CN115956945A

CN115956945A - Display method for ultrasonic elasticity measurement and ultrasonic imaging equipment

Info

Publication number: CN115956945A
Application number: CN202111188254.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李双双
Original assignee: Shenzhen Mindray Bio Medical Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Mindray Bio Medical Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-10-12
Filing date: 2021-10-12
Publication date: 2023-04-14

Abstract

The application provides a display method for ultrasonic elasticity measurement and ultrasonic imaging equipment, wherein the method comprises the following steps: controlling a probe to transmit a first ultrasonic wave to an interested area containing a target area in target tissue for multiple times; receiving a plurality of first echo data returned from the region of interest, and obtaining a plurality of first elastic results of the region of interest according to the plurality of first echo data; acquiring a target area in the region of interest, and extracting a second elasticity result corresponding to the target area from the first elasticity result so as to obtain a plurality of second elasticity results, wherein one second elasticity result is used for generating a measurement mark; and each time at least one second elastic result is obtained, at least one measuring mark generated corresponding to the at least one second elastic result is respectively displayed at the position corresponding to the reference scale. By the method, the user can make judgment visually after obtaining the elastic result without additional operations such as statistics and inquiry, so that the operation convenience is greatly improved, and the time consumption is reduced.

Description

Display method for ultrasonic elasticity measurement and ultrasonic imaging equipment

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of ultrasonic imaging, in particular to a display method for ultrasonic elasticity measurement and ultrasonic imaging equipment.

Background

Elastography is one of the hot spots concerned by 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, judgment of benign and malignant tissues, 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 or strain-mode elastography based on the probe pressing against tissue to cause strain, 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.

Regardless of the elastography method, measurement and display of the elastography result are involved. In the prior art, a user generally selects a target position for local measurement in an elastic image area, and then calculates and displays a result; or the image is not displayed, and the overall result in the area is calculated and displayed directly for the target area selected by the user.

However, in order to improve the stability and repeatability of elasticity measurement in actual clinical practice, a user is generally required to repeatedly measure for multiple times (for example, 5 times or 10 times) to obtain multiple results, then a median value or a mean value of the multiple results is taken as a final measurement value, and then a doctor performs auxiliary diagnosis according to the size of the final measurement value to judge possible disease conditions, such as liver fibrosis and liver cirrhosis stages, cancer benign and malignant differentiation, and the like; meanwhile, if the elasticity result is too different for a plurality of times, the elasticity result may mean that the elasticity result is not credible or the current measurement is invalid, so the doctor can also judge whether re-imaging is needed or imaging failure is judged according to the dispersion condition of the measurement values. Physicians also often need to record multiple results or query the data stored in the patient reports by the system to make decisions. Therefore, the measurement, display and judgment processes of the whole elasticity result are complex and long, and the use by a doctor is inconvenient.

Disclosure of Invention

According to a first aspect, there is provided in an embodiment a method of displaying ultrasound elasticity measurements, comprising:

controlling a probe to emit a first ultrasonic wave a plurality of times toward a region of interest of a target tissue, the first ultrasonic wave being used for tracking a shear wave generated in the target tissue and propagating in the region of interest;

receiving a plurality of first echo data returned from the region of interest;

obtaining a plurality of first elastic results of the region of interest according to the plurality of first echo data, wherein one first elastic result is used for generating a measuring mark;

and each time at least one first elasticity result is obtained, at least one measuring mark generated corresponding to the at least one first elasticity result is respectively displayed at a position corresponding to a reference scale, and the position of each measuring mark corresponding to the reference scale is determined based on the corresponding first elasticity result.

According to a second aspect, an embodiment provides a display method of ultrasonic elasticity measurement, comprising:

controlling a probe to emit a first ultrasonic wave a plurality of times toward a region of interest including a target region in a target tissue, the first ultrasonic wave being used for tracking a shear wave generated in the target tissue and propagating in the region of interest;

receiving a plurality of first echo data returned from the region of interest, and obtaining a plurality of first elastic results of the region of interest according to the plurality of first echo data;

acquiring a target area in the region of interest, and extracting a second elasticity result corresponding to the target area from the first elasticity result so as to obtain a plurality of second elasticity results, wherein one second elasticity result is used for generating a measurement mark;

and each time at least one second elasticity result is obtained, at least one measuring mark generated corresponding to the at least one second elasticity result is respectively displayed at the position corresponding to the reference scale, and the position of each measuring mark corresponding to the reference scale is determined based on the corresponding second elasticity result.

According to a third aspect, there is provided in an embodiment a method of displaying an ultrasound elasticity measurement, comprising:

performing elastography on the region of interest of the target tissue to obtain a plurality of elasticity results;

generating a plurality of corresponding measuring marks according to the plurality of elasticity results;

and each time at least one elastic result is obtained, at least one measuring mark generated corresponding to the at least one first elastic result is respectively displayed at a position corresponding to a reference scale, and the position of each measuring mark corresponding to the reference scale is determined based on the corresponding first elastic result.

According to a fourth aspect, there is provided in an embodiment an ultrasound imaging apparatus comprising:

a probe for transmitting ultrasound waves to a region of interest of a target tissue and receiving echo data of the ultrasound waves returned by the interest;

a memory for storing a program;

a processor for implementing the method of the first or second aspect by executing the program stored in the memory.

In the above embodiment, after the elasticity result of the region of interest is obtained, the corresponding measurement mark is generated according to the elasticity result, and each time at least one elasticity result is obtained, the measurement mark corresponding to the batch of (at least one) elasticity results is displayed at a corresponding position on the reference scale. By the mode, the user can make judgment visually after obtaining the elastic result without additional operations such as statistics and inquiry, operation convenience is greatly improved, and time consumption is reduced.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural component diagram of an ultrasonic imaging apparatus according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a quantitative reference scale of an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a graph showing the single pass elastic results of an embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a display interface of an embodiment of an ultrasound imaging apparatus;

FIG. 5 is a graph illustrating multiple spring results for one embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a graphical representation of multiple elasticity results for another embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a quantitative reference scale and a diagnostic reference scale of an embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of a display interface of an ultrasound imaging apparatus of another embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of an embodiment of a statistical marker displayed on a quantitative reference scale;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view of a display interface of an ultrasound imaging apparatus of another embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of a display interface of an ultrasound imaging apparatus of another embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a flow chart of a method for displaying ultrasonic elasticity measurements according to an embodiment;

1a, a quantitative reference scale; 1b, a diagnostic reference scale;

2a, measuring a mark; 2b, counting marks;

3. an ultrasound image;

4. a region of interest;

5. an elasticity image;

6. a target area;

100. an ultrasound imaging device;

101. an ultrasonic probe; 102. a transmitting and receiving sequence control module; 103. an echo processing module; 104. a data processing module; 105. a human-computer interaction module; 105a, a display; 105b, an input module;

200. a target tissue.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings. Wherein like elements in different embodiments are numbered with like associated elements. In the following description, numerous details are set forth in order to provide a better understanding of the present application. However, those skilled in the art will readily recognize that some of the features may be omitted or replaced with other elements, materials, methods in different instances. In some instances, certain operations related to the present application have not been shown or described in this specification in order not to obscure the core of the present application with unnecessary detail, and it is not necessary for those skilled in the art to describe these operations in detail, so that they may be fully understood from the description in the specification and the general knowledge in the art.

Furthermore, the described features, operations, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner to form various embodiments. Also, the various steps or actions in the method descriptions may be transposed or transposed in order, as will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. Thus, the various sequences in the specification and drawings are for the purpose of clearly describing certain embodiments only and are not intended to imply a required sequence unless otherwise indicated where a certain sequence must be followed.

The ordinal numbers used herein for the components, such as "first," "second," etc., are used merely to distinguish between the objects described, and do not have any sequential or technical meaning. The term "connected" and "coupled" as used herein includes both direct and indirect connections (couplings), unless otherwise specified.

The elasticity measurement mode mentioned herein may be one or a combination of two or more of a vibration elasticity measurement mode based on vibration by an external force, a shear wave measurement mode based on an acoustic radiation force, and a strain elasticity measurement mode.

Specifically, the vibration elasticity measurement method based on external force vibration generates a shear wave to transmit into a tissue through the external force vibration, and then reflects the hardness difference between the tissues through a method of generating the propagation of the shear wave in the biological tissue and detecting the propagation parameter (such as the propagation speed). For isotropic elastic tissue, the propagation velocity C of the shear wave _s And the modulus of elasticity E of the tissueThe following relationships exist: young's modulus

(where ρ is the tissue density). That is, there is a one-to-one correspondence between shear wave velocity and elastic modulus.

The shear wave measurement method based on the acoustic radiation force generates the propagation of the shear wave in the biological tissue through the ultrasonic acoustic radiation force, and then reflects the hardness difference between the biological tissues through a method of generating the propagation of the shear wave in the biological tissue and detecting the propagation parameter (such as the propagation speed) of the shear wave. For isotropic elastic tissue, the propagation velocity C of the shear wave _s The following relationship exists with the tissue elastic modulus E: young's modulus

The basic principle of a strain elasticity measurement mode, or a conventional ultrasonic elasticity measurement mode, is as follows: the method comprises the steps of slightly pressing a probe to a target biological tissue or forming a certain pressure on the tissue by means of the processes of respiration, blood vessel pulsation and the like of a human body, obtaining ultrasonic echo signals of two frames before and after compression, generating strain in the biological tissue along the compression direction when the biological tissue is compressed, if the Young modulus distribution in the biological tissue is not uniform, the strain distribution in the biological tissue is different, detecting strain information of the biological tissue by some methods, calculating and outputting parameters related to tissue elasticity such as strain quantity, strain rate and the like, and thus indirectly reflecting the elasticity difference between different tissues in a pressure application area. Specifically, according to hooke's law, for an isotropic elastomer, stress σ = strain ∈ young's modulus E, i.e., E = σ/∈. Wherein, the Young modulus E is a parameter related to the hardness of the tissue, and the higher the Young modulus, the higher the hardness of the tissue. The ultrasonic probe generates deformation by pressing the biological tissue to detect the elasticity result of the region of interest, and the elasticity result obtained by calculation is the quasi-static elasticity parameter of the region of interest. The quasi-static elastic parameter is the amount of strain or strain rate.

In the present embodiment, the elasticity measurement method is not limited to the elasticity measurement method described above, and may be another elasticity measurement method based on ultrasonic elastography.

Referring to fig. 1, an ultrasound imaging apparatus 100 includes an ultrasound probe 101, a transmit-receive sequence control module 102, an echo processing module 103, a data processing module 104, and a human-computer interaction module 105. The transmitting and receiving sequence control module 102 is in signal connection with the ultrasonic probe 101, the ultrasonic probe 101 is in signal connection with the echo processing module 103, the output end of the echo processing module 103 is connected with the data processing module 104, and the input end and the output end of the data processing module 104 are respectively connected with the human-computer interaction module 105.

The ultrasonic probe 101 includes a transducer (not shown) composed of a plurality of array elements arranged in an array, the plurality of array elements are arranged in a row to form a linear array, or are arranged in a two-dimensional matrix to form an area array, and the plurality of array elements may also form a convex array. The array element is used for transmitting ultrasonic waves according to the excitation electric signals or converting the received ultrasonic waves into electric signals. Each array element may thus be used to perform interconversion between electrical pulse signals and ultrasound waves, thereby performing transmission of ultrasound waves to target tissue 200 (e.g. biological tissue in a human or animal body) and also reception of ultrasound echoes reflected back through the tissue. When ultrasonic detection is carried out, which array elements are used for transmitting ultrasonic waves and which array elements are used for receiving the ultrasonic waves can be controlled through a transmitting sequence and a receiving sequence, or the time slots of the array elements are controlled to be used for transmitting the ultrasonic waves or receiving echoes of the ultrasonic waves. The array elements participating in ultrasonic wave transmission can be excited by electric signals at the same time, so that the ultrasonic waves are transmitted at the same time; or the array elements participating in the transmission of the ultrasound beam may be excited by several electrical signals with certain time intervals so as to continuously transmit the ultrasound waves with certain time intervals.

In this embodiment, the transducer is used to transmit both ultrasound waves that generate an ultrasound image (e.g., a B image or a C image) and ultrasound waves that detect shear waves traveling through tissue. In the present embodiment, the method of performing elasticity measurement by deforming the biological tissue is based on the acoustic radiation force, but of course, a strain elasticity measurement method and/or a vibration elasticity measurement method based on vibration of an external force may be used.

The transmit-receive sequence control module 102 is used to generate a transmit sequence and a receive sequence, the transmit sequence is used to provide the number of transducers used for transmitting in the ultrasound probe 101 and parameters (such as amplitude, frequency, wave times, wave angle, wave pattern, etc.) for transmitting ultrasonic waves to biological tissues, and the receive sequence is used to provide the number of transducers used for receiving in the ultrasound probe 101 and parameters (such as angle of reception, depth, etc.) for receiving echoes thereof. The transmit sequence and receive sequence may differ for different purposes, or for different images generated.

In this embodiment, after generating the shear wave in the target tissue 200, the transmit-receive sequence control module 102 is configured to output a plurality of times of the first transmit-receive sequence to the transducer, control the transducer to transmit a plurality of times of the first ultrasonic wave to the region of interest 4 of the target tissue 200, and receive first echo data of the first ultrasonic wave, where the first ultrasonic wave is used for tracking the shear wave generated in the target tissue 200 and propagating in the region of interest 4. The region of interest 4 referred to herein may be a portion or all of the target tissue 200. The region of interest 4 may be automatically generated based on the ultrasound imaging apparatus 100, or may be obtained based on a user selection on the ultrasound image 3, for example, in this embodiment, when the transducer transmits the first ultrasound wavefront a plurality of times, the transmit-receive sequence control module 102 outputs a second transmit-receive sequence to the transducer a plurality of times, thereby controlling the transducer to transmit the second ultrasound waves to the target tissue 200 and receive second echo data of the second ultrasound waves, the second echo data being used for generating the ultrasound image 3 of the target tissue 200. After the ultrasound image 3 is obtained, the ultrasound image 3 may be output to the display 105a for display, and the user may select the region of interest 4 by marking a certain position on the ultrasound image 3.

The echo processing module 103 is used for processing the ultrasound echo, for example, filtering, amplifying, and beam-forming the ultrasound echo.

The data processing module 104 receives the echo signal processed by the output end of the echo processing module 103, and obtains the required parameters or images by using a correlation algorithm. In this embodiment, the data processing module 104 obtains a plurality of first elastic results of the region of interest 4 according to a plurality of first echo data, where the first elastic results may be strain values or shear wave elastic parameters, and the like, the shear wave elastic parameters include at least one of a shear wave propagation speed, a young modulus value, or a shear modulus value, and the first elastic results may be an average value of the elastic results of the entire region of interest 4, and in other implementations, the first elastic results may also be values obtained by performing other calculation processes on the elastic results of the entire region of interest 4. In this embodiment, after obtaining the first elasticity result, the second elasticity result corresponding to the target area 6 may be extracted from the first elasticity result, so as to obtain a plurality of second elasticity results. An elasticity image 5 of the region of interest 4 may be generated and displayed on the display 105a first time, and then the user selects the target region 6 on the elasticity image 5. The second elastic results, which in fact may be considered as part of the first elastic results, are used to accurately describe the stiffness etc. characteristics of the target zone 6, and each second elastic result is also used to generate a corresponding measuring mark 2a.

The human-computer interaction module 105 serves as an interaction interface between a user and the ultrasound imaging apparatus 100, and in the present embodiment, the human-computer interaction module 105 includes a display 105a, and the display 105a is used for displaying one or a combination of the reference scale, the ultrasound image 3 and the elastic image 5. In some embodiments, the human-computer interaction module 105 further includes an input module 105b, and the input module 105b may be, for example, a keyboard, operation buttons (including switches), a mouse, a trackball, etc., or may be a touch screen integrated with the display 105 a. When the input module 105b is a keyboard or an operation button, a user can directly input operation information or an operation instruction through the input module 105 b; when the input module 105b is a mouse, a trackball, or a touch screen, the user may combine the input module 105b with a soft keyboard, operation icons, tabs, menu options, etc. on the display interface to complete the input of operation information or operation instructions, and may also complete the input of operation information through marks, framing, etc. made on the display interface.

In the present embodiment, in the process of acquiring the second elasticity result a plurality of times, each time the second elasticity result is acquired, the measurement mark 2a corresponding to the second elasticity result is displayed at the position corresponding to the reference scale, and the position corresponding to the reference scale of each measurement mark 2a is determined based on the corresponding second elasticity result. In other embodiments, after each time the first elasticity result is obtained, the corresponding measurement mark 2a may not be displayed on the reference scale, but the measurement mark 2a may be uniformly displayed at the position corresponding to the reference scale after each time a certain number of elasticity measurements are completed or all expected times of elasticity measurements are completed. In the process of performing elasticity measurement for a plurality of times, each elasticity measurement can also generate a corresponding elasticity image 5 according to the first elasticity result, so that the reference scale can be displayed on the display 105a together with the sequentially generated elasticity images 5 for reference by the user. It should be noted that the corresponding position is determined based on the correlation between the calculated value and the value corresponding to the reference scale, the displayed position may be on or near the reference scale, and the following description of the corresponding position can be understood with reference to this.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 2, the reference scale is a quantitative reference scale 1a, and different positions on the quantitative reference scale 1a are used for representing different values of a certain type of elastic result, that is, the quantitative reference scale 1a is used for measuring a certain value range of the elastic result, and in order to better embody the "quantitative" feature, the corresponding value range may be displayed on the quantitative reference scale 1a and displayed at certain intervals, for example, as shown in fig. 2, the displayed value range is 0 to 50kPa. As shown in fig. 3, the display 105a simultaneously displays the quantitative reference scale 1a, the ultrasound image 3, and the elasticity image 5. The display process can be as follows: firstly, the ultrasound image 3 of the target tissue 200 is displayed on the display 105a, and after the region of interest 4 is selected by the user or automatically generated by the system, the data processing module 104 encodes the first elasticity result according to the preset quantitative reference scale 1a and the map, so as to obtain the elastic image 5 and further display the elastic image 5. After displaying the elastic image 5 of the region of interest 4, the user selects the target region 6 again in the elastic image 5, and then the data processing module 104 obtains a second elastic result corresponding to the target region 6, generates a corresponding measurement mark 2a according to the second elastic result, and displays the measurement mark 2a corresponding to the second elastic result at a position corresponding to the quantitative reference scale 1a, such as the quantitative reference scale 1a and the measurement mark 2a shown in fig. 2 and fig. 3, where the triangle mark is the measurement mark 2a and is above the quantitative reference scale 1a and covers or overlaps the quantitative reference scale 1a, in other embodiments, the measurement mark 2a may also be displayed near or in an edge region of the quantitative reference scale 1a and points to the corresponding position, and the shape of the measurement mark 2a is not limited to a triangle.

For the set quantitative reference scale 1a, the position between the different measurement marks 2a on the quantitative reference scale 1a is determined based on the magnitude corresponding to the second elasticity result, which is young's modulus in fig. 2 and 3, the range of the quantitative reference scale 1a is young's modulus 0-50Kpa, and the current elasticity result is young's modulus average 44.36Kpa. It will be readily appreciated that the position of the same measurement mark 2a on different quantitative reference scales 1a will be different for quantitative reference scales 1a that represent different ranges of values.

As shown in fig. 4, a plurality of measurement marks 2a are displayed on the quantitative reference scale 1a after a plurality of measurements, the measurement marks 2a corresponding to different times of elasticity results can be distinguished by different colors or different textures, and for second elasticity results with different sizes, graphic marks with different graphic attributes including at least one of color, fill pattern, size, and brightness can be displayed. The closer the plurality of measurement marks 2a are, the more overlapping the plurality of measurement marks, the better the stability and the high effectiveness of the elasticity result, as shown in fig. 5; conversely, a greater dispersion between the measurement marks 2a indicates a lesser stability, which may require re-measurement, as shown in FIG. 6. In addition, through the approximate positions of the measuring marks 2a on the quantitative reference scale 1a, the doctor can also intuitively judge whether the current elasticity result is higher or lower, so as to make a corresponding diagnosis judgment (such as whether liver fibrosis or liver cirrhosis exists, or whether malignant tumor exists, etc.).

In some embodiments, in addition to displaying the quantitative reference scale 1a, as shown in fig. 7 and 8, a diagnostic reference scale 1b may be displayed, the diagnostic reference scale 1b comprising at least two intervals, one interval having a corresponding one of the ranges of values, the entire diagnostic reference scale 1b corresponding to one of the total ranges of values. For different diseases, the value ranges of different intervals have different meanings, so the diagnosis reference scale 1b is equivalent to a plurality of different gears, each gear has a corresponding relation with a specific value range, and the corresponding relation can be systematically preset by referring to statistical results in research documents or systematically preset by a user according to previous clinical research results. For example, for the detection of liver fibrosis, the diagnosis reference scale 1b is set to 5 steps (the diagnosis reference scale 1b is divided into 5 sections), which respectively correspond to staging results of different degrees of liver fibrosis, such as F0, > < F1, > < F2, > < F3, > < F4, etc., or 4 steps (the diagnosis reference scale 1b is divided into four sections), which respectively correspond to staging results of different degrees of liver fibrosis, such as F0, F1, > < F2, > < F3, > < F4, etc., for the detection of breast cancer, which can be set to 2 steps, which respectively correspond to benign tumor, malignant tumor, or 3 steps, which respectively correspond to benign tumor, benign-malignant boundary fuzzy region, malignant tumor, etc. The diagnostic reference scale 1b has different graphic attributes in different sections, for example, five sections are provided on the diagnostic reference scale 1b, and the respective sections have different colors and may have different lengths.

After the measurement mark 2a is generated, the size of the second elastic result corresponding to the measurement mark 2a can be compared with the numerical value range of each interval characterization of the diagnostic reference scale 1b, so that the interval where the second elastic result corresponding to the measurement mark 2a is located can be determined, then the measurement mark 2a can be displayed in the determined interval, and medical staff can assist in judging the meaning of the current elastic result by observing the interval where the measurement mark 2a is located.

For ease of viewing, the diagnostic reference scale 1b may be placed next to the quantitative reference scale 1a, for example, with both displayed side-by-side and in the same direction. In this case, different positions on the diagnostic reference scale 1b are used for representing different values of a certain type of elastic result, and the value range represented by the whole diagnostic reference scale 1b is the same as the value range represented by the whole quantitative reference scale 1a, so that the two scales are in a head-to-tail flush state when being displayed side by side, and the advantage is that the same measuring mark 2a can be simultaneously displayed at the corresponding positions of the diagnostic reference scale 1b and the quantitative reference scale 1a, so that when the measuring mark 2a is displayed, a user can not only rapidly and intuitively judge the classification of diseases, but also intuitively judge the size and stability of the elastic result. In some embodiments, a gear instruction corresponding to a disease may be added near the diagnosis reference scale 1b, and as shown in fig. 7, a gear instruction of the liver fibrosis diagnosis reference scale 1b is displayed, which is more convenient for the user to use. Of course, in some embodiments, the diagnostic reference scale 1b may be displayed alone on the display 105a without the quantitative reference scale 1a.

In some embodiments, the numerical ranges of the quantitative reference scale 1a and the whole diagnostic reference scale 1b are adjustable, for example, a user may adjust the quantitative reference scale and the whole diagnostic reference scale by using a knob or a button on the ultrasound imaging apparatus 100 (for example, reference scales with 30 different numerical ranges are preset, some reference scales correspond to a young modulus of 0 to 40KPa, some reference scales correspond to a numerical range of 10 to 100KPa, and the like), and when the numerical ranges of the reference scales are changed, the positions of the measurement marks 2a are refreshed to corresponding positions accordingly. In addition, the reference scale may also be accompanied by map information relating to the color coding of the elastic image 5, for example, as shown in fig. 2 to 8 for the quantitative reference scale 1a, the change from bottom to top color occurs, and the elastic result symbolized by each color coincides with the elastic result symbolized by the color on the elastic image 5. When the user switches to another map, the color of the reference scale is also updated, but if the numerical range of the reference scale is not changed, the position of the measurement mark 2a is not changed. The position of the reference scale relative to the elastic image 5 can also be changed and can be adjusted by the user to move to a different position of the ultrasound image 3, for example to the lower edge of the ultrasound image 3. The position of the measuring mark 2a is then also moved to the corresponding position.

In some embodiments, since the doctor is interested in comparing the comprehensive size and stability of the elasticity results obtained from the plurality of elasticity measurements, after obtaining the plurality of second elasticity results, a statistical variable is calculated according to the plurality of second elasticity results, and the statistical variable may be one or more of parameters such as an average value, a median value, a standard deviation, a maximum value, a minimum value, a quartile distance, a ratio of the standard deviation to the mean value, and a quartile distance to the median value of the plurality of second elasticity results. As shown in FIG. 9, the average of the 3 secondary elasticity results was 33.67kPa, the standard deviation was 8.32kPa, the positions of the transverse lines in the statistical marker 2b represent the average, and the larger the average, the higher the hardness; the height of the rectangular box represents the standard deviation, with greater height representing less stable results. The statistical mark 2b may be displayed simultaneously with the measurement mark 2a, and in the case where the measurement mark 2a is displayed once every time the elasticity measurement is performed, the position of the statistical mark 2b may be updated every time the elasticity measurement is performed.

In the above embodiments, the region of interest 4 needs to be determined first, and then the target region 6 needs to be selected from the region of interest 4, but in some embodiments, as shown in fig. 10 and fig. 11, the target region 6 does not need to be further selected, which is suitable for the case where the hardness of the target tissue 200 in the region of interest 4 is relatively uniform, for example, the target tissue 200 is a tissue of a diffuse lesion such as a liver, but in the case of a tissue of a focal lesion such as a breast cancer, the entire region of interest 4 may include both a focal tissue and a normal tissue, and the user may need to apply a local measurement method to ensure that the measurement result completely comes from the focal region, so that the target region 6 needs to be further selected in the region of interest 4. The differences of this embodiment compared with the above embodiments may be:

the first and the second partial measurement processes are omitted, that is, the second elastic result does not need to be extracted from the first elastic result, so the measurement mark 2a and the subsequent statistical mark 2b are generated based on the first elastic result, and how to display the measurement mark and the subsequent statistical mark on the reference scale is similar to the above embodiments, and the description thereof is omitted.

Secondly, the elasticity image 5 of the region of interest 4 may not be generated or displayed on the display 105a, for example, as shown in fig. 11, after the first elasticity result is acquired, the corresponding measurement mark 2a may be generated directly from the first elasticity result, and the measurement mark 2a may be displayed on the reference scale, in which case, since it is not necessary to generate the elasticity image 5, the reference scale may be represented by a rectangle or a line segment without applying a color map (for example, the quantitative reference scale 1a in fig. 11 may be a rectangle of a single color).

In the above embodiment without selecting the target area 6, the measurement marks 2a can be quickly displayed on the quantitative reference scale 1a and/or the diagnostic reference scale 1b (without waiting for the generation of the elastic image 5), and the doctor can intuitively and quickly obtain the judgment on the elastic result, so that the whole elastic measurement process is simpler and faster.

In the above embodiments, the reference scale is a linear line, and in other embodiments, the reference scale may be in the form of a ring or a sector.

Referring to fig. 12, a method for displaying ultrasonic elasticity measurement is provided, which includes the steps of:

and step 10, controlling the probe to emit a first ultrasonic wave to the region of interest 4 containing the target region 6 in the target tissue 200 for multiple times, wherein the first ultrasonic wave is used for tracking the shear wave generated in the target tissue 200 and propagated in the region of interest 4.

The manner in which the shear waves are generated in the target tissue 200 in step 10 may be any of the three manners described above.

In some implementations, prior to step 10, further comprising:

and step 10a, controlling the probe to emit a second ultrasonic wave to the target tissue 200.

Step 10b, receiving second echo data of a second ultrasonic wave returned from the target tissue 200.

And 10c, acquiring an ultrasonic image 3 of the target tissue 200 according to the second echo data.

And step 10d, detecting the mark of the region of interest 4 on the ultrasonic image 3 by the user, and determining the region of interest 4.

Steps 10a to 10d are processes of determining the region of interest 4, that is, firstly, generating an ultrasound image 3 of the target tissue 200, and then displaying the ultrasound image 3 for the user to select the region of interest 4 on the ultrasound image 3. In other embodiments, the region of interest 4 may be automatically generated based on the ultrasound imaging device 100.

Step 20, receiving a plurality of first echo data returned from the region of interest 4, and obtaining a plurality of first elastic results of the region of interest 4 according to the plurality of first echo data.

The first elastic result may be a strain value, a shear wave elastic parameter, or the like, the shear wave elastic parameter includes at least one of a shear wave propagation speed, a young's modulus value, or a shear modulus value, and the first elastic result may be an average value of the elastic results of the entire region of interest 4, and in other implementations, the first elastic result may also be a value obtained by performing other calculation processing on the elastic results of the entire region of interest 4.

And step 30, acquiring the target area 6 in the region of interest 4, and extracting a second elasticity result corresponding to the target area 6 from the first elasticity result, thereby obtaining a plurality of second elasticity results.

In this step, the elasticity image 5 of the region of interest 4 may be generated and displayed on the display 105a, and then the user selects the target region 6 on the elasticity image 5. In fact, the second elastic result can be regarded as a part of the first elastic result for accurately describing the characteristics of the target area 6, such as hardness, etc., and one second elastic result is used for generating one measurement mark 2a in this step, so that a plurality of measurement marks 2a can be generated through a plurality of elastic measurements.

And 40, displaying at least one measuring mark 2a generated corresponding to at least one second elastic result at a position corresponding to the reference scale respectively every time at least one second elastic result is obtained. The position of each measurement mark 2a at the reference scale is determined based on the corresponding second elasticity result.

In some embodiments, each time a second elasticity result is obtained, the measurement mark 2a corresponding to the second elasticity result is displayed on the reference scale, while in other embodiments, after each time a first elasticity result is obtained, the corresponding measurement mark 2a may not be displayed on the reference scale, but the measurement marks 2a may be displayed on the reference scale uniformly after each time a certain number of elasticity measurements are completed or all expected number of elasticity measurements are completed.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 2, the reference scale is a quantitative reference scale 1a, and different positions on the quantitative reference scale 1a are used for representing different values of a certain type of elastic result, that is, the quantitative reference scale 1a is used for measuring a certain value range of the elastic result, and in order to better embody the "quantitative" feature, the corresponding value range may be displayed on the quantitative reference scale 1a and displayed at certain intervals, for example, as shown in fig. 2, the displayed value range is 0 to 50kPa. As shown in fig. 3, the quantitative reference scale 1a, the ultrasound image 3, and the elasticity image 5 may be displayed simultaneously. The display process may be: firstly, displaying an ultrasonic image 3 of a target tissue 200, after a user selects or a system automatically generates a region of interest 4, encoding a first elasticity result according to a preset quantitative reference scale 1a and an atlas, thereby obtaining an elasticity image 5 and further displaying the elasticity image 5. After displaying the elastic image 5 of the region of interest 4, the user selects the target region 6 again in the elastic image 5, then obtains a second elastic result corresponding to the target region 6, generates a corresponding measurement mark 2a according to the second elastic result, and displays the measurement mark 2a corresponding to the second elastic result at a position corresponding to the quantitative reference scale 1a, such as the quantitative reference scale 1a and the measurement mark 2a shown in fig. 2 and 3, where a triangular mark is the measurement mark 2a, which is above the quantitative reference scale 1a and covers or overlaps the quantitative reference scale 1a, in other embodiments, the measurement mark 2a may also be displayed near or in an edge region of the quantitative reference scale 1a and points to the corresponding position, and the shape of the measurement mark 2a is not limited to a triangle.

For the set quantitative reference scale 1a, the position between the different measurement marks 2a on the quantitative reference scale 1a is determined based on the magnitude corresponding to the second elasticity result, which is young's modulus in fig. 2 and 3, the range of the quantitative reference scale 1a is young's modulus 0-50Kpa, and the current elasticity result is young's modulus average 44.36Kpa. It will be readily appreciated that the position of the same measurement mark 2a on different quantitative reference scales 1a is different for quantitative reference scales 1a that represent different ranges of values.

As shown in fig. 4, a plurality of measurement marks 2a are displayed on the quantitative reference scale 1a after a plurality of measurements, the measurement marks 2a corresponding to different times of elasticity results can be distinguished by different colors or different textures, and for second elasticity results with different sizes, graphic marks with different graphic attributes including at least one of color, fill pattern, size, and brightness can be displayed. The closer the plurality of measurement marks 2a are, the more overlapping the plurality of measurement marks, the better the stability and the high effectiveness of the elasticity result, as shown in fig. 5; conversely, a greater dispersion between the plurality of measurement marks 2a indicates a lower stability, and re-measurement may be required as shown in fig. 6. In addition, through the approximate positions of the plurality of measurement marks 2a on the quantitative reference scale 1a, the doctor can intuitively judge whether the current elasticity result is higher or lower, so as to make a corresponding diagnosis judgment (for example, whether liver fibrosis or cirrhosis exists, or whether malignant tumor exists, etc.).

After the measurement mark 2a is generated, the size of the second elastic result corresponding to the measurement mark 2a can be compared with the representation value range of each interval of the diagnosis reference scale 1b, so that the interval where the second elastic result corresponding to the measurement mark 2a is located can be determined, then the measurement mark 2a can be displayed in the determined interval, and medical staff can assist in judging the meaning of the current elastic result by observing the interval where the measurement mark 2a is located.

For ease of viewing, the diagnostic reference scale 1b may be placed next to the quantitative reference scale 1a, for example, with both being displayed side-by-side and in the same direction. In this case, different positions on the diagnostic reference scale 1b are used for representing different values of a certain type of elastic result, and the value range represented by the whole diagnostic reference scale 1b is the same as the value range represented by the whole quantitative reference scale 1a, so that the two scales are in a head-to-tail flush state when being displayed side by side, and the advantage is that the same measuring mark 2a can be simultaneously displayed at the corresponding positions of the diagnostic reference scale 1b and the quantitative reference scale 1a, so that when the measuring mark 2a is displayed, a user can not only rapidly and intuitively judge the classification of diseases, but also intuitively judge the size and stability of the elastic result. In some embodiments, a gear instruction corresponding to a disease may be added near the diagnosis reference scale 1b, and as shown in fig. 7, a gear instruction of the liver fibrosis diagnosis reference scale 1b is displayed, which is more convenient for the user to use. Of course, in some embodiments, the diagnostic reference scale 1b may be displayed separately and not the quantitative reference scale 1a.

In the above embodiments, the region of interest 4 needs to be determined first, and then the target region 6 needs to be selected from the region of interest 4, but in some embodiments, as shown in fig. 10 and fig. 11, the target region 6 does not need to be further selected, which is suitable for the case where the hardness of the target tissue 200 in the region of interest 4 is relatively uniform, for example, the target tissue 200 is a tissue of a diffuse lesion such as a liver, but in the case of a tissue of a focal lesion such as a breast cancer, the entire region of interest 4 may include both a focal tissue and a normal tissue, and the user may further need to apply a local measurement method to ensure that the measurement result completely comes from the focal region, so that the target region 6 needs to be further selected in the region of interest 4. The differences of this embodiment compared with the above embodiments may be:

Secondly, the elastic image 5 of the region of interest 4 may not be generated or displayed on the display 105a, for example, as shown in fig. 11, after the first elastic result is obtained, the corresponding measurement mark 2a may be generated directly according to the first elastic result, and the measurement mark 2a may be displayed on the reference scale, in this case, since the elastic image 5 does not need to be generated, the reference scale may be represented by a rectangle or a line segment without applying a color map (for example, the quantitative reference scale 1a in fig. 11 may be a rectangle of a single color).

In the above embodiments, the reference scale is a linear line, but in other embodiments, the reference scale may be in the form of a ring or a sector.

Above-mentioned embodiment acquires the elasticity result many times after, shows the measurement mark that corresponds on the reference scale to let medical personnel judge directly perceivedly, and need not operations such as extra statistics, inquiry, promoted operation convenience greatly, and reduce consuming time, in addition, still show the statistics mark also in the position department that the reference scale corresponds, more help the auxiliary user to judge the condition of elasticity result.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that all or part of the functions of the methods in the above embodiments may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by a computer program. When all or part of the functions of the above embodiments are implemented by a computer program, the program may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and the storage medium may include: a read only memory, a random access memory, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a hard disk, etc., and the program is executed by a computer to realize the above functions. For example, the program may be stored in a memory of the device, and when the program in the memory is executed by the processor, all or part of the functions described above may be implemented. In addition, when all or part of the functions in the above embodiments are implemented by a computer program, the program may be stored in a storage medium such as a server, another computer, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a flash disk, or a removable hard disk, and may be downloaded or copied to a memory of a local device, or may be version-updated in a system of the local device, and when the program in the memory is executed by a processor, all or part of the functions in the above embodiments may be implemented.

The present invention has been described in terms of specific examples, which are provided to aid understanding of the invention and are not intended to be limiting. For a person skilled in the art to which the invention pertains, several simple deductions, modifications or substitutions may be made according to the idea of the invention.

Claims

1. A method of displaying ultrasonic elasticity measurements, comprising:

receiving a plurality of first echo data returned from the region of interest;

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference scale comprises a quantitative reference scale and/or a diagnostic reference scale;

different positions on the quantitative reference scale are used for representing first elastic results with different sizes;

the diagnostic reference scale comprises at least two intervals, one interval having a corresponding range of values;

when the reference scale is a diagnostic reference scale, at least one measurement mark generated corresponding to the at least one first elastic result is respectively displayed at a position corresponding to the reference scale, which specifically includes:

obtaining a comparison relation between the size of each first elastic result and the corresponding numerical range of at least two intervals;

determining the interval of each first elastic result according to the comparison relationship;

and for any first elastic result in the at least one first elastic result, displaying a measurement mark corresponding to the first elastic result in an interval where the first elastic result is located.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the reference scale comprises the quantitative reference scale and the diagnostic reference scale, different positions on the diagnostic reference scale are used to characterize different magnitudes of the first elastic results, and the displaying at least one measurement mark corresponding to the at least one first elastic result at the corresponding position on the reference scale comprises:

displaying the quantitative reference scale and the diagnostic reference scale side by side;

and simultaneously displaying the measuring marks corresponding to the first elastic results on the quantitative reference scale and the diagnosis reference scale according to the magnitude of the first elastic results.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the different sizes of the first elastic results are different for each graphical attribute of the measurement indicia; and/or

The graphical attributes of the diagnostic reference scales in each of the at least two intervals are all different.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the graphical attributes comprise at least one of color, fill pattern, size, and brightness.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein in obtaining the plurality of first elastic results, the method further comprises:

calculating to obtain a statistical variable according to the plurality of first elastic results;

generating a corresponding statistical mark according to the statistical variable;

and displaying a statistical mark corresponding to the statistical variable at a position corresponding to the reference scale according to the numerical value of the statistical variable.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the statistical variables comprise at least one of a mean, a maximum, a minimum, and a variance.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

sequentially generating an elastic image corresponding to each first elastic result according to the acquisition sequence of each first elastic result;

displaying the elastic images simultaneously with the reference scale in accordance with the order of generation of the elastic images.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the manner of the region of interest comprises:

controlling a probe to emit second ultrasonic waves to the target tissue, receiving second echo data returned from the target tissue, and acquiring an ultrasonic image of the target tissue according to the second echo data;

and detecting the mark of the user on the ultrasonic image to the region of interest, and determining the region of interest.

10. A method of displaying ultrasonic elasticity measurements, comprising:

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the reference scale comprises a quantitative reference scale and/or a diagnostic reference scale;

different positions on the quantitative reference scale are used for representing second elastic results with different sizes;

when the reference scale is a diagnostic reference scale, at least one measurement mark generated corresponding to the at least one second elastic result is respectively displayed at a position corresponding to the reference scale, which specifically includes:

obtaining a comparison relation between the magnitude of each second elastic result and the corresponding numerical range of at least two intervals;

determining the interval of each second elastic result according to the comparison relationship;

and for any second elasticity result in the at least one second elasticity result, displaying a measurement mark corresponding to the second elasticity result in an interval where the second elasticity result is located.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the reference scale comprises the quantitative reference scale and the diagnostic reference scale, different positions on the diagnostic reference scale are used to characterize second elastic results of different sizes, and the displaying at least one measurement mark corresponding to the at least one second elastic result at the corresponding position on the reference scale comprises:

and simultaneously displaying the measuring marks corresponding to the second elastic results on the quantitative reference scale and the diagnostic reference scale according to the magnitude of the second elastic results.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the different sizes of the second elastic results are different for each of the graphical attributes of the measurement indicia; and/or

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the graphical attributes include at least one of color, fill pattern, size, and brightness.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein in obtaining the plurality of second elastic results, the method further comprises:

calculating to obtain a statistical variable according to the plurality of second elastic results;

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the statistical variables comprise at least one of a mean, a maximum, a minimum, and a variance.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein said acquiring a target region in the region of interest comprises:

generating an elasticity image of the region of interest according to the first elasticity result;

and detecting the mark of the user on the elastic image for the target area, and acquiring the target area in the region of interest.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises:

19. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the region of interest comprises:

and detecting the mark of the region of interest on the ultrasonic image by the user, and determining the region of interest.

20. A method of displaying ultrasonic elasticity measurements, comprising:

performing elastography on the region of interest of the target tissue to obtain a plurality of elastography results;

21. An ultrasound imaging apparatus, comprising:

a memory for storing a program;

a processor for implementing the method of any one of claims 1-20 by executing a program stored by the memory.