Puncture assistance system

1. A puncture assistance system that assists blood vessel puncture by using ultrasonic images of a cross section of a blood vessel under a patient's skin from an ultrasonic diagnostic device that causes an ultrasonic probe to come into contact with the skin to acquire the ultrasonic images, the system comprising:

vascular diameter detecting means for detecting a vascular diameter during acquisition of the ultrasonic images;

puncture assistance information generating means for generating puncture assistance information for determination of whether or not puncture is allowed to be performed based on a collapse state of the blood vessel caused by pressing action of the ultrasonic probe against the skin by comparing a current vascular diameter detected by the vascular diameter detecting means with a standard vascular diameter that is a diameter of a standard blood vessel in a state in which the blood vessel is not pressed by the ultrasonic probe; and

presenting means for presenting the puncture assistance information,

wherein the puncture assistance information generating means includes: an input unit to which a variety of pieces of information including information on the patient and a type of a blood vessel to be punctured are inputted; a storage unit that stores a variety of data; and an information generating unit that generates, as the puncture assistance information, a vascular compression rate representing a ratio of the current vascular diameter to the standard vascular diameter based on the data stored in the storage unit and the vascular diameter detected by the vascular diameter detecting means,

the storage unit stores the standard vascular diameter formed of a plurality of vascular diameters set on an age basis or on an adult/child basis, for each type of blood vessel to be punctured, and/or for each magnitude of blood pressure,

the information generating unit includes a vascular compression rate calculating unit that calculates the vascular compression rate based on the current vascular diameter detected by the vascular diameter detecting means, and

the vascular compression rate calculating unit, when the variety of information is inputted from the input unit to the vascular compression rate calculating unit, extracts the standard vascular diameter that agrees with the information from the storage unit and uses the extracted standard vascular diameter to determine the vascular compression rate.

2. The puncture assistance system according to claim 1 , wherein the storage unit further stores a relationship data on a relationship between a puncture feasibility rate representing readiness of puncture and the vascular compression rate, and

the information generating unit further includes a puncture feasibility rate determining unit that uses the vascular compression rate determined by the vascular compression rate calculating unit to derive, as the puncture assistance information, the puncture feasibility rate during acquisition of ultrasonic images based on the relationship data stored in the storage unit.

3. The puncture assistance system according to claim 1 , further comprising a puncture assistance robot that operates based on the puncture assistance information generated by the puncture assistance information generating means to allow the ultrasonic probe to be moved,

wherein the puncture assistance robot includes: a probe actuator that moves the ultrasonic probe in a direction in which the ultrasonic probe moves toward the patient's skin or moves away therefrom and that holds the ultrasonic probe in a desired state; a force sensor capable of detecting pressing force with which the ultrasonic probe presses the skin; and a probe action controller that controls action of the probe actuator, and

the probe action controller controls the action of the probe actuator based on the puncture assistance information and a result of the detection performed by the force sensor in such a way that the pressing force of the ultrasonic probe against the skin is maintained at a value that allows puncture to be performed.

4. The puncture assistance system according to claim 2 , further comprising a puncture assistance robot that operates based on the puncture assistance information generated by the puncture assistance information generating means to allow the ultrasonic probe to be moved,

wherein the puncture assistance robot includes: a probe actuator that moves the ultrasonic probe in a direction in which the ultrasonic probe moves toward the patient's skin or moves away therefrom and that holds the ultrasonic probe in a desired state; a force sensor capable of detecting pressing force with which the ultrasonic probe presses the skin; and a probe action controller that controls action of the probe actuator, and

the probe action controller controls the action of the probe actuator based on the puncture assistance information and a result of the detection performed by the force sensor in such a way that the pressing force of the ultrasonic probe against the skin is maintained at a value that allows puncture to be performed.

5. The puncture assistance system according to claim 3 , wherein the probe action controller includes: evaluating means for evaluating, based on the puncture assistance information, whether or not an adequate pressing state that allows the ultrasonic probe to perform puncture is achieved; and action instructing means for instructing the probe actuator to operate based on the evaluation performed by the evaluating means, and

when the evaluating means determines that the adequate pressing state is achieved, the action instructing means instructs the probe actuator to maintain pressing force detected at a time of determination by the force sensor, whereas when the evaluating means determines that the adequate pressing state is not achieved, the action instructing means instructs the probe actuator to move the ultrasonic probe until the evaluating means determines that the adequate pressing state is achieved.

6. The puncture assistance system according to claim 4 , wherein the probe action controller includes: evaluating means for evaluating, based on the puncture assistance information, whether or not an adequate pressing state that allows the ultrasonic probe to perform puncture is achieved; and action instructing means for instructing the probe actuator to operate based on the evaluation performed by the evaluating means, and

when the evaluating means determines that the adequate pressing state is achieved, the action instructing means instructs the probe actuator to maintain pressing force detected at a time of determination by the force sensor, whereas when the evaluating means determines that the adequate pressing state is not achieved, the action instructing means instructs the probe actuator to move the ultrasonic probe until the evaluating means determines that the adequate pressing state is achieved.