JPH0349691Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic device using an M-mode display method that displays the movement speed at which a specific biological tissue portion changes in the depth direction within a given time. It is something.

Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment with an M-mode display method is an effective means for displaying and measuring the movement functions of living organisms, such as the movement of heart valves and walls, but conventionally, the movement speed of valves, etc. has been calculated manually. The reality is that it depends on the following. Once the M mode display waveform is stored on Polaroid film or dry silver paper, etc., two points are arbitrarily selected on the recorded waveform, and the average moving speed between the two points is calculated manually using a ruler or the like. This is what I was calculating. However, when calculating the average moving speed as described above, it is necessary to record the M mode display waveform once, so the process of calculating the average moving speed is cumbersome, and furthermore, the calculation result cannot be known immediately. There is a problem.

Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is that when two points are arbitrarily set externally in the M mode display waveform displayed on a CRT, the average moving speed between those two points is immediately displayed as a numerical value on the CRT. The company provides ultrasonic diagnostic equipment.

For this purpose, the present invention periodically performs vertical sweeps and horizontal sweeps with a period larger than the vertical sweep period, and reads out the reflected ultrasound stored in the memory every time the vertical sweep is performed and adjusts the intensity accordingly. The M-mode display waveform is obtained on the CRT by displaying the brightness modulation using Focusing on this, which can be obtained by dividing the vertical sweep time difference when two points are placed on the scan, the average movement of a specific biological tissue part is calculated from the orthogonal position coordinates corresponding to the two points from an external setting means. The speed was determined and displayed as a numerical value on the CRT.

The present invention will be explained below with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

First, before going into a specific explanation of the present invention, its principle will be briefly explained with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a CRT display screen according to the present invention, focusing on a specific biological tissue part. As shown in the figure, it shows how the depth of a specific biological tissue part changes over time, and the black circles on each scanning line (shown as a thin line) indicate the depth from the surface of that specific biological tissue part. The position is displayed using brightness modulation. For example, if we assume that the average moving speed v of a specific biological tissue part in the depth direction is to be determined between arbitrarily selected points A and B, then the average moving speed v is proportional to the amount of time △ty moved. Therefore, it is clear that it is generally expressed as follows.

v=k・△ty/△tx (1) where k is a constant. If this equation 1 is transformed using the orthogonal position coordinates of points A and B, equation (1) becomes as follows.

v=k′・|y ₂ −y ₁ |/|x ₂ −x ₁ | …(2) However, k′ is a constant. Therefore, if the orthogonal position coordinates of points A and B are known, the average moving speed v is immediately known from equation (2). SPEED XXXmm/S". The orthogonal position coordinates of the group of points A and B are expressed by scanning line positions and pixel positions, and when the positions of points A, B, etc. are given from the outside in this way, the position coordinates of the two given points This means that the average moving speed v can be determined more easily.
Note that the straight line C shown as a dotted line in the figure has its end points A and B. That is, the straight line C is used to connect two points given from the outside, and the positions of the two points are indicated by its ends. However, the position display of two points is not limited to this. This display straight line (hereinafter referred to as a caliper) will be described later.

Now, the configuration of an example of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.
According to this, the high voltage pulse generation circuit 3 is configured to generate high voltage pulses with a constant pulse width at a vertical sweep period under the control of the synchronization signal from the synchronization signal generation circuit 12 via the wave transmission/reception control circuit 7. . This high voltage pulse is periodically applied to the vibrator 2, which is a reversible electro-mechanical transducer, so that ultrasonic waves are periodically radiated to the living tissue 1. Each radiated ultrasonic wave is reflected from the biological tissue 1, and these reflected ultrasonic waves are converted into electrical signals by the transducer 2 and then sent to the wave transmission/reception control circuit 7 via the gain control circuit 6. The signal is then amplified and detected by a receiving amplifier 4 whose gain is adjusted, and the detected output indicating the amplitude intensity is temporarily stored in an image memory circuit 8 in a predetermined address order via an A/D converter 5. That is, the detection output is converted into a digital value corresponding to the amplitude intensity. Thus, an address signal is sent to the image memory circuit 8 with the count value of a counter that counts pixel clock pulses in the memory address control circuit 11 as the pixel position, and the count value of the counter that counts the carry output from the counter as the scan line position. , the image data is stored in the image memory circuit 8 in a predetermined order corresponding to the display screen of the CRT 10.

Therefore, when displaying the M-mode waveform on the CRT 10 based on the image data existing in the image memory circuit 8, the memory address control circuit 11 sets the screen memory circuit 8 in the read mode.
It is sufficient to generate an address signal periodically as in the previous case, and to apply an XY sweep signal to the CRT 10 from the XY sweep circuit 13.
The image memory circuit 8 The image data read out in a predetermined order becomes luminance modulation data and is sent to the CRT 10 via a video signal synthesis circuit 9 equipped with a D/A conversion function.
An M mode waveform as shown in FIG. 1 can be displayed on the CRT 10 display screen. However, the above configuration and explanation are for an M-mode display type ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to the prior art.

The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention is further equipped with a microcomputer, a two-point external setting means, and a two-point/numeric display image memory circuit. As shown in the figure, in this example, the two-point external setting means are potentiometers 16 (16 ₁ to 16 ₄ ) and A/D.
It consists of converters 17 (17 ₁ to 17 ₄ ), but it goes without saying that these may be configured as digital switches. Each potentiometer 16 ₁ to 16 ₄
, the orthogonal position coordinates corresponding to points A and B are obtained from the A/D converters ₁₇₁ to ₁₇₄ , and based on these orthogonal position coordinates, the microcomputer 1
4 calculates the average moving speed v of the specific biological tissue portion according to the above-mentioned equation (2). The microcomputer 14 also accesses a memory circuit 15 having substantially the same configuration as the image memory circuit 8, and functions to store numerical data for displaying the caliper and numerical data for displaying the average moving speed. Predetermined numerical data is stored as brightness modulation data in addresses corresponding to pixels existing on a line connecting points A and B, and predetermined numerical data is also stored in addresses corresponding to pixels included in a specific display area portion on a CRT display screen. This is to be stored as brightness modulation data. Therefore, the brightness modulation data stored in the memory circuit 15 is read out to the video signal synthesis circuit 9 in synchronization with that in the image memory circuit 8, and the brightness modulation data is appropriately processed in the video signal synthesis circuit 9. If the luminance modulation signal is processed to create a brightness modulation signal, a CRT display as shown in FIG. 1 can be performed.

As explained above, in the present invention, a microcomputer calculates the average moving speed between two points of a specific biological tissue part based on orthogonal position coordinates corresponding to two points that are set as variable from the outside, and displays this speed. The data is provided to the CRT as brightness modulation data together with display position data for the two points. Therefore, according to the present invention, by externally setting two arbitrary points on the M mode display waveform displayed on the CRT display screen, the average moving speed between the two points of a specific biological tissue part can be calculated on the CRT display screen. This has the effect of being displayed immediately.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is for explaining the principle of this invention.
FIG. 2, which is a diagram showing an example of a CRT display screen, is a diagram showing the configuration of an example of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention. 2... vibrator, 3... high voltage pulse generation circuit,
4... Receiving amplifier, 5, 17... A/D converter,
8... Image memory circuit, 9... Video signal synthesis circuit, 10... CRT, 11... Memory address control circuit, 12... Synchronization signal generation circuit, 1
3...XY sweep circuit, 14...microcomputer, 15...memory circuit, 16...potentiometer.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] An ultrasonic pulse beam is repeatedly transmitted from an ultrasound probe to a predetermined direction within the subject at a predetermined period, the reflected echo from within the subject is received by the probe, and the received signal is A/D converted. The A/D converted data is sequentially stored in a two-dimensional image memory corresponding to the transmission/reception axis direction and the time axis direction of the ultrasound beam, and the stored data is read out and displayed as an M-mode image on a display means. In diagnostic equipment,
two-point display position setting means for generating a signal for two-dimensionally positioning two different arbitrary points on a certain waveform on the M-mode image in the transmission/reception axis direction and the time axis direction; and the two-point display position. means for converting the signal from the setting means into orthogonal coordinate data in the transmission/reception axis direction and the time axis direction, and calculating an average moving speed between the two points on the display waveform using the orthogonal coordinate data of the two points. A microcomputer is associated with the two-dimensional image memory and a memory area, and the two-dimensional image memory is controlled by the microcomputer based on orthogonal coordinate data from the control conversion means.
a memory for storing point display data and numerical data of average moving speed from a microcomputer as brightness modulation data at a predetermined address; M-mode image data stored in the two-dimensional image memory; and data stored in the memory. an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized by comprising means for synchronously reading out and synthesizing and displaying on the display means.