BODY-INSERTABLE DEVICE AND LIQUID MEDICINE INJECTION METHOD

• US 20080294143A1
• Filed: 06/13/2008
• Published: 11/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Original Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Inventors: Kawano, Hironao, Takizawa, Hironobu, Tanaka, Shinsuke
• Granted Patent: US 8,282,600 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 604/506
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/041 Capsule endoscopes for imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 1/273 for the upper alimentary canal, e.g. oesophagoscopes, gastroscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4839 combined with drug delivery
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 31/002 Devices for releasing a drug at a continuous and controlled rate for a prolonged period of time artificial gland structures or devices A61F2/022; intra-uterine contraceptive devices A61F6/14; tampons for introducing into the vagina A61F13/20, A61L15/00; suppositories or bougies for intra-vaginal or intra-uterine application A61K9/02; physical forms of medicinal preparations for sustained or differential drug release A61K9/20, A61K9/50

Abstract

A body-insertable device is introduced into a desired part in a body for injecting a liquid medicine stored in a casing into the desired part. The body-insertable device includes a projecting portion which projects an injection needle injecting the liquid medicine toward the desired part; a detecting unit which detects a position relation between a biological tissue surface in the desired part and the injection needle; and a control unit. The control unit controls an amount of projection of the injection needle according to the position relation detected by the detecting unit, and controls a puncture depth of the injection needle from the biological tissue surface.

Claims

1. A body-insertable device, introduced into a desired part in a body for injecting a liquid medicine stored in a casing into the desired part, the body-insertable device comprising:

a projecting portion which projects an injection needle injecting the liquid medicine toward the desired part, the injection needle having a plurality of angle detection markers each having a predetermined width in a longitudinal direction of the injection needle;

an imaging unit which images an image including the injection needle projected from the casing;

an angle detecting unit which detects the angle detection markers from the image, and calculates a puncture angle of the injection needle based on a result of the detection; and

a control unit which controls a puncture depth of the injection needle from a biological tissue surface in the desired part based on the calculated puncture angle of the injection needle.

2. The body-insertable device according to claim 1, wherein

the angle detection markers are color markers each indicating a distance from a tip of the injection needle, and

the angle detecting unit detects, from the image, the color marker near a puncturing portion of the injection needle which punctures the desired part from the plurality of color markers and calculates the puncture angle of the injection needle based on a figure of the color marker near the puncturing portion.

3. The body-insertable device according to claim 1, further comprising a circular ring marker which is slidably provided at a tip of the injection needle and changes its angle with respect to the injection needle corresponding to the biological tissue surface in the desired part punctured by the injection needle, wherein

the imaging unit fixes a first angle formed between a light receiving surface thereof and the injection needle and images the image including the injection needle projected from the casing and the ring marker, and

the angle detecting unit calculates a second angle formed between a plane formed between the ring markers and the light receiving surface according to a shape of the ring markers detected according to the image, and calculates the puncture angle of the injection needle based on the first angle and the second angle.

4. A body-insertable device, introduced into a desired part in a body for injecting a liquid medicine stored in a casing into the desired part, the body-insertable device comprising:

a projecting portion which projects an injection needle injecting the liquid medicine toward the desired part;

a discharging unit which discharges, from a tip of the injection needle, the liquid medicine colored in a color different from a biological tissue surface in the desired part;

an imaging unit which images an image including the liquid medicine discharged onto the biological tissue surface via the injection needle; and

a control unit performs an image processing for detecting spread of the liquid medicine on the biological tissue surface based on the image and controls a puncture depth of the injection needle from the biological tissue surface, according to a result of the image processing.

5. A body-insertable device, introduced into a desired part in a body for injecting a liquid medicine stored in a casing into the desired part, the body-insertable device comprising:

a projecting portion which projects an injection needle injecting the liquid medicine toward the desired part;

a detecting unit which detects a position relation between a biological tissue surface in the desired part and the injection needle; and

a control unit which controls an amount of projection of the injection needle according to the position relation detected by the detecting unit and controls a puncture depth of the injection needle from the biological tissue surface,

wherein the detecting unit includes

a base frame which is connected in parallel with the injection needle reciprocated by driving of the projecting portion;

a driving unit which rotatably drives the base frame about a rotating shaft formed at one end of the base frame; and

a pressing unit which is rotatably provided at the other end of the base frame, rotatably drives the base frame, and presses the biological tissue surface,

wherein the pressing unit of the base frame presses the biological tissue surface and initially arranges the injection needle in a predetermined position of the biological tissue surface, and

the control unit controls the puncture depth of the injection needle according to the position relation between the initially arranged injection needle and the biological tissue surface.

6. The body-insertable device according to claim 5, wherein

the detecting unit further includes an angle detecting unit which detects the puncture angle of the injection needle based on the rotation angle of the rotating shaft, and

the control unit controls the puncture depth of the injection needle according to the puncture angle detected by the angle detecting unit.

7. A liquid medicine injection method comprising:

introducing a body-insertable device having a liquid medicine and an injection needle injecting the liquid medicine in a casing into a desired part in a body;

projecting the injection needle from the body-insertable device to the desired part;

detecting an angle formed between a biological tissue surface in the desired part and the injection needle; and

controlling a puncture depth of the injection needle from the biological tissue surface according to the detected angle.

8. The liquid medicine injection method according to claim 7, wherein the detecting includes detecting the angle by imaging an image showing a position relation between the biological tissue surface and the injection needle.

9. The liquid medicine injection method according to claim 8, wherein the controlling includes performing a predetermined image processing on the image showing the position relation and controlling a puncture depth of the injection needle based on the result of the image processing.