CN114144119A

CN114144119A - Instantaneous elasticity measurement method, acoustic attenuation parameter measurement method and ultrasonic imaging system

Info

Publication number: CN114144119A
Application number: CN202080053436.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李双双; 李金洋; 鲁慧瑛
Original assignee: Shenzhen Mindray Bio Medical Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Mindray Bio Medical Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-05-14
Filing date: 2020-05-14
Publication date: 2022-03-04
Also published as: WO2021226955A1

Abstract

An instantaneous elasticity measurement method, an acoustic attenuation parameter measurement method and an ultrasonic imaging system, the instantaneous elasticity measurement method comprises the following steps: determining an elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency suitable for the measured object (S310); applying mechanical vibration to a measured object to generate a shear wave in a target region of the measured object (S320); transmitting an ultrasonic wave tracking a shear wave to a target region by using an elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency through an ultrasonic probe including a plurality of array elements, and receiving an ultrasonic echo of the target region to obtain ultrasonic echo data (S330); instantaneous elasticity measurements of the target region are obtained from the ultrasound echo data (S340). Under the condition of not switching probes, different elastic measurement ultrasonic frequencies or acoustic attenuation parameters can be selected according to the actual needs of the measured object to measure the ultrasonic frequencies, so that the detection requirements on different penetrating power and resolution in clinic are met.

Description

Instantaneous elasticity measurement method, acoustic attenuation parameter measurement method and ultrasonic imaging system

Description

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of ultrasound imaging technologies, and more particularly, to a transient elasticity measurement method, an acoustic attenuation parameter measurement method, and an ultrasound imaging system.

Background

Ultrasound elastography is one of the hot spots concerned in clinical research in recent years, mainly reflects elasticity or hardness of tissues, and is increasingly applied to the aspects of auxiliary detection of tissue cancer lesions, benign and malignant discrimination, prognosis recovery evaluation and the like.

Ultrasound elastography mainly images elasticity-related parameters in a region of interest, reflecting the softness and hardness of tissues. Over the last two decades, a number of different elastography methods have emerged, such as quasi-static elastography based on strain caused by the probe pressing against the tissue, shear wave elastography or elastometry based on acoustic radiation force to generate shear waves, transient elastography based on external vibrations to generate shear waves, etc.

The instantaneous elastography mainly reflects the elasticity or the hardness degree of tissues by an ultrasonic non-invasive detection method, and is widely popular among doctors in clinical liver disease detection, especially in auxiliary diagnosis of liver fibrosis degree. Taking a liver examination as an example, the liver examination generally includes controlling a special probe to perform external vibration when contacting a body surface so as to generate a shear wave to transmit into a deep tissue, then transmitting an axial ultrasonic wave to the tissue and receiving an echo signal for a period of time to obtain propagation information of the shear wave, and finally calculating the propagation speed of the shear wave and obtaining a quantitative elasticity result of the tissue.

At present, conventional instantaneous elastography generally only can provide tissue information of one-dimensional axial position, and parameters such as measurement frequency or amplitude are different for patients with different individual characteristics, so that a plurality of probes need to be prepared to meet the requirement of switching frequency in clinic. However, the multiple probe configuration is disadvantageous for machine cost control and ease of operation.

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 invention 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 an embodiment of the present application provides a transient elasticity measurement method, where the method includes:

determining an elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency suitable for the measured object;

applying mechanical vibration to the object to be measured to generate shear waves in a target region of the object to be measured;

transmitting ultrasonic waves for tracking the shear waves to the target area by adopting the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency through an ultrasonic probe comprising a plurality of array elements, and receiving ultrasonic echoes of the target area to obtain ultrasonic echo data;

and obtaining the instantaneous elasticity measurement result of the target area according to the ultrasonic echo data.

A second aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a method for measuring an acoustic attenuation parameter, where the method includes:

determining the acoustic attenuation parameter measuring frequency suitable for the measured object;

transmitting ultrasonic waves to a target area of the measured object by adopting the acoustic attenuation parameter measuring frequency through an ultrasonic probe comprising a plurality of array elements, and receiving ultrasonic echoes of the target area to obtain ultrasonic echo data;

and obtaining the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement result of the target area according to the ultrasonic echo data.

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

based on an ultrasonic probe comprising a plurality of array elements, sequentially adopting at least two elastic measurement ultrasonic frequencies to transmit ultrasonic waves for tracking shear waves to a target area of a measured object, and receiving ultrasonic echoes of the target area to obtain at least two groups of ultrasonic echo data;

obtaining an elasticity measurement result of the target region at each ultrasonic frequency according to the ultrasonic echo data;

combining at least two of the elasticity measurements to determine a combined elasticity measurement.

A fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a method for measuring an acoustic attenuation parameter, where the method includes:

based on an ultrasonic probe comprising a plurality of array elements, sequentially adopting at least two acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequencies to transmit ultrasonic waves to a target area of a measured object, and receiving ultrasonic echoes of the target area to obtain at least two groups of ultrasonic echo data;

obtaining a measurement result of the acoustic attenuation parameter of the target region at each ultrasonic frequency according to the ultrasonic echo data;

integrating at least two of the acoustic attenuation parameter measurements to determine an integrated acoustic attenuation parameter measurement.

A fifth aspect of embodiments of the present application provides a transient elasticity measurement method, including:

determining the mechanical vibration amplitude suitable for the measured object, and determining the driving strength of the mechanical vibration according to the mechanical vibration amplitude;

applying mechanical vibration of the mechanical vibration amplitude to the measured object by using the driving strength so as to generate shear waves in a target area of the measured object;

transmitting ultrasonic waves for tracking the shear waves to the target area and receiving ultrasonic echoes of the target area to obtain ultrasonic echo data;

A sixth aspect of embodiments of the present application provides an ultrasound imaging system, including:

an ultrasound probe comprising a plurality of array elements;

a vibrator for applying mechanical vibration to a measured object to generate a shear wave in a target region of the measured object;

the transmitting/receiving circuit is used for exciting the ultrasonic probe to transmit and track the ultrasonic wave of the shear wave to the target area by adopting the elastic measurement ultrasonic frequency suitable for the measured object and receiving the ultrasonic echo of the target area so as to obtain ultrasonic echo data;

a processor to:

determining the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency; and

processing the ultrasonic echo data to obtain instantaneous elasticity measurement results of the target region;

an output device for outputting the instantaneous elasticity measurement.

A seventh aspect of embodiments of the present application provides an ultrasound imaging system, including:

an ultrasound probe comprising a plurality of array elements;

the transmitting/receiving circuit is used for exciting the ultrasonic probe to transmit ultrasonic waves for tracking shear waves to the target area by adopting at least two elastic measurement ultrasonic frequencies in sequence and receiving ultrasonic echoes of the target area so as to obtain at least two groups of ultrasonic echo data;

a processor to:

processing the at least two sets of ultrasonic echo data to obtain at least two sets of elasticity measurement results of the target region;

and integrating the at least two groups of elasticity measurement results to obtain an integrated elasticity measurement result.

An eighth aspect of embodiments of the present application provides an ultrasound imaging system, including:

an ultrasound probe comprising a plurality of array elements;

the transmitting/receiving circuit is used for exciting the ultrasonic probe to transmit ultrasonic waves to the target area by adopting the acoustic attenuation parameter measuring frequency suitable for the measured object and receiving the ultrasonic echo of the target area so as to obtain ultrasonic echo data;

a processor to:

determining the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency; and

processing the ultrasonic echo data to obtain a measurement result of the acoustic attenuation parameter of the target area;

an output device for outputting the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement.

A ninth aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides an ultrasound imaging system, including:

an ultrasound probe comprising a plurality of array elements;

the transmitting/receiving circuit is used for exciting the ultrasonic probe to sequentially transmit ultrasonic waves to the target area by adopting at least two sound attenuation parameter frequencies and receiving ultrasonic echoes of the target area so as to obtain at least two groups of ultrasonic echo data;

a processor to:

processing the at least two sets of ultrasonic echo data to obtain at least two sets of acoustic attenuation parameter measurement results of the target region;

integrating the at least two groups of sound attenuation parameter measurement results to obtain an integrated sound attenuation parameter measurement result;

an output device for outputting the integrated acoustic attenuation parameter measurements.

According to the instantaneous elasticity measurement method, the sound attenuation parameter measurement method and the ultrasonic imaging system, the ultrasonic probe comprising the array elements is used, different elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequencies or sound attenuation parameters can be selected to measure the ultrasonic frequencies according to the actual needs of a measured object under the condition that the probe is not switched, so that the detection requirements of different penetrating power and resolution in clinic are met, the effectiveness of elasticity measurement is improved, the operation is simple and convenient, and the cost is saved.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments are briefly introduced below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings based on these drawings without inventive labor.

In the drawings:

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

FIG. 2 shows a sensitivity diagram of an ultrasound probe according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 shows a schematic flow diagram of a transient elasticity measurement method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a graph of amplitude versus propagation depth for an ultrasound wave in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 shows a schematic flow diagram of a method of acoustic attenuation parameter measurement according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 shows a schematic block diagram of an ultrasound imaging system according to another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 shows a schematic flow diagram of an elasticity measurement method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 shows a schematic flow diagram of a method of acoustic attenuation parameter measurement according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 shows a schematic flow diagram of a transient elasticity measurement method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

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.

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

As shown in fig. 1, the ultrasound imaging system 100 includes an ultrasound probe 110, a vibrator 112, a transmit/receive circuit 114, a processor 116, and an output device 118. Further, the ultrasound imaging system may further include a beam forming circuit and a transmission/reception selection switch, and the transmission/reception circuit 114 may be connected to the ultrasound probe 110 through the transmission/reception selection switch.

In the transient elastic detection, the vibrator 112 generates mechanical vibration under the control of the processor 116, so as to generate shear waves propagating in the tissue in the target region of the measured object. The vibrator 112 may be a built-in vibrator disposed inside the ultrasonic probe 110, or may be a separately disposed external vibrator.

The ultrasound probe 110 is provided therein with a plurality of transducers (also referred to as a plurality of array elements or a plurality of transducer elements, a plurality including at least two) for transmitting ultrasonic waves according to electrical signals or converting received ultrasonic echoes into electrical signals. In the present embodiment, the ultrasonic probe 110 has a plurality of transducers, so that it can transmit and receive ultrasonic waves in a wide frequency band without switching the probe. The plurality of transducers may be arranged in a row to form a linear array, or may be arranged in a two-dimensional matrix to form an area array, or the plurality of transducers may also form a convex array, a phased array, or the like. The transducers may transmit ultrasound waves in response to an excitation electrical signal or convert received ultrasound waves into electrical signals, and thus each transducer may be used to transmit ultrasound waves to tissue in the target region and also to receive ultrasound echoes returned through the tissue. In making ultrasonic measurements, it may be controlled by the transmit/receive circuitry 114 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.

Fig. 2 shows a sensitivity spectrum distribution diagram of an exemplary ultrasound probe 110. As shown in fig. 2, the frequency point (i.e., peak frequency) at which the optimum sensitivity of the ultrasonic probe 110 is located is 3.30MHz, but it has better acoustic sensitivity in a wider frequency range, and thus can transmit and receive ultrasonic waves in a wider frequency band. Taking the bandwidth of the sensitivity of more than 6dB as an example, the frequency distribution range is from 2.52MHz as the lowest frequency (FL6) to 4.78MHz as the highest frequency (FH6), and the center frequency (FC6) is 2.52 MHz. That is, it can obtain better effect by selecting and using any frequency point in the frequency range to transmit.

Optionally, the ultrasonic probe 110 may further include a pressure sensor for feeding back a force when the ultrasonic probe 110 contacts with a human body, so as to facilitate a user to control the pressing tightness, so that the shear wave generated by the ultrasonic probe 110 is better transmitted into the tissue.

The transmitting/receiving circuit 114 is configured to excite the ultrasound probe 110 to transmit an ultrasonic wave tracking the shear wave to the target region, and receive an ultrasound echo corresponding to the ultrasonic wave returned from the target region, so as to obtain ultrasound echo data. The transmit/receive circuit 114 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 116.

Alternatively, the processor 116 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 116 may control other components in the ultrasound imaging system 100 to perform desired functions.

The processor 116 performs transient elasticity processing on the ultrasound echo data it receives to obtain transient elasticity measurement data for the target region, and may store the obtained transient elasticity measurement data in a memory. As an example, the processor may also process the ultrasound echo data acquired by the transmit/receive circuitry 114 differently depending on the imaging mode desired by the user to obtain different modes of ultrasound tissue images. In one embodiment, the processor can obtain instantaneous elasticity measurement data and an ultrasonic tissue image simultaneously after processing the same ultrasonic echo; in another embodiment, the ultrasound probe 110 may sequentially transmit the first ultrasound wave and the second ultrasound wave or alternatively transmit the first ultrasound wave and the second ultrasound wave in an interlaced manner, and the processor 116 may process the first ultrasound echo of the first ultrasound wave to obtain the instantaneous elasticity measurement data and generate the ultrasound tissue images in different modes by processing the second ultrasound echo of the second ultrasound wave.

In the embodiment of the present application, the processor 116 may further select an applicable elastic measurement ultrasonic frequency or acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency according to the individual characteristics of the target object, and automatically or manually switch the selected ultrasonic frequency by a user to perform ultrasonic transmission and reception, so as to achieve a more optimized balance between the ultrasonic penetration force and the spatial resolution according to different clinical application conditions, and improve the accuracy of the elastic measurement; the processor may also select an appropriate amplitude of the mechanical vibration based on individual characteristics of the target object, see below.

An output device 118 is connected to the processor 116 for outputting the instantaneous elasticity measurement or acoustic radiation force measurement. In one embodiment, the output device 118 may be a display for displaying the instantaneous elasticity measurements on a display interface. As an example, the display may be a touch display screen, a liquid crystal display screen, or the like, or may also be an independent display device such as an independent liquid crystal display, a television, or the like; 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 the instantaneous elasticity measurement result, 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.

Output devices 118 may include, among other things, speakers, printers, and so forth. Output device 118 may also be any other suitable information output device.

Optionally, the ultrasound imaging system 100 may further include other human-computer interaction devices connected to the processor 116, for example, the processor 116 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 apparatus may include an input device for detecting input information of a user, which may be, for example, a control instruction for ultrasonic wave transmission/reception timing, an operation input instruction for manually switching an ultrasonic frequency, or may further include 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 imaging system 100 may also include a memory for storing instructions executed by the processor, for storing transient elasticity measurements, ultrasound images, and the like. 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 imaging 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 transient elasticity measurement method according to an embodiment of the present application will be described with reference to fig. 3. FIG. 3 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a transient elasticity measurement method 300 in an embodiment of the present application.

As shown in fig. 3, the transient elasticity measurement method 300 includes the steps of:

in step S310, an elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency suitable for the object to be measured is determined.

Wherein the object to be measured includes a human body, and the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency refers to an ultrasonic transmission and reception frequency for instantaneous elasticity measurement, and further, may be a center frequency of the ultrasonic transmission and reception. The higher the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency, the higher the resolution and the lower the penetration force, whereas the lower the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency, the lower the resolution and the higher the penetration force. For some subjects, higher resolution is required without excessive penetration, while for others, resolution requirements are less demanding but penetration requirements are increasing. Therefore, the elastic measurement ultrasonic frequency suitable for the measured object is determined, so that the optimized balance between the ultrasonic penetrating power and the spatial resolution is favorably achieved, and the effectiveness and the accuracy of instantaneous elastic measurement are improved.

As a specific embodiment, data characterizing the individual characteristics of the object to be measured may be first acquired, and the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency suitable for the object to be measured may be determined based on the data characterizing the individual characteristics of the object to be measured. Wherein, the data characterizing the individual characteristics of the measured object can be the data characterizing the physical structure characteristics of the measured object. When the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency suitable for the data representing the individual characteristics of the measured object is determined according to the data, the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency associated with the obtained data can be directly matched according to different data, the obtained data can also be analyzed, and the suitable elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency is selected according to the analysis result.

In one example, the data characterizing the individual characteristics of the subject may include data characterizing the body type of the subject, such as weight, chest circumference or waist circumference. Generally, for larger or obese subjects, tissue organs (e.g., liver) are located deeper, requiring higher penetration and thus suitable for lower elastometric ultrasound frequencies; for the measured object with normal body type, the tissue organ has medium position depth, so it is suitable for transmitting and receiving with medium ultrasonic frequency; for the small-sized measured object, the position of the tissue organ is shallow, so that the ultrasonic frequency measuring instrument is suitable for transmitting and receiving by adopting higher ultrasonic frequency.

Similarly, the data characterizing the individual characteristics of the subject may include age data of the subject. The location of the young measurand tissue organ is shallow and thus a higher elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency is required, compared to the location of the adult measurand tissue organ is deep and thus a lower elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency is required. Alternatively, the data indicative of the individual characteristics of the object under test may comprise data indicative of the rib pitch of the object under test: the measurand with a narrow rib spacing requires a higher penetration force and thus a lower elastic measurement ultrasonic frequency than the measurand with a wider rib spacing. In addition, the data characterizing the individual characteristics of the subject may also include data characterizing the health condition of the subject. For example, a less healthy subject may require greater resolution. For example, data representing the body type, age, intercostal distance, health condition, or the like of the subject may be obtained by manual input, or may be automatically obtained from an information base, an electronic medical record, or the like of the subject.

When data that can be expressed by letters or numbers, such as the body shape, age, intercostal spacing, or health condition of the subject, which are described above, is acquired, a frequency that is set in advance in association with the acquired data that characterizes the individual characteristics of the subject may be directly determined as the desired elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency. For example, when the data representing the individual characteristics of the object is a weight value representing the body type of the object, if the weight value of the object is greater than or equal to a preset first threshold, a lower elastic measurement ultrasonic frequency, such as a center frequency of 2.5MHz, may be selected for the object; when the weight of the tested object is lower than the first threshold value but not lower than the second threshold value, selecting a medium elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency for the tested object, such as 3.5MHz of central frequency; when the body weight of the tested object is lower than the second threshold value, a higher elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency can be selected for the tested object, for example, the central frequency is 5.0 MHz.

In another embodiment, the data characterizing the individual features of the object under test may include image data, such as ultrasound image data of a target region of instantaneous elasticity measurement of the object under test, including without limitation conventional ultrasound image data such as B-mode ultrasound image data, M-mode ultrasound image data, or a-mode ultrasound image data. That is, before initiating the instantaneous elasticity measurement, conventional ultrasound image data of the target region is first acquired or acquired, after which further analysis of the ultrasound image data is required and an applicable elasticity measurement ultrasound frequency is determined from the analysis result extracted from the image.

As an implementation manner, a plurality of ultrasound frequencies may be continuously adopted to respectively transmit ultrasound waves and receive echoes so as to acquire ultrasound image data of a target area of a measured object. And then, analyzing the ultrasonic image data under the ultrasonic frequencies, and taking the ultrasonic frequency corresponding to the ultrasonic image data meeting the preset standard as the elastic measurement ultrasonic frequency according to the analysis result. Wherein, the ultrasound image satisfying the predetermined criterion may be the ultrasound image data with the best resolution and/or signal-to-noise ratio among the plurality of ultrasound image data.

In another implementation, an individual characteristic parameter of the object to be measured may be measured based on the obtained ultrasound image data, and an elasticity measurement ultrasound frequency suitable for the object to be measured may be determined according to the measured individual characteristic parameter. Wherein, when the target region of the transient elasticity measurement includes a liver region, the individual characteristic parameter includes a Skin Capsule Distance (SCD). On one hand, the body surface-liver envelope distance is related to the body surface fat content of a human body and the body type of the measured object, and the optimal elastic measurement ultrasonic frequency can be selected according to the body surface-liver envelope distance. When the SCD is large (e.g. SCD >3.5cm), it means that the liver position of the current measured object may be deep, and the need for penetration needs to be emphasized, therefore, it is recommended to use a lower elastic measurement ultrasound frequency (e.g. 2.5MHz) for instantaneous elastic measurement. On the other hand, the general elasticity measurement region is recommended to be selected within a certain depth range below the liver capsule, so that the acquisition of the body surface-liver capsule distance is also beneficial to the corresponding optimization selection of the elasticity measurement region. The SCD measurement process may be performed manually by a user or automatically by the system according to image processing algorithms, such as boundary recognition algorithms, image segmentation algorithms, etc.

Several exemplary implementations of determining the elasticity measurement ultrasound frequency of the measurand have been described above. In one embodiment, after determining the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency suitable for the measured object, the ultrasonic imaging system may directly switch the instantaneous elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency to the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency determined in step S310. In another embodiment, a prompt suggesting that the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency is adopted for transient elasticity measurement may also be output through the output device 118 shown in fig. 1, for example, a visual prompt is output on a display, and whether to switch the transmitting and receiving frequencies of the ultrasonic probe during transient elasticity measurement to the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency is determined according to the received user instruction.

In the case of transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves with different frequencies, the optimal depth position of the echo signal for calculating the elasticity result may also be different, the lower the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency is, the deeper the depth of the region of interest is, and thus in one embodiment, after the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency is determined, the depth range of the region of interest for obtaining the instantaneous elasticity measurement result may also be determined based on the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency. For example, when determining the elasticity measurement ultrasound frequency, the region of interest may be automatically determined within a depth range preset within the system in association with the elasticity measurement ultrasound frequency, and when switching the frequency, the depth range of the region of interest is also switched accordingly. The depth range of the region of interest is generally set to satisfy the requirement that the data is from the inside of the region of interest (for example, the inside of the liver, but not located in the body surface fat region) and has a relatively high signal-to-noise ratio. As an example, when the target region is a liver region, the region of interest may be determined in a depth range of 25mm to 65mm when the elasticity measurement ultrasound frequency is determined to be 3.0MHz, and the region of interest may be determined in a depth range of 30mm to 70mm when the elasticity measurement ultrasound frequency is determined to be 2.5 MHz.

In addition, as described above, the region of interest for the elasticity measurement is generally selected to be within a certain depth range below the liver capsule, so that if the body surface-liver capsule distance of the object to be measured is determined when the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency is previously determined, the depth range of the region of interest for obtaining the instantaneous elasticity measurement result can also be determined from the body surface-liver capsule distance.

Of course, the region of interest of the instantaneous elasticity measurement can also be determined by the user according to the definition, penetration depth and the like of the displayed image, and the ultrasonic imaging system determines the depth range of the region of interest for obtaining the instantaneous elasticity measurement result according to the user input. Specifically, the ultrasound image may be displayed on a display, a region of interest on the ultrasound image is manually selected by a user, and the user-selected region of interest is acquired according to a received user input. In other examples, the region of interest may also be acquired in a semi-automatic manner, for example, by first automatically determining an approximate depth range from the elastometric ultrasound frequency and then manually selecting a more precise region of interest within the depth range by the user.

In step S320, mechanical vibration is applied to the object to be measured to generate a shear wave in a target region of the object to be measured.

In the present embodiment, the description is given taking the example in which the vibrator is provided inside the ultrasonic probe, but it should be understood that the vibrator may also be independent of the ultrasonic probe. When the ultrasonic probe itself includes a vibrator, a driving signal for driving the vibrator to vibrate may be output to the vibrator of the ultrasonic probe to perform instantaneous elasticity measurement, the vibrator generates mechanical vibration upon receiving the driving signal, thereby vibrating the ultrasonic probe in contact with the body surface of the object to be measured, and transmits shear waves generated by the vibration into the tissue of the target region of the object to be measured through the ultrasonic probe to generate shear waves inside the tissue of the target region, the shear waves traveling through the selected region of interest.

In one embodiment, since different measurands are adapted to different mechanical vibration amplitudes, the transient elasticity measurement method 300 may further include: determining a mechanical vibration amplitude suitable for the measured object, and determining the driving strength of the mechanical vibration according to the mechanical vibration amplitude, and driving a vibrator with the determined driving strength to generate the mechanical vibration amplitude meeting the requirement.

The determination of the mechanical vibration amplitude is related to the penetration force of the shear wave and the bearing force of the measured object. Therefore, the mechanical vibration amplitude can be determined based on the body size, age, intercostal spacing, and/or health condition of the subject. For example, a large-sized object to be measured or an object to be measured with a narrow intercostal space requires a strong penetrating force, and is therefore suitable for a large mechanical vibration amplitude; the tested object with the young or poor health condition has poor bearing capacity, so the method is suitable for smaller mechanical vibration amplitude.

In one embodiment, the determination of the amplitude of the mechanical vibration may also be associated with the determination of the elastic measurement ultrasonic frequency. For example, after the elastic measurement ultrasonic frequency is selected, a predetermined mechanical vibration amplitude associated therewith is automatically determined.

In step S330, an ultrasonic probe including a plurality of array elements transmits an ultrasonic wave tracking the shear wave to the target region using the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency, and receives an ultrasonic echo of the target region to obtain ultrasonic echo data.

The processor 116 in the ultrasound imaging system 100 shown in fig. 1 may be used to control the transmitting/receiving circuit 114 to excite the ultrasound probe 110 to transmit the ultrasonic waves to the target region of the measured object at the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency determined in step S310, so as to track the shear waves propagating in the target region, and to receive the ultrasonic echoes of the ultrasonic waves returned from the target region, so as to obtain the ultrasonic echo data. Because this application embodiment adopts the ultrasonic probe of many array elements, all has the sensitivity of preferred under the frequency band of broad, therefore can be based on same probe switching frequency as required, when improving measurement accuracy, need not to switch over the probe, avoided loaded down with trivial details operation. Compared with the traditional ultrasonic probe for instantaneous elasticity measurement, the ultrasonic probe of the embodiment of the application has the advantages that due to the fact that the multiple array elements are adopted, the frequency range of generated ultrasonic waves is wide, and compared with the traditional ultrasonic probe for instantaneous elasticity measurement, the ultrasonic probe comprising the multiple array elements can also be considered as a broadband probe.

In this step, after applying mechanical vibration to the target region and generating shear waves, ultrasonic waves as tracking pulses are emitted and ultrasonic echoes thereof are received, thereby obtaining echo data of the tracking pulses within a period of propagation range within a period of time within the target region. The transmission interval time for transmitting the ultrasonic waves may be predetermined. The ultrasonic echo data records tissue information at various positions within the propagation range of the shear wave during the propagation process of the shear wave.

Step S340, obtaining the instantaneous elasticity measurement result of the target area according to the ultrasonic echo data.

Wherein the instantaneous elasticity measurement result comprises an elasticity parameter for evaluating the elasticity degree of the target area tissue, which can be the propagation speed of the shear wave and also can be the elastic modulus.

In particular, after receiving the ultrasound echo data, the ultrasound echo data may be processed, such as filtered, amplified, beamformed, and so on. Then, based on the processed ultrasonic echo data, a relevant algorithm can be adopted to obtain the required instantaneous elasticity measurement parameters or images. In the embodiment of the application, deformation estimation operation can be performed according to the ultrasonic echo data to form a deformation-time curve corresponding to each detection position in the target region, which reflects the relation of the change of the tissue deformation value at the point along with time. According to the time value corresponding to the peak value in the deformation-time curve and the physical distance value of the detection position, a fitting time-distance straight line can be made, the reciprocal of the slope of the time-distance straight line is obtained, the shear wave speed value can be obtained, and then the elastic modulus parameter reflecting the tissue hardness can be calculated through the shear wave speed. It will be appreciated that the above calculation process is merely exemplary, and that other suitable algorithms may be employed by embodiments of the present application to obtain instantaneous elasticity measurements from ultrasound echo data.

In some embodiments, after the instantaneous elasticity measurement is calculated, the calculated instantaneous elasticity measurement may be directly output via an output device (e.g., output device 118 shown in FIG. 1). The output device may be a display device, such as a display screen or a display, and the instantaneous elasticity measurement result may be displayed on a display interface of the display device, for example, parameters such as shear wave velocity and elastic modulus may be displayed in text, and an image of tissue elasticity may also be displayed.

Referring now back to fig. 1, the present application also provides an ultrasound imaging system 100, and the ultrasound imaging system 100 may be used to implement the method 300 described above. The ultrasound imaging system 100 may include components of an ultrasound probe 110, a vibrator 112, transmit/receive circuitry 114, a processor 116, and an output device 118, wherein the ultrasound probe 110 includes a plurality of elements (i.e., transducer elements) and is thus capable of transmitting and receiving ultrasound waves at a relatively wide frequency band; the vibrator 112 is configured to apply mechanical vibration to an object to be measured to generate a shear wave in a target region of the object to be measured; the transmitting/receiving circuit 114 is configured to excite the ultrasonic probe 110 to transmit an ultrasonic wave tracking the shear wave to the target region at an elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency suitable for the measured object, and receive an ultrasonic echo of the target region to obtain ultrasonic echo data; a processor 116 for determining the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency and processing the ultrasonic echo data to obtain an instantaneous elasticity measurement of the target region; an output device 118 is used to output the instantaneous elasticity measurement.

In one embodiment, the output device 118 is further configured to output a prompt suggesting the elastometric ultrasonic frequency to be used for the instantaneous elastometric measurement, and the processor 116 is further configured to determine whether to switch the transmit and receive frequencies of the ultrasound probe 110 to the elastometric ultrasonic frequency based on the received user instruction.

Only the main components of the ultrasound imaging system 100 and the main functions of the components have been described above, and details that have been described above have been omitted. Other related descriptions of the various components may be found in relation to the detailed description of the ultrasound imaging system 100 and the transient elasticity measurement method 300 above.

Based on the above description, according to the instantaneous elasticity measurement method and the ultrasonic imaging system of the embodiment of the application, by using the ultrasonic probe including the plurality of array elements, different elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequencies can be selected according to the actual needs of the measured object without switching the probe, so that the detection requirements for different penetrating power and resolution in clinic are met, the effectiveness of elasticity measurement is improved, the operation is simple and convenient, and the cost is saved.

In addition to obtaining elasticity-related results of the target tissue during imaging of transient elasticity, imaging or measurement of acoustic attenuation parameters may also be performed. The acoustic attenuation parameter is used for reflecting the attenuation degree of the acoustic intensity (or amplitude, energy) when the ultrasonic wave propagates in a certain depth range, and can be used for predicting the degree of the fatty liver in clinic. Generally, the more severe the fatty liver, the faster the sound decays. As shown in fig. 4, for ultrasonic waves of the same frequency, the amplitude of the ultrasonic waves is linearly inversely proportional to the propagation depth, and the acoustic attenuation parameter generally corresponds to the slope of the inversely proportional relationship. Another embodiment of the present invention provides a method for measuring acoustic attenuation parameters, which can select a relatively suitable acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency for different objects to be measured by using an ultrasonic probe including a plurality of array elements to measure the acoustic attenuation parameters, thereby improving the measurement accuracy.

Fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of a method 500 for measuring acoustic attenuation parameters according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 5, the method 500 includes the following steps:

step S510, determining a sound attenuation parameter measurement frequency suitable for the measured object.

Wherein determining the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency suitable for the measurand is similar to the manner in which the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency of the measurand is determined in method 300. As an implementation, the measurement process of the acoustic attenuation parameter can be synchronized with the transient elasticity measurement process, i.e. echo data of the transient elasticity imaging is multiplexed. Specifically, in the process of performing instantaneous elasticity measurement, after the processor acquires ultrasonic echo data of the ultrasonic wave tracking the shear wave, the processor may further determine the acoustic attenuation parameter of the target region according to the echo data. In this implementation, the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency is equivalent to the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency described above. In other implementations, the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement may be performed separately from the instantaneous elasticity measurement, and the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency may be the same as or different from the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency.

In particular, the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency refers to an ultrasonic transmission and reception frequency used for acoustic attenuation parameter measurement, and further, the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency may be a center frequency of ultrasonic transmission and reception. The higher the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency, the higher the resolution and the lower the penetration force, whereas the lower the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency, the lower the resolution and the higher the penetration force. Therefore, the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency suitable for the measured object is determined, so that the optimized balance between the ultrasonic penetration force and the spatial resolution is favorably achieved, and the effectiveness and the accuracy of the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement are improved.

As a specific embodiment, data representing an individual characteristic of a measured object may be acquired first, and a sound attenuation parameter measurement frequency suitable for the measured object may be determined based on the data representing the individual characteristic of the measured object. Wherein, the data characterizing the individual characteristics of the measured object can be the data characterizing the physical structure characteristics of the measured object. When the acoustic attenuation parameter measuring frequency applicable to the data representing the individual characteristics of the measured object is determined according to the data, the acoustic attenuation parameter measuring frequency associated with the obtained data can be directly matched according to different data, the obtained data can also be analyzed, and the applicable acoustic attenuation parameter measuring frequency is selected according to the analysis result.

In one example, the data characterizing the individual characteristics of the subject may include data characterizing the body type of the subject, such as weight, chest circumference or waist circumference. The larger the body type, the higher the penetration force required, and the lower the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency. Similarly, the data characterizing the individual characteristics of the subject may include data of the subject's age, intercostal spacing or health. When data that can be expressed by letters or numbers, such as the body shape, age, intercostal distance, or health condition of the subject, is acquired as described above, a frequency that is set in advance in association with the acquired data that characterizes the individual characteristics of the subject may be directly determined as the required sound attenuation parameter measurement frequency.

In another embodiment, the data characterizing the individual features of the object under test may comprise image data, such as ultrasound image data of a target area measured by an acoustic attenuation parameter of the object under test. When determining the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency using the ultrasound image data, further analysis of the ultrasound image data is required, and an applicable acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency is determined according to an analysis result extracted from the image. As an implementation manner, a plurality of ultrasound frequencies may be continuously adopted to respectively transmit ultrasound waves and receive echoes so as to acquire ultrasound image data of a target area of a measured object. And then, analyzing the ultrasonic image data under the plurality of ultrasonic frequencies, and taking the ultrasonic frequency corresponding to the ultrasonic image data meeting the preset standard as the acoustic attenuation parameter measuring frequency according to the analysis result. Wherein, the ultrasound image satisfying the predetermined criterion may be the ultrasound image data with the best resolution and/or signal-to-noise ratio among the plurality of ultrasound image data.

In another implementation, an individual characteristic parameter of the object to be measured may also be measured based on the obtained ultrasound image data, and a sound attenuation parameter measurement frequency suitable for the object to be measured may be determined according to the measured individual characteristic parameter. Wherein, when the target region measured by the acoustic attenuation parameter comprises a liver region, the individual characteristic parameter comprises a Skin-liver Capsule Distance (SCD).

Several exemplary implementations of determining the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency of a measurand are described above. In one embodiment, after determining the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency suitable for the measured object, the ultrasound imaging system may directly switch the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency to the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency determined in step S510. In another embodiment, prompt information suggesting that the sound attenuation parameter measurement frequency is adopted for sound attenuation parameter measurement can be output, and whether the transmitting and receiving frequency of the ultrasonic probe is switched to the sound attenuation parameter measurement frequency in the sound attenuation parameter measurement process is determined according to the received user instruction.

Step S520, transmitting an ultrasonic wave to a target region of the object to be measured by using the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency through an ultrasonic probe including a plurality of array elements, and receiving an ultrasonic echo of the target region to obtain ultrasonic echo data.

Wherein, the processor of the ultrasonic imaging system can be adopted to control the transmitting/receiving circuit to excite the ultrasonic probe to transmit ultrasonic waves to the target area of the measured object at the acoustic attenuation parameter measuring frequency determined in the step S510, and to receive the ultrasonic echoes of the ultrasonic waves returned from the target area to obtain ultrasonic echo data. Because this application embodiment adopts the ultrasonic probe of many array elements, all has the sensitivity of preferred under the frequency band of broad, therefore can be based on same probe switching frequency as required, when improving measurement accuracy, need not to switch over the probe, avoided loaded down with trivial details operation.

Step S530, obtaining the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement result of the target area according to the ultrasonic echo data.

The acoustic attenuation parameters of the target region can be determined according to the amplitude of the ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the target region at each depth. Typically, the amplitudes of the ultrasound echo signals returned from different depths, i.e., the distance of the tissue in the target region from the probe, are different, and the amplitude of the ultrasound echo signal obtained from tissue with deeper depths is typically lower, see fig. 4. Since the amplitude of the ultrasonic echo signal decreases with the increase of the depth, when the amplitude is converted into a unit of dB (decibel), it can be determined that the amplitude tends to decrease with the increase of the depth, and the slope of the energy attenuation of the ultrasonic echo can be understood as the acoustic attenuation parameter.

Finally, the sound attenuation parameter measurement may also be output by an output device, for example displayed on a display means. The measurement result may include a numerical value and a curve of the acoustic attenuation parameter, and in addition, a pixel value of each pixel point may be determined according to the acoustic attenuation parameter to obtain an acoustic attenuation image; the acoustic attenuation image may be displayed superimposed with the base ultrasound image or the elasticity image.

Referring to fig. 6, the present application further provides an ultrasound imaging system 600, and the ultrasound imaging system 600 may be used to implement the method 500. The ultrasound imaging system 600 may include components such as an ultrasound probe 610, transmit/receive circuitry 612, a processor 614, and an output device 618. Specific details of the ultrasound probe 610, the transmitting/receiving circuit 612, the processor 614 and the output device 618 may refer to the ultrasound probe 110, the transmitting/receiving circuit 114, the processor 116 and the output device 118 in the ultrasound imaging system 100 shown in fig. 1, and only the main components of the ultrasound imaging system 600 and the main functions of the components are described below, and details that have been described above are omitted. Other related descriptions of the various components may be found in relation to the detailed description of the ultrasound imaging system 100 and the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement method 600 above.

In the present embodiment, the ultrasound imaging system 600 may be implemented as a transient elasticity ultrasound imaging system, and then the ultrasound imaging system 600 may include a vibrator for applying mechanical vibration to a target region of a measured object to generate shear waves, thereby initiating transient elasticity measurement, see in particular the vibrator 112 in the ultrasound imaging system 100. Alternatively, the ultrasound imaging system 600 may be implemented as an acoustic radiation force elastography system, and the ultrasound imaging system 600 may not include a vibrator, and the ultrasound probe 610 applies an acoustic radiation force pulse to the target region of the measured object to generate a shear wave, thereby initiating the acoustic radiation force elastography measurement.

In the ultrasound imaging system 600, the ultrasound probe 110 includes a plurality of array elements (i.e., transducer elements), and thus is capable of transmitting and receiving ultrasound waves at a relatively wide frequency band; the transmitting/receiving circuit 612 is configured to excite the ultrasonic probe 610 to transmit an ultrasonic wave to a target region of the measured object by using a frequency of an acoustic attenuation parameter suitable for the measured object, and receive an ultrasonic echo of the target region to obtain ultrasonic echo data; processor 614 is configured to determine the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency and process the ultrasound echo data to obtain an acoustic attenuation parameter measurement of the target region; the output device 618 is used to output the acoustic attenuation parameter measurements.

Based on the above description, according to the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement method and the ultrasonic imaging system of the embodiment of the application, by using the ultrasonic probe including the plurality of array elements, different acoustic attenuation parameters can be selected according to the actual needs of the measured object to measure the ultrasonic frequency without switching the probe, so that the detection requirements for different penetration forces and resolutions in clinic are met, the effectiveness of acoustic attenuation parameter measurement is improved, and meanwhile, the operation is simple and convenient, and the cost is saved.

Another embodiment of the present application further provides an elasticity measurement method, which is based on an ultrasonic probe including a plurality of array elements, performs elasticity measurement using a plurality of elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequencies, and combines results of a plurality of times of measurement to obtain a more accurate combined measurement result. Next, an elasticity measurement method according to an embodiment of the present application will be described with reference to fig. 7. Fig. 7 is a schematic flow chart of an elasticity measurement method 700 according to an embodiment of the present application.

As shown in fig. 7, the elasticity measurement method 700 includes the following steps:

in step S710, based on an ultrasonic probe including a plurality of array elements, sequentially using at least two elastic measurement ultrasonic frequencies to transmit ultrasonic waves for tracking shear waves to a target region of a measured object, and receiving ultrasonic echoes of the target region to obtain at least two sets of ultrasonic echo data;

in step S720, obtaining an elasticity measurement result of the target region at each of the ultrasonic frequencies according to the ultrasonic echo data;

at step S730, at least two of the elasticity measurements are combined to determine a combined elasticity measurement.

In one embodiment, the elasticity measurement method 700 may be a transient elasticity measurement method, i.e., the shear wave is first generated in the target region of the measurand based on mechanical vibration. In another embodiment, the elasticity measurement method 700 may also be an acoustic radiation force elasticity measurement method, i.e. generating the shear wave at the target area of the object based on acoustic radiation force.

In the present embodiment, an ultrasonic wave is sequentially emitted by an ultrasonic probe to a target region of an object to be measured at least two elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequencies to track a shear wave propagating in the target region, and an ultrasonic echo of the ultrasonic wave returned from the target region is received to obtain ultrasonic echo data. As an example, generation of shear waves and transmission and reception of ultrasonic waves are alternated. Because this application embodiment adopts the ultrasonic probe of many array elements, all has the sensitivity of preferred under the frequency band of broad, therefore can be based on same probe switching frequency as required, when improving measurement accuracy, need not to switch over the probe, avoided loaded down with trivial details operation.

An elasticity measurement is then obtained based on each set of ultrasound echo data. Wherein the elasticity measurement result comprises an elasticity parameter for evaluating the elasticity degree of the target area tissue, which can be the propagation speed of the shear wave and also can be the elastic modulus. In particular, after receiving the ultrasound echo data, the ultrasound echo data may be processed, such as filtered, amplified, beamformed, and so on. Then, based on the processed ultrasonic echo data, a correlation algorithm is adopted to obtain the required elasticity measurement parameters.

After at least two elasticity measurement results are obtained, the obtained elasticity measurement results are subjected to statistical operation to obtain a comprehensive elasticity measurement result, so that the elasticity information of the tissue is more accurately and completely reflected. Wherein the statistical operation comprises one or more of: mean, median, variance, standard deviation, quartile value, etc. of the at least two elasticity measurements.

In some embodiments, after the synthetic elasticity measurement is calculated, the calculated synthetic elasticity measurement may be directly output through an output device. The output device may be a display device, such as a display screen or a display, and the comprehensive elasticity measurement result may be displayed on a display interface of the display device.

Referring back to fig. 6, the present application further provides an ultrasound imaging system 600, and the ultrasound imaging system 600 may be used to implement the method 700 described above. The ultrasound imaging system 600 may include components such as an ultrasound probe 610, transmit/receive circuitry 612, a processor 614, and an output device 618. Specific details of the ultrasound probe 610, the transmitting/receiving circuit 612, the processor 614 and the output device 618 may refer to the ultrasound probe 110, the transmitting/receiving circuit 114, the processor 116 and the output device 118 in the ultrasound imaging system 100 shown in fig. 1, and only the main components of the ultrasound imaging system 600 and the main functions of the components are described below, and details that have been described above are omitted. Other related descriptions of the various components may be found in relation to the detailed description of the ultrasound imaging system 100 and the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement method 600 above.

In the ultrasound imaging system 600, the ultrasound probe 110 includes a plurality of array elements (i.e., transducer elements), and thus is capable of transmitting and receiving ultrasound waves at a relatively wide frequency band; the transmitting/receiving circuit 612 is configured to excite the ultrasonic probe 610 to sequentially transmit an ultrasonic wave for tracking a shear wave to a target region of a measured object by using at least two elastic measurement ultrasonic frequencies, and receive an ultrasonic echo of the target region to obtain at least two sets of ultrasonic echo data; processor 614 is configured to obtain elasticity measurements of the target region at each of the ultrasonic frequencies from the ultrasonic echo data and to combine at least two of the elasticity measurements to determine a combined elasticity measurement; an output device 618 is used to output the integrated elasticity measurement.

Based on the above description, according to the elasticity measurement method and the ultrasonic imaging system of the embodiment of the application, by using the ultrasonic probe including a plurality of array elements, elasticity measurement can be performed at a plurality of elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequencies without switching the probe, and the results of a plurality of times of measurement are integrated to obtain a more accurate integrated elasticity measurement result.

Another embodiment of the present application further provides an acoustic attenuation parameter measuring method, which is based on an ultrasonic probe including a plurality of array elements, performs acoustic attenuation parameter measurement using a plurality of acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequencies, and combines results of a plurality of measurements to obtain a more accurate combined measurement result. Next, a sound attenuation parameter measuring method according to an embodiment of the present application will be described with reference to fig. 8. Fig. 8 is a schematic flow chart of a method 800 of measuring an acoustic attenuation parameter according to an embodiment of the present application.

As shown in fig. 8, the acoustic attenuation parameter measuring method 800 includes the following steps:

in step S810, based on an ultrasonic probe including a plurality of array elements, sequentially transmitting ultrasonic waves to a target region of a measured object by using at least two acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequencies, and receiving ultrasonic echoes of the target region to obtain at least two sets of ultrasonic echo data;

in step S820, obtaining a measurement result of an acoustic attenuation parameter of the target region at each of the ultrasonic frequencies from the ultrasonic echo data;

at step S830, at least two of the acoustic attenuation parameter measurements are combined to determine a combined acoustic attenuation parameter measurement.

In the present embodiment, ultrasonic waves are sequentially emitted to a target region of a measured object by an ultrasonic probe at least two acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequencies, and ultrasonic echoes of the ultrasonic waves returned from the target region are received to obtain ultrasonic echo data. Because this application embodiment adopts the ultrasonic probe of many array elements, all has the sensitivity of preferred under the frequency band of broad, therefore can switch a plurality of sound attenuation parameter measuring frequency as required based on same probe, when improving measurement accuracy, need not to switch the probe, avoided loaded down with trivial details operation.

Then, based on each set of ultrasonic echo data, a measurement of an acoustic attenuation parameter is obtained. The attenuation parameter of the sound attenuation parameter measurement result is used for reflecting the attenuation degree of sound intensity (or amplitude and energy) when the ultrasonic wave is transmitted in a certain depth range, and can be used for predicting the fatty liver degree in clinic.

After at least two sound attenuation parameter measurement results are obtained, the obtained sound attenuation parameter measurement results are subjected to statistical operation to obtain a comprehensive sound attenuation parameter measurement result, so that the elasticity information of the tissue is reflected more accurately and completely. Wherein the statistical operation comprises one or more of: mean, median, variance, standard deviation, quartile value, etc. of the at least two acoustic attenuation parameter measurements.

In some embodiments, after the calculation of the integrated sound attenuation parameter measurement, the calculated integrated sound attenuation parameter measurement may be directly output through an output device. The output device may be a display device, such as a display screen or a display, and the measurement result of the integrated sound attenuation parameter may be displayed on a display interface of the display device.

Referring back to fig. 6, the present application further provides an ultrasound imaging system 600, and the ultrasound imaging system 600 may be used to implement the method 800 described above. The ultrasound imaging system 600 may include components such as an ultrasound probe 610, transmit/receive circuitry 612, a processor 614, and an output device 618. Specific details of the ultrasound probe 610, the transmitting/receiving circuit 612, the processor 614 and the output device 618 may refer to the ultrasound probe 110, the transmitting/receiving circuit 114, the processor 116 and the output device 118 in the ultrasound imaging system 100 shown in fig. 1, and only the main components of the ultrasound imaging system 600 and the main functions of the components are described below, and details that have been described above are omitted. Other related descriptions of the various components may be found in relation to the detailed description of the ultrasound imaging system 100 and the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement method 600 above.

In the ultrasound imaging system 600, the ultrasound probe 110 includes a plurality of array elements (i.e., transducer elements), and thus is capable of transmitting and receiving ultrasound waves at a relatively wide frequency band; the transmitting/receiving circuit 612 is configured to excite the ultrasonic probe 610 to sequentially transmit ultrasonic waves to a target region of a measured object by using at least two acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequencies, and receive ultrasonic echoes of the target region to obtain at least two sets of ultrasonic echo data; the processor 614 is configured to obtain a measurement result of an acoustic attenuation parameter of the target region at each of the ultrasonic frequencies according to the ultrasonic echo data, and synthesize at least two measurement results of the acoustic attenuation parameter to determine a measurement result of a synthesized acoustic attenuation parameter; an output device 618 is used to output the integrated acoustic attenuation parameter measurements.

Based on the above description, according to the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement method and the ultrasonic imaging system of the embodiment of the present application, by using the ultrasonic probe including a plurality of array elements, acoustic attenuation parameter measurement can be performed using a plurality of acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequencies without switching the probe, and the results of a plurality of times of measurement are integrated to obtain a more accurate integrated elasticity measurement result.

The embodiment of the application also provides an instantaneous elasticity measurement method, and reference is made to fig. 9. FIG. 9 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a transient elasticity measurement method 900 according to an embodiment of the present application.

As shown in fig. 9, the transient elasticity measurement method 900 includes the steps of:

step S910, determining the mechanical vibration amplitude suitable for the measured object, and determining the driving strength of the mechanical vibration according to the mechanical vibration amplitude;

step S920 of applying the mechanical vibration of the mechanical vibration amplitude to the object to be measured with the driving strength to generate a shear wave in a target region of the object to be measured;

step S930 of transmitting an ultrasonic wave for tracking the shear wave to the target region and receiving an ultrasonic echo of the target region to obtain ultrasonic echo data;

and S940, obtaining the instantaneous elasticity measurement result of the target area according to the ultrasonic echo data.

In the present embodiment, since different objects to be measured are suitable for different mechanical vibration amplitudes, in step S910, the mechanical vibration amplitude suitable for the objects to be measured is determined, and the driving strength of the mechanical vibration is determined according to the mechanical vibration amplitude, and the vibrator is driven at the determined driving strength to generate the mechanical vibration amplitude satisfying the requirement.

The determination of the amplitude of the mechanical vibrations takes into account the penetration of the shear waves and the tolerance of the object to be measured. Therefore, the mechanical vibration amplitude can be determined based on the body size, age, intercostal spacing, and/or health condition of the subject. For example, a large-sized object to be measured or an object to be measured with a narrow intercostal space requires a strong penetrating force, and is therefore suitable for a large mechanical vibration amplitude; the tested object with the young or poor health condition has poor bearing capacity, so the method is suitable for smaller mechanical vibration amplitude.

After determining the mechanical vibration amplitude suitable for the measured object, the driving strength of the vibrator preset for generating the mechanical vibration amplitude can be automatically related, and the vibrator is driven by the driving strength to generate the mechanical vibration of the mechanical vibration amplitude, so as to generate the shear wave in the target area of the measured object. Then, the above steps S930 and S940 are performed, an ultrasonic wave tracking the shear wave is transmitted to the target region, an ultrasonic echo of the target region is received to obtain ultrasonic echo data, and a transient elasticity measurement result of the target region is obtained according to the ultrasonic echo data. For other details from step S920 to step S940, reference is made to the related description in the instantaneous elasticity measurement method 300, and details are not repeated here.

Based on the above description, according to the instantaneous elasticity measurement method of the embodiment, the mechanical vibration with different mechanical vibration amplitudes is selected according to the actual needs of the measured object, so that the requirements of clinical treatment on mechanical vibration with different strengths are met, the accuracy and effectiveness of instantaneous elasticity measurement are improved, and the user experience is improved.

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. Those skilled in the art will appreciate 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 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 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

A transient elasticity measurement method, comprising:

determining an elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency suitable for the measured object;

applying mechanical vibration to the object to be measured to generate shear waves in a target region of the object to be measured;

transmitting ultrasonic waves for tracking the shear waves to the target area by adopting the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency through an ultrasonic probe comprising a plurality of array elements, and receiving ultrasonic echoes of the target area to obtain ultrasonic echo data;

and obtaining the instantaneous elasticity measurement result of the target area according to the ultrasonic echo data.
The method of claim 1, wherein determining an elasticity measurement ultrasound frequency suitable for the measurand comprises:

acquiring data representing individual characteristics of the measured object;

and determining the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency according to the data representing the individual characteristics of the measured object.
The method of claim 2, wherein said determining the elasticity measurement ultrasound frequency from the data characterizing the individual characteristics of the measurand comprises:

and determining a preset frequency associated with the data representing the individual characteristics of the measured object as the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency.
A method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the data characterising individual features of the subject comprises data characterising the size, age, intercostal spacing and/or health condition of the subject.
The method of claim 2, wherein the data characterizing individual features of the object under test comprises ultrasound image data of the target region of the object under test.
The method of claim 5, wherein the acquiring data characterizing individual features of the subject comprises: respectively acquiring ultrasonic image data of the target region of the object to be measured by using a plurality of ultrasonic frequencies,

said determining said elasticity measurement ultrasound frequency from said data characterizing individual characteristics of said measurand comprises:

and analyzing the ultrasonic image data under the plurality of ultrasonic frequencies, and taking the ultrasonic frequency corresponding to the ultrasonic image data meeting the preset standard as the elastic measurement ultrasonic frequency.
The method of claim 6, wherein the ultrasound image data satisfying the predetermined criteria comprises a plurality of ultrasound image data having an optimal resolution and/or signal-to-noise ratio among the ultrasound image data.
The method of claim 5, wherein said determining the elasticity measurement ultrasound frequency from the data characterizing the individual characteristics of the measurand comprises:

measuring individual characteristic parameters of the object to be tested based on the ultrasonic image data;

and determining the elastic measurement ultrasonic frequency suitable for the measured object according to the individual characteristic parameters.
The method of claim 8, wherein the individual characteristic parameter comprises a body surface-liver envelope distance.
The method of claim 9, wherein the elasticity measurement ultrasound frequency is lower the greater the body surface-liver capsule distance.
The method of claim 8, wherein the measuring individual characteristic parameters of the object under test based on the ultrasound image data comprises automatic measurement or manual measurement by a user.
The method according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the method further comprises:

outputting prompt information suggesting the adoption of the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency for instantaneous elasticity measurement;

and determining whether to switch the transmitting and receiving frequency of the ultrasonic probe to the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency according to the received user instruction.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a depth range of the region of interest for obtaining the instantaneous elasticity measurement from the elasticity measurement ultrasound frequency.
The method of claim 13, wherein determining a depth range of a region of interest for obtaining the instantaneous elasticity measurements from the elasticity measurement ultrasound frequency comprises:

when the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency is determined, automatically determining the depth range of the region of interest within a preset depth range associated with the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency.
The method according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the lower the elasticity measurement ultrasound frequency, the deeper the depth of the region of interest.
The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining a depth range of a region of interest for obtaining the instantaneous elasticity measurement according to the body surface-liver envelope distance of the measured object.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a depth range of the region of interest for obtaining the instantaneous elasticity measurement from a user input.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining an acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency applicable to the measurand;

transmitting ultrasonic waves to a target area of a measured object by the ultrasonic probe by adopting the acoustic attenuation parameter measuring frequency, and receiving ultrasonic echoes of the target area to obtain ultrasonic echo data;

and obtaining the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement result of the target area according to the ultrasonic echo data.
The method of claim 18 wherein determining an acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency applicable to the object under test comprises:

and determining the sound attenuation parameter measuring frequency according to the body size, the intercostal spacing and/or the health condition of the tested object.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a mechanical vibration amplitude suitable for the measured object; and

and determining the driving strength of the mechanical vibration according to the mechanical vibration amplitude.
The method of claim 20 wherein determining the amplitude of mechanical vibration applicable to the object comprises:

determining the mechanical vibration amplitude based on the subject's size, age, intercostal spacing, and/or health.
A method of acoustic attenuation parameter measurement, the method comprising:

determining the acoustic attenuation parameter measuring frequency suitable for the measured object;

transmitting ultrasonic waves to a target area of the measured object by adopting the acoustic attenuation parameter measuring frequency through an ultrasonic probe comprising a plurality of array elements, and receiving ultrasonic echoes of the target area to obtain ultrasonic echo data;

and obtaining the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement result of the target area according to the ultrasonic echo data.
The method of claim 22, wherein determining an acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency suitable for the measurand comprises:

acquiring data representing individual characteristics of the measured object;

and determining the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency according to the data representing the individual characteristics of the measured object.
The method of claim 23 wherein said determining said acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency from said data characterizing individual features of said object comprises:

and determining a preset frequency associated with the data representing the individual characteristics of the measured object as the acoustic attenuation parameter measuring frequency.
The method of claim 23 or 24, wherein the data characterizing individual characteristics of the subject comprises data characterizing body size, age, intercostal spacing and/or health of the subject.
The method of claim 23, wherein the data characterizing individual features of the object under test comprises ultrasound image data of the target region of the object under test.
The method of claim 26, wherein the acquiring data characterizing individual features of the subject comprises: respectively acquiring ultrasonic image data of the target region of the object to be measured by using a plurality of ultrasonic frequencies,

the determining the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency from the data characterizing the individual features of the measurand comprises:

and comparing the ultrasonic image data under the plurality of ultrasonic frequencies, and taking the ultrasonic frequency corresponding to the ultrasonic image data meeting the preset standard as the acoustic attenuation parameter measuring frequency.
The method of claim 26 wherein determining the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency from the data characterizing the individual features of the object comprises:

measuring individual characteristic parameters of the object to be tested based on the ultrasonic image data;

and determining the acoustic attenuation parameter measuring frequency suitable for the measured object according to the individual characteristic parameters.
The method of claim 28, wherein the individual characteristic parameter comprises a body surface-liver envelope distance.
An elasticity measurement method, characterized in that the method comprises:

based on an ultrasonic probe comprising a plurality of array elements, sequentially adopting at least two elastic measurement ultrasonic frequencies to transmit ultrasonic waves for tracking shear waves to a target area of a measured object, and receiving ultrasonic echoes of the target area to obtain at least two groups of ultrasonic echo data;

obtaining an elasticity measurement result of the target region at each ultrasonic frequency according to the ultrasonic echo data;

combining at least two of the elasticity measurements to determine a combined elasticity measurement.
The method of claim 30, further comprising:

generating the shear wave at the target region of the measurand based on mechanical vibration; or

Generating the shear waves at the target region of the measurand based on acoustic radiation force.
A method of acoustic attenuation parameter measurement, the method comprising:

based on an ultrasonic probe comprising a plurality of array elements, sequentially adopting at least two acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequencies to transmit ultrasonic waves to a target area of a measured object, and receiving ultrasonic echoes of the target area to obtain at least two groups of ultrasonic echo data;

obtaining a measurement result of the acoustic attenuation parameter of the target region at each ultrasonic frequency according to the ultrasonic echo data;

integrating at least two of the acoustic attenuation parameter measurements to determine an integrated acoustic attenuation parameter measurement.
A transient elasticity measurement method, comprising:

determining the mechanical vibration amplitude suitable for the measured object, and determining the driving strength of the mechanical vibration according to the mechanical vibration amplitude;

applying mechanical vibration of the mechanical vibration amplitude to the measured object by using the driving strength so as to generate shear waves in a target area of the measured object;

transmitting ultrasonic waves for tracking the shear waves to the target area and receiving ultrasonic echoes of the target area to obtain ultrasonic echo data;

and obtaining the instantaneous elasticity measurement result of the target area according to the ultrasonic echo data.
An ultrasound imaging system, comprising:

an ultrasound probe comprising a plurality of array elements;

a vibrator for applying mechanical vibration to a measured object to generate a shear wave in a target region of the measured object;

the transmitting/receiving circuit is used for exciting the ultrasonic probe to transmit and track the ultrasonic wave of the shear wave to the target area by adopting the elastic measurement ultrasonic frequency suitable for the measured object and receiving the ultrasonic echo of the target area so as to obtain ultrasonic echo data;

a processor to:

determining the elasticity measurement ultrasonic frequency; and

processing the ultrasonic echo data to obtain instantaneous elasticity measurement results of the target region;

an output device for outputting the instantaneous elasticity measurement.
The ultrasound imaging system of claim 34, wherein the output device is further configured to output a prompt suggesting the elastometric ultrasound frequency to be used for transient elastometry;

the processor is further configured to determine whether to switch the transmit and receive frequencies of the ultrasound probe to the elasticity measurement ultrasound frequency according to the received user instruction.
An ultrasound imaging system, comprising:

an ultrasound probe comprising a plurality of array elements;

the transmitting/receiving circuit is used for exciting the ultrasonic probe to transmit ultrasonic waves for tracking shear waves to the target area by adopting at least two elastic measurement ultrasonic frequencies in sequence and receiving ultrasonic echoes of the target area so as to obtain at least two groups of ultrasonic echo data;

a processor to:

processing the at least two sets of ultrasonic echo data to obtain at least two sets of elasticity measurement results of the target region;

and integrating the at least two groups of elasticity measurement results to obtain an integrated elasticity measurement result.
The ultrasound imaging system of claim 36, further comprising:

a vibrator for applying mechanical vibration to an object to be measured to generate the shear wave in a target region of the object to be measured.
The ultrasound imaging system of claim 36, wherein the ultrasound probe is further configured to generate the shear waves in a target region of the measurand based on acoustic radiation force.
An ultrasound imaging system, comprising:

an ultrasound probe comprising a plurality of array elements;

the transmitting/receiving circuit is used for exciting the ultrasonic probe to transmit ultrasonic waves to the target area by adopting the acoustic attenuation parameter measuring frequency suitable for the measured object and receiving the ultrasonic echo of the target area so as to obtain ultrasonic echo data;

a processor to:

determining the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement frequency; and

processing the ultrasonic echo data to obtain a measurement result of the acoustic attenuation parameter of the target area;

an output device for outputting the acoustic attenuation parameter measurement.
An ultrasound imaging system, comprising:

an ultrasound probe comprising a plurality of array elements;

the transmitting/receiving circuit is used for exciting the ultrasonic probe to sequentially transmit ultrasonic waves to the target area by adopting at least two sound attenuation parameter frequencies and receiving ultrasonic echoes of the target area so as to obtain at least two groups of ultrasonic echo data;

a processor to:

processing the at least two sets of ultrasonic echo data to obtain at least two sets of acoustic attenuation parameter measurement results of the target region;

integrating the at least two groups of sound attenuation parameter measurement results to obtain an integrated sound attenuation parameter measurement result;

an output device for outputting the integrated acoustic attenuation parameter measurement.