JPH02246948A - Ultrasonic diagnostic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To display a multiple plane image with plural tomographic surfaces to be crossed by transmitting a wave with one side of the array electrodes to be mutually orthogonal of a probe, receiving a reflected wave with the other side, obtaining a directional characteristic expressed as the product of the directional characteristic of a wave transmission and the directional characteristic of a wave reception, and displaying a tomographic image. CONSTITUTION:For a probe 1, with array electrodes 13a and 13b on one surface of each piezoelectric body, oscillators 12a and 12b having common electrodes 14a and 14b on the opposed surface are plurally laminated, and the array electrodes 13a and 13b are provided so that the arrangement directions can be crossed. A wave transmission scanning direction controller 3 and a wave transmitter 4 give the directional characteristic of a wave transmitting beam to the array electrode 13a of the oscillator 12a on one layer of the probe 1 and, simultaneously, impress a pulse voltage for executing the scanning in changing the directional characteristic. A phasing device 5 sets variably the directional characteristic of an echo signal received by the oscillator 12b except for the oscillator 12a of the wave transmission of the probe 1. An image signal processing circuit 7 and a DSC 8 convert the output signal of the phasing device 5 to an image display signal. A display device 9 displays the image display signal as an image.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that transmits ultrasonic waves into a subject and obtains an ultrasonic image using echo signals from a diagnostic site, and particularly relates to ultrasonic The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that can three-dimensionally scan a beam in any direction and can display multiplane images of a plurality of intersecting tomographic planes.

[Conventional technology]

In conventional ultrasonic diagnostic equipment, as a means to deflect an ultrasonic beam in any direction, a rectangular or circular transducer having a two-dimensional spread is divided into many parts in the direction between the X and Y axes, and electrodes are placed on both sides of the transducer. There is a type of probe that uses a two-dimensional array with a single type of probe.

However, in the case of a probe using this method, the number of lead wires to be drawn out is extremely large, and it cannot be used in actual use.

- In a two-dimensional array probe with 64 rows, the number of lead wires to be drawn out is 64 x 64 = 409
Currently, it is difficult to manufacture such a probe, and it is not practical.The possible range of realization is as follows.
- Number of lead wires is 20 x 20 = 4 in 20 rows
However, in this case, in order to obtain an image of a predetermined diagnostic region, the pitch of dividing the transducer must be made coarser, which reduces the resolution of the obtained tomographic image. Therefore, it was not possible to obtain diagnostically effective image information.

Further, there is a probe described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-46693 as a probe capable of improving directivity in the short axis direction. In this probe, the ground side electrode is a plurality of divided electrodes arranged in a direction crossing the arrangement direction of the array transducers, and a selected number of the divided electrodes are used when receiving reflected waves based on the transmitted beam. By varying the values, the effective area of the receiving transducer can be controlled in multiple stages.

In particular, the aim was to improve the directivity characteristics near the vibrator.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in the probe described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 63-46693, the electrode selected as the receiver 1 oscillator among the divided electrodes on the ground side is in a grounded state, so there is no contact with the drive electrode. However, since the electrodes not selected as receiving transducers are connected to all the elements on the drive electrode side through the capacitance of the piezoelectric material that is the transducer material, In this state, the voltage oscillates based on the sum of the voltages generated on the drive electrode side, and this is input to the drive electrode side via the capacitance of the piezoelectric material, causing a large amount of loss talk between the drive electrodes. there were.

Therefore, the quality of the obtained tomographic image deteriorates, and there is a possibility that good diagnostic information cannot be obtained.

Therefore, one aspect of the present invention is to solve these problems.

An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that can three-dimensionally scan an ultrasonic beam in any direction and display multiplane images of a plurality of intersecting tomographic planes.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention includes an array of electrodes on one surface of a piezoelectric body.

an ultrasonic transmitting/receiving means in which a plurality of transducers having common electrodes are stacked on opposing surfaces thereof and arranged so that the arrangement directions of the arrayed electrodes intersect; a means for applying a pulsed voltage for giving a directional characteristic of a transmitted beam to the beam and scanning while changing the directional characteristic; and an echo signal received by a transducer other than a transmitting transducer of the ultrasonic transmitting/receiving means. phasing means for variably setting the directional characteristics of the phasing means, means for converting the output signal of the phasing means into an image display signal, and means for displaying the image display signal from the conversion means as an image. be.

Further, the ultrasonic transmitting/receiving means includes a composite piezoelectric plate formed by enclosing a large number of columnar piezoelectric bodies perpendicularly to the plate surface in a plate-shaped organic material having a uniform thickness, and arraying the columnar piezoelectric bodies on both sides of the composite piezoelectric plate. A vibrator comprising an array of electrodes arranged so as to intersect with each other, and a changeover switch for switching each of the array electrodes provided on both sides of the vibrator into a common ground electrode and a drive electrode. You can also use it as

Note that it is effective to provide a receiving aperture control means on the output side of the phasing means for variablely controlling the slice thickness of the tomographic plane by making the focus point of the directivity characteristic of the receiving wave variable, or for variably controlling the aperture of the receiving wave. be.

Further, the phasing means may be provided with a control means for displaying any two intersecting tomographic planes and for varying the inclination or position of the two intersecting tomographic planes.

Further, the phasing means is controlled to simultaneously display one tomographic plane and one or more tomographic planes at approximately the same time intersecting this tomographic plane, and specifying the position of another tomographic plane intersecting with the one tomographic plane. It may also be provided with a means.

Further, it may be provided with means for approximately calculating the volume or surface area from a plurality of tomographic images and displaying the calculation results.

Furthermore, an output signal from the phasing means is input.

A Doppler beam is set on the intersection line of two intersecting tomographic planes to measure the Doppler signal, and the blood flow direction on the two intersecting tomographic planes is indicated, and the ultrasound beam direction is determined from the blood flow direction on the two intersecting tomographic planes. It is effective to include Doppler measurement means for calculating the angle between the direction of blood flow and the direction of blood flow.

[For production]

The ultrasonic diagnostic device configured in this manner has an array of electrodes on one surface of a piezoelectric body, a plurality of vibrators having a common electrode on the opposite surface, and the arrayed electrodes are arranged so that their directions intersect. A pulsed voltage is applied to the ultrasonic transmitting/receiving means, which applies a directivity of the transmitted beam to the array-like electrodes of one layer of transducers of the ultrasonic transmitting/receiving means using a voltage applying means, and scans by changing the directivity. Along with applying ! ! The phase means variably sets the directivity of the echo signal received by the transducer other than the transmitting transducer of the ultrasonic transmitting/receiving means, and transmits the echo signal using an array electrode provided on one surface of the ultrasonic transmitting/receiving means. While performing wave motion, the reflected waves are received by an array of electrodes provided on the other surface, and a tomographic image is obtained by obtaining the directional characteristics expressed as the product of the directional characteristics of the transmitted waves and the directional characteristics of the received waves. Works to display. Thereby, by appropriately selecting the directivity characteristics of the transmitting/receiving wave pair, it is possible to three-dimensionally scan the ultrasound beam in any direction, and it is also possible to display multiplane images of a plurality of intersecting tomographic planes.

〔Example〕

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Below, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail based on the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention. This ultrasonic diagnostic device transmits ultrasonic waves into the subject and obtains an ultrasonic image using echo signals from the diagnostic site. 2, a transmitting scanning direction controller 3, an amplifier 4, a phasing device 5, a receiving aperture controller 6, an image signal processing circuit 7,
It includes a digital scan converter (hereinafter abbreviated as rDSC) 8, a display device M9, and a controller 10.

The probe 1 is a means for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves by electronically performing linear scanning, sector scanning, convex scanning, etc., and its specific configuration is shown in Figure 2. . Namely.

Two layers (12a, 12b) of vibrators made of piezoelectric material and which actually emit and receive ultrasonic waves are prepared, and an array electrode 13a formed in a strip shape is provided on the upper surface of the first vibrator 12a. A common electrode 14a is provided on the lower surface of the second vibrator 12b, an array electrode 13b formed in a strip shape is provided on the lower surface of the second vibrator 12b, and a common electrode 14b is provided on the upper surface of the second vibrator 12b. second vibrator 12a,
12b, a common electrode 14a provided on opposing surfaces of the two,
The array electrodes 13a and 13b are arranged and stacked so that the electrodes 14b are adjacent to each other and the longitudinal directions of the array electrodes 13a and 13b provided on the outer surface of each electrode intersect with each other. In FIG. 2, array electrodes 13a and 13 of each vibrator 12a and 12b are shown.
An example is shown in which they are arranged so that b intersect at right angles.

The transmitter 2 is a means for controlling the probe 1 and emitting ultrasonic pulses, and although not shown, it has an ultrasonic emitting circuit inside, and the transducer 0 on the transmitting side For example, it is connected to an array electrode 13a provided on the upper surface of the first vibrator 12a shown in FIG. 2, and a pulse voltage for wave transmission is applied to this array electrode 13a. . A wave transmission scanning direction controller 3 is connected to the wave transmitter 2. This transmitting scanning direction controller 3 has a directional characteristic in a transmitting signal in an ultrasonic wave transmitting operation to an array electrode 13a provided on the upper surface of the first transducer 12a of the probe 1, for example. It is a means for scanning the directional characteristics of the first transducer 12a, and has a delay and phasing means therein (not shown), and transmits the array shape of the first transducer 12a through the transmitter 2. Control is performed to apply a transmission voltage to the electrode 13a. Note that this operation is approximately the same as the deflection of an ultrasonic beam by ordinary electronic sector scanning. However, in normal equipment, in order to reduce the slice thickness of the tomographic plane, the short axis direction (direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction) is
An acoustic lens for focusing is provided on the ultrasonic radiation side surface of the transducer, but in the present invention, it is possible to widen the beam spread in the short axis direction or make the short axis nearly omnidirectional. The acoustic lens for short-axis focusing is removed because it gives good results.

Although not shown in Figure 2, it is also possible to install a diffusing acoustic lens that spreads the beam in the short axis direction, or to make the front surface of the vibrator a convex surface in the short axis direction to spread the beam in the short axis direction. It may be expanded.

The amplifier 4 is used to amplify the signal of the reflected wave received by the probe 1, and is used to amplify the signal of the reflected wave received by the probe 1. 13
connected to b. The phaser 5 inputs the output signal from the amplifier 4, provides a required delay time, aligns the phases, and performs phasing addition. Array electrode 1 provided on the bottom surface of
3b, the directivity characteristics of the received signal are changed in the reflected wave receiving operation. A receiving aperture controller 6 is connected to the output side of the phaser 5. This delivery aperture controller 6 includes an array-shaped electrode 13b provided on the lower surface of the second vibrator 12b of the probe 1, for example.
For this purpose, the slice thickness of the tomographic plane can be controlled by making the directivity and focus point of the received wave variable, and the aperture of the received wave can be made variable.

The image signal processing circuit 7 receives the image signal output from the receiving aperture controller 6 and performs detection and other processing. Further, the DSC 8 is a means for digitizing the echo signal output from the image signal processing circuit 7 and writing or reading the tomographic image data into an internal image memory and converting it into an image display signal, and is not shown in the figure. It has an image memory, a central processing unit, a TV signal output circuit, etc. inside, and can display multiple cross-sections of the diagnostic site in parallel, and can display real-time images of multiple cross-sections by switching between multiple cross-sections for each scan. It is also possible to do so. Further, the display device 9 inputs the output signal from the DSC 8 and displays a tomographic image, and is composed of, for example, a television monitor. In addition, in FIG. 1, the reference numeral 10
indicates a controller for controlling the operation of each of the above components.

Next, in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus configured in this way,
The operation of obtaining the directivity characteristics of the ultrasound beam in any direction in a three-dimensional space and arbitrarily scanning the ultrasound beam three-dimensionally will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. First, in FIG. 2, the transmitting scanning direction controller 3 is set so that the desired ultrasonic beam transmitting direction is set. Under the control of the transmission scanning direction controller 3, the transmitter 2 applies a transmission voltage to the array electrode 13a provided on the upper surface of the first transducer 12a on the transmission side of the probe 1. do. Then, by driving the array electrode 13a, an ultrasonic beam is emitted by sector scanning. FIG. 3(a) shows the directivity characteristics of the transmitted signal of the array electrode 13a obtained in this manner. In the figure, α is the deflection angle of the array electrode 13a in the scanning direction, and indicates a beam pattern showing the relationship between the intensity and direction of the transmitted beam at a certain depth from the vibrator surface.

The ultrasonic beam transmitted in this manner is reflected by a target region inside the subject and is received by the second transducer 12b on the receiving side of the probe 1 shown in FIG. In the figure, a reflected signal received by an array electrode 13b provided on the lower surface of the second vibrator 12b is input to a phaser 5 set to receive a desired reception direction, and is phased. At the same time, the receiving aperture control amount 6 changes the focus point of the receiving wave directivity characteristic and changes the delivery aperture. Figure 3 (
b) is the directional characteristic of the received signal of the arrayed electrode 13b obtained in this way, and β is the directional characteristic of the received signal of the arrayed electrode 13b obtained in this way.
is the deflection angle with respect to the scanning direction. In addition, Fig. 3(b)
Although not shown, it is desirable that the directivity in the direction perpendicular to the deflection direction be non-directional, as in the case of FIG. 3(,).

In the case of sector scanning shown in the example of FIG.
It is desirable to make the surface 2b a convex surface. Therefore, in the example of FIG. 2, by attaching a spherical acoustic lens or making the surface of the vibrator a convex spherical surface, Directional characteristics (a) and (b) can be obtained. The received signal of the array electrode 13b of the second vibrator 12b thus obtained is sent to the one image signal processing circuit 7 and the DSC.
8 to a display device 9, and the tomographic image is displayed on its screen.

The directional characteristics of the final received signal obtained as described above are the directional characteristics of the transmitted signal shown in FIG.
It becomes a multiplicative product with the directivity characteristic of the received signal shown in b), and the third
For example, the directivity characteristic is in the direction of arrow S as shown in FIG. As is clear from FIG. 3(c), by appropriately setting the deflection angle α of the transmitted wave and the deflection angle β of the received wave,
Directional characteristics in any direction in three-dimensional space, as indicated by arrow S, can be obtained. Therefore, by sequentially changing the setting values of the transmission scanning direction controller 3 and the phaser 5 so that the direction of the ultrasound beam becomes a desired direction, an image of any desired tomographic plane can be obtained. be able to. Note that FIG. 2 only shows an example in which the sector scanning section 15 is tilted in the direction of the short axis of the vibrator (in the direction of the arrow) by sequentially changing the set value of the phaser 5.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a modification of the transducer structure of the probe according to the present invention. This modification shows a case where two layers (12a, 12b, 12C) of vibrators made of piezoelectric material are prepared to configure a sector scanning type probe with a three-layer structure.

FIG. 4(a) shows the first vibrator 12a and the second vibrator 1.
2b and the third vibrator 12c are stacked in three layers. FIG. 4(b) shows each of the above-mentioned vibrators 12a, 12.
The array electrodes 13a, 13b, 13c provided on one side of the electrodes 13a, 12c are arranged such that their longitudinal directions intersect with each other at an angle of 60 degrees, for example.

Then, any one of the three layers of transducers 128 to 12c is used as a transducer for transmitting waves, and the other two layers are used as transducers for delivery, and the directional characteristics of each set of transducer waves are summed. It is designed to obtain the directional characteristics of FIG. 4(e) shows the directional characteristic of the overall received signal obtained in this way, and in the figure, symbol A is the directional characteristic of the wave transmitted by the first wave transmitting transducer 12a, for example. The symbol B indicates the directional characteristic of reception by the second transducer 12b for delivery, and the symbol C indicates the directional characteristic of reception by the third transducer 12c for wave reception.

The directional characteristics of the waves transmitted and received by the first oscillator 12a and the second oscillator 12b are expressed by AXB, and the directional characteristics of the waves transmitted and received by the first oscillator 12a and the third oscillator 12c are expressed as AXB. Because it is expressed as AXC.

The directional characteristics of the overall received signal in the case of a three-layer structure are:
As shown by the arrow, the direction is (AXB) + (AXC). Note that by further increasing the number of laminated transducers, it is possible to improve the uniformity of the directional characteristics around the center of the ultrasonic beam or to improve the overall directional characteristics.

FIG. 5 shows that the slice thickness of the tomographic plane is controlled by varying the focus point of the directional characteristic of the received reflected wave by the operation of the receiving aperture controller 6 provided on the output side of the phaser 5 in FIG. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the receiving wave aperture is made variable. In the conventional device, since the focus point and aperture in the short axis direction were fixed, the resolution was reduced except in the vicinity of the focus point 17, as shown by the broken line 16 in FIG. In contrast, in the present invention, as shown by the solid line 18 in FIG. 5, variable focus and variable aperture can be realized also in the short axis direction.

Directional characteristics in the short axis direction can be significantly improved.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the three-dimensional scanning operation of the ultrasonic beam in the present invention. This example is.

A case of a linear scanning method is shown, and an electrode selection switch 19 is provided between the array electrode 13a provided on the upper surface of the first transducer 12a on the wave transmitting side and the transmitter 2.

Then, the electrode selection switch 19 is sequentially switched to keep the set value of the phasing device 5 in the short axis constant during scanning in the long axis direction to obtain the -1 tomographic plane (20). Vessel 5
By scanning in the major axis direction while sequentially changing the set value of , the linear scanning section 20 can be appropriately tilted in the minor axis direction of the vibrator. In this case, the beam-diffusing acoustic lens attached to the front surface of the vibrator is of a Kamabot shape, considering only the short axis direction.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the three-dimensional scanning operation of the ultrasonic beam according to the present invention. This example shows the case of the Humpex scanning method, in which the vibrator shown in FIG. 6 is formed into a curved shape convex upward in the short axis direction. In this case, the set value of the phasing device 5 is sequentially changed with respect to one setting of the electrode selection switch 19 to obtain a circular cross section (21), and the electrode selection switch 19
By sequentially switching the settings, the position of the convex scanning section 21 can be moved in the longitudinal direction of the vibrator. In addition, in this embodiment, the cross-sectional image in the major axis direction can also be tilted in the minor axis direction, as in the linear scan shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the three-dimensional scanning operation of the ultrasonic beam according to the present invention. This example shows a case where a pipe lane image of two tomographic planes is displayed, and a common electrode 14a provided on the lower surface of the first transducer 12a on the transmitting side is shown.
is formed into an array-like electrode that intersects at right angles to the longitudinal direction of the array-like electrode 13a provided on the upper surface thereof, and the first vibrator 12a is a fixed type pie-lane vibrator, and this fixed-type pipe lane vibration The second oscillator 12 on the receiving side
b, and an electrode selection switch 19' is connected to the array electrode 13a and the common electrode 14a formed in an array.
is connected. In this case, any two intersecting tomographic planes 22a, 22b can be displayed, and the inclination or position of the two intersecting tomographic planes 22a, 22b can be varied to display a variable pipe lane image.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the three-dimensional scanning operation of the ultrasonic beam according to the present invention. This example shows a case where a multifaceted plane image is displayed as an application of the embodiment shown in FIG. In this case, by alternately changing the setting values of the wave transmission scanning direction controller 3 and the phaser 5 under the control of the controller 10 shown in FIG. 1, for example, the Gosho layer surface 23 in the longitudinal direction.

Three fault planes 24 in the short axis direction at approximately the same time intersect with this
A, 24b, and 24c are displayed simultaneously to display a multiplane image of an arbitrary tomographic plane in almost real time.

FIG. 1O is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the three-dimensional scanning operation of the ultrasonic beam in the present invention. This example shows a case where a diagnostic region of a subject is displayed in 3D. For example, the probe 1 attached to the tip of an endoscope 25 is inserted into a body cavity, and Linear scanning section 2
0 (see FIG. 11), and at the same time obtain three transverse images 28a, 28b, 28C (see FIG. 11) of the convex scanning section 21 designated on this long-axis image 27. , as shown in FIG.
It is displayed simultaneously on two screens.

In this case, by increasing the number of cross-sectional images 28a, 28b, ', . In addition, by using processing software suitable for this purpose, the volume or surface area of, for example, an organ 2-6 can be approximately calculated from a plurality of tomographic images (27° 28a to 28c) under the control of the controller 10 shown in FIG. The calculation result can be displayed as appropriate.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the three-dimensional scanning operation of the ultrasonic beam according to the present invention. This example shows a case where three-dimensional measurement of blood flow is performed at a diagnostic site of a subject, and the signal outputted via the phaser 5 and receiving aperture controller 6 in FIG. 1 is input. A Doppler measurement circuit 11 is provided to measure Doppler signals, and a Doppler beam is set on the intersection line of two intersecting tomographic planes to measure the Doppler signal, and the direction of blood flow on the two intersecting tomographic planes is indicated and the two tomographic planes are The angle between the ultrasound beam direction and the blood flow direction can be calculated from the blood flow direction on the surface. That is, as shown in FIG. 12(a), the tomographic image 29 in the long axis direction
The ultrasonic beam line 30 for Doppler measurement is set above, and a cross-sectional image 31 including this ultrasonic beam line 30 for Doppler measurement and orthogonal to the longitudinal tomographic image 29 is obtained. Measuring the angle α between the blood flow direction E on the top and the ultrasound beam 30, and also measuring the angle β between the blood flow direction F on the cross-sectional image 31 and the ultrasound beam 30. As a result, the true intersection angle between the Doppler measurement ultrasound beam and the actual blood flow direction can be obtained. FIG. 12(b) is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which the true intersection angle θ between the Doppler measurement ultrasound beam (30) and the actual blood flow traveling direction G is determined, and the blood flow direction on the tomographic image 29 is 1 from the angle α between E and the ultrasound beam 30 and the angle β between the blood flow direction F and the ultrasound beam 30 on the orthogonal cross-sectional image 31.
As is clear from the figure, θ is determined by a linear equation.

θ=tan-' tan a+tan17 Then, by finding the true intersection angle θ of the blood flow running direction in this way, the true blood flow velocity can be calculated.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a probe according to another embodiment of the present invention. The probe 1' according to this embodiment has a single-layer vibrator 12, which is a composite piezoelectric plate in which a large number of columnar piezoelectric bodies are embedded perpendicularly to the plate surface in a plate-shaped organic material having a uniform thickness. Array-shaped electrodes 13a and 13b are provided on both sides of the electrode 12 so that their longitudinal directions cross each other on both sides, and the electrodes 13a and 13b provided on each surface can be arbitrarily switched between a common ground electrode and a drive electrode. This is what I did.

That is, the vibrator 12, as shown in FIG.
A columnar piezoelectric material 33 (with a square main surface) is placed in a plate-like organic material 32 (for example, a resin such as polyurethane) with a uniform thickness.
The composite piezoelectric plate 34 is formed by embedding a large number of piezoelectric ceramics (for example, piezoelectric ceramics) vertically into the plate surface of the plate-shaped organic material 32. In this case, a large number of columnar piezoelectric bodies 33, 33, . . . embedded perpendicularly to the plate surface serve as individual vibrator elements. First electrodes 13 are provided on the upper and lower surfaces of the vibrator 12, respectively.
a and a second electrode 13b are provided. These electrodes 13a and 13b serve as common ground electrodes or drive electrodes for the vibrator 12, and as shown in FIG. The longitudinal direction of the first electrode 13a provided on the upper surface side and the longitudinal direction of the second electrode 13b provided on the lower surface side are provided to intersect with each other. FIG. 13 shows an example of orthogonal arrangement.

As shown in FIG. 13, the probe 1' has
A first switch S8 and a second switch S are used as switching means.
2 is provided. These switches S□Psi are for arbitrarily switching the first electrode 13a and second electrode 13b provided on the upper and lower surfaces of the vibrator 12 shown in FIG. 13, respectively, into a common ground electrode and a drive electrode. The first switch S1 is connected to the first electrode 13a via the lead wire 35a, and the second switch S2 is connected to the second electrode 13b.
is connected to via a lead wire 35b.

In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having the probe 1' configured in this way, the first switch S1 is set so that the first electrode 13a is connected to the transmitter 2 during wave transmission, and the second The second switch S is turned to the ground side so that the electrode 13b of the electrode 13b is at ground potential. When the transmission of the desired ultrasonic beam is completed in this state, the second switch S1. S, by reversing the first electrode 13
By setting a to the ground potential, connecting the second electrode 13b to the phaser 5, and receiving the signal of the reflected wave from the diagnostic site of the subject, the directional characteristic of the transmitted wave becomes the first Electrode 13
The receiving directivity characteristics correspond to the arrangement direction of the second electrodes 13b, and the receiving directivity characteristics correspond to the arrangement direction of the second electrodes 13b. Therefore, even in the configuration of this embodiment, it is possible to obtain operating characteristics similar to those of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, and it is possible to obtain directional characteristics in any direction in three-dimensional space. In this embodiment, since the transducer 12 is formed of a single layer, the overall shape of the probe 1' can be reduced in size, making it particularly useful as a probe for use in body cavities. .

〔Effect of the invention〕

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, an array-shaped electrode is stacked on one surface of the piezoelectric body, and a plurality of vibrators having a common electrode are stacked on the opposite surface thereof, and the array-shaped electrodes are provided so that the arrangement directions thereof intersect with each other. The electronic scanning type probes 1, 1' configured to transmit and receive ultrasonic waves are driven by the control of the wave transmission scanning direction controller 3 and the phaser 5, and an array electrode 13a provided on one surface thereof. At the same time, the arrayed electrode 13b provided on the other surface receives the reflected wave, and obtains the directional characteristic expressed as the product of the directional characteristic of the transmitted wave and the directional characteristic of the received wave. A tomographic image can be displayed. Thereby, by appropriately selecting the directivity characteristics of the transmitting/receiving wave pair, it is possible to three-dimensionally scan the ultrasound beam in any direction, and it is also possible to display multiplane images of a plurality of intersecting tomographic planes. Since such an operation is possible, it is also possible to display a variable pipe lane image by changing the inclination or position of two intersecting tomographic planes. Furthermore, by collecting a large number of images of multiple intersecting tomographic planes, it is possible to easily realize a three-dimensional display of a target region. Furthermore, by using appropriate processing software, it is possible to approximately calculate the volume or surface area of the target region from a plurality of tomographic images. Furthermore, it is possible to perform three-dimensional measurement of blood flow at the diagnostic site of the subject.
The true blood flow velocity can be determined.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the structure of the probe and its operation, and Figs. 3 (a) to (Q) are An explanatory diagram showing the directivity characteristics of the transmitted wave signal, the received signal, and the final received signal of the probe, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a modified example of the transducer structure of the probe according to the present invention, and FIG. An explanatory diagram showing a state in which the focus point of the directional characteristic of the received wave is varied and the aperture of the received wave is varied by the operation of the wave aperture controller, and FIGS. 6 to 10 are three-dimensional diagrams of the ultrasonic beam in the present invention. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of scanning operation, and FIG.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing still another operational example of three-dimensional scanning of an ultrasonic beam according to the present invention, FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a probe according to another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing its vibration. It is a perspective view showing the structure of a child. 1.1'...Probe, 2...Transmitter, 3...
Transmission scanning direction controller, 4... Amplifier, 5... Phaser, 6... Receiving aperture controller, 7... Image signal processing circuit. 8...DSCl 9...Display device, 1o...
Controller (control means), 11... Doppler measurement circuit,
12... Vibrator, 12a... First vibrator,
12b...second vibrator, 13a, 13b...
- Array electrode, 14a, 14b-common electrode, 19.
19'-*Polar selection switch, 32... plate-shaped organic substance,
33... Column piezoelectric body, 34... Composite piezoelectric plate. Figure (C) Figure (b) Figure Figure Figure Figure and 50 zb. 5C Figure 12(b)

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A superstructure in which a plurality of vibrators having an array electrode on one surface of a piezoelectric body and a common electrode on the opposite surface are laminated, and the arrangement directions of the array electrodes are arranged to intersect. a sound wave transmitting/receiving means; a means for applying a pulsed voltage for giving a directional characteristic of the transmitted beam to the array electrode of the single-layer transducer of the ultrasonic wave transmitting/receiving means and for scanning while changing the directional characteristic; A phasing means for variably setting the directivity of an echo signal received by a transducer other than a transmitting transducer of the sound wave transmitting/receiving means, a means for converting an output signal of the phasing means into an image display signal, and a means for converting the output signal of the phasing means into an image display signal. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising means for displaying an image display signal from the means as an image. (2) The ultrasonic transmitting/receiving means consists of a composite piezoelectric plate in which a large number of columnar piezoelectric bodies are embedded perpendicularly to the plate surface in a plate-shaped organic material of uniform thickness, and the arrangement direction of the piezoelectric bodies is on both sides of the composite piezoelectric plate. It is characterized by comprising a vibrator made up of array-shaped electrodes arranged to intersect with each other, and a changeover switch for switching each of the array-shaped electrodes provided on both sides of the vibrator into a common ground electrode and a drive electrode. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1. (3) A receiving aperture control means is provided on the output side of the phasing means to variably control the slice thickness of the tomographic plane by making the focus point of the directional characteristic of the receiving wave variable, or to variably control the aperture of the receiving wave. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: (4) Claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that the phasing means is equipped with a control means for displaying any two intersecting tomographic planes and for varying the inclination or position of the two intersecting tomographic planes.
Ultrasonic diagnosis 11(5) The phasing means simultaneously displays one tomographic plane and one or more tomographic planes at approximately the same time intersecting this tomographic plane, and another tomographic plane intersects with the one tomographic plane. 4. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising control means for specifying the position of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. (6) The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising means for approximately calculating volume or surface area from a plurality of tomographic images and displaying the calculation results. (7) Input the output signal from the phasing means, set the Doppler beam on the intersection line of the two intersecting tomographic planes, measure the Doppler signal, and instruct the direction of blood flow on the two intersecting tomographic planes. 6. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising Doppler measurement means for calculating an angle between the ultrasound beam direction and the blood flow direction from the blood flow direction on the two tomographic planes.