JP5450488B2 - Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and ultrasonic image generation method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and an ultrasonic image generation method, and more particularly to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that performs diagnosis based on an ultrasonic image generated by transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves from a transducer array of an ultrasonic probe. About.

  Conventionally, in the medical field, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus using an ultrasonic image has been put into practical use. In general, this type of ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus has an ultrasonic probe with a built-in transducer array and an apparatus main body connected to the ultrasonic probe, and ultrasonic waves are directed toward the subject from the ultrasonic probe. , The ultrasonic echo from the subject is received by the ultrasonic probe, and the received signal is electrically processed by the apparatus main body to generate an ultrasonic image.

In such an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, an ultrasonic image displayed on a screen is optimized and displayed in order to more accurately diagnose a diagnostic part in a subject.
For example, in Patent Document 1, when the position and size of an ROI (Region Of Interest) on a B-mode image in which the inside of a subject is displayed on the entire screen is changed, the position and size of the ROI after the change is changed to the screen It is described that an optimal image is displayed. Specifically, when the position or size of the ROI is changed, an image adjusted so that the maximum depth of the display screen is obtained by adding a predetermined space to the maximum depth of the changed ROI is displayed on the screen. It has been proposed to do.

JP 2003-116850 A

However, when the subject is a small animal such as a dog or a cat, the device of Patent Document 1 includes all the subject itself in the screen and each part in the subject is displayed in a small size on the screen. Therefore, there is a possibility that detailed diagnosis of each part cannot be performed with high accuracy. Furthermore, in such a case, the operator must reset the image display method so that the diagnostic part is appropriately displayed on the screen.
The present invention has been made to solve such a conventional problem, and even if the subject is in a small form, it is not necessary for the operator to reset the display method of the image. An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and an ultrasonic image generation method that can often diagnose the inside of a subject.

  The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention transmits an ultrasonic beam from a transducer array of an ultrasonic probe toward a subject and receives a reception signal output from the transducer array that has received an ultrasonic echo from the subject. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for generating a B-mode image in an image generation unit based on reception data obtained by processing by a reception circuit, and a body of a subject in contact with an ultrasonic probe in a depth direction of the B-mode image While controlling the receiving circuit to acquire only the reception data from the area shallower than the body surface on the opposite side detected by the body surface detection unit and the body surface detection unit that detects the body surface on the opposite side of the table, And a control means for controlling the image generation unit so as to generate an image in which the depth of the opposite body surface detected by the body surface detection unit substantially corresponds to the maximum depth of the B-mode image. is there.

The body surface detection unit preferably detects the body surface on the opposite side of the subject by detecting an air layer in the depth direction of the B-mode image.
The control means corrects the density of the B-mode image by the image generation unit and / or corrects the sound velocity value set in the receiving circuit so that the B-mode image has a predetermined contrast and brightness. can do.

  The ultrasonic image generation method according to the present invention is a reception signal output from a transducer array that transmits an ultrasonic beam from a transducer array of an ultrasonic probe toward a subject and receives an ultrasonic echo from the subject. Is an ultrasonic diagnostic method for generating a B-mode image based on reception data obtained by processing a reception circuit, and in the depth direction of the B-mode image, what is a body surface of a subject in contact with an ultrasonic probe? The body surface of the opposite subject is detected, and only the received data from the area shallower than the detected subject surface is acquired, and the detected depth of the opposite body surface is the B mode. This is a method for generating an image that substantially corresponds to the maximum depth of the image.

  According to the present invention, even for a small subject, the operator can diagnose each part in the subject with high accuracy without performing an operation such as resetting an image display method.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the ultrasonic diagnosing device which concerns on one embodiment in this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the B mode image shown for description of operation | movement of a body surface detection part. It is a figure which shows the B mode image which matched the maximum depth with the body surface on the opposite side of a subject.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes an ultrasonic probe 1 and a diagnostic apparatus main body 2 connected to the ultrasonic probe 1.
The ultrasonic probe 1 has a transducer array 3 in which a plurality of ultrasonic transducers are arranged one-dimensionally. A transmitter circuit 4 and a receiver circuit 5 are connected to the transducer array 3. A probe control unit 6 is connected to the circuit 5.

The diagnostic apparatus body 2 includes a signal processing unit 7 connected to the receiving circuit 5 of the ultrasonic probe 1, and the signal processing unit 7 includes a DSC (Digital Scan Converter) 8, an image processing unit 9, a display control unit 10, and the like. A display unit 11 is sequentially connected, an image memory 12 is connected to the image processing unit 9, and a body surface detection unit 14 is connected. A main body control unit 13 is connected to the signal processing unit 7, DSC 8, image processing unit 9, display control unit 10, and body surface detection unit 14. Furthermore, an operation unit 15 and a storage unit 16 are connected to the main body control unit 13.
Further, the probe control unit 6 of the ultrasonic probe 1 and the main body control unit 13 of the diagnostic apparatus main body 2 are connected to each other.

The transducer array 3 of the ultrasonic probe 1 has a plurality of ultrasonic transducers arranged one-dimensionally or two-dimensionally. These ultrasonic transducers are, for example, piezoelectric ceramics typified by PZT (lead zirconate titanate), polymer piezoelectric elements typified by PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride), PMN-PT (magnesium niobate / titanate). It is constituted by a vibrator in which electrodes are formed on both ends of a piezoelectric body made of a piezoelectric single crystal represented by a lead solid solution).
When a pulsed or continuous wave voltage is applied to the electrodes of such a vibrator, the piezoelectric body expands and contracts, and pulsed or continuous wave ultrasonic waves are generated from the respective vibrators, and the synthesis of those ultrasonic waves. As a result, an ultrasonic beam is formed. In addition, each transducer generates an electric signal by expanding and contracting by receiving propagating ultrasonic waves, and these electric signals are output as ultrasonic reception signals.

The transmission circuit 4 includes, for example, a plurality of pulsers, and is transmitted from the plurality of ultrasonic transducers of the transducer array 3 based on the transmission delay pattern selected according to the control signal from the probe control unit 6. The delay amount of each drive signal is adjusted so that the ultrasonic wave forms an ultrasonic beam and supplied to the plural ultrasonic transducers.
The reception circuit 5 amplifies the reception signal transmitted from each ultrasonic transducer of the transducer array 3 and performs A / D conversion, and then, based on the reception delay pattern selected according to the control signal from the probe control unit 6. In accordance with the sound speed or sound speed distribution set in the above, reception focus processing is performed by adding each received signal with a delay. By this reception focus processing, reception data (sound ray signal) in which the focus of the ultrasonic echo is narrowed is generated.
The transmission circuit 4 and the reception circuit 5 constitute a transmission / reception circuit of the present invention.

  The probe control unit 6 controls each unit of the ultrasonic probe 1 based on various control signals transmitted from the main body control unit 13 of the diagnostic apparatus main body 2.

The signal processing unit 7 of the diagnostic apparatus body 2 corrects the attenuation due to the distance according to the depth of the reflection position of the ultrasonic wave on the reception data generated by the reception circuit 5 of the ultrasonic probe 1, and then envelopes By performing the detection process, a B-mode image signal that is tomographic image information related to the tissue in the subject is generated.
The DSC 8 converts (raster conversion) the B-mode image signal generated by the signal processing unit 7 into an image signal according to a normal television signal scanning method.
The image processing unit 9 performs various necessary image processing such as gradation processing on the B-mode image signal input from the DSC 8, and then outputs the B-mode image signal to the display control unit 10 or stores it in the image memory 12. Store.
These signal processing unit 7, DSC 8, image processing unit 9 and image memory 12 form an image generation unit 17.

The display control unit 10 causes the display unit 11 to display an ultrasound diagnostic image based on the B-mode image signal that has been subjected to image processing by the image processing unit 9.
The display unit 11 includes a display device such as an LCD, for example, and displays an ultrasound diagnostic image under the control of the display control unit 10.

  The body surface detection unit 14 is based on the B-mode image signal subjected to image processing by the image processing unit 9 and is opposite to the body surface of the subject in contact with the ultrasonic probe 1 in the depth direction of the B-mode image. Detect body surface.

  The main body control unit 13 controls each part of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus based on a command input from the operation unit 15 by the operator. Further, the main body control unit 13 controls the image generation unit 17 to form an image in which the body surface on the opposite side of the subject detected by the body surface detection unit 14 is positioned at the maximum depth of the B-mode image. To do.

The operation unit 15 is for an operator to perform an input operation. The operation unit 15 constitutes a region of interest setting unit of the present invention, and can be formed from a keyboard, a mouse, a trackball, a touch panel, and the like.
The storage unit 16 stores an operation program and the like, and a recording medium such as a hard disk, a flexible disk, an MO, an MT, a RAM, a CD-ROM, and a DVD-ROM can be used.
The signal processing unit 7, DSC 8, image processing unit 9, display control unit 10, main body control unit 13 and body surface detection unit 14 are composed of a CPU and an operation program for causing the CPU to perform various processes. However, they may be composed of digital circuits.

Here, with reference to FIG. 2, the body surface detection unit 13 detects the body surface of the subject opposite to the body surface of the subject in contact with the ultrasonic probe 1 in the depth direction of the B-mode image. The operation will be described.
FIG. 2 is a B-mode image obtained by placing a small animal on the examination table as a subject and imaging the transducer array 3 of the ultrasonic probe 1 toward the subject. The B-mode image contains the subject. An air layer 21 formed between the body surface 19 on the side opposite to the body surface of the subject in contact with the ultrasonic probe 1 and the examination table 20 on which the subject is placed, together with the region 18 indicating the inside of the subject because of being small. Is displayed.
The body surface detection unit 13 detects the air layer 21 from the B-mode image, and detects the shallow part outline of the air layer 21 as the body surface 19 on the opposite side of the subject.

Next, the operation of the embodiment of the present invention will be described.
The display of the B-mode image is performed by first transmitting ultrasonic waves from a plurality of ultrasonic transducers of the transducer array 3 according to the drive signal supplied from the transmission circuit 4 and receiving ultrasonic echoes from the subject. The reception signal is output to the reception circuit 5 from which the reception data is generated. Further, a B-mode image signal is generated by the signal processing unit 7 to which the received data is input, and the B-mode image signal is raster-converted by the DSC 8 and various image processing is performed on the B-mode image signal by the image processing unit 9 After that, the B-mode image is displayed on the display unit 11 by the display control unit 10 based on the B-mode image signal.

  In the generation of such a B-mode image, an image as shown in FIG. 2, that is, a body surface 19 on the opposite side of the body surface of the subject in contact with the ultrasonic probe 1 together with the region 18 indicating the body of the subject. When the image including the air layer 21 along the line is generated, the air surface 21 is detected by the body surface detection unit 14 of the diagnostic apparatus main body 2, and the shallow contour of the air layer 21 is the body on the opposite side of the subject. Detected as Table 19. The main body control unit 13 calculates a depth D1 from the ultrasonic probe 1 to the body surface 19 detected by the body surface detection unit 14, and outputs the value to the probe control unit 6. The probe control unit 6 to which the depth D1 is input controls the reception circuit 5 and acquires only reception data from a region shallower than the opposite body surface 19 detected by the body surface detection unit 14.

  Received data acquired from a region shallower than the opposite body surface 19 detected by the body surface detection unit 14 is converted into a B-mode image signal via the signal processing unit 7 and the DSC 8 and sent to the image processing unit 9. It is done. This B-mode image signal is subjected to image processing such that the maximum depth of the B-mode image displayed on the display unit 11 by the image processing unit 9 matches the body surface 19 of the subject detected by the body surface detection unit 14. After being applied, the display control unit 10 enlarges the depth D1 of the region 18 indicating the inside of the subject so as to be the same depth D2 as the maximum depth of the B-mode image as shown in FIG. The ultrasonic diagnostic image is displayed on the display unit 11.

As described above, the body surface detection unit 14 detects the body surface 19 of the subject opposite to the body surface of the subject in contact with the ultrasonic probe 1 in the depth direction of the B-mode image, and detects the opposite Only the received data is acquired by the receiving circuit 5 from a region shallower than the body surface 19 of the subject on the side, and the detected body surface 19 of the subject on the opposite side matches the maximum depth D2 of the B-mode image. It can be generated by the image generation unit 17 and displayed on the display unit 11.
For this reason, even if the subject is a small animal such as a dog or a cat, the operator can display an image of a size that is easy to diagnose each diagnostic site in the subject that is displayed small on the screen. There is no need to reconfigure. Moreover, since the site | part based on the received data acquired according to the maximum depth D2 of a screen can be expanded and displayed, the operator can perform a detailed diagnosis based on the diagnostic site | part displayed enlarged. .

  The main body control unit 13 forms an image in which the body surface 19 on the opposite side of the subject is positioned at the maximum depth D2 of the B-mode image, and the entire B-mode image via the image processing unit 9. It is also possible to correct the image so that has a predetermined contrast and brightness. In this way, even if the subject is a small animal, each part can be displayed in more detail, so that more detailed observation and diagnosis can be performed.

  Further, the main body control unit 13 forms an image in which the body surface 19 on the opposite side of the subject has the maximum depth D2 of the B-mode image, and also eliminates the blur and outline blur of the B-mode image. The sound speed value set in the receiving circuit 5 can also be corrected. In this way, blurring of the image can be eliminated and a predetermined contrast and brightness can be formed, so that a very clear image can be displayed.

  In the above embodiment, the body surface detection unit 13 detects the air layer 21 to detect the body surface 19 on the side opposite to the body surface of the subject in contact with the ultrasonic probe 1. However, the present invention is limited to this. For example, the body surface 19 on the opposite side of the subject may be detected.

In the above embodiment, the main body control unit 13 generates an image so that the depth of the opposite body surface detected by the body surface detection unit 14 matches the maximum depth of the B-mode image. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and an image is generated in which the body surface 19 on the opposite side of the subject detected by the body surface detection unit 14 substantially corresponds to the maximum depth of the B-mode image. The image generation unit 17 may be controlled as described above. For example, an image in which the maximum depth of the B-mode image is 1.1 times the depth of the region indicating the inside of the subject, or the maximum depth of the B-mode image indicates the inside of the subject. An image having a depth obtained by adding the length corresponding to 10% of the maximum depth of the B-mode image to the depth of the region can be generated.
In this way, an image having a predetermined space between the depth of the region showing the inside of the subject and the maximum depth of the B-mode image is displayed on the display unit 10, so that the subject can be seen by the operator. It is easy and the operator can easily grasp the subject.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Ultrasonic probe, 2 Diagnostic apparatus main body, 3 Transducer array, 4 Transmission circuit, 5 Reception circuit, 6 Probe control part, 7 Signal processing part, 8 DSC, 9 Image processing part, 10 Display control part, 11 Display part, 12 Image memory, 13 Main body control unit, 14 Body surface detection unit, 15 Operation unit, 16 Storage unit, 17 Image generation unit, 18 Body of subject, 19 Body surface of subject, 20 Examination table, 21 Air layer, D1 , D2 depth.

Claims (4)

Obtained by transmitting an ultrasonic beam from the transducer array of the ultrasonic probe toward the subject and processing the reception signal output from the transducer array that has received the ultrasonic echo from the subject by the receiving circuit. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for generating a B-mode image in an image generation unit based on received data,
A body surface detection unit that detects a body surface opposite to the body surface of the subject in contact with the ultrasonic probe in the depth direction of the B-mode image;
The receiving circuit is controlled to acquire only the received data from a region shallower than the opposite body surface detected by the body surface detection unit, and the opposite side detected by the body surface detection unit An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: control means for controlling the image generation unit so as to generate an image whose body surface depth substantially corresponds to the maximum depth of the B-mode image.   The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the body surface detection unit detects a body surface opposite to the subject by detecting an air layer in a depth direction of the B-mode image.   The control means corrects the density of the B-mode image by the image generation unit so that the B-mode image has a predetermined contrast and brightness, and / or sets a sound speed value set in the receiving circuit. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein correction is performed. Obtained by transmitting an ultrasonic beam from the transducer array of the ultrasonic probe toward the subject and processing the reception signal output from the transducer array that has received the ultrasonic echo from the subject by the receiving circuit. An ultrasonic diagnostic method for generating a B-mode image based on received data,
Detecting the body surface of the subject opposite to the body surface of the subject in contact with the ultrasound probe in the depth direction of the B-mode image;
Only the received data from a region shallower than the detected body surface of the opposite subject is acquired, and the detected depth of the opposite body surface is approximately equal to the maximum depth of the B-mode image. An ultrasonic image generation method for generating a corresponding image.

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