Capsule guiding system

Abstract

A capsule guiding system includes a magnetic guiding unit, a displaying unit, an operation unit, and a control unit. The magnetic guiding unit guides, using magnetic force, a capsule-shaped medical apparatus introduced inside a subject. The displaying unit displays an image of the subject and an image of the capsule-shaped medical apparatus as an overlapped image, and changes relative position and relative direction between the two images as the capsule-shaped medical apparatus is guided by the magnetic guiding unit. The operation unit inputs coordinate information which specifies movement direction of the capsule-shaped medical apparatus. The control unit adjusts coordinate system of the displaying unit and coordinate system of the operation unit to be consistent with each other, transforms the coordinate information input from the operation unit into the coordinate system of the magnetic guiding unit, and controls the guiding of the capsule-shaped medical apparatus based on the transformed coordinate information.

1 . A medical apparatus guiding system comprising:
 a medical apparatus which is introduced inside a subject;   a guiding apparatus which guides the medical apparatus;   a position-direction detecting apparatus which detects a position and a direction of the medical apparatus relative to the guiding apparatus;   a man-machine interface unit which includes an input apparatus which generates instruction information to be transmitted to the guiding apparatus, and a displaying apparatus which displays at least a detection result of the position-direction detecting apparatus; and   a positional relation determining unit which determines a positional relation between a direction of the guiding apparatus and a direction of the man-machine interface unit,   the medical apparatus guiding system changing an operation direction of the input apparatus or display of the displaying apparatus or both based on output of the positional relation determining unit.   
     
     
         2 . The medical apparatus guiding system according to  claim 1 , wherein
 the positional relation determining unit determines the positional relation by selecting the positional relation from predetermined options of the positional relation.   
     
     
         3 . A medical apparatus guiding system comprising:
 a medical apparatus which is introduced inside a subject;   a guiding apparatus which guides the medical apparatus;   a position-direction detecting apparatus which detects a position and a direction of the medical apparatus relative to the guiding apparatus; and   a man-machine interface unit which includes an input apparatus which generates instruction information to be transmitted to the guiding apparatus, and a displaying apparatus which displays at least a detection result of the position-direction detecting apparatus,   the medical apparatus guiding system changing an operation direction of the input apparatus or display of the displaying apparatus or both based on the direction of the medical apparatus detected by the position-direction detecting apparatus and a direction of the man-machine interface unit.   
     
     
         4 . A displaying system comprising:
 position sensors which are arranged on the subject, and measure a body position of the subject;   an introduced apparatus which is introduced inside the subject;   an introduced-apparatus-position detector which detects a position of the introduced apparatus;   a display which displays a detection result of the position sensors and a detection result of the introduced-apparatus-position detector;   a storage which continuously stores position information of the guiding apparatus detected by the introduced-apparatus-position detector; and   a display controller which changes a display state of the subject on the display based on a measurement result of the position sensors, and displays the position information of the introduced apparatus stored in the storage on the display.   
     
     
         5 . The displaying system according to  claim 4  further comprising
 a body position model of the subject, wherein 
 the body position model is displayed based on output of the display controller. 
 
     
     
         6 . The displaying system according to  claim 5 , wherein
 the body position model is an arrangement model of digestive tracts of the subject.   
     
     
         7 . The displaying system according to  claim 4 , wherein
 the position information of the introduced apparatus stored in the storage is displayed as a smooth continuous locus.   
     
     
         8 . A displaying system of a guiding apparatus, comprising:
 an introduced apparatus which is introduced inside the subject;   a guiding apparatus which guides the introduced apparatus;   body position sensors which measure a body position of the subject relative to the guiding apparatus;   an introduced-apparatus-position detector which measures a position of the introduced apparatus relative to the guiding apparatus;   a display which displays the body position of the subject and the position of the introduced apparatus relative to the guiding apparatus; and   a storage which continuously stores position information of the introduced apparatus detected by the introduced-apparatus-position detector,   the position information of the introduced apparatus which is stored in the storage being displayed on the display.