JP5476534B2 - Focused ultrasound automatic irradiation system by ultrasound image processing, focused ultrasound automatic irradiation program, and computer-readable recording medium recording the same - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a HIFU automatic irradiation system capable of performing automatic irradiation safely and accurately in a focused ultrasound (HIFU) automatic irradiation system using ultrasonic image processing.

  An HIFU irradiation system using an ultrasound image obtained by an ultrasound diagnostic imaging apparatus is attracting attention as a treatment system capable of performing non-contact and minimally invasive treatment of fetal heart diseases such as fetal left heart hypoplasia syndrome (for example, Non-Patent Document 1). In such a conventional HIFU irradiation system using ultrasonic images, features of individual images acquired in real time are compared with a master image, and the similarity is judged by simple pattern matching. There is a limit to the accuracy of irradiation timing in Japan, and it has been difficult to determine an appropriate irradiation timing for an organ with a periodic movement such as the heart.

In addition, feature extraction by image processing can extract a characteristic shape with a certain degree of wide area, but it is not possible to extract features of parts that do not have much features, such as the atrial septum. Since it is difficult, the conventional system has a problem in that it is impossible to follow the irradiation target as the irradiation target, and thus the automatic irradiation of the HIFU cannot be performed.
Masayuki Fujisaki et al. “Possibility of fetal heart disease treatment application using high-density focused ultrasound (HIFU)” Proceedings of the 13th Annual Meeting of the Japan Fetal Heart Research 2007, 63P

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to enable accurate determination of irradiation timing in a HIFU automatic irradiation system using ultrasonic image processing, and safety. It is to provide a HIFU automatic irradiation system capable of appropriately performing automatic irradiation while securing the above.

  Another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic HIFU irradiation system capable of determining an appropriate irradiation timing for an organ with a periodic movement such as a heart.

  Still another object of the present invention is to provide an automatic HIFU irradiation system that enables automatic irradiation to a site where feature extraction is difficult, such as an atrial septum.

  The above object of the present invention is achieved by the following means.

(1) That is, the present invention provides an ultrasonic image acquisition unit that acquires ultrasonic image data of an object, an image formation unit that forms an image of the image data acquired by the ultrasonic image acquisition unit, and the image formation Tracking target designating means for designating the tracking target in the image formed by the means, irradiation target designating means for designating the irradiation target of the focused ultrasound in the image formed by the image forming means, and the tracking target designating means Based on the positional information of the tracking target detected by the positional information detecting means detected by the positional information detecting means for extracting the positional information of the tracking target based on the characteristic parameters A relative position calculating means for calculating a relative position of the irradiation target specified by the irradiation target specifying means; and an irradiation target calculated by the relative position calculating means. Focused ultrasound irradiating means for irradiating focused ultrasound to a pair position, and when the area of the tracking target has a specific periodic fluctuation, the area of the tracking target is calculated and the period from the time change of the area of the tracking target Periodic fluctuation information extracting means for extracting fluctuation information, and irradiation timing determination for determining the irradiation timing of the focused ultrasonic wave irradiated by the focused ultrasonic wave irradiation means based on the periodic fluctuation information extracted by the periodic fluctuation information extracting means and means, possess, the periodic variation information extraction means, said from the area of the tracking target subtracting the moving average of the past of the area of the tracking target to separate the short-period fluctuation component, based on the short-period fluctuation component The periodical fluctuation information is extracted , and the focused ultrasonic wave automatic irradiation system by ultrasonic image processing is provided.

(2) The present invention also relates to the periodic variation information extraction means and extracting the periodic variation information by immediate discrete Fourier transform the short-period fluctuation component, focusing greater according to (1) This is an automatic sound wave irradiation system.

(3) In the present invention, the irradiation timing determination unit also irradiates the focused ultrasonic irradiation unit with the focused ultrasonic wave when the distance between the relative position of the irradiation target and the focal position of the focused ultrasonic wave is equal to or less than a threshold value. The focused ultrasonic automatic irradiation system according to (1) or (2) , wherein

(4) The present invention is also characterized in that the relative position calculation means calculates the relative position of the irradiation target by similarity calculation from the position information of the tracking target, and any one of (1) to (3) It is a focused ultrasonic automatic irradiation system described in 1.

(5) The present invention also features the use fetal minimally invasive treatment of hypoplastic left heart syndrome, treatment of treatment or pulmonary congenital cystic adenomatous malformation of pulmonary sequestration, (1) - ( 4) it is a focused ultrasound automatic exposure system according to any one of.

(6) The present invention also includes an ultrasonic image acquisition step for acquiring ultrasonic image data of an object, an image formation step for forming an image of the image data acquired by the ultrasonic image acquisition step, and the image formation step. A tracking target designating step for designating a tracking target in the image formed by the above, an irradiation target designating step for designating an irradiation target of the focused ultrasonic wave in the image formed by the image forming step, and the tracking target designating step. A position information detection step of extracting a specified tracking target feature parameter and detecting the tracking target location information based on the feature parameter, and the tracking target location information detected by the location information detection step. A relative position calculating step for calculating a relative position of the irradiation target specified in the irradiation target specifying step; When the relative position of the irradiation target calculated by the relative position calculation step irradiates the focused ultrasonic wave and the area of the tracking target has a specific periodic fluctuation, the area of the tracking target is calculated. Then, the periodic variation information extracting step for extracting periodic variation information from the time variation of the area of the tracking target, and the focused ultrasound irradiation step based on the periodic variation information extracted by the periodic variation information extracting step. An irradiation timing determination step for determining the irradiation timing of the focused ultrasonic wave , and the periodic variation information extraction step subtracts a past moving average of the area of the tracking target from the area of the tracking target. separating the short-period fluctuation component Te, and extracts the periodic variation information based on the short-period fluctuation component A focused ultrasound automatic exposure program by ultrasound imaging.

(7) The present invention is also a computer-readable recording medium on which the focused ultrasound automatic irradiation program according to (6) is recorded.

  According to the HIFU automatic irradiation system of the present invention, the tracking target is designated and the relative position of the irradiation target is calculated based on the position information of the tracking target. However, it is possible to indirectly detect the relative position of the irradiation target from the position information of the tracking target by designating and tracking as a tracking target a part that is relatively near and easy to extract features, such as the ventricle and the atrium. HIFU can be automatically irradiated to a site where feature extraction is difficult, which has been impossible in the past.

  In addition, according to the HIFU automatic irradiation system of the present invention, the tracking target feature parameter is extracted in real time, and the tracking target position information is detected based on the feature parameter, so that accurate irradiation timing determination is performed. Therefore, automatic irradiation can be appropriately performed while ensuring safety.

  Furthermore, according to the HIFU automatic irradiation system of the present invention, when the area to be tracked has a specific periodic variation, the periodic variation information is extracted from the area variation, and the irradiation timing is determined based on the periodic variation information. An appropriate irradiation timing can be determined even for an organ with a periodic movement such as the heart.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a focused ultrasound (HIFU) automatic irradiation system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the HIFU automatic irradiation system 10 according to the present embodiment includes a workstation 100, a two-dimensional ultrasonic image processing apparatus 200, a HIFU signal generation apparatus 300, a two-dimensional ultrasonic probe 410, and a transducer. 420, the workstation 100 and the two-dimensional ultrasonic image processing apparatus 200, the two-dimensional ultrasonic image processing apparatus 200 and the two-dimensional ultrasonic probe 410, the workstation 100, the HIFU signal generation apparatus 300, and the HIFU signal generation apparatus 300. And the transducer 420 are connected to each other via dedicated communication cables 510, 520, 530 and 540 so as to be able to communicate with each other.

  Next, the configuration of each of the above devices will be described. However, each of the above devices may include a component other than the components described below, or may not include some of the components described below. Good.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the workstation 100 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the workstation 100 includes a CPU 110, a ROM 120, a RAM 130, a hard disk 140, a display 150, an input device 160, a video capture card 170, a communication interface 180, and a bus 190.

  The CPU 110 performs various processes of control and calculation. The ROM 120 stores various programs, the RAM 130 temporarily stores data as a work area, and the hard disk 140 stores various programs and data. The display 150 performs various displays. The input device 160 is a keyboard, a mouse, or the like, and is used for performing various inputs. The video capture card 170 captures a video signal and converts it into image data. The communication interface 180 is an interface that transmits / receives various signals to / from an external device. The above units are connected to each other via a bus 190 for exchanging signals.

  In this embodiment, the workstation 100 performs a predetermined operation to be described later. A program for controlling the operation of the workstation 100 for this purpose is stored in the ROM 120 or the hard disk 140, and the RAM 130 is started when the operation is started. And is executed by the CPU 110.

  The two-dimensional ultrasonic image processing apparatus 200 uses a difference in reflectance of an object from an echo signal of a target observed while driving the two-dimensional ultrasonic probe 410 and performing an ultrasonic scan according to a command from the workstation 100. Then, two-dimensional ultrasonic image data is generated and output to the workstation 100 as a video signal of the NTSC system or the like.

  The HIFU signal generator 300 includes a high-frequency oscillator that generates a high-frequency electric signal necessary for driving the HIFU, a high-frequency amplifier that amplifies an output signal generated by the high-frequency oscillator to a level necessary for HIFU irradiation, and a workstation that controls HIFU irradiation. A signal conversion box (not shown) for converting the trigger signal from 100 into a control signal for a high-frequency oscillator or the like is included.

  The two-dimensional ultrasonic probe 410 oscillates an ultrasonic wave and acquires an echo signal from the object. The transducer 420 is a parabolic HIFU irradiation device for irradiating an object with the HIFU signal generated by the HIFU signal generation device 300. As shown in FIGS. 3A to 3C, in the HIFU automatic irradiation system 10 according to the present embodiment, a two-dimensional ultrasonic probe integrated transducer in which a two-dimensional ultrasonic probe device 420 and a transducer 420 are integrated. 400 is used. The two-dimensional ultrasonic probe integrated transducer 400 is configured such that the HIFU irradiation focal point 421 of the transducer 420 is fixed at a specific coordinate position in the search range 411 of the two-dimensional ultrasonic probe 410. However, in this embodiment, it is not always necessary to use an integrated two-dimensional ultrasonic probe and transducer, and a combination of two-dimensional ultrasonic probe and transducer that are configured independently may be used. Good.

  Next, an outline of the operation of the HIFU automatic irradiation system 10 according to the present embodiment will be described focusing on the operation of the HIFU irradiation processing by the workstation 100, taking the fetal heart disease treatment application as an example. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure of HIFU irradiation processing of the workstation 100 in the present embodiment.

  In step S110 of FIG. 4, the workstation 100 first waits until there is a command to start the HIFU irradiation process (NO in S110). Here, in the HIFU irradiation processing of the HIFU automatic irradiation system 10 in the present embodiment, the HIFU irradiation is performed only when the predetermined conditions such as the irradiation safety condition, the heartbeat synchronization condition, and the focus matching condition are satisfied as the HIFU irradiation mode. There are “automatic irradiation mode” and “manual irradiation mode” in which HIFU irradiation is forcibly performed without setting conditions. The operator designates the HIFU irradiation mode and inputs a HIFU irradiation processing start command.

  If there is a HIFU irradiation process start command in step S110 (YES in S110), the workstation 100 proceeds to step S120 and determines whether the HIFU irradiation mode is “automatic irradiation mode” or “manual irradiation mode”.

  In step S120, when the HIFU irradiation mode is “manual irradiation mode” (NO in S120), the process proceeds to step S130 and waits for a manual irradiation command (NO in S130). If there is a manual irradiation command (in S130). YES), the process proceeds to step S140, where a HIFU irradiation command is transmitted to the HIFU signal generator 300 to immediately perform HIFU irradiation, and the HIFU irradiation process is terminated.

  On the other hand, when the HIFU irradiation mode is “automatic irradiation mode” in step S120 (YES in S120), the process proceeds to step S150, and the HIFU automatic irradiation process is started.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a procedure of HIFU automatic irradiation processing of the workstation 100 in the present embodiment. In step S210 of FIG. 5, the workstation 100 first performs HIFU focus setting processing. In the HIFU automatic irradiation system 10 according to the present embodiment, a transducer integrated with a two-dimensional ultrasonic probe is used, and the focus of the HIFU is fixed at a specific position of the two-dimensional ultrasonic image. In order to perform accurately, it is necessary to perform HIFU irradiation using a phantom or the like in advance and correct the focal position according to the actual irradiation position.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of HIFU focus setting processing of the workstation 100 according to the present embodiment. In step 310 of FIG. 6, the workstation 100 waits until a manual irradiation command is issued (NO in S310). The operator sets the phantom as an object and inputs a manual irradiation command.

  If there is a manual irradiation command in step 310 (YES in S310), the process proceeds to step 320, where the object is irradiated with HIFU by transmitting the HIFU irradiation command to the HIFU signal generator 300. Further, in step S330, the input image data received from the two-dimensional ultrasonic image processing apparatus 200 is imaged and the input image is displayed on the display 150. Further, in step S340, the input image data currently set on the input image of the display 150 is displayed. The focus position of the initial HIFU is displayed, and the process proceeds to step S350 and waits until there is a focus position setting input (NO in S350).

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display 150 of the workstation 100 in the HIFU focus setting process. In the screen 610 of FIG. 7, reference numeral 710 denotes a two-dimensional ultrasonic image searched by a two-dimensional ultrasonic probe, and a phantom image 721 is displayed in the image 710. Reference numerals 731 and 732 denote an X coordinate axis and a Y coordinate axis indicating the currently set focus position of the HIFU (the initial state in FIG. 7), and the intersection of these is the focus position. The operator inputs the focal position so that the focal coordinates of the HIFU coincide with the HIFU irradiation trace in the phantom image displayed on the display 150.

  If there is a focus position setting input in step S350 (YES in S350), the process proceeds to S360, where the input focus position is set as the focus position for HIFU irradiation in this embodiment.

  Further, the process proceeds to step S370 and waits until there is an input of an effective focus range that is a range in which automatic irradiation of HIFU is permitted (NO in S370). Reference numeral 733 in FIG. 7 represents the effective focus range. When the target falls within this range, automatic irradiation of the HIFU is performed. When the setting input of the effective focus range is performed by the operator (YES in S370), the input effective focus range is set as the effective focus range of HIFU irradiation in the present embodiment in step 380, and the HIFU focus setting process is terminated. .

  Next, the workstation 100 returns to step S220 in FIG. 5 to perform binarization condition setting processing. Since the image data acquired by the workstation 100 from the two-dimensional ultrasonic image processing apparatus 200 is grayscale, it is necessary to binarize the image data with an appropriate black and white threshold in order to perform image processing such as feature extraction described later. There is.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the binarization condition setting process of the workstation 100 in the present embodiment. In step S410 of FIG. 8, the workstation 100 first binarizes the input image data obtained from the two-dimensional ultrasonic image processing apparatus 200 based on the initial black and white threshold value. In step S420, the workstation 100 performs binarization processing. The obtained binary image is displayed on the display 150. Then, the process proceeds to step S430, and it is determined whether or not there is a black and white threshold setting input. The operator sets and inputs an appropriate black and white threshold while checking the binary image on the display 150.

  In step 430, if there is a black and white threshold setting input (YES in S430), the input image data is binarized based on the input black and white threshold (S410), and the obtained binary image is redisplayed on the display. (S420). On the other hand, if there is no black-and-white threshold setting input in step S430 (NO in S430), the process proceeds to step S440, where the current black-and-white threshold is set as the black-and-white threshold for binarization processing in the present embodiment, and binarization conditions are set. The setting process ends.

  Returning to step S230 of FIG. 5, the workstation 100 further performs image processing condition setting processing. In the present embodiment, as the image processing condition setting process, an image processing range (ROI), a tracking target center position, and an irradiation target relative position are set. That is, shape extraction by image processing can extract characteristic shapes with shading with a certain wide area, but it is not possible to extract features that have few features such as the atrial septum, for example. Have difficulty. Therefore, in the HIFU automatic irradiation system of the present invention, for such a difficult part of feature extraction, for example, a part that is relatively close to the ventricle, the atrium, etc. and is easy to extract a feature is designated as a tracking target. The position of the irradiation object is to be estimated from the geometric relative position. The tracking target is specified by specifying the ROI and the tracking target center position.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a procedure of image processing condition setting processing of the workstation 100 in the present embodiment. In step S510 of FIG. 9, the workstation 100 waits until an ROI setting input is received (NO in S510). When the operator inputs an ROI setting (YES in S510), the process proceeds to step S520 and the input is performed. The ROI is set according to the specified range. Similarly, the center position of the tracking target is set in steps S530 and S540, the relative position of the irradiation target is set in steps S550 and S560, and the image processing condition setting process ends. The procedure for setting the ROI, the tracking target center position, and the irradiation target relative position may be processed in any order.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display 150 of the workstation 100 in the image processing condition setting process. In the screen 620 of FIG. 10, 722 is an image to be tracked, 734 represents an ROI set around the tracked image 722, and 735 is the tracking target center position set on the tracked image 722. 736 represents the set irradiation target center position.

  Next, returning to step S240 of FIG. 5, the workstation 100 detects the position information of the tracking target in real time based on the input image data received in real time from the two-dimensional ultrasonic image processing apparatus 200, thereby tracking the tracking target. Tracking. The position information of the tracking target is detected by extracting image feature parameters such as the center of gravity, area, fillet diameter, and roundness of the tracking target by feature extraction by image analysis. The extraction method of each feature parameter from the tracking target is as follows.

  (1) Optical area and optical center of gravity

  Since the tracking target is recognized as a set of pixels having luminance, the optical area is calculated as the number of pixels recognized as the tracking target, and the optical center of gravity is calculated as the average coordinates of the pixels recognized as the tracking target. . When the shape of the organ is a shape that is far from an ellipse, such as a crescent moon or a gourd, an accurate area and center of gravity can be calculated by using the optical area and the optical center of gravity.

  (2) Geometric area and geometric center of gravity

  The geometric area has the minimum value on the X coordinate and the minimum value on the Y coordinate of the pixel recognized as the tracking target as the starting point, and the maximum value of the X coordinate and the maximum value of the Y coordinate of the recognized pixel as the end point. As the area of the ellipsoid inscribed in the rectangle indicating the rectangular area, the geometric centroid is calculated as the centroid of the ellipsoid. When the shape of an object to be recognized like a heart is close to an ellipsoid, the error due to noise on the screen can be reduced by using the geometric area and the geometric gravity center.

  (3) Fillet diameter and roundness

  The fillet diameter is a length in units of pixels in the X direction and the Y direction to be tracked. In addition, the roundness is the ratio of the length in units of pixels in the X direction and the Y direction, expressed as a percentage of the result of calculating the longer diameter as the denominator. This means that the shape of the region is close to a perfect circle.

  Further, the process proceeds to step S250, and the workstation 100 calculates the relative position of the irradiation target in real time by similarity calculation from the tracking target position information obtained in step S240. As a method for calculating the relative position of the irradiation target, any of the following algorithms can be used.

  (A) Method using simple relative coordinates

  The relative coordinates of the irradiation target are calculated from the barycentric coordinates of the tracking target obtained by image processing.

  (B) A method of reflecting the relative position and the ratio of change in the fillet diameter of the tracking target in the relative position

  Calculate the ratio of the fillet diameter of the tracking target at the time of setting the position of the irradiation target and the current, and multiply the length of the relative coordinates of the irradiation target by the ratio of the fillet diameters in the X and Y directions. The irradiation position from the barycentric coordinates of the tracking target calculated by the image processing is specified using the result as relative coordinates. This algorithm is used in the case of an irradiation target whose relative position changes in proportion to the size of the heart, such as an atrial septum.

  The workstation 100 performs the tracking target position information detection process and the irradiation target relative position calculation process in steps S240 and S250 in real time, and in step S260, the irradiation target relative position calculated in step S250 is determined in step S210. It is determined whether or not the object is within the effective focus range set in step S3. If the irradiation target is not within the effective focus range (NO in S260), the tracking target position information detection process and the irradiation target relative position calculation process are continued ( S240 and S250). On the other hand, if it is determined in step S260 that the irradiation target is within the focus effective range (YES in S260), the process proceeds to step S270 to determine whether or not HIFU heartbeat synchronous irradiation is set, and heartbeat synchronous irradiation setting is performed. If NO has been made (NO in S270), the process further proceeds to step S280, where the HIFU irradiation command is transmitted to the HIFU signal generator 300 to irradiate the HIFU.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed on the display 150 of the workstation 100 where the automatic irradiation of the HIFU is performed. In the screen 630 of FIG. 11, since the irradiation target center position 736 calculated in real time by the similarity calculation from the position information of the tracking target 722 is within the range of the effective focus range 733 of the HIFU, the irradiation of the HIFU is performed. Represents that.

  On the other hand, when the heartbeat synchronization irradiation setting is made in step S270 (YES in S270), the process proceeds to step S285 to perform heartbeat synchronization information extraction processing. That is, in the HIFU automatic irradiation system 10 according to the present embodiment, heart rate information such as a heart rate, a heart rate frequency, and a heart rate period (time) is extracted from the period variation of the tracking target area by setting the tracking target to a ventricle or the like. It is possible to perform HIFU irradiation in synchronization with the ventricular systole or diastole.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a procedure of heartbeat synchronization information extraction processing of the workstation 100 in the present embodiment. In step S610 of FIG. 12, the workstation 100 first extracts the tracking target area in real time based on the input image data received from the two-dimensional ultrasonic image processing apparatus 200 in real time. The area of the tracking target can be calculated by the method (1) or (2) described above.

Next, in step S620, a past moving average of the tracking target area is calculated. When the tracking target area at time t is S [t], the moving average S_av [t] for the past n tracking target areas can be obtained by the following equation (i).

Further, in step 630, a short period fluctuation component of the tracking target area is calculated. The short cycle fluctuation component S_hb [t] is obtained by subtracting the past moving average S_av [t] of the tracking target area from the tracking target area S [t] by the following equation (ii).

  FIG. 13 is a graph schematically showing periodic fluctuations in the tracking target area when the ventricle is a tracking target in the HIFU automatic irradiation system according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 13, 810 represents the tracking target area, 820 represents the moving average for the past n pieces, and 830 is obtained by subtracting the past moving average 820 from the tracking target area 810. The cause of the periodic fluctuation of the tracking target area 810 is considered to be a long-period fluctuation due to lung movement (breathing) or the like and a short-period fluctuation due to heart movement (heartbeat), but from FIG. It is clear that 830 extracts short-period fluctuation components.

  Then, the process proceeds to step S640, and the cycle information is analyzed by performing discrete Fourier transform on the short cycle variation component obtained in step S630 in real time. In step S650, the heart rate, heart rate frequency, heart rate cycle (time), and the like are analyzed. Extract cardiac cycle information.

  In the heartbeat synchronization information extraction process according to this embodiment, the discrete Fourier transform does not necessarily have to be used for the analysis of the heartbeat information. For example, in addition to the method using the discrete Fourier transform, a short process using a predetermined logic determination is performed. The ventricular expansion period may be detected by determining the maximum value of the periodic fluctuation.

  Then, returning to step S290 in FIG. 5, based on the heartbeat period information obtained in step S285, the HIFU is synchronized with the heartbeat by transmitting a HIFU irradiation command to the HIFU signal generator 300 in synchronization with the heartbeat. . In addition, in the case of heartbeat synchronous irradiation, a signal delay in the HIFU automatic irradiation system 10 may be considered, and a HIFU irradiation command may be transmitted so as to advance the irradiation timing of the HIFU by the signal delay.

  As described above, the workstation 100 performs the automatic irradiation processing of the HIFU until there is an automatic irradiation processing end command in step S295 (NO in S295 and S240 to S290), and in step S295, the automatic irradiation processing end command is issued. If there is (YES in S295), the HIFU automatic irradiation process is terminated and the process returns to FIG. 4 to end the entire HIFU irradiation process.

  The HIFU automatic irradiation system according to the present invention can be realized by a dedicated hardware circuit for executing each of the above procedures, or by a CPU executing a program describing each of the above procedures. When the present invention is realized by the latter, the program for operating the HIFU automatic irradiation system may be provided by a computer-readable recording medium such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk or a CD-ROM, or a network such as the Internet. May be provided online via. In this case, the program recorded on the computer-readable recording medium is usually transferred and stored in a ROM, a hard disk or the like. In addition, this program may be provided as, for example, a single application software, or may be incorporated in the basic software of the apparatus as one function of the HIFU automatic irradiation system.

  The HIFU automatic irradiation system of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

  As described above, according to the HIFU automatic irradiation system of the present invention, accurate irradiation timing can be determined, automatic irradiation can be performed safely and appropriately, especially an organ with periodic movement, Accurate HIFU automatic irradiation can be performed on a region where feature extraction is difficult. Therefore, the HIFU automatic irradiation system of the present invention is suitable for minimally invasive treatment of fetal left heart hypoplasia syndrome (HLHS), treatment of pulmonary sequestration (BPS), congenital cystic adenomatous malformation (CCAM) of the lung, etc. It is extremely useful when used.

1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a focused ultrasound (HIFU) automatic irradiation system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a structure of the workstation 100 concerning this embodiment. (A) is a schematic side view for demonstrating the structure of the two-dimensional ultrasonic probe integrated transducer 400 utilized by this embodiment, (b) is the schematic front view, (c) is It is the schematic sectional drawing. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the HIFU irradiation process of the workstation 100 in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the HIFU automatic irradiation process of the workstation 100 in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the HIFU focus setting process of the workstation 100 in this embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the display 150 of the workstation 100 in the HIFU focus setting process. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the binarization condition setting process of the workstation 100 in this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the image processing condition setting process of the workstation 100 in this embodiment. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on the display 150 of the workstation 100 in the image processing condition setting process. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen displayed on the display 150 of the workstation 100 in which automatic irradiation of HIFU is performed. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the heartbeat synchronous information extraction process of the workstation 100 in this embodiment. In the HIFU automatic irradiation system which concerns on this embodiment, it is the graph which showed typically the periodic fluctuation | variation of the tracking object area at the time of making a ventricle into a tracking object.

100 workstation 110 CPU
120 ROM
130 RAM
140 Hard Disk 150 Display 160 Input Device 170 Video Capture Card 180 Communication Interface 190 Bus 200 Two-Dimensional Ultrasonic Image Processing Device 300 HIFU Signal Generator 400 Two-Dimensional Ultrasonic Probe Integrated Transducer 410 Two-Dimensional Ultrasonic Probe 411 Ultrasonic Investigation Range 420 Transducer 421 HIFU irradiation focus 510, 520, 530, 540 Dedicated communication cable 610, 620, 630 Display display screen 710 Two-dimensional ultrasound image 721 Image of phantom 722 Image to be tracked 731 X coordinate axis indicating the focus position of HIFU 732 HIFU Y coordinate axis 734 ROI indicating the focal point position
735 Tracking target center position 736 Irradiation target center position 810 Tracking target area 820 Moving average of the past n tracking target areas 830 Short period fluctuation component

Claims (7)

Ultrasonic image acquisition means for acquiring ultrasonic image data of the object;
Image forming means for forming an image of the image data acquired by the ultrasonic image acquiring means;
Tracking target specifying means for specifying a tracking target in the image formed by the image forming means;
An irradiation target designating unit for designating an irradiation target of focused ultrasound in the image formed by the image forming unit;
Position information detecting means for extracting feature parameters of the tracking target designated by the tracking target designating means and detecting position information of the tracking target based on the feature parameters;
A relative position calculating means for calculating a relative position of the irradiation target specified by the irradiation target specifying means based on the position information of the tracking target detected by the position information detecting means;
Focused ultrasound irradiation means for irradiating focused ultrasound to the relative position of the irradiation target calculated by the relative position calculation means;
When the area of the tracking target has a specific periodic variation, a periodic variation information extracting unit that calculates the area of the tracking target and extracts periodic variation information from the time variation of the area of the tracking target;
An irradiation timing determining means for determining an irradiation timing of the focused ultrasonic wave irradiated by the focused ultrasonic wave irradiation means based on the periodic fluctuation information extracted by the periodic fluctuation information extracting means;
I have a,
The period variation information extracting means subtracts a short period variation component from the tracking target area by subtracting a past moving average of the area to be tracked, and extracts the period variation information based on the short period variation component. It is characterized by
A focused ultrasound automatic irradiation system using ultrasound image processing. The period variation information extracting means extracts the period variation information by performing an immediate discrete Fourier transform on the short period variation component,
The focused ultrasound automatic irradiation system according to claim 1 . The irradiation timing determining means causes the focused ultrasonic irradiation means to irradiate the focused ultrasonic wave when the distance between the relative position of the irradiation target and the focal position of the focused ultrasonic wave is a threshold value or less,
The focused ultrasound automatic irradiation system according to claim 1 or 2 . The relative position calculation means calculates the relative position of the irradiation target by similarity calculation from the position information of the tracking target,
The focused ultrasound automatic irradiation system according to any one of claims 1 to 3 . It is used for minimally invasive treatment of fetal left heart hypoplasia syndrome, treatment of pulmonary sequestration, or congenital cystic adenoma-like malformation of the lung,
The focused ultrasound automatic irradiation system according to any one of claims 1 to 4 . An ultrasonic image acquisition step of acquiring ultrasonic image data of the object;
An image forming step of forming an image of the image data acquired by the ultrasonic image acquiring step;
A tracking target designating step of designating a tracking target in the image formed by the image forming step;
An irradiation target designating step of designating an irradiation target of focused ultrasound in the image formed by the image forming step;
A position information detection step of extracting feature parameters of the tracking target specified in the tracking target specifying step and detecting position information of the tracking target based on the feature parameters;
A relative position calculating step for calculating a relative position of the irradiation target specified by the irradiation target specifying step based on the position information of the tracking target detected by the position information detection step;
A focused ultrasound irradiation step for irradiating focused ultrasound to the relative position of the irradiation target calculated by the relative position calculating step;
When the area of the tracking target has a specific periodic variation, a periodic variation information extraction step of calculating the area of the tracking target and extracting periodic variation information from the time variation of the area of the tracking target;
An irradiation timing determination step for determining an irradiation timing of the focused ultrasonic wave irradiated by the focused ultrasonic wave irradiation step based on the periodic fluctuation information extracted by the periodic fluctuation information extraction step;
To run on a computer ,
The period fluctuation information extraction step subtracts a past moving average of the tracking target area from the area of the tracking target to separate short period fluctuation components, and extracts the period fluctuation information based on the short period fluctuation components. It is characterized by
A focused ultrasound automatic irradiation program using ultrasound image processing. A computer-readable recording medium on which the focused ultrasound automatic irradiation program according to claim 6 is recorded.

Images