CN112450882A - Ultrasonic probe, endoscope, endoscopic imaging system and endoscopic imaging method - Google Patents
Ultrasonic probe, endoscope, endoscopic imaging system and endoscopic imaging method Download PDFInfo
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- A61B8/08—Detecting organic movements or changes, e.g. tumours, cysts, swellings
- A61B8/0833—Detecting organic movements or changes, e.g. tumours, cysts, swellings involving detecting or locating foreign bodies or organic structures
- A61B8/085—Detecting organic movements or changes, e.g. tumours, cysts, swellings involving detecting or locating foreign bodies or organic structures for locating body or organic structures, e.g. tumours, calculi, blood vessels, nodules
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- A61B8/08—Detecting organic movements or changes, e.g. tumours, cysts, swellings
- A61B8/0891—Detecting organic movements or changes, e.g. tumours, cysts, swellings for diagnosis of blood vessels
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- A61B8/5215—Devices using data or image processing specially adapted for diagnosis using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves involving processing of medical diagnostic data
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- A61B8/5261—Devices using data or image processing specially adapted for diagnosis using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves involving processing of medical diagnostic data for combining image data of patient, e.g. merging several images from different acquisition modes into one image combining images from different diagnostic modalities, e.g. ultrasound and X-ray
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Abstract
The embodiment of the application discloses ultrasonic probe, endoscope, endoscopic imaging system and endoscopic imaging method, and the ultrasonic probe comprises: the optical fiber array comprises a substrate, an optical fiber element, a lens group and a ring array ultrasonic transducer, wherein the substrate is a hollow substrate; the optical fiber element is positioned in the substrate and used for transmitting laser emitted by the laser; the lens group is positioned on one side of the substrate and used for shaping laser transmitted by the optical fiber element to form first annular cone light, and the first annular cone light is used for irradiating an object to be imaged and exciting the object to be imaged to generate a photoacoustic signal; the annular array ultrasonic transducer is annularly arranged on the outer side of the substrate and used for collecting photoacoustic signals, and the photoacoustic signals are used for forming three-dimensional photoacoustic images of objects to be imaged, so that the annular array ultrasonic transducer for collecting the photoacoustic signals is matched with the first annular cone light emitted by the lens group to directly obtain the photoacoustic signals in the annular area for realizing the annular photoacoustic images, the photoacoustic imaging speed is increased, and the photoacoustic imaging quality is improved.
Description
Technical Field
The present application relates to the field of photoacoustic and ultrasound technologies, and in particular, to an ultrasound probe, an endoscope, an endoscopic imaging system, and an endoscopic imaging method.
Background
Photoacoustic imaging benefits from its high sensitivity and large imaging depth, and is an important means to acquire image information of tumor trophoblast and molecular events. Currently, photoacoustic imaging technology has been applied to in vivo research of various tumors, and the imaging methods thereof are mainly external photoacoustic imaging and endoscopic photoacoustic imaging. In-vitro photoacoustic imaging has the advantage of being noninvasive, and specific molecules can be accurately captured by combining with molecular probes.
However, in current practical applications, external photoacoustic imaging is limited to limited penetration depth of light in tissues, and for organs located deep in the human body, it is very challenging to acquire detailed information, for example, current external systems based on PACT (photoacoustic computed tomography, PACT) -photoacoustic pancreatic imaging systems have advantages of being noninvasive, fast in imaging speed, and the like, but when imaging large animals and humans, due to insufficient imaging depth, it is difficult to acquire detailed information, even impossible to image, so external photoacoustic imaging is generally performed for some small animals such as mice.
Compared with external photoacoustic imaging, endoscopic photoacoustic imaging is performed by an endoscopic imaging system in a deep manner, namely endoscopic photoacoustic imaging can directly support a lesion area to observe, and richer and accurate lesion detail information can be provided. In addition, the laser with different wavelengths can realize the synchronous imaging of various objects (such as molecular probes and micro-vessels) so as to obtain molecular event information and blood vessel nourishing information which are very important for judging the tumor state. Therefore, many researchers have studied photoacoustic endoscopy, and researchers have proposed a plurality of photoacoustic endoscopes for information acquisition of digestive tract tumors at present. However, the existing endoscopic photoacoustic imaging system has poor imaging quality.
Disclosure of Invention
In order to solve the above technical problem, embodiments of the present application provide an ultrasonic probe of an endoscope, an endoscopic imaging system, and an endoscopic imaging method, which, when used for photoacoustic imaging, improve the quality of photoacoustic imaging.
In order to solve the above problem, the embodiment of the present application provides the following technical solutions:
an ultrasonic probe of an endoscope, comprising:
a substrate, which is a hollow substrate;
an optical fiber element located in the substrate for transmitting laser light emitted by a laser;
the lens group is positioned on one side of the substrate and used for shaping the laser transmitted by the optical fiber element to form first annular cone light, and the first annular cone light is used for irradiating an object to be imaged and exciting the object to be imaged to generate a photoacoustic signal;
the annular array ultrasonic transducer is annularly arranged on the outer side of the substrate and used for collecting the photoacoustic signals, and the photoacoustic signals are used for forming a three-dimensional photoacoustic image of the object to be imaged.
Optionally, the optical fiber element is movable in a direction parallel to an axis of the substrate to adjust a distance between an end of the optical fiber element facing the lens group and the lens group.
Optionally, the annular array ultrasonic transducer includes at least one row of ultrasonic transducer elements surrounding the axis of the substrate, each row of ultrasonic transducer elements includes a plurality of ultrasonic transducer array elements, and the ultrasonic transducer array elements are used for acquiring the photoacoustic signals.
Optionally, the annular array ultrasonic transducer is a two-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer, the two-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer includes a plurality of rows of ultrasonic transducer array elements surrounding the axis of the substrate, and the number of the rows of the ultrasonic transducer array elements is the same as the number of the ultrasonic transducer array elements included in each row of the ultrasonic transducer array elements.
Optionally, the method further includes: and the mechanical scanning device is used for driving the annular array ultrasonic transducer to translate along the axis of the substrate.
Optionally, the annular array ultrasonic transducer is further configured to emit ultrasonic waves onto the object to be imaged, and collect the ultrasonic waves reflected from the object to be imaged.
Optionally, the first ring of cone light is a cone-shaped light beam, wherein projections of cross sections of the first ring of cone light along a direction perpendicular to the axis of the substrate on a preset plane are all annular in shape, widths of the respective annular shapes are the same, and the preset plane is a plane perpendicular to the axis of the substrate.
Optionally, the lens group includes:
the convex lens is used for converging or diverging the laser transmitted by the optical fiber element;
the conical mirror is used for forming second annular conical light based on the laser emitted by the convex lens;
and the reflector is used for reflecting the second annular cone light emitted by the cone mirror to form first annular cone light.
Optionally, the substrate is a columnar substrate.
An endoscope, comprising: an ultrasound probe, wherein the ultrasound probe is any one of the ultrasound probes described above.
An endoscopic imaging system, comprising:
an endoscope according to any one of the above.
Optionally, the method further includes:
a computer for forming a three-dimensional photoacoustic image of the object to be imaged based on the photoacoustic signals.
Optionally, if the annular array ultrasonic transducer included in the endoscope is further configured to emit an ultrasonic wave onto the object to be imaged and collect the ultrasonic wave reflected from the object to be imaged, the computer further obtains a three-dimensional ultrasonic image based on the ultrasonic wave reflected from the object to be imaged, and obtains a three-dimensional acousto-optic fusion image based on the three-dimensional ultrasonic image and the three-dimensional photoacoustic image.
An endoscopic imaging method, comprising:
shaping laser emitted by a laser to form first ring cone light, wherein the first ring cone light irradiates an object to be imaged and excites the object to be imaged to generate a photoacoustic signal;
and acquiring the photoacoustic signals, wherein the photoacoustic signals are used for forming a three-dimensional photoacoustic image of the object to be imaged.
Optionally, the method further includes: and obtaining a three-dimensional photoacoustic image of the object to be imaged based on the photoacoustic signal.
Optionally, the method further includes:
transmitting ultrasonic waves to the object to be imaged, and collecting the ultrasonic waves reflected from the object to be imaged;
obtaining a three-dimensional ultrasonic image of the object to be imaged based on the ultrasonic waves reflected from the object to be imaged;
and obtaining a three-dimensional acousto-optic fusion image based on the three-dimensional ultrasonic image and the three-dimensional photoacoustic image. Compared with the prior art, the technical scheme has the following advantages:
in the ultrasonic probe that this application embodiment provided, the lens group is used for right the laser of fiber element output carries out the plastic, forms first ring cone light, ring array ultrasonic transducer is used for gathering first ring cone light shines and stimulates the photoacoustic signal that forms on waiting to form the object, thereby utilizes the collection ring array ultrasonic transducer cooperation of photoacoustic signal is through the first ring cone light of lens group outgoing, directly obtains the annular region's that is used for realizing annular photoacoustic image photoacoustic signal, and need not to rotate along the axis direction of basement again, thereby has improved photoacoustic imaging speed, and then has improved photoacoustic imaging quality.
In addition, the ultrasonic probe provided by the embodiment of the application is characterized in that the optical fiber element positioned in the hollow substrate can move along the direction parallel to the axis of the substrate, so that the distance between one end of the optical fiber element facing the lens group and the lens group can be adjusted. Therefore, the ultrasonic probe can adjust the distance between the optical fiber element and the lens group by moving the optical fiber element along the direction parallel to the axis of the substrate to generate the first annular cone light with different cone angles, so that an excitation area formed by an object to be imaged and irradiated by the generated first annular cone light can be overlapped with a detection area of the annular array ultrasonic transducer, the excitation area and the detection area are better matched, efficient coupling of a light field and a sound field in biological tissues can be realized, the signal-to-noise ratio of photoacoustic imaging is improved, and the quality of photoacoustic imaging is further improved.
Drawings
In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present application or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below, it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to the drawings without creative efforts.
Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an ultrasound probe provided in an embodiment of the present application;
FIG. 2 is an enlarged schematic view of the lens assembly and the optical fiber element corresponding to FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a lens assembly and optical fiber components of an ultrasound probe according to another embodiment of the present application;
FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a portion of an ultrasound probe according to yet another embodiment of the present application;
fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of an endoscopic imaging method according to an embodiment of the present application;
fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart of an endoscopic imaging method according to another embodiment of the present application.
Detailed Description
The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.
In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present application, but the present application may be practiced in other ways than those described herein, and it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the present application is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.
As mentioned in the background section, the presently available endoscopic photoacoustic imaging systems have poor imaging quality.
The inventor researches and discovers that in the existing endoscopic photoacoustic imaging system, a single ultrasonic transducer array element acquires photoacoustic signals, and the specific work engineering is as follows: the laser is focused in the micro catheter and then reaches the tissue to realize efficient excitation to generate photoacoustic signals, then the photoacoustic signals are collected by a single ultrasonic transducer array element to obtain a piece of depth information, then point-by-point scanning is carried out through rotating the catheter to obtain a circle of B ultrasonic images, and finally three-dimensional images are formed through stable retraction along the axial direction.
Because most of the existing photoacoustic endoscopic imaging systems adopt a point scanning mode of a single ultrasonic transducer array element probe to obtain a three-dimensional image, a catheter inevitably needs to be swung or rotated to obtain a sufficient imaging range in the point scanning process, so that the imaging speed is slow, and great challenges are brought to the application and popularization of the photoacoustic endoscopic imaging system.
In view of this, the present application provides an ultrasound probe of an endoscope, as shown in fig. 1, the ultrasound probe including:
the substrate 1, the substrate 1 is a hollow substrate;
the optical fiber element 2 is positioned in the substrate and is used for transmitting laser emitted by the laser;
the lens group 3 is positioned on one side of the substrate 1 and is used for shaping the laser transmitted by the optical fiber element 2 to form first annular cone light, and the first annular cone light is used for irradiating an object to be imaged and exciting the object to be imaged to generate a photoacoustic signal;
the annular array ultrasonic transducer 4 is annularly arranged on the outer side of the substrate 1 and used for collecting the photoacoustic signals, and the photoacoustic signals are used for forming a three-dimensional photoacoustic image of the object to be imaged.
In the embodiment of the present application, the object to be imaged may be a biological tissue model or a non-biological tissue model, which is not limited in the present application as long as it is a model whose internal structure cannot be viewed from the outside. Specifically, in one embodiment of the present application, the object to be imaged may be a model of biological tissue, for example, a model of an alimentary tract or a model of a blood vessel, and in another embodiment of the present application, the object to be imaged may also be a model of non-biological tissue, for example, a model of a duct. The present application is not limited thereto, as the case may be. When the object to be imaged may be a model of biological tissue, the ultrasound probe may be applied to a plurality of application scenarios, for example, intra-alimentary tract imaging, intravascular imaging, etc., which are not limited in this application, as the case may be.
On the basis of any of the above embodiments, in one embodiment of the present application, the substrate is a columnar substrate, specifically, in one embodiment of the present application, the columnar substrate may be in a shape of a cylinder, and in another embodiment of the present application, the columnar substrate may also be in a shape of a square column, which is not limited in this application, as the case may be. It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present application, the substrate material may be a backing sound absorption material, so that when the array ultrasonic transducer works, the backing sound absorption material absorbs useless sound waves at a side of the array ultrasonic transducer close to the substrate, and simultaneously, the backing sound absorption material can also buffer a vibration condition of the array ultrasonic transducer when the array ultrasonic transducer works, so as to protect the array ultrasonic transducer.
In the ultrasonic probe that this application embodiment provided, the lens group is used for right the laser of fiber element output carries out the plastic, forms first ring cone light, ring array ultrasonic transducer is used for gathering first ring cone light shines and stimulates the photoacoustic signal that forms on waiting to form the object, thereby utilizes the collection ring array ultrasonic transducer cooperation of photoacoustic signal can directly obtain the annular region's that is used for realizing annular photoacoustic image photoacoustic signal through the first ring cone light of lens group outgoing, and need not to rotate along the axis direction of basement again, thereby has improved photoacoustic imaging speed, and then has improved photoacoustic imaging quality.
It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the first ring cone light is an annular light beam, and an overall shape of the annular light beam is a cone, specifically, a projection of each cross section of the first ring cone light in a direction perpendicular to the substrate axis on a preset plane is an annular shape, and the preset plane is a plane perpendicular to the substrate axis.
On the basis of the above embodiment, in an embodiment of the present application, widths of the respective rings are the same, that is, the first ring cone light is equal-thickness ring cone light, so that light intensities at positions in an action region on an object to be imaged, which is irradiated by the first ring cone light, are the same, and an overlapping region of the action region, which is formed by irradiating the object to be imaged by the first ring cone light, and a detection region of the ring array ultrasonic transducer is an annular region, and the widths of the annular regions are the same everywhere, thereby improving quality of photoacoustic imaging. In another embodiment of the present application, widths of the rings are not completely the same, that is, the first ring cone light is a non-equal-thickness ring cone light, which is not limited in the present application, as the case may be.
It should be further noted that, in theory, the equal-thickness ring cone light in the embodiment of the present application means that the thickness of the ring cone light does not change in the transmission process of the ring cone light.
On the basis of any of the above embodiments, in an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 2, the lens group 30 includes:
a convex lens 31, wherein the convex lens 31 is used for converging or diverging the laser light transmitted by the optical fiber element 20;
a conical mirror 32, wherein the conical mirror 32 is used for forming second annular conical light based on the laser emitted by the convex lens 31;
and the reflector 33 is used for reflecting the second annular cone light emitted by the cone mirror 32 to form first annular cone light, so that in the photoacoustic imaging process, the reflector 33 is matched with the annular array ultrasonic transducer 40 to improve the photoacoustic imaging speed and further improve the photoacoustic imaging quality.
In the embodiment of the present application, the convex lens 31 is configured to converge or diverge the laser light transmitted by the optical fiber element 20, so that the convex lens 31 can affect a divergence angle of a light beam formed by the laser light output by the optical fiber element after passing through the conical mirror 32, so as to adjust a coupling state of a light field of the first annular conical light and a sound field of the annular array ultrasonic transducer, and further improve photoacoustic imaging quality.
In the embodiment of the present application, the convex lens 31 may form the equal-thickness ring cone light regardless of whether the laser light transmitted by the optical fiber element 20 is converged or diverged, specifically, the convex lens 31 converges the laser light transmitted by the optical fiber element 20 to form the equal-thickness ring cone light, or the convex lens 31 diverges the laser light transmitted by the optical fiber element 20 to form the equal-thickness ring cone light, as the case may be.
Specifically, as shown in fig. 3, in an embodiment of the present application, the convex lens 31 is specifically configured to, when converging the laser light transmitted by the optical fiber element 20: the divergent laser light transmitted by the optical fiber element 20 is collimated to form a parallel light beam, so that the subsequent cone lens 32 forms an equal-thickness ring cone light based on the parallel light beam.
Optionally, in an embodiment of the present application, the cone mirror is a diffraction-free optical device, which is not limited in the present application, as the case may be.
It should be noted that, when the ultrasound probe is specifically applied, the effective coupling of the first annular cone beam and the sound field of the ultrasound detection region can be ensured by designing the parameters of each optical element in the ultrasound probe, and in the process of being applied to the medical field, the sound field and the light field coupling region can completely cover the target region in the living body by designing the parameters of each optical element in the ultrasound probe based on the actual biological environment, so the application does not limit the parameters of each optical element in the ultrasound probe, which is determined by the circumstances.
In the specific manufacturing process, after parameters of each optical element in the ultrasonic probe are determined, the micro optical elements involved in the ultrasonic probe can be customized, processed and assembled, so that the precise arrangement of the plurality of optical elements is realized on the premise of ensuring the micro size of the endoscopic probe.
Specifically, as shown in fig. 3, in an embodiment of the present application, the lens assembly further includes: an optical barrel 34; in the embodiment of the present application, the convex lens 31, the conical mirror 32, and the reflecting mirror 33 are sequentially disposed in the optical barrel 34.
It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the side wall of the optical barrel 34 located between the conical mirror 32 and the reflecting mirror 33 is light-transmissive, so that the first annular conical light formed by reflection of the reflecting mirror 33 can be irradiated to the outside of the optical barrel 34.
Specifically, as shown in fig. 3, in an embodiment of the present application, the optical barrel 34 includes a first partial barrel 341, a second partial barrel 342, and a third partial barrel 343, wherein the second partial barrel 342 is located between the first partial barrel 341 and the third partial barrel 343.
It should be noted that fig. 3 shows the size of the partial components in the optical lens barrel provided in the embodiment of the present application, for example, the size of the first partial lens barrel 341 in the barrel axis direction is 13.96mm, the size of the inner diameter of the first partial lens barrel 341 is 7mm, the size of the second partial lens barrel 342 in the barrel axis direction is 2mm, the size of the inner diameter of the second partial lens barrel 342 is 5.26mm, the size of the third partial lens barrel 343 in the barrel axis direction is 11mm, the size of the outer diameter of the third partial lens barrel 343 is 10mm, the size of the inner diameter is 5mm, and the like, but this is only an example of the specific structure of the optical lens barrel, and the size of the optical lens barrel provided in the embodiment of the present application is not limited, as the case may be.
On the basis of the above embodiments, in an embodiment of the present application, the convex lens, the conical mirror and the reflecting mirror may be fixedly disposed in the optical barrel or movably disposed in the optical barrel, which is not limited in the present application.
Specifically, in another embodiment of the present application, when the convex lens, the cone mirror and the reflecting mirror are movably disposed in the optical barrel, the convex lens can move along an axial direction of the optical barrel, and the cone mirror can move along the axial direction of the optical barrel.
On the basis of the above embodiments, in one embodiment of the present application, the optical barrel is an optical barrel having an internal thread; in an embodiment of the present application, the lens group further includes: a first compression ring set and a second compression ring set; the first pressing ring set comprises a first pressing ring with an external thread and a second pressing ring with an external thread, the convex lens is located between the first pressing ring and the second pressing ring, and the first pressing ring set is used for fixing the convex lens and can drive the convex lens to move along the axial direction of the optical lens barrel so as to adjust the position of the convex lens on the optical lens barrel;
the second clamping ring set comprises a third clamping ring with an external thread and a fourth clamping ring with an external thread, the conical mirror is located between the third clamping ring and the fourth clamping ring, the second clamping ring set is used for fixing the conical mirror, and the conical mirror can be driven to move in the axis direction of the optical lens barrel so as to be adjusted.
On the basis of the above embodiments, in an embodiment of the present application, the reflecting mirror is movable with the optical barrel along an axial direction of the optical barrel, and in the embodiment of the present application, the lens group further includes: a third press ring set; the third clamping ring set comprises a fifth clamping ring with an external thread and a sixth clamping ring with an external thread, the reflector is located between the fifth clamping ring and the sixth clamping ring, the third clamping ring set is used for fixing the reflector and can drive the reflector to move along the axis direction of the optical lens barrel so as to adjust the position of the optical lens barrel.
On the basis of any of the above embodiments, in an embodiment of the present application, the optical lens barrel may be directly fixed to a side of the substrate facing the lens group, that is, the optical lens barrel is directly fixed to a top end of the annular array ultrasonic transducer.
In another embodiment of the present application, the endoscope further includes a metal cylinder located in the substrate, the optical fiber element is located in a cavity of the metal cylinder, one end of the metal cylinder fixes the optical lens barrel, and the other end of the metal cylinder, which is away from the lens group, is provided with a torque spring, so that the lens group is driven by the torque spring to move relative to the circular array ultrasonic transducer, thereby changing a distance between the lens group and the circular array ultrasonic transducer.
On the basis of any one of the above embodiments, in an embodiment of the present application, the optical fiber element can move along a direction parallel to the axis of the substrate to adjust a distance between one end of the optical fiber element facing the lens group and the lens group, and therefore, the ultrasonic probe can also achieve dynamic adjustment of the first annular cone light by accurately controlling the distance between the optical fiber element and the lens group, so that the first annular cone light reaches a detection region of an ultrasonic field of the annular array ultrasonic transducer to perform coupling of the optical field and the acoustic field. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the optical fiber element may include an optical fiber, and in other embodiments of the present application, the optical fiber element may further include other devices, which are not limited in this application, as the case may be.
From the above, the optical fiber element located inside the hollow substrate in the present application can be moved in a direction parallel to the axis of the substrate, so that the distance between one end of the optical fiber element facing the lens group and the lens group can be adjusted. Therefore, the ultrasonic probe can adjust the distance between the optical fiber element and the lens group by moving the optical fiber element along the direction parallel to the axis of the substrate, indirectly change the size of the cone angle of the first annular cone light to generate the first annular cone light with different cone angles, so as to adjust the coupling state of the optical field and the sound field, further enable the annular action area formed by the first annular cone light irradiating the object to be imaged to be overlapped with the annular detection area of the annular array ultrasonic transducer, enable the annular action area and the annular detection area to be better matched, further realize the efficient coupling of the optical field and the sound field in the biological tissue, improve the signal-to-noise ratio of photoacoustic imaging, and further improve the quality of the photoacoustic imaging.
On the basis of any one of the above embodiments, in an embodiment of the present application, the ring array ultrasonic transducer includes at least one row of ultrasonic transducer elements surrounding an axis of the substrate, each row of ultrasonic transducer elements includes a plurality of ultrasonic transducer array elements, and the ultrasonic transducer array elements are used for acquiring the photoacoustic signals in photoacoustic imaging.
It should be noted that, the one-dimensional ultrasonic transducer includes a plurality of ultrasonic transducers, and the plurality of ultrasonic transducer array elements extend and are arranged along one direction; the ultrasonic transducer of more than 1 dimension and less than 2 dimensions includes: the ultrasonic transducer array elements are respectively arranged in an extending mode in two mutually perpendicular directions, and the difference value between the number of the ultrasonic transducer array elements in one direction and the number of the ultrasonic transducer array elements in the other direction is larger than a preset value, for example, the number of the ultrasonic transducer array elements in one direction is far smaller than the number of the ultrasonic transducer array elements in the other direction. Specifically, the ultrasonic transducers larger than 1 dimension and smaller than 2 dimensions can be classified into 1.25-dimensional ultrasonic transducers, 1.5-dimensional ultrasonic transducers and 1.75-dimensional ultrasonic transducers according to different control modes of leads of each row of ultrasonic transducer array elements in the ultrasonic transducers.
The two-dimensional ultrasonic transducer includes: the ultrasonic transducer array elements are respectively arranged in an extending manner along two mutually vertical directions, and the number of the ultrasonic transducer array elements along the two directions is the same; or the plurality of ultrasonic transducer array elements extend and are arranged along two mutually perpendicular directions respectively, and the difference value between the number of the ultrasonic transducer array elements in one direction and the number of the ultrasonic transducer array elements in the other direction is smaller than a preset value, for example, the difference between the number of the ultrasonic transducer array elements in one direction and the number of the ultrasonic transducer array elements in the other direction is not large. It should be noted that the content of this part is already described in detail in the prior art, and this is not described in detail in this application.
Based on the above description, similarly, in the embodiment of the present application, the one-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer includes only one row of ultrasonic transducer arrays surrounding the axis of the substrate, and each row of ultrasonic transducer arrays includes a plurality of ultrasonic transducer array elements; greater than 1 dimension and less than 2 dimensions of the ring array ultrasonic transducer: the ultrasonic transducer array comprises at least two rows of ultrasonic transducer array elements surrounding the axis of the substrate, each row of ultrasonic transducer array elements comprises a plurality of ultrasonic transducer array elements, and the absolute value of the difference between the number of the rows of the ultrasonic transducer array elements and the number of the ultrasonic transducer array elements included in each row of the ultrasonic transducer array elements is larger than a preset value. Optionally, the greater-than-1-dimensional and smaller-than-2-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer may be a 1.25-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer, a 1.5-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer or a 1.75-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer according to different control modes of leads of ultrasonic transducer array elements in the ultrasonic transducer; the two-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer (namely the two-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer) comprises at least two rows of ultrasonic transducer array elements surrounding the axis of the substrate, and the number of the rows of the ultrasonic transducer array elements is the same as that of the ultrasonic transducers included in each row of the ultrasonic transducer array elements; or the absolute value of the difference value between the row number of the ultrasonic transducer array elements and the number of the ultrasonic transducers included in each row of the ultrasonic transducer array elements is less than a preset value. It should be noted that, the value of the preset value in the embodiment of the present application is determined according to the actual situation, and the present application does not limit this.
Specifically, in an embodiment of the present application, the annular array ultrasonic transducer may be a one-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer, that is, the annular array ultrasonic transducer includes only one row of ultrasonic transducer elements surrounding an axis of the substrate, and each row of ultrasonic transducer elements includes a plurality of ultrasonic transducer array elements.
In another embodiment of the present application, the annular array ultrasonic transducer includes at least two rows of ultrasonic transducer array elements surrounding an axis of the substrate, each row of ultrasonic transducer array elements includes a plurality of ultrasonic transducer array elements, and the ultrasonic transducer array elements are configured to acquire the photoacoustic signals to increase a detection area of the annular array ultrasonic transducer, so that during photoacoustic imaging, an overlapping area of the first annular cone beam and the detection area of the annular array ultrasonic transducer is increased, efficient coupling of a light field and a sound field is further achieved, and thus a signal-to-noise ratio of the photoacoustic imaging is improved.
Specifically, on the basis of the above embodiments, in an embodiment of the present application, the annular array ultrasonic transducer may also be a 1.25-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer, a 1.5-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer, or a 1.75-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer.
The inventor researches and discovers that, in the embodiment of the present application, no matter when the annular array ultrasonic transducer is a one-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer, a 1.25-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer, a 1.5-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer, or a 1.75-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer, only a two-dimensional tomographic image can be realized by collecting a photoacoustic signal once, if a three-dimensional image is to be realized, reconstruction of the three-dimensional image can be realized only by superimposing two-dimensional tomographic images corresponding to each annular position along the axial direction of the substrate in a mechanical scanning manner, based on this, in the embodiment of the present application, if the annular array ultrasonic transducer is a one-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer, or the annular array ultrasonic transducer is the 1.5-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer, the ultrasonic probe further includes a mechanical scanning device, and the mechanical scanning device is used for driving the annular array ultrasonic transducer to translate along the axial direction of the substrate, so that the object to be imaged and the annular array ultrasonic transducer move relatively to form a three-dimensional image.
The inventor further researches and discovers that the imaging speed is low in a mode of acquiring a three-dimensional image by a mechanical scanning mode, and the imaging quality is easily influenced by tissue motion, so that the imaging quality is poor.
In addition, the inventor researches and discovers that when the first annular cone light irradiates an object to be imaged and generates a photoacoustic signal at the irradiated position of the object to be imaged, the photoacoustic signal is acquired by matching with the two-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer, so that the endoscopic imaging system comprising the ultrasonic probe performs beam synthesis on the photoacoustic signal acquired by each ultrasonic transducer array element according to the distance from the ultrasonic transducer array element to the irradiated position of the object to be imaged, and obtains a three-dimensional image of the object to be imaged at the irradiated position irradiated by the first annular cone light based on the synthesized beam.
Based on this, in another embodiment of the present application, the annular array ultrasonic transducer is a two-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer, in this embodiment of the present application, the annular array ultrasonic transducer includes a plurality of rows of ultrasonic transducer array elements surrounding the axis of the substrate, and the number of rows of the ultrasonic transducer array elements is the same as the number of the ultrasonic transducers included in each row of the ultrasonic transducer array elements, so that in the photoacoustic imaging process, the two-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer can acquire photoacoustic signals, which are generated at a position where an object to be imaged is irradiated by the first annular cone light, and propagate to a three-dimensional space, so as to obtain a three-dimensional photoacoustic image at the irradiated position of the object to be imaged through one acquisition of the photoacoustic signals without driving the annular array ultrasonic transducer to translate along the axis of the substrate, so as to improve the imaging speed and reduce the degree of influence of tissue motion, thereby improving the quality of three-dimensional imaging.
Specifically, in an embodiment of the present application, the annular array ultrasonic transducer in the ultrasonic probe is a two-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer, and the optical fiber element can move in a direction parallel to an axis of the substrate to adjust a distance between one end of the optical fiber element facing the lens group and the lens group, so that the ultrasonic probe can adjust an area and/or a position of the equal-thickness annular cone light acting on the object to be imaged by dynamically adjusting a ring size and/or a beam angle (i.e., a cone angle) of the equal-thickness annular cone light, thereby obtaining three-dimensional photoacoustic imaging of different areas and/or different positions on the object to be imaged. In another embodiment of the present application, the annular array ultrasonic transducer in the ultrasonic probe is a two-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer, and the ultrasonic probe can further adjust the light ring size and/or the beam angle (i.e., the cone angle) of the equal-thickness annular cone light by adjusting the distance between the lens group and the annular array ultrasonic transducer, so as to adjust the area and/or the position of the equal-thickness annular cone light acting on the object to be imaged, thereby obtaining three-dimensional photoacoustic imaging of different areas and/or different positions on the object to be imaged. In other embodiments of the present application, the ultrasound probe may also adjust the halo size and/or the beam angle (i.e., the cone angle) of the equal-thickness-ring cone light in other manners, which is not specifically limited in this application, as the case may be.
It should be noted that, in the photoacoustic imaging process, if a three-dimensional image of the object to be imaged in a larger range is obtained, the different positions of the object to be imaged can be irradiated by dynamically adjusting the position of the first ring cone beam, so that tissues at the different positions of the object to be imaged generate photoacoustic signals, and finally, a three-dimensional photoacoustic image of the tissue in the larger range of the object to be imaged is obtained.
It should be noted that if the area of the light cone of the equal-thickness ring acting on the object to be imaged is adjusted to be maximum by adjusting the ring size and the beam angle (i.e. the cone angle) of the light cone of the equal-thickness ring, the usage requirement cannot be met (if a three-dimensional photoacoustic image of the whole object to be imaged needs to be obtained), on the basis of the above-mentioned embodiment, in an embodiment of the present application, the ultrasound probe further includes: and the mechanical scanning device drives the annular array ultrasonic transducer to translate along the axis of the substrate so as to obtain a three-dimensional photoacoustic image of the object to be imaged in a larger range, such as a three-dimensional photoacoustic image of the whole object to be imaged.
Researchers have found that, in addition to photoacoustic endoscopy for photoacoustic imaging, endoscopy for ultrasonic imaging (EUS) is also available, which is a medical device integrating ultrasound and endoscopy and has a good ultrasonic depth. After the ultrasonic endoscope enters a body cavity, the wall of the internal organ or the adjacent visceral organs can be directly observed, the wall of the internal organ or the adjacent visceral organs can be subjected to tomography scanning, and ultrasonic images of all layers below the mucous membrane of the wall of the internal organ and the adjacent visceral organs (such as mediastinum, pancreas, bile duct, lymph node and the like) around the wall of the internal organ are obtained. The early ultrasonic endoscope system mainly adopts a mechanical scanning mode, and specifically comprises the following steps: a micro motor is used for driving a connecting rod to drive a single ultrasonic transducer at the top end of the endoscope to rotate for 360 degrees, and an annular sectional image vertical to the shaft is obtained; the advantage of this scanning approach is that the transducer design is simple, but requires high precision mechanical connections and drives, is prone to damage, and the resulting image is not stable enough.
With the development of science and technology, in the 21 st century, companies such as fuji, olympus, bingde and the like have successively developed a 360-degree electronic annular scanning ultrasonic probe, and the 360-degree electronic annular scanning ultrasonic probe is provided with a one-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer and can be combined with color Doppler ultrasonic diagnostic equipment adopting a full digital image processing technology to realize a novel full digital ultrasonic endoscope imaging system. The ultrasonic transducer used by the 360-degree annular ultrasonic endoscope generally comprises dozens to hundreds of long strip-shaped array elements, the dozens to hundreds of long strip-shaped array elements are uniformly arranged in a cylindrical shape along the circumferential direction, the outer diameter of the ultrasonic transducer is generally not more than 13mm, the central frequency value range is 3 MHz-15 MHz, and the electric connecting wire of each array element is independently led out, so that electric pulses can be utilized for respectively exciting to obtain 360-degree annular scanning images. The mode can complete annular scanning without being driven by a direct current motor, overcomes the defect of a mechanical annular scanning ultrasonic endoscope, and enables the electronic annular scanning ultrasonic endoscope to be suitable for large-scale scanning, integral evaluation and judgment and the like. The quality of the images obtained in this manner is yet to be improved.
The inventor researches and discovers that the ultrasonic probe provided by the embodiment of the application can be used for both the photoacoustic imaging technology and the ultrasonic imaging technology, and can also be simultaneously applied to the photoacoustic imaging technology and the ultrasonic imaging technology. Moreover, the ultrasonic probe provided in the above embodiments of the present application has been subjected to previous phantom and in vitro animal tissue photoacoustic imaging experiments, so that the ultrasonic probe has a great practical application value.
Specifically, on the basis of any of the above embodiments, in an embodiment of the present application, if the ultrasound probe is also used in an ultrasound imaging technology or applied to both a photoacoustic imaging technology and an ultrasound imaging technology, the circular array ultrasound transducer is further configured to transmit an ultrasound wave onto the object to be imaged and collect the ultrasound wave reflected from the object to be imaged, where the ultrasound wave is used to form a three-dimensional ultrasound image of the object to be imaged, so that a three-dimensional ultrasound image obtained subsequently based on the ultrasound wave can be combined with the three-dimensional photoacoustic image to obtain a three-dimensional acousto-optic fused image, thereby further improving imaging quality.
On the basis of any of the above embodiments, in an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 4, the ultrasound probe further includes: and the flexible guide pipe 50 is positioned on one side of the substrate far away from the lens group and is used for wrapping the conducting wires and the optical fiber elements of the annular array ultrasonic transducer so as to protect the conducting wires and the devices positioned in the annular array ultrasonic transducer.
To sum up, among the ultrasonic probe that this application embodiment provided, the lens group is used for right the laser of fiber element output carries out the plastic, forms first ring cone light, ring array ultrasonic transducer is used for gathering first ring cone light shines and stimulates the optoacoustic signal that forms on waiting to form images the object, thereby utilizes the collection ring array ultrasonic transducer cooperation of optoacoustic signal is through the first ring cone light of lens group outgoing, directly obtains the optoacoustic signal that is used for realizing the annular region of annular optoacoustic image, and need not to rotate along the axis direction of basement again to optoacoustic imaging speed has been improved, and then photoacoustic imaging quality has been improved.
In addition, the ultrasonic probe provided by the embodiment of the application is characterized in that the optical fiber element positioned in the hollow substrate can move along the direction parallel to the axis of the substrate, so that the distance between one end of the optical fiber element facing the lens group and the lens group can be adjusted. Therefore, the ultrasonic probe can adjust the distance between the optical fiber element and the lens group by moving the optical fiber element along the direction parallel to the axis of the substrate to generate the first annular cone light with different cone angles, so that an excitation area formed by an object to be imaged and irradiated by the generated first annular cone light can be overlapped with a detection area of the annular array ultrasonic transducer, the excitation area and the detection area are better matched, efficient coupling of a light field and a sound field in biological tissues can be realized, the signal-to-noise ratio of photoacoustic imaging is improved, and the quality of photoacoustic imaging is further improved.
Therefore, the ultrasonic probe provided by the embodiment of the application can generate equal-thickness ring cone light in a tiny space, so that an annular array ultrasonic transducer can be used for collecting photoacoustic signals generated by the equal-thickness ring cone light irradiating on an object to be imaged; meanwhile, the ring array ultrasonic transducer can be used for transmitting and receiving the reflected ultrasonic signals to the object to be imaged. The distribution of the light field and the sound field in the object to be imaged is controlled by adjusting the relative positions of the annular cone light and the ultrasonic transducer, so that the high-efficiency light-sound coupling and conversion efficiency in the object to be imaged can be realized, and the three-dimensional imaging quality can be improved.
In addition, the present application also provides an endoscope, which includes an ultrasonic probe, wherein the ultrasonic probe is the ultrasonic probe described in any one of the above embodiments.
In an embodiment of the present application, based on any of the embodiments described above, and as shown in fig. 4 in continuation, the endoscope further comprises: an optical mirror 60, said optical mirror 60 being located in said substrate for facilitating accurate positioning of the ultrasound probe and thereby facilitating guiding said ultrasound probe to a target position. Optionally, the optical mirror 60 is an optical camera, which is not limited in this application, as the case may be.
In an embodiment of the present application, based on any of the embodiments described above, and as shown in fig. 4 in continuation, the endoscope further comprises: and the puncture needle 70 is positioned in the substrate and used for carrying out minimally invasive puncture suction sampling on the imaging position of the object to be imaged.
In an embodiment of the present application, on the basis of any one of the above embodiments, the endoscope further includes: and the illuminating lamp is positioned in the substrate and is used for providing a light source for the optical lens.
It should be noted that, in an embodiment of the present application, the endoscope may further include other elements, which are not specifically limited in the present application.
It should be further noted that, since the description of the ultrasound probe has been described in the foregoing embodiments, the description of the present application is omitted here.
In addition, the present application also provides an endoscopic imaging system, which includes an endoscope, wherein the endoscope is the endoscope described in any one of the above embodiments.
On the basis of any one of the above embodiments, in an embodiment of the present application, the endoscopic imaging system further includes: a computer for forming a three-dimensional photoacoustic image of the object to be imaged based on the photoacoustic signals.
It should be noted that, in an embodiment of the present application, if a three-dimensional image of the object to be imaged in a larger range or a larger range needs to be obtained, the computer may form a three-dimensional photoacoustic image at a certain position of the object to be imaged based on the photoacoustic signal at the certain position acquired by the annular array ultrasonic transducer, and finally superimpose the three-dimensional photoacoustic images at all the positions to obtain the three-dimensional photoacoustic image of the object to be imaged. In another embodiment of the present application, the computer may further obtain photoacoustic signals at all positions of the object to be imaged based on the photoacoustic signals at a certain position of the object to be imaged collected by the annular array ultrasonic transducer, and then obtain a three-dimensional photoacoustic image of the object to be imaged based on the photoacoustic signals at all positions of the object to be imaged.
Specifically, in an embodiment of the present application, if the ultrasound probe is further used in an ultrasound imaging technology or applied to both a photoacoustic imaging technology and an ultrasound imaging technology, the annular array ultrasound transducer included in the endoscope is further configured to transmit an ultrasound wave onto the object to be imaged and collect the ultrasound wave reflected from the object to be imaged, in an embodiment of the present application, the computer is further configured to obtain the three-dimensional ultrasound image based on the ultrasound wave reflected from the object to be imaged, and obtain a three-dimensional acousto-optic fusion image based on the three-dimensional ultrasound image and the three-dimensional photoacoustic image, so as to implement multi-modal image fusion, and further improve imaging quality.
Optionally, in an embodiment of the present application, the obtaining the three-dimensional ultrasound image based on the ultrasound reflected from the object to be imaged includes: and reconstructing the three-dimensional ultrasonic image of the object to be imaged based on the ultrasonic waves reflected from the object to be imaged to obtain the three-dimensional ultrasonic image.
On the basis of the foregoing embodiments, in an embodiment of the present application, the obtaining a three-dimensional acousto-optic fusion image based on the three-dimensional ultrasound image and the three-dimensional photoacoustic image includes: and superposing the three-dimensional ultrasonic image and the three-dimensional photoacoustic image to obtain a three-dimensional acousto-optic fusion image.
Accordingly, the present application also provides an endoscopic imaging method applied to the endoscopic imaging system provided in any of the above embodiments, as shown in fig. 5, the endoscopic imaging method includes:
s100: shaping laser emitted by a laser to form first ring cone light, wherein the first ring cone light irradiates an object to be imaged and excites the object to be imaged to generate a photoacoustic signal;
s200: acquiring the photoacoustic signals, wherein the photoacoustic signals are used for forming a three-dimensional photoacoustic image of the object to be imaged;
in an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 6, based on any of the above embodiments, the endoscopic imaging method further includes:
s300: and obtaining a three-dimensional photoacoustic image of the object to be imaged based on the photoacoustic signal.
Optionally, in an embodiment of the present application, the obtaining, based on the photoacoustic signal, a three-dimensional photoacoustic image of the object to be imaged includes: and reconstructing the three-dimensional photoacoustic image of the object to be imaged based on the photoacoustic signal to obtain the three-dimensional photoacoustic image.
In an embodiment of the present application, on the basis of any one of the above embodiments, the endoscopic imaging method further includes:
transmitting ultrasonic waves to the object to be imaged, and collecting the ultrasonic waves reflected from the object to be imaged;
obtaining a three-dimensional ultrasonic image of the object to be imaged based on the ultrasonic waves reflected from the object to be imaged;
and obtaining a three-dimensional acousto-optic fusion image based on the three-dimensional ultrasonic image and the three-dimensional photoacoustic image.
On the basis of the foregoing embodiments, in an embodiment of the present application, the obtaining a three-dimensional acousto-optic fusion image based on the three-dimensional ultrasound image and the three-dimensional photoacoustic image includes:
and superposing the three-dimensional ultrasonic image and the three-dimensional photoacoustic image to obtain a three-dimensional acousto-optic fusion image so as to realize multi-modal image fusion and further improve the imaging quality.
In summary, in the endoscope, the endoscopic imaging system, and the endoscopic imaging method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the lens group is used to shape the laser output by the optical fiber element to form a first ring cone beam, and the ring array ultrasonic transducer is used to collect a photoacoustic signal formed by the first ring cone beam irradiating on an object to be imaged, so that the ring array ultrasonic transducer collecting the photoacoustic signal is used to cooperate with the first ring cone beam emitted through the lens group to directly obtain a photoacoustic signal for realizing an annular region of an annular photoacoustic image without rotating along the axial direction of the substrate, thereby improving the photoacoustic imaging speed and further improving the photoacoustic imaging quality.
In addition, in the endoscope, the endoscopic imaging system and the endoscopic imaging method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the optical fiber element located inside the hollow base is movable in a direction parallel to the axis of the base, so that the distance between the optical fiber element and the lens group toward one end of the lens group can be adjusted. Therefore, the ultrasonic probe can adjust the distance between the optical fiber element and the lens group by moving the optical fiber element along the direction parallel to the axis of the substrate to generate the first annular cone light with different cone angles, so that an excitation area formed by an object to be imaged and irradiated by the generated first annular cone light can be overlapped with a detection area of the annular array ultrasonic transducer, the excitation area and the detection area are better matched, efficient coupling of a light field and a sound field in biological tissues can be realized, the signal-to-noise ratio of photoacoustic imaging is improved, and the quality of photoacoustic imaging is further improved.
It should be noted that, in the present application, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising an … …" does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.
All parts in the specification are described in a mode of combining parallel and progressive, each part is mainly described to be different from other parts, and the same and similar parts among all parts can be referred to each other.
In the above description of the disclosed embodiments, features described in various embodiments in this specification can be substituted for or combined with each other to enable those skilled in the art to make or use the present application. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the application. Thus, the present application is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.
Claims (16)
1. An endoscopic ultrasound probe, comprising:
a substrate, which is a hollow substrate;
an optical fiber element located in the substrate for transmitting laser light emitted by a laser;
the lens group is positioned on one side of the substrate and used for shaping the laser transmitted by the optical fiber element to form first annular cone light, and the first annular cone light is used for irradiating an object to be imaged and exciting the object to be imaged to generate a photoacoustic signal;
the annular array ultrasonic transducer is annularly arranged on the outer side of the substrate and used for collecting the photoacoustic signals, and the photoacoustic signals are used for forming a three-dimensional photoacoustic image of the object to be imaged.
2. The ultrasound probe of claim 1, wherein the fiber element is movable in a direction parallel to an axis of the substrate to adjust a distance between an end of the fiber element facing the lens group and the lens group.
3. The ultrasound probe of claim 2, wherein the ring array ultrasound transducer comprises at least one row of ultrasound transducer elements encircling an axis of the substrate, each row of ultrasound transducer elements comprising a plurality of ultrasound transducer elements for acquiring the photoacoustic signals.
4. The ultrasonic probe of claim 3, wherein the annular array ultrasonic transducer is a two-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer, the two-dimensional annular array ultrasonic transducer comprises a plurality of rows of ultrasonic transducer elements surrounding the substrate axis, and the number of rows of the ultrasonic transducer elements is the same as the number of ultrasonic transducer elements included in each row of the ultrasonic transducer elements.
5. The ultrasound probe of claim 1, further comprising: and the mechanical scanning device is used for driving the annular array ultrasonic transducer to translate along the axis of the substrate.
6. The ultrasonic probe of claim 1, wherein the ring array ultrasonic transducer is further configured to emit ultrasonic waves onto the object to be imaged and collect the ultrasonic waves reflected from the object to be imaged.
7. The ultrasound probe of claim 1, wherein the first ring of cones is a cone-shaped light beam, wherein the first ring of cones has a shape of a ring in a projection of each cross section in a direction perpendicular to the substrate axis in a predetermined plane, and a width of each ring is the same, and the predetermined plane is a plane perpendicular to the substrate axis.
8. The ultrasound probe of claim 1, wherein the lens group comprises:
the convex lens is used for converging or diverging the laser transmitted by the optical fiber element;
the conical mirror is used for forming second annular conical light based on the laser emitted by the convex lens;
and the reflector is used for reflecting the second annular cone light emitted by the cone mirror to form first annular cone light.
9. The ultrasound probe of claim 1, wherein the base is a cylindrical base.
10. An endoscope, comprising: an ultrasound probe, wherein the ultrasound probe is the ultrasound probe of any one of claims 1-9.
11. An endoscopic imaging system, comprising:
an endoscope according to claim 10.
12. The endoscopic imaging system according to claim 11, further comprising:
a computer for forming a three-dimensional photoacoustic image of the object to be imaged based on the photoacoustic signals.
13. The endoscopic imaging system according to claim 12, wherein if the endoscope includes an array-of-rings ultrasonic transducer for emitting ultrasonic waves onto the object to be imaged and collecting the ultrasonic waves reflected from the object to be imaged, the computer further obtains a three-dimensional ultrasonic image based on the ultrasonic waves reflected from the object to be imaged and obtains a three-dimensional acousto-optic fusion image based on the three-dimensional ultrasonic image and the three-dimensional photoacoustic image.
14. An endoscopic imaging method, comprising:
shaping laser emitted by a laser to form first ring cone light, wherein the first ring cone light irradiates an object to be imaged and excites the object to be imaged to generate a photoacoustic signal;
and acquiring the photoacoustic signals, wherein the photoacoustic signals are used for forming a three-dimensional photoacoustic image of the object to be imaged.
15. The endoscopic imaging method according to claim 14, further comprising: and obtaining a three-dimensional photoacoustic image of the object to be imaged based on the photoacoustic signal.
16. The endoscopic imaging method according to claim 15, further comprising:
transmitting ultrasonic waves to the object to be imaged, and collecting the ultrasonic waves reflected from the object to be imaged;
obtaining a three-dimensional ultrasonic image of the object to be imaged based on the ultrasonic waves reflected from the object to be imaged;
and obtaining a three-dimensional acousto-optic fusion image based on the three-dimensional ultrasonic image and the three-dimensional photoacoustic image.
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| CN117379093B (en) * | 2023-12-11 | 2024-03-15 | 深圳英美达医疗技术有限公司 | Ultrasonic imaging method based on ring array transducer and ultrasonic probe system |
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