JP3220798B2 - 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 for obtaining an ultrasonic image of a diagnostic region of a subject using ultrasonic waves, and in particular, to extract a motion component of a moving region such as a blood vessel or heart. and the difference image and the other ultrasonic image relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of displaying simultaneously side by side on the same screen of the image display means.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional general ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus receives a reflected wave from the inside of a subject and displays a tomographic image of one section. The ultrasonic wave is emitted in a fixed direction and reflected by time. Displaying point changes as a one-dimensional image (hereinafter referred to as "M image"), detecting continuous wave Doppler or pulse Doppler or color flow mapping by detecting the frequency shift of the reflected wave subjected to Doppler shift by the moving part There is one that converts an image into a Doppler image and the like. And these functions were combined with one or more.

An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having a function of drawing a differential image which has been proposed and developed in recent years is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 62-189054. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus described in this publication uses ultrasonic transmitting / receiving means (probe and ultrasonic transmitting / receiving unit) for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from a subject, and uses a reflected echo signal from the ultrasonic transmitting / receiving means. Scanning means (digital scan converter) which repeatedly obtains tomographic image data in a subject including a moving part at a predetermined period, and calculates a difference between time-series images obtained by the tomographic scanning means and obtains a difference image between them. It has a means for generating data (difference processor) and an image display means (television monitor) for displaying the difference image data from the difference image data generation means. In this case, if the moving part in the subject moves during the time lapse of capturing the image of the previous scan and the image of the current scan in the time-series images obtained by the tomographic scanning means, the moving part For, there is a difference in the image data between the previous image and the current image, and for the still part, the image data is the same between the two images, the difference data becomes zero, and only the moving part is displayed as an image.

[0004]

However, a conventional general ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus uses only a tomographic image for a diagnostic site.
Alternatively, only a combination of the tomographic image and the M image or the continuous wave Doppler image, the pulse Doppler image, the color flow mapping image, or the like is displayed. Further, in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that can develop a motion component of a moving part developed recently, only a difference image obtained by performing a difference operation between two time-series tomographic images has been displayed. That is, a general ultrasound image and a difference image cannot be displayed side by side on the same screen. Therefore, the comparative observation of various ultrasonic images of the diagnostic site and the difference image displaying the moving site cannot be performed smoothly. For this reason, it is difficult to understand the state of movement of the moving part in the entire diagnostic part, and it is difficult to make a diagnosis.

Accordingly, the present invention addresses such a problem and provides an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus which can simultaneously display a difference image and other ultrasonic images side by side on the same screen of an image display means. The purpose is to do.

[0006]

To achieve the above object, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention transmits an ultrasonic signal into a subject and receives an ultrasonic signal reflected from the subject. Ultrasonic transmitting and receiving means, and a tomographic image generating means for obtaining tomographic image data using the received ultrasonic signal,
M image generating means for obtaining an M image by using the received ultrasonic signal as a one-dimensional image of a change in a reflection point due to time, and a Doppler image by detecting a frequency shift of a reflected wave subjected to a Doppler shift by a moving part. At least one of the Doppler image generating means for obtaining the image data, means for generating difference image data between the time-series tomographic image data from the tomographic image generating means, and image data from the respective image generating means and the differential image data generating means. In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having image display means for displaying
The image data obtained by each of the above image generating means is stored.
A plurality of image storage means, these image storage means and
Import image data from the difference image data generation means
Look, these image data, the screen of the image display means up and down, on the left and right by dividing into plural divided into a plurality of areas, a number of areas adjacent the difference image data generated by the difference image data generating means Allocating the tomographic image data used in the difference image data generating means to one of the other areas, and further allocating at least one of the M image and Doppler image data from each of the image generating means to the other area. And stores the image data for each of the above areas.
Storage means for reading out and sending out to the image display means
And a step .

[0007]

The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus thus constructed transmits an ultrasonic signal into the subject by the ultrasonic transmitting / receiving means, receives an ultrasonic signal reflected from the subject, and receives the received ultrasonic signal. Tomographic image data is generated by a tomographic image generating means using a sound wave signal, a change in a reflection point due to time is made into a one-dimensional image by an M image generating means, and an M image is generated. Detecting a frequency shift of the received reflected wave to generate a Doppler image, generating differential image data between time-series tomographic image data from the tomographic image generating means by a differential image data generating means, Displays the image data from each of the image generation means and the difference image data generation means, and displays the image data obtained by each of the image generation means.
Are stored in a plurality of image storage means, respectively, and these images are stored.
Image data from the storage means and the difference image data generation means.
Data into the display storage means, and the display storage means
These image data are divided into a plurality of areas by dividing the screen of the image display means vertically and horizontally into a plurality of areas, and assigning the difference image data generated by the difference image data generation means to a plurality of adjacent areas, Further, the tomographic image data used in the difference image data generating means is allocated to one of the other areas, and at least one of the M image and Doppler image data from each of the image generating means is allocated to the other area and stored. And the image data is stored in each of the above areas.
And sends it to the image display means . Thereby, the difference image assigned to the two adjacent areas, the tomographic image used to generate the difference image,
Furthermore, the M image or the Doppler image can be displayed side by side on the same screen of the image display means.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 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 an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention. This ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus obtains a difference image for a diagnostic site of a subject using ultrasonic waves, obtains other ultrasonic images, and can simultaneously display the combined images on the same screen.
The probe 1 includes an ultrasonic pulse or an ultrasonic continuous wave in the subject.
Etc. , and reflected from within the subject.
Although it is not shown in the figure, a vibrator which receives the reflected echo and which is a source of the ultrasonic wave is built therein, although not shown. Also, the ultrasonic transmitting and receiving circuit 2
Transmits a driving pulse to the probe 1 to generate an ultrasonic wave and processes a received reflected echo signal. Although not shown, the transmission pulser and the transmission delay circuit are included therein. , A receiving amplifier, a receiving delay circuit, and an adder. The probe 1 and the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2 constitute an ultrasonic transmission / reception unit.

The detection circuit 3 receives the reflected echo signal output from the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2 and performs envelope detection. The A / D converter 4 converts the analog reflected echo signal output from the detection circuit 3 into a digital signal. The first arithmetic circuit 5 forms an image using an output signal from the A / D converter 4 and includes a plurality of known line memories, a data interpolation circuit, a zoom circuit, and the like. Become. Further, the first image memory 6 is for writing and reading the image data output from the first arithmetic circuit 5 for each scanning line or a plurality of scanning lines of the ultrasonic beam. The tomographic image data of one section obtained by scanning the emitting direction of the ultrasonic beam in a plane by the ultrasonic transmitting and receiving circuit 2 is stored. Then, these detection circuit 3, an A / D converter 4, constitute a tomographic image generator means for obtaining a tomographic image data of one cross section in the subject in a first operational circuit 5. Also,
One image memory 6 stores a tomographic image obtained by the tomographic image generating means.
An image storage unit for storing data.

The second image memory 7 writes and reads the image data output from the first arithmetic circuit 5, and the probe 1 and the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2 determine the direction of emission of the ultrasonic beam. The change in the reflection point with time in a fixed direction is stored as a one-dimensional image (M image). The detection circuit 3 and the A / D converter 4
When constitute a M image generation means for obtaining a one-dimensional image of a certain direction of the time series in the subject in a first operational circuit 5. Ma
The second image memory 7 stores the image obtained by the M image generating means.
An image storage unit for storing image data.

The reference signal generating circuit 8 generates a reference signal for detecting a Doppler shift frequency by a CW circuit 9, a PW circuit 12, and a CFM circuit 15 in a Doppler image generating means to be described later. , PW circuit 12, CFM
The reference signal is sent to an analog mixer in the circuit 15.

The CW circuit 9 receives a reflected echo signal output from the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2, transmits a continuous ultrasonic wave into the subject, and receives a Doppler shifted reflected wave by a specific moving part. And comprises a known analog mixer, a band-pass filter, and a frequency analysis circuit. The second arithmetic circuit 10 forms an image using a signal of a Doppler shift frequency (hereinafter, referred to as “Doppler shift signal”) output from the CW circuit 9, and is a known A / D converter. , A plurality of line memories for temporarily storing image data from the A / D converter, a data interpolation circuit, and the like. Further, the third image memory 1
Reference numeral 1 denotes a unit for writing and reading image data output from the second arithmetic circuit 10, which stores continuous wave Doppler image data obtained by transmitting an ultrasonic continuous wave into a subject. I have. Then, with the CW circuit 9 constitute a generator of a continuous wave Doppler image by the second arithmetic circuit 10. The third image memory 11 stores the continuous wave
Image storage means for storing image data obtained by means of
It becomes a step.

Next, the PW circuit 12 receives the reflected echo signal output from the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2, transmits an ultrasonic pulse into the subject, and receives a Doppler shift by a specific moving part. It detects the frequency shift of the reflected wave,
It comprises a known analog mixer, a low-pass filter, a sample-and-hold circuit, a band-pass filter, and a frequency analysis circuit. Further, the third arithmetic circuit 13 calculates the PW
An image is formed using the Doppler shift signal output from the circuit 12, and includes a known A / D converter, a plurality of line memories for temporarily storing image data from the A / D converter, And an interpolation circuit. Further, the fourth image memory 14 writes and reads the image data output from the third arithmetic circuit 13, and stores pulse Doppler image data obtained by transmitting an ultrasonic pulse into the subject. It has become. Then, constitute the above PW circuit 12, the generation means pulsed Doppler image in the third arithmetic circuit 13. In addition, the fourth image memory 14
Stores image data obtained by this pulse Doppler image generation means
This is an image storage unit that performs the operation.

Next, the CFM circuit 15 receives the reflected echo signal output from the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2, transmits an ultrasonic pulse into the subject, and receives a reflected wave which has undergone a Doppler shift by a moving part. The color shift of the data obtained while detecting the frequency shift of the known, analog mixer, low-pass filter, sample and hold circuit, band-pass filter, frequency analysis circuit, color encoder and Consists of Further, the fourth arithmetic circuit 16 calculates the CF
A color flow mapping image is formed by using the Doppler shift signal output from the M circuit 15.
An A / D converter, a plurality of line memories for temporarily storing image data from the A / D converter, a data interpolation circuit, and the like. Further, the fifth image memory 17 is for writing and reading the image data output from the fourth arithmetic circuit 16, and is a two-dimensional image obtained by two-dimensionally scanning the subject with ultrasonic pulses. The data of the color flow mapping image is stored. And the above CF
And M circuit 15 constitute a means for generating a color flow mapping image of the two-dimensional in the fourth arithmetic circuit 16. Also,
The fifth image memory 17 stores the two-dimensional color
Image storing image data obtained by means for generating a ping image
It becomes storage means.

The sixth image memory 18 is for writing and reading the image data output from the fourth arithmetic circuit 16. The sixth image memory 18 is a one-dimensional one-dimensional image of the color flow mapping image obtained as described above. Is moved with time to store data to be displayed. And
And the CFM circuit 15 constitute a means for generating a one-dimensional color flow mapping image in a fourth arithmetic circuit 16. The sixth image memory 18 stores the one-dimensional color.
-Record the image data obtained by the flow mapping image generation means.
It becomes an image storage means to remember.

The seventh image memory 19 and the eighth image memory 20 write and read out one-section tomographic image data output from the first arithmetic circuit 5 similarly to the above-described first image memory 6. It stores tomographic image data of different time phases among a plurality of time-series images. These seventh and eighth image memories 19,
The tomographic image data stored in the memory 20 is stored in a controller 29 described later.
Is specified by Further, the difference processor 21 is a means for performing a difference operation between two time-series tomographic image data once or twice to generate the difference image data thereof.
The tomographic image data of different time phases read from the seventh and eighth image memories 19 and 20 are fetched and subtracted in correspondence with the pixel addresses.

The image memories 6, 7,
11, 14, 17, 18, 19, and 20, the write and read states are controlled by the first address control circuit 22 as needed, and a read address and a write address are input.

The display memory 23 includes the difference processor 21
, The tomographic image data from the image memory 6, and the image memories 7, 11, 14, 17, 18
Any one or more of the image data from capture,
These image data are displayed on the screen of the display 28 described later.
Divided into multiple areas, divided into lower, left and right
Then, the difference image data generated by the difference processor 21 is
Assigned to a plurality of adjacent areas, and the difference processor 2
Divide the tomographic image data used in 1 into one of the other areas
Each of the image memories 7, 11, 14, 17, 17
At least one of the M and Doppler image data from
And store the image data in the other area.
For display to be read out for each area and sent to the display 28
Made of a memory means, the write and read are controlled by the second address control circuit 24.

The D / A converter 27 is connected to the display memory 2
3, and converts the image data into an analog signal. The display 28 indicates the D / A.
The video signal output from the converter 27 is input to display an image, and is configured by, for example, a television monitor. And
In the above-described D / A converter 27 and the display unit 28, that displays the image data from the respective image generating means and the differential processor 21
Constitute the images display means. In addition, controller 2
9 controls the overall operation of each of the above components,
For example, it comprises a CPU.

Next, the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus thus configured will be described. First, a case in which a tomographic image of one section of a diagnostic site is formed will be described. First, the probe 1 is brought into contact with a subject, and an ultrasonic wave is transmitted toward a diagnostic part (including a moving part) in the subject. At this time, the transmitted ultrasonic wave is formed into a narrow beam at the diagnosis site by the transmission delay circuit in the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2. The reflected echo of the transmitted ultrasonic beam is received by the probe 1, and the amplifier and the reception delay circuit,
The signal is taken into the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2 via an adder or the like, and an ultrasonic reception beam is formed. Then, from the probe 1, the transmitting and receiving directions of the ultrasonic waves are sequentially changed at a predetermined cycle,
Transmitting and receiving waves are repeatedly performed so as to perform ultrasonic scanning of the diagnostic site of the subject.

Next, the echo signal (analog signal) output from the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2 is log-compressed and envelope-detected by a detection circuit 3, and is converted into a digital signal by an A / D converter 4 to be a first signal. It is output to the arithmetic circuit 5. The first arithmetic circuit 5 has a plurality of line memories,
9, writing and reading are controlled alternately each time the ultrasonic wave transmission / reception direction changes. Interpolation is performed based on the data taken in for each ultrasonic receiving beam sequentially input, and interpolation from the controller 29 is performed. Reduction and enlargement are performed according to the instruction, and this image data is stored in the first image memory 6.
Output to The echo signal input to the first image memory 6 becomes the first image by sequentially controlling the transmission and reception directions of each ultrasonic beam to the first image storage area according to the control signal of the address control circuit 22. It is written so as to form one ultrasonic tomographic image.

Next, when the ultrasonic scanning for one image is completed under the control of the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2, the probe 1 returns the transmission / reception direction to the initial direction again, repeats the transmission / reception, and repeats the transmission / reception direction. Are sequentially changed for each transmission / reception wave to perform scanning. Therefore, the echo signal is also A / D converted by the A / D converter 4 and output to the first image memory 6 via the first arithmetic circuit 5 in the same manner as described above. The first image memory 6 is controlled by the address control circuit 22 so that the echo signal captured by the current scan is written to the second image storage area. Then, when the data writing to the second image storage area ends with the progress of the ultrasonic scanning, a second image is formed. Hereinafter, by repeating the above operation, tomographic images are sequentially formed as in the first image, the second image, the third image,..., And the respective tomographic images are stored in the first image memory 6 in time series. Remember.

Next, the case of forming an M image will be described. In this case, except that the probe 1 and the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2 set the emission direction of the ultrasonic beam in a fixed direction and obtain the change in the reflection point with time as a one-dimensional image as in the case of forming the tomographic image. Operate. Then, the second image memory 7 selects and stores only a time-series one-dimensional image (M image) in a certain direction in the subject.

Next, a case where a continuous wave Doppler image is formed will be described. In this case, the ultrasonic waves transmitted from the probe 1 toward the diagnosis site in the subject are continuously emitted under the control of the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2. Then, the echo reflected from the diagnostic site is received by the probe 1 and input to the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2. Thereafter, the reflected echo signal output from the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2 is output to the CW circuit 9.
And mixed with the reference signal generated by the reference signal generation circuit 8 by an analog mixer therein, and then the transmission spectrum is removed by a built-in band-pass filter.
Only the components of the continuous wave signal are extracted. Further, the frequency is analyzed by a built-in frequency analysis circuit to obtain a Doppler shift signal. The Doppler shift signal output from the CW circuit 9 is input to a second arithmetic circuit 10, converted into a digital signal by an A / D converter, and temporarily stored in a plurality of built-in line memories. Then, interpolation necessary for display is performed based on the sequentially input Doppler shift signal, and reduction and enlargement are performed in accordance with an instruction from the controller 29 to generate continuous wave Doppler image data. The data of the continuous wave Doppler image is stored in the third image memory 11.

Next, a case where a pulse Doppler image is formed will be described. In this case, the ultrasonic waves transmitted from the probe 1 toward the diagnostic site in the subject are pulsed in a certain direction under the control of the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2. Then, the echo reflected from the diagnostic site is received by the probe 1 and input to the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2. After that, the reflected echo signal output from the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2 is input to the PW circuit 12, and is mixed with the reference signal generated by the reference signal generation circuit 8 by an analog mixer therein, and then built-in. Unnecessary signals are removed by a low-pass filter, and then phase detected by a sample-and-hold circuit. Furthermore, unnecessary high-frequency components are removed by a band-pass filter, and the frequency is analyzed by a frequency analysis circuit.
A Doppler shift signal is obtained. The Doppler shift signal output from the PW circuit 12 is input to a third arithmetic circuit 13, converted into a digital signal by an A / D converter, and temporarily stored in a plurality of built-in line memories. Then, interpolation necessary for display is performed based on the sequentially input Doppler shift signal, and reduction and enlargement are performed in accordance with an instruction from the controller 29 to generate pulse Doppler image data. The data of the pulse Doppler image is stored in the fourth image memory 14.

Next, the case of forming a color flow mapping image will be described. In this case, transmission and reception of ultrasonic waves are repeatedly performed toward the diagnostic site in the subject in the same manner as in the case of forming the tomographic image described above, and the ultrasonic transmission and reception circuit 2
Creates a reflected echo signal. The reflected echo signal output from the ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit 2 is input to a CFM circuit 15 and mixed with a reference signal generated by a reference signal generation circuit 8 by an analog mixer therein, and furthermore, a built-in low frequency band The same processing as that of the PW circuit 12 is performed by a pass filter, a sample-and-hold circuit, a band-pass filter, and a frequency analysis circuit, and is converted into color data by a color encoder. Thereby, a signal of a color flow mapping image is obtained. The signal of the color flow mapping image output from the CFM circuit 15 is input to a fourth arithmetic circuit 16, converted into a digital signal by an A / D converter, and temporarily stored in a plurality of built-in line memories. You.
Then, necessary interpolation for display is performed based on the signal of the color flow mapping image that is sequentially input, and reduction and enlargement are performed according to an instruction from the controller 29 to generate data of the color flow mapping image. The data of the color flow mapping image is stored in the fifth image memory 17 and the sixth image memory 18. Here, only the data of the two-dimensional color flow mapping image is selectively written into the fifth image memory 17, and the data of the one-dimensional color flow mapping image in a certain direction is written into the sixth image memory 18. Only selected and written.

Further, a case where a difference image is formed from the time-series tomographic images obtained as described above will be described. In this case, of the time-series tomographic images sequentially stored in the first image memory 6 described above, two tomographic images having different time phases are stored in the seventh image memory 19 and the eighth image memory 20, respectively. Written. And the address control circuit 2
2, the seventh and eighth image memories 19,
For example, the first image and the second image written in 20 are read out of both image data with the pixels corresponding to each other, and sent to the difference processor 21. The difference processor 21 performs a difference operation for each of the corresponding input data (pixel data), and outputs difference image data between the first image and the second image. Then, the difference image data is stored in the display memory 23.

Various ultrasonic images are formed as described above, and respective image data are stored in the corresponding image memories. In such a state, an operation of displaying the difference image and the other ultrasonic image, which is a feature of the present invention, side by side on the same screen and simultaneously displays the difference image will be described with reference to FIGS. Now, as an example of the parallel display of images, as shown in FIG. 5, a difference image is displayed in a wide area on the left half of the single screen of the display 28, and a tomographic image (hereinafter referred to as a “B image ), And a lower part displays a pulse Doppler image (hereinafter, referred to as a “PW image”).

In this case, as shown in FIG.
It is assumed that the screen of No. 8 is divided into four areas by dividing the screen into four areas, vertically and horizontally, and displaying an A image, a B image, a C image, and a D image, respectively. The scanning direction of the television scanning lines on the display 28 is a horizontal direction as indicated by an arrow in the figure, and the television scanning lines are sequentially rewritten from the upper part of the screen. Then, as shown in FIG. 3, the television scanning lines are sequentially arranged from the top of the screen as 1, 2,..., N, (n +
1), (n + 2),..., (N + m). in this case,
The left half of the scanning line 1 corresponds to the A image, and the right half corresponds to the B image. The left half corresponds to the A image and the right half corresponds to the B image up to the scanning line n. The left half of the scanning line (n + 1) corresponds to the C image, and the right half corresponds to the D image. Then, up to the scanning line (n + m), the left half corresponds to the C image, and the right half corresponds to the D image.

In such a state, in order to display an image as shown in FIG. 5, image data read from each image memory may be written to the display memory 23 shown in FIG. 1 as follows. . In this case, from the relationship between FIG. 5 and FIG.
In FIG. 2, the data of the difference image is written into the area of the A image and the area of the C image, the data of the B image is written into the area of the B image, and the data of the PW image is written into the area of the D image. Then, assuming that the write address of the display memory 23 is sequentially written from the smaller address to the larger address in the second address control circuit 24, as shown in FIG.
The difference image data is written in the areas (n + 1) to C (n + m), the B image data is written in the areas of addresses B1 to Bn, and the addresses D (n + 1) to D (n + m)
In this area, the PW image data may be written. This operation is executed by the first address control circuit 22 controlling the output control of each of the image memories 6, 7, 11, 14, 17 to 20 and the read address generation timing.

The image data written in the display memory 23 as described above is sequentially read from the minimum address to the maximum address in the read order shown in FIG. 4 by television synchronization under the control of the controller 29 shown in FIG. Then, the read image data is stored in the next D /
The signal is converted into an analog signal by the A
8 and an image is displayed. Thereby, as shown in FIG. 5, the difference image, the B image, and the PW image are simultaneously displayed side by side on one screen of the display unit 28.

[0032] In the above description has dealt with an example of three types of image display shown in FIG. 5, the present invention is not limited to this, the difference
The divided image and the B image and other various ultrasound images may be displayed more than 4 image combined as appropriate. Further, the difference image is not limited to the image obtained by performing the difference operation once, and the image obtained by performing the difference once may be displayed twice as the difference image.

[0033]

The present invention has been configured as described above.
Store image data obtained by each image generation means in a plurality of images
Means for storing each of these image storage means and differences
Storage means for displaying image data from the image data generating means
And stores the image data in the display storage means.
The upper and lower screen of the image display unit, on the left and right by dividing into plural divided into a plurality of areas, allocated to a plurality areas adjacent the difference image data generated by the difference image data generating means and the difference image data Assigning the tomographic image data used in the generating means to one of the other areas,
At least one of the data of the M image and the Doppler image from each of the image generation means is allocated to another area and stored, and
The image data is read out for each of the areas and the image display
Can be sent to the stage . Thus, the display of the difference image data subjected to the above SL differencing operation, analysis of the movement of the movement region between tomographic images of the time series becomes possible. Also,
The difference images assigned to a plurality of adjacent areas, the tomographic image used for generating the difference image, and the M image or the Doppler image can be simultaneously displayed side by side on the same screen of the image display means. At this time, by displaying the tomographic image used for generating the difference image in accordance with the difference image, a time-series tomographic image of the diagnosis site can be obtained in combination with the analysis of the motion of the movement site enabled by the difference image. It is possible to provide diagnostic information that allows the movement of the moving part between the images to be well understood. Furthermore, when diagnosing with the difference image and various other ultrasonic images, the radiologist does not need to change the line of sight greatly from the central part of the screen, and the difference image displayed in a wide area and various other Comparative observation with an ultrasonic image can be performed smoothly. This makes it easy to understand the state of movement of the exercise site in the entire diagnosis site, and facilitates diagnosis.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which a screen of a display is divided into four areas and four images are displayed;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an arrangement of scanning lines on a screen of the display unit;

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of writing and reading image data to and from a display memory;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example in which a plurality of images are combined and displayed simultaneously on the same screen of a display device.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Probe, 2 ... Ultrasonic transmission / reception circuit, 3 ... Detection circuit, 4 ... A / D converter, 5, 10, 13, 16 ... Operation circuit, 6, 7, 11, 14, 17-20 ... Image Memory 8 reference signal generation circuit 9 CW circuit 12
... PW circuit, 15 ... CFM circuit, 21 ... Difference processor,
23: display memory 27: D / A converter 28
... Display, 29 ... Controller.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-64-11536 (JP, A) JP-A-1-270861 (JP, A) JP-A-55-129046 (JP, A) JP-A-2- 246947 (JP, A) JP-A-2-107241 (JP, A) JP-A-3-23851 (JP, A) JP-A-2-4350 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An ultrasonic transmission / reception means for transmitting an ultrasonic signal into a subject and receiving an ultrasonic signal reflected from the subject, and obtaining tomographic image data using the received ultrasonic signal. Using the tomographic image generation means and the received ultrasonic signal, the change of the reflection point with time is converted into a one-dimensional image by M
At least one of an M image generating means for obtaining an image and a Doppler image generating means for detecting a frequency shift of a reflected wave subjected to a Doppler shift by a moving part to obtain a Doppler image; and a time series from the tomographic image generating means. Means for generating difference image data between tomographic image data, each of the image generation means, and difference image data
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having image display means for displaying image data from the generating means, wherein the image data obtained by each of the image generating means is stored.
A plurality of image storage means, these image storage means and the difference image data generation means
Image data from
Up and down the screen of the image display unit, on the left and right by dividing into plural divided into a plurality of areas, allocated to a plurality areas adjacent the difference image data generated by the difference image data generating means and the differential image data generation The tomographic image data used by the means is assigned to one of the other areas, and at least one of the M image and Doppler image data from each of the image generating means is assigned to the other area and stored.
The image data is read out for each of the areas and the image display
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus , comprising: display storage means for transmitting to a stage .