JPH06114059A - Ultrasonic color doppler tomograph - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the diagnosing of a local lesion quickly and quantitatively by obtaining a highly accurate CFM image of a cardiac muscle or the like in real time while the contour thereof is traced automatically at a high accuracy and efficiently. CONSTITUTION:An echo signal subjected to a Doppler shift from a probe is shaped in phase to be added with a transmitting/receiving section 15 and sent to a phase detection part 20, a filter part 21 and a frequency analysis part 22. The frequency analysis part 22 computes a kinetic rate of a cardiac muscle in the direction of an ultrasonic wave according to a Doppler shift value at each sampling point by frequency analysis and the results are sent to a vector computing section 23, which 23 computes an absolute rate in the direction of motion of the cardiac muscle at each sampling point as vector value to be sent to a DSC section 24 for CFM. A color circuit 24b of the DSC section 24 applies color or brightness according to the size of the absolute rate and a DSC 24a converts a scanning system to send a conversion data to a memory synthesization section 18. The data is made to overlap a B mode black/white image with the memory synthesization section 18 and the results are shown in real time on a display device 19.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

This invention relates to myocardial infarction, ischemic heart disease such as angina, left ventricular diastolic disorder such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy,
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic color Doppler tomography apparatus capable of effectively diagnosing abnormalities in the stimulating conduction system such as WPW syndrome. In particular, the velocity of motion of the myocardium (heart wall) and blood vessel wall is detected using the Doppler method, Calculate various physical quantities of movement,
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic color Doppler tomography apparatus capable of automatically tracing the movements of the endocardium and the vascular endocardium while displaying the calculation result in an appropriate mode.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, quantitative evaluation of the functions of the heart and blood vessels is essential for the diagnosis of heart disease.
Various diagnostic methods have been tried.

Of these, the ultrasonic diagnosis is often performed by, for example, observing a real-time B-mode tomographic image of the left ventricle of the heart (the left ventricle is the center of the functional evaluation of the heart). This observation enables a certain degree of diagnosis when the above-mentioned ischemic heart disease, left ventricular diastolic disorder, abnormality in the stimulus conduction system, etc. are fairly severe. However, for example, for the detection of local contractile hypofunction site in ischemic heart disease, objective diagnosis of left ventricular diastolic disorder, and detection of the position and spread of abnormal wall motion of the stimulus conduction system,
Obtaining detailed information was practically difficult.

In order to overcome this difficulty, there is a dedicated left ventricular wall motion analysis method for ischemic heart disease. This analysis method measures changes in the thickness of the myocardium during systole and diastole of the left ventricle and diagnoses a site with little change in thickness as a "site with reduced contractility", that is, an "ischemic site". Is. Although various methods are considered for the algorithm of this analysis, in order to implement those algorithms, a trace of the left ventricular endocardium or epicardium from the B-mode tomographic image at the end systole and the end diastole is performed. You will need it.

The stress echo method is also known as a method for diagnosing myocardial infarction. This diagnostic method applies a load to the heart by exercise, drugs, electrical stimulation, etc., and ultrasonic tomographic images (B-mode images) of the heart before and after this load.
Are recorded respectively. Then, the images before and after applying the load are displayed in parallel on one monitor, the changes in the thickness of the myocardium during the systole and diastole of the heart (myocardium usually thickens during systole) are compared, and the infarcted site is compared. Is to detect. Also for this detection, it is necessary to trace the inner and outer walls of the myocardium, and further the center line of the myocardium on the image to obtain contour information thereof.

In most cases, the above-mentioned trace is conventionally used.
Operate the keyboard or trackball manually
This is done by moving the OI. This manual operation requires a great deal of labor and operation time, cannot perform real-time processing, and has poor reproducibility.

Therefore, a method of automatically tracing (extracting) the contour of the myocardium from the image data of the B-mode tomographic image has been considered. This tracing method utilizes the fact that the echo levels of the myocardium and the surrounding region are different (the echo level from the myocardium is higher than that from the surrounding region). That is, as shown in FIG. 64 (a), a constant threshold value is set for the echo level, and the position of the echo signal at the same level as this threshold value is extracted as the contour line.

[0008]

However, in the above-mentioned automatic tracing method, when the amplification factor (gain) of the received signal is changed, the contour line is extracted as shown in FIGS. 64 (a) and 64 (b). The position is shifted ((b) in the figure)
Internal shift S1). Therefore, it is still difficult to automatically extract the contour of the myocardium using the B-mode tomographic image in real time and with high accuracy.

Furthermore, regarding the above-mentioned objective diagnosis of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction and detection of the position and extent of abnormal wall motion of the stimulus conduction system, a useful and simple diagnostic method using an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus has not yet been established. It has not been.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, in which the motion information of the myocardium and the blood vessel wall is acquired in almost real time by using an ultrasonic signal and is displayed in color.
To make it possible to evaluate the functional deterioration of those organs quantitatively and with high accuracy. In particular, as the above motion information, the motion velocity in the ultrasonic beam direction based on the ultrasonic Doppler method is detected, and the velocity in the actual motion direction of the observation point of the organ (called the absolute velocity) is easily estimated based on this beam direction velocity. Alternatively, the calculation can be performed to further improve the accuracy of quantitative analysis of motion and the color display. Also, from acceleration information, acceleration and other information such as motion phase and velocity phase analysis are calculated,
By enabling color display, the motion can be analyzed from various directions while minimizing the detection configuration of motion information. Also, enhance the measurement function. On the other hand, the contours of those organs can be automatically traced, and the tracing accuracy and reproducibility are dramatically improved.
The purpose is to significantly improve the workability.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, an ultrasonic color Doppler tomography apparatus according to the present invention has the following configuration.

First, a scanning means for scanning a region including a moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal subjected to Doppler shift, and an ultrasonic echo obtained by this scanning means. A speed calculation means for calculating the movement speed of the organ for each sample volume based on the signal, and a display means for displaying the movement speed for each sample volume calculated by the speed calculation means in color are provided.

In particular, the velocity calculation means calculates a beam direction velocity calculation means for calculating the velocity of the movement of the organ in the ultrasonic beam direction, and each sample volume of the organ based on the calculated value of the beam direction velocity calculation means. And an absolute velocity calculating means for calculating the absolute velocity in the moving direction at the point.

In another embodiment, a scanning means for scanning an area including a moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal subjected to Doppler shift, and the scanning means are provided. Velocity calculating means for calculating the movement velocity of the organ for each sample volume based on the ultrasonic echo signal, and contour information for calculating contour information on the tomographic plane of the organ based on the movement velocity calculated by the velocity calculating means The calculation means and the absolute speed estimation means for estimating and calculating the absolute speed in the movement direction of the organ based on the information calculated by the contour information calculation means and the movement speed calculated by the speed calculation means.

In still another mode, a scanning means for scanning an area including a moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal subjected to Doppler shift, and the scanning means are provided. The velocity calculation means for calculating the movement velocity of the organ for each sample volume based on the ultrasonic echo signal, the B mode image acquisition means for obtaining the B mode tomographic image of the organ, and the B obtained by the B mode image acquisition means. B-mode image contour information calculating means for calculating contour information of the organ based on the mode image, and the organ of the organ based on the information calculated by the B-mode image contour information calculating means and the motion speed calculated by the speed calculating means. And an absolute velocity estimating means for estimating and calculating the absolute velocity in the movement direction.

In still another mode, a scanning means for scanning a region including a moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal subjected to Doppler shift, and the scanning means are provided. Velocity calculating means for calculating the movement velocity of the organ for each sample volume based on the obtained ultrasonic echo signal, and contour for calculating contour information on the tomographic plane of the organ based on the movement velocity calculated by the velocity calculating means The information calculation means and the display means for displaying the tomographic image of the organ in color based on the information calculated by the contour information calculation means are provided.

In particular, an automatic tracing means for automatically tracing the contour line of the organ in real time on the display image based on the contour information is added.

In still another mode, the B-mode image acquisition means for obtaining the B-mode tomographic image of the organ and the brightness of each sample volume point of the B-mode image acquired by the B-mode image acquisition means are equal to or more than a predetermined value. The determination means for determining whether or not, and the discrimination means for outputting the calculated value of the speed calculation means only for the sample volume points for which the brightness is determined to be equal to or higher than the predetermined value by the determination means are added.

Further, an ROI for setting a ROI in a desired area on the color image of the motion velocity displayed by the display means.
Setting means and RO set by this ROI setting means
Motion information calculation means for calculating motion information related to the speed of an organ using speed data for each ultrasonic scan at a sample volume point in I, and motion information display for displaying the motion information calculated by this motion information calculation means And means,
The motion information calculated by the motion information calculation means is the RO
Time variation of the average velocity magnitude in I, time variation of the maximum velocity magnitude in the ROI, time integration for the time variation curve of the average velocity magnitude, for the time variation curve of the maximum velocity magnitude At least one of time integration, a color display area in the ROI, and a velocity histogram is adopted.

In still another aspect, a scanning means for scanning a region including a moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal subjected to Doppler shift, and the scanning means are provided. Speed calculation means for calculating the movement speed of the organ for each sample volume based on the obtained ultrasonic echo signal, and acceleration calculation means for calculating the movement acceleration of the organ for each sample volume based on the calculation value of the speed calculation means, Display means for displaying in color the motion acceleration for each sample volume calculated by the acceleration calculation means.

In still another embodiment, a scanning means for scanning an area including a periodically moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal subjected to Doppler shift, Speed calculation means for calculating the movement speed of the organ for each sample volume based on the ultrasonic echo signal obtained by the scanning means, and storage means for storing the movement speed for each sample volume calculated by the speed calculation means for each frame A motion time phase analysis means for reading out the motion speed data stored in the storage means and analyzing the time phase of the motion speed of the organ for each sample volume; and a display means for displaying the analysis result of the motion time phase analysis means. Equipped with.

In still another embodiment, a scanning means for scanning a region including a periodically moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal subjected to Doppler shift, Speed calculation means for calculating the movement speed of the organ for each sample volume based on the ultrasonic echo signal obtained by the scanning means, and acceleration calculation for calculating the movement acceleration of the organ for each sample volume based on the calculation value of the speed calculation means. Means, a storage means for storing the motion acceleration for each sample volume calculated by the acceleration calculation means for each frame, and the motion acceleration data stored in the storage means for reading the time phase of the motion acceleration of the organ as a sample volume. A motion time phase analyzing means for each analysis and a display means for displaying an analysis result of the motion time phase analyzing means were provided.

In still another embodiment, a scanning means for scanning a region including a periodically moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal subjected to Doppler shift, Speed calculation means for calculating the movement speed of the organ for each sample volume based on the ultrasonic echo signal obtained by the scanning means, and storage means for storing the movement speed for each sample volume calculated by the speed calculation means for each frame , A display for displaying the motion velocity phase analysis means for reading the motion velocity data stored in this storage means and analyzing the phase of the change in the motion velocity of the organ for each sample volume, and the analysis result of this motion velocity phase analysis means And means.

Further, the velocity calculation means has a structure having a filter means for cutting an ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the blood flow and the movement velocity of the valve.

[0025]

In an aspect of the ultrasonic color Doppler tomography apparatus according to the present invention, the scanning means scans a region including a moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall with an ultrasonic beam, and the ultrasonic waves undergoing the Doppler shift. An echo signal is obtained. Based on this ultrasonic echo signal, the velocity calculation means calculates the movement velocity of the organ, for example, in the ultrasonic beam direction for each sample volume. The calculated speed value is color-displayed in real time by the display means in a color or brightness according to the value. As a result, a CFM image of the myocardium or blood vessel wall is obtained.

In another embodiment, when calculating the movement velocity of the organ, the velocity of the movement of the organ in the ultrasonic beam direction is calculated by the beam direction velocity calculation means, and each organ of the organ is calculated based on the calculated beam direction velocity value. The absolute velocity in the movement direction at the sample volume point is calculated by the absolute velocity calculation means. As a result, a more accurate movement speed is required.

In still another embodiment, a region including a moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall is scanned with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal subjected to Doppler shift. Based on this ultrasonic echo signal, The movement velocity of the organ is calculated for each sample volume. The contour information on the tomographic plane of the organ is obtained by the contour information calculating means based on the calculated movement speed, and the absolute velocity in the movement direction of the organ is absolute based on the contour information and the calculated movement speed. It is estimated and calculated by the speed estimating means. As a result, the absolute speed can be easily obtained even when the direct calculation is not performed.

In yet another embodiment, a region including a moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall is scanned with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal subjected to Doppler shift. Based on this ultrasonic echo signal, the motion velocity of the organ is calculated for each sample volume, and the B-mode tomographic image of the organ is obtained by the B-mode image acquisition means. Based on the B-mode image acquired by the B-mode image acquisition means, the contour information of the organ is calculated by the B-mode image contour information calculation means, and based on the information calculated by the B-mode image contour information calculation means and the movement speed. The absolute velocity of the moving direction of the organ is estimated and calculated by the absolute velocity estimating means. This allows the absolute velocity to be easily estimated using the B-mode images acquired by most devices.

In still another embodiment, a region including a moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall is scanned with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal which has undergone Doppler shift. Based on this ultrasonic echo signal, the motion velocity of the organ is calculated for each sample volume. The contour information on the tomographic plane of the organ is calculated by the contour information calculating means on the basis of the movement speed, and the tomographic image of the organ is color-displayed by the displaying means on the basis of the calculated contour information. Particularly, if an automatic tracing means is added, the contour line of the organ can be automatically traced in real time on the display image based on the contour information. As a result, the contour can be known more accurately and efficiently than the manual tracing, and the displacement of the contour line due to the change in the amplification factor in the conventional automatic tracing can be prevented.

In still another mode, a B-mode tomographic image of the organ is obtained from the B-mode image acquiring means, and the judging means judges whether or not the brightness of each sample volume point of this B-mode image is equal to or more than a predetermined value. . The discriminator outputs the calculated value of the speed calculator only for the sample volume points whose brightness is judged to be equal to or higher than the predetermined value by the judger. This reduces noise on the speed of movement.

Furthermore, the ROI of the desired area can be set by the ROI setting means in the color image of the motion velocity displayed by the display means. R set by this ROI setting means
The motion information relating to the speed of the organ is calculated by the motion information calculating means using the speed data for each ultrasonic scan at the sample volume point in the OI. This exercise information is displayed by the exercise information display means. At this time, the motion information calculated by the motion information calculating means is the time change of the magnitude of the average velocity in the ROI, the time change of the magnitude of the maximum velocity in the ROI, and the time with respect to the time change curve of the magnitude of the average velocity. And at least one of an integral, a time integral with respect to a time-varying curve of the magnitude of the maximum velocity, a color display area in the ROI, and a velocity histogram. This enhances the measurement function using the movement speed.

In still another mode, a region including a moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall is scanned with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal subjected to Doppler shift. Based on this ultrasonic echo signal, the motion velocity of the organ is calculated for each sample volume. Based on the calculated velocity value, the motion acceleration of the organ for each sample volume is calculated by the acceleration calculation means, and the motion acceleration for each sample volume is displayed in color on the display means.

In still another embodiment, a region including a periodically moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall is scanned with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal subjected to Doppler shift. Based on this ultrasonic echo signal, the movement velocity of the organ is calculated for each sample volume, and the movement velocity for each sample volume is stored in the storage means for each frame. The stored motion velocity data is read, the time phase of the motion velocity of the organ is analyzed by the motion time phase analysis unit for each sample volume, and the analysis result is displayed by the display unit.

In still another embodiment, a region including a periodically moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall is scanned with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal subjected to Doppler shift. Based on this ultrasonic echo signal, the movement velocity of the organ is calculated for each sample volume, and the movement acceleration of the organ for each sample volume is calculated by the acceleration calculation means based on this velocity calculation value. The motion acceleration for each sample volume is stored in the storage means for each frame, and the motion acceleration data stored in this storage means is read out to analyze the time phase of the motion acceleration of the organ by the motion time phase analysis means for each sample volume. To be done. The analysis result is displayed on the display means.

In still another embodiment, a region including a periodically moving organ such as myocardium or blood vessel wall is scanned with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal subjected to Doppler shift. Based on this ultrasonic echo signal, the motion velocity of the organ is calculated for each sample volume, and the motion velocity for each sample volume is stored in the storage means for each frame. The motion velocity data stored in the storage means is read out and the phase of the change in the motion velocity of the organ is analyzed by the motion velocity phase analysis means for each sample volume. The analysis result is displayed on the display means.

In particular, since the velocity calculating means is provided with the filter means, the ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the blood flow and the movement velocity of the valve is appropriately cut by the filter means, and the movement of the tissue or the flow other than the myocardium or the blood vessel wall is changed. The resulting noise is removed, and the calculation accuracy and the image quality are improved.

[0037]

EXAMPLES First, the principle of the ultrasonic Doppler method common to the examples will be described. This principle is the same as that used for blood flow measurement so far. As shown in FIG. 2, when an ultrasonic wave having a frequency f _{0 is} emitted from an ultrasonic probe toward an object P moving at a velocity V, the frequency of reflected ultrasonic waves at the object shifts due to the Doppler effect. If the frequency of this reflected ultrasonic wave is f ₁ , then the Doppler shift frequency f _d
(= F ₁ −f ₀ ) can be approximated by the following equation.

[0038]

[Equation 1] Here, C is the speed of sound in the living body, and θ is the angle between the moving direction of the object P and the ultrasonic beam (the angle of incidence of the ultrasonic beam on the moving object).

From the above equation (1), the moving speed V of the object is

[Equation 2] Becomes That is, if the Doppler shift frequency f _d is known, the moving speed V of the object can be obtained from the equation (2).

It should be noted that only the velocity component “V · cos θ” in the ultrasonic beam direction that can contribute to the Doppler shift frequency and be detected can be detected, and the velocity component in the direction orthogonal to the ultrasonic beam can be detected. It is something that cannot be detected. And (2)
In order to obtain the speed V from the equation, it is necessary to estimate the angle θ (≠ 90 °) by some method as described later.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment) A first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. The first embodiment is applied to obtain a CFM (color flow mapping) image of a myocardium (heart wall).

FIG. 3 shows a block configuration of the ultrasonic color Doppler tomographic apparatus of the first embodiment. As shown in the figure, the ultrasonic color Doppler tomography apparatus 10 includes an ultrasonic probe 11 for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic signals to and from a subject, and an ultrasonic probe 11 for driving the ultrasonic probe 11 and A device body 12 for processing a received signal, and the device body 12
ECG (electrocardiograph) that is connected to and detects electrocardiographic information 1
3 and an operation panel 14 that is connected to the apparatus body 12 and can output instruction information from an operator to the apparatus body.

The apparatus main body 12 can be roughly classified into an ultrasonic probe system, an ECG system, and an operation panel system, depending on the type of signal path it handles. The ultrasonic probe system includes an ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving unit 15 connected to the ultrasonic wave probe 11, and a B-mode DSC (digital scan converter) arranged on the output side of the ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving unit 15.
A phase detection unit 20 for color flow mapping (CFM) and a filter, which is also connected to the ultrasonic probe 11, while including a unit 16, a B-mode frame memory (FM) 17, a memory synthesis unit 18, and a display unit 19. Part 21,
Frequency analysis unit 22, vector calculation unit 23, CFM DS
A C unit 24 and a CFM frame memory 25 are provided. The ECG system includes an ECG amplifier 40 connected to the ECG 13, and a trigger signal generator 41 and a reference data memory 42 connected to the output side of the amplifier 40. Further, the operation panel system includes a CPU (central processing unit) 43 for inputting operation information from the operation panel 14 and a timing signal generator 44 under the control of the CPU 43. The CPU 43
Is the RO commanded by the operator via the operation panel 14.
A setting signal of I (region of interest) can be supplied to each configuration required for ROI setting.

In this embodiment, the ultrasonic probe 1
1 and the ultrasonic wave transmission / reception unit 15 form the scanning means of the present invention, and the phase detection unit 20, the filter unit 21, the frequency analysis unit 2 are provided.
2 and the vector calculator 23 form the speed calculator of the present invention. The CFM DSC unit 24, the CFM frame memory 25, the memory composition unit 18, and the display unit 19 form the display means of the present invention.

The ultrasonic probe 11 has a built-in transducer in which a plurality of strip-shaped piezoelectric vibrators are arranged. Each piezoelectric vibrator can be excited by a drive signal from the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver 15. By controlling the delay time of each drive signal, the scan direction is changed to enable sector electronic scanning. The delay time pattern of the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 15 is controlled by the CPU 43 with a reference signal sent from a timing signal generator 44 described later as a reference time. The ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 15 outputs to the ultrasonic probe 11 a drive voltage signal whose delay time pattern is controlled corresponding to the scanning direction. The ultrasonic probe 11, which receives this drive voltage signal, converts the voltage signal into an ultrasonic signal in its transducer. The converted ultrasonic signal is transmitted toward the organ of the subject. The transmitted ultrasonic signal is reflected by each tissue including the heart and returns to the ultrasonic probe 11 again. So probe 1
In the transducer in 1, the reflected ultrasonic wave signal is converted into a voltage signal (echo signal) again, and the echo signal is output to the ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving unit 15.

The signal processing circuit of the ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving section 15 delays the input echo signals and performs phasing addition, as in the transmission, to generate an echo beam signal equivalent to narrowing the ultrasonic beam in the scanning direction. To generate. The phasing-added echo beam signal is detected, and then the B-mode DS is detected.
It is output to the C section 16. The DSC section 16 converts echo data of ultrasonic scanning into data of standard television scanning and outputs the data to the memory synthesizing section 18. In parallel with this, B
The mode DSC unit 16 stores a plurality of pieces of image data in an arbitrary cardiac phase in the B mode frame memory 17.

On the other hand, the echo signal processed by the ultrasonic wave transmitter / receiver 15 is also output to the phase detector 20. The phase detection unit 20 includes a mixer and a low pass filter. An echo signal reflected from a moving part such as a myocardium is subjected to a Doppler shift (Doppler frequency) at the frequency due to the Doppler effect. The phase detection unit 20 performs phase detection on the Doppler frequency and outputs only the low frequency Doppler signal to the filter unit 21.

The filter unit 21 utilizes the fact that the magnitude of the motion velocity has a relationship of "myocardium <valve <blood flow" (see FIG. 4).
), Unnecessary Doppler components such as valve movement and blood flow other than the heart wall are removed from the phase-detected Doppler signal, and the myocardial Doppler signal in the ultrasonic beam direction is efficiently detected. In this case, the filter unit 21 functions as a low pass filter.

The above filter section has already been put to practical use,
It is also mounted on a color Doppler tomography device for obtaining blood flow information. In the case of a color Doppler tomography device that obtains this blood flow information, it functions as a high-pass filter for signals that mix Doppler signals of blood flow, heart wall, and valve movement, and removes Doppler signals other than blood flow. There is. Therefore, the filter section can be made versatile by making it possible to switch between the low-pass filter and the high-pass filter according to the purpose of the device.

The Doppler signal filtered by the filter unit 21 is output to the frequency analysis unit 22 in the next stage. The frequency analysis unit 22 applies the FFT method and the autocorrelation method, which are typical frequency analysis methods of blood flow signals (Doppler signals) used in ultrasonic Doppler blood flow measurement,
Observation time (time window) in each sample volume
Calculate the average speed and maximum speed within. Specifically, for example, using the FFT method or the autocorrelation method, the average Doppler frequency of each scan point (that is, the average velocity of the motion of the observation target at that point) and the variance value (the degree of disturbance of the Doppler spectrum)
Furthermore, the maximum value of the Doppler frequency (that is, the maximum velocity of the motion of the observation target at that point) and the like are calculated in real time using the FFT method. The analysis result of the Doppler frequency is output to the vector operation unit 23 in the next stage as color Doppler information.

The vector calculation unit 23 refers to the absolute velocity of the movement of the myocardium or the like (here, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, the velocity V in the movement direction of the object, which is the velocity V itself, in the two-dimensional coordinate system. Which has a size and a direction)) is estimated and calculated by the following method, for example.

As described above, the velocity of the moving object directly detected by the ultrasonic Doppler method is the velocity component “V · cos θ” in the ultrasonic beam direction. However, the speed that is actually desired is the absolute speed V. The method of estimating the absolute velocity vector is as follows: (i) The ultrasonic wave beams are individually emitted toward the target position of the moving object from two directions having different aperture positions and incident angles, and the Doppler polarization obtained by each beam irradiation is used. A method of estimating based on a transfer frequency, (ii) a component (tangential line) in a direction perpendicular to a Doppler shift frequency (radial component) of ultrasonic beams in two directions with the same aperture and slightly different irradiation directions. There are various methods such as a method of obtaining the component) and estimating the absolute velocity vector. Although these estimation methods are used in the ultrasonic Doppler blood flow measuring device, they can also be applied to the estimation of the motion velocity vector of the myocardium and the blood vessel wall.
Here, the estimation method of (i) will be described with reference to FIGS.

In FIG. 5, velocity components Vd1 and Vd2 in each ultrasonic beam direction that can be estimated from the Doppler shift frequencies obtained at the apertures 1 and 2 are relative to the absolute velocity V of the moving object.

[Equation 3] The relationship is established. These relationships are expressed as shown in FIG. In FIG.

[Equation 4] Is. Also, the triangles ΔADE and ΔBCE are similar figures,

[Equation 5] And

[Equation 6] Therefore,

[Equation 7] Becomes Therefore, the line segment AB, that is, the absolute velocity V is

[Equation 8] Required by. That is, if the angle φ formed by the ultrasonic beams from the two openings is known, the two Doppler outputs Vd
The absolute velocity V can be determined from 1, Vd2 regardless of the incident angle.

When the absolute velocity V is obtained from the equation (3),

[Formula 9] Vd1 = V · cos θ1

[Mathematical formula-see original document] θ1 = cos ^-1 (Vd1 / V) (4) is obtained, and the direction of the absolute speed V is determined.

Since the absolute velocity V can be calculated as described above, the ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving section 15 is adapted to perform delay and aperture control so as to correspond to the above-mentioned transmission / reception of the ultrasonic beam from the two directions. In response to this, the frequency analysis unit 22 alternately outputs the Doppler outputs Vd1 and Vd2 corresponding to the transmission and reception of the ultrasonic beams one by one to the vector calculation unit 23. The vector operation unit 23 performs the operations of the expressions (3) and (4).

Other methods can be used for estimating the velocity vector. Generally, the estimation accuracy, the real-time property, and the circuit scale (that is, cost and size increase) are in a trade-off relationship.

The data of the absolute velocity vector V calculated for each sample volume as described above is the CF of the next stage.
It is output to the DSC unit 24 for M. DSC part 24 for CFM
Includes a DSC 24a for scanning mode conversion and a color circuit 24b having a look-up table for colorizing speed data. Therefore, the two-dimensional absolute velocity vector calculated by the vector calculation unit 23 is
The ultrasonic scanning signal is converted into a standard television scanning signal in C24a, and converted into color display data in the color circuit 24b, and the converted signal is output to the memory synthesizing unit 18.

Here, the color display system of the myocardial velocity processed by the color circuit 24b will be described. This color display is roughly classified into (i) display of speed magnitude (absolute value), (ii) display of motion direction and speed magnitude, and (i)
ii) Display of the direction of movement. The display method of (i) is as follows: a: changing the brightness according to the size of a single color,
b: There is a change in color depending on the size. Regarding the display method of (ii), there is a method of indicating the direction by color and the size by the luminance. Among these, the applicable expression method for the direction is limited depending on the mode of the obtained speed information. It
Here, the color is determined in the color circuit 24b of the DSC unit 24 for CFM as shown in FIG. That is, the movement that approaches the conventionally known ultrasonic beam is red,
Corresponding to the method of showing the movement away from the ultrasonic beam in blue, the contraction movement of the myocardium is shown in red, the diastolic movement of the myocardium is shown in blue, and as the absolute value increases, it becomes bright red or bright blue (luminance (I raise it).

The DSC 24 of the DSC unit 24 for CFM
Further, a stores a plurality of color Doppler images in an arbitrary cardiac phase in the CFM frame memory 25.

On the other hand, the ECG 13 described above is adapted to detect the electrocardiogram information of each cardiac phase of the subject. This detection signal is output to the trigger signal generator 41 and the reference data memory 42 via the ECG amplifier 40. Of these, the reference data memory 42 stores the electrocardiogram information in each cardiac phase, and supplies necessary information to the memory synthesizing unit 18 as necessary. The trigger signal generator 41 informs the timing signal generator 44 of timing information of each cardiac phase. Timing signal generator 44
Is a CPU that normally controls the delay time pattern in the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 15 according to an instruction from the operation panel 14.
43 is under control of the trigger signal generator 41
When the timing of each cardiac phase is notified from, the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver unit 15 oscillates a reference signal for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves.

As described above, the memory synthesis unit 18 is
The B-mode image signal output from the mode DSC unit 18, the CFM (color Doppler tomography) mode image signal output from the CFM DSC unit 25, and, if necessary, the electrocardiogram information from the reference data memory 42 It is designed to be entered. The memory synthesizer 18 superimposes the input signal data, and the superposed data is displayed on the display unit 1.
9 is output. The display 19 is here a CRT.

As a result, since the blood flow and the Doppler signal of the valve have already been cut by the filter section 21, the display 19 shows the B-mode tomographic image (black and white gradation) of the heart and the movement of the myocardium in FIG. A tomographic image obtained by superimposing a color image color-coded by the color scale shown is displayed, for example, as shown in FIG. 8 (in the figure, the hatched portion indicates the myocardium HM). That is, the color of the myocardium HM shown in FIG. 8 is red during contraction exercise and blue during diastole exercise, and the red and blue colors are repeated periodically and in real time. Moreover, the change in the moving speed during the contracting or expanding motion is expressed in real time by the change in the brightness of red or blue. Therefore, myocardial HM
It is possible to accurately and accurately display the motion velocity of, especially the absolute velocity in the motion direction in color, and obtain a basic image for quantitatively and highly accurately evaluating the functional decline of the heart.

The diagnostic device in the above-described embodiment has two types of frame memories 17, 25 for B mode and CFM.
As a result, if necessary, cine-loop playback such as slow-motion playback and frame-by-frame playback and video playback can be performed, and images with different cardiac phases can be displayed individually or in parallel for B mode and CFM. Can be made.

In addition, a Doppler filter for displaying the movement of the myocardium or an FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) frequency analyzer can be added to the tomographic apparatus.

Further, in the above embodiment, the image on which the myocardial CFM image is superimposed is the B-mode tomographic image, and the diagnosis target is the heart. However, the present invention is not necessarily limited to such a structure. Not a thing. For example, an M-mode image may be used instead of the B-mode image (in this case, each component for acquiring the B-mode image may be replaced with that of the M-mode image), and instead of the myocardium. The blood vessel wall may be diagnosed (in this case, the cutoff frequency of the filter unit 21 is adjusted for the blood vessel wall). In addition, without superimposing the B-mode image and the M-mode image,
Only the FM (color Doppler) image may be displayed alone.

Furthermore, in order to clarify the correspondence with the biosignal such as the electrocardiogram as seen in the normal B-mode tomography apparatus and color flow mapping, simultaneous display of the biosignal waveform and the time difference from the R wave of the electrocardiogram are performed. You may display.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the absolute velocity V in each sample volume of the myocardium was calculated as a vector quantity, but the velocity component Vd of the absolute velocity V in the ultrasonic beam direction should be displayed in color as the velocity of myocardial motion. This also makes it possible to satisfactorily grasp the motion state of the myocardium and simplify the device. A block diagram of a device therefor is shown in FIG. According to the block configuration of the figure, the output data of the frequency analysis unit 22 is directly supplied to the CFM DSC unit 24, and the others are the same as those of FIG.

On the other hand, FIG. 10 shows a modified example using the configuration of the first embodiment. In this modification, an image of a normal heartbeat and an image of an abnormal heartbeat are simultaneously displayed. For example, an interval time of the R wave of an electrocardiogram is measured in the reference data memory 42, and the normal heartbeat and the abnormal heartbeat are detected based on the result. Distinguish between heartbeats. Then, the B-mode DSC unit 16 and the CFM DSC unit 24
The normal heartbeat data and the abnormal heartbeat data output from the above are combined by the memory combining unit 18 and output to the display unit 19. As a result, as shown in, for example, FIG. 10, color images of absolute velocities during a normal heartbeat and during an abnormal heartbeat are displayed simultaneously, which facilitates comparative examination of differences between the two.

Further, FIG. 11 shows another modified example using the configuration of the first embodiment. This modification relates to the overwriting display of the velocity by the electrocardiographic synchronization. In a single frame related to ultrasonic beam scanning, due to speckles in the myocardium, black spots appear in the image of the myocardium that should originally move at the same speed,
It can be a hindrance in recognizing structure and speed. Therefore, the scanning line interval related to the color Doppler display is narrowed to increase the resolution, and the speed data is overwritten on the memory while shifting the color region in synchronization with the electrocardiogram. For example, as shown in FIG. 11, the first region DV1 is formed by shifting one frame by 22.5 ° and divided into four, and the scan data of the first four scans are overwritten and formed. Next, the second region DV2 in the four divisions is formed by overwriting the scan data of the next four scans. Similarly, the same is repeated for the third and fourth areas DV3 and DV4 in the four divisions. As a result, one image is completed with a sufficiently practical 16 heartbeats, and the completed image is displayed by cineloop reproduction of one cardiac cycle. The above processing is mainly performed by the timing signal generator 29 and the CFM frame memory 24. In this way, by using the data of the frames having the same cardiac phase to overwrite the same region, for example, four times, it is possible to almost completely prevent black spots due to speckles in the myocardium and improve the image quality. In addition to the above, an image covering the entire myocardial region can be obtained in the same manner as in the related art by the method of scanning color regions while scanning them and synthesizing them.

Further, FIG. 12 shows another modified example using the configuration of the first embodiment. In this modified example, a portion where heart contraction or diastolic motion is not performed (for example, heart bone) is used as a reference point, and the value obtained by subtracting the velocity at the reference point from the detected velocity at each volume sample point is the true motion velocity of the myocardium. It is what This processing is performed by the frequency analysis unit 22 or the vector calculation unit 30, and the contents are shown in FIG.
As shown in 2, R set by the operator on the display 19
OI (this ROI is set to the part of the heart bone, for example)
The average speed or the maximum speed within the range is defined as Vref, and a value obtained by subtracting the speed Vref from the detected speed at each sample point is calculated. If configured to perform this processing, more accurate speed data can be obtained.

Further, another modification of the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. This modification aims at removing random noise. This noise removal is performed by, for example, the memory synthesizing unit 18, and utilizes that the echo level of the myocardium in the ultrasonic tomographic image of the heart is higher than that of other regions. That is, a region where the brightness of the B-mode image is equal to or higher than a certain threshold value (for example, the range of A1 in FIG. 13B).
Is extracted, and color display relating to the motion velocity is performed only for this extracted region. Thereby, for example, in FIG.
In the example of (a), of the original speed data output from the CFM DSC unit 24, only the data corresponding to the area A1 remains and is displayed as shown in FIG. Therefore, random noise (refer to noises N and N in FIG. 9A) in a region that does not correspond to the myocardium is reliably removed, and the image quality is improved.

Furthermore, an example in which the above modification is applied is shown in FIG.
It will be explained based on. This modification removes epicardial velocity information. When diagnosing the movement of the endocardium, the coloring of the movement of the epicardium may be a hindrance. Therefore, by utilizing the fact that the echo level of the epicardium is higher than that of the endocardium, data having a brightness of the B-mode image having a threshold value D2 or more is deleted (see FIG. 14B), and the threshold value D2 is deleted. Area A2 that is equal to or less than threshold value D1 (D1 <D2)
Only the movement speed of (1) is adopted (see (a) and (c) of the same figure). Here, the threshold value D1 is set in order to implement the threshold value D1 in combination with the modification of FIG. The above processing is performed by the memory synthesizing unit 18. In this way, when diagnosing the endocardium,
There is an advantage that coloring of the epicardium does not get in the way and the image quality is also improved.

(Second Embodiment) A second embodiment shown in FIGS.
It will be described based on 6. In this embodiment, the absolute velocity in each sample volume obtained as described above is displayed in another mode instead of the real time display. In this embodiment, the same or equivalent components as those in the above embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted or simplified (this policy is also adopted in the embodiments described below).

The ultrasonic color Doppler tomography apparatus in this embodiment is constructed in the same manner as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 3, but the CFM DSC section 24 in this apparatus is as shown in FIG. In addition, a hold processing circuit 24c for performing processing relating to the max hold display of the absolute speed is further provided. That is, since the data of the absolute velocity vector calculated by the vector calculation unit 23 is stored in the CFM frame memory 25 for each frame, the CSC DSC unit 2
4 reads the speed data for one heartbeat from the CFM frame memory 25. Then, the maximum velocity within one heartbeat in each sample volume is calculated, and the image data for one frame formed by the calculated value is formed. The maximum velocity calculated here is the systolic maximum velocity Vmax in the contraction exercise in which the exercise time phase is specified based on the detection signal of the ECG 13, and this maximum velocity Vmax is, for example, 0 <V1.
The color or brightness is changed and displayed depending on which of the three speed ranges such as <V2 <V3. For example, 0
A low speed region of ≦ Vmax <V1 is indicated by a low brightness of a certain color or a specific color, a middle speed region of V1 ≦ Vmax <V2 is indicated by a middle brightness of another color or a specific color, and a V2 ≦ Vmax <V3 of The high-velocity region becomes data indicating high brightness of another color or a specific color (see FIG. 16). This image data is sent to the memory synthesizing unit 18 and is displayed on the display 19 in a hold state.

As a result, the screen of the display 19 is shown in FIG.
As shown in, the color image classified according to the velocity range appears, and the distribution state of the maximum systolic velocity Vmax is high and low. In other words, it is possible to intuitively diagnose a region where the maximum velocity Vmax is locally low as a region where the activity of the myocardium is blunted due to myocardial ischemia or the like, and the wall thickness of the heart in the cardiac cycle is further determined from the color-displayed region. You can see the change.

Furthermore, modified examples of the above embodiment are shown in FIGS.
It will be described based on 8. In this modified example, when the maximum speed obtained in real time is held and displayed, the maximum speed of contraction and expansion is held and displayed like an afterimage for a certain period of time. First, as shown in FIG. 17, the CFM frame memory 25 receives a velocity data from the vector calculation unit 23 via the CFM DSC unit 24 and a velocity data conversion unit 25a.
And input the conversion data of this conversion unit 25a and
It is composed of a frame memory 25b which outputs data before the frame. The output data of the frame memory 25b is C
It is fed back to the display system via the FMDSC section 24 and also fed back to the speed data conversion section 25a.

Then, the speed data conversion unit 25a displays the data in FIG.
The process shown in 8 is executed. Here, it is assumed that the direction of the velocity to be handled is the direction toward the probe in the beam direction and the direction away from the probe, and the direction is determined by the sign of the sign. Further, m: ultrasonic frame number, VIm:
Speed input to the speed data conversion unit 25a, SIm: code of speed input to the speed data conversion unit 25a, Vm: output speed of the speed data conversion unit 25a, Sm: output speed code of the speed data conversion unit 25a, Cm: Frame counter value at ultrasonic frame m, Vm-1: Output speed of frame memory, Sm-1: Sign of output speed of frame memory, Cm-1: Frame counter value at ultrasonic frame m-1, And

In step ST1 of FIG. 18, m =
The ultrasonic scan and the frame memory 25b are initialized with 0, Vm = 0, Sm = 0, and Cm = 0. Next, in step ST2, the ultrasonic frame number m is incremented (m = m + 1), the first frame is designated, and the sign of the velocity of the specified sample point is updated (Sm = SIm). Next, at step ST3, it is determined whether the frame counter value Cm-1 has reached the maximum hold frame period CMAX (Cm-1 = CMAX). If this determination is NO, that is, if the maximum hold frame period CMAX has not been reached, then the process proceeds to step ST4, and it is determined whether SIm ≠ Sm−1 and VIm> 0 whether or not the speed direction has changed with respect to the previous frame. Judge by whether or not. If this determination is NO, that is, if the direction of the speed has not changed, then it proceeds to step ST5 and determines whether or not the speed VIm is higher than the speed Vm-1 of the previous frame (VIm> Vm-1). To do. N in this judgment
O, that is, the speed VIm with respect to the speed Vm-1 of the previous frame
When is equal to or smaller than, the process proceeds to step ST6. In step ST6, the memory writing speed data Vm for the m frame is set to the data Vm-1 for the m-1 frame (Vm = Vm-1), and the frame counter Cm is incremented (Cm = Cm + 1). After this, step 2
Return to processing. In this way, when the maximum hold period has not been reached yet, the direction of the speed has not changed, and the speed is smaller than the previous frame, the maximum speed hold is continued in step ST6.

While the hold process continues, when the absolute value of the velocity is larger than that of the previous frame (step ST5
When the speed direction changes from positive to negative (from contraction to expansion) (YES in step ST4), when the maximum hold frame period CMAX is reached (YES in step ST3). When any of the above events occurs, the process immediately shifts to step ST7. In step ST7, the m-frame memory write speed data Vm is set to m-frame data VIm (V
m = VIm), clear the frame counter Cm (C
m = 0). Then, the process returns to step 2. As a result, when the above-mentioned event occurs, the hold display is stopped.

By performing the processing as described above, hold display is performed like an afterimage for a certain time until any one of the above-mentioned three events occurs, and when the hold is finished, a screen that follows the movement of the myocardium is displayed again in real time. Switch. That is, the hold display does not disappear instantly and does not last forever. Therefore, since the maximum velocities during systole and diastole are alternately displayed in color for a fixed time, these maximum velocities are easy to see, and it becomes easier to trace the endocardium at the end systole and the end of rapid inflow. Further, it is possible to improve the image quality by reducing black spots in the color due to speckles in the myocardium.

(Third Embodiment) Third Embodiment FIGS. 19 to 2
A description will be given based on 0. The ultrasonic color Doppler tomography apparatus of the third embodiment is such that the two-dimensional absolute velocity display in each sample volume is represented by a vector.

In the ultrasonic color Doppler tomographic apparatus shown in FIG. 19, the absolute velocity magnitude and direction data in each sample volume calculated by the vector calculation unit 23 are
It is also designed to be output to the graphic memory unit 50. The graphic memory unit 50 is adapted to generate graphic data of arrows corresponding to the magnitude and direction of the input speed. The position where the arrow is generated is determined by appropriately tracing the contour of the circular myocardium.
That is, the direction of the two-dimensional absolute velocity vector in each sample volume is indicated by the direction of the arrow (line segment), and the size is indicated by the length of the arrow. Graphic memory unit 50
The generated data of is output to the memory synthesis unit 18. The memory synthesis unit 18 includes a B mode DSC unit 16 and a CFM D
The image and graphic data output from the SC unit 24, the graphic memory unit 50, and the reference data memory 42 are superimposed, and the superimposed data is output to the display unit 19.

As a result, the image displayed on the display 19 is, for example, as shown in FIG. 20, a color Doppler tomographic image equivalent to that of the first embodiment, on which arrows AR ... AR representing the absolute velocity are superimposed. Becomes As a result, the direction of the arrow changes depending on whether the myocardium contracts or dilates, and the size of the arrow changes at each time phase, so that the activity status of the heart can be grasped almost in real time by the change of the arrow.

In addition to the method of expressing the velocity vector in the above embodiment (the mode is (i)), another way of expressing the two-dimensional absolute velocity vector is (ii) the direction of the arrow. , And a mode in which a change in size is indicated by a change in luminance of a single color, and (iii) a direction in which the direction is indicated by an arrow and a change in size is indicated by a change in color. When only the direction of movement is represented, it can be dealt with in the above-mentioned aspects (i) to (iii), except for matters relating to the magnitude of velocity.

(Fourth Embodiment) Fourth Embodiment FIGS. 21 to 2
It will be described based on 9. The ultrasonic color Doppler tomography apparatus according to the fourth embodiment does not directly calculate the vector of the motion velocity of the myocardium as described in the first embodiment, but focuses on the feature of the motion of the myocardium and assumes the direction of the motion. After (estimating), the vector absolute velocity in that direction is calculated.

The color Doppler tomographic apparatus 10 shown in FIG.
Is a CFM contour drawing unit 51 that extracts an endocardial contour on the output side of the frequency analysis unit 22 that calculates the velocity vector Vd in the ultrasonic beam direction for each sample volume.
And a velocity conversion calculator 52 that estimates the vector absolute velocity of the myocardium based on the velocity vector Vd and the contour information.

First, the drawing principle of the CFM contour drawing section 51 will be described. As shown in FIG. 22, the myocardium HM as a moving object is sector-scanned by the scanning lines UB1, ..., UBn of the ultrasonic beam. By this sector scanning, the velocity data Vd (that is,
The two-dimensional mapping data of the motion velocity of the myocardium is shown in FIG.
It is obtained for each scanning line as schematically shown in FIG. Therefore, the edge of the speed change is detected in the depth direction for each scanning line (see FIG. 24). This edge detection is performed by setting a predetermined threshold value VTH as shown in FIG. Next, azimuth direction (direction toward adjacent scan line)
Similarly, the edge of the speed change is detected. Then, when the edges obtained in the scanning line direction and the azimuth direction are connected by a line, outer and inner contour lines LNout and LNin of the myocardium are formed as shown in FIG. This contour line LNout, LN
The data of in is output to the speed conversion calculation unit 52.

The speed conversion calculation unit 52 is configured to estimate and calculate the absolute speed using any one of the following three methods (i) to (iii).

(I) First, the first method will be described with reference to FIG. This method uses the velocity component in the direction perpendicular to the contour line of the endocardium as the absolute velocity of the myocardium. The velocity conversion calculation unit 52 inputs the data of the endocardial contour line LNin. Then, in each sample volume on the ultrasonic beam UB, a tangent line SS to the endocardial contour line LNin
Further, the angle between the tangent line SS and the ultrasonic beam UB is determined as “90 ° −θ”. Next, it is assumed that the movement direction of the myocardium HM at the intersection of the ultrasonic beam UB and the contour line LNin is a direction perpendicular to the above tangent line. Thus, based on the velocity component Vd in the ultrasonic beam direction and the angle θ obtained by the Doppler method, the absolute motion velocity V of the myocardium is

## EQU10 ## V = Vd / cos θ is calculated. The direction of the velocity V is a direction perpendicular to the tangent line.

(Ii) The second method will be described with reference to FIG. In this method, it is assumed that the left ventricle contracts toward a fixed point, and the velocity component in the direction toward the fixed point is the absolute velocity. The speed conversion calculation unit 52 inputs the data of the contour line LNin of the left ventricle. Then, as shown in the figure, the center of gravity of the left ventricle (usually,
The center of gravity at the end diastole) is obtained, and this is set as the fixed point P. Furthermore, in each sample volume on the ultrasonic beam,
The angle θ formed by the straight line ST connecting the sample volume point and the fixed point P and the ultrasonic beam UB is obtained. Then, it is assumed that all the left ventricular myocardium contracts toward the fixed point P and expands in a direction away from the fixed point P. Based on this assumption, using the velocity component Vd in the ultrasonic beam direction obtained by the Doppler method, the absolute motion velocity V of the myocardium is

## EQU12 ## V = Vd / cos .theta.

(Iii) The third method will be described with reference to FIG. In this method, the midline of the endocardial contour line at the end diastole and the end systole is obtained by referring to the ECG signal and the like, and the velocity component in the direction perpendicular to the midline is used as the absolute velocity. The velocity conversion calculation unit 52 inputs the data of the contour lines LNin1 and LNin2 of the left ventricle at the end diastole and the end systole. Then, as shown in the figure, a midline CL between the contour lines LNin1 and LNin2 is obtained. Then, in each sample volume on the ultrasonic beam, a tangent line SS to the obtained median line CL is obtained, and further, this tangent line S
The angle formed by S and the ultrasonic beam UB is calculated as “90 ° −θ”. Assuming that the motion direction of the myocardium at the intersection of the tangent line SS and the ultrasonic beam UB is perpendicular to the tangent line SS, the absolute motion speed of the myocardium is calculated using the velocity component Vd of the ultrasonic beam direction obtained by the Doppler method. V is

## EQU13 ## Calculated from V = Vd / cos θ.

As described above, the vector of the absolute motion velocity V of the myocardium estimated and calculated by the velocity conversion calculation unit 52 by any method is colored in the CFM DSC unit 24 in the same manner as in the first embodiment. It is displayed on the display unit 19. Therefore, the absolute velocity vector can be accurately obtained without directly performing the calculation as in the first embodiment.

The method of obtaining the center of gravity of the left ventricle and the center line of the left ventricle used in the above estimation and calculation is well known in the conventional left ventricular wall motion analysis method using B-mode images.

Further, the tomographic apparatus of the above-mentioned embodiment performed the contour drawing of the endocardium from the two-dimensional mapping data of the motion velocity of the myocardium. This contour drawing is performed from the B-mode image by using a conventionally known method. You may do it. This example is shown in FIG.
Shown in. That is, in the tomographic apparatus of FIG. 30, a B-mode contour drawing unit 53 is provided on the output side of the ultrasonic transmitting / receiving unit 15 instead of the CFM contour drawing unit 51 provided in the fourth embodiment, and
The endocardial contour data obtained from the mode tomographic image is output to the velocity conversion calculation unit 52.

(Fifth Embodiment) A fifth embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
It will be described based on 6. The ultrasonic color Doppler tomography apparatus according to the fifth embodiment is a further advanced version of the color display of the absolute motion velocity in the first and second embodiments.

The tomographic apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 31 has the above-mentioned vector operation unit 23 and C on the output side of the frequency analysis unit 22.
The FM contour drawing unit 51 is provided side by side, and the velocity component separation unit 5 is provided between the vector calculation unit 23 and the CFM DSC unit 24.
4 is newly inserted. Then, the contour data from the CFM contour drawing section 51 is supplied to the velocity component separating section 54.

The velocity component separating section 54 is composed of the vector calculating section 2
3 calculated myocardial absolute velocity V for each sample volume
Is input, and the vector of the absolute velocity V is decomposed into predetermined bidirectional components V1 and V2. Further, the velocity component separation unit 54, according to the ratio of the components V1 and V2,
The color and the brightness are determined with reference to a two-dimensional color scale described later, and the determined data is used as the CFM DSC unit 24.
It is designed to output to.

There are various separation modes in the velocity component separation section 54, which are (i) to (iv) below.

(I) First, the decomposition method shown in FIG.
What decomposes the vector of the absolute velocity V into the tangential direction at each sample volume point of the endocardial contour line LNin (see FIG. 27 described above) or the midline CL (see FIG. 29 described above) and the direction perpendicular to this Is. Here, the vertical velocity component is V1 (contraction direction is a positive value and the expansion direction is a negative value), and the tangential velocity component is V2 (here, a direction closer to the body surface is a negative value, and a direction deeper). Is taken as a positive value).

(Ii) The decomposition method shown in FIG. 33 separates the component V1 parallel to the straight line connecting the fixed point P described in FIG. 28 and each sample volume and the component V2 perpendicular thereto. Here, of the parallel components V1, the contraction direction is set to a positive value and the expansion direction is set to a negative value, and the vertical component V2 is also set as in the case of (i).

(Iii) In the decomposition method shown in FIG.
Cartesian coordinates are set in the ventricle as shown in the figure, and decomposed into a velocity component V1 in the x direction and a velocity component V2 in the y direction. x
The origin is set near the center of the left ventricle for both the axis and the y axis.

(Iv) In the decomposition method shown in FIG. 35, polar coordinates are set in the ventricle as shown in the drawing, and the composition is decomposed into a velocity component V1 in the radius r direction and a velocity component V2 in the angle θ direction.

The velocity component V1, decomposed as described above,
Since the display color based on V2 is determined for each sample volume, the color circuit 24a of the CSC DSC unit 24
(Refer to the first embodiment) has a color scale storage table shown in FIG. The color scale in the figure is for coloring by dividing the direction of motion into two directions, and the vertical axis represents the red line representing the contraction of the myocardium according to the direction of the vector of the absolute velocity V (the value of the velocity V is positive). And the scale of the blue system (the value of the speed V is negative) that represents expansion (the larger the size, the higher the brightness), and the horizontal axis represents the deviation of the contraction motion and expansion motion from the determined axis (yellow). Or green)
I am trying. Also, the vertical axis is black when the speed V = 0,
The size of the speed is shown centering on this level.

Therefore, since the velocity component separating section 54 refers to the color scale, first, it calculates "V / Vmax" to determine the upper or lower color area on the vertical axis. Then, "V2 / (V1 + V2)" or "V1 /
(V1 + V2) ”is calculated to determine the position on the horizontal axis. In this way, the color data corresponding to the determined position is output to the DSC 24b of the CSC DSC unit 24 in the next stage.

As a result, the direction of movement of the myocardium is two-dimensionally expressed, the color based on red or blue indicates systole or diastole, and the basic color of red is a yellowish synthetic color. The degree of deviation from the defined axis in the contraction motion or the expansion motion is represented by whether the base color of blue is a green-colored composite color. For example, in terms of the vector of the absolute velocity V of the sample volume shown in FIG. 32, red is selected as the basic tone color due to the velocity component V1 toward the inside of the myocardium, and this basic tone has a velocity component toward the depth direction from the body surface. A slight yellow color, representing V2, is added. As a result, since the yellowish red color is displayed on the display device 19 with the brightness corresponding to the absolute value of the speed V, the direction of the motion can be observed in more detail.

In this embodiment, the circuit for giving the contour information to the velocity component separating section 54 is the C described in the above embodiment.
The FM contour delineation unit 51 is not limited to the FM mode delineation unit 53, and may be the B-mode contour delineation unit 53 illustrated in FIG. 30, for example.

(Sixth Embodiment) A sixth embodiment is shown in FIGS.
It will be described based on 8. In the sixth embodiment, display of a velocity contour line and automatic tracing will be described.

Color Doppler tomographic apparatus 10 shown in FIG.
The above-mentioned CFM contour drawing unit 51 is provided on the output side of the frequency analysis unit 22, and the output of this drawing unit 51 is supplied to the memory synthesis unit 18 via the graphic memory unit 50.

Therefore, the motion velocity of the myocardium for each sample volume is calculated from the frequency analysis unit 22 to the CFM contour drawing unit 51.
Is supplied to. The CFM contour drawing unit 51 automatically calculates the contour data of the region having a velocity V (≧ Vmin) equal to or higher than the minimum velocity Vmin that can be detected as the motion velocity of the myocardium, using the method described above (see FIGS. 22 to 26). . This contour data is output to the graphic memory unit 50, where it is converted into graphic data corresponding to the contour line, and then this graphic data is output to the memory synthesis unit 18. The tomographic image data in which the myocardium is colored according to the motion speed of the myocardium is output from the CFM DSC unit 24 to the memory synthesizing unit 18, and the above-described contour line graphic data is superimposed on the tomographic image data. .

As a result, as shown in FIG. 38, the tomographic image of the myocardium displayed in color with the motion velocity as a parameter is displayed on the display 19 in a state in which the contour is divided by the contour lines DL, ..., DL. Is displayed. This contour line DL, ..., DL
Is a contour line of the endocardium. Since the motion velocity for each sample volume is output in real time from the frequency analysis unit 22, the contour image of the myocardium also changes momentarily according to contraction and expansion of the myocardium. As a result, it is possible to intuitively diagnose the movement of the myocardium such as real-time understanding of the change in the thickness of the myocardium.

In the above embodiment, the case where the contour line is simply displayed in real time has been described, but the present invention is not limited to such a mode, and in addition to real time display, cine loop reproduction display is also possible. Alternatively, it is also possible to perform automatic tracing after freezing the speed display image.

Here, an automatic endocardial tracing method using the above-described contour display will be described. The hardware configuration at this time is the same as that in FIG.

In the first tracing method, as shown in FIG. 39, the contour data is calculated as described above in the CFM contour drawing section 51, and then, for example, a rectangle R is formed near the left ventricle endocardium.
Set the OI. Then, a part of the contour line DL that traverses the ROI is obtained. Next, while following the contour line DL, data indicating the contour of only the left ventricle endocardium is formed, and this data is output to the graphic memory unit 50. This enables automatic tracing of only the left ventricular endocardium, and only the contour line DL shown by the solid line in FIG. 39 is drawn on the color Doppler tomographic image of the myocardium HM. The above processing is performed by the CFM contour drawing unit 51.

The second tracing method uses a fixed point in the left ventricle cavity. After calculating the contour data of the entire myocardium HM by the above-described method, the CFM contour drawing section 51 sets a fixed point P in the left ventricle cavity as shown in FIG. Then, the contour line data is searched radially from the fixed point P, only the contour line data detected first on each search line SH is adopted as the left ventricular endocardium, and the collected data is used as a graphic memory. Output to the unit 50. This enables automatic tracing of only the left ventricle endocardium, and only the contour line DL shown by the solid line in FIG. 40 is drawn on the color Doppler tomographic image of the myocardium HM.

In this way, the left ventricular endocardium can be automatically traced. Therefore, it is possible to avoid the positional deviation of the contour line due to the setting of the amplification factor of the received signal, which has been a problem in the conventional B-mode method, and it is possible to realize automatic tracing of the endocardium with significantly improved accuracy and reproducibility. .

Note that automatic tracing is possible in the epicardium as well.

This automatic trace can be used to measure left ventricular cross-sectional area, left ventricular volume, etc., and the function of the left ventricle can be evaluated based on the measurement results. However, in end systole and end diastole, myocardium can be used. Since the speed of movement of is almost zero, the above automatic tracing is impossible at these end stages. Therefore, a measure for eliminating this inconvenience will be described below.

First, the above inconvenience will be specifically described. FIG. 41 shows the ultrasonic frame number m (m = 1, 2, ...) For each sector scan on the horizontal axis and the detection speed Vm for each ultrasonic frame at the sample point on the vertical axis. When the detection speed Vm is periodically changed as shown in FIG., The speed _{V m} in a range of _{-Vmin <V m <+ Vmin (} Vmin is the lowest detectable rate system) is not _{detected, V} m = 0 Becomes Therefore, in FIG. 41, V _m = 0 at frame numbers m = 1, 5, 6, 10, and 11, and at this time, it becomes impossible to detect edges from color display of velocity (that is, motions other than myocardium). Indistinguishable from the region of zero velocity).

Therefore, in order to solve the above-mentioned inconvenience, CF
The M contour drawing unit 51 detects the detection speed V at each sample point.
_m (m is an ultrasonic frame number) is converted into V ′ _m according to the algorithm shown in FIG. 42, and this conversion speed V ′ _m
Is used for edge detection.

In step ST1 of FIG. 42, the ultrasonic frame number m = 1 is set as the initial setting. Next, at step ST2, it is judged if the absolute value of the detected speed V ₁ is smaller than the predetermined value Vmin. Here, the predetermined value Vmin may be a minimum speed that can be detected by the system, or may be a certain threshold value within a detectable speed range. When the judgment of NO at step ST2, the in step ST3, the but replacing the detected speed _{V 1} as the conversion speed _V'1, opposite to the case of YES, a step ST4
Then, set V ′ ₁ = 0. After these steps ST3 or ST4, the process proceeds to step ST5 and the ultrasonic frame number m is incremented (= m + 1). Further, in step ST6, it is determined whether or not the absolute value of the detected speed V _m of the incremented frame number m is smaller than the predetermined value V min. NO in this step, that is, when the absolute value of the detected velocity V _m is determined to be equal to or greater than the predetermined value Vmin, at step ST7, replacing the detected velocity V _m as the conversion speed _V'm. But step S
If the result of the determination in T6 is YES, that is, if the absolute value of the detected speed V _m is smaller than the predetermined value V min, then step S
At T8, the conversion speed V ′ _m−1 (≧ Vmi) one frame before
The n) replacing the conversion rates _V'm for the current frame. Hereinafter, steps ST5 to ST8 are repeated according to the frame number m. As described above, when the absolute value of the detected speed V _m is smaller than the predetermined value V min, step ST
At 8, the conversion speed V ′ _m−1 for one frame is set in a pseudo manner. As a result, the velocity curve of FIG. 41 is converted as shown in FIG. 43, and the above-described state considered to be V _m = 0 is excluded. Incidentally, in the conversion curve of FIG. 43, it happens that V ′ ₁ = 0 when m = 1, but it can be considered that m will continue to infinity unless the ultrasonic frame number m is reset midway. This is not a problem.

By performing the above velocity conversion, stable and highly accurate left ventricular function analysis becomes possible.

In order to display only the movement velocity of the endocardium, the contour line of the endocardium may be colored according to the magnitude of the movement velocity.

(Seventh Embodiment) A seventh embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the seventh embodiment, the acceleration of the movement of the myocardium is calculated and displayed.

Color Doppler tomographic apparatus 10 shown in FIG.
Is the output terminal of the frequency analysis unit 22 and the DSC unit 24 for CFM.
On the other hand, an acceleration calculation unit 55 that calculates the acceleration of the motion of the myocardium is connected in parallel to the output end of the analysis unit 22 and the calculation output of the acceleration calculation unit 55 is also used for the CFM DS.
It is output to the C section 24.

The acceleration calculator 55 calculates the acceleration from the analysis result of the frequency analyzer 22, that is, the motion velocity of each sample volume in the ultrasonic beam direction.
Specifically, focusing on a certain sample volume in the ultrasonic scan area, the detection speed of the sample volume in the (n-1) th ultrasonic frame is Vn _-1 , and the detection speed of the _nth is Vn. Then, the motion acceleration of the myocardium at the position of the sample volume is approximately obtained by the following equation.

[0127]

Equation 14] _{dV / dt = (V n -V} n-1) / T where, T is a scanning period of the ultrasound frame. The acceleration calculation based on this equation is performed for each sample volume.

The acceleration data of each sample point calculated by the acceleration calculator 55 in this way is obtained by the CSC DSC.
The unit 24 receives the processing for color display. The display of acceleration is also divided into the case of displaying only the magnitude (absolute value) of acceleration and the case of displaying the direction of motion and the magnitude of acceleration. The expression method for each display mode is
The speed display item in the above-described embodiment may be replaced by the acceleration display item.

The acceleration calculation section 55 may be arranged together with the vector calculation section 23 for speed calculation on the output side of the frequency analysis section 22.

(Eighth Embodiment) Eighth Embodiment FIGS.
It will be described based on 9. In the eighth embodiment, the time phase of motion of the myocardium is calculated and displayed.

The color Doppler tomographic apparatus 10 shown in FIG.
Is provided with a motion time phase analysis unit 56 on the output side of the CFM frame memory 25, and outputs the analysis result of this motion time phase analysis unit 56 to the memory synthesis unit 18.

The motion time phase analysis unit 56 is equipped with a computer which operates according to the software installed in advance, reads out the motion speed data for one heartbeat from the CFM frame memory 25, and calculates the time phase of the motion speed. Is to be analyzed. Specifically, the R wave of the electrocardiogram is used as a reference event (time 0), and based on the change in the motion velocity of the myocardium within the cardiac cycle, the time at which the velocity reaches a certain threshold value in systole and diastole, It is designed to get the time.

When the acceleration computing unit 55 shown in FIG. 44 is installed, the acceleration during systole and diastole reaches a certain threshold value or becomes maximum as a target of the motion phase analysis. You can get the time.

FIG. 46 shows an example of changes in the absolute value of the myocardial motion velocity in a certain sample volume. As shown in the figure,
The time at which a reference event (here, the R wave of the electrocardiogram) occurs in the cardiac cycle is set to zero, and the movement speed changes according to systole and diastole. In response to this velocity change, the motion phase analyzing unit 56 sets the appearance time of the R wave to t = 0, and calculates the systolic time phase t _sn and the diastolic time phase t _dn from this time. That is, as shown in FIG. 47, t _sn = n · Δt or t _sn = t _ED + n · Δt (n = 0, 1, 2, ..., t _ED : end ventricular diastolic time, Δt: divided time) , T _dn = n ·
Δt or t _dn = t _ES + n · Δt (n = 0, 1, 2, ...,
t _ES : end time of ventricular systole, Δt: division time). The calculation of the systolic time phase t _sn and the diastolic time phase t _dn is performed for each sample volume.

Then, the motion time phase analyzing unit 56 determines the time (or maximum time) t _sn and t _dn at which the motion velocity (or motion acceleration) of each point in the myocardium reaches a certain threshold value for each sample volume. Data in which the time difference is associated with a change in color or brightness is sent to the memory synthesizing unit 18. Thereby, the time difference of the systolic time phase of the ventricle is two-dimensionally displayed on the display device 19 as shown in FIG. 47, and the time difference of the diastolic time phase is shown in FIG. 48, for example.
Two-dimensional display like. In FIG. 48, the time difference until the motion velocity of each point of the myocardium during systole reaches a certain threshold value is classified into three stages by the threshold values t _s0 , t _s1 , t _s2 , and t _s3 , and color coding or luminance change is performed. Indicated by. Further, in FIG. 49, the time difference until the motion velocity of each point of the myocardium during diastole reaches a certain threshold value is represented by thresholds t _d0 , t _d1 , and t.
The _d2, t _d3 are classified into three levels, indicated by color or brightness changes.

Further, based on the information obtained by the above-mentioned analysis, any one of the following areas is highlighted with the color or brightness changed from the other areas. This display command is CF
This is performed using a look-up table in the color circuit of the M DSC unit 24.

(I) A region corresponding to a specified time difference (ii) A region in which ventricular contraction starts earliest (iii) A region in which ventricular contraction starts latest (iv) A region in which ventricular dilation starts earliest (v) Ventricular diastole is most Regions that start late This gives various information about the motion phase within the cardiac cycle in the local myocardium.

Although the exercise time phase analysis in the above embodiment is performed for each heartbeat, the exercise time phase analysis unit 56 uses the CF.
By reading out and analyzing the exercise speed data for a plurality of heartbeats from the M frame memory 25, it is possible to average the time when an event appears over several heartbeats for the above-mentioned analysis items, and the time difference based on the average value. The image can be displayed two-dimensionally as described above. Further, the time difference data between the time when the event appears one heartbeat before and the time when the event appears at the current heartbeat can be displayed two-dimensionally for the above-mentioned analysis items. Furthermore, a normal heartbeat and an abnormal heartbeat such as a sudden arrhythmia can be discriminated, and for the above analysis items, an image at a normal heartbeat and an image at an abnormal heartbeat can be simultaneously displayed two-dimensionally.

Here, the influence of the scanning direction of the ultrasonic beam on the motion time phase analysis and the countermeasure for the correction will be described.

In the electronic sector ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, 1
To obtain one tomographic image, it is common to repeat scanning in one direction from right to left or left to right as shown in FIGS. 50 (a) and 50 (b). Basically, the scanning method is also used in the velocity analysis.

When the time at which the event relating to the motion phase appears by adopting this scanning method, it is necessary to consider the influence of the scanning direction.

The velocity information obtained at each position of the sample volume is discrete with respect to time, and the time t _{m, n} at which the velocity information is obtained at each point on the scanning line is the appearance time of the R wave of the electrocardiogram, for example, t. _{If m, n} = 0,

(15) t _{m, n} = (m-1 + n / N) T (5) Here, m: ultrasonic frame number (m = 1,
2, 3, ...), n: scanning line number (n = 1, 2, 3, ..., N)
N), N: total number of scanning lines in one frame, T: scanning period of ultrasonic frame.

As is clear from the equation (5), at the time when data is obtained on the scanning lines at the right end and the left end of one image,

Since there is a time difference of t _{m, N} −t _{m, 1} = (1-1 / N) T and the right side of the above equation is approximately equal to “T”,

## EQU17 ## There is a time difference of t _{m, N} −t _{m, 1} = T (6). In order to make all the data obtained within this time difference into an event at time mT, the scanning period T of the ultrasonic frame is not sufficiently short with respect to the time resolution required for local motion phase difference analysis of the myocardium. And the problem occurs. In addition, similar time difference is on the scan line at the right end or the left end of the image,
It also appears in the difference between the time when the data is obtained when the scan line is scanned from right to left and the time when the data is obtained when the scan line is scanned from left to right.

To improve this situation, a method of shortening the scanning period T itself and a method of correcting the time difference can be considered. Regarding the former, various methods have been proposed in an ultrasonic tomography diagnostic apparatus and an ultrasonic Doppler tomography diagnostic apparatus, and they are also applicable to this invention. With respect to the latter correction method, the measures in the present invention will be described in detail below.

(I) When obtaining the time when the velocity (or acceleration) reaches a certain threshold value The velocity threshold value is set to V _TH and the velocity at the ultrasonic frame numbers m and m + 1 at a point on the scanning line number n. V _{m, n} , V _{m + 1, n}
From the start of contraction or start of expansion,

## EQU18 ## When the relationship of V _{m, n} ≤V _TH ≤V _{m + 1, n} is _{first established,} time t at which V _TH is reached
_{TH, n} is a linear approximation of the change in velocity within this time,

[Formula 19] And substituting equation (5),

[Equation 20] Becomes Here, the magnitude of the motion velocity of the myocardium (absolute value)
Suppose that the velocity increases monotonically at the start of contraction or expansion and that a linear approximation is possible for a change in velocity within a range where the time T is somewhat short. The above-mentioned correction calculation is performed by the motion time phase analysis unit 56.

(Ii) When Obtaining the Time at which the Velocity (or Acceleration) is Maximum: It is expected that the motion velocity of the ventricular myocardium within one cardiac cycle is qualitatively as shown in FIG. According to the figure, the change in the velocity is sampled at the period T (scanning period of the ultrasonic frame) to obtain the time at which the velocity becomes the maximum, t ₃ (= 3T) during the systole, and t ₈ during the diastole. (= 8
T). However, as can be seen from the same figure, it is the time between the times t ₃ and t ₄ during systole that the velocity is truly maximum, and the times t ₈ and t during diastole.
_{It's 9} hours. That is, according to the method of FIG. 46, the time resolution is T and the time error is a value within ± T, so there are many problems when the period T is long.

Therefore, a method of reducing this time detection error will be described. In this method, when ultrasonic scanning is repeated for one heartbeat based on the R wave of the electrocardiogram,
The data for several heartbeats are sampled while shifting the start timing of the ultrasonic scan from the R wave for each heartbeat, and the time at which the speed becomes maximum is obtained.

A concrete example of this is shown in FIG. In the same figure, the start timing of the ultrasonic scan from the R wave is shifted by T / 4, data of four heartbeats is sampled, and the time at which the speed becomes maximum is obtained. That is, assuming that the deviation of the scan start timing from the R wave is Δt, Δt is shifted for each heartbeat by Δt = 0, T / 4, 2T / 4, 3T / 4, and data is sampled. As a result, as is clear from the figure, the time at which the velocity becomes maximum is t _1,3 (= 3 · (1/4) · T) or t during systole.
_2,3 (= 3 · (2/4) · T), t in diastole
_{2, 8} (=-(2/4) T), the time resolution is improved to T / 4, and the time error is improved to ± T / 4.

In this method, it is premised that the velocity change curve within one heartbeat hardly changes for each heartbeat, and the trigger signal generator 41 shifts the ultrasonic scan start timing for each heartbeat. .

Further, for simplicity of explanation, the time difference for each scanning line within one frame is not mentioned here, but when the time at which the velocity becomes maximum at each sample volume point is actually obtained, , Equation (5) and Δ
Considering t,

[Equation 21] Becomes Here, L: heart rate to be used (L =
4), B: Heartbeat number (= 1, 2, 3, ..., L).

(Ninth Embodiment) The ninth embodiment is shown in FIGS.
It will be described based on 3. In the ninth embodiment, the phase analysis of the motion velocity of the myocardium is performed and displayed.

The color Doppler tomographic apparatus 10 shown in FIG.
Is provided with a motion velocity phase analysis unit 57 on the output side of the CFM frame memory 25, and outputs the analysis result of this motion velocity phase analysis unit 57 to the memory synthesis unit 18.

This motion velocity phase analysis unit 57 is equipped with a computer that operates according to the software installed in advance, reads the motion velocity data for one heartbeat from the CFM frame memory 25, and calculates the phase of the motion velocity. The analysis is performed in the following manner, and the phase or amplitude of the nth frequency is calculated.

Here, the phase analysis will be described in detail.

The contraction of the heart is a periodic motion having a cycle of one heartbeat, and the motion velocity curve is regarded as a periodic function with the R wave-R wave of the electrocardiogram as one cycle (T ₀ ) as shown in FIG. be able to. The Fourier series of this motion velocity curve is given by the following equation.

[0156]

[Equation 22] However, f ₀ = fundamental frequency, n = nth order frequency. here,
Time t = mT,

F ₀ = 1 / T ₀ = 1 / MT where m: ultrasonic frame number (m = 1, 2, 3, ...,
M), M: number of frames in one heartbeat, T: scanning period of ultrasonic frames,

[Equation 24] Next to

[Equation 25] Given in. Here, Vm is the speed at frame number m.

When the amplitude of the nth frequency is An and the phase angle is Pn,

[Equation 26]

[Equation 27] And

[Equation 28] It is represented by. The phase calculated by the expression (10) indicates the local contraction start time phase, and the amplitude calculated by the expression (9) corresponds to the local contraction ability.

The phase angle and amplitude of the nth-order frequency at the time of contraction of the local myocardium obtained by Fourier transforming the motion velocity curve in each sample volume in this way are determined by the motion velocity phase analysis unit 57. It is output to the memory synthesizing unit 18 as image data whose color or brightness is changed according to the brightness. Therefore, in the display device 19,
The phase angle and the amplitude of the nth-order frequency at each sample point on the two-dimensional tomographic image are superimposed and displayed as one image on the B-mode tomographic image. Among these, the display of the phase angle of the first-order frequency is similar to the one in which the time in the motion time phase display described above is replaced with the phase angle, and the display of the amplitude is similar to the maximum hold display of the speed described above. Become. As a result, at the time of contraction of the myocardium, for example, it is possible to quantitatively analyze how much a certain local site delays the contraction movement as compared with other sites, and the lesion site is locally and Diagnosis is possible from various angles.

(Tenth Embodiment) A tenth embodiment shown in FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG. The device according to the tenth embodiment obtains various motion information of the myocardium described above (that is, velocity, acceleration, motion phase, and phase analysis information with respect to time change of velocity), and various information is obtained from the obtained information. It has a function to measure the physical quantity and statistical quantity of.

The color Doppler tomographic apparatus 10 shown in FIG.
On the output side of the frequency analysis unit 22, the vector calculation unit 2
3, the CFM contour drawing unit 51 and the acceleration calculation unit 55 are provided together, and the vector calculation unit 23 and the acceleration calculation unit 55 are also provided.
Is supplied to the CSC DSC unit 24, and the outputs of the vector calculation unit 23 and the CFM contour drawing unit 51 are also supplied to the graphic memory unit 50. Further, a motion time phase analysis unit 56 and a motion velocity phase analysis unit 57 are provided side by side on the read side of the CFM frame memory 25, and their outputs are supplied to the graphic memory unit 50 and the memory synthesis unit 18. The output data of the CFM DSC unit 24 is sent to the graphic memory unit 50 and the memory synthesis unit 18.
The graphic data output from the graphic memory unit 50 is also sent to the memory synthesizing unit 18 and superimposed on the B-mode tomographic data.

Hereinafter, each measurement function type will be described.

I. Speed Measurement of physical quantities and statistical quantities relating to speed is performed by the operation panel 14, the CPU 43, the vector calculation unit 23, C in FIG.
Since it is performed by the FM contour drawing unit 51 and the graphic memory unit 50, the acceleration calculation unit 55, the motion time phase analysis unit 56, and the motion velocity phase analysis unit 57 may be removed.

When the ROI is set via the operation panel 14, the vector velocity data (absolute velocity V in this case) for each ultrasonic frame at the sample points in the ROI is CF.
It is read from the M frame memory 25, respectively. Various quantities are calculated with respect to the velocity data for each frame, and the quantities are displayed on the display 19 together with, for example, the CFM image. The operator can select which amount to measure via the operation panel 14.

In accordance with the above selection, for example, the designated RO
The average speed within I, the maximum speed, or the integrated value of these speeds is calculated and displayed as shown in FIG. The curve in (a) of the figure shows the time change of the average speed or the maximum speed, and (b) of the figure shows the time change of those integrated values (in FIG. 55, both (a) and (b) are calculated. , But only one may be displayed). The real-time velocity color image alone makes it difficult to grasp the change in the time axis direction because the image changes instantaneously. However, it is easy to grasp the change in time as described above.

With respect to the speed data for each frame in the set ROI, the position (or the position of the center of gravity of the color display area in the ROI) or the minute area is calculated with respect to the maximum speed for each frame, and the position is calculated, for example. As shown in FIG. 56, it can be displayed by a marker (see the X mark in the figure). Further, the marker can be displayed as a locus moved within one cardiac cycle (see the line connecting the X marks in the figure), and the contraction and expansion directions can be read from this.

Further, the area of the color display area is calculated with respect to the speed data for each frame in the set ROI,
The change over time can be displayed in black as shown in FIG. 57, for example. In the graph of the figure, the change curve at the time of contraction represents the area change in the ROI displayed in a reddish color in this embodiment, and that at the time of expansion represents the area change in the ROI displayed in a bluedish color. It represents.

Further, an average velocity vector of velocity data for each frame in the set ROI is calculated, and the vector locus is shown in one cardiac cycle as shown in FIG. 58, for example. The curve showing the vector locus in the same figure is that of the end diastole, and this vector locus shows one mode of the curve that changes in real time from the contraction start to the end diastole as shown in FIGS. 59 (a) to (f). There is. This makes it easier to visually grasp the contraction and expansion movement directions of the region of interest.

On the other hand, when the maximum speed hold display is performed as described in the second embodiment, the same processing as described above can be performed. For example, a color display area within the specified ROI can be calculated and displayed. Further, a velocity histogram within the specified ROI range is obtained, and the average velocity, the maximum velocity, the minimum velocity, the standard deviation, etc. are further calculated from this velocity histogram, for example, as shown in FIG.
It can be displayed as 0. Further, the color display area in the ROI is finely divided, for example, as shown in FIG. 61, and the color area (the number of pixels) is divided for each of the divided areas (segments).
Can be calculated and displayed as a graph. In this case, the speed range may be designated and the color area corresponding to the range may be displayed in a graph. Furthermore, the inner contour line LNi of the color display area is calculated by using the automatic tracing method described above.
n (or the outer contour line) is traced, and the temporal change of the area (for example, the left ventricular cross-sectional area) surrounded by the obtained contour line, the major axis diameter or the minor axis when the contour line is approximated to an ellipse The time change of diameter can be calculated and displayed. FIG. 62 shows how the left ventricular cross-sectional area surrounded by the contour line LNin corresponding to the left ventricle endocardium changes with time.

Ii. Acceleration Measurement of a physical quantity or a statistical quantity related to acceleration is performed by the operation panel 14, the CPU 43, the acceleration calculation unit 55, C in FIG.
Since it is performed by the FM contour drawing unit 51 and the graphic memory unit 50, the vector calculation unit 23, the motion time phase analysis unit 56, and the motion velocity phase analysis unit 57 may be removed.

Even in the case of this acceleration, the ROI can be set through the operation panel 14, and the same measurement as the speed measuring function can be performed for the set ROI. The obtained measurement data is obtained by replacing the velocity in the case of i described above with the acceleration, so that the analysis method for the motion of the myocardium and the blood vessel wall can be expanded.

Iii. Exercise Phase Figure 54 shows the physical and statistical quantities related to this exercise phase.
Operation panel 14, CPU 43, vector operation unit 23, CFM contour drawing unit 51, graphic memory unit 5 in FIG.
0 and the motion time phase analysis unit 56, so the motion velocity phase analysis unit 57 may be removed.

An ROI is set on the image through the operation panel 14, for example, as shown in FIG. 63, a time histogram within this ROI is calculated, and then the average time, the fastest time, the latest time, and the standard deviation are calculated. Etc. can also be calculated and displayed together with a color image (the figure shows the ventricular contraction time phase) as shown.

Iv. Phase analysis The measurement of the physical quantity and statistical quantity of the phase analysis with respect to the time change of the motion velocity is performed by the operation panel 14 and the CPU in FIG.
43, the vector calculation unit 23, the CFM contour drawing unit 51, the graphic memory unit 50, and the motion velocity phase analysis unit 57.
Therefore, the motion time phase analysis unit 56 may be removed.

Also in this case, similarly, the ROI is set on the image, the phase angle histogram of the nth frequency within the ROI is calculated, and the average angle, maximum angle, minimum angle, standard deviation, etc. are also combined. Can be displayed. The phase angle histogram of the first-order frequency is obtained by replacing the time in the time histogram illustrated in the above-mentioned motion phase with the phase angle. Similarly, the amplitude histogram of the n-th frequency can be calculated, the average amplitude, the maximum amplitude, the minimum amplitude, the standard deviation, etc. can be specified and displayed together with the color image. The amplitude histogram of the primary frequency becomes data similar to the velocity histogram described in the above-mentioned velocity section.

According to each of the embodiments described above, the beam direction velocity and absolute velocity of the motion of the myocardium and the blood vessel wall are detected (or estimated), and not only the color display in real time and various modes but also the motion Acceleration, motion phase, and phase analysis information of velocity change can be calculated from the velocity, and color display can be performed in various modes. This makes it possible to obtain quantitative information in real time. Moreover, the contour line of the myocardium can be displayed in the color display image.
Since the endocardium and epicardium can be automatically traced, the trace accuracy and reproducibility are higher and the workability is improved as compared with the conventional manual contour tracing. There is no need to worry about contour displacement. Therefore, regarding the movement state of myocardium and blood vessel wall,
It is possible to rapidly obtain detailed information from multiple angles and quantitatively, which has been difficult in the past, and which detects a local site of reduced systolic function in ischemic heart disease, an objective diagnosis of left ventricular diastolic disorder, and The position and extent of abnormal wall motion of the stimulus conduction system can be diagnosed with high accuracy.

Furthermore, since various measurement information based on the obtained color image data can be quickly obtained, a highly functional and versatile device can be provided.

On the other hand, the information actually detected from the object to be diagnosed is only the motion velocity due to the Doppler shift, and the other motion information is obtained by estimation and calculation. It is not particularly large or complicated compared to measuring devices.

In the second and subsequent embodiments described above, the myocardium has been mainly described, but it goes without saying that the object of diagnosis may be a blood vessel wall. By displaying, it becomes possible to identify arteriosclerosis in the vascular region and quantitatively evaluate the disease state. Further, the motion velocity information or motion acceleration information of the myocardium or the blood vessel wall can be superimposed and displayed on the M-mode image of the heart or the blood vessel in the same manner as described above. Further, the contour of the image in which the motion velocity information of the myocardium or the blood vessel wall is superimposed on the M-mode image can be extracted to perform real-time automatic tracing of the endocardium or the endocardium.

Further, the circuits of the respective parts of the above-mentioned embodiments may be constructed as a dedicated processor using analog or digital electronic circuits as long as they can maintain a real-time property that is appropriate and practically sufficient, or software processing of a computer. You may comprise.

[0180]

As described above, according to the present invention, a region including a moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall is scanned with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal subjected to Doppler shift. Means, a speed calculation means for calculating the movement speed of the organ for each sample volume based on the ultrasonic echo signal obtained by the scanning means, and a display for displaying the movement speed for each sample volume calculated by the speed calculation means in color. The main part is to have means. For example, the velocity calculating means is a means for calculating the velocity of the movement of the organ in the ultrasonic beam direction. Further, for example, the display means is a means for displaying a color in real time. Further, for example, the display means includes a mechanism for performing color display by changing the color or the brightness according to the calculation value of the speed calculation means. Further, a contour information calculation means for calculating contour information on a tomographic plane of an organ based on the movement speed calculated by the speed calculation means, and the information calculated by the contour information calculation means and the movement speed calculated by the speed calculation means. And an absolute velocity estimating means for estimating and calculating the absolute velocity in the moving direction of the organ. In addition, a means for directly calculating the absolute speed was provided. Furthermore, a means for displaying the contour of the color display area of the motion velocity and automatically tracing the contour is provided. Furthermore, acceleration,
A means for calculating phase analysis information of the motion phase and speed change and displaying the information in color was provided.

With these configurations, various motion information of the myocardium and blood vessel wall can be displayed in color in real time and in various modes, and quantitative analysis can be performed. Moreover, since the contour line of the myocardium can be displayed in the color display image and the endocardium and epicardium can be automatically traced, the trace accuracy and reproducibility are high, and the workability is improved. There is no concern about contour position shift due to amplification factors such as. Therefore, it is possible to accurately and promptly detect the local site of contraction-deficient site in ischemic heart disease, objectively diagnose left ventricular diastolic disorder, and the position and extent of abnormal wall motion of the stimulation conduction system.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram corresponding to claims of an ultrasonic color Doppler tomographic apparatus according to the invention of claim 1.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a Doppler shift used in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an ultrasonic color Doppler tomographic apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing a characteristic example of a filter unit.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the calculation principle of absolute velocity.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the calculation principle of absolute velocity.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a color scale for coloring.

FIG. 8 is an image diagram showing a display example of a myocardium.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an ultrasonic color Doppler tomography apparatus according to a modification of the first embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an image diagram showing an example of a modified display of the first embodiment.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a modification process of the first embodiment.

FIG. 12 is an image diagram showing another example of the transformation process of the first embodiment.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing still another example of the modification process of the first embodiment.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing still another example of the modification process of the first embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a part of a configuration of an ultrasonic color Doppler tomographic apparatus according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 16 is an image diagram showing a display example in the second embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a partial block diagram showing a modification of the second embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing an example of processing in the modification of FIG.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an ultrasonic color Doppler tomography apparatus according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 20 is an image diagram showing a display example in the third embodiment.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an ultrasonic color Doppler tomography apparatus according to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 22 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a process of the outline drawing principle.

FIG. 23 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a process of the principle of contour drawing.

FIG. 24 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a process of the principle of contour drawing.

FIG. 25 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a process of the outline drawing principle.

FIG. 26 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a process of the outline drawing principle.

FIG. 27 is an explanatory view illustrating an example of absolute velocity estimation.

FIG. 28 is an explanatory diagram illustrating another example of absolute velocity estimation.

FIG. 29 is an explanatory diagram illustrating another example of absolute velocity estimation.

FIG. 30 is a block diagram showing an apparatus according to a modification of the third embodiment.

FIG. 31 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of an ultrasonic color Doppler tomographic apparatus according to the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 32 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of separation of velocity components.

FIG. 33 is an explanatory diagram illustrating another example of separation of velocity components.

FIG. 34 is an explanatory diagram illustrating another example of separation of velocity components.

FIG. 35 is an explanatory view explaining still another example of separation of velocity components.

FIG. 36 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a color scale for coloring in the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 37 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of an ultrasonic color Doppler tomographic apparatus according to the sixth embodiment.

FIG. 38 is an image diagram showing how the contour line of the myocardium is displayed.

FIG. 39 is an image diagram illustrating an example of automatic endocardial tracing.

FIG. 40 is an image diagram illustrating another example of automatic endocardial tracing.

FIG. 41 is a graph for explaining improvement with respect to zero speed during automatic tracing (before improvement).

FIG. 42 is a flowchart showing an improvement process for zero motion velocity during automatic tracing.

FIG. 43 is a graph explaining (after improvement) an improvement with respect to zero speed during automatic tracing.

FIG. 44 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of an ultrasonic color Doppler tomographic apparatus according to the seventh embodiment.

FIG. 45 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of an ultrasonic color Doppler tomographic apparatus according to the eighth embodiment.

FIG. 46 is a graph showing changes in absolute value of myocardial motion velocity.

FIG. 47 is a graph showing an example of myocardial motion phase analysis.

FIG. 48 is an image diagram showing an example of a motion phase analysis of myocardium.

FIG. 49 is an image diagram showing another example of a motion phase analysis of myocardium.

50A and 50B are explanatory views for explaining the difference in beam scanning direction.

51A to 51D are graphs for explaining the correction with respect to the beam scanning direction.

FIG. 52 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of an ultrasonic color Doppler tomographic apparatus according to the ninth embodiment.

FIG. 53 is a graph showing an example of a phase analysis result.

FIG. 54 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an ultrasonic color Doppler tomographic apparatus according to the tenth embodiment.

FIG. 55 is an image view including (a) and (b) showing an example of a measurement result regarding speed.

FIG. 56 is an image diagram showing another example of measurement results regarding speed.

FIG. 57 is an image diagram showing still another example of measurement results regarding speed.

FIG. 58 is an image diagram showing still another example of measurement results regarding speed.

59 (a) to (f) are explanatory views showing a process of displaying a vector locus relating to FIG. 58.

FIG. 60 is an image diagram showing still another example of measurement results regarding speed.

FIG. 61 is an image diagram showing still another example of measurement results regarding speed.

FIG. 62 is an image diagram showing still another example of measurement results regarding speed.

FIG. 63 is an image diagram showing an example of a measurement result regarding a motion phase.

64 (a) and 64 (b) are graphs for explaining threshold value processing according to the conventional automatic tracing method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Ultrasonic Color Doppler Tomography Device 11 Ultrasonic Probe 12 Device Main Body 13 ECG 14 Operation Panel 15 Ultrasonic Transmitter / Receiver Unit 16 B Mode DSC Unit 17 B Mode Frame Memory 18 Memory Synthesis Unit 19 Display 20 Phase Detection Unit 21 Filter Unit 22 frequency analysis unit 23 vector operation unit 24 CFM DSC unit 25 CFM frame memory 40 ECG amplifier 41 Trig signal generator 42 reference data memory 43 CPU 44 timing signal generator 50 graphic memory unit 51 CFM contour drawing unit 52 speed conversion Calculation unit 53 B-mode contour drawing unit 54 Velocity component separation unit 55 Acceleration calculation unit 56 Motion time phase analysis unit 57 Motion velocity phase analysis unit

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A scanning means for scanning a region including a moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal subjected to Doppler shift, and an ultrasonic echo obtained by the scanning means. An ultrasonic wave comprising: a speed calculation means for calculating the movement speed of the organ for each sample volume based on a signal; and a display means for displaying the movement speed for each sample volume calculated by the speed calculation means in color. Color Doppler tomography device. 2. The velocity calculation means calculates the velocity of the motion of the organ in the ultrasonic beam direction, and the beam direction velocity calculation means, and each sample volume of the organ based on the calculated value of the beam direction velocity calculation means. The ultrasonic color Doppler tomography apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an absolute velocity calculation unit that calculates an absolute velocity in a movement direction at a point. 3. A scanning means for scanning a region including a moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal subjected to Doppler shift, and an ultrasonic echo obtained by this scanning means. Speed calculation means for calculating the movement speed of the organ for each sample volume based on the signal, and contour information calculation means for calculating contour information on the tomographic plane of the organ based on the movement speed calculated by the speed calculation means, An ultrasonic wave, comprising: absolute velocity estimating means for estimating and calculating an absolute velocity in the movement direction of the organ based on the information calculated by the contour information calculating means and the movement speed calculated by the velocity calculating means. Color Doppler tomography device. 4. A scanning means for scanning a region including a moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal having a Doppler shift, and an ultrasonic echo obtained by the scanning means. Velocity calculation means for calculating the movement velocity of the organ for each sample volume based on the signal;
B-mode image acquisition means for obtaining a mode tomographic image, B-mode image contour information calculation means for calculating contour information of the organ based on the B-mode image acquired by the B-mode image acquisition means, and B-mode image contour information calculation An ultrasonic color Doppler tomography apparatus comprising: absolute velocity estimating means for estimating and calculating an absolute velocity in the movement direction of the organ based on the information calculated by the means and the movement velocity calculated by the velocity calculating means. . 5. A scanning means for scanning a region including a moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal having a Doppler shift, and an ultrasonic echo obtained by this scanning means. Speed calculation means for calculating the movement speed of the organ for each sample volume based on the signal, and contour information calculation means for calculating contour information on the tomographic plane of the organ based on the movement speed calculated by the speed calculation means, An ultrasonic color Doppler tomography apparatus comprising: a display unit that displays a tomographic image of the organ in color based on the information calculated by the contour information calculation unit. 6. The ultrasonic color Doppler tomography apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising an automatic tracing means for automatically tracing a contour line of an organ on a display image in real time based on the contour information. 7. A B-mode image acquisition means for obtaining a B-mode tomographic image of the organ, and B acquired by the B-mode image acquisition means.
Judgment means for judging whether or not the brightness of each sample volume point of the mode image is equal to or more than a predetermined value, and the calculated value of the speed calculation means of only the sample volume point whose brightness is judged to be equal to or more than the predetermined value 7. An ultrasonic color Doppler tomography apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a discriminating means for outputting. 8. An ROI setting means for setting a ROI in a desired region on a color image of a motion velocity displayed by the display means, and for each ultrasonic scanning at a sample volume point in the ROI set by the ROI setting means. It comprises a motion information calculation means for calculating motion information related to the speed of the organ using the speed data, and a motion information display means for displaying the motion information calculated by this motion information calculation means, wherein the motion information calculation means comprises The motion information to be calculated includes a temporal change in the magnitude of the average velocity in the ROI, a temporal change in the magnitude of the maximum velocity in the ROI, a time integral with respect to a time-varying curve of the magnitude of the average velocity, 8. At least one of a time integral with respect to a time-dependent curve of magnitude, a color display area in the ROI, and a velocity histogram. Ultrasonic color Doppler tomography device. 9. A scanning unit for scanning a region including a moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal having a Doppler shift, and an ultrasonic echo obtained by the scanning unit. The velocity calculation means calculates the movement velocity of the organ for each sample volume based on the signal, the acceleration calculation means calculates the movement acceleration of the organ for each sample volume based on the calculation value of the velocity calculation means, and the acceleration calculation means An ultrasonic color Doppler tomographic apparatus comprising: a display unit that displays the calculated motion acceleration for each sample volume in color. 10. A scanning means for scanning an area including a periodically moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal subjected to Doppler shift, and the scanning means. A speed calculation means for calculating the movement speed of the organ for each sample volume based on the ultrasonic echo signal, a storage means for storing the movement speed for each sample volume calculated by the speed calculation means for each frame, and the storage means A motion time phase analysis means for reading the stored motion speed data and analyzing the time phase of the motion speed of the organ for each sample volume; and a display means for displaying the analysis result of the motion time phase analysis means. Ultrasonic color Doppler tomography device. 11. A scanning means for scanning an area including a periodically moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal subjected to Doppler shift, and the scanning means. Velocity calculation means for calculating the movement speed of the organ for each sample volume based on the ultrasonic echo signal, acceleration calculation means for calculating the movement acceleration of the organ for each sample volume based on the calculation value of the speed calculation means, and this acceleration Storage means for storing the motion acceleration for each sample volume calculated by the calculation means for each frame, and motion for reading the motion acceleration data stored in this storage means and analyzing the time phase of the motion acceleration of the organ for each sample volume An ultrasonic color Doppler tomography apparatus comprising a time phase analysis means and a display means for displaying an analysis result of the motion time phase analysis means. Place 12. A scanning means for scanning an area including a periodically moving organ such as a myocardium or a blood vessel wall with an ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal subjected to Doppler shift, and the scanning means. A speed calculation means for calculating the movement speed of the organ for each sample volume based on the ultrasonic echo signal, a storage means for storing the movement speed for each sample volume calculated by the speed calculation means for each frame, and the storage means A motion velocity phase analysis means for reading the stored motion velocity data and analyzing the phase of the change in the motion velocity of the organ for each sample volume, and a display means for displaying the analysis result of this motion velocity phase analysis means are provided. An ultrasonic color Doppler tomography device characterized by the above. 13. The ultrasonic color Doppler tomography apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the velocity calculation means has a filter means for cutting an ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the blood flow and the movement velocity of the valve. .