JP2001120547A - Ultrasonograph - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display a tompgraphic image in real time, and reproduce/display the tomographic image of a specific period in an ultrasonograph. SOLUTION: In an ultrasonograph having a probe 1 for transmitting/receiving an ultrasonic wave in a subject, an ultrasonic wave transmitting/receiving part 2 for supplying a transmission signal to the probe 1 and phasing a received reflected echo signal, an image storage part 3 for storing a tomographic image of time series by forming the image by using a received signal from the ultrasonic wave transmitting/receiving part 2 and image display parts 4, 5 for displaying tomographic image data from the image storage part 3 as an ultrasonic image, the ultrasonograph is provided with means 9, 10 for reproducing/ displaying the tomographic image during the specific time phase in real time slow motion at an optionally set reproducing speed by using the organismic signal of the subject detected by an organismic signal detecting means 8.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which forms and displays a tomographic image of a diagnostic site using reflected echo signals obtained by transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves in a subject, and more particularly, to real-time ultrasonic diagnostic equipment. The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of displaying a tomographic image and real-time slow-motion reproduction and display of a tomographic image in a specific period.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, a tomographic image is reproduced in real time in slow motion and displayed.
In addition to displaying a tomographic image in real time, a tomographic image of a phase of interest is displayed in real time slow motion reproduction in synchronization with an electrocardiographic signal detected from a subject.

In this case, as an ultrasonic tomographic image for slow motion reproduction, a tomographic image of a time phase of interest synchronized with an electrocardiographic signal of a subject is reproduced at an arbitrary speed. In this case, starting reproduction from a tomographic image at a certain time phase synchronized with the R wave of the electrocardiographic waveform set by the operator is repeated every time the set time phase is reached. If this operation is performed every time an R wave is generated, the reproduction range is determined by the reproduction speed. For example, if the reproduction speed is 1/4 of the real-time image, the reproduction range is 1/4 of one heartbeat. In response to this, once every few times when an R wave is generated, slow motion reproduction in a sufficiently long range is performed.

On the other hand, there is a case where Doppler measurement is performed without using a biological signal detecting means such as an electrocardiograph, but slow motion reproduction is performed similarly.

[0005] Such real-time slow-motion reproduction of a tomographic image is a slow-motion reproduction image that enables observation of an image that cannot be followed by the frame rate of an observation monitor and a human eye in real time, especially in an ultrasonic tomographic image with a high frame rate. In real-time display, the diagnosis efficiency is improved by eliminating the trouble of temporarily loading the data into a cine memory and performing slow-motion reproduction, particularly in a diagnosis of a rapidly moving part.

[0006]

However, in real-time slow-motion reproduction of a tomographic image in such a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, the slow-motion reproduction range with respect to the heartbeat cycle is not particularly constant in a subject whose heartbeat is not stable. However, for example, the playback range is one and a half heartbeats or half a heartbeat, and the temporal connection of the slow-motion playback images deteriorates. For this reason, it is not easy to observe a slow-motion reproduced image, and improvement in diagnostic efficiency has been desired.

In the real-time slow-motion reproduction of a tomographic image in a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, reproduction is performed in synchronization with an electrocardiographic signal detected from a subject. Need means,
An electrocardiograph etc. besides a normal probe must be connected to the diagnostic device body, and electrodes of the electrocardiograph etc. must be attached to the subject, which limits the degree of freedom of diagnosis and the efficiency of diagnosis. May decrease.

[0008] There is also a similar problem at the time of Doppler measurement.

In view of the above, the present invention addresses such a problem, displays a tomographic image in real time, reproduces a tomographic image in a specific period in real time in slow motion, and connects temporally connected slow motion reproduced images. It is another object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of improving the degree of freedom of diagnosis and improving the efficiency of diagnosis.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention includes a probe for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from a subject, and transmitting a transmission signal to the probe. An ultrasonic transmission / reception unit for phasing the supplied and received reflected echo signals, an image storage unit for forming an image using a reception signal from the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit and storing a time-series tomographic image, Image display means for displaying tomographic image data from the unit as an ultrasonic image, biological signal detecting means for detecting a biological signal of the subject, and reproducing means for reproducing the time-series tomographic image based on the biological signal Means for setting a reproduction speed of the time-series tomographic image, and outputting the time-series tomographic image to the reproduction means at the set reproduction speed using the detected biological signal. Means to do It is intended.

An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention provides a probe for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from a subject, supplies a transmission signal to the probe, and phasing a received reflected echo signal. An ultrasonic transmission / reception unit, an image storage unit for forming an image using a reception signal from the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit and storing a time-series tomographic image, and displaying the tomographic image data from the image storage unit as an ultrasonic image Image display means, a Doppler detection means for extracting a Doppler shift component due to blood flow from a reception signal from the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit and detecting blood flow information of a subject, and a Doppler shift component based on the Doppler shift component. In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having a reproducing unit that reproduces a time-series tomographic image, a unit that sets a reproduction speed of the time-series tomographic image, and the reproduction speed that is set using the detected blood flow information. Time series interruption An image is obtained and means for outputting to said reproducing means.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the first invention. This ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus forms and displays a tomographic image of a diagnostic site using reflected echo signals obtained by transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from a subject. A probe 1 and an ultrasonic transmitting and receiving unit 2 , An image storage unit 3, an image display circuit 4, a television monitor 5, a main controller 6, and an operation panel 7.
And an electrocardiogram signal detection section 8 and an electrocardiogram signal storage section 9
And an RR section image storage unit 10.

The probe 1 transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to and from the subject 11 and, although not shown, has a transducer which is a source of ultrasonic waves and receives reflected waves. ing.

The ultrasonic transmission / reception section 2 supplies a transmission signal to the probe 1 and phasing of the received reflected echo signal. A circuit, a receiving amplifier that amplifies a received signal,
A delay circuit and an adder for phasing the amplified signal;
And a control circuit for controlling them.

The image storage unit 3 is for storing an image by using the received signal output as a digital signal from the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 2 and storing a time-series tomographic image. have.

The image display circuit 4 performs signal processing for inputting image data output from the image storage section 3 and displaying the image data on the television monitor 5. The television monitor 5 receives an image signal from the image display circuit 4 and displays an ultrasonic image. The image display circuit 4 and the television monitor 5 constitute image display means for displaying the tomographic image data from the image storage unit 3 as an ultrasonic image.

The main controller 6 controls the operation of each of the above components. The operation panel 7 is connected to the main controller 6 to set device conditions and input various operation commands.

Here, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, an electrocardiogram signal detection section 8, an electrocardiogram signal storage section 9, an R-
An R section image storage unit 10 is provided. The electrocardiographic signal detecting section 8 serves as a biological signal detecting means for detecting a biological signal of the subject 11, and is constituted by, for example, an electrocardiograph. An electrical signal is detected, and at the same time, an R-wave signal obtained from the electrocardiographic waveform is generated.

The electrocardiogram signal storage section 9 stores electrocardiogram signal data output from the electrocardiogram signal detection section 8, operates under the control of the main controller 6, and reads out the electrocardiogram signal data. The data is sent to the image display circuit 4.

The RR section image storage section 10 receives the real-time image read out from the image storage section 3 and stores it at the cycle of the R-wave signal generated by the electrocardiogram signal detection section 8. It reads out according to the slow-motion playback speed set on the operation panel 7, and has two memories of sufficient capacity to store an image for one heartbeat. These two memories are used for recording and playback. By switching and using, the RR section (R
Slow motion reproduction from the wave signal to the R-wave signal) can be realized. The RR section image storage unit 10 operates under the control of the main controller 6, and the read real-time image data is sent to the image display circuit 4.

The electrocardiogram signal storage section 9 and the RR section image storage section 10 use the biological signal (electrocardiogram signal) detected by the electrocardiogram signal detection section 8 to determine a specific time phase. A means for displaying a tomographic image (a section from an R-wave signal to an R-wave signal) by real-time slow-motion playback at an arbitrarily set playback speed is displayed.

Next, the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2A shows the R signal detected by the electrocardiogram signal detector 8.
The generation cycle of the wave signal is shown. FIG. 2B shows a real-time image of a tomographic image stored in the image storage unit 3. FIGS. 2C and 2D show images of one heartbeat recorded using two memories (memory A and memory B) provided in the RR section image storage unit 10. , The state of reproduction.

First, as shown in FIG.
When a wave signal is generated, the address is reset to "0" in FIG. 2 (c), real-time images are sequentially stored until the next R-wave signal is generated (address N1), and the next R-wave signal is generated. Then, the operation of resetting the address to "0" and sequentially storing real-time images until the next R-wave signal is generated (address N2) is repeated. That is, as shown in FIG. 2C, the address is set to "0" every time the R-wave signal is generated, and the real-time image is overwritten.

At this time, since the number of real-time images in the RR section differs from time to time, it is necessary to prepare a memory for storing the addresses when the storage of one RR section is completed in the memories A and B, respectively. There is. Only the latest end address of the RR section needs to be stored. The switching timing of the memories A and B for recording is determined by the next R after the switching of the memory to be reproduced.
This is performed at the timing of generation of the wave signal.

Next, the image recorded as described above is reproduced from the address "0" as shown in FIG. 2D according to the reproduction speed set on the operation panel 7 shown in FIG. The operation of reproducing the stored RR section up to the end address is repeated, and when the RR section ends, the memory is switched and the same reproduction is performed.

The flow of memory switching at this time is as follows. That is, as shown in FIG. 2D, when the reproduction of the memory B is completed, the reproduction is switched to the memory A which is the recording memory shown in FIG. 2C at this point, and the reproduction of the memory A is started. When the R-wave signal is generated in FIG. 2A, the recording is switched to the memory B which is the opposite side of the memory A which is the reproduction memory at this time, and when the reproduction of the memory A is completed, the recording is performed at this time. Switching the reproduction to the memory B side which is the recording memory shown in c) may be repeated.

With the above operation, the latest RR section is played back in slow motion at the set playback speed in real time, and a slow-motion playback image is displayed as shown in FIG. Can be.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the second invention. This ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus detects a biological signal of a subject by a biological signal detecting means as in the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and uses the detected biological signal to perform real-time slowdown on a tomographic image between specific time phases. Rather than displaying motion reproduction, Doppler detection means extracts the Doppler shift component due to the blood flow from the received signal from the ultrasonic transmitting and receiving unit and detects the blood flow information of the subject, and detects the detected blood flow. A specific time phase of the blood flow is extracted using the information, and a tomographic image of a specific period from this specific time phase is reproduced and displayed in real time at a reproduction speed arbitrarily set.

As shown in FIG. 3, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes a probe 1, an ultrasonic transmitting / receiving unit 2, an image storing unit 3,
, An image display circuit 4, a television monitor 5, a main controller 6, and an operation panel 7, and further includes a Doppler detection unit 12, a frequency analysis unit 13, a Doppler measurement unit 14,
And a Doppler trigger control unit 15. First, the configuration from the probe 1 to the operation panel 7 is exactly the same as the device of FIG.

The Doppler detector 12 serves as a Doppler detector for extracting a Doppler shift component due to a blood flow from a signal received from the ultrasonic transmitter / receiver 2 and detecting blood flow information of a subject. With respect to the obtained blood flow signal, blood flow information on an ultrasonic beam line projected in the depth direction in the subject is fetched, and further signal processing is performed to remove unnecessary frequency components. The Doppler detector 12 operates under the control of the main controller 6.

The frequency analysis unit 13 is provided with the Doppler detection unit 1
The frequency analysis of the fetched blood flow signal and the calculation of the luminance level of each frequency component are performed under the control of the main controller 6.

The Doppler measuring section 14 is provided with the frequency analyzing section 1.
The blood flow inflow phase, blood flow peak time phase, blood flow outflow time phase, etc. during one heartbeat are derived from the blood flow spectrum pattern obtained from Step 3, and various blood flow measurement calculations are performed in real time. It operates under the control of the main controller 6, and the results of various blood flow measurement calculations and Doppler images are sent to the image display circuit 4.

The Doppler trigger control unit 15 triggers a blood flow inflow phase, a blood flow peak time phase, a blood flow outflow time phase, a heart valve velocity waveform, or the like output from the Doppler measurement unit 14. (This is referred to as a “blood flow trigger”) and outputs control signals such as the start of real-time slow-motion playback, a playback section, and a playback speed. The control signal is provided between the Doppler measurement unit 14 and the image storage unit 3. The control signal is sent to the image storage unit 3.

The frequency analysis unit 13, the Doppler measurement unit 14, and the Doppler trigger control unit 15 use the blood flow information detected by the Doppler detection unit 12 to specify a specific time phase of the blood flow (when the blood flow Phase, blood flow peak time, blood flow outflow time, or heart valve velocity waveform, etc.), and tomographic images for a specific period from this specific time phase are reproduced in real time at an arbitrarily set reproduction speed. This constitutes means for slow motion reproduction and display.

In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, the inflow time phase of the blood flow generated by the frequency analysis unit 13, the Doppler measurement unit 14, and the Doppler trigger control unit 15, the blood flow The image storage unit 3 uses the peak time phase, the outflow time phase of the blood flow, the velocity waveform of the heart valve, etc. as a blood flow trigger.
, A control signal for starting the real-time slow motion reproduction, a reproduction section, a reproduction speed and the like is output. Then, the tomographic image data is read from the image storage unit 3 by the input of the control signal, and the tomographic image is displayed on the television monitor 5 via the image display circuit 4 in real time slow motion reproduction (see FIG. 5). .

FIG. 4 shows a conventional example in which a biological signal is detected by using a biological signal detecting means such as an electrocardiograph, and an R-wave signal in the electrocardiographic waveform is used as a trigger to display on the television monitor 5. This shows a case where a tomographic image is displayed in real time slow motion reproduction. In this case, the start of the real-time slow motion reproduction, the reproduction section, the reproduction speed, and the like are set by using the R-wave signal as a trigger.

On the other hand, FIG. 5 shows the second embodiment of the present invention, which does not use the biological signal detecting means, and uses the blood flow inflow phase generated from the blood flow information of the subject, the blood flow peak phase,
A case is shown in which a tomographic image is displayed in real time slow motion reproduction on the television monitor 5 using a blood flow outflow phase, a heart valve velocity waveform, or the like as a blood flow trigger. In this case, the start of the real-time slow motion reproduction, the reproduction section, the reproduction speed, and the like are set, for example, with the inflow phase of the blood flow as a trigger. Therefore, it is not necessary to connect an electrocardiograph or the like to the diagnostic apparatus body other than the normal probe, and it is not necessary to attach an electrode of the electrocardiograph or the like to the subject.

[0038]

The present invention has been configured as described above.
According to the first aspect, the biological signal of the subject is detected by the biological signal detection means, and the detected biological signal is used to perform real-time slowing at a reproduction speed arbitrarily set for the tomographic image during the specific time phase. The provision of the means for performing motion reproduction and display enables tomographic images of a specific period to be reproduced and displayed in real time in slow motion. For example, the latest RR section can be displayed in slow motion at the set playback speed and displayed in real time. Therefore, the slow-motion playback range with respect to the heartbeat cycle is constant, and the temporal connection of the slow-motion playback images is improved. This makes it easy to observe the slow-motion reproduced image, and the diagnostic efficiency can be further improved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the Doppler detecting means extracts the Doppler shift component due to the blood flow from the reception signal from the ultrasonic transmitting / receiving unit, and detects the blood flow information of the subject. Means for extracting a specific time phase of the blood flow using the obtained blood flow information, and real-time slow motion reproduction at a reproduction speed set arbitrarily for a tomographic image for a specific period from the specific time phase, and displaying the tomographic image. Accordingly, a tomographic image can be displayed in real-time slow motion reproduction with a specific time phase of blood flow generated from blood flow information of the subject as a trigger. For example, a start of a real-time slow motion reproduction, a reproduction section, a reproduction speed, and the like can be set by using a blood flow inflow phase as a trigger. Therefore, it is not necessary to connect an electrocardiograph or the like to the diagnostic apparatus body other than the normal probe, and it is not necessary to attach an electrode of the electrocardiograph or the like to the subject. Thus, the degree of freedom of diagnosis can be increased, and the efficiency of diagnosis can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the first invention.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart showing an operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the first invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the second invention.

FIG. 4 shows a conventional example in which a biological signal is detected using an electrocardiograph or the like, and a tomographic image is displayed in real-time slow-motion reproduction using, for example, an R-wave signal in an electrocardiographic waveform as a trigger. FIG.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a case where a tomographic image is displayed in real-time slow-motion reproduction with a specific time phase of a blood flow generated from blood flow information of a subject as a trigger in the second invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Probe 2 ... Ultrasonic transmission / reception part 3 ... Image storage part 4 ... Image display circuit 5 ... TV monitor 6 ... Main controller 7 ... Operation panel 8 ... Electrocardiogram signal detection part 9 ... Electrocardiogram signal storage part 10 ... R -R section image storage unit 11 subject 12 Doppler detection unit 13 frequency analysis unit 14 Doppler measurement unit 15 Doppler trigger control unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A probe for transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic wave to and from a subject, an ultrasonic transmitting and receiving unit for supplying a transmission signal to the probe and phasing a received reflected echo signal, and the ultrasonic transmitting and receiving unit An image storage unit that stores images in time series by forming an image using a reception signal from the image processing unit; an image display unit that displays tomographic image data from the image storage unit as an ultrasonic image; A biological signal detection unit that detects a signal, and an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that has a reproduction unit that reproduces the time-series tomographic image based on the biological signal; and a unit that sets a reproduction speed of the time-series tomographic image. Means for outputting the time-series tomographic image to the reproducing means at the set reproduction speed using the detected biological signal. 2. A probe for transmitting / receiving an ultrasonic wave to / from an object, an ultrasonic transmitting / receiving unit for supplying a transmission signal to the probe and phasing a received reflected echo signal, and an ultrasonic transmitting / receiving unit An image storage unit that stores images in time series by forming an image using a reception signal from the image processing unit; an image display unit that displays tomographic image data from the image storage unit as an ultrasonic image; A Doppler detector for extracting a Doppler shift component due to a blood flow from a received signal from the detector and detecting blood flow information of the subject; and a reproducing unit for reproducing the time-series tomographic image based on the Doppler shift component. Means for setting a reproduction speed of the time-series tomographic image, and outputting the time-series tomographic image to the reproduction means at the set reproduction speed using the detected blood flow information. Means to do An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized in that: