CN116236224A

CN116236224A - Ultrasonic imaging method and ultrasonic imaging equipment

Info

Publication number: CN116236224A
Application number: CN202111494067.1A
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: 2021-12-08
Filing date: 2021-12-08
Publication date: 2023-06-09

Abstract

The application provides an ultrasonic imaging method and ultrasonic imaging equipment, wherein the method comprises the following steps: controlling the probe to emit a first ultrasound wave to a target object to acquire first ultrasound data of at least one cardiac cycle, wherein the target object comprises at least a portion of a vascular structure; determining radial motion information of a target object in a blood vessel according to the first ultrasonic data; determining a transmitting parameter of the second ultrasonic wave according to the motion information, wherein the transmitting parameter comprises transmitting time; controlling the probe to emit second ultrasonic waves to the target object according to the emission parameters; and obtaining an elasticity image containing the target object and/or an elasticity value of a tissue containing the target object according to the echo of the second ultrasonic wave. The imaging method can effectively reduce motion interference without other additional modules, and improves clinical convenience.

Description

Ultrasonic imaging method and ultrasonic imaging equipment

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of ultrasound, in particular to an ultrasound imaging method and an ultrasound imaging device.

Background

Ultrasound elastography reflects the degree of softness of tissue by imaging elasticity-related parameters in a region of interest. Over the last two decades, many different elastography methods have emerged, such as quasi-static elastography or strain elastography based on strain caused by probe pressing on tissue, shear wave elastography or elastography based on shear waves generated by acoustic radiation forces, transient elastography based on shear waves generated by external vibrations, etc., the most common of which are shear wave elastography methods.

However, in the shear wave elastography method, since the amplitude of vibration of the shear wave generated in the human tissue is generally small (e.g., several um to several hundred um) and decays rapidly, interference of movement during the imaging may cause artifacts, resulting in measurement failure or inaccurate measurement value. Based on this, in the use of shear wave elastography, the user is required to take special care to exclude disturbances of motion. In actual clinical examination, particularly in the examination of the elasticity of the blood vessel wall, because the heart beat, the blood vessel pulsation and the respiratory movement are difficult to stop completely, the interference can lead to inaccurate capture of shear wave signals or poor repeatability and low measurement reliability among a plurality of measurement results when the elasticity is detected.

In the prior art, an ECG module connected with a human body through an electrode is used for outputting an electrocardiographic ECG signal to a system, and then a user selects a certain fixed time (such as a relatively stable time period of an electrocardiographic signal) in a set cardiac cycle to trigger an elastography process and collect related elastography data, so that an elastography result is calculated. The method can reduce the influence of the pulsation of the blood vessel and improve the stability of measurement. But requires a system-specific ECG module to be configured, which is costly. In addition, the ECG module is required to be connected to the human body by an electrode in use, which is complicated in operation, poor in operation convenience and long in operation time.

In addition to elastography, other imaging modalities involving blood vessels are more or less required to exclude motion disturbances, such as the field of color ultrasound imaging of arterial blood flow, the field of vector flow imaging of carotid arteries, or the field of color flow imaging of cervical thyroid tissue.

Disclosure of Invention

According to a first aspect, there is provided in one embodiment an ultrasound imaging method comprising:

controlling the probe to emit a first ultrasound wave to a target object to acquire first ultrasound data of at least one cardiac cycle, wherein the target object comprises at least a portion of a vascular structure;

determining radial motion information of the target object in the blood vessel according to first ultrasonic data;

determining a transmitting parameter of the second ultrasonic wave according to the motion information, wherein the transmitting parameter comprises transmitting time;

controlling the probe to emit second ultrasonic waves to the target object according to the emission parameters;

and obtaining an elasticity image containing the target object and/or an elasticity value of a tissue containing the target object according to the echo of the second ultrasonic wave.

According to a second aspect, there is provided in one embodiment an ultrasound imaging method comprising:

determining motion information of the target object according to the first ultrasonic data, wherein the motion information is used for representing the motion condition of the target object in the radial direction of a blood vessel;

and obtaining a second ultrasonic image containing the target object and/or characteristic parameters of tissues containing the target object according to the echo of the second ultrasonic wave.

According to a third aspect, there is provided in one embodiment an ultrasound imaging method comprising:

controlling the probe to emit a combined ultrasonic wave to a target object, wherein the combined ultrasonic wave comprises a first ultrasonic wave and a second ultrasonic wave, and the target object is at least one part of a vascular structure;

acquiring motion information of the target object according to the echo of the first ultrasonic wave, wherein the motion information is used for reflecting the motion of the target object in the radial direction of the blood vessel;

Acquiring an ultrasonic measurement result according to the echo of the second ultrasonic wave;

and determining effective ultrasonic measurement results in the ultrasonic measurement results according to the motion information of the target object.

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

a probe for transmitting ultrasonic waves and receiving echo data of the ultrasonic waves;

a memory for storing a program;

a processor for implementing the method in the first to third aspects described above by executing the program stored in the memory.

According to a fifth aspect, there is provided in an embodiment a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a program executable by a processor to implement the method of the first to third aspects described above.

The beneficial effects of this application lie in:

the method has the advantages that the motion information of the target object is obtained through the first ultrasonic wave when the second ultrasonic wave is transmitted, the motion information of the target object can reflect the vascular motion condition, the transmission parameters of the second ultrasonic wave are determined through the motion information, at least the fact that the motion interference is small or vanishes when the second ultrasonic wave is transmitted can be ensured, the mode does not need to use an extra ECG module, the convenience of clinical operation is improved, the hardware cost is reduced, and more stable measurement results are obtained.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the composition of an ultrasound imaging apparatus of one embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of an ultrasound imaging method of an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a display interface for selecting a target object according to an embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a display interface for selecting a target object according to another embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a motion profile of an embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a display interface after ultrasound imaging of an embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a display interface after ultrasound imaging of another embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of an ultrasound imaging method of another embodiment;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a display interface after ultrasound imaging of yet another embodiment.

Detailed Description

The invention will be described in further detail below with reference to the drawings by means of specific embodiments. Wherein like elements in different embodiments are numbered alike in association. In the following embodiments, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a better understanding of the present application. However, one skilled in the art will readily recognize that some of the features may be omitted, or replaced by other elements, materials, or methods in different situations. In some instances, some operations associated with the present application have not been shown or described in the specification to avoid obscuring the core portions of the present application, and may not be necessary for a person skilled in the art to describe in detail the relevant operations based on the description herein and the general knowledge of one skilled in the art.

Furthermore, the described features, operations, or characteristics of the description may be combined in any suitable manner in various embodiments. Also, various steps or acts in the method descriptions may be interchanged or modified in a manner apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Thus, the various orders in the description and drawings are for clarity of description of only certain embodiments, and are not meant to be required orders unless otherwise indicated.

The numbering of the components itself, e.g. "first", "second", etc., is used herein merely to distinguish between the described objects and does not have any sequential or technical meaning. The terms "coupled" and "connected," as used herein, are intended to encompass both direct and indirect coupling (coupling), unless otherwise indicated.

The most important idea of the invention is that a first ultrasonic wave for detecting vascular movements is transmitted before a second ultrasonic wave for acquiring ultrasonic measurement results is transmitted, and the transmission of the second ultrasonic wave is controlled according to the detection results of vascular movements.

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

The probe 101 includes a transducer (not shown) composed of a plurality of array elements arranged in an array, where 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 received ultrasonic waves into electric signals. Each array element can thus be used to achieve a mutual conversion of the electrical pulse signal and the ultrasound wave, thus achieving an emission of ultrasound waves towards tissue, for example biological tissue in the human or animal body, and also for receiving ultrasound echoes reflected back through the tissue. In the ultrasonic detection, the transmitting sequence and the receiving sequence can control which array elements are used for transmitting ultrasonic waves and which array elements are used for receiving ultrasonic waves, or control the time slots of the array elements to be used for transmitting ultrasonic waves or receiving echoes of the ultrasonic waves. The array elements participating in ultrasonic wave transmission can be excited by the electric signals at the same time, so that ultrasonic waves are transmitted at the same time; or the array elements participating in the ultrasonic beam transmission can be excited by a plurality of electric signals with a certain time interval, so that the ultrasonic waves with a certain time interval are continuously transmitted.

The transmit receive sequence control module 102 is configured to generate a transmit sequence for providing the number of transducers used for transmission in the probe 101 and parameters (e.g., amplitude, frequency, number of transmissions, angle of transmission, mode, etc.) for transmitting ultrasound waves to biological tissue, and a receive sequence for providing the number of transducers used for reception in the probe 101 and parameters (e.g., angle of reception, depth, etc.) for receiving echoes thereof. The transmitted sequence and the received sequence may differ for different purposes, or the images generated may differ.

The echo processing module 103 is configured to process the ultrasonic echo, for example, filter, amplify, and beam form the ultrasonic echo.

The man-machine interaction module 105 is used as an interaction interface between the user and the ultrasound imaging device 100, and in this embodiment, the man-machine interaction module 105 includes a display 105a, and in some embodiments, the man-machine interaction module 105 further includes an input module 105b, where the input module 105b may be, for example, a keyboard, an operation button (including a switch), a mouse, a trackball, or the like, 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 may directly input operation information or an operation instruction through the input module 105 b; when the input module 105b is a mouse, a track ball or a touch screen, the user may combine the input module 105b with a soft keyboard, an operation icon, a tab, a menu option or the like on the display interface to complete input of operation information or operation instructions, or may complete input of operation information through marks, boxes or the like made on the display interface.

The processor 104 receives the echo signal processed by the output end of the echo processing module 103, and obtains a required parameter or image by adopting a correlation algorithm.

Based on the above hardware environment, an ultrasound imaging method is provided in the present application, please refer to fig. 2, which includes the steps of:

step a100, controlling the probe 101 to transmit a first ultrasound wave to the target object 200 to acquire first ultrasound data of at least one cardiac cycle.

The target object 200 includes at least a portion of a vascular structure. For example, the target object 200 is a point or a line segment on the wall of a blood vessel. In some embodiments, before step a100, the method further comprises the step of:

step a10, the control probe 101 transmits a third ultrasonic wave to a first region including a region where the target object 200 is located. The size of the first region is not limited in this embodiment. The third ultrasonic wave may be an ultrasonic wave emitted in any one of a plurality of imaging modes, for example, the third ultrasonic wave may be an ultrasonic wave emitted in a B-mode.

And step A20, generating and displaying a third ultrasonic image according to the echo of the third ultrasonic wave. For example, as shown in fig. 3, when the third ultrasonic wave is an ultrasonic wave emitted in the B mode, the third ultrasonic image is the B ultrasonic image 300.

Step a30, determining the target object 200 in the third ultrasound image.

In some embodiments, the ultrasound imaging apparatus 100 may automatically select a small length or a specific point from the vessel wall displayed in the third ultrasound image as the target object 200 for transmitting and receiving by using an image recognition segmentation algorithm that may occur in the present or future, and it is easy to understand that the longer the selected length, the wider the range of the transmission sequence required for transmitting and receiving the ultrasound from the target object 200, the longer the transmission and reception time, and the larger the calculation amount.

In other embodiments, the target object 200 may be selected by a user, for example, as shown in fig. 3, the user may trace a point in the vessel wall on the third ultrasound image as the target object 200 through the human-machine interaction module 105, or as shown in fig. 4, the user may trace a line segment in the vessel wall on the third ultrasound image as the target object 200 through the human-machine interaction module 105.

Further, the target object 200 may also be a plurality of line segments or points in the wall of a blood vessel, for example, the user may trace on the upper wall and the lower wall of the blood vessel, respectively, so that two line segments in the blood vessel are taken as the target object 200.

Step A200, determining radial motion information of the target object 200 in the blood vessel according to the first ultrasonic data.

Wherein the motion information is used to reflect the radial motion period and motion amplitude of the target object 200 in the blood vessel. When the target object 200 is a point of the vessel wall, the motion period and the motion amplitude of the target object 200 are the motion period and the motion amplitude of the point, and when the target object 200 is a line segment in the vessel wall, the motion period of the target object 200 may be an average value or a weighted value of the motion periods of the points on the line segment, and the motion amplitude of the target object 200 may be an average value or a weighted value of the motion amplitudes of the points on the line segment. When the target object 200 includes a plurality of points or a plurality of line segments, the motion period of the target object 200 may be a combined result of the motion periods of the plurality of points or the plurality of line segments, and the motion amplitude of the target object 200 may be a combined result of the plurality of points or the plurality of motion amplitudes.

In this embodiment, the motion amplitude may be represented by at least one of displacement, velocity, acceleration and strain data of the target object 200 in the radial direction of the blood vessel, or the above data may be further processed by smoothing, filtering, etc., to obtain a calculation result for representing the motion amplitude. Specifically, at least one frame of first ultrasound data may be obtained according to the echo of the first ultrasound wave, and at least one frame of first ultrasound image may be generated according to the at least one frame of first ultrasound data, where each frame of first ultrasound image may be generated according to one or more frames of first ultrasound data, and each frame of first ultrasound image has a motion amplitude corresponding to the target object 200. For example, the motion amplitude of the target object 200 is characterized by the displacement of the target object 200, and after acquiring a frame of first ultrasound image, the ultrasound imaging apparatus 100 may compare the position of the target object 200 in the frame of first ultrasound image with the position of the target object 200 in a frame of reference image according to an existing displacement calculation algorithm, so as to acquire displacement information of the target object 200, where the frame of reference image may be an ultrasound image including the target object 200 acquired in advance when the heartbeat or pulse of the patient is stable, or may be one of the acquired frames of first ultrasound images, for example, the acquired first frame of first ultrasound image is taken as a reference image.

After the motion amplitude of the target object 200 is obtained, the motion cycle of the target object 200 may be determined according to the motion amplitude, specifically, a peak value with the largest motion amplitude that occurs in the cycle of the target object 200 may be determined, and in this example, a time point at which the peak value occurs in the target object 200 is defined as a peak time point 11, and a time difference between two adjacent peak time points 11 is the motion cycle.

And step A300, determining the transmission parameters of the second ultrasonic wave according to the motion information, wherein the transmission parameters comprise transmission time.

That is, it is possible to determine when to transmit the second ultrasonic wave at least by the movement amplitude and movement period of the target object 200. Step a300 may include:

step A310, setting a reference emission opportunity 12 according to the corresponding time when the motion amplitude is smaller than the preset amplitude threshold.

In some embodiments, the moment when the motion amplitude is at the minimum in one motion period may be taken as the reference transmission opportunity 12, for example, the acquired moment when the motion amplitude is at the minimum in the last complete motion period is taken as the reference transmission opportunity 12. That is, the moment when the amplitude of the motion is the minimum represents the moment when the patient's heartbeat is most gentle, at which moment the disturbance of the motion is small. In other embodiments, the amplitude threshold may also be a preset default value or a user-set threshold, for example, the user may set the amplitude threshold based on clinical experience, and when the amplitude of motion is less than the set amplitude threshold, it is indicative that the patient's motion disturbance is within an acceptable level. When there are a plurality of moments of motion amplitude smaller than the amplitude threshold, either the most appropriate moment is selected as the reference transmission timing 12 by the ultrasound imaging apparatus 100 based on some rules preset, or it is selected by the user.

In order for the user to also have a more intuitive knowledge of the amplitude of motion, or to more intuitively and conveniently select the reference transmit opportunity 12, in some embodiments the ultrasound imaging device 100 also generates a motion profile 10 of the amplitude of motion over time, e.g. in fig. 5 the amplitude of motion is characterized by the displacement of the target object 200, from which motion profile 10 the amplitude of motion over time can be seen intuitively, which motion profile 10 can be displayed simultaneously with the third ultrasound image and/or the first ultrasound image described above.

After seeing the motion profile 10, the user can select the reference emission opportunity 12 on the motion profile 10 through the human-machine interaction module 105. In this embodiment, the peak moment 11 is also marked on the motion curve 10, for example, in fig. 5, the peak moment 11 may be marked on the motion curve 10 in a dot manner, so as to prompt the user to select a moment after the peak moment 11, where the vascular motion is gentle, as the reference emission opportunity 12, in other embodiments, the ultrasound imaging apparatus 100 further provides a more humanized auxiliary function, the ultrasound imaging apparatus 100 first obtains a comparison result between the motion amplitude and the preset amplitude threshold, and then determines the recommended selection moment of the reference emission opportunity 12 according to the comparison result, where it is easy to understand that the motion amplitude in the recommended selection moment is less than the amplitude threshold, and the recommended selection moment and the recommended non-selection moment may be displayed on the motion curve 10 in a distinguishing manner, for example, the motion curve 10 at the recommended selection moment may be represented in green, and the threshold at the recommended non-selection moment may be represented in red, and for the user, the motion curve 10 not only characterizes the change of the motion amplitude, but also provides the alternative reference emission opportunity 12 for the user, so that the user may determine the reference emission opportunity 12 from the recommended selection moment. After the reference transmission occasions 12 are determined, the selected reference transmission occasions 12 may also be marked on the motion curve 10.

Step a320, the time corresponding to the reference transmission timing 12 in at least one motion cycle after the end of the transmission of the first ultrasonic wave is taken as the transmission timing of the second ultrasonic wave.

Since the target object 200 is a part of the vascular structure, the motion of the target object 200 may also be used to reflect the motion of the blood vessel or even the motion of the heartbeat, and assuming that the cardiac cycle of the patient does not change significantly within a certain time, the motion of the blood vessel after the end of the transmission of the first ultrasound may be fitted (predicted) with the motion of the blood vessel during the transmission of the first ultrasound. Therefore, the movement amplitude of the target object 200 at the time corresponding to the reference transmission timing 12 in a certain movement period after the end of the first ultrasonic wave transmission can be regarded approximately as the same as the movement amplitude of the target object 200 at the reference transmission timing 12, so that the time corresponding to the reference transmission timing 12 in a certain movement period after the end of the first ultrasonic wave transmission can be regarded as the one-time transmission timing of the second ultrasonic wave. After the reference transmission opportunity 12 is selected, the manner of determining the time corresponding to the reference transmission opportunity 12 after the first ultrasonic wave is transmitted may be as follows:

in the movement period in which the reference transmission timing 12 is located, the time difference between the peak time 11 and the reference transmission timing 12 is calculated, for example, in the movement curve 10 shown in fig. 5, the reference transmission timing 12 selected by the user is marked near 60s, the ultrasound imaging apparatus 100 may calculate the time difference T1 between the peak time 11 (marked with dots in fig. 5) and the reference transmission timing 12 in the same movement period as the reference transmission timing 12, and after the end of the first ultrasound transmission, that is, after the end of the movement curve 10 in fig. 5, it may be assumed that the target object 200 continues to move for a certain period of time in the manner shown by the movement curve 10, the peak time 11 appearing after the end of the first ultrasound transmission may be reacquired, and the peak time 11 is delayed by the time difference T1, that corresponds to the reference transmission timing 12. In addition, if the second ultrasonic wave needs to be transmitted a plurality of times, a plurality of peak times 11 after the transmission and reception of the first ultrasonic wave may be determined, and a time after each peak time 11 is delayed by the time difference T1 may be used as a transmission timing of the second ultrasonic wave.

Step a400, controlling the probe 101 to emit a second ultrasonic wave to the target object 200 according to the emission parameters.

Step A500, obtaining a second ultrasonic image containing the target object 200 and/or characteristic parameters of the tissue containing the target object 200 according to the echo of the second ultrasonic wave.

In some embodiments, the first ultrasonic wave and the second ultrasonic wave are set to be transmitted in the same imaging mode, and the operation steps of the user and the processing procedure of the ultrasonic imaging apparatus 100 will be described below taking the imaging mode as an elastic imaging mode as an example.

Referring to fig. 6, a user may first perform B-mode imaging detection (i.e., control the probe 101 to emit ultrasonic waves in the B-mode), so as to obtain a B-mode image 300, then adjust the probe 101 to a suitable angle according to the B-mode image 300 to observe the position, shape, etc. of a blood vessel in real time, then select a region of interest for elastic detection, then control the ultrasonic imaging apparatus 100 to start an elastic imaging mode, and automatically emit first ultrasonic waves to the region of interest after the ultrasonic imaging apparatus 100 enters the elastic imaging mode, so as to obtain motion information of the target object 200, and further generate a motion curve 10 according to the motion information, and simultaneously display the B-mode image 300 and the motion curve 10, and the position of the target object 200 on the blood vessel may also be marked. In this process, the ultrasound imaging apparatus 100 may automatically determine the reference emission timing 12 according to the motion information or determine the reference emission timing 12 based on the selection of the motion curve 10 by the user, the ultrasound imaging apparatus 100 automatically calculates the time difference T1 between the reference emission timing 12 and the peak time 11 in the same motion cycle after the reference emission timing 12 is determined, and the reference emission timing 12 may be marked on the motion curve 10, the ultrasound imaging apparatus 100 may reacquire the first peak time 11 occurring after the end of the emission of the first ultrasound, after delaying the time difference T1 based on the first peak time 11, the ultrasound imaging apparatus 100 starts to automatically emit the second ultrasound, then generates the elastic image 400 according to the second ultrasound, and displays the elastic image 400 and the B-ultrasound image 300 simultaneously. From the visual point of view of the user, the method is equivalent to that after the ultrasonic imaging device 100 is controlled to enter the elastography mode, the elastography 400 or the elastography value of the target object 200 can be seen on the screen after waiting for a short time, and the user completes the steps of acquiring motion information, determining the reference emission time 12 and the like by the ultrasonic imaging device 100 in waiting.

In other embodiments, where the first ultrasound corresponds to the first imaging mode and the second ultrasound corresponds to the second imaging mode, the ultrasound imaging device 100 does not emit the second ultrasound immediately upon receiving a user initiation command to initiate the second imaging mode, but first determines the relative time of the initiation command in a motion cycle, and then determines the emission parameters of the second ultrasound, including at least the emission timing, based on the relative time and the reference emission timing 12 in the motion cycle after the initiation command. For example, assuming that the emission of the first ultrasonic wave continues for three movement periods, the time difference between the reference emission timing 12 and the peak time 11 in the same movement period is T1, and assuming that the user inputs the start instruction in the second movement period after the end of the first ultrasonic wave, the time difference between the input time of the start instruction and the peak time 11 in the same movement period (second movement period) is T2. When T1 is smaller than T2, the ultrasonic imaging apparatus 100 may start transmitting the second ultrasonic wave after a time difference T1 has elapsed from the peak time 11 of the third movement period after the end of the first ultrasonic wave, and when T1 is larger than T2, the ultrasonic imaging apparatus 100 may directly transmit the second ultrasonic wave at a time corresponding to the reference transmission timing 12 in the second movement period after the end of the first ultrasonic wave. The operation steps of the user and the processing procedure of the ultrasonic imaging apparatus 100 will be described below taking the first imaging mode as the B imaging mode and the second imaging mode as the elastic imaging mode as an example.

The user first controls the probe 101 to emit the first ultrasonic wave for detecting the motion information of the target object 200, and the first ultrasonic wave is also used for B-mode imaging detection, that is, the emission sequence of the first ultrasonic wave may be shared (may be multiplexed in other embodiments) with the B-mode emission sequence, the motion information of the target object 200 may be acquired according to the echo of the first ultrasonic wave on the one hand, and the B-ultrasonic image 300 including the blood vessel may be generated on the other hand, as shown in fig. 7, in this process, the generated B-ultrasonic image 300, the position of the target object 200 in the B-ultrasonic image 300, and the motion curve 10 of the target object 200 may be displayed simultaneously, the ultrasonic imaging apparatus 100 may automatically select or determine the reference emission timing 12 based on the input of the user, calculate the time difference T1 between the reference emission timing 12 and the peak time 11 in the same motion cycle, and mark the reference emission timing 12 on the motion curve 10. The user can observe the position, morphology, etc. of the blood vessel in real time according to the B-mode image 300 and adjust the probe 101 to a proper angle to select a region of interest for elasticity detection, and then control the ultrasonic imaging apparatus 100 to enter an elasticity imaging mode, and the ultrasonic imaging apparatus 100 determines when to transmit the second ultrasonic wave according to the time when an instruction to start the elasticity imaging mode is received, thereby obtaining an elasticity image 400 containing the target object 200 or an elasticity value of the tissue containing the target object 200.

Referring to fig. 8, the embodiment shown in fig. 8 provides another ultrasound imaging method, comprising:

step B100, the control probe 101 transmits the combined ultrasonic wave to the target object 200. The combined ultrasonic wave includes a first ultrasonic wave and a second ultrasonic wave.

In this step, the number of times of emission of the combined ultrasonic wave includes at least two times, and the first ultrasonic wave and the second ultrasonic wave are alternately emitted, for example, the number of times of emission of the combined ultrasonic wave is two times, which may be: the order of the first ultrasonic wave, the second ultrasonic wave, the first ultrasonic wave, and the second ultrasonic wave, or the order of the second ultrasonic wave, the first ultrasonic wave, the second ultrasonic wave, and the first ultrasonic wave may be the order of the first ultrasonic wave, the second ultrasonic wave, and the second ultrasonic wave. In some embodiments, the first ultrasonic wave may be transmitted a plurality of times in succession, and the second ultrasonic wave may be transmitted a plurality of times in succession, among the primary combined ultrasonic waves.

The target object 200 is at least a portion of a vascular structure. For example, as shown in fig. 3-4, the target object 200 is a point or a line segment on the wall of a blood vessel. In some embodiments, before step B100, the method further comprises the step of:

step B10, controlling the probe 101 to emit a third ultrasonic wave to a first region including a region where the target object 200 is located. The size of the first region is not limited in this embodiment. The third ultrasonic wave may be an ultrasonic wave emitted in any one of a plurality of imaging modes, for example, the third ultrasonic wave may be an ultrasonic wave emitted in a B-mode.

And step B20, generating and displaying a third ultrasonic image according to the echo of the third ultrasonic wave. For example, when the third ultrasound is an ultrasound transmitted in B mode, the third ultrasound image is the B ultrasound image 300.

In some embodiments, the first ultrasonic waves are multiplexed or share the transmission sequence of the third ultrasonic waves, and the B-ultrasonic image 300 including the target object 200 can be acquired every time the first ultrasonic waves are transmitted, so that the acquired B-ultrasonic images 300 can be displayed simultaneously.

And step B30, determining the target object 200 in the third ultrasonic image.

In other embodiments, the target object 200 may be selected by the user, for example, the user may trace a line segment or a point in the vessel wall on the third ultrasound image as the target object 200 through the human-machine interaction module 105.

And step B200, acquiring motion information of the target object 200 according to the echo of the first ultrasonic wave, wherein the motion information is used for reflecting the motion of the target object 200 in the radial direction of the blood vessel.

When the target object 200 is a point of the vessel wall, the motion period and the motion amplitude of the target object 200 are the motion period and the motion amplitude of the point, and when the target object 200 is a line segment in the vessel wall, the motion period of the target object 200 may be an average value of the motion periods of the points on the line segment, and the motion amplitude of the target object 200 may be an average value of the motion amplitudes of the points on the line segment. When the target object 200 includes a plurality of points or a plurality of line segments, the motion period of the target object 200 may be a combined result of the motion periods of the plurality of points or the plurality of line segments, and the motion amplitude of the target object 200 may be a combined result of the plurality of points or the plurality of motion amplitudes.

The motion amplitude may be represented by at least one of displacement, velocity, acceleration and strain data of the target object 200 in the radial direction of the blood vessel, or the data may be further processed by smoothing, filtering, etc., to obtain a calculation result for representing the motion amplitude.

In this embodiment, at least one frame of first ultrasound data may be obtained according to each echo of the first ultrasound wave, and at least one frame of first ultrasound image may be generated according to at least one frame of first ultrasound data, where each frame of first ultrasound image may be generated according to one or more frames of first ultrasound data, and each frame of first ultrasound image has a motion amplitude corresponding to the target object 200. For example, the motion amplitude of the target object 200 is characterized by the displacement of the target object 200, and after acquiring a frame of the first ultrasound image, the ultrasound imaging apparatus 100 may compare the position of the target object 200 in the frame of the first ultrasound image with the position of the target object 200 in a frame of the reference image according to the existing displacement calculation algorithm, so as to acquire the displacement information of the target object 200, where the frame of the reference image may be an ultrasound image including the target object 200 acquired in advance when the heartbeat or pulse of the patient is stationary, or may be one frame of a plurality of frames of the first ultrasound images acquired according to the combined ultrasound, for example, the acquired first frame of the first ultrasound image is taken as the reference image.

After the motion amplitude of the target object 200 is obtained, the motion cycle of the target object 200 may be determined according to the motion amplitude. Specifically, if the first ultrasound data of at least one cardiac cycle is acquired from the first ultrasound of the one-time combined ultrasound, a cycle of the motion amplitude corresponding to the cardiac cycle can also be acquired, the peak of the maximum motion amplitude occurring in the cycle of the target object 200 may be determined first, and then the time difference between two adjacent peak times 11 may be calculated as the motion cycle of the target object 200.

And step B300, acquiring an ultrasonic measurement result according to the echo of the second ultrasonic wave. The ultrasound measurement comprises a second ultrasound image comprising the target object 200 and/or a characteristic parameter of the tissue comprising the target object 200. The second ultrasound image includes, but is not limited to, an ultrasound elastography image 400, an ultrasound blood flow image, etc., and the characteristic parameters of the tissue include, but are not limited to, elastography or blood flow parameters.

In this example, only one ultrasonic measurement result is obtained according to a second ultrasonic wave among the combined ultrasonic waves after each emission of the combined ultrasonic waves, and in other embodiments, two or more ultrasonic measurement results may be obtained according to the second ultrasonic wave among the combined ultrasonic waves after each emission of the combined ultrasonic waves, for example, at least two ultrasonic measurement results are determined based on the same second ultrasonic wave emitted at one time, and for example, at least two second ultrasonic waves emitted continuously are included in the combined ultrasonic waves, where at least one ultrasonic measurement result may be obtained by the second ultrasonic wave emitted at each time.

Step B400, determining effective ultrasonic measurement results in the ultrasonic measurement results according to the motion information of the target object 200.

The method is used for acquiring ultrasonic measurement results with good stability and small interference of movement from a plurality of acquired ultrasonic measurement results. The following description will take, as an example, an ultrasound measurement result obtained from a combined ultrasound wave at a time and at least two ultrasound measurement results obtained from a combined ultrasound wave at a time, respectively.

When one ultrasonic measurement result is obtained according to one combined ultrasonic wave, the motion information corresponding to the first ultrasonic wave in the same combined ultrasonic wave is correlated with the ultrasonic measurement result corresponding to the second ultrasonic wave, the degree of interference of a patient when the second ultrasonic wave is transmitted is estimated through the motion information of the target object 200 corresponding to the first ultrasonic wave in the same combined ultrasonic wave, so that an effective ultrasonic measurement result can be obtained from ultrasonic measurement results corresponding to multiple combined ultrasonic waves, specifically, the target motion information can be obtained from each motion information, the ultrasonic measurement result correlated with the target motion information is determined to be the effective ultrasonic measurement result, the target motion information refers to the motion information meeting the condition, the motion information corresponding to each first ultrasonic wave can be respectively compared with the first preset condition, and the target motion information can be obtained according to the comparison result. For example, each time a combined ultrasonic wave is transmitted, a frame of first ultrasonic image may be obtained, each time the motion information is the motion amplitude of the target object 200 in each frame of first ultrasonic image, when the motion amplitude of the target object 200 in a certain frame of first ultrasonic image is smaller than a preset amplitude threshold, it indicates that the patient is in a state of being less disturbed by motion when the first ultrasonic wave corresponding to the frame of first ultrasonic image is transmitted, the motion information corresponding to the first ultrasonic wave is the target motion information, further, it may be considered that the transmission time of the first ultrasonic wave and the second ultrasonic wave in the same combined ultrasonic wave is close enough, and when the second ultrasonic wave belonging to the same combined ultrasonic wave is transmitted, the patient is still in a state of being less disturbed by motion, so that the ultrasonic measurement result obtained by the second ultrasonic wave can be used as an effective ultrasonic measurement result. In addition, a motion trend graph 20 of motion information over time or the number of frames of the first ultrasound image may be generated, and the user may select target motion information on the motion trend graph 20, for example, in fig. 9, the motion trend graph 20 includes speeds of the target objects 200 in five frames of the first ultrasound image, where the motion amplitude is represented by the speeds of the target objects 200, and each speed of the target objects 200 is associated with an ultrasound measurement result, and if the user selects a speed corresponding to the second frame of the first ultrasound image as an effective speed (effective motion information), then an ultrasound measurement result obtained by combining the ultrasound waves emitted for the second time is selected as an effective ultrasound measurement result.

When at least two ultrasonic measurement results are acquired from one-time combined ultrasonic waves, the degree of smoothness of the heartbeat (pulse) of the patient at the time of acquiring each ultrasonic measurement result can be presumed from the acquired motion amplitude and motion cycle of the target object 200, thereby determining an effective ultrasonic measurement result among the at least two ultrasonic measurement results. Specifically, after transmitting the combined ultrasonic wave once, according to the first ultrasonic wave in the combined ultrasonic wave once, first ultrasonic data of at least one cardiac cycle can be acquired, and according to the first ultrasonic data of the at least one cardiac cycle, the motion amplitude of the target object 200 in at least one motion cycle can be obtained. When the first ultrasonic wave transmission is finished, the degree of the heart beat (pulse) smoothness of the patient at the time of acquiring the ultrasonic measurement result can be presumed by determining which point in time the ultrasonic measurement result is acquired. For example, fig. 5 shows a motion curve 10 of a target object 200 generated after transmitting a first ultrasonic wave of a first combination of ultrasonic waves, where the motion curve 10 is a curve of a motion amplitude of the target object 200 varying with time, and by calculating a relative time of a transmission timing of a certain second ultrasonic wave of the same combination of ultrasonic waves in a motion period, the motion amplitude of the target object 200 when the second ultrasonic wave is transmitted can be estimated, and further, a transmission timing meeting a requirement (for example, the motion amplitude of the target object 200 is smaller than an amplitude threshold) can be selected therefrom, so that an ultrasonic measurement result corresponding to the second ultrasonic wave transmitted at the time can be used as an effective ultrasonic measurement result.

In the above embodiment, on the one hand, the emission time of the second ultrasonic wave can be determined according to the motion information of the target object, so as to reduce the motion interference, and on the other hand, the emission mode of the combined ultrasonic wave is also designed, and by combining the ultrasonic wave, the effective ultrasonic measurement result is selected from the ultrasonic measurement results, and no additional module is needed in the two aspects, so that the cost is reduced and the clinical convenience is improved.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that all or part of the functions of the various 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 in the above embodiments are implemented by means of a computer program, the program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, and the storage medium may include: read-only memory, random access memory, magnetic disk, optical disk, hard disk, etc., and the program is executed by a computer to realize the above-mentioned functions. For example, the program is stored in the memory of the device, and when the program in the memory is executed by the processor, all or part of the functions described above can be realized. In addition, when all or part of the functions in the above embodiments are implemented by means of 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 the program in the above embodiments may be implemented by downloading or copying the program into a memory of a local device or updating a version of a system of the local device, and when the program in the memory is executed by a processor.

The foregoing description of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, and is not intended to be limiting. Several simple deductions, modifications or substitutions may also be made by a person skilled in the art to which the invention pertains, based on the idea of the invention.

Claims

1. An ultrasound imaging method, further comprising:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the motion information includes a radial motion period and a motion amplitude reflecting the target object in the vessel;

The determining the emission parameter of the second ultrasonic wave according to the motion information comprises the following steps:

setting reference emission time according to the corresponding time when the motion amplitude is smaller than a preset amplitude threshold;

and determining the transmission parameters of the second ultrasonic wave according to the reference transmission time and the motion period.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining the transmission parameter of the second ultrasonic wave from the reference transmission opportunity and the motion period comprises:

and taking the time corresponding to the reference emission time in at least one movement period after the end of the emission of the first ultrasonic wave as the emission time of the second ultrasonic wave.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the motion information further comprises a peak time instant, the peak time instant being a time instant corresponding to a maximum value of the motion amplitude in one of the motion periods;

the transmitting means for taking, as the transmission timing of the second ultrasonic wave, a time corresponding to the reference transmission timing in at least one of the motion periods after the end of the transmission of the first ultrasonic wave, includes:

calculating a time difference between the peak time and the reference transmit opportunity in the same one of the motion cycles during the first ultrasonic transmission;

The transmission opportunity is calculated according to the peak time determined in at least one motion period after the end of the first ultrasonic wave transmission and the time difference.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining motion information of the target object from the first ultrasound data comprises:

determining the motion amplitude from the first ultrasound data;

determining a peak value according to the motion amplitude, and determining the peak value moment according to the moment corresponding to the peak value;

the movement period is determined from the time difference between two adjacent peak moments.

6. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 5, further comprising:

and generating and displaying a motion curve of the motion amplitude changing along with time.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the setting the reference transmit opportunity based on the corresponding time when the motion amplitude is less than a preset amplitude threshold comprises:

and receiving a moment selection instruction input by a user according to the motion curve, and determining the reference emission opportunity, wherein the motion amplitude corresponding to the reference emission opportunity is smaller than the preset amplitude threshold.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the generating and displaying the motion profile of the motion amplitude over time comprises:

generating a motion curve of the motion amplitude changing along with time;

obtaining a comparison result between the motion amplitude and the preset amplitude threshold;

determining a suggested selection moment of the reference emission moment according to the comparison result, wherein the pulse amplitude corresponding to the suggested selection moment is smaller than the preset amplitude threshold;

and displaying the motion curve, wherein the recommended selection moment and the recommended non-selection moment corresponding to the motion curve are displayed in a distinguishing mode.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the receiving the user selection instruction according to the moment input by the motion curve, after determining the reference transmission opportunity, further comprises:

marking the reference transmission opportunity on the motion curve.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the motion information comprises a peak time, the method further comprising:

the peak moment is marked on the motion curve.

11. The method according to any one of claims 2-6, wherein said setting a reference transmission occasion according to a corresponding time when the motion amplitude is smaller than a preset amplitude threshold value comprises:

And taking the moment that the motion amplitude is the minimum value in one motion period as the reference emission opportunity.

12. The method of claim 2, wherein the motion amplitude is characterized by at least one of displacement, velocity, acceleration and strain data of the target object in a radial direction of the vessel.

13. The method of any one of claims 1-12, wherein prior to the control probe transmitting the first ultrasonic wave to the target object, the method further comprises determining the target object;

the determining the target object includes:

controlling the probe to emit third ultrasonic waves to a first area, wherein the first area comprises an area where the target object is located;

generating and displaying a third ultrasonic image according to the echo of the third ultrasonic wave;

and determining the target object in the third ultrasonic image.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said determining the target object in the third ultrasound image comprises:

receiving a selection instruction of a user for a point or a line segment on the wall of a blood vessel in the third ultrasonic image, and taking the point or the line segment on the wall selected by the user as the target object; or (b)

And identifying a point or a line segment on the wall of the blood vessel in the third ultrasonic image, and taking the identified point or line segment on the wall of the blood vessel as the target object.

15. The method of any one of claims 2-12, wherein the first ultrasound corresponds to a first imaging mode and the second ultrasound corresponds to a second imaging mode;

the method further comprises the steps of:

receiving a starting instruction when a user starts a second imaging mode;

determining the relative time of the start instruction in one motion period;

the determining the transmission parameter of the second ultrasonic wave according to the reference transmission opportunity and the motion period comprises the following steps:

and in the motion period after the starting instruction, determining the transmission parameter of the second ultrasonic wave according to the relative time and the reference transmission time.

16. An ultrasound imaging method, comprising:

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the second ultrasound image is an elastographic image or a blood flow image containing the target object.

18. The method of claim 16 or 17, wherein the characteristic parameter of the tissue comprises an elasticity value or a blood flow parameter of the tissue.

19. An ultrasound imaging method, comprising:

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the number of transmissions of the combined ultrasonic wave comprises at least two;

the acquiring the motion information of the target object according to the echo of the first ultrasonic wave comprises:

acquiring motion information of the target according to each echo of the first ultrasonic wave;

the determining the effective ultrasonic measurement result in the ultrasonic measurement results according to the motion information of the target object comprises the following steps:

correlating motion information corresponding to a first ultrasonic wave in the same combined ultrasonic wave with an ultrasonic measurement result corresponding to the second ultrasonic wave;

and acquiring target motion information from each piece of motion information, and determining an ultrasonic measurement result associated with the target motion information as the effective ultrasonic measurement result.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein at least two of said ultrasound measurements are determined based on said second ultrasound in said combined ultrasound at the same time;

And determining the effective ultrasonic measurement result from the at least two ultrasonic measurement results according to the motion information of the target object.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein acquiring motion information of the target object from the echo of the first ultrasonic wave comprises:

obtaining at least one frame of first ultrasonic data according to the echo of the first ultrasonic wave;

generating at least one frame of first ultrasonic image according to the at least one frame of first ultrasonic data;

and acquiring motion information of the target object corresponding to the frame number of the first ultrasonic image.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the obtaining the target motion information from each motion information comprises:

obtaining at least one frame of first ultrasonic data according to each echo of the first ultrasonic wave;

acquiring motion information of the target object corresponding to the frame number of the first ultrasonic image;

generating and displaying a motion trend graph of the motion information along with the frame number change of the first ultrasonic image;

and acquiring target motion information based on a motion information selection instruction input by a user aiming at the motion trend graph.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the obtaining the target motion information from each motion information comprises:

and comparing each piece of motion information with a first preset condition respectively, and acquiring the target motion information according to a comparison result.

25. The method of any of claims 20-24, wherein determining the target object comprises:

controlling the probe to emit third ultrasonic waves to the first area;

generating and displaying a third ultrasonic image according to the third ultrasonic wave;

the target object is determined on the third ultrasound image.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the determining the target object on the third ultrasound image comprises:

receiving a user selection instruction of a point or a line segment on the wall of the blood vessel in the third ultrasonic image, wherein the wall of the blood vessel is an upper wall or a lower wall, and taking the point or the line segment on the wall selected by the user as the target object, or

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the method further comprises:

obtaining at least one frame of first ultrasonic data according to the echo of each group of first ultrasonic waves;

generating and displaying a motion trend graph of the motion information along with the change of the first ultrasonic data frame number;

and displaying the first ultrasonic data and the motion trend graph simultaneously.

28. The method according to any one of claims 19 to 27, wherein the ultrasound measurement comprises a characteristic parameter of a second ultrasound image comprising the target object and/or of a tissue comprising the target object.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the second ultrasound image comprises an ultrasound elastography image or an ultrasound blood flow image, and the characteristic parameter comprises an elastography parameter or a blood flow parameter.

30. An ultrasonic imaging apparatus, comprising:

a memory for storing a program;

a processor configured to implement the method of any one of claims 1-29 by executing a program stored in the memory.

31. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a program executable by a processor to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 29.