JP4945326B2 - Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that can be used for diagnosis while outputting Doppler sound in a Doppler mode for observing blood flow.

  The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus transmits an ultrasonic wave to a subject via an ultrasonic probe, receives a reflected wave from the living body of the ultrasonic wave, and generates an ultrasonic image based on the received ultrasonic signal. Is generated. As a technique for generating an ultrasound image, a B mode for obtaining a tomographic image of a soft tissue of a living body, a color mode for displaying a blood flow situation (speed, direction, etc.) in two dimensions, and blood flow using a Doppler effect. There are various operation modes such as a Doppler mode that acquires the spectrum and spatial extent of the image.

In the Doppler mode, blood flow information is detected while confirming the Doppler sampling position on the B-mode image. At this time, audio data is captured from the Doppler signal waveform, synchronized with the Doppler image, and sent from the sound output unit. Outputting as a sound is performed (for example, refer patent document 1).
JP 2003-126091 A

  By the way, the Doppler sound output from the speaker in the Doppler mode represents the Doppler shift, the strength of the reflected signal, etc. For the operator, observing the Doppler sound together with the image is to identify and confirm the measurement position. It is useful because it facilitates. However, when the ultrasonic probe is moved carelessly during observation, the sample position of the Doppler moves, causing a problem that the pitch suddenly changes or a loud sound is generated. Such unintentional loud sounds make the operator feel surprised and stressed, and also give the patient anxiety.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the invention described in claim 1 is configured to transmit an ultrasonic wave from an ultrasonic probe to a subject, detect an reflected wave, and display an ultrasonic image generated on the monitor. In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that outputs the Doppler sound during the Doppler mode, the motion detection means that detects the motion of the ultrasonic probe and the Doppler sound that is output during the Doppler mode based on the signal obtained from the motion detection means. And control means for stopping or suppressing.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the first aspect, the motion detecting means is a motion sensor provided in the ultrasonic probe.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the first aspect, the motion detecting means is a video camera that photographs the ultrasonic probe.

  As shown in the section of means for solving the above-mentioned problems, the invention described in the claims of the present invention has the following effects.

  That is, by means of motion detection means for detecting the motion of the ultrasonic probe, and means for stopping or suppressing the Doppler sound output in the Doppler mode based on the signal indicating the motion of the ultrasonic probe obtained from the motion detection means, Even if the probe is moved inadvertently in the Doppler mode and the Doppler sample position is moved, it is possible to prevent the pitch of the Doppler sound from changing suddenly or generating a loud sound. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate such inconveniences that the operator himself is surprised and feels stress and gives anxiety to the patient who is being examined due to the unintentional loud sound being generated during the diagnosis.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG.

  FIG. 1 is a system diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention.

  The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes an ultrasonic probe (hereinafter simply referred to as a probe) 1 and an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body 10, and the probe 1 is connected to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body 10 by a cable 2.

  In general, the probe 1 has, for example, 128 ultrasonic transducers arranged in an array at the tip thereof, and the ultrasonic transducer is supersonic based on a transmission pulse sent from the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus body 10. A sound beam is generated and sent toward a subject (living body). This ultrasonic beam is reflected at the boundary of acoustic impedance in the living body, and the reflected wave is received by the ultrasonic transducer in the probe 1. This ultrasonic transducer converts the reflected wave of the received ultrasonic beam into an electric signal and sends it to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body 10 via the cable 2.

  The probe 1 used in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention incorporates a motion sensor 3 for detecting the movement of the probe 1 itself in addition to the general configuration of the probe 1 as described above. Yes.

  The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body 10 includes a system control circuit 11, a transmission / reception circuit 12 controlled by the system control circuit 11, an image processing circuit (usually referred to as Digital Scan Converter: DSC) 13, a CRT or a liquid crystal display panel. And the like, a sound output unit 15 for generating Doppler sound as an audible sound, and an operation panel 16 for an operator to perform appropriate setting operations.

  The system control circuit 11 includes, for example, an event control unit 21 that controls various events such as a Doppler range width setting, a Doppler flow velocity range setting, a Doppler baseline setting, and a Doppler gain setting, and blood flow information from the received signal. A Doppler signal detection unit 22 for detecting, a sound processing unit 23 for obtaining an acoustic signal by performing pulse code modulation on a Doppler signal waveform, a motion monitoring unit 24 for monitoring the movement of the probe 1 based on the output signal of the motion sensor 3, and various data A memory 25 or the like for storing is provided.

  The transmission / reception circuit 12 transmits a transmission pulse to the probe 1 based on the control of the system control circuit 11, receives a signal detected by the ultrasonic transducer of the probe 1, and receives the received signal as a system control circuit 11 and Output to the image processing circuit 13. The transmission / reception circuit 12 includes a transmission delay unit and a reception delay unit for each channel, for example, in order to electrically perform beam forming. Then, the image processing circuit 13 processes the signal detected by the ultrasonic transducer based on the control of the system control circuit 11, generates a two-dimensional image, and displays it on the display unit 14.

  Next, the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention configured as described above will be described.

  The operator places the probe 1 on the body surface of the subject and starts observation of the diagnostic site. During the observation, the transmission / reception circuit 12 of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body 10 transmits a transmission pulse to the probe 1 based on the control of the system control circuit 11. Accordingly, an ultrasonic beam based on this transmission pulse is transmitted from the ultrasonic transducer in the probe 1 toward the subject. This ultrasonic beam is reflected in the body of the subject, and the reflected wave is received by the ultrasonic transducer in the probe 1, converted into an electrical signal, and sent to the transmission / reception circuit 12 of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus body 10 via the cable 2. Sent.

  The transmission / reception circuit 12 delays the transmission pulse for each channel, for example, in order to electrically perform beam forming. However, the received signal is delayed for each channel and amplified to control the system. This is supplied to the circuit 11 and the image processing circuit 13. Here, the image processing circuit 13 processes the supplied signal based on the control of the system control circuit 11, generates a B-mode image (tomographic image), stores it in the frame memory, and displays it on the display unit 14.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of an image displayed on the display unit 14, and a B-mode image (tomographic image) 61 is displayed in the upper area of the display unit 14.

  The operator observes the B-mode image (tomographic image) 61 displayed in the upper area of the display unit 14 while placing the ultrasonic scan plane on the diagnostic part of the subject, that is, the longitudinal section of the organ or blood vessel to be measured. The contact position and angle of the probe 1 with respect to the subject are adjusted so as to match. When the operator wants to observe the blood flow state of the blood vessel after observing with the B-mode image (tomographic image) 61, the operator is provided on the operation panel 16 while maintaining the position and angle of the probe 1. The position and range of the region of interest are set by operating a track ball and various switches (not shown), and the color mode is turned on.

  When the color mode is designated from the operation panel 16 by the operator, the system control circuit 11 instructs the image processing circuit 13 to generate a color image. Upon receiving this instruction, the image processing circuit 13 processes the reception signal from the probe 1 to generate a color image and outputs it to the display unit 14. As indicated by the reference numeral 62 in FIG. 2, this color image is superimposed on the B-mode image (tomographic image) 61 and displayed in real time in the set region of interest. The color image 62 also displays a blood vessel 63 at the examination site.

  Further, when the operator designates the Doppler mode from the operation panel 16, the system control circuit 11 drives the Doppler signal detection unit 22 to enter the Doppler simultaneous mode, and scans over the B-mode image (tomographic image) 61 and the color image 62. Line 65 and Doppler sample marker 66 are displayed. The position of the Doppler sample marker 66 can be adjusted by a trackball (not shown) provided on the operation panel 16. When the blood vessel observation position on the blood vessel 63 is designated by the Doppler sample marker 66, the system control circuit 11 obtains velocity information from the echo signal at the designated position on the blood vessel 63, and frequency-analyzes it to obtain the blood flow velocity. The analysis result is sent to the image processing circuit 13.

  In the Doppler simultaneous mode, an acoustic signal is obtained by pulse code modulating the Doppler signal waveform in the sound processing unit 23, and this acoustic signal is sent to the audio output unit 15 including a speaker or the like via the image processing circuit 13. Is output as a so-called Doppler sound.

  The image processing circuit 13 converts the scanning line signal sequence of ultrasonic scanning into a scanning line signal sequence of a video format such as a television system, and combines it with character information and scales of various setting parameters to execute graphing. Therefore, in the Doppler simultaneous mode, the Doppler image 64 is displayed in real time in the lower area of the display unit 14 (below the B-mode image (tomographic image) 61) as shown in FIG. This Doppler image 64 is the blood vessel observation position designated on the blood vessel 63 by the Doppler sample marker 66. Note that by setting the measurement marker 67 on the Doppler image 64, the blood flow velocity at the position of the measurement marker 67 can be displayed as a numerical value on the screen.

  In this way, the operator confirms the blood vessel 63 and determines the blood flow position by observing the Doppler sound together with the Doppler simultaneous mode image displayed on the display unit 14 while adjusting the position and angle of the probe 1. An ultrasonic diagnosis is performed while performing an operation such as.

  Next, the operation of the motion sensor 3 provided in the probe 1 and the motion monitoring unit 24 provided in the system control circuit 11 will be described.

  The motion sensor 3 is incorporated in the probe 1 and emits a signal indicating whether the probe 1 itself is stationary or moving. The motion monitoring unit 24 detects a signal from the motion sensor 3. To monitor whether the probe 1 is stationary or moving. And when it detects that the probe 1 is moving, based on the detection signal, the level of the acoustic signal sent from the sound processing unit 23 to the audio output unit 15 is lowered, or the acoustic signal is cut off. It works like that.

  That is, in the Doppler simultaneous mode, when the probe 1 is normally placed on the body surface of the examination site of the subject and the position is determined, there is a small movement that slowly rotates the probe 1 or changes the angle. Inspection is performed without changing However, if the position of the probe 1 applied to the examination site shifts (moves) due to a large movement of the operator's body or the subject's body, the sample position of the Doppler will move, and until then the blood flow will be hit. When the ultrasonic beam hits the bones or muscles, the reflection increases, and the level and frequency of the Doppler sound changes, causing a phenomenon that a loud sound is emitted instantaneously.

  Therefore, in the present invention, the motion monitoring unit 24 provided in the system control circuit 11 detects a signal from the motion sensor 3 incorporated in the probe 1 to determine the degree of movement of the probe 1 and set a preset range. When the probe 1 moves beyond this level, the level of the acoustic signal transmitted from the sound processing unit 23 to the audio output unit 15 is reduced or the acoustic signal is blocked. For example, it is assumed that the level of the acoustic signal is reduced according to the detected movement amount of the probe 1, and the acoustic signal is blocked when the movement amount reaches a predetermined amount.

  This adjustment may be performed by controlling the level of the acoustic signal sent from the sound processing unit 23 to the audio output unit 15, and it goes without saying that the output level of the audio output unit 15 may be controlled. . When the movement monitoring unit 24 detects that the movement of the probe 1 has stopped, it stops the lowering or blocking of the level of the acoustic signal, returns to the original state, and restarts the output of the Doppler sound. .

  By doing this, in the Doppler simultaneous mode, if the probe is moved carelessly, the Doppler sample position will move, causing the pitch of the Doppler sound to change suddenly or generate a loud sound. Can be prevented. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate the inconvenience that the operator himself is surprised and feels stress and gives anxiety to the patient who is undergoing the diagnosis due to an unintentional loud sound during diagnosis.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the above-mentioned one Example, It can implement with a various form. The movement of the probe 1 is not limited to the motion sensor 3 provided in the probe 1. For example, a small video camera may be provided to monitor the movement of the probe 1 as an image.

It is the systematic diagram which showed the schematic structure of one Example of the ultrasonic diagnosing device which concerns on this invention. It is explanatory drawing which showed an example of the image displayed on a display part.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ultrasonic probe 2 Cable 3 Motion sensor 10 Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body 11 System control circuit 12 Transmission / reception circuit 13 Image processing circuit 14 Display part 15 Audio | voice output part 16 Operation panel 21 Event control part 22 Doppler signal detection part 23 Sound processing part 24 Motion monitor 25 Memory

Claims (3)

In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that transmits ultrasonic waves from an ultrasonic probe to a subject, detects the reflected waves, displays an ultrasonic image on a monitor, and outputs a Doppler sound in the Doppler mode.
Movement detecting means for detecting movement of the ultrasonic probe;
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: control means for stopping or suppressing Doppler sound output in the Doppler mode based on a signal obtained from the motion detection means. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the motion detection unit is a motion sensor provided in the ultrasonic probe. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the motion detection unit is a video camera that photographs the ultrasonic probe.

Images