MEASURING DEVICE, MEASURING SYSTEM, MEASURING METHOD, CONTROL PROGRAM, AND RECORDING MEDIUM

• US 20130168573A1
• Filed: 09/07/2011
• Published: 07/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sharp Life Science Corporation
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Yamanaka, Mikihiro, Hijikuro, Megumi, Hara, Keita
• Granted Patent: US 9,404,868 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 250/459.1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0062 Arrangements for scanning
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0064 Body surface scanning
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0071 by measuring fluorescence emission
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14546 for measuring analytes not otherwise provided for, e.g. ions, cytochromes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/489 Blood vessels
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2021/6417 Spectrofluorimetric devices
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/6456 Spatial resolved fluorescence measurements; Imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/6486 Measuring fluorescence of biological material, e.g. DNA, RNA, cells G01N21/6428 takes precedence

Abstract

A measuring device (9) of the present invention includes a detector control module (31) for obtaining, from a scanning mechanism including an excitation light source (4) for emitting excitation light and a detector (8) for receiving fluorescence generated from the measurement target upon irradiation with the excitation light, measurement data of the fluorescence, a position information obtaining module (32) for obtaining, from a driving mechanism for controlling relative positions of the scanning mechanism and the measurement target, information of a position where the measurement target is irradiated with the excitation light when the measurement data is obtained, and a fluorescence characteristic management module (33) for preparing fluorescence characteristic data including the measurement data and the position information.

Claims

1-18. -18. (canceled)

19. A measuring device comprising:

measurement data obtaining means for obtaining, from a scanning mechanism including an excitation light irradiation unit for irradiating a measurement target with excitation light and a light receiving unit for receiving fluorescence generated from the measurement target upon irradiation with the excitation light, measurement data representing optical characteristics of the fluorescence;

position information obtaining means for obtaining, from a driving mechanism for controlling relative positions of the scanning mechanism and the measurement target, position information indicating an irradiation position where the measurement target is irradiated with the excitation light when the measurement data is obtained; and

fluorescence characteristic management means for preparing fluorescence characteristic data including the measurement data obtained by the measurement data obtaining means and the position information obtained by the position information obtaining means.

20. The measuring device according to claim 19, wherein the fluorescence characteristic management means prepares, each time the relative positions are changed, the fluorescence characteristic data per the position information corresponding to the relevant relative positions.

21. The measuring device according to claim 19, further comprising:

fluorescence characteristic analysis means for preparing map information by plotting the measurement data on a map based on the position information included in the fluorescence characteristic data; and

image preparation means for preparing a visualization image to display the map information on a display unit.

22. The measuring device according to claim 19, wherein the position information included in the fluorescence characteristic data is one-dimensional information for specifying a Y-coordinate of the irradiation position in the measurement target.

23. The measuring device according to claim 19, wherein the position information included in the fluorescence characteristic data is two-dimensional information for specifying X- and Y-coordinates of the irradiation position in the measurement target.

24. The measuring device according to claim 19, wherein the excitation light irradiation unit includes plural types of light sources having different excitation wavelengths,

the measurement data obtaining means obtains measurement data that differs per the excitation wavelength, and

the fluorescence characteristic management means prepares the fluorescence characteristic data per the position information and per the excitation wavelength.

25. The measuring device according to claim 24, further comprising:

fluorescence characteristic analysis means for preparing map information per the excitation wavelength by plotting the measurement data on a map based on the position information included in the fluorescence characteristic data; and

image preparation means for preparing a visualization image to display the map information on a display unit,

wherein the fluorescence characteristic analysis means compares, per the position information, the measurement data linked in correspondence relation with a first excitation wavelength and the measurement data linked in correspondence relation with a second excitation wavelength for each fluorescence characteristic data, and assigns the plotted measurement data with information indicating that a comparison result of both the measurement data satisfies a predetermined condition, and

the image preparation means prepares the visualization image in a way of highlighting the measurement data assigned with the aforesaid information.

26. The measuring device according to claim 25, wherein the first excitation wavelength and the second excitation wavelength have respective wavelength ranges adapted for measuring Advanced Glycation Endproducts.

27. The measuring device according to claim 26, wherein the first excitation wavelength is 365 nm and the second excitation wavelength is 405 nm.

28. The measuring device according to claim 19 wherein the fluorescence characteristic management means extracts, as a feature variable, fluorescence intensity at a particular fluorescence wavelength from the measurement data, and

prepares the fluorescence characteristic data including the position information and the feature variable.

29. The measuring device according to claim 28, further comprising:

fluorescence characteristic analysis means for preparing map information per the fluorescence wavelength by plotting the feature variable on a map based on the position information included in the fluorescence characteristic data; and

image preparation means for preparing a visualization image to display the map information on a display unit,

wherein the image preparation means prepares the visualization image by superimposing the map information based on a first feature variable representing fluorescence intensity at a first fluorescence wavelength and the map information based on a second feature variable representing fluorescence intensity at a second fluorescence wavelength.

30. The measuring device according to claim 29, wherein an excitation wavelength of the excitation light irradiation unit, the first fluorescence wavelength, and the second fluorescence wavelength have respective wavelength ranges adapted for measuring Advanced Glycation Endproducts existing in blood vessels and specifying positions thereof.

31. The measuring device according to claim 30, wherein the excitation wavelength is 365 nm, the first fluorescence wavelength is 420 nm, and the second fluorescence wavelength is 460 nm.

32. The measuring device according to claim 19, wherein the fluorescence generated from blood vessel tissues in the measurement target, which is excited by the excitation light irradiation unit, is fluorescence attributable to Advanced Glycation Endproducts (AGEs), and the Advanced Glycation Endproducts are accumulated by a physiological reaction in the living body.

33. A measuring system comprising:

a scanning mechanism including an excitation light irradiation unit for irradiating a measurement target with excitation light, and a light receiving unit for receiving fluorescence generated from the measurement target upon irradiation with the excitation light;

a driving mechanism for controlling relative positions of the scanning mechanism and the measurement target; and

a measuring device according to claim 19, the measuring device communicating with the scanning mechanism and the driving mechanism.

35. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium recording a control program for causing a computer to function as the individual means of the measuring device according to claim 19.

34. A measuring method comprising:

a measurement data obtaining step of obtaining, from a scanning mechanism including an excitation light irradiation unit for irradiating a measurement target with excitation light and a light receiving unit for receiving fluorescence generated from the measurement target upon irradiation with the excitation light, measurement data representing optical characteristics of the fluorescence;

a position information obtaining step of obtaining, from a driving mechanism for controlling relative positions of the scanning mechanism and the measurement target, position information indicating an irradiation position where the measurement target is irradiated with the excitation light when the measurement data is obtained; and

a fluorescence characteristic management step of preparing fluorescence characteristic data including the measurement data obtained in the measurement data obtaining step and the position information obtained in the position information obtaining step.