JP3105952B2 - Ultrasound diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

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, and more particularly, to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus effective for diagnosing diseases such as aneurysm and arteriosclerosis by the Doppler method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, in a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus utilizing the Doppler effect, a blood flow velocity at a specific site is measured, and this distribution is displayed on a monitor. In this ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, as shown in FIG. 2, an ultrasonic wave is transmitted from the probe 10 to a specific portion of the diagnostic unit, and the ultrasonic wave is reflected by the Doppler effect proportional to the velocity of blood cell movement. Are received by the probe 10. The probe 10 that has received the reflected echo converts the reflected echo into a detection signal, outputs the signal to the transmission / reception circuit 11, and outputs the digital signal to the blood flow calculation circuit 13 via the A / D conversion circuit 12. The blood flow calculation circuit 13 calculates average blood flow data and tomographic data based on the input detection signal, and outputs the data to the monitor 1 via a digital scan converter (DSC) 14.
5 is output. The monitor 15 displays, for example, blood flow data on a CRT screen or a tomographic image based on the input data.

[0003]

In a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, an ultrasonic wave transmitted from a probe receives a reflected echo due to the Doppler effect caused by the movement of blood cells in blood, and the signal is detected as a detection signal. A blood flow calculation circuit calculates an average blood flow, obtains blood flow data or tomographic data, and displays an image of a blood flow velocity or a tomographic image.

However, it is extremely difficult with this ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus to measure changes in the mechanical properties of the blood vessel wall caused by diseases such as aneurysm and arteriosclerosis.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided an ultrasonic probe which transmits ultrasonic waves perpendicularly to a pulsating blood vessel and receives a reflected echo generated by the Doppler effect. Based on the detection signal detected by the ultrasonic probe, the acceleration and t / T (where T is the
Indicates the time of one cycle of wall inflation and deflation, where t is the vasodilation
Indicates time. ) To diagnose arteriosclerosis or artery sclerosis
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising an arithmetic means for enabling

[0006]

According to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention, an ultrasonic probe which transmits ultrasonic waves perpendicularly to a pulsating blood vessel wall and receives a reflected echo generated by the Doppler effect, and a detection signal detected by the ultrasonic probe , The reflected signal of the change in the mechanical property of the blood vessel wall can be measured, and the acceleration of the change in the mechanical property of the blood vessel wall can be measured based on the reflected signal. A disease relating to a blood vessel can be determined from the acceleration.

[0007]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is an overall schematic configuration diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the ultrasonic probe 1
For example, a vibrator and a driving device are provided, and the ultrasonic wave transmitted from the vibrator driven by the driving device is transmitted perpendicularly to a pulsating blood vessel, and reflected by the Doppler effect on the pulsating blood vessel wall. The echo is received by the vibrator, the reflected echo is converted into a detection signal which is an electric signal, and the detection signal is output to the memory 3 via the A / D conversion circuit 2. The memory 3 stores a digital detection signal, samples necessary data from the stored data, or outputs all data to a frequency analyzer (FFT) 4. Frequency analyzer (FFT) 4
Performs processing such as removing noise and unnecessary data by analyzing the frequency of the data in the memory 3, extracts data necessary for analyzing the contraction and relaxation movement of the blood vessel wall, and sends it to the acceleration calculation circuit 5. Output. The acceleration calculation circuit 6 calculates the acceleration at the time of expansion or contraction of the blood vessel wall, the blood vessel expansion time (t) in one cycle (T) of expansion and contraction of the blood vessel wall from the data on the contraction and relaxation movement of the blood vessel wall, The calculation result is output. The image processing circuit 6 can convert the acceleration or t / T output from the acceleration calculation circuit 5 into an image signal and output it, and can also convert the signal output from the FFT 4 into an image signal and output it. I can do it. The monitor 8 converts the image signal passed through the D / A conversion circuit 7 into data,
Graphs and the like can be displayed.

Next, the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus will be described.

An ultrasonic wave is transmitted from a vibrator driven by the operation of a driving device in the ultrasonic probe 1. At this time,
As shown in FIG. 5, an ultrasonic wave is transmitted so that the blood vessel 23 at the diagnosis site is irradiated vertically. The transmitted ultrasound is reflected by the blood vessel wall due to the Doppler effect and becomes a reflected echo,
The ultrasonic wave is received by the ultrasonic probe 1 and output as a detection signal. This detection signal is converted into a digital signal via the A / D conversion circuit 2 and input to the memory 3. Memory 3
Is output to the FFT 4 in response to a command from the CPU 9. The FFT 4 analyzes the frequency of the input detection signal, removes noise and unnecessary data, and outputs data on the contraction and relaxation of the blood vessel wall. This data is processed by the image processing circuit 6 and can be displayed on a monitor as shown in FIG. When the signal output from the FFT 4 is input to the acceleration calculation circuit 5, it calculates the acceleration and t / T, and outputs the calculation result as a data signal. The signal output from the acceleration calculation circuit 5 is converted into a video signal by the image processing circuit 6 and the D / A conversion circuit 7
After that, an image is displayed on the monitor 8 as shown in FIG. The signal output from the FFT 4 is similarly converted by the image processing circuit 6 and can be displayed as shown in FIG.

The acceleration 16, negative acceleration 17 and t / T18 shown in FIG. 4 obtained as described above can be used as diagnostic parameters for diagnosing pathological diseases of blood vessels such as aneurysms and arteriosclerosis. .

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be appropriately modified and implemented within the scope of the present invention.

[0013]

According to the present invention, it is possible to measure the change in the mechanical properties of the blood vessel wall and calculate the change speed to use the obtained acceleration as an evaluation parameter for diagnosis. It is possible to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that is effective for the diagnosis of the above.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall schematic configuration diagram of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an example of an overall configuration diagram of a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a graph showing a mechanical deformation speed of a blood vessel wall obtained according to an example of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing an acceleration obtained by calculating a deformation speed obtained according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing how a probe is applied to a blood vessel, which is a diagnostic site, in one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ultrasonic probe 2 A / D conversion circuit 3 Memory 4 FFT 5 Acceleration calculation circuit 6 Image processing circuit 7 D / A conversion circuit 8 Monitor 9 CPU 10 Probe 11 Transmitting and receiving circuit 12 A / D conversion circuit 13 Blood flow calculation circuit 14 DSC 15 monitor 16 acceleration 17 acceleration 18 t / T 19 acceleration 20 acceleration 21 t / T 22 probe 23 blood vessel at diagnostic site

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An ultrasonic probe for transmitting an ultrasonic wave perpendicularly to a pulsating blood vessel and receiving a reflected echo generated by the Doppler effect, and a blood vessel wall based on a detection signal detected by the ultrasonic probe. Acceleration and t / T in the pulsation of the blood vessel caused by the change in mechanical properties (where T is the blood vessel
Indicates the time of one cycle of wall inflation and deflation, where t is the vasodilation
Indicates time. ) To diagnose arteriosclerosis or artery sclerosis
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising: an arithmetic unit that enables the operation .