T is given by equation (4). As an example, if a heating amount of 10 W / cm ^{3 is applied to} the living tissue per unit time per unit volume by the heating means, a relatively accurately predicted temperature rise of the living tissue of about 8 ° C. after 4 seconds from the start of the heating is obtained. As a result, the living tissue reaches a temperature effective for the warming treatment.
When the heating is stopped here, the living tissue temperature gradually decreases toward the normal temperature with the time constant A / B, so within a few seconds,
The sound velocity, attenuation coefficient, or nonlinear coefficient of the ultrasonic wave at the living tissue site to be treated is measured and recorded. Therefore, while monitoring these measured values at the living tissue site to be treated, the heating amount is again input by the heating means, and heating is continued while controlling the input heat amount so that the measured value approaches the recorded value. The temperature at the target site can be maintained at the effective treatment temperature for a long time. Temperature coefficients such as the sound velocity, attenuation coefficient, and nonlinear coefficient of ultrasonic waves can be considered to be constant in a small temperature range of about 10 ° C or less. If you measure beforehand,
The target values of these values at the treatment temperature can be obtained by extrapolation without increasing the treatment target tissue temperature to the treatment temperature by rapid short-time heating. When the treatment target site is kept at the effective treatment temperature for a long time of about several tens of minutes or more, some of the living tissue to be treated is deteriorated due to the treatment effect, and the temperature coefficients and values such as the above-mentioned sound speed, attenuation coefficient and nonlinear coefficient are obtained. It can change itself. If there is such a concept, the heating is periodically stopped for a sufficiently long time compared to the time constant A / B to lower the temperature of the treatment target site to the normal temperature, and then the above process is performed again. Repeatedly, the effects of such changes can be removed. Further, the time change of the temperature of the living tissue to be heated after the heating is stopped at t = t ₀ is obtained by solving the equation (2), T = (Q / B) [1-exp (−Bt ₀₎ / A)] exp [-Bt- t 0) /
A] (5) and the logarithmic decay of the time constant A / B. As described above, in a small temperature range of about 10 ° C. or less, temperature coefficients such as the sound velocity, attenuation coefficient, and nonlinear coefficient of ultrasonic waves can be considered to be constant, so that the time change of these measured values after stopping heating is also a time constant. A / B is a logarithmic decay. Since the specific heat A per unit volume of the living tissue is a relatively stable value as described above, the blood flow B at the site to be heated is estimated from the time constant of the time change of the measured value after the heating is stopped. can do. On the other hand, the amount of heat Q _{0 to} be given to the living tissue for steady heating to keep the living tissue to be heated at a temperature T ₀ higher than the normal temperature is
By setting dT / dt = 0 in equation (2), Q ₀ = BT ₀ (6) is given. Therefore, if it is possible to estimate the blood flow B at the site to be heated from the time change of the measured values such as the sound speed, attenuation coefficient, and nonlinear coefficient of the ultrasonic wave after the short-time heating stop, BT ₀ is determined from the value. During steady heating to the target temperature, the amount of heat Q applied to the living tissue is increased or decreased by a small amount around the target temperature, and the temperature of the portion to be heated is set to the target value (normal temperature + T ₀ ).
Can be controlled nearby.

【Example】

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 12. As a first embodiment, FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a configuration of an apparatus using ultrasonic irradiation as a heating unit and using ultrasonic nonlinear coefficient measurement as a temperature measuring unit. 2 (a) and 2 (b) show a side view and a bottom view of the fundamental frequency transmitter 1 incorporating the double frequency transmitter / receiver 2 in the figure. The array type transmitter 1 is used in IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium Proceedings.
(October 14 to 16, 1987) The ultrasonic transducers 1-1 to 1-1 of the transmitter 1 have basically the same type as the array type transmitter described on pages 867 to 870. The acoustic matching layer 5 made of light metal is provided for effective heat radiation from -N, and a therapeutic focal zone having a variable size can be formed based on the control by the transmission circuit 11. it can. In this embodiment, this array type transmitter is used as a transmitter for heating, and at the same time, the partial aperture (outer diameter 80 mm, inner diameter 40 mm) is divided into two as shown in FIG. By doing so, it is also used as a fundamental frequency transmitter for measuring nonlinear coefficients. The transducer 2 in FIGS. 1 and 2 has basically the same form as a normal pulse-echo image pickup sector scan type array transducer, and has an ultrasonic transducer 2-. 1, 2-
, 2-n and the acoustic matching layer 6. In this embodiment, this is used not only as a double frequency receiver for measuring the nonlinear coefficient but also as a transducer for ordinary pulse echo imaging. FIG. 2B shows a view when the acoustic matching layers 5 and 6 are seen through. In order to avoid complication, the acoustic coupling material is omitted from FIG. This device has two transmission modes. The first mode is a mode in which the partial aperture of the transmitter 1 is divided into two as described above and driven by fundamental frequencies having phases opposite to each other. The second mode is a mode in which the transmitter / receiver 2 is driven by a double frequency. In the second mode,
Under the control of the ultrasonic transducer transmission control circuit 12, each transducer is driven by the transmission / reception circuit 13 with a signal given a delay time for focusing exactly the same as a normal single focus, In mode 1, the signal of each transducer is given a delay time for a normal single focus,
Each of the transducers is driven by the wave transmitting circuit 11 with a signal obtained by inverting the phase of the signal of one of the transducer groups of the two divided partial apertures. That is, the elements corresponding to the + and-portions in FIG. 3 are driven by the signals whose waveforms are shown in FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b). A double-frequency echo reflected by an acoustic discontinuity near the transmission focal point (in this example, a point reflector) as shown in FIG. 4C as an example is transmitted to the transducer 2 and the transmission / reception circuit 13. , A delay time for focusing is given in the reception focusing circuit 14, and they are added to each other to be converted into an echo intensity. The echo intensity at the time of the double frequency transmission is directly input to the display circuit 16 and displayed as a normal ultrasonic pulse echo image, while being recorded in the storage circuit 20-2 and used for calculating a nonlinear coefficient. On the other hand, the double frequency echo intensity at the time of the fundamental frequency reverse phase transmission is once recorded in the storage circuit 20-1 and input to the temperature rise detection circuit 15. The circuit 15 divides this echo intensity by the echo intensity from the corresponding position recorded in the storage circuit 20-2, thereby removing the influence of the reflection intensity at that position and removing the measured value of the nonlinear coefficient near the position. Is calculated and input to the display circuit 16 as a signal corresponding to the temperature rise. The display circuit 16 displays the change with time. The signal corresponding to the temperature rise is also input to the transmission circuit 11, and the transmission intensity for heating is adjusted. In addition, the above-described ordinary pulse echo image is useful for selecting or positioning the heating region. An example of a sound field for measuring a nonlinear coefficient formed on the focal plane by the apparatus of the present embodiment will be described below. FIGS. 5 (a) and (b) show a geometrical focal length of 120 mm when the partial aperture of FIG. 3 is driven by a signal having a center frequency of 1 MHz shown in the waveforms of FIGS. 4 (a) and (b). 3 shows a sound field having a fundamental frequency of 1 MHz and a double frequency of 2 MHz formed on the focal plane of FIG. The vertical axis is the ultrasonic intensity normalized by the maximum value in each figure. At the focal point, while the frequency component has a peak while the intensity of the fundamental frequency component is 0, if a double-frequency reflected echo is received by a receiver having the same point as the focal point, the transmitted wave to the focal point Only the double frequency generated by nonlinear propagation can be received without being affected by nonlinear phenomena in reflection and the like. FIG. 5 (e)
This is the sound field of the double frequency reception (or transmission) by the transmitter / receiver 2 for the reception. FIG. 6 plots the contribution of the measured value of the nonlinear coefficient of each point in the transmission path to the amplitude on a plane that includes the central axis of the transmission and reception aperture and is orthogonal to the line that divides the transmission aperture into two. Things. The distribution of the contribution of the nonlinear coefficient is localized within a range of about 7 mm in both the depth direction and the azimuth direction.When considering the ultrasonic nonlinear coefficient as a measurement signal corresponding to the temperature rise, the spatial resolution of this degree is It can be seen that is obtained with respect to. FIG. 7 shows an example of a time chart of a heating treatment using the ultrasonic heating device of this embodiment. In the figure, (a) shows the effective value of the transmission amplitude of the transmitter 1, (b) shows the temperature of the living tissue to be treated, and (c) shows the measured value of the ultrasonic nonlinearity of the living tissue to be treated every three seconds. The absolute value of the change with respect to the initial value was plotted. The heating target temperature of the living tissue to be treated was set at normal temperature + 8 ° C., and heating was performed. In the temperature range of about ± 10 ° C., it can be considered that the temperature change of the nonlinear coefficient of (c) is proportional to the temperature change of (b). After recording the initial value of the ultrasonic nonlinearity coefficient measurement value in the main control circuit 10 in order to reach the target temperature of the treatment target biological tissue in a short time without being affected by the large uncertainty blood flow due to the biological tissue, 10 W / cm ³ rapid heat input for 3 seconds was performed by the ultrasonic transmitter 1, and the measured value of the nonlinear coefficient immediately after the stop of the rapid heating was stored in the transmission circuit 11 as a comparative reference value at the time of steady heating. For 60 seconds after the rapid heating stop, measure the time change of the nonlinear coefficient, estimate the blood flow from the time constant,
From the estimated value, calculate the amount of heat required to steadily heat the living tissue to be treated to the target temperature, and after 60 seconds after stopping the rapid heating, calculate the above-mentioned comparative reference value nonlinear coefficient measurement value centering on the calculated value. The main control circuit 10 and the wave transmission circuit 11 were configured to perform heating while adjusting the amount of heat input by comparison. In this example, the blood flow rate is 10 kg / s /
It was estimated to be m ^3, and the heat input required for steady heating was estimated to be 40 mW / cm ³ . If the spatial distribution of the amount of heat input for heating spreads not only to the affected area but also to the area of normal tissue, there is a high risk that such short-time rapid heating will cause considerable damage to normal tissue. Therefore, in the present embodiment, an ultrasonic wave which easily makes the distribution of the input heat amount local is used as the heating means.
On the other hand, when the target value during steady-state heating is determined using the measured values after such short-time rapid heating, if the spatial distribution of the heat input for heating is too local, the short-time rapid The difference in the spatial temperature distribution between after heating and during steady heating can be problematic. However, even if the spatial distribution of the heat input is heated by ultrasonic waves that tend to be unnecessarily local, if a technology that can form a focal region having an appropriate spread as in this embodiment is used, Such a problem can be avoided. In this embodiment, the heating ultrasonic transmitter is also used as the nonlinear coefficient measurement transmitter. However, the nonlinear coefficient measurement receiver is used to transmit the fundamental frequency for nonlinear coefficient measurement. It is good also as a structure used also as a container. Further, the blood flow rate measured by the method of the present invention can be displayed on the display circuit 16 as a blood flow distribution image or a graph showing the change over time in the blood flow in the region of interest, and can be provided as medical diagnosis information. However, in this case, in order to avoid the possibility of damage to the living tissue to be measured due to heating, the range of increase in temperature due to heating is minimized within a range where a signal-to-noise ratio required for measurement can be obtained. As another embodiment, FIG. 8 shows a block diagram of the configuration of an apparatus using the same ultrasonic irradiation as the heating means and using ultrasonic sound velocity measurement as the temperature measuring means. 9 (a) and 9 (b) show a side view and a bottom view of the heating transmitter 1 incorporating the heating monitoring ultrasonic transducers 2 to 4 in the figure. The difference from the first embodiment is that an ultrasonic sound velocity is used instead of an ultrasonic nonlinear coefficient as a measurement signal corresponding to a temperature rise. Array type transmitter 1
Has a structure and function similar to those of the first embodiment, and can form a treatment focal zone having a variable size expansion. The transducers 2 to 4 also have the same structure as the transducer 2 of the first embodiment, and the transducer 2 is used to generate a normal pulse echo image useful for selecting and positioning a heating area. Also used for forming. Measurement of the ultrasonic velocity of sound by the reflection method is described in United States Patent No. 4,566,459 (Jan. 1986).
And IEEE Ultrasonic Symposium Proceedings (IEEE Ultra
sonics Symposium Proceedings) (October 14, 1987-16, 2016)
Sun) Focusing Method (Focus Adju) described on pages 917-926
stment Method). That is, the reception signals from the transmitters and receivers 2 to 4 are given a delay time corresponding to the sound speed of the medium in the reception focus circuit 14 and added to each other to form an image. While the sound speed of the medium to be assumed is gradually moved by the above control, an imaging condition for providing a sharpest image with the highest intensity is detected. Since the average sound velocity from the transducer to the focal point can be measured by this method, as shown in FIG. 10, the focal point F immediately before and after the temperature rise measurement area A whose temperature can be considered to be substantially constant, respectively. set ₀ and F _1, to record the acoustic velocity measurements to F ₀ in the memory circuit 22 - 1, F ₁
The measured sound speed values up to are recorded in the storage circuit 22-2. The temperature rise detection circuit 15 calculates the sound speed of the measurement area A from both values, and inputs it to the display circuit 16 and the heating wave transmission circuit 11 as a measurement signal corresponding to the temperature rise in the area A. As in the case of the non-linear coefficient, it can be considered that the temperature change of the sound velocity is proportional to the temperature change in the temperature range of about ± 10 ° C. As still another embodiment, FIG. 11 shows a block diagram of the configuration of an apparatus using the same ultrasonic irradiation as the heating means and using the ultrasonic attenuation coefficient measurement as the temperature measuring means.
The heating transmitter 1 incorporating the heating monitoring ultrasonic transducer 2 in the figure is exactly the same as that of the first embodiment in FIG. The difference from the first embodiment is that an ultrasonic attenuation coefficient is used instead of an ultrasonic nonlinear coefficient as a measurement signal corresponding to a temperature rise. Therefore, the center frequency of the heating monitoring ultrasonic transducer 2 does not necessarily need to be twice the center frequency of the heating transmitter 1. Measurement of ultrasonic attenuation coefficient by reflection method is based on IEEE acoustics
IEEE Transactions on Acoustic
s, Speech Signal Processing) (January 1984), Vol. 32, pp. 1-6 applies a method of measuring an attenuation coefficient using the frequency proportional characteristic of ultrasonic attenuation in living tissue. That is, a pulse-like ultrasonic wave having a large relative bandwidth is transmitted by the transmitter / receiver 2, and a delay time is given to the signal received by the transmitter / receiver 2 in the receive focus circuit 14, and the signals are added to each other to produce an echo signal And the echo signal is subjected to frequency analysis in the echo signal frequency analysis circuit 23. As shown in FIG. 12, the focuses F ₀ and F ₁ are set immediately before and immediately after the temperature rise measurement area A having a size such that the temperature can be regarded as substantially constant, and a circuit of an echo signal from each vicinity is set. The storage circuit 24-1 and the storage circuit 24-1 are used to calculate the sound velocity measurement value.
Record in 24-2. In the circuit 15, the frequency proportional characteristic is applied to the amplitude spectrum obtained by dividing the spectrum stored in the storage circuit 24-1 by the spectrum stored in the storage circuit 24-2, and the attenuation coefficient of the ultrasonic wave in the measurement area A is obtained from the proportional coefficient. Is calculated and input to the display circuit 16 and the heating wave transmitting circuit 11 as a measurement signal corresponding to the temperature rise in the area A. As in the case of the nonlinear coefficient, it can be considered that the temperature change of the attenuation coefficient is proportional to the temperature change in a temperature range of about ± 10 ° C. Assuming that the reflection coefficients near the focal points F ₀ and F ₁ are respectively constant, the ratio of the echo intensities themselves when the focal points are set to F ₀ and F ₁ is treated as a measurement signal corresponding to the temperature rise in the area A. There is also a method, but by heating the focus F ₀ and
If the reflection coefficient in the vicinity of F ₁ changes, it may be misread as the temperature change of the attenuation coefficient in the region A.
The method of the above embodiment is more secure. In the above, only the embodiment using the ultrasonic wave as the heating means has been described.
Proceedings of the 5th International Hyperthermia Symposium (Abst
racts of 5th International Symposium on Hypertherm
ic Oncology) (August 29-September 3, 1988), page 113, as long as the heating energy can be concentrated in a relatively narrow range, the treatment apparatus of the present invention can be used. It can be used as a heating means. In the above, only the embodiment using ultrasonic waves as the temperature measuring means has been described, but the 5th International Hyperthermia Symposium
A method utilizing the temperature coefficient of the relaxation time or diffusion constant measured by NMR as described on page 155 can also be used as the non-invasive temperature measuring means in the heating treatment apparatus of the present invention.

【The invention's effect】

As described above, according to the present invention, without using invasive temperature measuring means such as a thermocouple or thermistor, by non-invasively measuring the sound velocity or attenuation coefficient or nonlinear coefficient of the ultrasonic wave of the treatment target site Even if the temperature coefficients of these physical quantities in the target living tissue are unknown, it is possible to heat the target site while maintaining the target temperature at the target temperature. Can be provided. Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a measuring device for estimating a blood flow rate in a living tissue to be heated, which is extremely useful in medical diagnosis and treatment planning.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a configuration of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention using measurement of an ultrasonic nonlinear coefficient as a temperature measuring means, and FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b) are diagrams showing additional elements used in the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a side view and a bottom view of the ultrasonic transducer for temperature / temperature measurement, FIG. 3 is a partial diameter of a heating array used as a fundamental frequency transmitter for measuring a nonlinear coefficient, FIG. (B) is a transmission signal waveform of an element corresponding to each other in the two divided partial apertures, (c) is a double-frequency reception echo signal waveform at that time, (a) of FIG. (B)
Is the transmitted sound field of the fundamental frequency and the double frequency respectively formed on the focal plane at that time, (c) is the sound field of the received (or transmitted) wave of the double frequency by the monitoring transducer, The figure is a diagram in which the contribution of the measured value of the nonlinear coefficient of each point in the transmission propagation path to the amplitude is plotted on a plane that includes the central axis of the transmission and reception aperture and is orthogonal to a line that divides the transmission aperture into two. is there. Seventh
FIG. 1 is an example of a time chart of a heating treatment using the ultrasonic heating device according to the embodiment of the present invention, in which (a) shows the effective value of the transmission amplitude of the heating transmitter, (b) is a plot of the temperature of the biological tissue to be treated, and (c) is a plot of the absolute value of the change of the measurement signal corresponding to the temperature of the biological tissue to be treated, based on the initial value of the measured value every three seconds. It is. FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the configuration of another embodiment of the present invention using ultrasonic sound velocity measurement as a temperature measuring means, and FIGS. 9 (a) and (b) show additional components used in the embodiment. Side view and bottom view of an ultrasonic transducer for temperature and temperature measurement,
10 is a view showing an example of a focal point F ₀ and F ₁ of settings for sound velocity measurement for measuring the temperature rise in the region A. FIG. 11 is a block diagram of the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention using ultrasonic attenuation coefficient measurement as a temperature measuring means, FIG.
Is a diagram illustrating an example of a focal point F ₀ and F ₁ set for measurement ultrasonic attenuation coefficient for measuring the temperature rise in the region A. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1-1, 1-2,..., 1-N...
−2,..., 2-n...
3-2,..., 3-n...
1,4-2,..., 4-n...
... Acoustic matching layer made of light metal, 6... Acoustic matching layer, 7... Back braking layer, 10... Main control circuit, 11... Slave transmission control circuit,
13: transmission / reception circuit, 14: reception focus and echo intensity detection circuit, 15: temperature rise detection circuit, 16: display circuit, 20-1: echo intensity storage circuit during reverse phase transmission, 20 −
2 ... Echo intensity storage circuit during double frequency in-phase transmission, 21 ...
Focus determination and average sound velocity detection circuit 22-1 ... average sound velocity storage circuit immediately before the target area 22-2 ... average sound velocity storage circuit immediately before the target area 23 ... Echo signal frequency analysis circuit 24- 1 ... Echo signal frequency component storage circuit immediately before the target area, 24-2 ... Echo signal frequency component storage circuit immediately before the target area.

Claims (16)

(57) [Claims] 1. A pulse echo type ultrasonic apparatus having a heating means for heating a treatment target area, and a transducer for transmitting pulsed ultrasonic waves to the treatment target area and receiving an ultrasonic echo signal. A first ultrasonic echo signal measured from the treatment target area after the heating unit stops heating to raise the treatment target area to a target temperature; and the treatment target area. Is measured from the treatment target area during the heating to maintain the target temperature at the target temperature.
And a means for controlling the heating means by comparing the ultrasonic echo signal with the ultrasonic echo signal of (c), and controlling the temperature of the treatment target area. 2. A pulse-echo type ultrasonic apparatus having a heating means for heating a treatment target area, and a transducer for transmitting pulsed ultrasonic waves to the treatment target area and receiving an ultrasonic echo signal. In a warming treatment apparatus comprising: a means for storing a first ultrasonic echo signal measured from the treatment target area after stopping the heating to raise the treatment target area to a target temperature by the heating means, Means for storing a second ultrasonic echo signal measured from the treatment target area during heating to maintain the treatment target area at the target temperature,
Having means for controlling the heating means by comparing the first ultrasonic echo signal and the second ultrasonic echo signal,
A heating treatment apparatus, wherein a temperature of the treatment target area is controlled. 3. A pulse echo type ultrasonic apparatus having a heating means for heating a treatment target area, and a transducer for transmitting pulsed ultrasonic waves to the treatment target area and receiving an ultrasonic echo signal. In the heating treatment device comprising: the first ultrasonic nonlinearity coefficient of the treatment target region measured after the heating unit stops heating to raise the treatment target region to the target temperature and the treatment target region. Comparison with a second ultrasonic nonlinearity coefficient of the treatment target region measured during heating for maintaining the target temperature, first ultrasonic wave of the treatment target region measured after stopping the heating A comparison between an attenuation coefficient and a second ultrasonic attenuation coefficient of the treatment area measured during heating for maintaining the treatment area at the target temperature, the treatment measured after the heating is stopped The first sound velocity of the target area and the Means for controlling the heating means based on any comparison of the comparison with the second sound speed of the treatment target area measured during heating to maintain the target area at the target temperature, A heating treatment apparatus, wherein a temperature of the treatment target area is controlled. 4. A pulse echo type ultrasonic apparatus having a heating means for heating a treatment target area, and a transducer for transmitting pulsed ultrasonic waves to the treatment target area and receiving an ultrasonic echo signal. A first ultrasonic nonlinearity coefficient of the treatment target area measured after the heating unit stops heating to raise the treatment target area to a target temperature, a first ultrasonic wave. Means for storing one of an attenuation coefficient and a first sound velocity; a second ultrasonic nonlinearity coefficient of the treatment target area measured during heating to maintain the treatment target area at the target temperature; Ultrasonic attenuation coefficient of the second
Means for storing any one of the sound velocities of the first and second ultrasonic non-linear coefficients, and comparing the first ultrasonic non-linear coefficient with the second ultrasonic non-linear coefficient, the first ultrasonic non-linear coefficient and the second ultrasonic non-linear coefficient Comparing the first sound speed with the second sound speed, and controlling the heating unit based on a comparison between the first sound speed and the second sound speed, and controlling the temperature of the treatment target region. Heating therapy device. 5. A pulse echo type ultrasonic apparatus having a heating means for heating a treatment target area, and a transducer for transmitting a pulsed ultrasonic wave to the treatment target area and receiving an ultrasonic echo signal. In the heating treatment apparatus comprising: any one of an ultrasonic nonlinear coefficient, an ultrasonic attenuation coefficient, and a sound velocity of the treatment target area measured after stopping the heating to raise the treatment target area to the target temperature by the heating means. A blood flow rate is determined from a time constant of the time change. 6. A pulse echo type ultrasonic apparatus having a heating means for heating a treatment target area, and a transducer for transmitting pulsed ultrasonic waves to the treatment target area and receiving an ultrasonic echo signal. In the heating treatment apparatus comprising: any one of an ultrasonic nonlinear coefficient, an ultrasonic attenuation coefficient, and a sound velocity of the treatment target area measured after stopping the heating to raise the treatment target area to the target temperature by the heating means. A heating unit that controls the heating unit based on a blood flow rate obtained from the time constant of the time change. 7. A pulse echo type ultrasonic apparatus having a heating means for heating a treatment target area, and a transducer for transmitting pulsed ultrasonic waves to the treatment target area and receiving an ultrasonic echo signal. In the warming treatment device comprising: the ultrasonic characteristic value of the treatment target region obtained from the ultrasonic echo signal measured after the heating unit stops heating to raise the treatment target region to the target temperature by the heating means A heating treatment apparatus characterized in that blood flow is obtained from a time constant. 8. A pulse echo type ultrasonic apparatus having a heating means for heating a treatment target area, and a transducer for transmitting pulsed ultrasonic waves to the treatment target area and receiving an ultrasonic echo signal. A heating treatment apparatus comprising: a means for controlling the heating means based on the ultrasonic echo signal from the treatment target area, wherein the treatment target area is maintained at a target temperature. Heating therapy device. 9. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said heating means comprises an ultrasonic transmitter, and said ultrasonic transmitter is a pulse-echo type. A heating treatment apparatus, which is used in common with the transducer of an ultrasonic apparatus. 10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said transducer of said pulse-echo type ultrasonic apparatus is configured to transmit and receive an image of said treatment target area. A heating treatment device characterized by being shared with a wave device. 11. A pulse echo type ultrasonic apparatus having a transmitter / receiver for transmitting pulsed ultrasonic waves to a treatment target area and receiving an ultrasonic echo signal, and a heating means for heating the treatment target area. A heating treatment device having the heating means, the heating means to raise the treatment target region to a target temperature, the ultrasonic non-linear coefficient of the treatment target region measured after stopping the heating, any of the ultrasonic attenuation coefficient, sound velocity A blood flow measuring device for determining a blood flow from a time constant of the time change. 12. A pulse echo type ultrasonic apparatus having a transducer for transmitting a pulsed ultrasonic wave to a treatment target area and receiving an ultrasonic echo signal, and a heating means for heating the treatment target area. Comprising a heat treatment device having, the ultrasonic characteristic value of the treatment target region obtained from the ultrasonic echo signal measured after stopping the heating to raise the treatment target region to the target temperature by the heating means A blood flow measuring device for determining a blood flow from a time constant. 13. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said heating means comprises an ultrasonic transmitter, and said ultrasonic transmitter is an ultrasonic transmitter of said pulse echo type ultrasonic apparatus. A blood flow measuring device shared with the transducer. 14. An apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said transducer of said pulse-echo type ultrasonic apparatus is shared with an ultrasonic transducer for imaging said area to be treated. Blood flow measuring device. 15. A blood flow measuring device according to claim 11, further comprising means for displaying a blood flow distribution image. 16. A blood flow measuring device according to claim 11, further comprising means for displaying a change in blood flow over time.