JPH08117236A - Ultrasonic diagnostic device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide diagnostic information so as to identify an abnormal site in cardiac muscle. CONSTITUTION: This ultrasonic diagnostic device is formed in such a manner that a centroid point P is identified after an automatic tracing of inside face of cardiac cavity 12A of a heart 12 which is displayed on a tomographic image 10, and the tomographic images are classified into plural area by using the centroid point P as a standard, and the cardiac cavity area of each area is operated and its deviation is displayed as a graph 100.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and more particularly to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having an area calculation function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is used to diagnose a heart disease. The ultrasonic probe is brought into contact with the chest surface, and in that state, ultrasonic waves are transmitted from between the ribs. The reflected wave from the inside of the living body is received by the ultrasonic probe, and the received signal is brightness-modulated to display the cross section of the heart as a two-dimensional tomographic image (B-mode image).

[0003] In diseases such as myocardial infarction, the muscles of the heart partially fail, so that in the past, doctors have performed a cardiac examination while looking at a tomographic image of the heart.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-317314 proposes a device capable of automatically extracting the contour of an organ and calculating the area. According to this device, for example, the area (cross-sectional area) of the inside of the heart (heart cavity) is displayed, so that information useful for disease diagnosis can be provided.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional device, since only the area of the whole heart chamber is measured, when a part of the muscle becomes dysfunctional due to myocardial infarction or the like, the abnormal site is detected. No information is available to identify.

Although local observation is required to identify the abnormal portion, the above-mentioned conventional apparatus has not been able to meet such a demand.

The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional problems, and an object thereof is to provide diagnostic information for identifying an abnormal site in the myocardium.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for displaying a tomographic image of the heart, and a tracing means for tracing a heart chamber on the tomographic image, and the tomographic image. Area dividing means for radially dividing into a plurality of areas from a predetermined center point of the heart chamber on the image, area calculating unit for calculating the heart chamber area for each area, and display for displaying the heart chamber area. Means and are included.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the image storage means stores at least one tomographic image for one heartbeat, and the display means displays the variation of the heart chamber area in one heartbeat as a graph.

[0010]

According to the above structure, the heart chamber is traced by the tracing means, and the heart chamber on the tomographic image is further divided into a plurality of areas by the area dividing means. The area calculation means calculates the heart chamber area for each area, and the heart chamber area is displayed on the display means for each area.

Therefore, the area is not calculated for the entire heart chamber, but the area is calculated for each area, so that it is possible to narrow down the abnormal portion that has fallen into a malfunction.

Here, for example, the center of gravity of the heart chamber is used as the predetermined center point serving as the reference point for area division, and the display unit displays the variation of the heart chamber area in one heartbeat as a graph.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention. Further, FIG. 2 shows a display example of a tomographic image.

First, the principle of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The probe is positioned so that the cross section of the heart 12 is included in the tomographic image 10 captured by the transmission and reception of ultrasonic waves. In the present invention, firstly, the inner surface of the heart 12,
That is, the inner surface 12A of the heart chamber is extracted by the method described later. Then, a plurality of areas are radially set with the center of gravity P of the heart chamber 12B as a center point. In FIG. 2, it is divided into six areas (I) to (VI).

Then, the area calculation is performed for each of the six divided areas, and it is possible to determine which part of the myocardium is abnormal by investigating the variation of the area of the heart chamber over one heartbeat. Is possible. That is, the motion of the myocardium becomes small in the abnormal area, and as a result,
There is less variation in heart chamber area.

Next, the overall configuration of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

The probe 20 for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves is used, for example, in contact with the chest and used for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves. That is, the ultrasonic wave transmitted from the probe 20 toward the body is reflected in the living body, and the reflected wave is received by the probe 20. At this time, a sector-shaped echo data acquisition region can be formed by, for example, performing sector scanning with the ultrasonic beam.

The signal output from the probe 20 is sent to the transmission / reception unit 22. The transmission / reception unit 22 performs ultrasonic wave transmission control and processing of a reception signal in the probe 20, and the reception signal subjected to amplification and the like is then transmitted to the image processing unit 24. The image processing unit 24 performs a predetermined process for forming the tomographic image 10 shown in FIG.
The image signal is output to the / D conversion unit 26. A / D converter 2
In 6, the image signal is A / D converted and the digitized image signal is stored in the cine memory 30 and the frame memory 32.

Here, the cine memory 30 has at least one
It can store tomographic images of heartbeats, for example 64
One tomographic image can be stored. On the other hand, the frame memory 32
Is for temporarily storing the tomographic image displayed on the TV monitor. The DSC 28 including the cine memory 30 and the frame memory 32 also performs coordinate conversion and interpolation processing.

Therefore, the digitized image signal is once stored in the frame memory 32 and then read out to obtain the T signal.
The video signal is converted into a video signal by the V signal processing unit 34 and finally displayed on the TV monitor 36. At that time, the latest 64 tomographic images are always stored in the cine memory 30 like a ring buffer.

The area measurement unit 38 is a control calculation unit for performing the area measurement shown in FIG. An electrocardiographic signal from an electrocardiograph (not shown) is sent to the area measuring unit 38, and the area measuring unit 38 outputs the electrocardiographic signal to the cine memory 3.
Send to 0. In the cine memory 30, the electrocardiographic signal is stored together with the tomographic image, which makes it possible to associate a time phase with each tomographic image.

As will be described later, the area measuring unit 38 is
It has functions such as boundary extraction, center of gravity specification, area calculation, and graph creation.

Next, the processing of the area measuring unit 38 will be described with reference to FIG.

When echo data is taken in by transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, in S101, the area measuring unit 3
The electrocardiographic signal is stored in the cine memory 30 via 8. As a result, each tomographic image is associated with the electrocardiographic signal.

Next, when the operator makes a predetermined input,
The area measuring unit 38 executes the area calculation described below. That is, in the freeze mode for reading past data, the following processing is sequentially performed from the stored oldest or newest tomographic image. In S102, boundary extraction is performed to identify the heart chamber of the heart in the tomographic image. That is, the heart chamber is automatically traced. This is done using well known techniques.

At S103, the center of gravity is specified for the extracted heart chamber. That is, the center point is specified.

In step S104, the area is radially divided into a plurality of areas. Here, the number of areas may be designated by the operator. In that case, it is possible for the diagnostician to specify whether to specify a rough abnormal part or a detailed abnormal part according to the necessity of diagnosis. Of course, the smaller the number of areas, the higher the calculation speed.

In S105, the area calculator 38 calculates the area for each area. The area is calculated based on the number of pixels belonging to each area.

Then, such a calculation of the heart chamber area is sequentially performed on a series of images over one heartbeat, and S106 is performed.
At, the variation of the area is graphed. This graphing is, of course, performed for each area.

In S107, a value obtained by multiplying the value obtained by dividing the difference between the maximum area and the minimum area by the maximum area by 100 is calculated. That is, the area variation (contraction degree%) is calculated.

Then, in S108, the created graph and the calculated contraction degree are displayed as in the display example 100 shown in FIG. 2, for example.

In FIG. 2, the degree of shrinkage of the area (I) and the graph 100 are displayed, but they may be sequentially displayed based on the operator's input. Alternatively, the graphs may be displayed side by side in a plurality of screens.

As described above, according to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of this embodiment, the area can be calculated for each of a plurality of divided areas. Therefore, an abnormal site in the entire myocardium can be specified by the variation value of the area. Is possible. Therefore, there is an advantage that the accuracy of heart disease diagnosis can be improved.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since the area of the heart chamber can be obtained for each area, there is an effect that it is possible to easily identify an abnormal site having a cardiac dysfunction, and to provide useful information for diagnosis.
In addition, the movement state of each part can be grasped with time by graphing the variation of the heart chamber area in one heartbeat.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a tomographic image.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of an area measuring unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 20 probe 28 DSC 38 area measurement unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for displaying a tomographic image of a heart, comprising: tracing means for tracing a heart chamber on the tomographic image; and a plurality of radial units from a predetermined center point of the heart chamber on the tomographic image. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: area dividing means for dividing into areas; area calculating means for calculating a heart chamber area for each area; and display means for displaying the heart chamber area. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an image storage unit that stores a tomographic image for at least one heartbeat, and the display unit displays a variation of a heart chamber area in one heartbeat as a graph. And ultrasonic diagnostic equipment.