JP2017029471A - Imaging apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an imaging apparatus that can help an operator determine disruption of blood running or narrowing of a lymph vessel.SOLUTION: A control unit 30 is connected to: a lighting and imaging unit 12 that comprises a camera 21, an infrared light source 22 and a visible light source 23; and a storage unit 40 that comprises an image storing part 41. This control unit 30 comprises an image processing part 31, and the image processing part 31 comprises: a combination part 32 that combines a fluorescent image and a visible light image which are acquired by the lighting and imaging unit 12; a determination part 33 that determines presence, absence or the like with respect to disruption of blood running; and coloring part 34 that applies different colors to each blood vessel region in a blood vessel of which the disruption is determined by the determination part 33.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus that irradiates a fluorescent material that has entered a body of a subject with excitation light and images fluorescence emitted from the fluorescent material.

  A technique called near infrared fluorescence imaging is used for angiography in surgery. In this near-infrared fluorescence imaging, indocyanine green (ICG), which is a fluorescent dye, is injected into the affected area. When this indocyanine green is irradiated with near-infrared light having a wavelength of about 810 nm (nanometer) as excitation light, the indocyanine green emits near-infrared fluorescence having a wavelength of about 845 nm. This fluorescence is photographed by an imaging device capable of detecting near infrared light, and the image is displayed on a display unit such as a liquid crystal display panel. According to this near-infrared fluorescence imaging, it is possible to observe blood vessels, lymph vessels, and the like existing at a depth of about 20 mm from the body surface.

  In recent years, attention has been focused on a technique in which a tumor is fluorescently labeled and used for surgical navigation. As a fluorescent labeling agent for fluorescently labeling the tumor, 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA / 5-Aminolevulinic Acid) is used. When this 5-aminolevulinic acid (hereinafter abbreviated as “5-ALA”) is administered to a subject, 5-ALA is metabolized to a fluorescent substance, PpIX (protoporphyrinIX / protoporphyrinine). . This PpIX accumulates specifically in cancer cells. When PpIX, which is a metabolite of 5-ALA, is irradiated with visible light having a wavelength of about 410 nm, red visible light having a wavelength of about 630 nm is emitted as fluorescence from PpIX. By observing the fluorescence from this PpIX, cancer cells can be confirmed.

  Patent Document 1 discloses an intensity distribution image of near-infrared fluorescence obtained by irradiating an indocyanine green excitation light to a living organ to which indocyanine green is administered, and before indocyanine green administration. Compared with the cancer lesion distribution image obtained by applying X-ray, nuclear magnetic resonance or ultrasound to the subject's organs, it is detected by the intensity distribution image of near-infrared fluorescence, but the cancer lesion distribution image Discloses a data collection method for collecting data of a region that is not detected as secondary lesion region data of cancer.

International Publication No. 2009/139466

  In such an imaging device that captures fluorescence from a fluorescent substance that has entered the body, a single camera captures visible light and near infrared light simultaneously, and the captured image recorded by the video recorder is played back as a video. Yes. In order to facilitate observation of the blood vessel / lymph vessel running after ICG administration in a bright external illumination environment, the near infrared fluorescence detection region of the image is colored. Conventionally, since the fluorescence detection area in the image is colored with a single color, the surgeon finds discontinuous parts such as blood vessels expressed in the same color from the image, and the blood vessel running is divided. Or it was judged that there was stenosis of lymphatic vessels.

  It may take time for the surgeon to find discontinuous portions such as blood vessels that are colored the same in the image. In particular, when performing angiography by irradiating an organ with infrared rays during surgical operation, it takes a long time to determine the division of blood vessel travel from the viewpoint of burden on the patient, and the operation time is prolonged. It is not preferable.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an imaging apparatus capable of assisting the surgeon in determining blood vessel travel and lymphatic vessel stenosis.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, an excitation light source that irradiates excitation light to a fluorescent material that has entered the body of a subject, and fluorescence that is excited by the excitation light and generated from the fluorescent material is detected and photographed. A photographing unit; an image processing unit that displays a fluorescent image acquired by photographing the fluorescence by the photographing unit on a display unit; and an image storage unit that stores the fluorescent image. A determination unit that identifies a continuous region in which fluorescence is detected in a fluorescence image; and a coloring unit that performs coloring by designating a different color for each of the continuous regions determined by the determination unit. The fluorescent image colored in a color designated for each continuous region is displayed on the display unit.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an excitation light source that irradiates excitation light to a fluorescent material that has entered the body of a subject, a visible light source that irradiates white light toward the subject, and the excitation light. An imaging unit that detects and captures the fluorescence generated from the fluorescent material and the reflected light of the white light, and the imaging unit captures the fluorescence image acquired by imaging the fluorescence and the reflected light. An image processing unit including a synthesis unit that creates a synthesized image obtained by synthesizing the visible light image acquired by the image processing unit, and an image storage unit that stores the fluorescence image, the visible light image, and the synthesized image. The image processing unit includes: a determination unit that identifies a continuous region in which fluorescence in the fluorescent image is detected; a coloring unit that performs coloring by designating a different color for each of the continuous regions determined by the determination unit; In the colored part The visible light image colored in a color designated for each region corresponding to the continuous region, or the composite colored in a color designated for each region corresponding to the continuous region in the coloring unit An image is displayed on a display unit.

  According to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the determination unit that identifies the continuous region in which fluorescence is detected in the fluorescence image, and the coloring is performed by designating a different color for each continuous region determined by the determination unit. Since the image processing unit having the coloring unit to be performed is provided, it is possible to display on the display unit an image colored differently for each divided blood vessel or each divided lymph vessel. As a result, it is possible to support the surgeon's judgment regarding the division of blood vessel travel and the stenosis of lymphatic vessels.

1 is a schematic diagram of an imaging apparatus according to the present invention. 2 is a schematic diagram of an illumination / photographing unit 12. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the main control systems of the imaging device which concerns on this invention. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a display mode of each image on the display unit 14. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an image displayed on the display unit 14. FIG.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an imaging apparatus according to the present invention.

  The imaging apparatus includes an input unit 11 such as a touch panel, a main body 10 including a control unit 30 and a storage unit 40 described later, an illumination / photographing unit 12 supported movably by an arm 13, and a liquid crystal display panel. And the like, and a treatment table 16 on which a patient 17 is placed. Note that the illumination / imaging unit 12 is not limited to the one supported by the arm 13, and may be one carried by the operator or fixed to an existing facility.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the illumination / photographing unit 12.

  The illumination / photographing unit 12 includes a camera 21 capable of detecting near-infrared light and visible light, an infrared light source 22 disposed on the outer peripheral portion of the camera 21, and an outer peripheral portion of the infrared light source 22. The visible light source 23 is provided. The infrared light source 22 is an excitation light source that excites a fluorescent material that has entered the body of the patient 17. The visible light source 23 irradiates the patient 17 with white light.

  In this embodiment, the illumination / photographing unit 12 in which the infrared light source 22 and the visible light source 23 are integrated with the camera 21 is used. However, the infrared light source 22, the visible light source 23, and the camera 21 are respectively You may arrange | position separately. In addition, when displaying only a fluorescence image on the display part 14, the visible light source 23 does not need to be provided.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a main control system of the imaging apparatus according to the present invention.

  This imaging apparatus is composed of a CPU that performs logical operations, a ROM that stores operation programs necessary for controlling the apparatus, a RAM that temporarily stores data during control, and the like, and a control unit that controls the entire apparatus 30. The control unit 30 is connected to the input unit 11 and the display unit 14 described above.

  The control unit 30 is connected to an illumination / photographing unit 12 including a camera 21, an infrared light source 22, and a visible light source 23. The camera 21 includes a near-infrared fluorescent sensor 25 that is an image sensor that detects near-infrared fluorescence, and a visible light sensor 26 that is an image sensor that detects reflected light (visible light) of white light. Fluorescence and visible light incident on the camera 21 are separated by a spectroscopic mechanism in the camera 21 and detected by each image sensor. Then, the fluorescence image and the visible light image obtained by being detected by each image sensor are sent to the control unit 30. Since the camera 21 includes the near-infrared fluorescence sensor 25 and the visible light sensor 26, this imaging apparatus can acquire a fluorescence image and a visible light image in the same field of view synchronously.

  The control unit 30 includes an image processing unit 31. The image processing unit 31 includes a combining unit 32 that combines the fluorescent image acquired by the illumination / imaging unit 12 and the visible light image, a determination unit 33 that determines whether or not the blood vessel travel is divided, and a determination unit for the blood vessel. For each blood vessel region determined to be divided in 33, a coloring section 34 for coloring different colors is provided.

  Furthermore, the control unit 30 is also connected to a storage unit 40 that stores an image taken by the camera 21. The storage unit 40 combines the fluorescent image and the visible light image in the fluorescent image storage unit 42 that stores the fluorescent image, the visible light image storage unit 43 that stores the visible light image, and the combining unit 32 in the image processing unit 31. The image storage unit 41 includes a combined image compression / save unit 44 that compresses and stores the combined image.

  The operation when performing a surgical operation using the imaging apparatus according to the present invention will be described below. An example in which intraoperative fluorescent angiography is performed on the patient 17 will be described.

  In the case of performing fluorescent angiography using the imaging apparatus according to the present invention at the time of surgical operation, indocyanine green is injected into the patient 17 who is supine on the treatment table 16 by injection. Thereafter, the infrared light source 22 emits infrared light and the visible light source 23 emits white light toward the subject including the affected part. In addition, as infrared rays, near infrared light of 750 to 850 nm that acts as excitation light for indocyanine green to emit fluorescence is employed. Thereby, indocyanine green generates fluorescence in the near infrared region having a peak at 845 nm.

  Then, the vicinity of the affected part of the patient 17 is photographed by the camera 21. The camera 21 can detect infrared light and visible light. The fluorescence image and the visible light image captured by the camera 21 are sent to the image processing unit 31 shown in FIG. In the image processing unit 31, the fluorescent image and the visible image are converted into image data that can be displayed on the display unit 14. That is, the fluorescent image is converted into 8-bit image data, and the visible light image is converted into 24-bit image data composed of three colors of RGB. The fluorescence image data is stored in the fluorescence image storage unit 42 in the image storage unit 41. The visible light image data is stored in the visible light image storage unit 43 in the image storage unit 41.

  The determination unit 33 determines whether or not the blood vessel travel is divided by analyzing the 8-bit image data of the fluorescent image in units of pixels. Whether or not the blood vessel travel is divided is determined by, for example, whether or not pixel values in a predetermined range in the image data of the fluorescence image are continuous. Then, the determination unit 33 extracts a continuous region of pixel values in a predetermined range as one blood vessel region. Thereafter, the coloring unit 34 refers to the color table stored in the storage unit 40 for each blood vessel region extracted by the determination unit 33 and designates the color in units of regions.

  The combining unit 32 in the image processing unit 31 uses the fluorescent image data and the visible light image data to create a combined image obtained by fusing the fluorescent image and the visible light image. The composite image is stored in the composite image compression storage unit 44 in the image storage unit 41 of the storage unit 40 as a moving image playback image. Then, the image processing unit 31 displays the infrared image, the visible light image, and the composite image simultaneously or selectively on the display unit 14.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a display mode of each image on the display unit 14.

  When simultaneously displaying a fluorescent image, a visible light image, and a composite image on the display unit 14, a display area for each image is provided on the screen of the display unit 14, as shown in FIG. The image processing unit 31 takes in a fluorescent image and a visible light image captured by the camera 21, fuses them together in the combining unit 32, and displays a combined image near the affected part of the patient 17 on the display unit 14 as a moving image. Further, the image processing unit 31 reads the fluorescent image stored in the fluorescent image storage unit 42 and the visible light image stored in the visible light image storage unit 43, and displays them as still images in the respective display areas provided in the display unit 14. To display.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an image displayed on the display unit 14.

  In the image displayed on the display unit 14 shown in FIG. 5, blood vessels 101 and 102 in which fluorescence generated from indocyanine green is colored with a predetermined color are displayed. FIG. 5A shows a state where the blood vessels 101 and 102 are colored with a conventional single color, and FIG. 5B shows a state where the blood vessels 101 and 102 are colored with different colors. . In FIG. 5, the difference in coloring color applied to the blood vessels 101 and 102 is indicated by different hatching.

  When the blood vessels 101 and 102 are colored differently, the blood vessels 101 and 102 are more clearly divided by the surgeon who sees the display unit 14 than when the blood vessels 101 and 102 are expressed by a single color. The surgeon can recognize the blood vessel running, blood flow evaluation, and the like more quickly. As a result, it is possible to shorten the confirmation work such as blood vessel running by the display unit 14 during the operation, and it is possible to shorten the operation time.

  In addition, the image in which the blood vessels 101 and 102 are differently colored may be any of a fluorescent image, a visible light image, and a composite image. For example, when the illumination / photographing unit 12 does not have the visible light source 23 and the visible light sensor 26, only the image obtained by coloring the fluorescent image or two images obtained by coloring the fluorescent image and the fluorescent image are displayed. What is necessary is just to display on the part 14. That is, the blood vessels individually divided according to the type of image that can be acquired by the control unit 30 according to the configuration of the illumination / imaging unit 12 and the type of image selected to be displayed on the display unit 14 in the image processing unit 31. The image in which a different color is colored is changed as appropriate.

  In addition, although the example which displays the division | segmentation of blood-vessel running was demonstrated in FIG. 5, the operation regarding the stenosis of the intraoperative lymphatic vessel is displayed by displaying on the display part 14 the image which gave different coloring for every continuous area | region of a lymphatic vessel. It is also possible to support the judgment of the person.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where indocyanine green is used for angiography of the patient 17 has been described. However, 5-ALA or the like metabolized to protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) which is a fluorescent substance in cancer cells The present invention can also be applied when other fluorescent labeling agents are used.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Main body 11 Input part 12 Illumination / imaging | photography part 13 Arm 14 Display part 16 Treatment table 17 Patient 21 Camera 22 Infrared light source 23 Visible light source 25 Near-infrared fluorescence sensor 26 Visible light sensor 30 Control part 31 Image processing part 32 Synthesis | combination part 33 Determination unit 34 Coloring unit 40 Storage unit 41 Image storage unit 42 Fluorescent image storage unit 43 Visible light image storage unit 44 Composite image compression storage unit

Claims (2)

An excitation light source that irradiates excitation light to a fluorescent substance that has entered the body of the subject;
An imaging unit that detects and captures fluorescence generated from the fluorescent material excited by the excitation light;
An image processing unit for displaying a fluorescence image acquired by the imaging unit imaging fluorescence on a display unit;
An image storage unit for storing the fluorescent image;
With
The image processing unit
A determination unit for identifying a continuous region in which fluorescence is detected in the fluorescence image;
A coloring unit that performs coloring by designating a different color for each of the continuous regions determined in the determination unit;
An imaging apparatus, wherein the fluorescent image in which the color designated for each of the continuous regions is colored in the coloring unit is displayed on the display unit. An excitation light source that irradiates excitation light to a fluorescent substance that has entered the body of the subject;
A visible light source that emits white light toward the subject;
An imaging unit that detects and captures fluorescence generated from the fluorescent material excited by the excitation light and reflected light of the white light;
An image processing unit having a combining unit that creates a combined image obtained by combining the fluorescent image acquired by capturing the fluorescence with the visible light image acquired by capturing the reflected light;
An image storage unit for storing the fluorescent image, the visible light image, and the composite image;
With
The image processing unit
A determination unit for identifying a continuous region in which fluorescence is detected in the fluorescence image;
A coloring unit that performs coloring by designating a different color for each of the continuous regions determined in the determination unit;
The visible light image in which the color designated for each region corresponding to the continuous region is colored in the coloring portion, or the color designated for each region corresponding to the continuous region is colored in the coloring portion. An imaging apparatus, wherein the composite image is displayed on a display unit.

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