Abstract
To improve the use properties of a visualization and/or illumination system (1), with which an object can be illuminated with non-visible illumination light (2) during a medical intervention, some of the illumination light (2) transported by the system (1) is branched off and guided to a converter (3), which picks up, in particular detects or absorbs, the illumination light (2) and subsequently converts it into an indication signal (4) that is perceivable by humans and outputs this indication signal (4). Using the indication signal (4), a user can thus quickly and easily check whether or not the illumination light (2) is currently being emitted by the system (1).
Claims
1. A visualization and/or illumination system (1) configured for illuminating an object to be observed during a medical intervention with non-visible illumination light (2) in a first wavelength range, the system comprising: a converter (3) which converts the non-visible illumination light (2) into an indication signal (4) that is perceivable by humans.
2. The system (1) according to claim 1, wherein the converter (3) outputs the indication signal (4) only if the non-visible illumination light (2) is present.
3. The system (1) according to claim 1, wherein the converter (3) converts at least some of the illumination light (2) into visible indication light (5).
4. The system (1) according to claim 3, wherein the converter is configured to convert the at least some of the illumination light (2) into the visible indication light (5) based on a photoactive substance which enables optical wavelength conversion of the illumination light (2) into the indication light (5) without an external energy supply.
5. The system (1) according to claim 1, wherein the converter (3) comprises a photoactive conversion material (6), and the conversion material (6) is at least one of applied as a conversion layer (11) on a carrier body (12) or embedded in a transparent carrier body (12).
6. The system (1) according to claim 5, wherein the conversion material (6) contains a photoactive substance that is at least one of produced via a sintering method or applied on a ceramic as the carrier body (12).
7. The system (1) according to claim 1, wherein the illumination light (2) is at least one of reflected or transmitted by the converter (3).
8. The system (1) according to claim 1, wherein the converter (3), upon the conversion of the non-visible illumination light (2) into the visible indication light (5), is configured to effect conversion from longer wavelengths to shorter wavelengths.
9. The system (1) according to claim 1, wherein the converter (3), upon the conversion of the non-visible illumination light (2) into the visible indication light (5), is configured to effect conversion from shorter wavelengths to longer wavelengths.
10. The system (1) according to claim 3, wherein the converter (3) is arranged in an interior space (14) of the system (1) and the indication light (5) is at least one of observable through a window (13) from outside the interior space, or applied on an outside of the window (13) or embedded in the window (13), and the non-visible illumination light (2) passes through the window (13) before becoming incident on the conversion material (6).
11. The system (1) according to claim 1, wherein the converter (3) is arranged in or on at least one of a) a housing (15) that surrounds a light guide (16), which propagates the invisible illumination light (2) to an illumination optical unit (16), b) a lightguide cable (8), which supplies the invisible illumination light (2) to an illumination optical unit (16), or c) a catheter configured to introduce the invisible illumination light (2) into a body cavity.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein the converter (3) is arranged such that the converter (3) is located extracorporeally when the visualization and/or illumination system (1) is used.
12. The system (1) according claim 1, further comprising a light source (10), configured to emit the illumination light (2), is arranged in an interior space (14), and a light guide (16) arranged in the interior space (14) configured to guide the illumination light (2) to the converter (3).
13. The system of claim 12, wherein the system comprises an endoscope, and the light source (10) is arranged in a distal end region (17) of the endoscope (7) and the light guide (16) propagates the illumination light (2) in a direction of a proximal end (30) of the endoscope (7).
14. The system (1) according to claim 1, further comprising an internal light guide (16) forming a branch (19) which branches off some of the illumination light (2) from an optical main path (18) used for the illumination and the branch (19) guides some of the illumination light (2) to the converter (3).
15. The system (1) of claim 1, wherein the system comprises an endoscope (7), an exoscope, a microscope, or an illumination optical unit.
16. A method for indicating a presence of non-visible illumination light (2), which is emitted by a visualization and/or illumination system (1) in order to illuminate an object to be observed during a medical intervention, the method comprising: providing the non-visible illumination light (2), and converting the non-visible illumination light (2) by a converter (3) into an indication signal (4) that is perceivable by humans, and outputting the indication signal.
17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising the converter (3) picking up some of the illumination light (2) and, in reaction thereto, outputting at least one of a) the optical indication signal (4), b) an acoustic indication signal, or c) a mechanical indication signal.
18. The method according to claim 16, further comprising the converter (3) carrying out an optical wavelength conversion of the illumination light (2) into the indication light (5) without an external energy supply.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0039] The invention will now be described in more detail on the basis of exemplary embodiments, but is not restricted to these exemplary embodiments. Further developments of the invention can be obtained from the following description of a preferred exemplary embodiment in conjunction with the general description, the claims and the drawings.
[0040] In the following description of various preferred embodiments of the invention, elements that correspond in terms of their function are denoted by corresponding reference numerals, even in the case of a deviating design or shape.
[0041] In the figures:
[0042] FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a visualization system according to the invention in the form of an endoscope,
[0043] FIG. 2 shows a detailed view of a further visualization system according to the invention in the form of an endoscope,
[0044] FIG. 3 shows an illumination system according to the invention in the form of a light-guide cable,
[0045] FIG. 4 shows a (spatial) longitudinal section through a visualization system according to the invention which has a hermetically sealed interior space,
[0046] FIG. 5 shows a 2D longitudinal section in a different orientation through the visualization system of FIG. 4,
[0047] FIG. 6 shows a further possible configuration of the visualization system from FIG. 5 or FIG. 4,
[0048] FIG. 7 shows a further visualization system designed in accordance with the invention, with a detail of the housing being shown, and finally
[0049] FIG. 8 shows a further longitudinal section through a visualization system that is designed in accordance with the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0050] FIG. 1 shows an endoscope 7, which is supplied with invisible infrared illumination light 2 from a light source 10 by means of a light-guide cable 8. Inside the endoscope 7, the invisible illumination light 2 is guided by means of internal light guides (not illustrated) to a distal exit window 23 in the distal end region 17 of the endoscope shaft 22, where the illumination light 2 exits. The infrared illumination light 2 is used here as excitation light to illuminate a tissue region as the object to be observed during a medical intervention. More specifically, the illumination light 2 as excitation light serves to excite fluorophores which were previously introduced into the tissue to spontaneously emit light in order to enable fluorescence imaging of the vessels in this way.
[0051] As is shown in FIG. 1, the light-guide cable 8 is coupled to the endoscope 7 via a light-guide connection 9 of the endoscope 7. In the endoscope 7, in the region of the light-guide connection 9, an optoelectronic converter 3 is formed which detects some of the non-visible IR illumination light 2 by means of a photodiode that is specifically provided for this purpose. If the photodiode outputs a corresponding detection signal, the converter 3 outputs an acoustic indication signal 4 that is perceivable by the user of the endoscope. In other words, in this example, the converter 3 is designed as an optoacoustic converter that converts the illumination light 2 (detected by means of the photodiode) into an indication signal 4, specifically the acoustic output signal, that is perceivable by humans.
[0052] However, the converter 3 in this case outputs the acoustic indication signal 4 only if the non-visible illumination light 2 is present. If the photodiode does not detect the illumination light 2, no acoustic indication signal 4 is output by the converter 3. It is then possible for the user to check on the basis of the acoustic indication signal 4 whether the light source 10 functions correctly and the non-visible illumination light 2 transmitted by the latter passes via the light-guide cable 8 into the endoscope 7 and is thus emitted by the endoscope 7 in the distal end region 17.
[0053] A further possibility would be to design the converter 3 in FIG. 1 in the form of an optomechanical converter, which for example outputs a vibration signal that can be felt by the surgeon while handling the endoscope 7. In all these cases, a method according to the invention is thus implemented, because the converter 3 in each case converts the non-visible illumination light 2 into an indication signal 4 that is perceivable by humans but outputs this indication signal 4 only if non-visible illumination light 2 is in fact being emitted by the respective system 1.
[0054] FIG. 2 shows a further example of an endoscope 7 designed in accordance with the invention. This endoscope 7 also has a converter 3 in the region of the light-guide connection 9. This converter 3 also converts some of the illumination light 2 into an indication signal 4; however, in deviation from the example of FIG. 1, the converter 3 does not output an acoustic signal but visible indication light 5. For this purpose, the converter 3 is formed by means of a photoactive conversion material 6 which contains phosphor. The conversion material 6 is formed as a thin conversion layer 11 on the outside of an annular transparent glass window, with the latter acting as a carrier body 12 for the conversion material 6.
[0055] Inside the endoscope 7 of FIG. 2, some of the illumination light 2 that was introduced via the light-guide connection 9 is branched off and transmitted from the inside through the window 13 to the outside so that the illumination light 2 is incident on the conversion layer 11 located outside. The conversion layer 11 absorbs the infrared illumination light 2 and re-emits visible indication light 5 in transmission. Since the window 13 is designed to be annular and is irradiated by the illumination light 2 from the inside in multiple directions, the indication light 5 is emitted, as illustrated in FIG. 2, in different spatial directions so that a user can perceive the indication signal 4 from different spatial directions.
[0056] As is indicated in FIG. 2, the distal end region 17 of the endoscope 7 can lie in the body’s interior that the surgeon/user of the endoscope 7 inspects via the eyepiece 21. The converter 3 is consequently arranged extracorporeally in this typical use situation, and so the surgeon can perceive the indication light 5 without difficulties. In addition, the indication light 5 also does not pass into the body’s interior, because the visible indication light 5 could interfere with the imaging there. It should be noted at this point that the endoscope 7 may emit not only the non-visible illumination light 2 in the form of excitation light, but also visible illumination light, for example if the endoscope is intended to be used for white light imaging (in particular at the same time as the fluorescence imaging).
[0057] FIG. 3 shows a further possible configuration of how a converter 3 according to the invention can be utilized in an illumination system 1 in order to make non-visible illumination light 2 perceivable by a user. The illumination system 1 shown, which can also be used as part of a visualization system 1 according to the invention, is in the form of a light-guide cable 8, which has in its interior a light guide 16 surrounded by a cladding 28. Non-visible illumination light 2 emitted by a light source 10 is coupled into an end face 24 at the proximal end of the light-guide cable (left-hand side of FIG. 3). The internal light guide 16 transports the illumination light 2 into a distal end region 17 of the light-guide cable 8 (right-hand side of FIG. 3). Formed at the distal end of the light-guide cable 8 is a metallic termination bushing 20, which - similar to the examples of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 - serves to mechanically connect/couple the light-guide cable 8 to a light-guide connection 9 of an endoscope 7. In other words, the illumination light 2 emerges from the end face 24, which can be seen on the very right in FIG. 3, and is then passed on to the endoscope 7.
[0058] As is shown in FIG. 3, a circular cutout in which a transparent window 13 has been placed is formed in the termination bushing 20. Unlike the example of FIG. 2, however, in FIG. 3 a conversion layer 11 is applied on the inside on the window 13, which again acts as a carrier body 12. By roughening the light guide 16 and removing the cladding 28 in the region of the window 13, some of the illumination light 2 that is transported by the light guide 16 is coupled out and in this way irradiates the conversion layer 11, which is arranged on the inside. This conversion layer 11, which serves as the converter 3 according to the invention, again converts the non-visible illumination light 2 into visible indication light 5. The conversion layer 11 also emits the indication light 5 at least partially in the direction illustrated as an arrow in FIG. 3, as a result of which some of the indication light 5 is transmitted from the inside to the outside through the window 13 and is consequently emitted as an indication signal 4. In the final result, a user can thus observe the indication light 5, which originates in the interior of the light-guide cable 8, from the outside through the window 13.
[0059] In the examples of FIGS. 2 and 3, the infrared illumination light 2 is converted by the converter 3, more specifically by the conversion material 6 that is applied in the form of a conversion layer 11, into visible indication light 5, which has shorter wavelengths than the original illumination light 2. In other words, a conversion is effected from longer wavelengths to shorter wavelengths using the converter 3. If, on the other hand, illumination light 2 that lies in the shortwave UV range is used in a visualization or illumination system 1 according to the invention, the conversion must be effected from shorter wavelengths to longer wavelengths (by the converter 3) so that indication light 5 that is perceivable/visible to humans is produced.
[0060] FIG. 4 shows a detail of a further visualization system 1 according to the invention, which could be designed for example as a microscope. This system 1 has a housing 15 which closes an interior space 14. Arranged in the interior 14 is a light guide 16, which (in FIG. 4) transports non-visible illumination light 2 from the right to the left. In this example, too, a converter 3 according to the invention is implemented with the aid of a window 13 that has been placed in a sealing manner into the housing 15. Again, a conversion material 6, which is photoactive and can convert the illumination light 2 into visible indication light 5, is applied on the housing 15, more specifically on the inside on the window 13. As is indicated by the smaller block arrow, the illumination light 2 thus first passes from the light guide 16 onto the inner side of the window 13, is converted there by the conversion material 6 into the indication light 5, and subsequently the indication light 5 passes through the window 13 to the outside.
[0061] In order to increase the safety for the user, it is possible in such an innerside arrangement of the conversion material 6 for a filter layer to be applied (on the inside or outside) on the window 13 as well, wherein this filter layer precisely does not transmit the illumination light 2, whereas the filter layer does allow the visible indication light 5 to pass through. It should be understood that, for correct functioning of the converter 3, the conversion material 6 must form the outermost layer (viewed from the inside) so that the illumination light 2 is incident first on the conversion material 6 and only afterwards on the filter layer. This is because in this case the filter layer can block that portion of the non-visible (and potentially dangerous) illumination light 2 that was not absorbed by the conversion material 6.
[0062] FIGS. 5 and 6 again explain how a converter 3 according to the invention with a conversion layer 11 located on the inside (FIG. 5) or a conversion layer 11 arranged on the outside (FIG. 6) can be configured: in both examples of FIGS. 5 and 6, a light guide 16 is again arranged in a hermetically sealed interior space 14 of the system 1, wherein by appropriate processing of the light guide 16 at the location of the respectively illustrated window 13, some of the illumination light 2 is branched off such that it is incident on the window 13. In the example of FIG. 5, the conversion layer 11 has been applied on the inside, and so the window 13 there acts as an exit window 25. This is because the visible light 5 is produced in the interior space 14 (by way of the conversion layer 11) and is subsequently transmitted through the window 13 to the outside.
[0063] In the example of FIG. 6, by contrast, the window 13 is configured such that it transmits the non-visible illumination light 2. Only after the illumination light 2 has passed through the window 13 does it arrive thus on the conversion layer 11, which has been applied on the outside and again converts the illumination light 2 into visible indication light 5. To protect the conversion layer 11 against mechanical abrasion, it is coated on the outside with a protective layer 27 (which is transparent to the indication light 5). In the example of FIG. 6, the window 13 thus serves as a transmission window 26 for the illumination light 2.
[0064] FIG. 7 shows a further possible configuration of a converter 3 according to the invention in a visualization system 1. This system 1 has a light guide 16 which transports non-visible illumination light 2. As is shown in FIG. 8, the light guide 16 has a branch 19 which branches off some of the illumination light 2 from the optical main path 18, which is used for the illumination, and guides it in a short light-guide piece to the housing 15 illustrated in section in FIG. 7. The branched-off piece of the light guide 16 is here, as illustrated in FIG. 7, glued into a through-passage 29 formed in the housing 15 such that the interior space 14 remains sealed off. An end face 24 of the branched-off light-guide piece 16, which serves as a carrier body 12 here, is polished and configured to be planar with the outside of the housing 15. A photoactive conversion layer 11, which implements a converter 3 according to the invention, is applied on this planar light-guide end face 24. In other words, the non-visible illumination light 2 transported by the light guide 16 is again absorbed by the conversion layer 11 and then re-emitted (at least in part in transmission) in the form of the visible indication light 5. In such a configuration, too, an additional protective layer 27 can be applied on the outside to protect the conversion layer 11 against mechanical abrasion, with this protective layer ideally transmitting the indication light 5 but not the non-visible illumination light 2. In this way, the protective layer 27 can after all also increase the safety for the user against the illumination light.
[0065] In summary, it is proposed for improving the use properties of a visualization and/or illumination system 1 with which an object can be illuminated with non-visible illumination light 2 during a medical intervention, that some of the illumination light 2 transported by the system 1 is branched off and guided to a converter 3, which picks up, in particular detects or absorbs, the illumination light 2 and subsequently converts it into an indication signal 4 that is perceivable by humans and outputs this indication signal 4. Using the indication signal 4, a user can thus quickly and easily check whether or not the illumination light 2 is currently being emitted by the system 1 (cf. FIG. 1).
TABLE-US-00001 List of Reference Signs 1 Visualization system and/or illumination system for medical applications (for example designed as an endoscope, an exoscope, a microscope or as an illumination optical unit) 2 Non-visible illumination light 3 Converter 4 Indication signal 5 Indication light 6 Conversion material 7 Endoscope 8 Light-guide cable 9 Light-guide connection 10 Light source 11 Conversion layer (formed from 6) 12 Carrier body 13 Window 14 Interior space (of 1) 15 Housing 16 Light guide 17 Distal end region (e.g. of 7) 18 Main path (for 2) 19 Branch 20 Termination bushing (of 8; can serve, for example, for connecting 8 to 7) 21 Eyepiece 22 Endoscope shaft 23 Distal exit window 24 End face (of 16) 25 Exit window (through which 5 radiates) 26 Transmission window (through which 2 radiates) 27 Protective layer (transparent to 5) 28 Cladding 29 Through-passage 30 Proximal end (of 7)
