CN113545806A

CN113545806A - Prostate elastography method and ultrasound elastography system

Info

Publication number: CN113545806A
Application number: CN202010340210.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李双双; 兰帮鑫
Original assignee: Shenzhen Mindray Bio Medical Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Mindray Bio Medical Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-04-26
Filing date: 2020-04-26
Publication date: 2021-10-26
Also published as: CN114245726A; WO2021218077A1

Abstract

The application provides a prostate elastography method and an ultrasonic elastography system, wherein the method comprises the following steps: transmitting a first ultrasonic wave to a prostate part of a detected object, receiving an ultrasonic echo of the first ultrasonic wave to acquire a first ultrasonic echo signal, processing the first ultrasonic echo signal to obtain a basic ultrasonic image, and determining an interested area of the prostate part according to the basic ultrasonic image; controlling the region of interest to generate shear waves, transmitting second ultrasonic waves for tracking the shear waves, receiving ultrasonic echoes of the second ultrasonic waves to acquire second ultrasonic echo signals, and processing the second ultrasonic echo signals to obtain an elastic image; segmenting the extraprostatic gland region in the base ultrasound image; and displaying the elastic image and the basic ultrasonic image, and overlaying and displaying the segmentation result of the extraprostatic gland region on the basic ultrasonic image and/or the elastic image. The scheme of this application can assist the user to discern the extraprostatic gland region fast, accurately, improves efficiency and the accuracy of measuring and diagnosing.

Description

Prostate elastography method and ultrasound elastography system

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of ultrasound imaging technology, and more particularly, to a prostate elastography method and an ultrasound elastography system.

Background

Prostate cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors of the male genitourinary system, and in recent years, the incidence rate and the mortality rate of prostate diseases are in a remarkably rising trend. The ultrasonic diagnosis is the most common means for screening the prostate lesion clinically, and the ultrasonic elastography technology can quantitatively reflect the hardness and softness of the focus and surrounding tissues, has unique diagnostic value and advantages in the diagnosis of diseases such as cancer and the like, and has been more and more widely applied to the clinical diagnosis of the prostate disease in recent years.

The prostate is divided into an inner gland and an outer gland in terms of tissue structure, wherein the incidence rate of prostate cancer is much higher than that of the inner gland, so that the application area of prostate elasticity imaging is mainly in the outer gland area of the prostate, and relevant parameter values which can quantitatively reflect the focus or tissue hardness characteristics through elasticity measurement, including but not limited to Young modulus, shear wave propagation speed and the like, are used for diagnosing the lesion area. However, the demarcation between the internal and external glands of the prostate is not apparent on the ultrasound image and requires a highly experienced clinician to more accurately distinguish between the internal and external glands on the ultrasound image. Therefore, when measuring the stiffness of the extraprostatic gland region using elastography, the selection of the measurement region is difficult for some doctors.

Disclosure of Invention

In this summary, concepts in a simplified form are introduced that are further described in the detailed description. This summary of the application is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

A first aspect of embodiments of the present application provides a method for imaging prostate elasticity, the method including:

transmitting a first ultrasonic wave to a prostate part of a detected object, receiving an ultrasonic echo of the first ultrasonic wave to acquire a first ultrasonic echo signal, and processing the first ultrasonic echo signal to obtain a basic ultrasonic image of the prostate part of the detected object;

determining a region of interest of the prostate site from the base ultrasound image;

controlling the region of interest of the prostate part to generate shear waves, transmitting second ultrasonic waves for tracking the shear waves to the region of interest of the prostate part, receiving ultrasonic echoes of the second ultrasonic waves to acquire second ultrasonic echo signals, and processing the second ultrasonic echo signals to obtain an elastic image of the region of interest of the prostate part;

segmenting an extraprostatic gland region in the base ultrasound image;

displaying the elastic image and the basic ultrasonic image, and displaying the segmentation result of the extraprostatic gland region on the basic ultrasonic image and/or the elastic image in an overlaying mode.

In one embodiment, said displaying said elasticity image and said base ultrasound image comprises: and respectively displaying the basic ultrasonic image and the superposed image of the basic ultrasonic image and the elastic image on a display interface.

In one embodiment, the segmenting the extraprostatic gland region in the base ultrasound image comprises: segmenting a prostate region in the base ultrasound image; the prostate region is segmented into an intraprostatic gland region and an extraprostatic gland region.

In one embodiment, the segmenting the extraprostatic gland region in the base ultrasound image comprises: an extraprostatic gland region, or a dividing line between an extraprostatic gland region and an intraprostatic gland region, in the base ultrasound image is identified and segmented.

In one embodiment, the segmenting the extraprostatic gland region in the base ultrasound image comprises: segmenting the extraprostatic gland region in the base ultrasound image using at least one of an edge detection algorithm, a machine learning algorithm, or an image feature recognition algorithm.

In one embodiment, the displaying the segmentation result of the extraprostatic gland region on the base ultrasound image and/or the elasticity image in an overlapping manner includes: displaying the extraprostatic gland region as a particular color, and/or displaying a contour line of the extraprostatic gland region.

In one embodiment, the displaying the segmentation result of the extraprostatic gland region on the base ultrasound image and/or the elasticity image in an overlapping manner includes: displaying the prostate gland region and the prostate gland region in different colors, respectively, displaying contour lines of the prostate gland region and the prostate gland region, and/or displaying a boundary line between the prostate gland region and the prostate gland region.

In one embodiment, the displaying the segmentation result of the extraprostatic gland region on the base ultrasound image and/or the elasticity image in an overlapping manner includes:

displaying the segmentation result of the extraprostatic gland region within a region-of-interest box of the base ultrasound image for determining the region of interest.

In one embodiment, said displaying said elasticity image and said base ultrasound image comprises: and segmenting the extraprostatic gland region in the elastic image according to the segmentation result, and displaying the elastic image of the extraprostatic gland region.

In one embodiment, the method further comprises: automatically generating a measurement box for measuring an elasticity parameter within the extraprostatic gland region, or generating or adjusting a measurement box for measuring an elasticity parameter in accordance with a received user input.

In one embodiment, the method further comprises: judging whether the range of the measuring frame exceeds the prostate gland region; and when the range of the measuring frame exceeds the extraprostatic gland region, outputting prompt information.

In one embodiment, the prompt message includes one or more of a text prompt, an audio prompt, or a change in color of the measurement box.

In one embodiment, displaying the segmentation results comprises: dynamically displaying the segmentation result in real time in the process of generating an elastic image of the prostate area of the tested object; or after determining one or more frames of the elastic image for measuring the elastic parameter, statically displaying the segmentation result corresponding to the one or more frames of the elastic image.

A second aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides an elastography method, including:

acquiring a basic ultrasonic image of a prostate part of a detected object;

segmenting an prostatic internal gland area and/or a prostatic external gland area in the basic ultrasonic image;

acquiring an elasticity image of the prostate gland region and/or the extraprostatic gland region;

displaying the elastic image and the basic ultrasonic image, and displaying the segmentation result of the prostatic internal gland area and/or the prostatic external gland area on the basic ultrasonic image and/or the elastic image in an overlapping mode.

A third aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides an elastography method, including:

acquiring a basic ultrasonic image of a target tissue and an elastic image of the target tissue;

segmenting a target region in the base ultrasound image;

and displaying the elastic image and the basic ultrasonic image, and superposing and displaying the segmentation result of the target area on the basic ultrasonic image and/or the elastic image.

A fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides an ultrasound elastography system, including:

an ultrasonic probe;

a transmitting/receiving circuit, configured to control the ultrasound probe to transmit a first ultrasound wave to a prostate part of a measured object, and to receive an ultrasound echo of the first ultrasound wave to acquire a first ultrasound echo signal, and to control the ultrasound probe to generate a shear wave in a region of interest of the prostate part, transmit a second ultrasound wave tracking the shear wave to the region of interest of the prostate part, and receive an ultrasound echo of the second ultrasound wave to acquire a second ultrasound echo signal;

a processor, configured to process the first ultrasonic echo signal to obtain a basic ultrasonic image of the prostate portion of the object to be measured, determine an interested region of the prostate portion according to the basic ultrasonic image, and process the second ultrasonic echo signal to obtain an elastic image of the interested region of the prostate portion; and segmenting an extraprostatic gland region in the base ultrasound image;

and the display is used for displaying the elastic image and the basic ultrasonic image and superposing and displaying the segmentation result of the extraprostatic gland region on the basic ultrasonic image and/or the elastic image.

In one embodiment, the processor is further configured to: automatically generating a measurement box for measuring an elasticity parameter within the extraprostatic gland region, or generating or adjusting a measurement box for measuring an elasticity parameter in accordance with a received user input.

In one embodiment, the processor is further configured to: judging whether the range of the measuring frame exceeds the prostate gland region; and when the range of the measuring frame exceeds the extraprostatic gland region, outputting prompt information.

In one embodiment, the display dynamically displays the segmentation result in real time during the process of generating the elastic image of the prostate region of the measured object; or after determining one or more frames of the elastic image for measuring the elastic parameter, statically displaying the segmentation result corresponding to the one or more frames of the elastic image.

A fifth aspect of embodiments of the present application provides an ultrasound elastography system, the ultrasound elastography system comprising a memory and a processor and a display, the memory having stored thereon a computer program for execution by the processor, the computer program, when executed by the processor, performing the steps of:

acquiring a basic ultrasonic image of a prostate part of a detected object;

the display is used for displaying the elastic image and the basic ultrasonic image and displaying the segmentation result of the prostatic internal gland area and/or the prostatic external gland area on the basic ultrasonic image and/or the elastic image in an overlapping mode.

A sixth aspect of embodiments of the present application provides an ultrasound elastography system, comprising a memory and a processor and a display, the memory having stored thereon a computer program for execution by the processor, the computer program, when executed by the processor, performing the steps of:

segmenting a target region in the base ultrasound image;

the display is used for displaying the elastic image and the basic ultrasonic image and superposing and displaying the segmentation result of the target area on the basic ultrasonic image and/or the elastic image.

According to the prostate elastography method and the ultrasound elastography system, a user can be assisted to quickly and accurately identify the extraprostatic gland region, and the efficiency and accuracy of measurement and diagnosis are improved.

Drawings

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present application will become more apparent by describing in more detail embodiments of the present application with reference to the attached drawings. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the embodiments of the application and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the application and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the application. In the drawings, like reference numbers generally represent like parts or steps.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of an ultrasound elastography system according to an embodiment of the present application;

figure 2 shows a schematic flow diagram of a method of elasticity imaging of the prostate according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram showing the segmentation results of the prostate region inside the prostate and the prostate region outside the prostate, according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram showing the segmentation result of the extraprostatic gland region according to one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 shows a schematic view showing the medial dividing line between the prostatic glandular region and the prostatic glandular region according to one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 shows a schematic diagram showing the results of a segmentation of an prostatic intra-and extraprostatic gland region within a ROI box according to one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 shows a schematic diagram of displaying the result of the segmentation of the extraprostatic gland region within the ROI box according to one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 shows a schematic view of a measurement box generated in the extraprostatic region for measuring elastic parameters according to one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 shows a schematic view of a measurement box generated in the extraprostatic region for measuring elastic parameters according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 shows a schematic view of a measurement box generated outside the area of the extraprostatic gland for measuring elastic parameters according to one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 shows a schematic flow diagram of an elastography method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 12 shows a schematic flow diagram of an elastography method according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 13 shows a schematic block diagram of an ultrasound elastography system according to another embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more apparent, exemplary embodiments according to the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present application and not all embodiments of the present application, and that the present application is not limited by the example embodiments described herein. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments of the application described in the application without inventive step, shall fall within the scope of protection of the application.

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the present application. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that the present application may be practiced without one or more of these specific details. In other instances, well-known features of the art have not been described in order to avoid obscuring the present application.

It is to be understood that the present application is capable of implementation in various forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the application to those skilled in the art.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of the associated listed items.

In order to provide a thorough understanding of the present application, a detailed structure will be presented in the following description in order to explain the technical solutions presented in the present application. Alternative embodiments of the present application are described in detail below, however, the present application may have other implementations in addition to these detailed descriptions.

In the following, an ultrasound elastography system according to an embodiment of the present application is first described with reference to fig. 1, and fig. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of an ultrasound elastography system 100 according to an embodiment of the present application.

As shown in fig. 1, ultrasound elastography system 100 includes an ultrasound probe 110, transmit/receive circuitry 112, a processor 114, and a display 116. Further, the ultrasound elastography system 100 may further include a beam forming circuit and a transmission/reception selection switch, etc., through which the transmission/reception circuit 112 may be connected with the ultrasound probe 110.

Wherein, when performing the shear wave elasticity measurement, the ultrasonic probe 110 emits an acoustic radiation force pulse to the region of interest of the prostate part of the object under the control of the processor 114 to generate a shear wave in the region of interest of the prostate part of the object. In one embodiment, the ultrasound elastometry system 100 may further comprise a vibrator for generating mechanical vibrations for exciting a region of interest of the prostate region of the object to be measured to generate shear waves. The vibrator may be provided inside the ultrasonic probe 110, or may be provided separately from the ultrasonic probe 110.

The transducers in the ultrasound probe 110 can transmit ultrasound waves in response to an excitation electrical signal or convert received ultrasound waves into electrical signals, and thus each transducer can be used to transmit ultrasound waves to tissue in the region of interest and also to receive ultrasound echoes returned through the tissue. In making ultrasonic measurements, it may be controlled by the transmit/receive circuitry 112 which transducers are used to transmit ultrasonic waves and which transducers are used to receive ultrasonic waves, or to control the transducers to be time-slotted for transmitting ultrasonic waves or receiving ultrasonic echoes. All transducers participating in the transmission of the ultrasonic waves can be excited simultaneously by the electrical signal, so that the ultrasonic waves are transmitted simultaneously; or the transducers participating in the transmission of the ultrasound waves may be excited by several electrical signals with certain time intervals so as to continuously transmit the ultrasound waves with certain time intervals.

The transmitting/receiving circuit 112 is configured to excite the ultrasound probe 110 to transmit an ultrasound wave tracking the shear wave to the region of interest, and receive an ultrasound echo corresponding to the ultrasound wave returned from the region of interest, so as to obtain ultrasound echo data. The transmit/receive circuit 112 then sends the electrical signals of the ultrasound echoes to a beamforming circuit, which performs focusing delay, weighting, and channel summing on the ultrasound echo data, and then sends the processed data to the processor 114.

Alternatively, processor 114 may be implemented in software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof, and may use circuitry, a single or multiple Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), a single or multiple general purpose Integrated circuits, a single or multiple microprocessors, a single or multiple programmable logic devices, or any combinations of the foregoing, or other suitable circuitry or devices. Also, the processor 114 may control other components in the ultrasound elastography system 100 to perform desired functions.

The processor 114 processes the first ultrasonic echo signal received by it to obtain a base ultrasonic image, and processes the second ultrasonic echo signal received by it to obtain an elastic image. As an example, the processor 114 may process the ultrasound echo data acquired by the transmit/receive circuitry 112 differently according to the imaging mode desired by the user to obtain different modes of underlying ultrasound images.

A display 116 is coupled to the processor 114 for displaying the base ultrasound image and the elasticity image. The display 116 may be a touch screen, a liquid crystal display, or an independent display device such as an independent liquid crystal display and a television; alternatively, the display may be a display screen of an electronic device such as a smart phone or a tablet computer. The number of the displays may be one or more.

Besides displaying the ultrasonic images, the display can also provide a graphical interface for human-computer interaction for a user, one or more controlled objects are arranged on the graphical interface, and the user is provided with a human-computer interaction device to input operation instructions to control the controlled objects so as to execute corresponding control operation. For example, icons are displayed on the graphical interface, which can be manipulated by the human-computer interaction device to perform a particular function.

In addition, ultrasound elastography system 100 may include output devices such as speakers, printers, or any other suitable information output device.

Optionally, the ultrasound elastography system 100 may further include other human-computer interaction devices connected to the processor 114, for example, the processor 114 may be connected to the human-computer interaction devices through an external input/output port, which may be a wireless communication module, a wired communication module, or a combination thereof. The external input/output port may also be implemented based on USB, bus protocols such as CAN, and/or wired network protocols, etc.

Illustratively, the human-computer interaction means may comprise an input device for detecting input information of the user, which may for example be a selection instruction for a region of interest, or may also comprise other instruction types. The input device may include one or more of a keyboard, mouse, scroll wheel, trackball, mobile input device (such as a mobile device with a touch screen display, cell phone, etc.), multi-function knob, and the like.

The ultrasound elastography system 100 may also include a memory for storing instructions executed by the processor, for storing the base ultrasound image and the elastography image, and so forth. The memory may be a flash memory card, solid state memory, hard disk, etc. Which may be volatile memory and/or non-volatile memory, removable memory and/or non-removable memory, etc.

It should be understood that the components included in the ultrasound elastography system 100 shown in fig. 1 are merely illustrative, and that more or fewer components may be included, as the present application is not limited thereto.

Next, a prostate elasticity imaging method according to an embodiment of the present application will be described with reference to fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a schematic flow chart of a method 200 of imaging prostate elasticity in an embodiment of the present application.

As shown in fig. 2, the method 200 includes the following steps:

in step S210, a first ultrasonic wave is emitted to a prostate portion of a subject, an ultrasonic echo of the first ultrasonic wave is received to obtain a first ultrasonic echo signal, and the first ultrasonic echo signal is processed to obtain a base ultrasonic image of the prostate portion of the subject.

Illustratively, in conjunction with fig. 1, the transmitting circuit in the transmitting/receiving circuit 112 sends an electrical signal with appropriate time delay to each transducer element in the ultrasound probe 110, and the transducer converts the electrical signal into an ultrasound wave to be transmitted to the prostate part of the measured object; the transducer in the ultrasound probe 110 receives the ultrasound echo of the first ultrasound wave returned from the prostate part, converts the ultrasound echo into an electrical signal, and transmits the electrical signal to the beamforming circuit for beamforming after signal amplification, analog-to-digital conversion, and the like, and then sends the beamformed ultrasound echo data to the processor 114. Depending on the imaging mode desired by the user, the processor 114 may perform different processing on the first ultrasound echo signal to obtain ultrasound data in different modes. Then, the base ultrasonic images of different modes, such as two-dimensional ultrasonic images including B images, C images, D images and the like, are formed through processing of logarithmic compression, dynamic range adjustment, digital scan conversion and the like.

In step S220, the position of the region of interest is determined from the base ultrasound image.

In one example, determining the location of the region of interest from the base ultrasound image specifically includes: outputting the base ultrasonic image and marking the position of the region of interest on the base ultrasonic image. For example, the base ultrasound image may be displayed on the display 116, a region of interest (ROI) box on the base ultrasound image may be framed manually by a user, and the location of the region of interest may be determined in accordance with detected user input instructions.

In another example, the location of the region of interest may be automatically determined on the base ultrasound image based on a related machine recognition algorithm, i.e., the region of interest box is automatically generated. In other examples, the region of interest may also be acquired by way of semi-automatic detection, for example, first automatically detecting the location of the region of interest on the base ultrasound image based on a machine recognition algorithm, and then further modified or corrected by the user to acquire a more accurate location of the region of interest.

In step S230, the region of interest of the prostate part is controlled to generate a shear wave, a second ultrasonic wave tracking the shear wave is transmitted to the region of interest of the prostate part, an ultrasonic echo of the second ultrasonic wave is received to obtain a second ultrasonic echo signal, and the second ultrasonic echo signal is processed to obtain an elastic image of the region of interest of the prostate part.

In one embodiment, shear waves may be generated within tissue of the region of interest by focused impingement of acoustic radiation forces. In particular, a series of ultrasonic push pulses may be transmitted by the ultrasound probe 110 to tissue of the region of interest to generate a propagation of shear waves in the tissue based on the acoustic radiation force.

In another embodiment, mechanical vibrations may also be applied to the object to be measured by the vibrator to generate shear waves inside the tissue of the region of interest. The vibrator may be disposed inside the ultrasonic probe 110, or may be a separate vibrator disposed outside the ultrasonic probe 110.

Next, a series of second ultrasonic waves that track the shear waves are transmitted by the ultrasound probe 110 to the tissue of the region of interest and their ultrasonic echoes are received to obtain second ultrasonic echo data.

According to the wave characteristics, when the shear wave propagates through a certain position in the tissue, the tissue at the corresponding position vibrates, and after the shear wave propagates away from the certain position, the tissue at the position can be restored to the original state. By carrying out correlation comparison on the second ultrasonic echo data obtained at different moments, the motion information of the tissue in a period of time can be obtained, and the propagation speed of the shear wave in the tissue can be determined according to the motion information of the tissue. For example, the propagation velocity may be calculated by calculating the arrival times of the shear wave at two different positions at a certain distance, or by calculating the propagation velocity by inversion of a wave equation, or the like. And performing pseudo-color mapping according to the shear wave velocity values at a plurality of positions of the region of interest and superposing the pseudo-color mapping in a region of interest frame of the basic ultrasonic image, so as to form an elastic image of the region of interest.

The correlation comparison may be a calculation between the ultrasonic echo signals obtained at different adjacent time instants, or a calculation between the ultrasonic echo signals at different time instants and the echo signal at the same reference time instant. The algorithm for correlation comparison may use a general algorithm for conventional tissue displacement detection, such as a cross-correlation comparison algorithm based on block matching, a doppler shift calculation method, a phase shift detection method, and the like, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

In step S240, the extraprostatic gland region is segmented in the base ultrasound image.

In one embodiment, the base ultrasound image may be automatically segmented during real-time elastography of the prostate region; alternatively, the base ultrasound image may be automatically segmented when the user selects a frame or a segment of the base ultrasound image or the elasticity image for elasticity measurement.

Specifically, the prostatic inner gland region and the prostatic outer gland region may be segmented in the base ultrasound image, only the prostatic outer gland region may be segmented, or the boundary between the prostatic inner gland region and the prostatic outer gland region may be identified and segmented. The prostate region in the base ultrasound image may be segmented first, and then the extraprostatic region may be segmented into an extraprostatic region and an intraprostatic region, or the extraprostatic region in the base ultrasound image may be directly identified and segmented.

In one example, an image segmentation method of edge detection may be employed to identify and segment an extraprostatic gland region in the base ultrasound image or an extraprostatic gland region and an intraprostatic gland region in the base ultrasound image. Specifically, the discontinuity caused by the gray level or the structure mutation in the base ultrasound image is an edge, and the prostatic glands, the extraprostatic glands and other tissue regions have the discontinuity of the gray level or the structure in the base ultrasound image, and the discontinuity in the base ultrasound image can be detected by an edge detection algorithm such as an edge detection algorithm including, but not limited to, a differential operator, so as to realize the identification and segmentation of the prostatic glands region, the prostatic glands region and other tissue regions.

In another example, a machine learning algorithm may be used for image segmentation, for example, a trained deep learning neural network model may be used to segment the extraprostatic gland region in the base ultrasound image, or the intraprostatic gland region and the extraprostatic gland region in the base ultrasound image. The method performs characteristic learning on a pre-constructed database by stacking a convolution layer and a full connection layer, thereby directly obtaining a region to be segmented of an input image and a corresponding category of the region.

Alternatively, an image feature recognition algorithm may be used to segment the extraprostatic gland region in the base ultrasound image, or to segment the prostatic gland region and the extraprostatic gland region in the base ultrasound image. For example, feature extraction may be performed on image blocks of a predetermined neighborhood around each pixel point in the basic ultrasound image, then, the extracted features are matched with features in a pre-constructed database, and the extracted features are classified by using a classifier to determine the category of the image block corresponding to the features, that is, the image block is divided into image blocks of an extraprostatic gland region, an intraprostatic gland region and other regions according to the features of the image block, thereby realizing segmentation of the basic ultrasound image.

Several image segmentation algorithms are provided above by way of example only, but it should be noted that any suitable image segmentation algorithm may be used to segment the base ultrasound image in addition to the above algorithms, and the image segmentation algorithm used in the embodiments of the present application is not limited.

In step S250, the elastic image and the base ultrasound image are displayed, and a segmentation result of the extraprostatic gland region is displayed in an overlapping manner on the base ultrasound image and/or the elastic image.

Wherein the segmentation result can be dynamically displayed in real time during the process of generating the elastic image of the prostate area of the tested object. In another embodiment, the segmentation result corresponding to the one or more frames of the elastic image may also be statically displayed after determining the one or more frames of the elastic image for measuring the elastic parameter.

In one embodiment, the elasticity image and the base ultrasound image can be displayed simultaneously on the same display interface for the user to view in contrast. For example, referring to fig. 3-10, the base ultrasound image is displayed on the left side of the display interface and the elasticity image is displayed on the right side of the display interface, wherein the elasticity image may be displayed in black and white, pseudo-color, or color-coded fashion in the region of interest of the base ultrasound image. The segmentation result of the extraprostatic gland region can be displayed in an overlapping manner on the base ultrasonic image for the user to compare with the elastic image, and of course, the segmentation result of the extraprostatic gland region can also be displayed in an overlapping manner on the elastic image, or simultaneously displayed on the base ultrasonic image and the elastic image in an overlapping manner.

Wherein the extraprostatic gland region is displayed differently from other tissue regions in the image by a visualization manner to display the segmentation result, thereby enabling a user to intuitively determine the position of the extraprostatic gland region. Several specific display schemes are shown below with reference to the drawings:

first, referring to fig. 3, in one embodiment, if the prostatic inner gland region and the prostatic outer gland region in the base ultrasound image are segmented in step S240, the segmentation results of the prostatic inner gland region and the prostatic outer gland region can be displayed simultaneously. In fig. 3, the contour lines of the prostate region and the prostate region are shown in the base ultrasound image, but it is understood that the segmentation results of the prostate region and the prostate region may be displayed in such a manner that the prostate region and the prostate region are displayed in different colors, for example, the prostate region is displayed in blue and the prostate region is displayed in red, but may be displayed in other colors. The user can diagnose the suspicious site with reference to the prostatic internal gland area and the prostatic external gland area displayed in the basic ultrasonic image. Of course, the above-described manner of displaying the contour lines and the manner of displaying different colors may also be used in combination.

In another embodiment, referring to fig. 4, only the segmentation result of the extraprostatic gland region may be displayed. In fig. 4, the outline of the extraprostatic gland region is shown in the base ultrasound image, but it is understood that the segmentation result of the extraprostatic gland region may also be displayed by displaying the extraprostatic gland region in a specific color, for example, the extraprostatic gland region may be displayed in blue. Of course, the segmentation result of the extraprostatic gland region may be displayed in combination with the display of the outline of the extraprostatic gland region and the display of the extraprostatic gland region as a specific color.

Furthermore, since the difficulty of ultrasound diagnosis of the prostate is that it is difficult to distinguish between the prostate region and the lateral gland region, in one embodiment, referring to fig. 5, the user may be assisted in identifying the lateral gland region by displaying a boundary between the prostate region and the lateral gland region.

Further, as described above, the region of interest for performing the elasticity measurement is determined from the base ultrasound image, and the elasticity image is displayed inside the region of interest frame, so that the above-described segmentation result can be correspondingly displayed inside the region of interest frame for determining the region of interest of the base ultrasound image, and the boundary of the segmentation result is limited by the region of interest frame.

For example, referring to fig. 6, when the segmentation results of the extraprostatic gland region and the intraprostatic gland region are displayed at the same time, although the extraprostatic gland region exceeds the region-of-interest frame, only the segmentation results of the extraprostatic gland region located inside the region-of-interest, such as the contour line of the extraprostatic gland region, are displayed, and the contour line exceeding the region-of-interest frame is not displayed.

Referring to fig. 7, when the division result of only the extraprostatic gland region is displayed, likewise, only the division result located inside the region-of-interest frame may be displayed, and the division result located outside the region-of-interest frame may not be displayed.

In some embodiments, when displaying the elasticity image, it is also possible to display only the elasticity image of the extraprostatic gland region. For example, referring to fig. 8, after the extraprostatic gland region of the base ultrasound image is segmented in step S240, the extraprostatic gland region in the elastography image may be segmented according to the segmentation result, and the elastography image of the extraprostatic region alone may be superimposed and displayed on the base ultrasound image, and the elastography processing may not be performed on other regions within the region of interest frame, or the results of the elastography processing may not be displayed. Meanwhile, on the basis ultrasound image on the left side of the display interface in fig. 8, only the segmentation result of the extraprostatic gland region may be displayed. The user may diagnose a suspicious site of the extraprostatic region with reference to the segmentation result of the extraprostatic region and/or the elasticity image of the extraprostatic region.

Further diagnosis by the user may illustratively include measurement of an elasticity parameter of a suspicious site of the extraprostatic gland region. The measurement frame for measuring the elastic measurement parameters can be generated on the ultrasonic image, and the elastic parameters can be measured at the position indicated by the measurement frame. The shape of the measuring frame includes, but is not limited to, square, circular, oval, and the like.

The generating manner of the measurement frame may include automatically generating the measurement frame for measuring the elastic parameter in the extraprostatic gland region, or the user may manually select the position of the measurement frame with reference to the segmentation result of the extraprostatic gland region, and the system generates the measurement frame for measuring the elastic parameter according to the received user input, or after the system automatically generates the measurement frame, the user may adjust the automatically generated measurement frame, and the system adjusts the position of the measurement frame according to the received user input.

In one embodiment, when the position of the measurement box is manually selected by the user, it may also be determined whether the range of the measurement box is beyond the extraprostatic gland region; and when the range of the measuring frame exceeds the extraprostatic gland region, outputting prompt information. The prompt information includes, but is not limited to, one or more of a text prompt, an audio prompt, or changing the color of the measurement box. For example, referring to fig. 10, when the measurement box exceeds the extraprostatic gland region, the "measurement box exceeds the extraprostatic region" may be indicated by text above the display interface, and at the same time, the color of the measurement box may be changed from white to red, for example.

Several display modes of the segmentation result are exemplarily described above, but it should be noted that the display modes of the segmentation result are not limited to the above, but may include various feasible variations, and the features in the above examples may be combined with each other without conflict.

Based on the above description, the prostate elasticity imaging method according to the embodiment of the present application can assist the user to quickly and accurately identify the extraprostatic gland region, and improve the efficiency and accuracy of measurement and diagnosis.

Referring now back to fig. 1, the present application also provides an ultrasound elastography system 100, and the ultrasound elastography system 100 can be used to implement the above-mentioned prostate elastography method. The ultrasound elastography system 100 may include components of an ultrasound probe 110, transmit/receive circuitry 112, a processor 114, and a display 116, the relevant description of which may be referred to above. Only the main functions of the ultrasound elastography system 100 are described below, and details that have been described above are omitted.

The transmitting/receiving circuit 112 is configured to control the ultrasound probe 110 to transmit a first ultrasound wave to a prostate part of a measured object and receive an ultrasound echo of the first ultrasound wave to obtain a first ultrasound echo signal, and control the ultrasound probe to generate a shear wave in a region of interest of the prostate part, transmit a second ultrasound wave tracking the shear wave to the region of interest of the prostate part, and receive an ultrasound echo of the second ultrasound wave to obtain a second ultrasound echo signal.

The processor 114 is configured to process the first ultrasonic echo signal to obtain a base ultrasonic image of the prostate portion of the object to be measured, determine a region of interest of the prostate portion according to the base ultrasonic image, and process the second ultrasonic echo signal to obtain an elastic image of the region of interest of the prostate portion. The processor 114 is also used to segment the extraprostatic gland region in the base ultrasound image.

The display 116 is used for displaying the elastic image and the basic ultrasonic image, and displaying the segmentation result of the extraprostatic gland region on the basic ultrasonic image and/or the elastic image in an overlapping manner.

In one embodiment, the display 116 displays the base ultrasound image and the superimposed image of the base ultrasound image and the elastic image, respectively, on a display interface.

In one embodiment, the processor 116 is configured to segment a prostate region in the base ultrasound image and to segment the prostate region into an prostatic intra-and extraprostatic region. In another embodiment, the processor 116 may also directly identify and segment the extraprostatic region or the dividing line between the intraprostatic and extraprostatic regions in the base ultrasound image.

In one embodiment, the display 116 displays the segmentation result of the extraprostatic gland region by displaying the extraprostatic gland region as a specific color and/or displaying the contour line of the extraprostatic gland region.

In another embodiment, if the processor 114 segments the intra-prostate region and the extra-prostate region in the base ultrasound image, the display 116 may display the segmentation results of the intra-prostate region and the extra-prostate region, for example, displaying the intra-prostate region and the extra-prostate region in different colors, displaying the outlines of the intra-prostate region and the extra-prostate region, and/or displaying the boundary between the intra-prostate region and the extra-prostate region.

Since the region of interest for elasticity measurement is determined from the base ultrasound image, the display 116 may display the segmentation result of the extraprostatic gland region within the region of interest of the base ultrasound image, for example.

In one embodiment, the processor 114 may further segment the extraprostatic gland region in the elasticity image according to the segmentation result, and the display 116 may display the elasticity image of the extraprostatic gland region without displaying the elasticity image at other positions in the region of interest.

In one embodiment, the processor 114 is further configured to automatically generate a measurement box for measuring an elasticity parameter within the extraprostatic gland region, or to generate or adjust a measurement box for measuring an elasticity parameter based on received user input.

Further, the processor 114 may also be configured to determine whether the measurement frame is outside the extraprostatic gland region; and outputting prompt information when the range of the measuring frame exceeds the extraprostatic gland region.

In one embodiment, the display 116 dynamically displays the segmentation results in real-time during the generation of the elasticity image of the prostate region of the subject; or after determining one or more frames of the elastic image for measuring the elastic parameter, statically displaying the segmentation result corresponding to the one or more frames of the elastic image.

Based on the above description, the ultrasound elastography system according to the embodiment of the application can assist the user to quickly and accurately identify the extraprostatic gland region, and improve the efficiency and accuracy of measurement and diagnosis.

Next, an elastography method according to another embodiment of the present application is described with reference to fig. 11. FIG. 11 is a schematic flow chart diagram of an elastography method 1100 of an embodiment of the present application.

As shown in fig. 11, the elastography method 1100 includes the steps of:

in step S1110, a base ultrasound image of a prostate portion of a subject is acquired;

in step S1120, an prostatic internal gland region and/or a prostatic external gland region are/is segmented in the basic ultrasonic image;

in step S1130, acquiring an elasticity image of the prostate region and/or the extraprostatic gland region;

in step S1140, the elasticity image and the base ultrasound image are displayed, and the segmentation result of the prostate region and/or the extraprostatic gland region is displayed in an overlapping manner on the base ultrasound image and/or the elasticity image.

The elastography method 1100 is similar to the prostate elastography method 200 above, differing primarily in that: first, the elastography method 1100 does not limit the manner in which the base ultrasound image and the elastography image of the prostate region are acquired, so long as the elastography image corresponds to the region of interest determined from the base ultrasound image. For example, the base ultrasound image and the elasticity image may be acquired in real time in the manner described above, or may be extracted from a storage medium.

Next, in step S1120, not only the extraprostatic region or the intraprostatic region is segmented in the base ultrasound image, but also the extraprostatic region or the intraprostatic region or both of them may be segmented. Accordingly, in step S1130, an elastic image of the extraprostatic or intraprostatic gland region may be acquired according to the segmentation operation performed in step S1120, in which only the region segmented in step S1120 may be subjected to elasticity measurement, or only the elastic image of the region segmented in step S1120 may be displayed. In step S1140, the segmentation result may be displayed according to the segmentation operation performed in step S1120, wherein if the extraprostatic gland region is segmented in step S1120, the segmentation result of the extraprostatic gland region may be displayed; if the prostate region is segmented in step S1120, the segmentation result of the prostate region may be displayed; if the prostatic internal gland region and the prostatic external gland region are segmented in step S1120, the segmentation results of the prostatic external gland region and the prostatic internal gland region may be displayed simultaneously or one of them may be displayed. The detailed display mode of the segmentation result can refer to step S250 in the prostate elastography method 200.

The steps of the elastography method 1100 have many same or similar contents with the prostate elastography method 200, and specific reference may be made to the above description, and detailed description thereof is omitted here.

Based on the above description, the elastography method according to the embodiment of the application can assist the user to quickly and accurately identify the extraprostatic gland region, and improve the efficiency and accuracy of measurement and diagnosis.

Next, an elastography method according to another embodiment of the present application is described with reference to fig. 12. FIG. 12 is a schematic flow chart diagram of an elastography method 1200 of an embodiment of the present application.

As shown in fig. 12, the elastography method 1200 includes the steps of:

in step S1210, a base ultrasound image of a target tissue and an elastic image of the target tissue are acquired;

in step S1220, a target region is segmented in the basic ultrasound image;

in step S1230, the elastic image and the base ultrasound image are displayed, and the segmentation result of the target region is displayed in an overlapping manner on the base ultrasound image and/or the elastic image.

First, the target tissue of the elastography method 1200 is not limited to prostate sites, nor is the target region in the target tissue limited to extraprostatic gland regions; the elastography method 1200 is applicable to automatic segmentation of target regions in various tissue organs that are difficult to recognize artificially and the display of segmentation results. Moreover, the elastography method 1200 does not limit the manner in which the base ultrasound image and the elastography image are obtained, as long as both are acquired for the same target tissue to facilitate the contrast viewing by the user. The steps of the elastography method 1100 have many same or similar contents as those of the prostate elastography method 200, and specific reference may be made to the above description, and further description is omitted here.

Based on the above description, the elastography method according to the embodiment of the application can assist the user to quickly and accurately identify the target region in the elastography image and the basic ultrasound image, and improve the efficiency and accuracy of measurement and diagnosis.

Referring to fig. 13, the present application further provides an ultrasound elastography system 1300, and the ultrasound elastography system 1300 may be used for implementing the elastography method 1100 or the elastography method 1200 described above. The ultrasound elastography system 1300 includes a memory 1310, a processor 1320, and a display 1330, the memory 1310 having stored thereon a computer program for execution by the processor 1320.

Wherein the processor 1320 may be implemented in software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof, using circuitry, single or multiple application specific integrated circuits, single or multiple general purpose integrated circuits, single or multiple microprocessors, single or multiple programmable logic devices, or any combination of the foregoing, or other suitable circuitry or devices, and the processor 1320 may control the other components in the ultrasound elastography system 1300 to perform the desired functions.

The memory 1310 may include one or more computer program products that may include various forms of computer-readable storage media, such as volatile memory and/or non-volatile memory. The volatile memory may include, for example, random access memory and/or cache memory or the like. The non-volatile memory may include, for example, read-only memory, hard disk, flash memory, and the like. One or more computer program instructions may be stored on the computer-readable storage medium and executed by the processor 1320 to implement the ultrasound imaging or ultrasound image processing functions of the present application (implemented by the processor) described below and/or various other desired functions. Various applications and various data, such as various data used and/or generated by the applications, may also be stored in the computer-readable storage medium.

In one embodiment, the computer program stored on the memory 1310, when executed by the processor 1320, performs the steps of: acquiring a basic ultrasonic image of a prostate part of a detected object; segmenting an prostatic internal gland area and/or a prostatic external gland area in the basic ultrasonic image; acquiring an elasticity image of the prostate gland region and/or the extraprostatic gland region; the display 1330 is configured to display the elastic image and the base ultrasound image, and to display the segmentation result of the prostate region and/or the extraprostatic gland region in an overlapping manner on the base ultrasound image and/or the elastic image.

In another embodiment, the computer program stored on the memory 1310 performs the following steps when executed by the processor 1320: acquiring a basic ultrasonic image of a target tissue and an elastic image of the target tissue; segmenting a target region in the base ultrasound image; the display 1330 is configured to display the elastic image and the base ultrasound image, and display a segmentation result of the target region in an overlapping manner on the base ultrasound image and/or the elastic image.

Furthermore, according to an embodiment of the present application, there is also provided a storage medium having stored thereon program instructions for executing the respective steps of the prostate elasticity imaging method of the embodiment of the present application when the program instructions are executed by a computer or a processor. The storage medium may include, for example, a memory card of a smart phone, a storage component of a tablet computer, a hard disk of a personal computer, a Read Only Memory (ROM), an Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM), a portable compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM), a USB memory, or any combination of the above storage media.

In addition, according to the embodiment of the application, a computer program is further provided, and the computer program can be stored on a storage medium in a cloud or a local place. When being executed by a computer or processor, for performing the respective steps of the prostate elasticity imaging method of the embodiments of the present application.

Based on the above description, the prostate elastography method, the elastography method and the ultrasound elastography system according to the embodiments of the present application can assist the user in quickly and accurately identifying the extraprostatic gland region or other target region, improving the efficiency and accuracy of measurement and diagnosis.

Although the example embodiments have been described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the above-described example embodiments are merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the scope of the present application thereto. Various changes and modifications may be effected therein by one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art without departing from the scope or spirit of the present application. All such changes and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present application as claimed in the appended claims.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described device embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical functional division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another device, or some features may be omitted, or not executed.

In the description provided herein, numerous specific details are set forth. However, it is understood that embodiments of the application may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known methods, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure an understanding of this description.

Similarly, it should be appreciated that in the description of exemplary embodiments of the present application, various features of the present application are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the application and aiding in the understanding of one or more of the various inventive aspects. However, the method of the present application should not be construed to reflect the intent: this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this invention pertains. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus, the claims following the detailed description are hereby expressly incorporated into this detailed description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment of this application.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and all of the processes or elements of any method or apparatus so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where such features are mutually exclusive. Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise.

Furthermore, those skilled in the art will appreciate that while some embodiments described herein include some features included in other embodiments, rather than other features, combinations of features of different embodiments are meant to be within the scope of the application and form different embodiments. For example, in the claims, any of the claimed embodiments may be used in any combination.

The various component embodiments of the present application may be implemented in hardware, or in software modules running on one or more processors, or in a combination thereof. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that a microprocessor or Digital Signal Processor (DSP) may be used in practice to implement some or all of the functionality of some of the modules in an item analysis apparatus according to embodiments of the present application. The present application may also be embodied as apparatus programs (e.g., computer programs and computer program products) for performing a portion or all of the methods described herein. Such programs implementing the present application may be stored on a computer readable medium or may be in the form of one or more signals. Such a signal may be downloaded from an internet website or provided on a carrier signal or in any other form.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments illustrate rather than limit the application, and that those skilled in the art will be able to design alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims. In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim. The word "comprising" does not exclude the presence of elements or steps not listed in a claim. The word "a" or "an" preceding an element does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements. The application may be implemented by means of hardware comprising several distinct elements, and by means of a suitably programmed computer. In the unit claims enumerating several means, several of these means may be embodied by one and the same item of hardware. The usage of the words first, second and third, etcetera do not indicate any ordering. These words may be interpreted as names.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present application or the description thereof, and the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application, and shall be covered by the protection scope of the present application. The protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method of elastic imaging of the prostate, the method comprising:

segmenting an extraprostatic gland region in the base ultrasound image;

2. The method of elastic imaging of the prostate according to claim 1, wherein said displaying the elastic image and the base ultrasound image comprises:

and respectively displaying the basic ultrasonic image and the superposed image of the basic ultrasonic image and the elastic image on a display interface.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said segmenting the extraprostatic gland region in the base ultrasound image comprises:

segmenting a prostate region in the base ultrasound image;

the prostate region is segmented into an intraprostatic gland region and an extraprostatic gland region.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said segmenting the extraprostatic gland region in the base ultrasound image comprises:

an extraprostatic gland region, or a dividing line between an extraprostatic gland region and an intraprostatic gland region, in the base ultrasound image is identified and segmented.

5. The method of claim 3 or 4, wherein said segmenting the extraprostatic gland region in the base ultrasound image comprises:

segmenting the extraprostatic gland region in the base ultrasound image using at least one of an edge detection algorithm, a machine learning algorithm, or an image feature recognition algorithm.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the displaying the segmentation of the extraprostatic gland region superimposed on the base ultrasound image and/or the elasticity image comprises:

displaying the extraprostatic gland region as a particular color, and/or displaying a contour line of the extraprostatic gland region.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the displaying the segmentation of the extraprostatic gland region superimposed on the base ultrasound image and/or the elasticity image comprises:

displaying the prostate gland region and the prostate gland region in different colors, respectively, displaying contour lines of the prostate gland region and the prostate gland region, and/or displaying a boundary line between the prostate gland region and the prostate gland region.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the displaying the segmentation of the extraprostatic gland region superimposed on the base ultrasound image and/or the elasticity image comprises:

9. The method of elastic imaging of the prostate according to claim 1, wherein said displaying the elastic image and the base ultrasound image comprises:

and segmenting the extraprostatic gland region in the elastic image according to the segmentation result, and displaying the elastic image of the extraprostatic gland region.

10. The method of elastic imaging of the prostate according to claim 1, further comprising:

automatically generating a measurement frame for measuring an elasticity parameter within the extraprostatic gland region, or,

a measurement box for measuring the elasticity parameter is generated or adjusted according to the received user input.

11. The method of elastic imaging of the prostate according to claim 10, further comprising:

judging whether the range of the measuring frame exceeds the prostate gland region;

and when the range of the measuring frame exceeds the extraprostatic gland region, outputting prompt information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the prompt message includes one or more of a text prompt, an audio prompt, or a change in color of a measurement box.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the segmentation results comprises:

dynamically displaying the segmentation result in real time in the process of generating an elastic image of the prostate area of the tested object; or

After determining one or more frames of the elastic image for measuring an elastic parameter, statically displaying a segmentation result corresponding to the one or more frames of the elastic image.

14. An elastography method, characterized in that the method comprises:

acquiring a basic ultrasonic image of a prostate part of a detected object;

15. An elastography method, characterized in that the method comprises:

segmenting a target region in the base ultrasound image;

16. An ultrasound elastography system, comprising:

an ultrasonic probe;

a transmitting/receiving circuit, configured to control the ultrasound probe to transmit a first ultrasound wave to a prostate part of a measured object and receive an ultrasound echo of the first ultrasound wave to acquire a first ultrasound echo signal, and control the ultrasound probe to generate a shear wave in a region of interest of the prostate part, transmit a second ultrasound wave tracking the shear wave to the region of interest of the prostate part, and receive an ultrasound echo of the second ultrasound wave to acquire a second ultrasound echo signal;

a processor to:

processing the first ultrasonic echo signal to obtain a basic ultrasonic image of the prostate part of the tested object, determining an interested region of the prostate part according to the basic ultrasonic image, and processing the second ultrasonic echo signal to obtain an elastic image of the interested region of the prostate part; and

segmenting an extraprostatic gland region in the base ultrasound image;

17. The ultrasound elastography system of claim 16, wherein the displaying the elastography image and the base ultrasound image comprises:

18. The ultrasound elastography system of claim 16, wherein said segmenting the extraprostatic gland region in the base ultrasound image comprises:

segmenting a prostate region in the base ultrasound image;

19. The ultrasound elastography system of claim 16, wherein said segmenting the extraprostatic gland region in the base ultrasound image comprises:

20. The ultrasound elastography system of claim 16, wherein the displaying of the segmentation result of the extraprostatic gland region superimposed on the base ultrasound image and/or the elastography image comprises:

21. The ultrasound elastography system of claim 18, wherein the displaying of the segmentation result of the extraprostatic gland region superimposed on the base ultrasound image and/or the elastography image comprises:

22. The ultrasound elastography system of claim 16, wherein the displaying of the segmentation result of the extraprostatic gland region superimposed on the base ultrasound image and/or the elastography image comprises:

23. The ultrasound elastography system of claim 16, wherein the displaying the elastography image and the base ultrasound image comprises: and segmenting the extraprostatic gland region in the elastic image according to the segmentation result, and displaying the elastic image of the extraprostatic gland region.

24. The ultrasound elastography system of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to:

25. The ultrasound elastography system of claim 24, wherein the processor is further configured to:

26. The ultrasound elastography system of claim 16, wherein the display dynamically displays the segmentation results in real-time during generation of an elasticity image of a prostate region of the subject; or

27. An ultrasound elastography system, characterized in that the ultrasound elastography system comprises a memory and a processor and a display, the memory having stored thereon a computer program for execution by the processor, the computer program, when executed by the processor, performing the steps of:

acquiring a basic ultrasonic image of a prostate part of a detected object;

28. An ultrasound elastography system, characterized in that the ultrasound elastography system comprises a memory and a processor and a display, the memory having stored thereon a computer program for execution by the processor, the computer program, when executed by the processor, performing the steps of:

segmenting a target region in the base ultrasound image;