Abnormal cell detecting device

• US 4,537,203 A
• Filed: 06/25/1984
• Issued: 08/27/1985
• Est. Priority Date: 10/21/1980
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Tokyo Shibaura Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
• Original Assignee: Tokyo Shibaura Denki Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: Machida, Kaoru
• Primary Examiner(s): Howell, Kyle L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hanley, John C.
• Application Number:
  US06/623,549
• Time in Patent Office: 428 Days
• Field of Search: 128/734
• US Class Current: 600/547
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/05 Detecting, measuring or recording for diagnosis by means of electric currents or magnetic fields; Measuring using microwaves or radio waves impedance plethysmography A61B5/0295; measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof A61B5/11; detecting, measuring or recording bioelectric or biomagnetic signals of the body or parts thereof A61B5/24
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0536 Impedance imaging, e.g. by tomography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4312 Breast evaluation or disorder diagnosis A61B5/0091 takes precedence

Abstract

This invention discloses an abnormal cell detecting device having at least a pair of electrodes to be attached to a portion of a body. At least one electrode of the pair of electrodes is constituted by a plurality of independent electrodes cells. One voltage at a frequency is applied between the pair of electrodes, and another voltage of a different frequency is applied between them. As a result, electrostatic capacitances corresponding to the two frequencies are measured between the electrodes as voltages by a capacitance measuring unit. The ratio of the voltages is calculated by a division unit, and the resultant ratio is digitally sent out through an A/D converter to a memory unit. Digital signals corresponding to a plurality of electrode cells are stored as image data in the memory unit. A display unit displays the position and size of abnormal cells, based on the image data of the memory unit.

Claims

1. A method for detecting an abnormal cell, comprising the steps of:

attaching at least a pair of electrodes to a portion of a body to be measured, at least one electrode of said pair being formed of a plurality of electrode cells;

supplying each of said electrode cells with first and second voltages having different frequencies between said electrodes;

independently detecting from between each electrode cell of one electrode and the other electrode of said electrode pair, first and second impedance values, said values being obtained from the body portion being measured when the first and second voltages are supplied across said electrodes;

calculating a plurality of ratios by dividing the first and second impedance values obtained from each cell;

storing in a memory, at predetermined addresses corresponding to the locations of each of said electrode cells, the ratios calculated for each of said electrode cells during said calculating step;

determining the existence of an abnormal data representing said abnormal cell based upon said calculated ratios;

selecting the address of said memory at which said abnormal data is stored, so that said abnormal data is read out in accordance with the selected address;

producing an image data corresponding to said abnormal cell based on the read-out abnormal data; and

displaying the produced image data in the form of various visual images,

said frequencies of the first and second voltages being selected so as to border the range of dispersion of frequency-specific inductive capacity of the cells of said body portion, whereby a difference between the electrostatic capacitances measured at the body portion at the two frequencies is made great.

2. A method for detecting an abnormal cell, comprising the steps of:

attaching at least a pair of electrodes to a portion of a body to be measured, at least one electrode of this pair being formed of electrode cells;

supplying each of said electrode cells with first and second voltages having different frequencies between said electrodes;

independently detecting from between each electrode cell of one electrode and the other electrode of said electrode pair, first and second impedance values obtained from the body portion being measured when the first and second voltages are supplied across said electrodes;

calculating a plurality of ratios by dividing the first and second impedance values obtained from each cell by said detecting step; and

deciding the presence or absence of abnormal cells in the body portion based on the calculated plurality of ratios,

3. said frequencies of the first and second voltages being selected so as to border the range of dispersion of frequency-specific inductive cacacity of the cells of said body portion, whereby a difference between the electrostatic capacitances measured at the body portion at the two frequencies is made great.

5. A method according to claim 3, wherein said displaying step includes the steps of converting the output data from said first to fourth memory sections to a color data and displaying said color data on a color CRT display.

7. A method according to claim 3, wherein said data processing step includes calculating an average value of a plurality of data stored in said first memory section;

temporarily storing said average value;

comparing said temporarily stored average value with the data from said first memory section; and

synthesizing said image data based upon the results of said comparing step.

4. A method for detecting abnormal cells at a body portion to be examined, comprising the steps of:

attaching first and second electrodes to a portion of a body to be examined, at least said first electrode being formed of a plurality of electrode cells;

supplying between each of said electrode cells of said first electrode and said second electrode, first and second voltage signals having different frequencies, said different frequencies being selected so as to border the range of dispersion of frequency-specific inductive cacacity of the cells of said body portion, whereby the difference between the electrostatic capacitances measured at the body portion at the two frequencies is great;

independently detecting, from between each electrode cell of one electrode and the other electrode of said electrode pair, first and second impedance values obtained from the body portion being examined when the first and second voltage signals are supplied across said electrodes;

calculating a plurality of ratios by dividing the first and second impedance values obtained from each electrode cell during said detecting step;

storing in a memory section of a memory means at a predetermined address the ratio calculated for each of said electrode during said calculating step;

processing data by selecting the address of said memory means at which an abnormal data representing an abnormal cell is stored, so that an image data corresponding to said given data is outputted; and

displaying said image data in the form of various visual images,

said data processing steps including the steps of storing in a first memory section of said memory means the results of said calculating step, computing and storing in a second memory section of said memory means a normalized value based on the contents of said first memory section, computing and storing in a third memory section of said memory means data designating the location of the maximum values of the contents of said first memory section, and computing and storing in a fourth memory section of said memory means abnormal value data designating the position of any abnormal cells in said body portion being examined based on the contents of said first memory section.

6. A method according to claim 4, wherein said displaying step further includes the step of supplying the output data from said first to fourth memory sections to a monochrome CRT display.