The present invention relates to a fluid injection apparatus (chemical liquid injector) for injecting a contrast medium, physiological saline or the like into a patient. The present invention relates in particular to a fluid injection apparatus in which an injection condition can be set easily in consideration of a weight of a patient, an injection time, and a dose per weight, and the set contents can be reviewed easily.
Currently employed medical imaging diagnostic apparatuses include CT (Computed Tomography) scanners, MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) apparatuses, PET (Positron Emission Tomography) apparatuses and the like. In using the abovementioned imaging apparatuses, a contrast medium or physiological saline (hereinafter also referred to simply as a “fluid”) is often injected into the patient's body. Various fluid injection apparatus, which automatically perform such injection, have conventionally been proposed.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-248734 has disclosed an apparatus in which injection condition can be set in consideration of a body-section of a patient (for example, a head part and a chest part) and an imaging-region (for example, organs such as a heart and a liver) as well as the patient's weight.
According to the apparatus described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-248734, an optimal injection condition can be set up for each patient, thus waste of contrast medium can be reduced. Therefore it is significantly useful to set up an injection condition in consideration of a patient's body-section, an imaging region, a patient's weight and the like, furthermore, it would be desirable to facilitate an input for the setting.
The present invention has been made in view of the abovementioned problem, and it is an object thereof to provide a fluid injection apparatus in which injection condition can be set simply and the set contents can be reviewed easily.
To achieve the abovementioned problem, the present invention provides a fluid injection apparatus as described below:
1. An injection apparatus comprising an injector head configured to read data of an identification tag on a syringe and a console having a touch screen display, the apparatus injecting a contrast medium in the syringe into a patient, performing the following procedures:
(a) displaying icons of a plurality of imaging-regions on the display;
(b) when one icon of the imaging-region is selected, reading an injection time associated with the imaging-region;
(c) determining a contrast medium volume to be injected into a patient;
(d) determining an injection rate of the contrast medium based on the determined contrast medium volume and the injection time;
(e) displaying a thumbnail image on the display, the thumbnail image including a graph of an injection condition showing a relationship between the injection time and the injection rate; and
(f) when a certain icon on the display and/or a certain hard button on the injector head is pressed, starting a mode for an injection in accordance with the injection condition.
The term “determine” refers to not only determining completely for example fluid amount or injection rate, but to temporarily determining where a value may be revised after the “determination.”
2. The injection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the graph of the thumbnail image has a horizontal axis representing an elapsed time and a vertical axis representing the injection rate. The graph includes a condition image, which is displayed at a vertical position corresponding to the injection rate and has a horizontal width corresponding to the injection time.
3. The injection apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein in the procedure (a), a human body image is displayed on the display prior to displaying the icons of the imaging-regions, and
the icons of the imaging-regions will be displayed in response to selection of one of body-sections of said human body image.
4. The injection apparatus according to claims 1 to 3, wherein the injector further performs the following procedures:
(g) reading data of the identification tag on the syringe, the data relating to at least an iodine concentration in the contrast medium is read in the processing.
5. The injection apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the injector further performs the following procedures:
(h) receiving an input relating to patient's weight,
in the procedure (c), the volume of the contrast medium is calculated on the basis of:
the data of the input patient's weight;
the data of the iodine concentration; and
data of an iodine amount required per unit weight in association with the selected imaging-region.
6. The injection apparatus according to claim 5, wherein in the processing of (h), several icons for selecting classifications of patient's weight are displayed on the display, and a classification is determined by selecting one of the icons.
7. The injection apparatus according to claims 1 to 5, wherein a pressure graph of the contrast medium during injection is displayed on the display in real time, the graph including a horizontal axis representing an elapsed time and a vertical axis representing the injection pressure, and
a region in the graph above a predetermined limit pressure value is displayed in a predetermined color or pattern, so as to allow ease in finding whether the injection pressure exceeds the limit value.
8. The injection apparatus according to claims 1 to 7, wherein the injector head is of a dual type and performs injection of the contrast medium and injection of saline.
The term “body-section” indicates which section of a patient's body is to be imaged, and includes sections such as “head part”, “chest part”, “abdomen part”, and “leg part” for example.
The term “imaging-region” refers to a region to be imaged (that is, a region to be enhanced), and includes organs such as “heart”, “liver”, “kidney”, “blood vessel”, and “tumor part” for example.
The term “selecting-region (selecting-region method)” refers to a method of setting injection condition associated with the selected item by selecting a body-section and/or an imaging-region.
The “fluid” refers to the contrast medium, physiological saline, or a mixture thereof.
A “user” refers to a person who uses a contrast medium injection apparatus, such as a doctor or other operator.
According to the present invention, it is possible to provide the injector in which the injection conditions can be set simply and the set contents can be reviewed easily.
a-9c are diagrams showing images displayed on the display (fluid injection).
An embodiment of the present invention will hereinafter be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following, the embodiment of the present invention will be described in several separate sections.
[Section A: Injector in which Injection Condition can be Set Simply and the Set Contents can be Reviewed Easily]
A fluid injection apparatus shown in
The type of the injector head is not particularly limited. The injector head may be of either a single type on which only one syringe can be mounted or a dual type on which two syringes can be mounted. The injector head 110 shown in
In the following description, the syringes 200A and 200B may be referred to simply as “syringe 200” without making a distinction between them. The syringe 200 has a tubular cylinder member 210 and a piston member 220 slidably inserted thereinto.
As shown in
The injector head 110 has piston driving mechanisms 113 each of which pushes the piston member 220 of the syringe 200. The Piston driving mechanisms 113 are independently operable. Although not shown in detail, the piston driving mechanism 113 has a driving arm (syringe presser) that moves forward or rearward and a driving motor that serves as a driving source thereof. The piston driving mechanism 113 may contain a load cell (not shown) therein for detecting a force applied to push piston member 220. Result of detection of the load cell can be used for example so as to estimate the pressure of fluid during injection. Such a calculation of the estimated value may be performed in consideration of a size of a needle, a concentration of the fluid, an injection condition and the like.
Two syringe holding portions 114 in concave shape for holding syringes 200 are provided in an upper forward surface of the injector head 110. Each syringe holding portion 114 may contain a reader/writer, not shown (see reference numeral 145 in
The syringe 200 may be, but not limited to, mounted on injector head 110 via an adapter 230 interposed between them as shown in
Some buttons 115a to 115c are provided on an upper surface of the injector head 110. By way of example, the button 115a is a “check button” for enabling the fluid injection, the button 115b is a “start button” for starting fluid injection, and the button 115c is a “stop button” for stopping injection.
Another stop button 115c′ may be provided on a side surface of the injector head 110. Even if the injector head 110 is used at relatively high position, it will be easier to press button 115c′ on the side surface of the head than button 115c on the upper surface. Such a configuration is advantageous with favorable operability. Light-emitting portions for emitting colored light may be provided at a rear end of a housing of the injector head 110. Specifically, light-emitting portions may be provided on the right side and the left side of the head respectively in association with each syringe. In this case, the pattern of light emission may be varied so as to indicate states of each syringe. The light-emitting portion for the contrast medium and the light-emitting portion for the saline may preferably emit light in different colors.
As shown in a block diagram of
As shown in
As shown in
The storage part 154 is configured to hold data of images to be displayed on display 151 stored therein, for example. The storage part 154 also holds algorithms including calculation expressions for setting injection conditions and data of an injection protocol stored therein. “Injection protocol” means which fluid should be injected in what amount at what flowrate. The injection rate may be constant or change over time. When contrast medium and saline are injected as in the present embodiment, an injection protocol also may include information relating to the sequence in which these fluids should be injected.
Data relating to injection protocols could be stored previously in storage part 154, or could be input from an external device connected through interface terminal 158, or could be input through an external storage medium inserted into a slot (not shown) of the console 150. Other configuration could be employed in which information about injection protocol is configured to be input from an external apparatus or system.
The Imaging apparatus 300 may be a CT scanner, an MRI apparatus, or an angiography apparatus, for example. The apparatus has an imaging part 303b which shoots diagnostic images of a patient, a bed 304 on which the patient lies, and a control part 303a which controls the operation of them, as shown in
The operation of the injection apparatus according to the present embodiment will hereinafter be described with illustration of specific images displayed on display 151.
The injection apparatus according to the present embodiment is configured to display images such as for a normal fluid injection (see, for example
It should be noted that the following procedure is only illustrative and does not limit the present invention in any way.
First, a user mounts syringes 200A and 200B on the injector head 110. The syringes 200A and 200B contain the contrast medium and the saline solution filled therein, respectively. When the syringe 200 is mounted, the data of the IC tag 225 will be read by the reader/writer 145 (
For example, the volume of the contrast medium is 100 ml, 150 ml, or 200 ml. The iodine concentration is, for example, 240 mgI/ml, 300 mgI/ml, 320 mgI/ml, 350 mgI/ml, or 370 mgI/ml. The pressure rating of the syringe is for example 15 kgf/cm2.
The term “pressure rating of the syringe” refers to a value of injection pressure above which the syringe would be damaged. In the apparatus of the present embodiment, the value may be automatically read from the IC tag on the syringe and set as a limit value for the piston driving mechanism, or, value input by the user may be set as a limit value. For example, if the value read from the IC tag on the syringe is 15 kg/cm2 whereas the value input by the user is 20 kg/cm2, the smaller value 15 kg/cm2 would be automatically selected.
The information read by the reader/writer 145 is sent to the console 150 and then, as required, may be displayed on the display 151 of console 150.
When the user touches one of the icons (for example, abdomen part 161c) of human body image 161, icons 164a to 164d representing imaging-regions will be displayed in association with the abdomen part (in this case, “tumor part,” “liver,” “kidney,” and “blood vessel”).
On the screen shown in
In the state shown in
Next, an imaging-region is selected (step S2). By way of example, the user touches the icon 164b of the liver on the screen shown in
Once an imaging-region is selected in this manner, a fluid injection time associated with imaging-region will be read from storage part 154 and be displayed on the display 151. In this example, the injection time associated with the liver is 30 seconds, and an icon 171 showing “0:30 sec” is displayed in a lower portion of the screen.
On the screen in
The number of classifications of the weights may be changed. The weight value in each classification may also be freely changed. Although a unit of weight “Kg” is displayed in the icons in
On the screen in
Next, the user touches one of three icons 169a to 169c on the screen in
Although not shown in
On the screen in
On the screen in
When the volume of fluid remaining in the syringe (for example, 70 ml) is smaller than the set volume of injection (for example, 76 ml), the user presses icon 173d to set the volume of the remaining fluid as the injection volume.
It should be noted that, while the specific values of fluid volume, injection rate, concentration and the like have been depicted on the screens in
Next, a procedure of determining the injection volume of the contrast medium is described. In the present embodiment, the injection volume is calculated on the basis of (i) a patient's weight, (ii) an iodine concentration in the contrast medium, and (iii) an iodine amount required per unit weight associated with the imaging-region. In particular, a calculation may be performed assuming that the patient's weight is 55 kg which is an intermediate value between 40 kg to 70 kg. The total iodine amount to be injected to the patient is calculated on the basis of weight and required iodine amount. Then, a contrast medium volume to be injected is calculated on the basis of the total iodine amount and the iodine concentration in the contrast medium.
Although the representative value of the classification from 40 kg to 70 kg is 55 kg in the example, this value may be changed in an initial setting. In addition, the range of the weight classification (for example, the classification from 40 kg to 70 kg) itself be changed in the initial setting.
In a conventional fluid injection apparatus, the determination of the contrast medium volume made in consideration of the patient's weight typically requires user to input, for example data relating to a patient's weight and contrast medium information manually, which involves complicated operations. On the other hand, according to the present apparatus, the weight information can be input only by touching one icon 169b (by way of example) and the contrast medium information can be read from the IC tag 225, resulting in extremely simple operation.
Next, description is made of the calculation of the injection rate of the contrast medium (step S4). In the apparatus according to the present embodiment, the injection time could be determined as “0:30 sec” by merely selecting the selection of liver 164b, for example. The injection rate of contrast medium will be calculated automatically, for example by a calculation dividing the contrast medium volume calculated at the abovementioned step by the selected injection time.
Through the series of steps described above, the injection time [sec] of contrast medium, the injection volume [ml] of contrast medium, and the injection rate [ml/sec] of contrast medium are calculated, and then the injection condition of the contrast medium is determined. Since the injection condition of saline can be determined by a known method, detailed description is omitted.
As shown in
Thumbnail image 175 includes a graph in which the horizontal axis represents an elapsed time and the vertical axis represents the injection rate. Two condition images 175a and 175b may be displayed within the graph. Specifically, the condition image 175a shows the injection conditions of contrast medium, whereas the condition image 175b shows the injection conditions of saline. Each image 175a or 175b is displayed at the position of a height corresponding to the injection rate and has a horizontal width corresponding to the injection time.
A conventional apparatus typically displays information relating to the injection time, the injection rate, and the injection volume simply as numeric values at the time of setting of the injection condition. Thus, it is difficult to review the set injection conditions intuitively. According to the apparatus of the present embodiment, however, user can check the injection condition by looking at the thumbnail image 175.
It would be contemplated that a set injection condition is displayed as a larger graph 175′ as shown in
It is noted that the horizontal width and/or height of the condition image in the thumbnail image may be changed in accordance with the set conditions, or may not be changed.
Referring again to
Instead of the abovementioned method, a configuration can be employed in which the injection rate will be changed when the user moves the image 175a upward or downward. The values in the condition images 175a and 175b could be changed by inputting values though a numeric keypad. The condition image could also be changed by touching a “up” button or a “down” button.
Other information item such as the selected weight classification may be displayed in the window 178. The iodine amount per weight may be displayed, and the iodine amount per weight and time may be displayed.
After checking the injection conditions on the screen in
Once contrast medium injection is started, a pressure graph will be displayed on the display as shown in
a) is a graph at the time when a certain time has elapsed after the start of the injection, and
A region 179b that exceeds a predetermined time may be displayed in a color or a predetermined pattern in the graph shown in
The scale icon 167a and syringe icon 167b displayed on the screen in
With respect to a pressure graph in
The series of operations described above basically includes the following processing:
(a) processing of displaying the images of the plurality of imaging-regions on the display;
(b) processing of, when one of the imaging-regions is selected, reading the injection time associated with the imaging-region;
(c) processing of determining the contrast medium volume to be injected into the patient;
(d) processing of determining the injection rate of the contrast medium based on the determined contrast medium volume and the injection time;
(e) processing of displaying the graph of the injection condition showing the relationship between the injection time and the injection rate as the thumbnail image on the display; and
(f) processing of, when the predetermined icon on the display and/or the predetermined button on the injector head is pressed thereafter, starting a state in which injection can be performed in accordance with the injection condition. Each processing can be performed by each processing part of control part 153.
According to the present invention configured as described above, when the injection condition is set, the condition will be displayed as the thumbnail image 175 (see
In addition, according to the fluid injection apparatus of the present embodiment, the injection condition can be basically set up through the simple steps of; (i) mounting syringe(s) on the injector head, (ii) selecting an imaging-region, and (iii) selecting a patient's weight classification. To realize such a simple setting, the injection time of the contrast medium (for example, “0:30 sec”) will be preferably determined in association with the selected imaging-region, for example at the time of that selection. To lessen time and effort for manually inputting information concerning contrast medium, it may be preferable that data of iodine concentration in the contrast medium, contrast medium volume and the like can be read automatically from the IC tag 225 on the syringe.
User also can input data of patient's weight by inputting specific numeric value through a numeric keypad. Whereas, according to the above embodiment in which one of the icons 169a to 169c (
In the apparatus of the present embodiment, the injection time of contrast medium is determined based on the selected imaging-region (0:30 sec in the example of
The present invention is not limited to the above, and the following may be used. For example, to use syringe 200 without IC tag 225 the user may touch a product name icon 163a of on the screen (for example,
In the apparatus of the present embodiment, the predetermined injection times such as “30”, “45”, or “60” seconds, have been registered for each of the imaging-regions (for example, the tumor part, liver, kidney, and blood vessel). Such data may be stored on storage part 154 of console 150 (see
Further, a device that can measure patient's weight or a device that holds information of patient's weight could be connected to console 150. In that case, weight information may preferably be input from that device to make the automatic selection of the classification of the patient's weight (see icons 169a to 169c in
It is noted that two icons or four or more icons could be displayed for weight icons. Alternatively, instead of selection of the weight classification, one default weight (for example, 60 kg) may be automatically selected.
To start fluid injection, a configuration can be employed in which a certain button such as an icon on the screen and/or a button on the injector head will be selected in the state of
While
Next, description is made of examples of the image displayed on display 151 with reference to
[Section B: Contrast Medium Injector in which Injection Mode and the Like can be Set or Changed Simply on Console to Achieve Injection in Various Methods]
It is an object of the invention according to the present section to provide a contrast medium injection apparatus in which modes for injection and/or modes for setting injection protocol (hereinafter referred to simply as the “injection mode and the like”) can be set or changed easily on the console to conduct an injection in various methods. It is also an object to provide a contrast medium injection apparatus in which the injection mode and the like can be set up in accordance with a preference of a doctor when some doctors use the same injector.
On the home screen in
As shown in
In an intermediate level on the home screen, four icons 415 are displayed for selecting one of doctor 1 to 4 who should use this contrast medium injection apparatus. The number of icons 415 is not limited particularly, but for example, only one, two, or three icons may be displayed.
In a lower level on the home screen, some icons 416 are displayed for starting various functions of the contrast medium injection apparatus. In this example, icons such as an icon for displaying results of fluid injection, an icon for protocol setting, an icon for changing settings, and an icon editing users (such as a doctor).
The position of each icon on the home screen may preferably be changeable. In principle, it may be possible to rearrange the icons, and to change display/not-display of each icon freely. However, some icons may preferably be configured to remain displayed all the time on the screen (i.e. they can not be set to not-display). For example, the emergency mode icon 412 can be set to be displayed all the time so that fluid injection in an emergency can be conducted properly.
Next, functions of each of the icons are described. In the following, description is first made of the “emergency mode” and then of the “pediatric mode” and another mode.
The “emergency mode” refers to a mode that helps other doctor to perform contrast medium injection promptly even when a particular doctor is absent due to for example nighttime diagnosis. When the emergency mode icon 412 is selected on the home screen in
A status bar 431 is displayed in an upper portion on the screen. An ER icon 431a indicating that the emergency mode is being currently selected and several other icons are displayed in the status bar 431.
The “other icons” include, for example, a “route” icon for performing an operation for checking that an patency route to a patient is properly established before fluid injection, and an icon for performing a conventionally known “timing (bolus) test.” Further, although not shown, an identification mark for indicating a product name and/or manufacturer of fluid in the syringe could also be displayed in the status bar 431. Start button 433 is displayed on the right of status bar 431.
A large window 450 is displayed at the center of the screen. In this window, an injection condition image 451 of the emergency mode and a guidance image 453 for showing some guidance to users are displayed
The injection condition image 451 is a graph in which the vertical axis represents the injection rate of the fluid and the horizontal axis represents the injection time. A condition bar icon 455 is displayed in the graph. Since it is important to enable users to set up injection condition quickly in an emergency, the condition bar icon 455 includes an injection condition with a preset injection rate and preset injection time (for example, a rate of 1.0 ml/sec and an amount of 100 ml). The injection conditions may be changed by the user or may be made unchangeable.
The guidance image 453 may provide the user with information relating to how to input through the injector head and/or the console. In the example of
It is noted that the guidance image 453 could be displayed after pressing the “i” icon 453a. In another aspect, the guidance image 453 may automatically appear after the elapse of a predetermined time without pressing of i button 453a.
In
A display part 436 for indicating fluid volume in the syringe is displayed on the right of horizontally oriented information display bar 435. In this example, “150 ml” is displayed, indicating that the volume of contrast medium in the syringe is 150 ml.
When a user presses the start button 433 on the screen or the manipulator (not shown) of the console after reviewing the injection conditions and the like on the screen in
According to the configuration of this embodiment, when a user (1) selects the emergency mode on the home screen in
Alternatively, in performing the emergency mode, a screen as shown in
In addition to the above examples, other configurations may be employed which display screens as follow. For example, when the emergency mode is selected on the home screen in
Once the pediatric mode icon 411 is selected on the home screen (
In association with the selected body-section, a predetermined injection condition will be displayed in the thumbnail image 465. By way of example, the thumbnail image 465 shows an injection condition for injecting i) 20 ml contrast medium at 1.5 ml/sec and ii) 10 ml saline at 1.5 ml/sec. A weight icon 463a for setting weight of child and a injection time icon 463b indicating injection time are displayed at the center of the screen in
According to the configuration of the present embodiment as described above, injection condition suitable for each patient, not only for adults but also for children, can be set up. In the pediatric mode, it is noted that options for several injection conditions may also be displayed as shown in
It is noted that the human body image 461 of the child is not limited to the vertically oriented one, a horizontally oriented one could be employed. In particular, a human body image 461′ of horizontally oriented child as shown in
When the “plot injection” icon 413 or “test bolus tracking” injection icon 414 on the home screen in
The details of icons 411 to 414 displayed in
While a conventionally known method can be used for setting these injection modes/conditions, a screen as shown in
In each of the injection modes, a predetermined alarm as conventionally known may be issued to the user. For example, the alarm may be issued when the set injection rate, injection amount, or injection pressure is higher or lower than a predetermined reference value. In this case, the associated operation may be forcedly stopped in addition to the issue of the alarm.
As shown in
According to the present embodiment, each doctor is able to previously set up injection conditions in accordance with their preferences. It is possible to set in detail (i) by way of example, which imaging-region should be displayed in response to pressing of each of the body-sections in the region selection mode as shown in
According to the configuration, the doctor can use the condition setting mode to meet his preference.
Of course, other items (for example, which icon is displayed on the home screen, in what arrangement the icons are displayed, and the like) may be freely changed to meet the preference of each doctor. For example, the icons displayed in the top level on the home screen in
On the other hand, some icons may be configured such that they can not be deleted from the home screen. For example, when an emergency mode is considered as relatively important in a hospital, the icon for emergency mode is displayed without fail on the home screen as described above and only the other icons can be changed to preferable icons as described above.
The “protocol setting” icon on the home screen (
In the “protocol setting” mode, guidance may preferably be displayed to facilitate new registration or change of the injection protocol. By way of example, it is possible to use a setting screen which shows several items arranged in a line to be set as the injection protocol, and which allows the user to input a specific numeric value range and the like for each of the items to complete the registration or the change. The items may be arranged in a vertical direction or a horizontal direction.
The “environment setting” icon is provided for performing various types of setting. Examples of the setting include setting of a date and time, setting of sound volume, setting for cooperation (association) with another medical equipment, and setting of leak detection.
The “user editing” icon is provided for new setting and registration of a doctor, and for change of an already registered item.
The icon of “injection results” is provided for displaying the results of the fluid injection. For example, it is possible to display an injection graph for a single fluid injection or to display a list of data of a plurality of fluid injections performed previously (by way of example, the date and time, the injection pattern, the injection rate, the injection amount, the injection pressure, and the product name of the contrast medium).
The following various screens may be displayed on console 150 of the present embodiment.
In the contrast medium injection apparatus of the present embodiment, a region screen registered as a default may be first displayed, and then the home screen may be displayed in response to pressing of a home button (a hard key on the console), for example. Instead of the pressing of the home button, a timer may be set to automatically display the home screen at a predetermined time.
Summary of the inventions according to the present section described above is as follows.
1. A contrast medium injection apparatus including an injector head for injecting a fluid from a syringe into a patient, and a console having a touch screen display and being capable of communicating with the injector head, the contrast medium injection apparatus configured to perform the following procedures;
displaying a “home screen on” the display in which several icons are placed in matrix form, the home screen including icons for selecting an injection mode or condition setting methods; and
when one of the icons is selected, displaying a screen for an injection mode relating to the selected icon or a screen for a condition setting method relating to the selected icon.
2. The contrast medium injection apparatus according to 1, wherein the icons further include an icon for “emergency mode” in which an injection will be performed in accordance with an injection condition of a preset injection rate and a preset injection time.
3. The contrast medium injection apparatus according to 2, wherein a guidance screen(s) is displayed on the injector head and/or the console in the emergency mode, for guiding a user in manipulation to be performed.
4. The contrast medium injection apparatus according to 2 or 3, wherein options for injection condition are configured to be displayed and one of them is selected, in the emergency mode.
5. The contrast medium injection apparatus according to 1 or 2, wherein the icons further include an icon for a “pediatric mode” for setting an injection condition for a child.
6. The contrast medium injection apparatus according to any one of 1 to 5, wherein the icons further include an icon for at least one mode selected from “weight input mode”, “lean body weight mode”, “body surface area mode”, and “blood volume mode”.
7. The contrast medium injection apparatus according to any one of 1 to 6, wherein the injector is configured display a doctor-selecting icon for selecting a doctor who uses the injector on the display.
8. The contrast medium injection apparatus according to 7, wherein, when one of the doctor-selecting icons is pressed, a condition-setting mode that has been determined will start.
The injection apparatus according to the present invention may be configured to perform the following operations.
The injection apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention could automatically perform a series of operations called “self check” when the main power (main power of console 150, for example) is turned on. In the “self check,” the piston driving mechanism 130 of injector head 110, some switches or sensors or the like will operate automatically to check whether normal operation can be performed or not. By way of example, to check the piston driving mechanism 130, a motor serving as the driving source thereof will actually rotate. In this case, the motor could require a few rotations for the checking, specifically, it is conceivable that a check is performed with smaller number of rotations than that used in fluid injections, such as a main injection for visualization or a pre-injection before the main injection.
For the switch and the sensor or the like, the check is performed, for example by ensuring the conductive state of their parts or seeing whether or not its output value falls within a predetermined range. It may also be checked whether or not the connection between the devices is normal.
The results of the self check may preferably be displayed sequentially on the display as shown in
According to this configuration, since injector is used after normal operation of each function of the injector is ensured by the self check of the injector at the start-up thereof, it will be possible to prevent troubles due to a failure of the injector or an improper connection.
While the description has been made in
It has been proposed to use “test injection method” or “bolus tracking method” to determine the scan timing in the imaging apparatus. Since the details of the bolus tracking method are described, for example in WO2011/136218 filed earlier by the present applicant, detailed description thereof is omitted. The outlines are as follows. In the bolus tracking method, an imaging apparatus monitors an increase in CT value of a certain Region Of Interest while the contrast medium is injected. If the CT value reaches a predetermined value, then the image scanning will be started after a given delay time. In the injection apparatus of the present embodiment, the bolus tracking mode may be started by touching the icon 414 on the screen in
In the bolus tracking test, as described in WO2011/136218, a patient will hold his breath to stabilize the heart rate during a delay time after a first injection of contrast medium. In such a injection, for example as shown in
When an injection of the fluid is started, a current injection situation may be displayed for example as shown in
In the injection apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention, after an injection is completed, information relating to the injection results or the like may be stored in an external storage medium. The storage medium may be a memory medium inserted into a predetermined slot (not shown) of the console. The written information is not limited particularly, and any information about the injection results may be written. The data may be written in CSV format so that the injection results are easily used in other personal computers or the like. The format of the data is not limited thereto, however, various formats can be used. The writing of the injection results is not limited to the storage medium such as a memory, the injection results may be sent to a predetermined system (for example, a hospital management system) via a network and may be saved on an internal storage apparatus there.
The present invention may also have the following configuration. For example, when an injector head 110 includes a sub display (also referred to as a head display), it is conceivable that a graph relating to a pressure during injection, as shown in
The injection rate in the fluid injection for the route check could be automatically set to be the same as the injection rate in the main injection. Alternatively, the injection rate for the route check could be set independently of the injection rate in the main injection.
A head display as shown in
The head display A151 may be configured as shown in a block diagram of
While the fluid injection apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention has been described in several sections, the present invention can be realized by combining the feature(s) described in the sections as appropriate.
According to another aspect, the present invention provides an injection apparatus as described below:
An injection apparatus comprising an injector head configured to read data of an identification tag on a syringe and a console having a touch screen display, the injector injecting a contrast medium in the syringe into a patient, performing the following procedures:
(a) displaying icons of a plurality of imaging-regions on the display;
(b) when one icon of imaging-region is selected, reading an injection time associated with the imaging-region;
(c) determining an contrast medium volume to be injected into the patient;
(d) determining an injection rate of the contrast medium based on the determined contrast medium volume and the injection time;
(e) displaying a thumbnail image on the display, the thumbnail image including a graph of an injection condition showing a relationship between the injection time and the injection rate; and
(f) when a certain icon on the display and/or a certain hard button on the injector head is pressed, starting a mode being ready for the injection in accordance with the injection condition.
The injector head may have no function of reading data from the identification tag on the syringe. In this case, for example, the console may have an input receiving part (not shown), which receives input from the operator, and information corresponding to at least part of the information on the identification tag may be configured to be input through the input receiving part. User may input a predetermined parameter by selecting from options displayed in a pull-down manner on the display.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2011-020009 | Feb 2011 | JP | national |
2011-236546 | Oct 2011 | JP | national |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | PCT/JP2012/052179 | Jan 2012 | US |
Child | 13405011 | US |