Optical system for measuring metabolism in a body and imaging method

• US 20050171440A1
• Filed: 01/19/2005
• Published: 08/04/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/1994
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Atsushi Maki, Fumio Kawaguchi, Hideaki Koizumi, Yoshitoshi Ito, Yuichi Yamashita
• Original Assignee: Atsushi Maki, Fumio Kawaguchi, Hideaki Koizumi, Yoshitoshi Ito, Yuichi Yamashita
• Inventors: Yamashita, Yuichi, Ito, Yoshitoshi, Maki, Atsushi, Koizumi, Hideaki, Kawaguchi, Fumio
• Granted Patent: US 8,050,744 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/476
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0219 Inertial sensors, e.g. accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt switches
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0233 Special features of optical sensors or probes classified in A61B5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/046 in a matrix array
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0042 for the brain
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0059 using light, e.g. diagnosis by transillumination, diascopy, fluorescence A61B5/0093, A61B5/1455, A61B5/02416 and A61B5/0261 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/055 involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14552 Details of sensors specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14553 specially adapted for cerebral tissue
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6814 Head
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7207 of noise induced by motion artifacts
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7228 Signal modulation applied to the input signal sent to patient or subject; demodulation to recover the physiological signal modulation H03C
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/03 Computed tomography [CT] echo-tomography A61B8/14
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/507 for determination of haemodynamic parameters, e.g. perfusion CT

Abstract

In an optical measurement system and imaging method adapted to measure in vivo information in a living body without harming the living body, light rays of a plurality of wavelengths which are modulated in intensity with a plurality of different frequencies are irradiated on a plurality of irradiation positions on the surface of a living body, and time-variable changes in living body transmitting light intensity levels corresponding to the respective wavelengths and the respective irradiation positions are measured at different positions on the surface of the living body. Light is utilized to image the results of the measurements, in which the measuring time is shortened by estimating fluctuation attributable to the living body, and the presence or absence of a change in measured signal can be decided easily by displaying an estimation signal and a measured signal at a time.

Claims

1. A living body optical measurement system comprising:

a plurality of light irradiation means for irradiating light rays having the wavelength range of from visible rays to near infrared rays on a subject;

a plurality of light receiving means for detecting light rays irradiated from said light irradiation means and transmitting through the interior of said subject;

memory means for storing, in time sequence, signals detected by said light receiving means and delivered out of the respective ones of said plurality of light receiving means;

arithmetic means for performing conversion into signals of objects to be measured at a plurality of presumptive measuring points by using the signals stored in said memory means; and

image preparation means for displaying the output of said arithmetic means as an image representative of an intensity signal on a two-dimensional display screen by calculating and determining signals at positions of the presumptive measuring points through an arithmetic operation.