JP2006102548A - Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, recording an image while observing the kinetics of a subject in real time and further selectively reproducing only an image in a same time phase at different heart rates in reproducing a recorded image. <P>SOLUTION: This ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes: collecting parts 1, 2, 3 repeatedly collecting ultrasonic diagnostic images of the subject; detecting part 5, 7 for detecting a biosignal; a memory circuit 4 for storing the repeatedly collected ultrasonic diagnostic images and the phase of the biosignal in relation to each other; and a control part 11 for selectively reading out the ultrasonic diagnostic images in the same phase from the memory circuit 4 and reproducing the same. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus capable of recording ultrasound diagnostic images continuously collected in real time in an image memory and selectively reading out and reproducing desired images from the images.

  In this type of conventionally known ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, an electrocardiograph is used to collect images in synchronization with the heartbeat of the subject. In this case, for example, images at a time when a predetermined time has elapsed from the electrocardiogram R wave are collected over a plurality of heartbeats, one frame per heartbeat, and these are recorded in an image memory. By reading the recorded image from the image memory and continuously reproducing it, it is possible to observe the movement of the heart in the same time phase over a plurality of heartbeats.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing an image recorded by such a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. In FIG. 5, I1 to In indicate one frame of the ultrasound diagnostic image at a time point when a predetermined time (Δt) has elapsed from the electrocardiogram R wave, and these images are recorded in the image memory and displayed on the TV monitor. The

  When one image is recorded in one heartbeat as shown in FIG. 5 in synchronization with the heartbeat signal obtained from the electrocardiogram unit, in the conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, only the recorded image is a TV monitor for observation. Is displayed. For this reason, during the recording of an image by heartbeat synchronization as described above, a moving image of an ultrasonic diagnostic image is not displayed. Therefore, there is a drawback that image recording cannot be performed while observing the dynamics of an observation target (subject) such as the heart in real time.

  It is an object of the present invention to perform image recording while observing the dynamics of a subject in real time and to selectively reproduce only images of the same time phase at different heartbeats when reproducing the recorded image. It is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

In the first aspect of the present invention, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes a collection unit that repeatedly collects an ultrasonic diagnostic image of a subject, a detection unit that detects a biological signal, the ultrasonic diagnostic image and the biological signal that are repeatedly collected. Storage means for associating and storing the phases, and reproduction means for selectively reading out and reproducing the ultrasonic diagnostic images of the same phase from the storage means.
In the second aspect of the present invention, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes a collecting unit that repeatedly collects an ultrasonic diagnostic image of a subject, a detecting unit that detects an electrocardiographic waveform signal, the ultrasonic diagnostic image that is repeatedly collected, Storage means for associating and storing phases of biological signals, and reproduction means for selectively reading out and reproducing a plurality of ultrasonic diagnostic images corresponding to the same phase from the storage means.
In the third aspect of the present invention, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes a collection unit that repeatedly collects ultrasonic diagnostic images of a subject, a detection unit that detects biological signals, and the ultrasonic diagnostic images that have been collected repeatedly according to recording conditions. Storage means for selectively storing, and recording condition storage means for storing the recording condition when the recording condition is changed.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to record an image while observing the dynamics of a subject in real time, and when reproducing the recorded image, it is possible to selectively reproduce only images of the same time phase at different heartbeats. Become.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the first embodiment transmits an ultrasonic wave to a subject and receives an ultrasonic wave, and an ultrasonic probe 1. A transmission / reception circuit 2 that transmits a drive pulse signal for ultrasonic transmission and receives an electric signal based on a reflected wave received by the ultrasonic probe 1, and an electric signal received by the transmission / reception circuit 2. Based on this, one frame of the ultrasonic diagnostic image is created, the image memory circuit 3 for storing the created frame, and the frame of the ultrasonic diagnostic image created by the image memory circuit 3 are input, and a plurality of frames are input at a time. A large-capacity memory circuit 4 having a capacity large enough to store and hold the minute ultrasonic diagnostic image, and a frame of the ultrasonic diagnostic image output from the large-capacity memory circuit 4 as a moving image or a still image (freeze image) Display times to display And a 6.

  Further, an R wave is detected from the electrocardiogram electrode 5 connected to the electrocardiogram electrode 5 for connecting the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present embodiment to an electrocardiogram unit (not shown) for obtaining an electrocardiogram of the subject, and the electrocardiogram electrode 5. An electrocardiogram R-wave detection circuit 7 that outputs a signal representing the detection timing (time phase), and a one-frame configuration time calculation that calculates the time required to construct an ultrasonic diagnostic image of one frame according to a specific parameter Based on the detection timing of the R wave obtained by the circuit 8 and the electrocardiogram R wave detection circuit 7 and the 1 frame configuration time obtained by the 1 frame configuration time calculation circuit 8, the frame is detected from the time when the R wave of the heartbeat is generated. The elapsed time calculation circuit 9 that calculates the elapsed time until it is obtained by the ultrasonic scan, the elapsed time obtained by the elapsed time calculation circuit 9, and a large-capacity memo A recording condition memory circuit 10 for storing a collection condition (recording condition) relating to a frame recorded in the circuit 4 in association with the frame, a transmission / reception circuit 2, an image memory circuit 3, a large-capacity memory circuit 4, a display circuit 6, and A one-frame configuration time calculation circuit 8, an elapsed time calculation circuit 9, and a control circuit 11 that controls the recording condition memory circuit 10 are provided.

  The operation of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described. Specifically, an operation at the time of recording a diagnostic image performed in parallel with the ultrasonic diagnosis and an operation at the time of reproducing the recorded ultrasonic diagnostic image will be described. In FIG. 2, ultrasonic diagnostic images (I1 to Im and O1 to On) recorded and reproduced in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of this embodiment are schematically shown in correspondence with the electrocardiogram R wave. In the figure, I1 matches the R wave, but I1 does not match the R wave, that is, there may be no time phase image of the R wave. In this case, the latest image after the R wave may be considered to coincide with the R wave.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart schematically showing the operation during recording. First, recording is started in step S1. Next, in step S2, the 1-frame configuration time calculation circuit 8 calculates the 1-frame configuration time. The construction time of one frame refers to the time from the start of ultrasonic scanning of a predetermined section by the ultrasonic probe 1 to the creation of one frame of an ultrasonic diagnostic image by the image memory circuit 3. Next, in step S3, it is determined whether or not an R wave has been input via the electrocardiogram electrode 5. In other words, it is determined whether or not the heart rate has changed. Here, when the input of the R wave is “present”, the elapsed time register from the R wave is cleared (initialized), and the process proceeds to step S5. The values stored in this elapsed time register are the values from t1 to t4 in FIG. If the R wave input is “none”, the process of step S4 is skipped and the process proceeds to step S5.

  In step S5, an image and recording conditions are stored. That is, the image data (for example, Im in FIG. 2) of the ultrasonic diagnostic image obtained by the image memory circuit 3 is stored and held in the large-capacity memory circuit 4 and the image calculated by the elapsed time calculation circuit 9 is stored. The value of the elapsed time register from the R wave is stored and held in the recording condition memory circuit 10 as one of the recording conditions. In addition, image acquisition conditions (such as gain and STC value) of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus at the time of recording are also stored. Note that the recording conditions other than the elapsed time are configured to be stored only when they are changed. Thereby, the storage capacity of the recording condition memory circuit 10 can be saved.

  In parallel with such a recording operation, on the display circuit 6, the ultrasonic diagnostic image obtained by the image memory circuit 3 is displayed as a moving image. Thus, the observer can record an image while observing the dynamics of the object of the subject in real time.

  Next, in step S6, the end of recording is determined. In step S6, it is determined whether or not all desired images have been recorded. If “YES”, the process proceeds to step S8 to end the recording operation. If “NO”, the process proceeds to step S7. In step S7, the value of the one-frame configuration time obtained in step S2 is added to the value of the elapsed time register from the R wave, and then step S3. Migrate to That is, the image storing operation in units of one frame in step S5 is repeated until all desired images are recorded. Note that the image recording time is limited by the storage capacity of the large-capacity memory 4, but at least images for a plurality of heartbeats are recorded.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart schematically showing the operation during reproduction. In step S10, the reproduction operation of the previously recorded ultrasonic diagnostic image is started. First, in step S11, it is determined whether a reproduced image exists. That is, it is determined whether or not an image to be reproduced is stored in the large capacity memory circuit 4. Here, if there is no reproduced image, the process proceeds to step S19 and the reproducing operation is terminated.

  Next, in step S12, it is determined whether or not conditions are set. If the condition setting is “none”, the process proceeds to step S18. If the condition setting is “Yes”, the process proceeds to step S13. In step S13, the presence / absence of time setting is determined. If it is determined that the time setting is “present”, the process proceeds to step S14.

  In step S14, a predetermined elapsed time from the R wave is set as an index key for image search. Next, in step S15, an image is searched from the images stored in the large-capacity memory circuit 4 using the index key for image search. For example, an image that has passed t3 seconds from the R wave is retrieved.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S13 that the time setting is “none”, the process proceeds to step S16. Here, the presence / absence of recording condition setting is determined. If the recording condition is set to “Yes”, the process proceeds to step S17, and the recording condition is set as an index key for image search. As a specific example of the recording condition, there is a collection condition of an ultrasonic diagnostic image at the time of recording such as STC or dynamic range.

  Then, the process proceeds to step S15, and an image is retrieved from the images stored in the large-capacity memory circuit 4 using the index key for image retrieval, as described above.

  Next, in step S18, the corresponding image (On in FIG. 2) is read from the large-capacity memory 4 and transferred to the display circuit 6 for display. At this time, the image recording conditions (including the elapsed time from the R wave) may be numerically or graphically displayed together with the ultrasonic diagnostic image On. Then, more advanced playback can be performed.

  Then, the process proceeds to step S11 and the above-described operation is repeated, and thus the ultrasonic diagnostic images O1 to On are reproduced. Thereby, for example, among ultrasonic diagnostic images recorded over a plurality of heartbeats, an image of the same time phase after a predetermined time from the R wave can be selectively read out and reproduced. Therefore, it is possible to easily diagnose an abnormality of the heart in which the same operation (beat) is repeated with the heartbeat as a unit, and the diagnostic ability can be improved.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be implemented with various modifications. For example, as the recording condition, it has been described that the elapsed time from the electrocardiogram R wave obtained by the electrocardiogram unit is recorded together with the image. For example, a similar recording operation is realized by using the system clock output from the control unit 11, for example. You may do it. Further, the recording / playback processing of the present embodiment can be realized not only by hardware but also by computer software.

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows typically the image recorded or reproduced | regenerated by the ultrasound diagnosing device which concerns on the said embodiment. 5 is a flowchart schematically showing an operation at the time of image recording of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the embodiment. 5 is a flowchart schematically showing an operation during image reproduction of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the embodiment. The figure which shows typically the image recorded by the ultrasonic diagnosing device which concerns on a prior art example.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Ultrasonic probe, 2 ... Transmission / reception circuit, 3 ... Image memory circuit, 4 ... Large capacity memory circuit, 5 ... Electrocardiogram electrode, 6 ... Display circuit, 7 ... Electrocardiogram R wave detection circuit, 8 ... 1 frame structure Time calculation circuit, 9 ... elapsed time calculation circuit, 10 ... recording condition memory circuit, 11 ... control circuit.

Claims (3)

A collection means for repeatedly collecting ultrasonic diagnostic images of a subject;
Detection means for detecting a biological signal;
Storage means for storing the ultrasonic diagnostic image repeatedly collected and the phase of the biological signal in association with each other;
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: a reproducing unit that selectively reads out and reproduces the ultrasonic diagnostic image having the same phase from the storage unit. A collection means for repeatedly collecting ultrasonic diagnostic images of a subject;
Detection means for detecting an electrocardiogram waveform signal;
Storage means for storing the ultrasonic diagnostic image repeatedly collected and the phase of the biological signal in association with each other;
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: a reproducing unit that selectively reads out and reproduces a plurality of ultrasonic diagnostic images corresponding to the same phase from the storage unit. A collection means for repeatedly collecting ultrasonic diagnostic images of a subject;
Detection means for detecting a biological signal;
Storage means for selectively storing the ultrasonic diagnostic images collected repeatedly according to recording conditions;
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising recording condition storage means for storing the recording condition when the recording condition is changed.

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