JP2538251Y2 - Two-dimensional transducer array type ultrasonic probe - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an ultrasonic probe, and particularly to an arrangement structure of transducers in an ultrasonic probe.

2. Description of the Related Art There is known an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that transmits an ultrasonic wave into a living body, receives a reflected wave from the living body, and displays a tomographic image or a blood flow image.

In this ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, the transmission and reception of the ultrasonic waves are performed by an ultrasonic probe having an ultrasonic vibrator. For example, the ultrasonic probe abuts on the surface of the abdominal body and the data of the data is transmitted. Capture is taking place.

By the way, the present applicant has proposed a blood flow image projection display device that displays a projection image of a blood flow in a living body using the above-described ultrasonic waves.

This blood flow image projection display device uses the ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler method to extract information of the in-vivo moving part as Doppler information and displays a blood flow image in a three-dimensional region in the living body as a two-dimensional projected image. Is what you do.

Therefore, according to this blood flow image projection display device, it is possible to display blood flow information in a three-dimensional region in a living body, which cannot be displayed by a conventional ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic device, There is an advantage that the running state of the blood flow can be quickly and easily displayed without causing pain or discomfort to the living body due to X-ray imaging using a contrast agent.

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] However, in the blood flow image projection display apparatus using the above-described ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler method, it is necessary to obtain Doppler information in a three-dimensional region in a living body. Since the data acquisition area of the ultrasonic probe is a two-dimensional, for example, fan-shaped area, there is a problem that such a conventional ultrasonic probe cannot accurately and quickly acquire three-dimensional data. Was.

In particular, in the continuous wave Doppler method, it is necessary to separately provide a transmitting oscillator and a receiving oscillator, and therefore, a supersonic wave Doppler method that can be used in a blood flow image projection display device using the continuous wave Doppler method. An acoustic probe was desired.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to transmit a continuous wave of ultrasonic waves to a three-dimensional region in a living body and capture Doppler information in the region at a time. An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic probe.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an ultrasonic probe for a continuous wave Doppler that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves in contact with a living body. A plurality of transmission / reception vibrator portions each comprising a plurality of reception vibrators arranged in a circle around the transmission vibrator so as to surround the transmission vibrator; In the vibrator portion, each of the plurality of receiving beams formed by the plurality of receiving oscillators is set to be inclined so as to intersect at a same point with the transmitting beam formed by the transmitting oscillator. In each of the transmitting and receiving oscillators, a reflected wave of the ultrasonic wave transmitted from the transmitting oscillator is received by the plurality of receiving oscillators, and the transmission beam of each of the transmitting and receiving oscillators is Formed in parallel with each other, thereby forming a three-dimensional data acquisition area. And features.

[Operation] According to the above configuration, the continuous ultrasonic wave transmitted from the transmitting oscillator is subjected to a Doppler shift in a living body and is subjected to a plurality of receiving oscillators arranged in the vicinity of the transmitting oscillator. Received.

Since the transmitting and receiving transducers are arranged two-dimensionally, Doppler information in a three-dimensional region in a living body can be captured at a time by simultaneously transmitting and receiving waves of each transmitting and receiving transducer. Becomes

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of a two-dimensional transducer array type ultrasonic probe according to the present invention.

In the figure, the ultrasonic probe 50 is provided with an acoustic lens 52 for focusing an ultrasonic wave on the subject contact surface, and further, inside the acoustic lens 52, a part of the figure is shown. As shown in a broken view, a two-dimensionally arranged vibrator group 54 composed of a transmitting vibrator and a receiving vibrator is formed.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the vibrator group 54 (the part of FIG. 1 II) shown in FIG. 1. In the present embodiment, the vibrator group 54 is a vibrator arranged in a honeycomb shape. Consists of children.

The arrangement of the vibrator according to the present embodiment will be further described with reference to FIG. The transducer group 54 is composed of a plurality of transmission / reception transducer groups 20, as shown in FIG.

The transmission / reception transducer group 20 includes a transmission transducer 10 and six reception transducers 12 surrounding the transmission transducer 10.

FIG. 4 shows a transmitting oscillator 10 and a receiving oscillator 12.
Are respectively shown the transmission beam and the reception beam.
In the figure, two of the six wave receiving transducers are shown.

As shown in FIG. 4, the receiving beam is set so as to overlap the transmitting beam at a predetermined focus point, and in this embodiment, the transmitting oscillator is used.
The beam direction is determined by slightly tilting the receiving oscillator 12 with respect to 10.

That is, the Doppler information in the hatched areas 110 and 120 shown in the figure, which is the area where the transmitted beam and the received beam overlap, is captured by each of the received transducers 12.

Here, a structure may be provided in which the beams of the transmitting oscillator 10 and the receiving oscillator 12 are parallel to each other, and an acoustic lens interposed between each oscillator and the living body performs beam deflection. This is preferable, and an operation equivalent to the focusing shown in FIG. 4 can be obtained.

Therefore, the ultrasonic waves continuously transmitted from each transmitting oscillator 10 are reflected by receiving a Doppler shift in the moving part in the living body, and the receiving oscillators disposed around the transmitting oscillator 10 respectively. It will be received almost simultaneously at 12, by transmitting and receiving all the transmitting and receiving transducer group 20 at the same time,
For example, it is possible to obtain Doppler information in the data capturing area V shown in FIG. Here, B is the data capturing direction B of the transmitting / receiving transducer group 20, and the beam is perpendicular to the subject contact surface so that the data capturing directions of the respective transmitting / receiving transducer groups 20 are parallel to each other. A direction is formed.

The blood flow image projection apparatus using the above-described ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler method determines the presence or absence of the blood flow in the data capturing area V and the speed thereof from the Doppler information in the data capturing area V shown in FIG. To form a projected image, for example, to provide a display as shown in FIG.

As described above, according to the two-dimensional transducer array type ultrasonic probe according to the present invention, a continuous ultrasonic wave is simultaneously transmitted into a three-dimensional region, which has not been conventionally possible, and the Doppler in that region is transmitted. Information can be captured, and for example, a receiving circuit and a Doppler analysis circuit are provided for each transducer, and processing of the received signals is performed in parallel. In particular, it is possible to realize the three-dimensional data acquisition in the blood flow image projection apparatus using the ultrasonic continuous wave Doppler method.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the two-dimensional transducer array type ultrasonic probe according to the present invention, continuous waves of ultrasonic waves can be transmitted to a three-dimensional region in a living body at one time. It is possible to capture Doppler information in a three-dimensional area.

In particular, it is possible to provide a useful ultrasonic probe applicable to a blood flow image projection apparatus using a continuous wave Doppler method, an ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic apparatus for performing three-dimensional Doppler analysis, and the like.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view showing the appearance of a two-dimensional transducer array type ultrasonic probe according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a structural view showing the arrangement of transducers, and FIG. 3 is a transmitting transducer and receiving wave. FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing the arrangement of transducers, FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing data areas captured by a transmitting transducer and a receiving transducer, and FIG. 5 is data captured by an ultrasonic probe according to the present invention. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example when the ultrasonic probe according to the present invention is applied to a blood flow image projection apparatus. 10: Transmitting transducer 12: Receiving transducer 20: Transmitting / receiving transducer group 50: Two-dimensional transducer array type ultrasonic probe 54 ... Transducer group V: Data acquisition area

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] An ultrasonic probe for continuous wave Doppler for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves in contact with a living body, comprising: a transmitting oscillator, and surrounding the transmitting oscillator in the vicinity of the transmitting oscillator. A plurality of receiving / transmitting vibrators formed of a plurality of receiving vibrators arranged in a circle as described above are two-dimensionally arranged, and each of the transmitting / receiving vibrator portions is formed by the plurality of receiving vibrators. Each of the plurality of receiving beams is set to be inclined so as to intersect at a same point with the transmitting beam formed by the transmitting oscillator. The reflected waves of the waved ultrasonic waves are received by the plurality of receiving transducers, and the transmitting beams of the transmitting and receiving transducer units are formed in parallel with each other, thereby forming a three-dimensional data capturing area. A two-dimensional transducer array type ultrasonic probe, characterized in that: