CN115517705A

CN115517705A - Spectrum analysis method and ultrasonic imaging system

Info

Publication number: CN115517705A
Application number: CN202110705849.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王勃; 宋文明; 杨俊�; 朱磊
Original assignee: Shenzhen Mindray Bio Medical Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Mindray Bio Medical Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-06-24
Filing date: 2021-06-24
Publication date: 2022-12-27

Abstract

A method of spectral analysis and an ultrasound imaging system, the method comprising: transmitting ultrasonic waves to the heart in a first imaging mode to obtain a first set of ultrasonic echo signals; generating a tissue structure image of the heart based on the first set of ultrasound echo signals; automatically determining a first sampling volume of the blood flow frequency spectrum based on the first tissue structure image and obtaining a corresponding blood flow frequency spectrum; automatically switching to a second imaging mode, and obtaining a second group of echo signals in the second imaging mode so as to obtain a tissue Doppler image and a tissue Doppler frequency spectrum of the heart; obtaining a first cardiac function parameter based on the blood flow spectrum and a second cardiac function parameter based on the tissue Doppler spectrum; obtaining a first cardiac function evaluation result based on the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter; displaying the first cardiac function assessment result, a blood flow spectrum, a tissue Doppler image of the heart, and a tissue structure image of the heart. This scheme can carry out quick accurate automatic assessment to the heart function.

Description

Spectrum analysis method and ultrasonic imaging system

Technical Field

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

Background

Cardiac functional analysis (e.g., diastolic analysis) has gained increasing attention in the cardiology and POC (point-of-care) areas (including critical care, emergency, anesthesia). Analysis of cardiac function is complex, is greatly influenced by the age of patients and other cardiovascular diseases, and needs to be analyzed by combining various parameters. Many important indexes of diastolic function analysis need to be obtained according to parameters measured in different ultrasonic imaging modes, and different measurement positions are involved, which brings great inconvenience to the operation of doctors, so how to realize rapid automatic analysis of cardiac function becomes a problem to be solved urgently.

Disclosure of Invention

In this summary, concepts in a simplified form are introduced that are further described in the detailed description. The 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 spectrum analysis method, where the method includes:

transmitting ultrasonic waves to the heart, and receiving ultrasonic echoes of the ultrasonic waves to obtain at least one group of ultrasonic echo signals;

generating a tissue structure image of the heart based on the ultrasound echo signals;

automatically determining a first sample volume of a blood flow spectrum and a second sample volume of a tissue doppler spectrum based on the tissue structure image;

obtaining a tissue doppler image of the heart, a blood flow spectrum at the first sampling volume and a tissue doppler spectrum at the second sampling volume based on the ultrasound echo signals;

obtaining a first cardiac function parameter based on the blood flow spectrum, and obtaining a second cardiac function parameter based on the tissue Doppler spectrum;

obtaining a first cardiac function assessment result based on the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter;

displaying the first cardiac function assessment result, the blood flow spectrum, the tissue Doppler spectrum, a tissue Doppler image of the heart, and a tissue structure image of the heart.

A second aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a spectrum analysis method, where the method includes:

performing automatic spectrum analysis in response to an automatic spectrum analysis instruction, the automatic spectrum analysis comprising:

transmitting ultrasonic waves to the heart in a first imaging mode, and receiving ultrasonic echoes of the ultrasonic waves to obtain a first group of ultrasonic echo signals;

generating a first tissue structure image of the heart based on the first set of ultrasound echo signals;

automatically determining a first sample volume of a blood flow spectrum based on the first tissue structure image;

obtaining a blood flow spectrum at the first sample volume based on the first set of ultrasound echo signals;

automatically switching to a second imaging mode, transmitting ultrasonic waves to the heart in the second imaging mode, and receiving ultrasonic echoes of the ultrasonic waves to obtain a second group of ultrasonic echo signals;

generating a second tissue structure image of the heart based on the second set of ultrasound echo signals;

automatically determining a second sample volume of tissue doppler spectrum based on the second tissue structure image;

obtaining a tissue doppler image of the heart and a tissue doppler spectrum at the second sampling volume based on the second set of ultrasound echo signals;

obtaining a first cardiac function parameter based on the blood flow spectrum and a second cardiac function parameter based on the tissue Doppler spectrum;

displaying the first cardiac function assessment result, the blood flow spectrum, the tissue Doppler spectrum, and tissue Doppler images of the heart and tissue structure images of the heart.

A third aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a spectrum analysis method, where the method includes:

obtaining a tissue doppler spectrum at the second sample volume based on the second set of ultrasound echo signals;

displaying the first cardiac function assessment result, the blood flow spectrum, the tissue Doppler spectrum, and a tissue structure image of the heart.

A fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a spectrum analysis method, including:

transmitting ultrasonic waves to the heart in a second imaging mode, and receiving ultrasonic echoes of the ultrasonic waves to obtain a second group of ultrasonic echo signals;

automatically switching to a first imaging mode, transmitting ultrasonic waves to the heart in the first imaging mode, and receiving ultrasonic echoes of the ultrasonic waves to obtain a first group of ultrasonic echo signals;

A fifth aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a spectrum analysis method, where the method includes:

A sixth aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a method for spectrum analysis, where the method includes:

obtaining a blood flow spectrum at the first sample volume and a tissue doppler spectrum at the second sample volume based on the ultrasound echo signals;

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

an ultrasonic probe;

the transmitting circuit is used for exciting the ultrasonic probe to transmit ultrasonic waves to the heart;

the receiving circuit is used for controlling the ultrasonic probe to receive the echo of the ultrasonic wave so as to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal;

a processor for performing the spectral analysis method as described above.

According to the spectrum analysis method and the ultrasonic imaging system, the cardiac function can be automatically evaluated quickly and accurately.

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 without inventive exercise.

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 schematic flow diagram of a spectral analysis method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a display interface according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic flow chart diagram of a spectral analysis method according to another embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of a display interface according to another embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

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

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

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

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

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

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, transmit circuitry 112, receive circuitry 114, a processor 116, and a display 118. Further, the ultrasound imaging system may further include a transmit/receive selection switch 120 and a beam forming module 122, and the transmit circuit 112 and the receive circuit 114 may be connected to the ultrasound probe 110 through the transmit/receive selection switch 120.

The ultrasound probe 110 includes a plurality of transducer elements, which may be arranged in a line to form a linear array, or in a two-dimensional matrix to form an area array, or in a convex array. The transducer elements are used for transmitting ultrasonic waves according to the excitation electric signals or converting the received ultrasonic waves into electric signals, so that each transducer element can be used for realizing the mutual conversion of the electric pulse signals and the ultrasonic waves, thereby realizing the transmission of the ultrasonic waves to tissues of a target area of a measured object and also receiving ultrasonic wave echoes reflected back by the tissues. In ultrasound detection, which transducer elements are used for transmitting ultrasound waves and which transducer elements are used for receiving ultrasound waves can be controlled by a transmitting sequence and a receiving sequence, or the transducer elements are controlled to be time-slotted for transmitting ultrasound waves or receiving echoes of ultrasound waves. The transducer elements participating in the ultrasonic wave transmission can be simultaneously excited by the electric signals, so that the ultrasonic waves are transmitted simultaneously; alternatively, the transducer elements participating in the ultrasound beam transmission may be excited by several electrical signals with a certain time interval, so as to continuously transmit ultrasound waves with a certain time interval.

During ultrasound imaging, the transmit circuit 112 sends delay-focused transmit pulses to the ultrasound probe 110 through the transmit/receive select switch 120. The ultrasonic probe 110 is excited by the transmission pulse to transmit an ultrasonic beam to a tissue in a target region of a measured object, receives an ultrasonic echo with tissue information reflected from the tissue in the target region after a certain time delay, and converts the ultrasonic echo back into an electrical signal again. The receiving circuit 114 receives the electrical signals generated by the ultrasound probe 110, obtains ultrasound echo signals, and sends the ultrasound echo signals to the beam forming module 122, and the beam forming module 122 performs processing such as focusing delay, weighting, and channel summation on the ultrasound echo data, and then sends the ultrasound echo data to the processor 116. The processor 116 performs signal detection, signal enhancement, data conversion, logarithmic compression, and the like on the ultrasonic echo signal to form an ultrasonic image. The ultrasound images obtained by the processor 116 may be displayed on the display 118 or may be stored in the memory 124.

Alternatively, the processor 116 may be implemented as software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof, and may use single or multiple Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), single or multiple general purpose Integrated circuits (USICs), single or multiple microprocessors, single or multiple Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), or any combination thereof, or other suitable circuits or devices. Also, the processor 116 may control other components in the ultrasound imaging system 100 to perform the respective steps of the methods in the various embodiments herein.

The display 118 is connected with the processor 116, and the display 118 may be a touch display screen, a liquid crystal display screen, or the like; alternatively, the display 118 may be a separate display, such as a liquid crystal display, a television, or the like, separate from the ultrasound imaging system 100; alternatively, the display 118 may be a display screen of an electronic device such as a smartphone, tablet, etc. The number of the displays 118 may be one or more.

The display 118 may display the ultrasound image obtained by the processor 116. In addition, the display 118 can provide a graphical interface for human-computer interaction for the user while displaying the ultrasound image, and one or more controlled objects are arranged on the graphical interface, so that the user can input operation instructions by using the human-computer interaction device to control the controlled objects, thereby executing corresponding control operation. For example, an icon is displayed on the graphical interface, and the icon can be operated by the man-machine interaction device to execute a specific function, such as drawing a region-of-interest box on the ultrasonic image.

Optionally, the ultrasound imaging system 100 may further include a human-computer interaction device other than the display 118, which is connected to the processor 116, for example, the processor 116 may be connected to the human-computer interaction device 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.

The human-computer interaction device may include an input device for detecting input information of a user, for example, control instructions for the transmission/reception timing of the ultrasonic waves, operation input instructions for drawing points, lines, frames, or the like on the ultrasonic images, or other instruction types. The input device may include one or more of a keyboard, mouse, scroll wheel, trackball, mobile input device (e.g., mobile device with touch screen display, cell phone, etc.), multi-function knob, and the like. The human-computer interaction device may also include an output device such as a printer.

The ultrasound imaging system 100 may also include a memory 124 for storing instructions executed by the processor, storing received ultrasound echoes, storing ultrasound images, and so forth. The memory may be a flash memory card, solid state memory, hard disk, etc. Which may be volatile memory and/or non-volatile memory, removable memory and/or non-removable memory, etc.

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

The conventional cardiac function analysis scheme needs a professional cardioverter to manually set a sampling volume and sequentially analyze spectral images after the spectral images are collected in multiple modes, the whole analysis process is complex, and the requirement of high timeliness in the POC field cannot be met. Based on this, the present application provides a spectrum analysis method, and fig. 2 is a schematic flow chart of a spectrum analysis method 200 according to the present application.

As shown in fig. 2, a spectrum analysis method 200 according to an embodiment of the present application includes the following steps:

in step S201, transmitting an ultrasonic wave to a heart, and receiving an ultrasonic echo of the ultrasonic wave to obtain at least one group of ultrasonic echo signals;

generating a tissue structure image of the heart based on the ultrasound echo signals at step S202;

automatically determining a first sample volume of a blood flow spectrum and a second sample volume of a tissue doppler spectrum based on the tissue structure image at step S203;

in step S204, obtaining a tissue doppler image of the heart, a blood flow spectrum at the first sampling volume and a tissue doppler spectrum at the second sampling volume based on the ultrasound echo signal;

in step S205, a first cardiac function parameter is obtained based on the blood flow spectrum, and a second cardiac function parameter is obtained based on the tissue doppler spectrum;

in step S207, a first cardiac function assessment result is obtained based on the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter;

in step S208, the first cardiac function assessment result, the blood flow spectrum, the tissue doppler image of the heart, and the tissue structure image of the heart are displayed.

The spectral analysis method 200 of the embodiment of the application is based on a four-way imaging mode, and automatically sets a sampling volume according to a tissue structure image to obtain a blood flow spectrum and a tissue Doppler spectrum and obtain a tissue Doppler image at the same time; and automatically performing spectrum analysis to obtain cardiac function parameters required by cardiac function evaluation, and realizing rapid and accurate automatic evaluation of the cardiac function.

In one embodiment, the spectral analysis method 200 may also be used without obtaining and displaying a tissue doppler image of the heart.

Exemplarily, in step S201, an ultrasound scan may be performed based on the ultrasound imaging system 100 shown in fig. 1 to acquire at least one set of ultrasound echo signals. Specifically, the processor 116 controls the transmit circuit 112 to transmit the delay-focused transmit pulse to the ultrasound probe 110 through the transmit/receive select switch 120. The ultrasound probe 110 is excited by the transmit pulse to transmit an ultrasound beam to the heart of the subject, receives an ultrasound echo with tissue information reflected from the heart after a certain time delay, and converts the ultrasound echo back into an electrical signal. The receiving circuit 114 receives the electrical signal generated by the conversion of the ultrasound probe 110, and obtains at least one set of ultrasound echo signals. The object to be measured may include a human or various animals. Illustratively, the duration of the acquisition of the ultrasound echo signals covers at least one cardiac cycle.

Thereafter, in step S202, the processor 116 generates a tissue structure image of the heart based on the ultrasound echo signals. In the process of ultrasonic scanning, an ultrasonic sound beam generated by the ultrasonic probe 110 enters the chest wall and then is scanned in a sector shape, and sectional views of different layers and orientations of heart tissues can be obtained according to different positions and angles of the ultrasonic probe 110. In general, the cardiac slices included in the image of the tissue structure may include apical four-chamber cardiac slices or apical two-chamber cardiac slices, etc.

Illustratively, after the receiving circuit 114 obtains the ultrasonic echo signal, the ultrasonic echo signal is sent to the beam forming module 122, and the beam forming module 122 performs processing such as focusing delay, weighting, and channel summation on the ultrasonic echo data, and then sends the ultrasonic echo data to the processor 116. The processor 116 performs signal detection, signal enhancement, data conversion, log compression, etc. on the ultrasound echo signals to generate an image of the tissue structure of the heart (i.e., a B-mode ultrasound image). The image of the tissue structure obtained by the processor 116 may be sent to the display 118 for display.

After obtaining the tissue structure image of the heart, the processor 116 automatically determines a first sample volume of the blood flow spectrum and a second sample volume of the tissue doppler spectrum based on the tissue structure image in step S203. The blood flow spectrum may also be referred to as a doppler blood flow spectrum, and is used to describe the change of blood flow velocity with time. The blood flow spectrum of the embodiment of the invention can adopt a Pulsed Wave Doppler (PW) spectrum. The PW frequency spectrum has distance selectivity and can accurately measure the blood flow velocity at the sampling volume. Tissue Doppler (TDI PW) spectra show the change in the speed of motion of the heart Tissue over a sample volume over time in the form of a spectrogram, thereby quantitatively analyzing the speed of motion of the heart Tissue. When analyzing cardiac function (such as diastolic function), different parameters are generally required to be measured in the PW mode and the TDI PW mode, for example, a ratio (E/E ') of an E peak in a blood flow spectrum to an E' peak in a tissue doppler spectrum is required to be measured, and the embodiment of the present application automatically sets a first sampling volume of the blood flow spectrum and a second sampling volume of the tissue doppler spectrum at proper positions without manually setting the sampling volumes by a doctor, thereby simplifying the operation procedure.

For example, in automatically determining the first and second sample volumes based on the tissue structure image, a target tissue structure in the tissue structure image may be identified and the locations of the first and second sample volumes determined from the target tissue structure. For example, the target tissue structure may include a mitral valve, and after identifying the location of the mitral valve, a first sample volume of the blood flow spectrum is provided at the orifice of the mitral valve, and a second sample volume of the tissue doppler spectrum is provided at the basal segment of the sidewall or basal segment of the interventricular septum.

Illustratively, a machine learning approach may be employed to identify a target tissue structure in the tissue structure image. Specifically, feature extraction is performed on the tissue structure image, the used feature extraction method can be traditional PCA (principal component analysis), LDA (linear discriminant analysis), harr feature (haar feature) extraction, texture feature extraction and the like, and a deep neural network can also be adopted for feature extraction; and then, matching the extracted features with features in a pre-constructed database, classifying the extracted features by using classifiers such as a KNN (K-nearest neighbor classifier), an SVM (support vector machine), a random forest, a neural network and the like to determine the category of the image features of each image block in the organizational structure image, and dividing the region of the target organizational structure in the organizational structure image according to the categories of the image blocks.

Or, based on an end-to-end deep learning neural network of deep learning, performing feature learning on a pre-constructed database by stacking convolutional layers and full connection layers, and adding an up-sampling layer or an anti-convolutional layer to enable the input and output sizes to be the same, so as to directly obtain a target organization structure of an input image and a corresponding class thereof, wherein the used deep learning neural network comprises an FCN (full convolutional neural network), a U-Net (U-shaped network), a Mask R-CNN (Mask candidate regional neural network) and the like.

Alternatively, conventional image segmentation algorithms may also be used to determine the target tissue structure in the tissue structure image. The image segmentation algorithm may include various applicable image segmentation algorithms such as a Graph Cut algorithm, a Level Set algorithm, a Random Walker algorithm, and the like.

Thereafter, in step S204, a tissue doppler image of the heart, a blood flow spectrum at the first sampling volume, and a tissue doppler spectrum at the second sampling volume are generated based on the ultrasound echo signal obtained in step S201.

For example, the processor 116 may generate a tissue structure image, a tissue doppler image, a blood flow spectrum, and a tissue doppler spectrum based on at least one set of ultrasound echo signals received in step S201 in a quadruple mode, and first generate the tissue structure image and then generate the tissue doppler image, the blood flow spectrum, and the tissue doppler spectrum since a sampling volume needs to be determined based on the tissue structure image, but the tissue structure image, the tissue doppler image, the blood flow spectrum, and the tissue doppler spectrum are obtained by performing signal processing on the ultrasound echo signals received in step S201 in the same ultrasound mode (i.e., the quadruple mode).

Illustratively, a triplex mode may be used, i.e., the above scheme does not require obtaining a tissue doppler image, nor does it require displaying a tissue doppler image.

Specifically, the simplex mode is to transmit only one ultrasonic pulse in one scanning process to generate one mode of ultrasonic image; in the four-way mode, a plurality of ultrasonic pulses are transmitted in one scanning process, and four modes of ultrasonic images are generated. In the embodiment of the present application, the ultrasonic pulse signal transmitted in step S201 includes a B-mode pulse signal and a doppler pulse signal, and the B-mode pulse signal and the doppler pulse signal may be transmitted at alternating intervals. The ultrasonic echo signals of the B-type pulse signals are used for generating a tissue structure image, and the ultrasonic echo signals of the Doppler pulse signals are used for generating a tissue Doppler image, a blood flow spectrum and a tissue Doppler spectrum. Due to the fact that the four-way mode is adopted, a user does not need to obtain an ultrasonic image of one mode in one imaging mode, switch the imaging mode after freezing the image and obtain an ultrasonic image of the other mode. In addition, because the blood flow frequency spectrum and the tissue Doppler frequency spectrum are simultaneously obtained in the quadruplex mode, the blood flow frequency spectrum and the tissue Doppler frequency spectrum of the same cardiac cycle can be obtained.

As described above, the blood flow spectrum and the tissue doppler spectrum can be simultaneously obtained based on the echo signal of the doppler pulse signal. Specifically, the motion information of the heart mainly includes the flow of blood and contraction and relaxation of myocardial tissue. The blood flow spectrum mainly describes the flow of blood and the tissue doppler spectrum mainly describes the motion of the myocardial tissue. By changing a Doppler filtering system and a gain controller, high-frequency and low-amplitude blood flow information is selected for Doppler estimation, and a blood flow spectrum can be obtained; the low-frequency and high-amplitude myocardial motion information is selected for Doppler estimation, a tissue Doppler frequency spectrum can be obtained, after the estimated parameters are subjected to color coding, a tissue Doppler image can be obtained, and the obtained tissue Doppler image and a tissue structure image can be combined and displayed, which is shown in fig. 3.

In step S205, a first cardiac function parameter is obtained based on the blood flow spectrum, and a second cardiac function parameter is obtained based on the tissue doppler spectrum; in step S206, a first cardiac function assessment result is obtained based on the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter. The first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter are parameters obtained by direct measurement based on a blood flow spectrum and a tissue Doppler spectrum, and the first cardiac function evaluation result is an evaluation result of the cardiac function obtained by integrating the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter. Illustratively, the first cardiac function parameter is a velocity of an E peak in a blood flow spectrum, the second cardiac function parameter is a velocity of an E 'peak in a tissue doppler spectrum, and the first cardiac function assessment result obtained from the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter is a ratio (E/E') of the velocity of the E peak and the velocity of the E 'peak, and the E/E' can be used to assess diastolic function.

Since the spectrum analysis method 200 of the embodiment of the present application adopts a multiplex imaging mode to simultaneously obtain the tissue doppler spectrum and the blood flow spectrum, that is, the blood flow spectrum and the tissue doppler spectrum are simultaneously acquired, signals of the same cardiac cycle can be found in the tissue doppler spectrum and the blood flow spectrum, and therefore, the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter are measured by taking the spectra of the same cardiac cycle, thereby obtaining a more accurate cardiac function evaluation result. The cardiac cycle can be determined directly based on the tissue Doppler frequency spectrum and the blood flow frequency spectrum, or the cardiac signal can be acquired while the ultrasonic signal is acquired, and the cardiac cycle can be determined according to the cardiac signal. In addition, in other embodiments, the appropriate cardiac cycle may be selected for measurement in the tissue doppler spectrum and the blood flow spectrum, respectively.

Illustratively, the blood flow spectrum and the tissue doppler spectrum are thresholded based on an atrazine threshold or other suitable spectral segmentation method, respectively, resulting in a first spectral envelope of the blood flow spectrum and a second spectral envelope of the tissue doppler spectrum. Then, peak identification is performed on the first and second divided spectral envelopes, a plurality of peaks (e.g., a plurality of E peaks) on the blood flow spectrum are located, a plurality of peaks (e.g., a plurality of E 'peaks) on the tissue doppler spectrum are located, and further a cardiac cycle corresponding to the blood flow spectrum is determined based on a time interval between a plurality of identical peaks (i.e., a plurality of E peaks) in the first spectral envelope, and a cardiac cycle corresponding to the tissue doppler spectrum is determined based on a time interval between a plurality of identical peaks (i.e., a plurality of E' peaks) in the second spectral envelope. Thereafter, the E peak and E 'peak of the same cardiac cycle may be selected to assess cardiac function, resulting in a first cardiac function assessment result (E/E'). Wherein, the peak E is the blood flow velocity peak value at the mitral valve orifice in the early diastole of the left ventricle in the blood flow spectrum; the peak E' is the peak of the tissue motion velocity at the mitral annulus in the early diastole phase of the left ventricle; the E/E ' index is mainly used for evaluating the diastolic function of the left ventricle, for example, when E/E ' >15 indicates that the diastolic function of the left ventricle is damaged, and E/E ' <8 indicates that the diastolic function of the left ventricle is normal.

In some embodiments, in addition to obtaining the first cardiac function assessment based on the blood flow spectrum and the tissue doppler spectrum together, other cardiac function assessments may be obtained separately based on the blood flow spectrum or based on the tissue doppler spectrum. For example, a third cardiac function parameter may be obtained based on the blood flow spectrum, a second cardiac function evaluation result may be obtained based on the third cardiac function parameter and the first cardiac function parameter, and the second cardiac function evaluation result may be displayed. The first cardiac function parameter comprises an E peak speed value in a blood flow frequency spectrum, the third cardiac function parameter comprises an A peak speed value in the blood flow frequency spectrum, and the second cardiac function evaluation result comprises a ratio of the E peak speed value to the A peak speed value. During diastole, the mitral valve opens and blood from the left atrium enters the left ventricle, wherein during early diastole, due to the pressure difference between the left atrium and the left ventricle, the left ventricle rapidly fills to form the first peak of blood flow forward of the mitral valve, i.e., the E peak; in late diastole, blood from the left atrium actively fills into the left ventricle due to the active contraction of the left atrium, forming the second peak of the anterior flow of the mitral valve, the peak a. Normally, the peak-to-peak value of E is greater than the peak-to-peak value of A, so that cardiac function can be evaluated based on E/A, and most of the results indicate that diastolic function is reduced or impaired if abnormal ratio of the two occurs. E/A may assist E/E 'in assessing cardiac function, for example, between 8 and 15E/E' may be combined with E/A in assessing left ventricular diastolic function.

In step S207, the first cardiac function evaluation result, the blood flow spectrum, the tissue doppler image of the heart, and the tissue structure image of the heart are displayed. Illustratively, the first cardiac function assessment result, the blood flow spectrum, the tissue doppler image, and the tissue structure image may be displayed on the display interface synchronously. Referring to fig. 3, a tissue doppler image 302 of the heart is a color-coded image that is displayed superimposed on a tissue structure image 301 of the heart; a blood flow spectrum 303 is displayed below the tissue doppler image 302 and the tissue structure image 301, and a tissue doppler spectrum 304 is displayed below the blood flow spectrum 303. Further, an electrocardiogram 305 is also displayed below the tissue doppler spectrum 304. Of course, the display interface of fig. 3 is merely exemplary, and the first cardiac function assessment results, the blood flow spectrum, the tissue doppler image of the heart, and the tissue structure image of the heart may be arranged in any suitable manner.

In one embodiment, marks of cardiac cycles corresponding to the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter are also displayed on the blood flow spectrum 303 and the tissue doppler spectrum 304, that is, the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter are respectively a peak marked with "E" on the blood flow spectrum 303 and a peak marked with "E'" on the tissue doppler spectrum 304. In some embodiments, the user may adjust the flag to change the cardiac cycle used to measure the first cardiac parameter and the second cardiac parameter. Illustratively, when a user adjusts a marker on one spectrogram, a marker on the other spectrogram moves along with the marker, so that the two keep corresponding to the same cardiac cycle.

In one embodiment, indicia of the first sample volume and the second sample volume may also be displayed on the tissue structure image 301. Illustratively, the marks of the first sampling volume and the second sampling volume are adjustable, the user can adjust the positions of the marks of the first sampling volume and the second sampling volume, and the processor 116 re-processes the ultrasonic echo signals according to the received user adjustment instruction to generate a blood flow spectrum and a tissue Doppler spectrum.

In one embodiment, the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter determined in step S205 may also be displayed on a display interface. Illustratively, the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter may be displayed in parallel with the first cardiac function assessment result, or the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter may be displayed at other locations, for example, on the blood flow spectrum and the tissue doppler spectrum, respectively.

In addition, if the third cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function evaluation result are also measured in the spectrum analysis process, the third cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function evaluation result can be displayed on the same display interface. The third cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function evaluation result may be displayed in parallel with the first cardiac function evaluation result, and of course, the third cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function evaluation result may also be displayed at other positions on the display interface, which is not limited in this embodiment of the application.

In summary, the spectrum analysis method 200 of the embodiment of the present application can generate a tissue structure image, a blood flow spectrum, a tissue doppler spectrum, and a tissue doppler image in a quadruplex mode, so as to perform fast, accurate, and automatic evaluation on a cardiac function.

The embodiment of the present application further provides an ultrasound imaging system, which is used for implementing the spectrum analysis method 200. The ultrasound imaging system includes an ultrasound probe, a transmit circuit, a receive circuit, a processor, and a display. Referring back to fig. 1, the ultrasound imaging system may be implemented as the ultrasound imaging system 100 shown in fig. 1, the ultrasound imaging system 100 may include an ultrasound probe 110, a transmitting circuit 112, a receiving circuit 114, a processor 116, and a display 118, optionally, the ultrasound imaging system 100 may further include a transmitting/receiving selection switch 120 and a beam forming module 122, the transmitting circuit 112 and the receiving circuit 114 may be connected to the ultrasound probe 110 through the transmitting/receiving selection switch 120, and the description of each component may refer to the above description, which is not repeated herein.

The transmitting circuit 112 is used for exciting the ultrasonic probe 110 to transmit ultrasonic waves to a measured object; a receiving circuit 114, configured to control the ultrasound probe 110 to receive the echo of the ultrasound wave to obtain an ultrasound echo signal; the processor 116 is configured to: controlling the ultrasonic probe 110 to emit ultrasonic waves to the heart and receive ultrasonic echoes of the ultrasonic waves to obtain at least one group of ultrasonic echo signals; generating a tissue structure image of the heart based on the ultrasound echo signals; automatically determining a first sample volume of a blood flow spectrum and a second sample volume of a tissue doppler spectrum based on the tissue structure image; obtaining a tissue doppler image of the heart, a blood flow spectrum at the first sampling volume, and a tissue doppler spectrum at the second sampling volume based on the ultrasound echo signals; obtaining a first cardiac function parameter based on the blood flow spectrum and a second cardiac function parameter based on the tissue Doppler spectrum; obtaining a first cardiac function assessment result based on the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter; control the display 118 to display the first cardiac function assessment result, the blood flow spectrum, the tissue doppler spectrum, a tissue doppler image of the heart, and a tissue structure image of the heart.

In one embodiment, the first cardiac parameter and the second cardiac parameter correspond to the same cardiac cycle. Further, obtaining a first cardiac function parameter based on the blood flow spectrum and a second cardiac function parameter based on the tissue doppler spectrum, including: performing threshold segmentation on the blood flow spectrum and the tissue Doppler spectrum respectively to obtain a first spectral envelope of the blood flow spectrum and a second spectral envelope of the tissue Doppler spectrum; determining a cardiac cycle corresponding to the blood flow spectrum based on time intervals between a plurality of identical peaks in the first spectral envelope and determining a cardiac cycle corresponding to the tissue doppler spectrum based on time intervals between a plurality of identical peaks in the second spectral envelope; and measuring the blood flow frequency spectrum and the tissue Doppler frequency spectrum corresponding to the same cardiac cycle to respectively obtain the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter.

In one embodiment, said automatically determining a first sample volume of a blood flow spectrum and a second sample volume of a tissue doppler spectrum based on said tissue structure image comprises: identifying a target tissue structure in the tissue structure image; the locations of the first and second sample volumes are determined based on the target tissue structure.

In one embodiment, the processor 116 is further configured to: displaying indicia of cardiac cycles corresponding to the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter on the blood flow spectrum and the tissue Doppler spectrum.

In one embodiment, the processor 116 is further configured to: displaying indicia of the first and second sample volumes on the tissue structure image.

In one embodiment, the target tissue structure comprises a mitral valve, the first sampling volume is disposed at a mitral valve orifice, and the second sampling volume is disposed at a sidewall base segment or a ventricular septum base segment.

In one embodiment, the first cardiac parameter comprises a velocity of an E-peak in the blood flow spectrum, the second cardiac parameter comprises a velocity of an E '-peak in the tissue doppler spectrum, and the first cardiac assessment comprises a ratio of the velocity of the E-peak to the velocity of the E' -peak.

In one embodiment, the processor 116 is further configured to: obtaining a third cardiac function parameter based on the blood flow spectrum; obtaining a second cardiac function assessment result based on the third cardiac function parameter and the first cardiac function parameter; and controlling a display to display the second cardiac function assessment result.

In one embodiment, the first cardiac parameter comprises an E-peak velocity value in the blood flow spectrum, the third cardiac parameter comprises an a-peak velocity value in the blood flow spectrum, and the second cardiac assessment result comprises a ratio of the E-peak velocity value to the a-peak velocity value.

In one embodiment, the processor 116 is further configured to: controlling a display to display the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter.

Only the main functions of the components of the ultrasound imaging system have been described above, and for more details, reference is made to the description relating to the spectral analysis method 200. The ultrasonic imaging system provided by the embodiment of the application can be used for quickly and accurately and automatically evaluating the cardiac function in a four-way mode.

Next, a spectrum analysis method according to another embodiment of the present application will be described with reference to fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a spectral analysis method 400 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 4, a spectrum analysis method 400 of the embodiment of the present application includes the following steps:

in step S401, in response to an automatic spectrum analysis command, transmitting an ultrasonic wave to a heart in a first imaging mode, and receiving an ultrasonic echo of the ultrasonic wave to obtain a first set of ultrasonic echo signals;

generating a first tissue structure image of the heart based on the first set of ultrasound echo signals at step S402;

in step S403, automatically determining a first sample volume of a blood flow spectrum based on the first tissue structure image;

in step S404, obtaining a blood flow spectrum at the first sampling volume based on the first set of ultrasound echo signals;

in step S405, automatically switching to a second imaging mode, transmitting an ultrasonic wave to the heart in the second imaging mode, and receiving an ultrasonic echo of the ultrasonic wave to obtain a second set of ultrasonic echo signals;

generating a second tissue structure image of the heart based on the second set of ultrasound echo signals at step S406;

in step S407, automatically determining a second sample volume of tissue doppler spectrum based on the second tissue structure image;

obtaining a tissue doppler image of the heart and a tissue doppler spectrum at the second sampling volume based on the second set of ultrasound echo signals at step S408;

in step S409, a first cardiac function parameter is obtained based on the blood flow spectrum, and a second cardiac function parameter is obtained based on the tissue doppler spectrum;

in step S410, obtaining a first cardiac function assessment result based on the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter;

in step S411, the first cardiac function assessment result, the blood flow spectrum, the tissue doppler spectrum, and the tissue doppler image of the heart and the tissue structure image of the heart are displayed.

The spectral analysis method 400 according to the embodiment of the present application is mainly used for automatically evaluating cardiac function, wherein a first sampling volume of a blood flow spectrum is automatically determined based on a first tissue structure image, a first cardiac function parameter is obtained based on the blood flow spectrum, a second sampling volume of a tissue doppler spectrum is automatically determined based on a second tissue structure image, and a second cardiac function parameter is obtained based on the tissue doppler spectrum. It should be noted that the order of generating the blood flow spectrum and the tissue doppler spectrum is not limited by the present application. The ultrasonic imaging system can firstly enter a blood flow spectrum imaging mode (namely, the first imaging mode), obtain a blood flow spectrum (for example, firstly enter a PW mode and obtain a PW spectrum), and then enter a tissue Doppler spectrum imaging mode (namely, the second imaging mode), and obtain a tissue Doppler image and a tissue Doppler spectrum; the method may also enter the tissue doppler spectrum imaging mode (i.e., the second imaging mode) first and then enter the blood flow spectrum imaging mode (i.e., the first imaging mode). For example, the spectrum analysis method 400 according to the embodiment of the present application may automatically switch between the first imaging mode and the second imaging mode, that is, after obtaining the cardiac function parameter in one imaging mode, automatically switch to another imaging mode without manually switching the imaging mode by a user.

In one embodiment, the spectral analysis method 400 may also be used without obtaining and displaying tissue doppler images.

In one embodiment, after the first tissue structure image is acquired, a target tissue structure in the first tissue structure image is identified, and the location of the first sample volume is determined based on the target tissue structure. After acquiring the second tissue structure image, the same target tissue structure in the second tissue structure image is identified, and the location of the second sample volume is determined based on the target tissue structure. The indicia of the first sample volume and the indicia of the second sample volume may be displayed on the first tissue structure image and the second tissue structure image, respectively. Illustratively, the target tissue structure includes a mitral valve, the first sampling volume is disposed at a mitral valve orifice, and the second sampling volume is disposed at a sidewall base segment or a ventricular septum base segment. The specific method of identifying the target tissue structure and determining the sample volume may be referred to in the associated description of the spectral analysis method 100.

Different from the spectral analysis method 100, since the blood flow spectrum and the tissue doppler spectrum are not acquired synchronously in the spectral analysis method 400, a first target cardiac cycle needs to be selected for measurement in a plurality of cardiac cycles corresponding to the blood flow spectrum to obtain a first cardiac function parameter, and a second target cardiac cycle needs to be selected for measurement in a plurality of cardiac cycles corresponding to the tissue doppler spectrum to obtain a second cardiac function parameter. After the first target cardiac cycle and the second target cardiac cycle are determined, indicia of the first target cardiac cycle and the second target cardiac cycle may also be displayed on the blood flow spectrum and the tissue doppler spectrum, respectively.

Illustratively, the first target cardiac cycle and the second target cardiac cycle are selected according to at least one of: spectral quality of different cardiac cycles, difference between waveform parameters and average waveform parameters of different cardiac cycles, length of different cardiac cycles.

Specifically, a first target cardiac cycle and a second target cardiac cycle are selected according to the spectral qualities of different cardiac cycles, that is, a cardiac cycle with the best spectral quality is selected for measurement, for example, the cardiac cycle with the best spectral quality is selected in a blood flow spectrum as the first target cardiac cycle, and the cardiac cycle with the best spectral quality is selected in a tissue doppler spectrum as the second target cardiac cycle, respectively. The spectrum quality can be obtained through deep learning network training, and can also be realized through methods of judging energy, signal to noise ratio and the like by a traditional method. The higher the spectral quality, the more reliable the measured measurement results.

The first target cardiac cycle and the second target cardiac cycle are selected according to the difference between the waveform parameter and the average waveform parameter of different cardiac cycles, i.e. the cardiac cycle with smaller difference between the waveform parameter and the average waveform parameter is selected, for example, the cardiac cycle with the waveform parameter closest to the average waveform parameter is selected in a blood flow spectrum as the first target cardiac cycle, and the cardiac cycle with the waveform parameter closest to the average waveform parameter is selected in a tissue doppler spectrum as the second target cardiac cycle, respectively. The waveform parameters include waveform characteristics, peaks, etc., and the cardiac cycle in which the waveform parameter is closest to the average waveform parameter may be considered to be the most representative cardiac cycle.

The first target cardiac cycle and the second target cardiac cycle are selected according to the lengths of the different cardiac cycles, i.e. one cardiac cycle is selected in the blood flow spectrum and the tissue doppler spectrum, respectively, such that the lengths between the two are the closest.

Further, the first target cardiac cycle and the second target cardiac cycle may be selected jointly in combination with at least two of the above three criteria to further improve the accuracy of the measurement of the cardiac function parameter. Two methods of selecting the first target cardiac cycle and the second target cardiac cycle by combining the three criteria are shown below.

In one example, a plurality of cardiac cycles with the highest spectral quality in the blood flow spectrum are selected as first cardiac cycles, and one first cardiac cycle with the waveform parameter closest to the average waveform parameter of the blood flow spectrum is selected from the plurality of first cardiac cycles as a first target cardiac cycle finally selected from the blood flow spectrum. Thereby, the spectral quality of the first target cardiac cycle selected from the blood flow spectrum is made highest, and the waveform parameter is made closest to the average waveform parameter of the blood flow spectrum.

And then selecting a plurality of cardiac cycles with the highest spectral quality in the tissue Doppler frequency spectrum, marking as second cardiac cycles, and selecting at least two second cardiac cycles with waveform parameters closest to the average waveform parameters of the tissue Doppler frequency spectrum in the plurality of second cardiac cycles. Finally, one of the at least two second heart cycles that is closest in length to the first target heart cycle is selected as the finally selected second target heart cycle from the tissue doppler spectrum. Thereby, the spectral quality of the second target cardiac cycle selected from the tissue doppler spectrum is maximized and the waveform parameter is closest to the average waveform parameter of the tissue doppler spectrum; also, the first target cardiac cycle and the second target cardiac cycle are of the closest length.

Similarly, in another example, a plurality of cardiac cycles with the highest spectral quality in the blood flow spectrum may be selected first, which is referred to as a first cardiac cycle, and at least two first cardiac cycles with waveform parameters closest to the average waveform parameter of the blood flow spectrum may be selected from the plurality of first cardiac cycles. And then selecting a plurality of cardiac cycles with highest spectral quality in the tissue Doppler frequency spectrum as second cardiac cycles, and selecting one second cardiac cycle with the waveform parameter closest to the average waveform parameter of the tissue Doppler frequency spectrum from the plurality of second cardiac cycles as a second target cardiac cycle. Finally, the first cardiac cycle having the length closest to the length of the second target cardiac cycle is selected as the first target cardiac cycle among the at least two first cardiac cycles. In this example, a second target cardiac cycle is first determined in the tissue doppler spectrum having the highest spectral quality and waveform parameters closest to the average waveform parameters, and a first target cardiac cycle is then determined from the second target cardiac cycle having the closest length.

After the first target cardiac cycle and the second target cardiac cycle are determined, the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter can be measured according to the blood flow frequency spectrum corresponding to the first target cardiac cycle and the tissue Doppler frequency spectrum corresponding to the second target cardiac cycle, and then the first cardiac function evaluation result is obtained according to the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter. In addition to displaying the first cardiac function assessment result, the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter may be displayed simultaneously. Illustratively, when the target tissue structure is a mitral valve, the first cardiac function parameter comprises an E-peak velocity value in a blood flow spectrum, the second cardiac function parameter comprises an E ' peak velocity value in a tissue doppler spectrum, and the first cardiac function assessment result comprises a ratio (E/E ') of the E-peak velocity value to the E ' peak velocity value.

In some embodiments, other cardiac function assessment results may also be derived based on the blood flow spectrum alone or the tissue doppler spectrum alone. For example, a third cardiac function parameter is obtained based on the blood flow spectrum, a second cardiac function evaluation result is obtained based on the third cardiac function parameter and the first cardiac function parameter, and the second cardiac function evaluation result is displayed. In addition, a third cardiac parameter may also be displayed simultaneously. The first cardiac function parameter comprises an E peak speed value in a blood flow frequency spectrum, the third cardiac function parameter comprises an A peak speed value in the blood flow frequency spectrum, and the second cardiac function evaluation result comprises a ratio (E/A) of the E peak speed value to the A peak speed value.

Referring to FIG. 5, a display interface of a spectral analysis method 400 according to an embodiment of the present application is shown. On the display interface, a first tissue structure image 501, a second tissue structure image 502, a tissue doppler image 503 (the tissue doppler image 503 and the second tissue structure image 502 are displayed in combination), a blood flow spectrum 504, and a tissue doppler spectrum 505 are displayed. In addition, a first cardiac function parameter (E), a second cardiac function parameter (E') and a third cardiac function parameter (A) are displayed on the display interface. The markers of the first target cardiac cycle and the second target cardiac cycle, i.e., the locations marked with E and E', are displayed on the blood flow spectrum 504 and the tissue doppler spectrum 505, respectively. On the first tissue structure image 501, a marker of the first sample volume is displayed, and on the second tissue structure image 502, a marker of the second sample volume is displayed.

The spectrum analysis method 400 of the embodiment of the application can realize automatic evaluation of the cardiac function, and improves the accuracy of the evaluation result by matching the proper cardiac cycle.

The transmitting circuit 112 is used for exciting the ultrasonic probe 110 to transmit ultrasonic waves to a measured object; a receiving circuit 114, configured to control the ultrasound probe 110 to receive the echo of the ultrasound wave to obtain an ultrasound echo signal; the processor 116 is configured to: controlling the ultrasonic probe 110 to emit ultrasonic waves to the heart and receive ultrasonic echoes of the ultrasonic waves to obtain a first set of ultrasonic echo signals; generating a first tissue structure image of the heart based on the first set of ultrasound echo signals; automatically determining a first sample volume of a blood flow spectrum based on the first tissue structure image; obtaining a blood flow spectrum at the first sampling volume based on the first set of ultrasound echo signals; transmitting ultrasonic waves to the heart, and receiving ultrasonic echoes of the ultrasonic waves to obtain a second group of ultrasonic echo signals; generating a second tissue structure image of the heart based on the second set of ultrasound echo signals; automatically determining a second sample volume of tissue doppler spectrum based on the second tissue structure image; obtaining a tissue doppler image of the heart and a tissue doppler spectrum at the second sampling volume based on the second set of ultrasound echo signals; obtaining a first cardiac function parameter based on the blood flow spectrum and a second cardiac function parameter based on the tissue Doppler spectrum; obtaining a first cardiac function assessment result based on the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter; controlling a display 118 to display the first cardiac function assessment result, the blood flow spectrum, the tissue doppler spectrum, and a tissue doppler image of the heart and a tissue structure image of the heart.

In one embodiment, the obtaining a first cardiac function parameter based on the blood flow spectrum includes: selecting a first target cardiac cycle from a plurality of cardiac cycles corresponding to the blood flow frequency spectrum to measure so as to obtain the first cardiac function parameter; the obtaining a second cardiac function parameter based on the tissue doppler spectrum comprises: and selecting a second target cardiac cycle from a plurality of cardiac cycles corresponding to the tissue Doppler frequency spectrum to measure so as to obtain the second cardiac function parameter.

In one embodiment, the first target cardiac cycle and the second target cardiac cycle are selected according to at least one of: spectral quality of different cardiac cycles, difference between waveform parameters and average waveform parameters of different cardiac cycles, length of different cardiac cycles.

For example, selecting the first target cardiac cycle and the second target cardiac cycle includes: selecting a plurality of first heart cycles with highest spectral quality in the blood flow spectrum, and selecting a first heart cycle with waveform parameters closest to average waveform parameters from the plurality of first heart cycles as the first target heart cycle; selecting a plurality of second cardiac cycles with highest spectral quality in the tissue Doppler spectrum, and selecting at least two second cardiac cycles with waveform parameters closest to average waveform parameters in the plurality of second cardiac cycles; selecting a second cardiac cycle among the at least two second cardiac cycles that is closest in length to the first target cardiac cycle as the second target cardiac cycle.

Alternatively, selecting the first target cardiac cycle and the second target cardiac cycle comprises: selecting a plurality of first heart cycles with highest spectral quality in the blood flow spectrum, and selecting at least two first heart cycles with waveform parameters closest to average waveform parameters in the plurality of first heart cycles; selecting a plurality of second heart cycles with highest spectral quality in the tissue Doppler frequency spectrum, and selecting a second heart cycle with waveform parameters closest to average waveform parameters from the plurality of second heart cycles as a second target heart cycle; selecting a first cardiac cycle of the at least two first cardiac cycles that is closest in length to the second target cardiac cycle as the first target cardiac cycle.

In one embodiment, the processor 116 is further configured to: control the display 118 to display indicia of the first target cardiac cycle and the second target cardiac cycle on the blood flow spectrum and the tissue Doppler spectrum, respectively.

In one embodiment, the processor 116 is further configured to: the display 118 is controlled to display an indicia of the first sample volume on the first tissue structure image and an indicia of the second sample volume on the second tissue structure image.

In one embodiment, said automatically determining a first sample volume of a blood flow spectrum based on said first tissue structure image comprises: identifying a target tissue structure in the first tissue structure image; determining a location of the first sampling volume based on the target tissue structure; said automatically determining a second sample volume of a blood flow spectrum based on said second tissue structure image, comprising: identifying the target tissue structure in the second tissue structure image; the location of the second sampling volume is determined from the target tissue structure.

Wherein the target tissue structure comprises a mitral valve, the first sampling volume is disposed at a mitral valve orifice, and the second sampling volume is disposed at a sidewall base segment or a ventricular septum base segment. The first cardiac parameter comprises an E-peak velocity value in the blood flow spectrum, the second cardiac parameter comprises an E 'peak velocity value in the tissue doppler spectrum, and the first cardiac assessment result comprises a ratio of the E-peak velocity value to the E' peak velocity value.

In one embodiment, the processor 116 is further configured to: obtaining a third cardiac function parameter based on the blood flow spectrum; obtaining a second cardiac function assessment result based on the third cardiac function parameter and the first cardiac function parameter; the display 118 is controlled to display the second cardiac function assessment result.

In one embodiment, the first cardiac parameter comprises a velocity of the E-peak in the blood flow spectrum, the third cardiac parameter comprises a velocity of the a-peak in the blood flow spectrum, and the second cardiac assessment comprises a ratio of the velocity of the E-peak to the velocity of the a-peak.

In one embodiment, the processor 116 is further configured to: control the display 118 to display the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter.

The ultrasonic imaging system of the embodiment of the application can realize automatic assessment of the cardiac function, and improves the accuracy of the assessment result by matching the proper cardiac cycle.

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 this 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

1. A method of spectral analysis, the method comprising:

2. A method of spectral analysis, the method comprising:

3. A method of spectral analysis, the method comprising:

4. A method of spectral analysis, the method comprising:

5. The method for spectral analysis according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein said deriving a first cardiac function parameter based on the blood flow spectrum comprises: selecting a first target cardiac cycle from a plurality of cardiac cycles corresponding to the blood flow frequency spectrum to measure so as to obtain the first cardiac function parameter;

the obtaining a second cardiac function parameter based on the tissue doppler spectrum comprises: and selecting a second target cardiac cycle from a plurality of cardiac cycles corresponding to the tissue Doppler frequency spectrum to measure so as to obtain the second cardiac function parameter.

6. The method of spectral analysis of claim 5, wherein the first target cardiac cycle and the second target cardiac cycle are selected according to at least one of:

spectral quality of different cardiac cycles, difference between waveform parameters and average waveform parameters of different cardiac cycles, length of different cardiac cycles.

7. The method of spectral analysis according to claim 6, wherein selecting the first target cardiac cycle and the second target cardiac cycle comprises:

selecting a plurality of first heart cycles with highest spectral quality in the blood flow spectrum, and selecting a first heart cycle with waveform parameters closest to average waveform parameters from the plurality of first heart cycles as the first target heart cycle;

selecting a plurality of second cardiac cycles with highest spectral quality in the tissue Doppler spectrum, and selecting at least two second cardiac cycles with waveform parameters closest to average waveform parameters in the plurality of second cardiac cycles;

selecting a second cardiac cycle of the at least two second cardiac cycles that is closest in length to the first target cardiac cycle as the second target cardiac cycle.

8. The method of spectral analysis according to claim 6, wherein selecting the first target cardiac cycle and the second target cardiac cycle comprises:

selecting a plurality of first cardiac cycles with highest spectral quality in the blood flow spectrum, and selecting at least two first cardiac cycles with waveform parameters closest to average waveform parameters in the plurality of first cardiac cycles;

selecting a plurality of second heart cycles with highest spectral quality in the tissue Doppler frequency spectrum, and selecting a second heart cycle with waveform parameters closest to average waveform parameters from the plurality of second heart cycles as a second target heart cycle;

selecting a first cardiac cycle of the at least two first cardiac cycles that is closest in length to the second target cardiac cycle as the first target cardiac cycle.

9. The method for spectrum analysis according to any one of claims 5-8, further comprising:

displaying indicia of the first target cardiac cycle and the second target cardiac cycle on the blood flow spectrum and the tissue Doppler spectrum, respectively.

10. The method for spectrum analysis according to any one of claims 1-4, further comprising:

displaying indicia of the first sample volume on the first tissue structure image and indicia of the second sample volume on the second tissue structure image.

11. The spectral analysis method of any of claims 1-4, wherein said automatically determining a first sample volume of a blood flow spectrum based on the first tissue structure image comprises: identifying a target tissue structure in the first tissue structure image; determining a location of the first sampling volume based on the target tissue structure;

said automatically determining a second sample volume of a blood flow spectrum based on said second tissue structure image, comprising: identifying the target tissue structure in the second tissue structure image; the location of the second sampling volume is determined from the target tissue structure.

12. A method of spectral analysis, the method comprising:

obtaining a tissue doppler image of the heart, a blood flow spectrum at the first sampling volume, and a tissue doppler spectrum at the second sampling volume based on the ultrasound echo signals;

13. A method of spectral analysis, the method comprising:

14. The method of spectral analysis according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter correspond to the same cardiac cycle.

15. The method of spectral analysis according to claim 14, wherein said deriving a first cardiac function parameter based on said blood flow spectrum and a second cardiac function parameter based on said tissue doppler spectrum comprises:

performing threshold segmentation on the blood flow spectrum and the tissue Doppler spectrum respectively to obtain a first spectral envelope of the blood flow spectrum and a second spectral envelope of the tissue Doppler spectrum;

determining a cardiac cycle corresponding to the blood flow spectrum based on time intervals between a plurality of identical peaks in the first spectral envelope and determining a cardiac cycle corresponding to the tissue doppler spectrum based on time intervals between a plurality of identical peaks in the second spectral envelope;

and measuring the blood flow frequency spectrum and the tissue Doppler frequency spectrum corresponding to the same cardiac cycle to respectively obtain the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter.

16. The method for spectral analysis of claim 12 or 13, wherein said automatically determining a first sample volume of a blood flow spectrum and a second sample volume of a tissue doppler spectrum based on said tissue structure image comprises:

identifying a target tissue structure in the tissue structure image;

the locations of the first and second sample volumes are determined based on the target tissue structure.

17. The spectral analysis method of claim 12 or 13, further comprising:

displaying indicia of cardiac cycles corresponding to the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter on the blood flow spectrum and the tissue Doppler spectrum.

18. The spectral analysis method of claim 12 or 13, further comprising:

displaying indicia of the first and second sample volumes on the tissue structure image.

19. The method of spectral analysis of claim 11 or 16, wherein the target tissue structure comprises a mitral valve, and wherein the first sample volume is disposed at a mitral valve orifice and the second sample volume is disposed at a sidewall base segment or a ventricular base segment.

20. The method of spectral analysis of claim 19, wherein the first cardiac parameter comprises an E-peak velocity value in the blood flow spectrum, the second cardiac parameter comprises an E '-peak velocity value in the tissue doppler spectrum, and the first cardiac assessment result comprises a ratio of the E-peak velocity value to the E' -peak velocity value.

21. The method for spectrum analysis of any one of claims 1-20, further comprising:

obtaining a third cardiac function parameter based on the blood flow spectrum;

obtaining a second cardiac function assessment result based on the third cardiac function parameter and the first cardiac function parameter;

and displaying the second cardiac function assessment result.

22. The method of spectral analysis of claim 21, wherein the first cardiac parameter comprises an E-peak velocity value in the blood flow spectrum, the third cardiac parameter comprises an a-peak velocity value in the blood flow spectrum, and the second cardiac assessment result comprises a ratio of the E-peak velocity value to the a-peak velocity value.

23. The method for spectrum analysis of any one of claims 1-20, further comprising:

displaying the first cardiac function parameter and the second cardiac function parameter.

24. An ultrasound imaging system, characterized in that the ultrasound imaging system comprises:

an ultrasonic probe;

a processor for performing the spectral analysis method of any of claims 1-23.