US-20260129277-A1 - Device And Method For Observing Blood Vessel Model

US20260129277A1US 20260129277 A1US20260129277 A1US 20260129277A1US-20260129277-A1

Abstract

Provided are an observation device and an observation method capable of simultaneously observing a fluoroscopic image of a catheter inserted into a blood vessel model and the blood vessel model itself without using an X-ray. A blood vessel model observation device that observes a shape of a blood vessel model and a catheter inserted into the blood vessel model, the blood vessel model including a substance disposed inside having near-infrared light absorption characteristics different from that of a constituent material of the blood vessel model, and the catheter including a sheath and wires inserted into the sheath, the blood vessel model observation device including: a light source that emits near-infrared light; a light amount adjustment device that adjusts a light amount of the near-infrared light; a camera; and a display that displays an image captured by the camera.

Inventors

Seiichi Ikeda
Moritaka IKEDA

Assignees

FAIN-Biomedical Inc.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20230712
Priority Date: 20220712

Claims (16)

1 . An observation device that observes a blood vessel model as an observation target into which a catheter is inserted, the blood vessel model including a substance disposed inside having near-infrared light absorption characteristics different from that of a constituent material of the blood vessel model, and the catheter including a sheath and wires inserted into the sheath, the observation device comprising: a first light source that emits first near-infrared light; a first light reception unit that can receive the first near-infrared light; a first image generation unit that generates a first image based on the first near-infrared light received by the first light reception unit; and a display that displays the first image wherein the first near-infrared light can transmit through the blood vessel model, substance in the blood vessel model, and the sheath of the catheter.
2 . An observation method of an observation target using the observation device according to claim 1 , the observation method comprising: causing the first light source to emit the first near-infrared light toward the observation target, and causing the first light reception unit to receive the first near-infrared light transmitted through the observation target; causing the first image generation unit to generate the first image based on the first near-infrared light received by the first light reception unit; causing the display to display the first image; and adjusting a light amount of the first near-infrared light used for generating the first image as necessary to enable simultaneous visual recognition of the sheath of the catheter, the wires in the sheath, and the blood vessel model.
3 . The observation device according to claim 1 , further comprising: a second light source that emits second near-infrared light; a second light reception unit that can receive the second near-infrared light; a second image generation unit that generates a second image based on the second near-infrared light received by the second light reception unit; and an image synthesis unit that superimposes the first image and the second image, wherein the first image and the second image are is displayed overlaid on the first image on the display.
4 . An observation method of an observation target using the observation device according to claim 3 , the observation method comprising: causing the first light source to emit the first near-infrared light toward the observation target, and causing the first light reception unit to receive the first near-infrared light transmitted through the observation target; causing the first image generation unit to generate the first image based on the first near-infrared light received by the first light reception unit; causing the display to display the first image; causing the second light source to emit the second near-infrared light toward the observation target, and causing the second light reception unit to receive the second near-infrared light reflected by the observation target; causing the second image generation unit to generate the second image based on the second near-infrared light received by the second light reception unit; causing the image synthesis unit to generate a composite image in which the first image and the second image are superimposed; causing the display to display the composite image; and adjusting a light amount of the first near-infrared light used for generating the first image as necessary, and/or adjusting a light amount of the second near-infrared light used for generating the second image as necessary to enable simultaneous visual recognition of the sheath of the catheter, the wires in the sheath, an X-ray opaque marker of the wires, and the blood vessel model.
5 . The observation device according to claim 3 , further comprising: a first polarization section that polarizes the first near-infrared light in a first direction; a second polarization section that polarizes the second near-infrared light in a second direction; a grayscale image generation unit that gray-scales the first image and the second image; and a gradation inversion unit that generates an image 2-1 by inverting gradation of a grayscale image of the second image.
6 . An observation method of an observation target using the observation device according to claim 5 , the observation method comprising: causing the first image generation unit to generate the first image based on the first near-infrared light polarized in the first direction; causing the second image generation unit to generate the second image based on the second near-infrared light polarized in the second direction; causing the grayscale image generation unit to grayscale the first image and the second image; causing the gradation inversion unit to invert gradation of the gray-scaled second image to form an image 2-1, and causing the image synthesis unit to superimpose the gray-scaled first image and the image 2-1, and synthesize them by calculating those value of each pixel on the images.
7 - 11 . (canceled)
12 . The observation device according to claim 1 , wherein the first near-infrared light includes monochromatic light.
13 - 14 . (canceled)
15 . The observation device according to claim 1 , wherein the substance having near-infrared light absorption characteristics different from that of the constituent material of the blood vessel model includes a material that receives the first near-infrared light and causes Rayleigh scattering.
16 . The observation device according to claim 1 , wherein the constituent material of the blood vessel model includes a material that receives the first near-infrared light and causes Rayleigh scattering.
17 . The observation device according to claim 16 , wherein the first near-infrared light has a wavelength of 1300 nm to 4500-1550 nm.
18 . An observation device that observes a blood vessel model as an observation target into which a catheter is inserted, an inside of the blood vessel model being filled with a lubricating liquid, a periphery of the blood vessel model being filled with an immersion liquid, the catheter including a sheath and wires inserted into the sheath, the observation device comprising: a first light source that emits first near-infrared light; a first light reception unit that can receive the first near-infrared light; a first image generation unit that generates a first image based on the first near-infrared light received by the first light reception unit; and a display that displays the first image, wherein the lubricating liquid and/or the immersion liquid includes a material that causes Rayleigh scattering, and the first near-infrared light can transmit through the blood vessel model, substance in the blood vessel model, and the sheath of the catheter.
19 . The observation device according to claim 18 , wherein the first near-infrared light has a wavelength of 1300 nm to 4500-1550 nm.
20 - 23 . (canceled)
23 . The observation device according to claim 1 , further comprising: a background image storage unit; and an image synthesis unit, wherein the image synthesis unit synthesizes a background image stored in the background image storage unit with the first image generated by the first image generation unit, and a synthesized image is displayed on the display.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a device and a method for observing a blood vessel model and a catheter inserted into said blood vessel model. BACKGROUND ART In evaluation of a catheter to be inserted into a blood vessel, and in technical training and technical evaluation of an intravascular surgery, it is necessary to observe a shape of a blood vessel model (hereinafter, referred to as “blood vessel shape”) and a state of a catheter inserted into said blood vessel model. In order to observe the blood vessel shape and the state of the catheter inserted into the blood vessel model, a visible light camera or an X-ray projection device is often used in addition to direct visual observation. By forming a blood vessel model with a transparent material and filling a lumen portion (hereinafter, referred to as “lumen region”) of said blood vessel model with a liquid colored with a pigment or the like, a method of visually observing the blood vessel shape and the catheter inserted into the blood vessel model or observing the blood vessel shape and the catheter with a visible light camera is simple. However, in this case, since the catheter cannot be seen through and the position and state of a guide wire or the like constituting the catheter cannot be confirmed, the reproducibility of the intravascular surgery is low. This problem can be solved by using an X-ray, but it is not easy to use the X-ray from the viewpoint of radiation exposure and management. In general, a catheter has a multilayer structure in which wires (balloon, coil, stent or the like having a therapeutic function, drug (liquid such as contrast medium or thrombolytic agent), and other sheath) are inserted into a thin tubular sheath, and it is not possible to detect a distal end position and a state of the wires inserted into the sheath in a multilayer manner by observation using visible light. In actual treatment using a catheter, information on the distal end position of the wires in the sheath and the state thereof is required. Furthermore, in the practical catheter, a material that does not transmit an X-ray (X-ray opaque marker) is attached to a distal end, an intermediate portion, or the like of the sheath or the wires in order to clearly indicate a specific position of the sheath or the wires, and it is possible to confirm a relative position of each of the sheath or the wires in the X-ray projection device used at the time of treatment. An observation method combining a fluorescence observation technique and an image processing technique has been proposed in order to enable observation of a distal end position and a state of wires in a sheath while avoiding exposure to X-rays (Non-Patent Literature 1). Furthermore, Patent Literature 1 proposes a lubricating liquid that ensures lubricity between a blood vessel model and a catheter. CITATIONS LIST Patent Literature Patent Literature 1: JP 5992031 B2 Non-Patent Literature Non-Patent Literature 1: Kazuaki Fukasaku et al. “Endovascular treatment training is enabled at anytime and anywhere—Developing simulation of endovascular treatment that does not expose doctors to X-rays—”, [online], Feb. 19, 2022, The 51st Japan Society for Neuroradiology https://www.u-ryukyu.ac.jp/news/32074/ SUMMARY OF INVENTION Technical Problems According to the observation method introduced in Non-Patent Literature 1, it is necessary to attach a fluorescent material to each portion of the sheath and wires of the catheter to be visualized. In other words, the actual catheter cannot be used as it is. Moreover, in order to visualize the blood vessel model, it is necessary to introduce a contrast medium (liquid containing a fluorescent dye) into the liquid filling the lumen region of the blood vessel model. For example, in a case where the blood vessel model is formed of a gel material made of polyvinyl alcohol or the like, there is a possibility that the contrast medium exudes into a blood vessel model forming material or adheres to an inner surface of the blood vessel model, and thus it is difficult to withstand long-term use. On the other hand, in a case where the blood vessel model is formed of a crosslinked polymer material such as silicone rubber, it is necessary to fill the lumen of the blood vessel model with a lubricating liquid in order to ensure lubricity between the catheter and the blood vessel model (see Patent Literature 1). When the contrast medium is mixed with the lubricating liquid, the lubricating function of the lubricating liquid may be deteriorated. Solutions to Problems As a result of intensive studies to solve the above problems, the present inventors have found that by using near-infrared light having higher substance permeability than visible light and variously changing a light absorption rate depending on the material and wavelength as compared with visible light, the blood vessel shape and the state inside the catheter can be simultaneously or selectively visualized without using