Shock wave treatment apparatus

Abstract

A shock wave treatment apparatus has a shock wave applicator including a shock wave transducer for forming a focusing region of a shock wave for destroying an object to be destroyed in an object to be examined, and an ultrasonic transducer for transmitting/receiving an ultrasonic wave and acquiring ultrasonic tomographic image information. The shock wave applicator is aligned with the object to be destroyed, such that an overlap degree between a focusing region of the shock wave and the object to be destroyed is discriminated by an overlap degree discrimination circuit. When the calculation result of the overlap is smaller than a predetermined value, control is performed not to generate a shock wave. On the other hand, the shock wave application is mechanically aligned with the object, such that a support device supporting the applicator is operated so that a focal point position of the shock wave in the object to be examined can be moved to coincide with the object to be destroyed.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A shock wave treatment apparatus comprising: shock wave generating means for forming a focusing region of a destruction shock wave for destroying an object in a subject to be examined;   image information acquiring means, arranged in a shock wave transmission region of said shock wave generating means, for acquiring tomographic image information of the subject to be examined and the object to be destroyed;   overlap degree discriminating means for calculating an overlap degree between said focusing region of the shock wave and the object to be destroyed; and   overlap degree variation information display means for displaying a variation in overlap degree obtained, with the passage of time, from the calculated result, and used as information for determining whether or not to generate shock waves by said shock wave generating means.   
     
     
       2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said overlap degree discriminating means comprises means for extracting object information and means for determining the overlap degree. 
     
     
       3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said overlap degree variation information display means comprises an overlap degree variation graph generator and an overlap degree variation memory. 
     
     
       4. A shock wave treatment apparatus comprising: shock wave generating means for forming a focusing region of a destruction shock wave for destroying an object in a subject to be examined;   image information acquiring means, arranged in a shock wave transmission region of said shock wave generating means for acquiring tomographic image information of the object to be destroyed;   overlap degree discrimination means for calculating an overlap degree between the focusing region of the destruction shock wave and the object to be destroyed;   shock wave generation control means for inhibiting generation of the shock wave when the calculation result of the overlap degree obtained by said overlap degree discrimination means is smaller than a predetermined value; and   display means for displaying a tomographic image of the object to be examined and destroyed, said tomographic image being derived from said tomographic image information.   
     
     
       5. An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said overlap degree discrimination means comprises means for extracting object information and means for discriminating overlap degree. 
     
     
       6. A shock wave treatment apparatus comprising: shock wave applicator means including shock wave generating means for generating a shock wave focused in an object to be destroyed in a subject to be examined, and image information acquiring means, arranged within a shock wave transmission region of said shock wave generating means, for acquiring tomographic image information of the object to be destroyed;   support means for supporting said shock wave applicator means so that a focal point position of the shock wave in the subject to be examined is movable;   overlap degree discrimination means for calculating an overlap degree between the focusing region of the destruction shock wave and the object to be destroyed;   shock wave generation control means for controlling the generation of the shock wave, to inhibit said generation when the overlap degree obtained by said overlap degree discrimination means is smaller than a predetermined value;   wherein said shock wave applicator support means supports said shock wave applicator means so that said shock wave applicator means is pivotal about a distal end portion of said image information acquiring means and a distance between said shock wave generating means and the object to be destroyed can be adjusted.   
     
     
       7. An apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said image information acquiring means can acquire a plurality of pieces of image information in orthogonal sections of the subject to be examined. .Iadd. 
     
     
       8.  A shock wave treatment apparatus comprising: shock wave applicator means including: (i) shock wave generating means for generating a shock wave focused in an object to be destroyed in a subject to be examined, and (ii) image information acquiring means arranged within a shock wave transmission region of said shock wave generating means to acquire tomographic image information on the object to be destroyed and designed to acquire two tomographic images from respective planes of the object that are perpendicular to each other;   and support means for supporting said shock wave applicator means,   said support means rendering said shock wave applicator means pivotable about a distal end portion of the image information acquiring means, rotatable about two mutually perpendicular axes, and movable in three mutually perpendicular directions, whereby the spacing between the shock wave generating means and the object is adjustable, and   the shock wave generating means being movable forward and backward longitudinally along the image information acquiring means to further adjust the spacing between the shock wave generating means and the object,   the two tomographic images corresponding to two of the three mutually perpendicular directions. .Iaddend.