JP2009261493A - Ultrasonic diagnostic method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately diagnose hardness in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus by a so-called ultrasonic elastography method for combining the hardness of living tissue by a color and displaying it in tomographic images from reception signals (reflection echoes) before and after pressurizing an object with an ultrasonic probe. <P>SOLUTION: Separately from a region ROI1 of interest, a region ROI2 of non-interest to be the reference of hardness is set in the area of fixed hardness of a muscle or the like, the relative ratio of the distortion information before and after pressurization in respective pixels inside the region ROI1 of interest and the distortion information in the region ROI2 of non-interest to be the reference is obtained, and color display corresponding to the relative ratio is performed. Thus, it is not needed to include the living tissue to be the reference of the hardness in the region ROI1 of interest to be actually gazed, the region ROI1 of interest does not become large unnecessarily, and tissue distortion images are obtained just by analyzing a small data amount. Further, by being the relative ratio, even when the setting of the region of interest is varied by operators and diagnosing parts, etc., the hardness is accurately diagnosed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic method and apparatus called a so-called ultrasonic echo, in which an ultrasonic wave is incident on an imaging target and a two-dimensional tomographic image of the imaging target is captured from a reflected wave. The present invention relates to a so-called ultrasonic elastography method in which ultrasonic waves are transmitted and received while being pressed by an acoustic probe, and a tissue elasticity image is obtained to quantitatively measure the hardness of a living tissue.

  The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is a medical imaging device that non-invasively obtains a tomographic image of soft tissue in a living body from the body surface, transesophagus, transvaginal, nasal, enteral or the like. This ultrasonic diagnostic device is smaller and cheaper than other medical imaging devices, has no safety such as X-ray exposure, has high safety, and allows blood flow imaging by applying the Doppler effect. It is widely used in cardiovascular systems such as the heart and coronary arteries, gastrointestinal and other digestive systems, liver, pancreas, kidney, spleen, gallbladder and other internal medicine systems, prostate and bladder and other urological systems, and gynecological systems.

  In such an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, as a technique used to acquire biological information, an ultrasonic wave is radiated into the body, and reflected echoes at tissue boundaries having different acoustic impedances are intensity-modulated to obtain a two-dimensional tomographic image. Acoustic tomogram (B mode) method, A mode method for intensity-modulating the intensity of the reflected echo signal and displaying it according to the scanning position, M mode method for displaying the change of the reflection point with time as an image, and the Doppler of blood flow There is Doppler blood flow measurement that measures blood flow velocity using the effect.

  On the other hand, harmonic imaging diagnosis using harmonic signals is becoming a standard diagnostic modality because a clear diagnostic image that cannot be obtained by the conventional B-mode diagnosis is obtained. It is known that when an ultrasonic wave is reflected by a tissue in a living body, a harmonic component (harmonic component) corresponding to an integral multiple of the fundamental frequency is generated. Therefore, by extracting only this harmonic component and imaging it (this imaging is called harmonic imaging), the side lobe level is smaller than the fundamental wave, so the S / N is good and the contrast and resolution are good. The higher the frequency, the narrower the beam width, the better the lateral resolution, the lower the sound pressure at short distances, and the less the fluctuation of the sound pressure, the absence of multiple reflections, the attenuation beyond the focal point Is equivalent to the fundamental wave, and many effects can be obtained, such as a higher depth speed than an ultrasonic wave having a harmonic frequency as a fundamental wave.

  In addition to improving the image quality of each tomographic image, in the case of a circulatory system such as the heart and blood vessels and other organs with movement, the movement of the living tissue constituting the organ is observed as a tomographic image. Diagnosing the function of the organ in real time has been performed. In the case of an X-ray apparatus, this is a great merit of a non-invasive ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus over time because the amount of radiation exposure increases for long-term observation.

  In the observation of such movement, there is a field in which not only the tissue shape but also tissue hardness information, that is, an elastic characteristic is imaged and used for diagnosis. This is because the elastic properties of tissues are closely related to the pathological state. For example, sclerosing cancers such as breast cancer and thyroid cancer, and cirrhosis and arteriosclerosis are known to have harder lesions than normal tissues. This is because the accuracy of diagnosis can be improved not only by palpation by medical personnel but also by quantitatively obtaining hardness information.

  As a method for measuring the elastic property, a static pressure is applied from the body surface to slightly compress and deform the tissue (an extent that the ultrasonic probe is submerged 1 to 2 mm from the body surface), and the pressure is applied. In addition, a technique called ultrasonic elastography is used in which the strain inside the tissue is measured from the amount of movement (deviation) of the corresponding points in the previous and next tomographic images, and the elastic characteristics are evaluated from the strain. That is, even when the same pressure is applied, the strain generated in a hard tissue is small, and the strain is large in a soft tissue. Such an ultrasonic elastography method is simple and extremely useful in benign / malignant diagnosis of a biological disease, but at present, there is a technique dependence on image acquisition, and standardization of evaluation without individual differences is required. .

  Specifically, the elastography currently used in clinical practice is a relative strain distribution, and the average strain within a set ROI (Region of Interest) is green and harder than that. Is blue and soft is red. Therefore, if the ROI is set so as to surround the lesion part, the possibility of displaying in green, which is the average of the distortion in the ROI, is increased even if the tissue is actually hard. On the other hand, in order to accurately detect the difference in hardness between the lesioned part and the surrounding area, it is necessary to make the ROI sufficiently wide and include the surrounding normal tissue in the ROI. However, it is very inconvenient to narrow down the target lesion tissue and to observe and diagnose it, because the diagnostic visual field is restricted.

Here, in Patent Document 1, the ROI is moved while being enlarged or reduced as appropriate so that the center coordinates or center of gravity coordinates of the ROI coincide with the center coordinates or center of gravity coordinates of the tissue strain image in the ROI once set. A method of making the ROI follow the movement of the living body by moving is proposed.
JP 2007-125152 A

  In the method of Patent Document 1, the ROI is maintained at an appropriate size, but the hardness level is a relative comparison within the ROI as in the conventional case, and it is difficult to reach an accurate diagnosis. It is. Further, in the method of Patent Document 1, since the ROI is determined by analyzing the entire screen, there is a problem that it takes time to analyze a large amount of obtained data.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic method and apparatus capable of accurately diagnosing the level of tissue hardness in a region of interest (ROI) without unnecessarily increasing the amount of data to be analyzed. That is.

  The ultrasonic diagnostic method of the present invention presses a subject, transmits and receives ultrasonic waves before and after the pressing, reconstructs a tomographic image based on the received signal (reflection echo), and receives the signals before and after the pressing. In the ultrasonic diagnostic method for acquiring distortion information about the subject from a signal and creating an image in which the distortion information is added to the tomographic image, the region of interest to be watched and the interest within the ultrasonic reception range A non-interesting region for comparison reference that does not overlap the region, a step of acquiring the distortion information in the set region of interest and the non-interesting region, and a distortion information in the acquired non-interesting region in advance. Performing a predetermined calculation to obtain a reference value, and determining in advance between the distortion information in the region of interest such as a value obtained by dividing distortion information in the region of interest by the reference value and the reference value The results of calculation, characterized in that it comprises a step of adding to the tomographic image.

  The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention is based on an ultrasonic probe that presses a subject and transmits / receives ultrasonic waves before and after the pressing, and a reception signal (reflection echo) of the ultrasonic probe. An image processing unit that reconstructs a tomographic image, acquires distortion information about the subject from reception signals before and after the pressing, and creates an image in which the distortion information is added to the tomographic image; and the image processing A region of interest and a region of interest to be watched within an ultrasonic reception range of the ultrasonic probe on the display image of the display unit A non-interesting region for comparison reference that does not overlap with the image processing unit, the image processing unit acquires the distortion information in the region of interest and the non-interesting region set by the setting unit, and Acquired A reference value setting unit that obtains a reference value by performing a predetermined calculation on the distortion information in the non-interesting region, and a result of performing a predetermined calculation between the distortion information in the region of interest and the reference value in the tomographic image And an arithmetic processing unit to be added.

  According to the above configuration, the object is pressed by the ultrasonic probe, ultrasonic waves are transmitted / received from the ultrasonic probe before and after the pressing, and the image processing unit is based on the received signal (reflection echo) Reconstructs a tomographic image, acquires distortion information about the subject from reception signals before and after the pressing, creates an image in which the distortion information is added to the tomographic image, and displays it on a display unit. In the ultrasonic diagnostic method and apparatus using the ultrasonic elastography method, the setting unit is expected to include a lesioned part within the effective imaging region of the ultrasonic probe on the display image of the display unit, and gazes The region of interest and the region of interest do not overlap and are expected not to include a lesion, and set a non-region of interest for comparison and reference, and the image processing unit sets the region of interest and non-region set by the setting unit. In the area of interest The reference value setting unit obtains an average value for the obtained distortion information in the non-interest region, or obtains a value slightly larger than the minimum value compared with each other, etc. A predetermined calculation is performed to obtain a reference value, and the calculation processing unit performs a predetermined calculation between the distortion information in the region of interest such as a value obtained by dividing the reference value by the distortion information in the region of interest and the reference value. The result obtained is added to the tomographic image.

  Therefore, the region of interest (ROI) does not become unnecessarily large, so that it is possible to obtain a tissue strain image in the region of interest only by analyzing a small amount of data. It is not obtained by relative comparison of the amount of strain in the region of interest, but is compared with the amount of strain of tissue such as muscle in the non-region of interest separated from the region of interest. Even if the setting of the region of interest varies depending on the region or the like, the hardness level can be accurately diagnosed.

  Furthermore, in the ultrasonic diagnostic method of the present invention, the non-interest area is a muscle area.

  According to the above configuration, according to the experience of the inventor of the present application, the muscle has a constant hardness regardless of age or sex, and it is too hard to be a standard because it is too hard like a bone. Rather, it has a hardness between soft fat and a hard tumor. Also, muscles are generally difficult to form tumors.

  Therefore, it is suitable as a reference value.

  In the ultrasonic diagnostic method of the present invention, the reference value is a value slightly larger than a minimum value obtained by comparing distortion information in the non-interest region with each other.

  According to the above configuration, although the muscle hardness is relatively constant as described above, by using a value slightly larger than the minimum value in order to exclude the bone having the minimum value, The reference value can be set by excluding bones and the like included in the region of interest.

  Furthermore, in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention, the setting unit scans a region that does not overlap the region of interest within the ultrasonic reception range by the ultrasonic probe for each predetermined range, A region slightly larger than a region with the smallest distortion is set as the non-interest region.

  According to said structure, although the amount of calculations increases, the said non-interest area | region can be set automatically.

  As described above, the ultrasonic diagnostic method and apparatus of the present invention presses a subject with an ultrasonic probe, transmits and receives ultrasonic waves from the ultrasonic probe before and after the pressing, and receives a received signal ( The image processing unit reconstructs the tomographic image based on the reflection echo), acquires distortion information about the subject from the received signals before and after the pressing, and creates an image in which the distortion information is added to the tomographic image In the ultrasonic diagnostic method and apparatus based on the so-called ultrasonic elastography method to be displayed on the display unit, the setting unit on the display image of the display unit has a lesion in the effective imaging region of the ultrasonic probe. A region of interest to be observed and an area of interest that is not overlapped with the region of interest and is not expected to include a lesioned part, and sets a non-interesting region for comparison reference, and the image processing unit includes the setting unit Before set in The distortion information is acquired in the region of interest and the non-interest region, the reference value setting unit performs a predetermined calculation on the acquired distortion information in the non-region of interest to obtain a reference value, and the arithmetic processing unit A result obtained by performing a predetermined calculation between the distortion information and the reference value is added to the tomographic image.

  Therefore, the region of interest (ROI) does not become unnecessarily large, so that it is possible to obtain a tissue strain image in the region of interest only by analyzing a small amount of data. Rather than being obtained by relative comparison of the amount of strain in the region of interest, the comparison target is obtained by comparing with the amount of strain of tissue such as muscle in a non-region of interest separated from the region of interest. Even if the setting of the region of interest varies depending on the diagnosis site or the like, the hardness level can be accurately diagnosed.

[Embodiment 1]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 includes an ultrasonic probe 2, an ultrasonic transmission / reception unit (T / R) 3, an analog / digital conversion unit (ADC) 4, an image processing unit (DSP) 5, and a central processing unit (CPU). ) 6, an input operation unit 7, an image scanning unit (VDP) 8, an image display unit (TV) 9, and the like. In general, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 presses a living tissue of a subject with an ultrasonic probe 2, transmits and receives ultrasonic waves from the ultrasonic probe 2 before and after the pressing, and receives a received signal ( The image processing unit 5 reconstructs a tomographic image based on the reflected echo), acquires distortion information about the subject from the received signals before and after the pressing, and converts the elastic image based on the distortion information into the tomographic image. This is an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus using a so-called ultrasonic elastography method that creates an added image and displays it on the display unit 9.

  The strain information is information (elasticity value) indicating the hardness of the living tissue, and the living body tissue of the subject is slightly pressed by the ultrasonic probe 2 (the in-vivo direction is defined as the distance direction, and this direction is This is information obtained by dividing the displacement (deformation) amount obtained by spatial differentiation of the displacement distribution of the points inside the living tissue before and after pressing by the size of the living tissue. That is, the corresponding point of the image before and after pressing is searched, and the obtained displacement (movement) amount of the corresponding point is divided by the size of the corresponding point. If the living tissue is soft, the measured strain amount is The strain information is large and the strain information is large. When the living tissue is hard, the strain amount to be measured is small and the strain information is small.

  On the other hand, the elastic image is obtained by modulating the magnitude of the distortion information to a color tone, and is obtained by adding a color corresponding to hardness to the tomographic image. For example, a tissue with a large amount of strain (soft) is converted to “red”, and as the amount of strain decreases, it changes from red to orange, yellow, yellow-green, green, and blue, and the tissue with the least amount of strain (hard) Is converted to “dark blue”.

  The central processing unit 6 performs signal control and calculation in accordance with instructions input from the input operation unit 7. The input operation unit 7 is used by the operator to perform operations such as ROI region setting, numerical value input, and distortion rate analysis execution, which will be described later, and includes a keyboard, various switches, a trackball, a mouse, and the like. The central processing unit 6 also includes a storage unit (ROM, RAM, HDD, etc.) used in a process for performing calculations, a storage unit (database) for registering image information acquired by the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 3 and the like. ing.

  In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 configured as described above, it should be noted that in the present embodiment, from the input operation unit 7 via the image scanning unit 8 by an operator such as a doctor or a laboratory technician. On the image displayed on the display unit 9, a region of interest ROI1 that is expected to include a lesion portion within the effective imaging region 9a of the ultrasound probe 2 shown in FIG. The two regions ROI1 and ROI2 that are not overlapped with each other and are not expected to include a lesion portion and the non-interesting region ROI2 for comparison reference are input.

  As the effective imaging region 9a, for example, when a linear 7 MHz ultrasonic probe 2 having a width of 2 cm is used, for example, 9 cm in the distance direction (depth direction) and the azimuth direction as shown in FIG. Both have a sufficient area of 12 cm in the (scanning direction). Among them, as the region of interest ROI1, for example, in the case of breast cancer, 4 to 5 mm is a standard to be examined in detail as to whether or not it is a cancer, so a minimum of 0.5 to 1 cm and a maximum of 3 cm of a tumor that has grown Set to degree. On the other hand, the non-region of interest ROI2 is set to about 0.5 to 2 cm in order to capture a wide range of muscles as will be described later. The operator can arbitrarily specify the shapes and the like of these regions ROI1 and ROI2.

  Correspondingly, the image processing unit 5 phasing the ultrasonic signal sent from the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 3 and converting the received signal intensity into luminance to display the tomographic image (B-mode image). The tomographic image creation unit 5a to be created, the distortion calculation unit 5b that obtains distortion information from the ultrasonic signal sent from the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 3, and the elastic image obtained by color-modulating the calculated distortion information. A setting unit 5d, a reference value setting unit 5e, and an arithmetic processing unit 5f are provided in a normal ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus using the ultrasonic elastography method such as a color tone conversion unit 5c that is created and combined with the tomographic image. Provided.

  The setting unit 5d images a pointer or the like on the composite image and sets the regions ROI1 and ROI2 on the composite image. The reference value setting unit 5e acquires distortion information from the distortion calculation unit 5b for each pixel in the set non-interest region ROI2, and obtains an average value for the acquired distortion information or compares them with each other. Then, a predetermined calculation such as obtaining a value slightly larger than the minimum value is performed to obtain a reference value TH to be used as a reference for the hardness of the living tissue. The arithmetic processing unit 5f calculates in advance between the distortion information A in the region of interest ROI1 such as a value obtained by dividing the reference value TH by the distortion information A of each pixel in the region of interest ROI1 and the reference value TH. B is obtained as a result of the above. For example, if the reference value TH is 0.02 for muscle, the distortion information A is 0.002 and the calculation result B is 10 in the case of a malignant tumor.

  Here, in the normal ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus using the ultrasonic elastography method, the distortion information obtained by the distortion calculation unit 5b is input to the color tone conversion unit 5c. Instead, in the present embodiment, It should be noted that the calculation result B in the calculation processing unit 5f is input and the elastic image is created and added to the tomographic image. Note that the synthesis of the elastic image to the tomographic image may be performed in the image processing unit 5 or may be performed by the image scanning unit 8. FIG. 4 shows a procedure for creating a composite image by the ultrasonic elastography method according to the present embodiment as described above.

  Thus, by obtaining the hardness reference value TH from the non-interest region ROI2 different from the region of interest ROI1, and not including the living tissue for obtaining the reference value TH in the region of interest ROI1, The region of interest ROI1 does not become unnecessarily large, and therefore a tissue strain image in the region of interest ROI1 can be obtained by analyzing a small amount of data. For example, in a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in which the region of interest ROI is one and the relative ratio of hardness is required, the effective imaging region 9a is 15 × 15 cm, while the ROI is breast cancer screening. 5 × 5 cm and 7 × 7 cm in thyroid cancer screening (however, the above dimensions are those in the effective imaging area 9a, and the display screen size of the actual display unit 9 is 12 inches) The size of the ROI actually displayed differs depending on whether it is 14 inches or not).

  In the ultrasonic diagnostic method of the present invention, the reference value TH is a value slightly larger than the minimum value obtained by comparing distortion information in the non-interest region ROI2 with each other. The reference value TH can be set by excluding bones included in the ROI 2.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, the obtained tissue strain image is not obtained by relative comparison of the strain amount in the region of interest ROI1, but is a non-region of interest in which the comparison target is separated from the region of interest ROI1. Since it is obtained by comparison with the strain amount of the tissue such as muscle in the ROI 2, even if the setting of the region of interest ROI1 varies depending on the operator, the diagnosis site, etc., the hardness level can be diagnosed accurately. In addition, an inappropriate compression amount and compression speed cause false negatives and reduce the accuracy of diagnosis. On the other hand, as in the present embodiment, the hardness of the two regions ROI1 and ROI2 is relatively compared. Therefore, the user can easily recognize such an inappropriate operation and perform an appropriate operation.

  On the other hand, FIG. 3 is a graph showing the relationship between the pressing force and the strain of each biological tissue. Among the biological tissues in this graph, the cysts with water and mucus are the softest, fat cells, muscles, benign tumors, various malignant tumors 1 and 2 are hard in this order, the bones are too hard, and almost no deformation It has become. Here, in the above-described wide search range (= the effective imaging area 9a) by the ultrasonic probe 2, bones, muscles, fat cells and the like are often reflected. For example, in the case of a breast, it is a rib, a great pectoral muscle, fat, etc.

  Therefore, the inventor of the present application may slightly change the hardness due to fatigue or the like among these biological tissues, but under certain conditions such as a medical examination, the hardness may not change so much due to the difference between gender. Focusing on muscles that have been obtained through experience and are unlikely to cause lesions, the non-interesting region ROI2 for comparison and reference that is expected not to include a lesioned portion is used as a muscle region, for example, in the case of a breast, a large deformation is small. The pectoral muscle is set, and the hardness reference value TH obtained as described above is set to the muscle hardness. As a result, the bone is not too hard to be used as a reference, and it is possible to distinguish soft fat from a hard tumor, which is suitable as the reference value TH.

[Embodiment 2]
FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining functions in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the configuration of the above-described ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 can be used, and only the function of the setting unit 5d in the image processing unit 5 is different. That is, in the above-described embodiment, although the non-interest region ROI2 is set by the operator (specifically, a gray solid region is searched in the tomographic image), in the present embodiment, the setting unit 5d The effective imaging area 9a is swept and automatically set. Specifically, the setting unit 5d divides the effective imaging region 9a into regions having a size corresponding to the non-region of interest ROI2 of 1 × 1 cm, for example, in a portion not related to the region of interest ROI1. As shown in FIG. 6, the distortion information is acquired from the distortion calculation unit 5b, the obtained data are compared with each other, and the next value of the minimum value excluding the bone 0.00 is set as the reference value setting unit. 5e is set as the reference value TH, and the region is set as the non-interest region ROI2. The distortion information in the predetermined divided area of 1 × 1 cm may be obtained from the average value of each pixel in the area, and the maximum value, the minimum value, or the most frequently used value may be used. .

  In FIG. 6, code numbers such as # 1, # 2,... #N, # (n + 1),..., #N of ROI-2 are designated for each divided region, and the distortion calculation unit 5b. Thus, distortion information in each divided area is sequentially read out and stored in association with the code number. When this process is completed until the last divided region #N, the minimum value 0.01 is excluded from 0.00 of the bone, and the next value 0.02 is set as the reference value TH. The divided area # (n + 1) is set as the non-interest area ROI2. When there are a plurality of divided regions having the same value in the distortion information, it is preferable to set the central region of the portion where the divided regions having the same value gather most as the non-interest region ROI2.

  With this configuration, the amount of calculation in the setting unit 5d increases, but a region with good reproducibility of distortion can be automatically determined and set in the non-interest region ROI2. Further, by using a value slightly larger than the minimum value as the reference value TH, the reference value TH can be set by excluding bones and the like.

  In addition, the setting unit 5d does not automatically set the non-interest region ROI2, but, for example, in the example of FIG. 6, the divided region # (n + 1) having the distortion information value of 0.02 is the reference value. When TH is displayed in a color display frame (for example, yellow) and the operator sees the screen and judges that it is not desirable in a region where bones and the like are mixed, the next rejection (N judgment) These areas may be set semi-automatically, such that the corresponding area is displayed in a color frame and repeated until it is confirmed (Y judgment).

  By configuring in this way, the operator can obtain an elastic image related to the hardness information obtained by setting a value that can be accepted by the operator as the reference value TH, thereby enabling a flexible diagnosis. . This is because cancer is said to be harder than normal tissue in terms of the hardness of living tissue, but the harder it is, the less it is not cancer, and the calcification may be hard but benign. It is preferable that the setting of the reference value TH and the non-interest area ROI2 has a degree of freedom as described above. In addition, other information such as whether the shape of the diseased tissue is jagged and irregular is also useful for diagnosis, and by performing the diagnosis in combination with the shape recognition in the region of interest ROI1 and the hardness information. The accuracy of diagnosis can be further improved.

1 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. On the echo screen, it is a diagram for explaining a region of interest that is expected to include a lesion part and a non-interest region for comparison reference that is expected not to include a lesion part set in the present invention. is there. It is a graph which shows the relationship between pressing force and distortion of each biological tissue. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the preparation procedure of the synthesized image by the ultrasonic elastography method of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the function in the ultrasonic diagnosing device which concerns on other embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the function in the ultrasonic diagnosing device which concerns on other embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1 Ultrasonic diagnostic device 2 Ultrasonic probe 3 Ultrasonic transceiver (T / R)
4 Analog / digital converter (ADC)
5 Image processing unit (DSP)
5a Tomographic image creation unit 5b Distortion calculation unit 5c Color tone conversion unit 5d Setting unit 5e Reference value setting unit 5f Calculation processing unit 6 Central calculation processing unit (CPU)
7 Input operation unit 8 Image scanning unit (VDP)
9 Image display (TV)
9a Effective imaging region ROI1 Region of interest ROI2 Non-region of interest

Claims (5)

Pressing the subject, transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves before and after the pressing, reconstructing a tomographic image based on the received signal, obtaining distortion information about the subject from the received signals before and after the pressing, In an ultrasonic diagnostic method for creating an image in which distortion information is added to the tomographic image,
Setting a region of interest to be watched and a non-region of interest for comparison reference that does not overlap the region of interest within the ultrasound reception range;
Obtaining the distortion information in the set region of interest and non-region of interest;
Obtaining a reference value by performing a predetermined calculation on the distortion information in the acquired non-interest area;
And adding a result obtained by performing a predetermined calculation between the distortion information in the region of interest and the reference value to the tomographic image.   The ultrasonic diagnostic method according to claim 1, wherein the non-interest region is a muscle region.   The ultrasonic diagnostic method according to claim 1, wherein the reference value is a value slightly larger than a minimum value obtained by comparing distortion information in the non-interest area with each other. An ultrasonic probe that presses the subject and transmits and receives ultrasonic waves before and after the pressing;
An image obtained by reconstructing a tomogram based on the reception signal of the ultrasonic probe, acquiring distortion information about the subject from the reception signals before and after the pressing, and adding the distortion information to the tomogram An image processing unit for creating
A display unit for displaying a created image by the image processing unit;
A setting unit configured to set a region of interest to be watched and a non-interesting region for comparison reference that does not overlap the region of interest within the ultrasonic reception range of the ultrasonic probe on the display image of the display unit; Prepared,
The image processing unit acquires the distortion information in the region of interest and non-interest region set by the setting unit, and further performs a predetermined calculation on the acquired distortion information in the non-interest region to obtain a reference value An ultrasonic diagnosis, comprising: a reference value setting unit for obtaining a calculation result; and a calculation processing unit for adding a result of a predetermined calculation between distortion information in the region of interest and the reference value to the tomographic image. apparatus.   The setting unit scans a region that does not overlap the region of interest within the ultrasonic reception range of the ultrasonic probe for each predetermined range, and sets a region slightly larger than the region with the smallest distortion to the region. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is set in a non-interest area.

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