JP4564130B2 - Ultrasound diagnostic imaging equipment - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus capable of storing / calling medical information obtained by ultrasonic reflected waves.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to obtain image information for diagnosing a region of interest in a patient's body tissue as a subject, an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus is widely used because of its low invasiveness and ease of operation. For the image information transmission function provided by these ultrasonic image diagnostic apparatuses, further improvements in convenience and operability are demanded by doctors and clinical technologists who are users.
[0003]
In response to these demands from the user side, various techniques have been applied in conventional ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatuses. Particularly, in recent years, with the rapid spread of ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatuses, ultrasonic diagnostic imaging at medical sites has come to be used on a daily basis. In such a situation, an ultrasonic examination is performed on a large number of patients per hour, and it is important to have a configuration in which a large number of ultrasonic tomographic images can be freely stored and recalled freely. It has become.
[0004]
In recent ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatuses, a technique for storing image data in a semiconductor memory or the like provided in the apparatus main body has been put into practical use, and is installed in most of the commercially available ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatuses. The semiconductor memory is controlled by the CPU for writing and calling the inside thereof, and display data of the ultrasonic tomographic image is stored in the semiconductor memory as image data. The image data relates to each ultrasonic scanning mode such as B mode, M mode, Doppler mode, and color Doppler mode.
[0005]
Further, the image data stored in the semiconductor memory by the CPU can be arbitrarily called on the monitor screen by a reproduction call instruction inputted from an operation panel provided in the apparatus main body, for example. The callable screen is not limited to a still image, but can be a moving image such as a B-mode image, a Doppler image, and an M-mode image.
[0006]
These moving images and still images are all stored as image data on the image memory constituted by the above-described semiconductor memory. In this storage, addresses in the image memory are divided into several sections in advance. At the time of storing the image, the image data is stored in each of the divided sections, and can be called up arbitrarily by the user. Furthermore, it is possible to observe medical information such as the shape of the internal organs, blood flow dynamics, and the motion speed of the myocardium and blood vessel wall obtained from an ultrasonic reception signal from a subject such as a patient as an image. In addition, various quantitative analyzes are possible using information obtained by observing the image.
[0007]
The results obtained by such quantitative analysis are collected as medical information, for example, as an ultrasound diagnosis report for each examination necessary for patient examination and diagnosis. The ultrasound diagnostic report is created on a predetermined sheet or stored as digital information using a computer or the like.
[0008]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in such a storage method using a computer, an ultrasonic diagnostic report as medical information is electronically stored as digital information, but it is not rare to call up the contents of the ultrasonic diagnostic report. It took time.
[0009]
For example, when you want to check the measurement value of the reflected ultrasonic wave obtained from the patient who is the subject, search for the ultrasonic image of the measurement and which ultrasonic image of which patient corresponding to which examination. There is a need to. For the purpose of calling up and displaying medical information, for example, an operator has to perform a search operation by visual inspection or the like from a lot of medical information, and this search operation processing takes time.
[0010]
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and associates the corresponding ultrasonic image with the numerical value described in the ultrasonic diagnosis report of the stored medical information, and requires less processing when necessary. It is an object of the present invention to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus capable of obtaining a target ultrasonic image.
[0011]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problem, according to the present invention described in claim 1, an ultrasonic wave is transmitted / received in a subject and an ultrasonic image is obtained based on the received ultrasonic echo signal. In the ultrasonic image diagnostic apparatus, a measurement unit that obtains a measurement value that represents a characteristic of a living body from the ultrasonic image, a plurality of measurement values, an ultrasonic image corresponding to the measurement value, and a reception ultrasonic wave when the ultrasonic image is obtained Storage means for storing sound wave signals including their link information, display means for displaying a report based on the stored information, and selection for enabling selection of items in the displayed report by the display means And the information stored in the storage means linked to the item selected by the selection means is displayed on the display means.
[0017]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0018]
The configuration of the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus according to the present invention includes an ultrasonic probe 1 that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to and from the inside of a subject, converts an ultrasonic signal received into an electrical signal, and is connected to the ultrasonic probe 1. The received transmission / reception unit 2, the color unit 4 and the B / W unit 3 to which the reception signal output from the transmission / reception unit 2 is input, and the outputs from the color unit 4 and the B / W unit 3 are input. A synthesis processing unit 5, a hue luminance conversion unit 6 to which an output from the synthesis processing unit 5 is input, a display monitor unit 7 that receives an output from the hue luminance conversion unit 6 and displays an image, and various measurements An information processing unit 12 that processes and controls functions and medical information data, an instruction input unit 13 for inputting measurement and information processing instructions to the information processing unit 12, and an information processing unit 12 Consisting of database 14.
[0019]
In the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus having the above configuration, the ultrasonic probe 1 is provided with an ultrasonic transducer (not shown) at the distal end portion, and the ultrasonic transducer is driven by the transmission / reception unit 2 to receive ultrasonic waves. Irradiate the specimen. This drive is performed by applying a predetermined electrical drive signal to the ultrasonic vibrator. For example, when a piezoelectric ceramic is used for the ultrasonic vibrator, mechanical distortion vibration is generated by applying the drive signal. Ultrasound can be generated.
[0020]
The ultrasonic waves generated in this way reach various tissues in the subject and a part returns as reflected waves. The returning ultrasonic wave is received as a reflected wave by the ultrasonic transducer again, and mechanical vibration generated by the reception is converted into an electric reception signal. The reception signal obtained by this conversion is input again to the transmission / reception unit 2 and sent to the color unit 4 and the B / W unit 3 as reception signals.
[0021]
When the reception signal from the transmission / reception unit 2 is input to the B / W unit 3, the reception signal is electrically processed to form a morphological image signal, which is then converted into a standard TV scanning signal format. A basic image display signal is formed by this conversion processing. The received signal input to the color unit 4 forms an image signal for color display based on Doppler information included in the received signal. This color display is performed by performing signal processing on the frequency of reflected ultrasound that is Doppler-shifted from a region that moves in the subject. For example, the blood flow is displayed in different colors.
[0022]
Next, the composition processing unit 5 converts the input image signal into a video code and outputs it to the hue luminance conversion processing unit 6. The signal that has been converted into luminance by the hue luminance conversion processing unit 6 and displayed as an image is displayed on the display monitor 7.
[0023]
The ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus is provided with various measurement functions applicable to the image information displayed on the display monitor 7. The measurement function is composed of an information processing unit 12, an instruction input unit 13, and a database 14. The information processing unit 12 processes the ultrasonic signal received by the transmission / reception unit 2 as medical information. This information processing is executed by a predetermined processing program set in advance according to the measurement function instructed by the instruction input unit 13, for example, with various measurement functions such as ultrasonic Doppler measurement, M-mode measurement, and volume measurement. is there.
[0024]
The medical information obtained by processing here is sent to the synthesis processing unit 5, where signal processing for screen display is performed. For example, in displaying ultrasonic Doppler information, in addition to a color image display signal and a monochrome image display signal, a display signal for displaying medical information is also synthesized. This medical information is, for example, character data for displaying character information, or display of measurement result data.
[0025]
Further, unlike an ultrasonic tomographic image, an ultrasonic diagnostic report based on medical information can be displayed. For example, the contents of the ultrasound diagnostic report can be obtained by quantifying the moving speed and direction of the drawn area of interest and blood flow as medical information. Further, medical information obtained from blood flow observation by ultrasonic Doppler method, mobile wall, valve tissue, and the like is recorded in the form of, for example, color coding by color display or moving images of necessary parts. The final result of the medical information composed of these images, measurement results, and the like can be summarized as, for example, an ultrasonic diagnostic report described later.
The ultrasonic diagnostic report created in this way can be stored in the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus, displayed on the call, stored externally, or printed out.
[0026]
As described above, the flow of creating and viewing an ultrasound diagnostic report provided by the ultrasound diagnostic imaging apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 will be described below.
[0027]
First, in order to create an ultrasonic diagnostic report by the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus of the present invention, the probe 1 scans the site to be examined ultrasonically, and the received ultrasonic reflected wave is received by the transmission / reception unit 2 for electrical measurement. A typical ultrasonic reception signal is obtained. Based on this ultrasonic reception signal, signal processing is performed by the configuration of the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus of FIG. 1 described above, and image data is collected. The collected image data is stored in the database 14 in association with incidental information such as patient ID and examination date.
[0028]
Next, the stored image data is called from the database 14 and displayed on the display monitor unit 7. The operator creates an ultrasonic diagnosis report using an input device such as a keyboard or a mouse (not shown) while viewing the displayed ultrasonic tomographic image. A program for this creation, information processing, and the like are collectively performed by the information processing unit 12.
[0029]
The ultrasonic diagnostic report created in this way is linked to the image data stored in the database 14 with the content item. By this link processing, for example, by clicking and selecting a word subjected to the link processing in the ultrasonic diagnosis report by using a mouse or the like, it becomes possible to call the information of the linked partner.
[0030]
On the other hand, when it is desired to view the ultrasonic diagnostic report stored in the database 14, first, a request for calling image data is made to the information processing unit 12 through an input device such as a keyboard or a mouse (not shown). In response to this, the information processing unit 12 creates an item list of the ultrasonic diagnosis report that matches the search condition by the call request based on the stored contents of the database 14. The item list created in this way is displayed on the display monitor unit 7, and the operator selects a desired item from the displayed item list. This selection may be input by a keyboard, or an item can be selected by operating a cursor displayed on the screen using a mouse or the like.
[0031]
In accordance with the selected item, the information processing unit 12 requests data output of an ultrasonic diagnostic report corresponding to the database 14. In response to this request, an ultrasonic diagnostic report is displayed on the display monitor unit 7. This ultrasonic diagnostic report is composed of character information and image information.
[0032]
FIG. 2 shows an example of ultrasonic diagnostic report display by the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. This ultrasonic diagnostic report display is displayed on the display monitor unit 7 shown in FIG. 1 and is a collection of various medical information such as ultrasonic images and measurement results as an ultrasonic diagnostic report. For example, this ultrasonic diagnostic report of medical information is created by the HTML language (Hyper Text Markup Language), and is displayed on the screen by applying HTML display software used in a general personal computer.
[0033]
FIG. 3 is one example of display of measurement results described in an ultrasonic diagnostic report of medical information. Each measurement value is subjected to link processing in the HTML language, and by selecting the measurement value on the screen using an input device such as a mouse, an ultrasonic image of the object whose measurement value is measured is called up. Is possible. This eliminates the need for a troublesome medical information search operation such as performing a search based on the patient ID, the examination date and the like, and displaying the location where the ultrasound image related to the ultrasound diagnostic report of the medical information is stored. .
[0034]
Further, when an ultrasonic tomographic image or the like obtained from the subject is stored by the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus, the incidental information attached to the ultrasonic tomographic image is also stored at the same time. Note that the content of the incidental information is a record of all received ultrasonic signals that are the basis for drawing an ultrasonic tomographic image, for example. The ultrasonic tomographic image can be redrawn again based on the recorded received ultrasonic signal, or arbitrary measurement on the ultrasonic tomographic image can be newly performed.
[0035]
Furthermore, by recording the received ultrasonic signal as incidental information for a predetermined time length, it is possible to record a moving image as well as a still image. A desired ultrasonic tomographic image can be obtained by performing a freeze operation at an arbitrary position while reproducing the recorded moving image. Further, since ultrasonic Doppler information at an arbitrary site can be obtained for the displayed moving image, appropriately accurate medical information can be efficiently obtained by repeating such operations. In this way, when the ultrasonic tomographic image is called based on the measurement result in the ultrasonic diagnostic report of medical information, it is possible to perform measurement for confirmation again according to a doctor's request.
[0036]
Linking the medical information with the notation in the ultrasound diagnosis report is not limited to the information of the ultrasonic tomographic image corresponding to the measurement value as described above, and similarly for other items of medical information. Is set.
[0037]
For example, in the ultrasonic diagnostic report of medical information as shown in FIG. 2, the item name display and index display of each item are displayed. As an example, by selecting the patient information in this, it is possible to call and display more detailed patient specific information linked, as shown in FIG. 4, such as date of birth, height, weight, blood pressure, and individual comments. It is also possible to display a list of the same cases from the diagnosis result.
[0038]
Next, an example of means for associating an ultrasonic tomographic image with an ultrasonic diagnostic report of medical information will be described.
[0039]
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining a configuration example of a database used for linking an ultrasonic tomographic image and an ultrasonic diagnostic report of medical information. The medical information database shown in FIG. 5 has medical data such as examination date and time, examination ID, examination site, and diagnostic information as medical information of the subject patient. Moreover, it has measurement result information including a measurement result obtained by measuring based on these images. These are associated with each other to form a database.
[0040]
The association for constructing such a database is performed according to a classification algorithm for classifying each medical data, for example. Each of the associated medical data is given a predetermined weight, and the priority is determined by, for example, the weight when calling. Further, as another association method, it is possible to classify by assigning keywords related to the contents of the medical data, or to arbitrarily associate them.
[0041]
By using this database, for example, when it is desired to use the ultrasound diagnostic report No. and the result in the measurement result information and the image ID in the image information in association with each other, for example, a screen display as shown in FIG. Done. In one example of the display shown in FIG. 6, only specified necessary items are displayed in a classified table. An actual value or an actual ultrasonic tomographic image can be displayed by selecting a unique number or an image ID of the result shown in this table with an instruction device such as a mouse.
[0042]
FIG. 7 shows a system configuration example using the above-described database.
[0043]
It comprises an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus 8, a database server 9 for storing examination data such as images, a workstation 11 for creating and displaying an ultrasonic diagnostic report, and a network 15. Each device is configured independently and is connected to each other using a network 15. Even if the apparatuses are separated from each other by being connected via the network 15, the ultrasonic tomographic images collected by the respective ultrasonic image diagnosis apparatuses 8 are stored in the database server 9 via the network 15, At this point, the internal data is also updated.
[0044]
After a patient examination by the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus 8, an ultrasonic diagnostic report is created by referring to the ultrasonic tomographic image stored in the database server 9 using the workstation 11 and is stored in the database server 9 again. The The created ultrasonic diagnostic report is associated with, for example, the database shown in FIG. 5 described above so that an image used can be referred to from a value such as a measurement value in the ultrasonic diagnostic report. Has been created. When an ultrasonic diagnostic report of a patient is called and displayed, an image associated with the measurement value in the ultrasonic diagnostic report can be retrieved from the database server 9 via the network 15 and displayed.
[0045]
The creation and browsing of an ultrasound diagnosis report according to the system configuration example shown in FIG. 7 will be described. First, in order to create an ultrasound diagnostic report, an ultrasound tomographic image of a site to be examined is obtained from a patient by the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus 8 connected to the network 15. The ultrasonic tomogram thus obtained is stored as image data in the database server 9 in association with supplementary information such as patient ID and examination date.
[0046]
The image data once stored in this way is called from the database server 9 at the workstation 11 and displayed. An ultrasonic diagnostic report is created for the displayed ultrasonic tomographic image. At this time, link processing is performed on image data stored in the database server 9 for each item in the contents of the ultrasound diagnosis report. The created ultrasonic diagnostic report is stored in the database server 9 again.
[0047]
On the other hand, in order to call and view the ultrasonic diagnostic report stored in the database server 9, a search condition for searching for a desired ultrasonic diagnostic report is input at the workstation 11. Based on the input search condition, the database server 9 creates a list of ultrasonic diagnostic reports that match the search condition and sends it to the workstation 11. A desired item is selected from the list displayed on the screen of the workstation 11. This selection is performed using a keyboard or a mouse.
[0048]
The database server 9 sends an ultrasonic diagnostic report including image or character information corresponding to the selected item to the workstation 11, and the operator can view the ultrasonic diagnostic report desired by the operator.
[0049]
As described above, according to the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus of the present invention described above, necessary information such as an ultrasonic tomographic image used for measurement can be obtained in a short time from the measurement result in the ultrasonic diagnostic report. It is possible to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus capable of performing measurement again on the ultrasonic tomographic image.
[0050]
The embodiment described above is described in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention, and is not described in order to limit the present invention. Therefore, each element disclosed in the above embodiment includes all design changes and equivalents belonging to the technical scope of the present invention.
[0051]
For example, recently, a common medical image standard called DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) is expected to improve diagnostic accuracy by simultaneously obtaining diagnostic information from a plurality of images. According to this common standard, diagnostic images obtained from other types of diagnostic imaging apparatuses such as CT diagnostic imaging apparatus, MRI diagnostic imaging apparatus, and X-ray imaging apparatus can be handled as the same data format.
[0052]
For example, in the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, the image signal input portion is configured to be compatible with DICOM, so that another diagnostic imaging apparatus is simultaneously provided with the ultrasonic tomographic image by the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus. The diagnostic images obtained from the above can be displayed on the same monitor for comparison.
[0053]
In addition to image information on the computer network, other useful data for treatment can be simultaneously displayed on the monitor of the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus according to the present invention, or can be used as treatment data. .
[0054]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, in the present invention, necessary information such as an ultrasonic tomographic image used for measurement can be obtained from the measurement result in the ultrasonic diagnosis report,
In addition, it is possible to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus capable of performing measurement again on the called ultrasonic tomographic image.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 shows one example of display of the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 shows an example of display of the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 shows one example of display of the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a database of the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 shows one example of display of the ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 shows an example of a network configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Ultrasonic probe, 2 ... Transmission / reception unit, 3 ... B / W unit, 4 ... Color unit, 5 ... Composition processing part, 6 ... Hue brightness conversion processing part, 7 ... Display monitor, 8 ... Ultrasound image diagnostic apparatus, 9 ... database server, 11 ... workstation, 15 ... network

Claims (3)

In an ultrasound diagnostic imaging apparatus that transmits and receives ultrasound within a subject and obtains an ultrasound image based on the received ultrasound echo signal,
Measurement means for obtaining a measurement value representing the characteristics of the living body from the ultrasonic image;
A storage unit that stores a plurality of measurement values, an ultrasonic image corresponding to the measurement value, and a received ultrasonic signal including the link information when the ultrasonic image is obtained;
Display means for displaying a report based on the stored information;
A selection unit that allows the display unit to select an item in the displayed report,
The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, wherein the information stored by the storage unit linked to the item selected by the selection unit is displayed on the display unit. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the item is the measurement value. Information to be stored, including the link information, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 2, feature that is conserved is the predetermined weighting.

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