JP5406077B2 - Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and more particularly to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for evaluating a target tissue such as a bone.

  Evaluation of bone formation and bone union greatly depends on X-ray photographs, but it is difficult to quantitatively diagnose bone strength with X-ray photographs. Although a strength test of a sample bone to be measured is known as a conventional method for measuring bone strength, a sample bone removal operation is required and is invasive. Further, as a method for measuring bone mass and bone density, use of general-purpose X-ray CT, a DXA (dual energy absorption measurement method) apparatus, and the like have been put into practical use. However, these are merely means for measuring bone mass, and bone strength cannot be evaluated. Moreover, it cannot be said that it is noninvasive in the point which irradiates an X-ray.

  Other attempts to quantitatively evaluate bone strength include a strain gauge method in which a strain gauge is attached to an external fixator and the strain of the fixator is measured, and vibration that evaluates the natural frequency by applying external vibration to the bone. Examples of the existing method include a wave method and an acoustic emission method for detecting a sound wave generated from a bone having yield stress. However, these methods still have problems in terms of the limitation of applicable treatment methods, the need to invade bones, and evaluation accuracy.

  Against this background, the inventors of the present application have proposed an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that non-invasively and quantitatively evaluates the mechanical characteristics of bone. For example, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus described in Patent Document 1 evaluates mechanical characteristics of bones based on a plurality of surface points obtained from a plurality of echo signals. The mechanical properties of the bone in case Thus, this is an extremely innovative technique that can non-invasively and quantitatively evaluate the mechanical properties of bone in a living body from surface point data on the bone surface based on echo signals. Further, the inventors of the present application have proposed a display image suitable for evaluating a target tissue such as a bone in Patent Documents 2 and 3, for example.

JP 2005-152079 A JP 2007-289232 A JP 2010-22499 A

  In view of the background art described above, the inventors of the present application have been researching and developing an improved technique for evaluating a target tissue such as a bone using ultrasonic waves.

  The present invention has been made in the course of research and development, and its purpose is to improve the accuracy of evaluation of target tissues using ultrasonic waves.

  A suitable ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that meets the above-described purpose is a probe that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to and from a target tissue, and a plurality of ultrasonic beams are formed by controlling the probes, and a reception signal is obtained for each ultrasonic beam. A surface identification unit that identifies a plurality of surface points corresponding to a plurality of ultrasonic beams by extracting a surface point corresponding to the surface of the target tissue based on a reception signal for each ultrasonic beam; By obtaining a measurement amount related to the form of the target tissue based on a measurement point set composed of at least one surface point, a plurality of samples are obtained from a plurality of measurement point sets obtained by a combination of the plurality of surface points. A morphological measurement unit that collects a measurement amount; and a display image formation unit that forms a display image showing the measurement amount. And wherein the door.

  According to the above configuration, since a measurement amount of a plurality of samples can be obtained from a plurality of measurement point sets, for example, the reliability of the measurement amount is improved as compared with a case where a measurement amount is obtained from only one measurement point set. The accuracy of evaluation is improved.

  In a preferred embodiment, the surface specifying unit tracks a surface point that moves on the received signal for a plurality of times for each ultrasonic beam, and the display image forming unit is configured to receive the received signal of each ultrasonic beam. A display image showing a waveform and a surface point tracked on the received signal is formed.

  In a desirable specific example, the display image forming unit forms a display image showing a statistical result regarding the measurement amount obtained from the measurement amounts of the plurality of samples.

  In a preferred embodiment, the display image forming unit forms a display image corresponding to a time specified by an axis corresponding to the time and a time cursor moved along the axis.

  In a preferred embodiment, the display image forming unit forms a display image showing an unsuitable surface point to be selected as the measurement point set or an ultrasonic beam corresponding to the surface point. To do.

  In a preferred embodiment, a surface for determining whether or not the surface point is appropriate for being selected as the measurement point set based on a waveform of a portion corresponding to the surface point included in the reception signal of each ultrasonic beam. It further has a point determination part.

  In addition, a suitable tissue evaluation apparatus that meets the above-described object is a tissue evaluation apparatus that evaluates a target tissue based on a plurality of surface points corresponding to the surface of the target tissue obtained from a plurality of ultrasonic beams. By obtaining a measurement amount related to the form of the target tissue based on a measurement point set composed of surface points, a plurality of sample measurement amounts can be obtained from a plurality of measurement point sets obtained by a combination of the plurality of surface points. A morphological measurement unit for collecting, a statistical processing unit for obtaining a statistic relating to the measurement amount based on the measurement amounts of the plurality of samples, and a display image forming unit for forming a display image showing the statistic. Features.

  A suitable program for the above purpose is a program for evaluating a target tissue based on a plurality of surface points corresponding to the surface of the target tissue obtained from a plurality of ultrasonic beams, wherein at least one surface point is obtained. Collecting measurement quantities of a plurality of samples from a plurality of pattern measurement point sets obtained by a combination of the plurality of surface points as a target by obtaining a measurement quantity relating to the form of the target tissue based on a measurement point set composed of The computer is caused to function as a form measuring means and a statistical processing means for obtaining a statistic relating to the measured quantity based on the measured quantities of the plurality of samples.

  By this invention, the precision regarding evaluation of the target tissue using an ultrasonic wave improves.

1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that is preferable in the practice of the present invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the setting screen of the beam for tracking. It is a figure which shows the image containing the determination result of the quality of a surface point. It is a figure for demonstrating calculation of the angle in an angle calculating part. It is a figure which shows the display image regarding the calculation result of an angle. It is a figure for demonstrating the evaluation of the reliability using a histogram. It is a figure for demonstrating confirmation of an echo tracking error.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus suitable for implementing the present invention. The target tissue to be diagnosed by the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in FIG. FIG. 1 shows a bone 60 as a preferred example of the target tissue.

  The composite probe 10 is an ultrasonic probe that transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to the bone 60 that is a target tissue. The composite probe 10 includes a probe A and a probe B, and each of the probe A and the probe B is in contact with, for example, the body surface of the subject and is against a bone 60 in the body of the subject. Send and receive ultrasound. The probe A includes a plurality of vibration elements, and the probe B also includes a plurality of vibration elements. Each of the probe A and the probe B is, for example, a linear electronic scanning probe, and it is desirable that the relative positional relationship between the probes A and B can be adjusted as appropriate. Note that the composite probe 10 may be composed of one linear electronic scanning probe, and a part of the probe may function as the probe A and the other part may function as the probe B.

  The transmission / reception unit 14 controls the plurality of vibration elements included in the probe A to form the ultrasonic beam 12 and obtains a reception signal along the ultrasonic beam 12. The transmission / reception unit 14 controls the plurality of vibration elements included in the probe B to form the ultrasonic beam 12 and obtains a reception signal along the ultrasonic beam 12. The transmission / reception unit 14 controls the probe A to electronically scan the ultrasonic beam 12 within the long-axis cross section of the bone 60, for example. Similarly, the transmission / reception unit 14 controls the probe B to electronically scan the ultrasonic beam 12 within the long-axis cross section of the bone 60, for example.

  The tomographic image forming unit 18 forms a tomographic image (B mode image) corresponding to the probe A based on the reception signal collected by the probe A, and corresponds to the probe B based on the reception signal collected by the probe B. A tomographic image (B-mode image) is formed. The formed tomographic image is displayed on a display unit 32 such as a monitor via the display image forming unit 30.

  The reception signal obtained by the transmission / reception unit 14 is also output to the echo tracking processing unit 22. The echo tracking processing unit 22 performs so-called echo tracking processing for extracting and tracking the surface portion of the bone 60 from the reception signal obtained along the ultrasonic beam 12. For the echo tracking process, for example, a technique detailed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-309918 is used. The outline of this technology is as follows.

  The received signal obtained along the ultrasonic beam 12 has a large amplitude in a portion corresponding to the surface of the bone 60. When the surface portion of the bone 60 is simply captured as a portion having a large amplitude, it is unclear which portion in the large amplitude range corresponds to the surface portion, and as a result, an extraction error (generally about a large amplitude range) In such an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, about 0.2 mm) occurs. On the other hand, in the echo tracking process, a zero cross point is detected as a representative point of the received signal (echo signal), and the extraction accuracy is dramatically improved by tracking the detected zero cross point. For example, the accuracy can be increased to about 0.002 mm.

  The zero cross point is detected as the timing at which the polarity of the received signal is inverted from positive to negative or from negative to positive within the tracking gate period. When the zero cross point is detected, a tracking gate is newly set around the point. Then, in the reception signal of the ultrasonic beam 12 formed at the next timing, the zero cross point is detected within the newly set tracking gate period. In this way, for each ultrasonic beam 12, the zero-cross point of the received signal is tracked as a surface point, and the position of the surface of the bone 60 is measured with high accuracy using the composite probe 10 as a reference.

  For the echo tracking processing, for example, several ultrasonic beams 12 are used. The tracking beam may be selected from a large number of ultrasonic beams 12 used for tomographic image formation, or only a few tracking beams are formed by interrupting tomographic image formation. Also good.

  The positions of several ultrasonic beams 12 (tracking beams) used for the echo tracking process are set by a user (inspector), for example. An image used for the setting is formed by the display image forming unit 30 and displayed on the display unit 32.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a tracking beam setting screen. FIG. 2A is a setting screen related to the probe A, and a beam line (broken line) corresponding to the tracking ultrasonic beam 12 is displayed in a B-mode image corresponding to the probe A. The B-mode image is formed in the tomographic image forming unit 18 (FIG. 1), and reflects the bone surface, skin surface, and the like. For example, the user refers to the B-mode image and sets the number and position of the tracking ultrasonic beam 12.

  Several tracking ultrasonic beams 12 are set in the left area L and several in the right area R. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, four ultrasonic beams 12 are set in the left area L along the X axis direction, and four ultrasonic beams 12 are set in the right area R along the X axis direction. Is done. The number of tracking ultrasonic beams 12 and the position of each ultrasonic beam 12 in the X-axis direction are set by the user using an operation device 42 such as a mouse, a keyboard, or a touch panel. Of course, the number and position of the ultrasonic beams 12 may be set to predetermined values.

  A tracking gate TG is also displayed on the beam line corresponding to each ultrasonic beam 12. The initial position of the tracking gate TG is also set by the user using the operation device 42. It is desirable for the user to set the tracking gate TG so as to straddle the bone surface.

  FIG. 2B is a setting screen related to the probe B. As in the case of the probe A, the beam line corresponding to the tracking ultrasonic beam 12 is illustrated in the B mode image corresponding to the probe B. . For the probe B, for example, four ultrasonic beams 12 are set in the left area L along the X-axis direction, and four ultrasonic beams 12 are set in the right area R along the X-axis direction. The The number of the tracking ultrasonic beams 12 and the position of each ultrasonic beam 12 in the X-axis direction are set by the user using the operation device 42, for example. The initial position of the tracking gate TG is also set by the user using the operation device 42. The setting screen related to the probe B may be displayed side by side simultaneously with the setting screen related to the probe A, or may be displayed separately from the setting screen related to the probe A.

  Returning to FIG. 1, when several ultrasonic beams 12 used for the echo tracking processing are set, the echo tracking processing unit 22 executes the above-described echo tracking processing for each ultrasonic beam 12. Based on the waveform of the portion corresponding to the surface point included in the reception signal of each ultrasonic beam 12, the surface determination unit 23 is appropriate or inappropriate to be selected as a measurement point set to be described later. Determine. For the determination, for example, a technique described in detail in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-61079 is used.

  That is, the surface determination unit 23 determines the quality of the surface point based on the shape of the mountain-shaped portion corresponding to the surface point of the bone included in the envelope of the reception signal of each ultrasonic beam 12. For example, when the height and gradient of the mountain-shaped portion corresponding to the surface point satisfy a predetermined condition, it is determined that the surface point is appropriate for being selected as a measurement point set.

  The surface determination unit 23 determines the quality of the surface points for all the ultrasonic beams 12 used for the echo tracking process. Then, an image including the determination result of the quality of the surface point is formed by the display image forming unit 30 and displayed on the display unit 32.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an image including the determination result of the quality of the surface point. FIG. 3 shows an example of an image related to the probe A. On the upper side of the image shown in FIG. 3, a received signal waveform 62 corresponding to the surface point is displayed. The received signal waveform 62 is displayed for each ultrasonic beam for echo tracking. In the example described with reference to FIG. 2, for the probe A, a total of eight ultrasonic beams, four in the left area L and four in the right area R, are set. A received signal waveform 62 for the ultrasound beam of the book is shown. That is, the results regarding the ultrasonic beams with beam numbers # 1 to # 8 are displayed. Although the image of FIG. 3 can be displayed up to beam number # 9, the beam of beam number # 9 is not used, so the waveform is not displayed.

  A reception signal waveform 62 relating to each ultrasonic beam is provided with a surface point pass / fail mark 63. In the example of FIG. 3, the pass / fail mark 63 filled with black indicates “good (appropriate)”, and the white pass / fail mark 63 indicates “not (appropriate)”. That is, in the example of FIG. 3, it is determined that only the ultrasonic beam with beam number # 2 is inappropriate among the ultrasonic beams with beam numbers # 1 to # 8.

  Below the image shown in FIG. 3, beam information 64 relating to each ultrasonic beam is shown. The beam information 64 includes information related to each ultrasonic beam for echo tracking. That is, the position of each ultrasonic beam (for example, the coordinate value in the X-axis direction in FIG. 2) and the quality of the surface point are shown. Note that the quality of the surface points of each ultrasonic beam is the same as that of the quality mark 63, and a circle filled with black indicates “good (appropriate)”, and a white circle is shown. “No (unsuitable)” is indicated.

  Further, the beam information 64 is provided with a manual setting button for each ultrasonic beam. Then, when the user operates this manual setting button (circled portion), the quality result of the surface point of each ultrasonic beam is changed. For example, when the user determines the quality of the surface point from the shape of the received signal waveform 62 and operates the manual setting button, the user's determination is given priority regardless of the determination result of the surface determination unit 23 (FIG. 1). It becomes possible to set to.

  For the probe B, similarly to the image example of FIG. 3, the reception signal waveform 62 corresponding to the surface point of each ultrasonic beam and the beam information 64 related to each ultrasonic beam are displayed. As for the probe B, the quality of the surface point is displayed for each ultrasonic beam, and the quality result of the surface point can be changed by the user operating the manual setting button as necessary.

  Returning to FIG. 1, when the quality of the surface point is determined by the surface determination unit 23, the angle calculation unit 24 calculates the angle of the bone 60 as a measurement amount related to the bone 60. The angle calculation unit 24 uses a surface point determined to be good (appropriate).

  FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the angle calculation in the angle calculation unit 24. Similar to the tracking beam setting screen shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 4A shows a B-mode image and a beam line (broken line) corresponding to the probe A, and FIG. A B-mode image and a beam line (broken line) corresponding to the probe B are shown.

  For the calculation of the angle, one ultrasonic beam is selected from the four ultrasonic beams in the left area L regarding the probe A. At that time, the ultrasonic beam at the surface point determined to be good by the surface determination unit 23 (FIG. 1) is selected. For example, it is assumed that the ultrasonic beam 12AL shown in FIG. One ultrasonic beam is also selected in the right area R related to the probe A. For example, it is assumed that the ultrasonic beam 12AR shown in FIG.

  Then, based on the position of the surface point tracked on the ultrasonic beam 12AL (coordinate value in the XY plane) and the position of the surface point tracked on the ultrasonic beam 12AR (coordinate value in the XY plane), A straight line A passing through these two surface points is set.

  As in the case of the probe A, one ultrasonic beam is selected in the left area L related to the probe B, and one ultrasonic beam is also selected in the right area R related to the probe B. For example, assume that the ultrasonic beam 12BL and the ultrasonic beam 12BR shown in FIG. 4B are selected. Then, based on the position of the surface point tracked on the ultrasonic beam 12BL (coordinate value in the XY plane) and the position of the surface point tracked on the ultrasonic beam 12BR (coordinate value in the XY plane), A straight line B passing through these two surface points is set.

  When a straight line A corresponding to the probe A and a straight line B corresponding to the probe B are set, an intersection angle between the straight line A and the straight line B is calculated, and this intersection angle is set as a bone angle.

  The angle of the bone is calculated for all ultrasonic beams corresponding to the surface points determined to be good. For example, when all of the 16 ultrasonic beams shown in FIG. 4 are good and are to be selected, four in the left area L for the probe A, four in the right area R for the probe A, A measurement set of 256 (4 × 4 × 4 × 4) patterns (used to calculate an angle) by a combination obtained from four in the left area L related to the probe B and four in the right area R related to the probe B Set of four surface points to be obtained). Then, the angle of 256 samples corresponding to the measurement set of 256 patterns is calculated.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the echo tracking processing unit 22 tracks surface points over a plurality of times, and the angle calculation unit 24 calculates bone angles over a plurality of times based on the tracked surface points. Is calculated. For example, the bone angle is calculated while a load is applied to the bone 60 over a plurality of times. The angle calculation unit 24 calculates angles of a plurality of samples corresponding to a plurality of patterns of measurement sets at each time. The load value applied to the bone 60 is measured by the load measuring unit 50.

  The statistical processing unit 26 calculates a statistic regarding the angle at each time based on the angles of a plurality of samples obtained from a plurality of measurement sets. Then, an image including the calculation result of the statistic regarding the angle is formed by the display image forming unit 30 and displayed on the display unit 32.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a display image related to the calculation result of the angle. The histogram shows the distribution of angles obtained from a plurality of patterns of measurement sets, the horizontal axis indicates the value of each angle, and the vertical axis indicates the count number (measurement set number) of each angle.

  The mode value is an angle having the largest count number in the histogram. The standard deviation and standard error of the angle obtained from the multi-pattern measurement set are also displayed. The standard deviation SD and the standard error SE are calculated by the following formula, for example. In the following equation, n is the number of samples, that is, the total number of patterns in the measurement set, and x is the value of each angle.

  In addition, confidence intervals of angles obtained from a plurality of patterns of measurement sets are also displayed. For example, interval estimation is performed using a known t distribution, a 95% confidence interval is calculated, and a low value (lower limit of the interval) and a high value (upper limit of the interval) are displayed. The low value and high value of the 95% confidence interval are calculated by the following equation using, for example, the TINV function. Note that n in the following equation is also the number of samples, that is, the number of patterns in the measurement set.

  In addition to the display of the statistics regarding the angle described above, a load graph and an angle graph are also displayed in the display image of FIG. The load graph shows the load applied to the bone, the horizontal axis indicates the time, and the vertical axis indicates the load value at each time. The angle graph shows the average value of the angles of a plurality of samples obtained from a plurality of measurement sets, the horizontal axis shows the time, and the vertical axis shows the average value of the angle at each time. Instead of the average value of angles, other representative values related to the angles of a plurality of samples obtained from a plurality of measurement sets, such as a maximum value or a mode value, may be used.

  Further, in the display image shown in FIG. 5, a time axis and a time cursor 72 moved along the axis are provided. The time cursor 72 can be moved along the time axis. For example, the user can set the time by moving the time cursor 72 to a desired position. As a result, a histogram corresponding to the time corresponding to the time cursor 72 is displayed, and the cursor (dashed line) displayed in the load graph and the angle graph also moves to the time corresponding to the time cursor 72.

  By using the image shown in FIG. 5, for example, a histogram can be confirmed over a plurality of times. Furthermore, by checking the histogram, the reliability of the angles obtained from a plurality of measurement sets can be evaluated.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining reliability evaluation using a histogram. FIG. 6I shows a measurement result with relatively high reliability. As described with reference to FIG. 4, in this embodiment, the bone angle is calculated using all ultrasonic beams corresponding to the surface points determined to be good. Although the surface points used for measurement are different, the calculated angle is the angle for the same bone at the same time (same load). Therefore, if the measurement is good, for example, as shown in FIG. 6 (I), one mountain-like unimodal histogram is obtained. For example, the sharper the sharpness of the histogram, the more reliable the measurement result with less variation in the measurement result.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6 (II), when two histograms distributed in a mountain shape are obtained, there is a possibility that some kind of error or the like has occurred in the measurement. Questions arise about sex.

  Therefore, for example, the user moves the time cursor 72 shown in FIG. 5 and checks the histogram distribution at each time. For example, in the angle graph shown in FIG. 6 (II), the histogram is confirmed at time tb when the simple increasing tendency is disturbed. For example, when a disturbed histogram as shown in FIG. 6 (II) is obtained, an echo tracking error or the like is confirmed. Incidentally, if an echo tracking error occurs at time tb, there is a high possibility that the error will continue and become a distorted histogram at times after time tb.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining confirmation of an echo tracking error. FIG. 7 shows a display image equivalent to the reception signal waveform corresponding to the surface point, that is, the reception signal waveform 62 shown in FIG. FIG. 7 shows the received signal waveform of beam number #n at each time from time 1 to time 3. A tracking point TP is also displayed in the received signal waveform at each time. The tracking point TP indicates the position of the surface point that is tracked over a plurality of times.

  At time 1, the tracking point TP is set in the right waveform portion PR. This position corresponds, for example, to the actual bone surface. At time 2, the tracking point TP is set in the right waveform portion PR. That is, the tracking point TP tracks the actual bone surface from time 1 to time 2.

  However, at time 3, the tracking point TP has moved into the left waveform portion PL. Since there is a portion having a relatively large amplitude in the waveform portion PL, if the peak of the waveform portion PL is mistaken for the bone surface in the echo tracking process, a phenomenon as shown in FIG. 7 occurs.

  Therefore, for example, when a disturbed histogram as shown in FIG. 6 (II) is obtained, the user confirms an echo tracking error of each ultrasonic beam near the time when the histogram is obtained. If it is determined that an echo tracking error has occurred, the manual setting button in the image shown in FIG. 3 is operated, for example, and the surface point of the beam number that is an echo tracking error is excluded from the measurement object as inappropriate. .

  This makes it possible to check tracking errors that are difficult to determine with the apparatus. Then, only the plurality of surface points determined to have good tracking are used to calculate the angles of the plurality of samples, thereby improving the angle reliability. As a result, the accuracy of evaluation in the diagnosis of bone metabolic diseases such as osteoporosis is improved. Of course, the accuracy of evaluation is improved also when blood vessels other than bones are targeted.

  As described above, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of FIG. 1 has been described as a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Among the configurations shown in FIG. 1, for example, the tomographic image forming unit 18, the echo tracking processing unit 22, and the surface determination unit 23 A computer corresponding to some or all of the functions of the angle calculation unit 24, the statistical processing unit 26, and the display image forming unit 30 may be used to cause the computer to function as a tissue evaluation apparatus. That is, the functions of the statistical processing unit 26 and the like are realized by the cooperation of the CPU, hardware such as a hard disk and memory, and the above-described program.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Composite probe, 14 Transmission / reception part, 18 Tomographic image formation part, 22 Echo tracking process part, 23 Surface determination part, 24 Angle calculation part, 26 Statistical process part, 30 Display image formation part

Claims (8)

A probe for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to the target tissue;
A transmission / reception unit for obtaining a reception signal for each ultrasonic beam by forming a plurality of ultrasonic beams by controlling the probe;
A surface specifying unit that specifies a plurality of surface points corresponding to a plurality of ultrasonic beams by extracting surface points corresponding to the surface of the target tissue based on the received signal for each ultrasonic beam;
By obtaining a measurement amount related to the form of the target tissue based on a measurement point set composed of at least one surface point, a plurality of samples are obtained from a plurality of measurement point sets obtained by a combination of the plurality of surface points. A morphological measurement unit that collects measured quantities;
A display image forming unit for forming a display image indicating the measured amount;
Having
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1,
The surface specifying unit tracks a surface point that moves on a received signal over a plurality of times for each ultrasonic beam,
The display image forming unit forms a display image showing a waveform of a reception signal of each ultrasonic beam and a position of a surface point tracked on the reception signal.
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The display image forming unit forms a display image showing a statistical result related to the measurement amount obtained from the measurement amounts of the plurality of samples.
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The display image forming unit forms a display image corresponding to a time specified by an axis corresponding to the time and a time cursor moved along the axis;
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The display image forming unit forms a display image showing an unsuitable surface point to be selected as the measurement point set or an ultrasonic beam corresponding to the surface point;
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
Based on the waveform of the portion corresponding to the surface point included in the received signal of each ultrasonic beam, the apparatus further includes a surface determination unit that determines whether the surface point is appropriate or inappropriate for being selected as the measurement point set. ,
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. A tissue evaluation device that evaluates a target tissue based on a plurality of surface points corresponding to the surface of the target tissue obtained from a plurality of ultrasonic beams,
By obtaining a measurement amount related to the form of the target tissue based on a measurement point set composed of at least one surface point, a plurality of samples are obtained from a plurality of measurement point sets obtained by a combination of the plurality of surface points. A morphological measurement unit that collects measured quantities;
A statistical processing unit for obtaining a statistic relating to the measurement amount based on the measurement amount of the plurality of samples;
A display image forming unit for forming a display image indicating the statistics;
Having
An organization evaluation apparatus characterized by that. A program for evaluating a target tissue based on a plurality of surface points corresponding to the surface of the target tissue obtained from a plurality of ultrasonic beams,
By obtaining a measurement amount related to the form of the target tissue based on a measurement point set composed of at least one surface point, a plurality of samples are obtained from a plurality of measurement point sets obtained by a combination of the plurality of surface points. Morphological measuring means for collecting measured quantities,
Statistical processing means for obtaining a statistic relating to the measurement amount based on the measurement amount of the plurality of samples,
As a computer to function,
A program characterized by that.

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