Ultrasonic endoscope apparatus
First Claim
1. An ultrasonic endoscope apparatus comprising:
- an endoscope having an insertion section which is insertable into a cavity of a body under inspection;
optical image observing means for forming an optical image of the cavity and having an objective lens arranged in a distal end of said insertion section of said endoscope;
ultrasonic image observing means for forming an ultrasonic sectional image of the cavity and having at least one ultrasonic vibrating element arranged in the distal end of said insertion section of said endoscope; and
means for obtaining image data representing a section line of the ultrasonic sectional image;
display means, responsive to said optical image observing means and said means for obtaining said section line image data, for displaying an image of said section line of the ultrasonic sectional image and said optical image of the cavity in a superimposed manner.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In an ultrasonic endscope apparatus for observing an optical image of a cavity of a body under inspection by forming the optical image with the aid of an objective lens arranged in a distal end of an insertion section of an endoscope and by transmitting the optical image by means of an image guide and for observing an ultrasonic sectional image by arranging an ultrasonic vibrating element in the distal end of the insertion section, a distance between the objective lens and the cavity is measured by detecting a first echo reflected by the cavity, image data representing a locus of a section line of the ultrasonic sectional image is derived in accordance with the measured distance, the image of the section line is displayed on a display device, and the displayed image of the section line is monitored in the superimposed manner with the optical image of the cavity.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. An ultrasonic endoscope apparatus comprising:
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an endoscope having an insertion section which is insertable into a cavity of a body under inspection; optical image observing means for forming an optical image of the cavity and having an objective lens arranged in a distal end of said insertion section of said endoscope; ultrasonic image observing means for forming an ultrasonic sectional image of the cavity and having at least one ultrasonic vibrating element arranged in the distal end of said insertion section of said endoscope; and means for obtaining image data representing a section line of the ultrasonic sectional image; display means, responsive to said optical image observing means and said means for obtaining said section line image data, for displaying an image of said section line of the ultrasonic sectional image and said optical image of the cavity in a superimposed manner. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An ultrasonic endoscope apparatus comprising:
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an endoscope having an insertion section which is insertable into a cavity of a body under inspection; optical image observing means for forming an optical image of the cavity and having an objective lens arranged in a distal end of said insertion section of said endoscope; ultrasonic image observing means for forming an ultrasonic sectional image of the cavity and having at least one ultrasonic vibrating element arranged in the distal end of said insertion section of said endoscope; and section line display means for displaying an image of a section line of the ultrasonic sectional image in a superimposed manner with the optical image of the cavity, wherein said section line display means comprises distance measuring means for measuring a distance between the objective lens of the optical image observing means and a surface of the cavity under inspection, and means for displaying the image of the section line in accordance with the distance measured by said distance measuring means. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification