JP6780976B2 - Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Description

An embodiment of the present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, ultrasonic scanning is performed along the scanning surface from the acoustic radiation surface located in front of the ultrasonic probe. Generally, in a matrix probe in which piezoelectric vibrators are arranged two-dimensionally, a three-dimensional ultrasonic image (volume data) is collected by swinging the scanning surface without moving the ultrasonic probe. Can be done.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-141523

Some matrix probes can rotate the scanning surface around the center of the acoustic radiation surface and around the axis along the normal direction of the acoustic radiation surface. By using this type of ultrasonic probe, the scanning surface can be rotated. , The user can observe a two-dimensional ultrasound image of the desired rotation position.
However, since the ultrasonic probe can change its orientation with a relatively high degree of freedom and the scanning surface is invisible, it is not possible to grasp the orientation of the ultrasonic probe and the rotation position of the scanning surface with respect to the ultrasonic probe. difficult.

An object of the present embodiment is to improve the operability of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present embodiment includes an ultrasonic probe, a generation unit, a rotation control unit, and a display control unit. The ultrasonic probe performs ultrasonic scanning from the front acoustic radiation surface along the scanning surface, and has a marker at a position that does not interfere with the ultrasonic scanning. The rotation control unit rotates the scanning surface around an axis along the normal direction of the acoustic radiation surface in front of the ultrasonic probe. The generation unit generates an indicator indicating the positional relationship between the scanning surface and the marker. The display control unit displays the indicator on the display unit together with the ultrasonic image of the scanning surface generated based on the output of the ultrasonic probe.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. The figure which shows the detail of the ultrasonic probe. The figure which shows the detail of an indicator. A flowchart showing the display control process of the indicator. The figure which shows the correspondence relationship between the ultrasonic scanning surface and an indicator in an ultrasonic probe. The figure which shows the correspondence relationship between the ultrasonic scanning surface and an indicator in an ultrasonic probe. The figure which shows the display example of an indicator and an ultrasonic image. The figure which shows the display example of a fusion image and an indicator.

Hereinafter, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following embodiments, the parts with the same reference numerals perform the same operation, and duplicate description will be omitted as appropriate.

The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG.
The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 includes an ultrasonic probe 3, an input device 5, a monitor 7, and an apparatus main body 9. The apparatus main body 9 includes an ultrasonic transmission circuit 11, an ultrasonic reception circuit 13, a B mode processing circuit 15, a Doppler processing circuit 17, an image generation circuit 19, an image memory 21, an image synthesis circuit 23, and storage. It has a circuit 25, an interface circuit 27, and a control circuit (central processing unit: Central Processing Unit) 29. In addition, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 includes an electrocardiograph, a heart sound meter, a pulse wave meter, a biological signal measuring instrument (not shown) represented by a respiratory sensor, an external storage device (not shown), and a network. It may be connected via.

The ultrasonic probe 3 performs ultrasonic scanning from the front acoustic radiation surface along the scanning surface. The ultrasonic probe 3 executes ultrasonic scanning while moving the position of the scanning line along the operation surface. The ultrasonic probe 3 has a plurality of piezoelectric vibrators (also simply referred to as vibrators), a matching layer, and a backing material provided on the back side of the plurality of vibrators. The plurality of oscillators are acoustic / electroreversible conversion elements such as piezoelectric ceramics. A plurality of oscillators are arranged in parallel and mounted on the tip of the ultrasonic probe 3. Hereinafter, it will be described assuming that one oscillator constitutes one channel. The oscillator generates ultrasonic waves in response to a drive signal supplied from the ultrasonic transmission circuit 11 described later. When ultrasonic waves are transmitted to the subject P via the ultrasonic probe 3, the transmitted ultrasonic waves (hereinafter referred to as transmitted ultrasonic waves) are reflected by the discontinuity of acoustic impedance in the biological tissue in the subject. Will be done.

The oscillator receives the reflected ultrasonic waves and generates an echo signal. The amplitude of the echo signal depends on the difference in acoustic impedance with respect to the discontinuity of ultrasonic reflection. In addition, the frequency of the echo signal when the transmitted ultrasonic waves are moving and reflected on the surface of the heart wall, etc., is transmitted by the ultrasonic waves of the moving body (blood flow and the surface of the heart wall) due to the Doppler effect. It shifts depending on the velocity component of the direction.

The matching layer is provided on the ultrasonic radiation surface side of the plurality of vibrators in order to efficiently transmit and receive ultrasonic waves to the subject P. The backing material prevents the propagation of ultrasonic waves behind the oscillator. Further, the ultrasonic probe 3 has a marker at a position that does not interfere with ultrasonic scanning. The marker can be an index for grasping the orientation of the ultrasonic probe. Details of the ultrasonic probe 3 will be described later with reference to FIG.

Hereinafter, the ultrasonic probe 3 will be described as a probe that scans the area to be scanned two-dimensionally by a one-dimensional array composed of oscillators arranged one-dimensionally. The ultrasonic probe 3 may be a mechanical four-dimensional probe in which a one-dimensional array is swung in a direction orthogonal to the arrangement direction of a plurality of transducers to perform three-dimensional scanning, or the transducers are arranged two-dimensionally. It may be a two-dimensional array probe. Further, it may be a sector probe or a convex probe.

The input device 5 is connected to the device main body 9 via the interface circuit 27. The input device includes various switches, buttons, trackballs, and a mouse for incorporating various instructions from the user, various conditions, setting instructions of the region of interest (ROI), various image quality conditions, setting instructions, and the like into the device main body 9. , Has a keyboard, etc. The input device 5 may have a touch pad for performing an input operation by touching the operation surface, a touch panel display in which the display screen and the touch pad are integrated, a microphone, and the like.

The input device 5 inputs to the device main body 9 a start instruction for executing a function of comprehensively executing the indicator generation function 293 and the display control function 295, which will be described later.
The input device 5 is not limited to a device including physical operation parts such as a mouse and a keyboard. For example, an electric signal processing circuit that receives an electric signal corresponding to an input operation from an external input device provided separately from the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1 and outputs the received electric signal to various circuits is also input. It is included in the example of the device 5.

The monitor 7 displays morphological information in the living body, blood flow information, and the like as images based on the video signals output from the image generation circuit 19 and the image synthesis circuit 23, which will be described later. Further, the monitor 7 displays an indicator. The details of the indicator will be described later. As the monitor, for example, a CRT display, a liquid crystal display, an organic EL display, an LED display, a plasma display, or any other display known in the art can be appropriately used. The monitor 7 corresponds to a display unit and a display circuit.

The ultrasonic transmission circuit 11 includes a pulse generator 111, a transmission delay circuit 113, and a pulser circuit 115. The ultrasonic transmission circuit 11 is an example of an ultrasonic transmission unit, and may have a processor. The pulse generator 111 repeatedly generates rate pulses for forming transmitted ultrasonic waves at a predetermined rate frequency fr Hz (period: 1 / fr seconds). The generated rate pulse is distributed to the number of channels and sent to the transmission delay circuit 113.

The transmission delay circuit 113 sets the delay time (hereinafter referred to as transmission delay time) required for converging the transmitted ultrasonic waves in a beam shape and determining the transmission directivity for each rate pulse for each of the plurality of channels. give. The transmission delay time (hereinafter, referred to as a transmission delay pattern) relating to the transmission direction or the transmission direction of the transmission ultrasonic wave is stored in the storage circuit 25. The transmission delay pattern stored in the storage circuit 25 is referred to by the control circuit 29 when transmitting ultrasonic waves.

The pulsar circuit 115 applies a voltage pulse (drive signal) to each oscillator of the ultrasonic probe 3 at a timing based on this rate pulse. As a result, the ultrasonic beam is transmitted to the subject P.

The ultrasonic receiving circuit 13 includes a preamplifier 131, an analog-to-digital (hereinafter referred to as A / D) converter (not shown), a reception delay circuit 133, and an adder 135. The ultrasonic wave receiving circuit is an example of an ultrasonic wave receiving unit, and may have a processor. The preamplifier 131 amplifies the echo signal from the subject P captured via the ultrasonic probe 3 for each channel. The A / D converter converts the amplified received echo signal into a digital signal. For the analog signal before A / D conversion, an analog gain is given as STC (sentive time control) or TGC (time gain control).

The reception delay circuit 133 gives the reception echo signal converted into a digital signal a delay time (hereinafter, referred to as a reception delay time) necessary for determining the reception directivity. The reception delay circuit 133 is, for example, a digital beam former. A digital gain is given as STC or TGC to the digital signal output from the reception delay circuit 133. The reception delay time (hereinafter, referred to as a reception delay pattern) relating to the reception direction or the reception direction of the echo signal is stored in the storage circuit 25 described later. The reception delay pattern stored in the storage circuit 25 is referred to by the control circuit 29 as in the case of transmission.

The signal due to the reflected wave becomes weaker in the deeper part of the subject due to the attenuation of the ultrasonic wave in the subject. Therefore, the analog gain and the digital gain are gains that amplify the amplitude of the signal due to the ultrasonic waves reflected in the deep part of the subject in order to compensate for this attenuation.

The adder 135 adds a plurality of echo signals with a delay time. By this addition, the ultrasonic reception circuit 13 generates a reception signal in which the reflection component from the direction corresponding to the reception directivity is emphasized. The overall directivity of ultrasonic transmission / reception is determined by the transmission directivity and the reception directivity. This overall directivity determines the ultrasonic beam (so-called "ultrasonic scanning line").

The B-mode processing circuit 15 includes an envelope detector, a logarithmic converter, and the like (not shown). The B-mode processing circuit 15 is an example of a B-mode processing unit and has a processor. The envelope detector executes the envelope detector on the received signal output from the ultrasonic reception circuit 13. The envelope detector outputs the envelope-detected signal to a logarithmic converter described later. The logarithmic converter performs logarithmic conversion on the envelope-detected signal to relatively emphasize the weak signal. The B-mode processing circuit 15 generates a signal value (B-mode data) for each depth in each scanning line and each ultrasonic transmission / reception based on the signal emphasized by the logarithmic converter.

The B-mode data corresponds to data in which the intensity of the signal output from the logarithmic converter is expressed as the brightness of the luminance. The output from the B-mode processing circuit 15 is output to the image generation circuit 19. The output from the B-mode processing circuit 15 is displayed on the monitor 7 as a B-mode image in which the intensity of the reflected wave is represented by the brightness.

When the ultrasonic probe 3 is a mechanical four-dimensional probe or a two-dimensional array probe, the B-mode processing circuit 15 has an azimuth direction, an elevation direction, and a depth direction (range) in the area to be scanned. 3D B-mode data composed of a plurality of signal values arranged in association with each other in the (Ranger) direction) may be generated. The range direction is the depth direction on the scanning line. The azimuth direction is, for example, an electron scanning direction along the arrangement direction of the oscillators in the one-dimensional array. The elevation direction is, for example, the mechanical swing direction of the one-dimensional array.

The three-dimensional B mode data may be data in which a plurality of pixel values or a plurality of luminance values are arranged in association with each other along the scanning line in the azimuth direction, the elevation direction, and the range direction. .. Further, the three-dimensional B mode data may be data related to the ROI set in advance in the area to be scanned. Further, the B mode processing circuit 15 may generate volume data instead of the three-dimensional B mode data. Hereinafter, the data generated by the B mode processing circuit 15 will be collectively referred to as B mode data.

The Doppler processing circuit 17 receives an echo signal from the ultrasonic receiving circuit 13, and frequency-analyzes velocity information with respect to the received echo signal. The Doppler processing circuit 17 is an example of a Doppler processing unit and has a processor. The Doppler processing circuit 17 extracts blood flow, tissue, and contrast agent echo components due to the Doppler effect from the echo signal received from the ultrasonic receiving circuit 13. The Doppler processing circuit 17 obtains blood flow information such as average velocity, dispersion, and power for multiple points on the scanning line. The Doppler processing circuit 17 outputs the obtained blood flow information to the image generation circuit 19. The output from the Doppler processing circuit 17 is displayed in color on the monitor 7 as a Doppler waveform image, an average velocity image, a distributed image, a power image, and a combination image thereof.

For example, the Doppler processing circuit 17 includes a mixer (not shown), a low-pass filter (hereinafter referred to as LPF), a speed / dispersion / Power calculation circuit, and the like. The mixer multiplies the received signal output from the ultrasonic wave receiving circuit 13 by a reference signal having the same frequency f0 as the transmitting frequency. By this multiplication, a signal having a component of the Doppler shift frequency fd and a signal having a frequency component of (2f0 + fd) can be obtained. The LPF removes a signal having a high frequency component (2f0 + fd) from the signal having two kinds of frequency components from the mixer. The Doppler processing circuit 17 generates a Doppler signal having a Doppler shift frequency fd component by removing a signal having a high frequency component (2f0 + fd).

The Doppler processing circuit 17 may use an orthogonal detection method in order to generate a Doppler signal. At this time, the received signal (RF signal) is orthogonally detected and converted into an IQ signal. The Doppler processing unit 142 generates a Doppler signal having a component of the Doppler shift frequency fd by performing a complex Fourier transform on the IQ signal. The Doppler signal is, for example, a blood flow, tissue, or Doppler component of a contrast agent.

The speed / dispersion / power calculation circuit includes an MTI (Moving Target Indicator) filter, an LPF filter, an autocorrelation calculation device, and the like (not shown). It should be noted that a cross-correlation calculator may be provided instead of the autocorrelation calculator. The MTI filter removes the Doppler component (clutter component) caused by the respiratory movement and pulsatile movement of the organ with respect to the generated Doppler signal. The MTI filter is used to extract a Doppler component related to blood flow (hereinafter referred to as a blood flow Doppler component) from a Doppler signal. The LPF is used to extract a Doppler component (hereinafter referred to as a tissue Doppler component) related to tissue movement from a Doppler signal.

The autocorrelation calculator calculates the autocorrelation value for the blood flow Doppler component and the tissue Doppler component. The autocorrelation calculator calculates the average velocity value of blood flow and tissue, the dispersion value, the reflection intensity (power) of the Doppler signal, and the like based on the calculated autocorrelation value. The velocity / dispersion / Power arithmetic circuit generates color Doppler data at each position in a predetermined region based on the average velocity value of blood flow and tissue based on a plurality of Doppler signals, the dispersion value, the reflection intensity of the Doppler signal, and the like. Hereinafter, the Doppler signal and the color Doppler data are collectively referred to as Doppler data.

The image generation circuit 19 has a digital scan converter (Digital Scan Converter: hereinafter referred to as DSC) and the like (hereinafter referred to as DSC) (not shown). The image generation circuit 19 is an example of an image generation unit and has a processor. The image generation circuit 19 executes coordinate conversion processing (resampling) on the DSC. The coordinate conversion process is, for example, a process of converting a scanning line signal string of ultrasonic scanning composed of B mode data and Doppler data into a scanning line signal string of a general video format represented by a television or the like. ..

The image generation circuit 19 generates an ultrasonic image as a display image by a coordinate conversion process. Specifically, the image generation circuit 19 generates a B-mode image based on the B-mode data. The B-mode image has a pixel value (luminance value) that reflects the characteristics of an ultrasonic probe such as focusing of sound waves and the sound field characteristics of an ultrasonic beam (for example, a transmission / reception beam). For example, in a B-mode image, the brightness is relatively higher in the area to be scanned in the vicinity of the focus of ultrasonic waves than in the non-focused portion. The image generation circuit 19 generates Doppler images such as an average velocity image, a distributed image, and a power image based on the Doppler data.

The image memory 21 stores data (hereinafter, referred to as image data) corresponding to the generated ultrasonic image (B mode image, average velocity image, distributed image, power image). The image data stored in the image memory 21 is read out according to a user's instruction via the input device 5. The image memory 21 is, for example, a memory for storing ultrasonic images corresponding to a plurality of frames immediately before freezing. By continuously displaying (cine-displaying) the images stored in the cine memory at a predetermined frame rate, the ultrasonic moving image is displayed as a moving image on the monitor 7.

The image memory 21 is realized by, for example, an integrated circuit storage device (RAM (Random Access Memory), ROM (Read-Only Memory), etc.). The realization of the image memory 21 is not limited to the integrated circuit storage device, and may be any storage device.

The image synthesis circuit 23 synthesizes character information, scales, and the like of various parameters with the ultrasonic image. The image synthesis circuit 23 is an example of an image synthesis unit and has a processor. The image synthesis circuit 23 outputs the synthesized ultrasonic image to the monitor 7, which will be described later.

The storage circuit 25 is a storage device such as an HDD (hard disk drive), an SSD (solid state drive), or an integrated circuit storage device (RAM, ROM, etc.) that stores various information. The storage circuit 25 corresponds to a storage unit. Further, the storage circuit 25 may be realized by a drive device that reads and writes various information between a CD-ROM drive, a DVD drive, and the like. The storage circuit 25 is a drive for reading and writing various information between a magnetic disk (floppy (registered trademark) disk, etc.), an optical disk (CD-ROM, DVD, MO, etc.), and a portable storage medium such as a semiconductor memory. It may be realized by the device.

The storage circuit 25 stores a plurality of reception delay patterns having different focus depths and a plurality of transmission delay patterns. The storage circuit 25 stores the control program of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 1, the diagnostic protocol, and the medical analysis program described later. The storage circuit 25 stores various data groups such as ultrasonic transmission / reception conditions and diagnostic information (patient ID, doctor's findings, etc.). The storage circuit 25 stores the reception signal generated by the ultrasonic reception circuit 13, the B mode data generated by the B mode processing circuit 15, and the Doppler data generated by the Doppler processing circuit 17.
The storage circuit 25 stores various ultrasonic images (medical images) such as a B-mode image, an average velocity image, a distributed image, and a power image.

The interface circuit 27 is an interface relating to an input device 5, an operation panel (not shown), a network, an external storage device (not shown), and a biological signal measuring instrument. Data such as ultrasonic images and analysis results obtained by the device main body 9 can be transferred to another device via the interface circuit 27 and the network. The interface circuit 27 can also download an ultrasonic image of a subject acquired by another medical image diagnostic apparatus (not shown) via a network. The interface circuit 27 corresponds to the interface unit and may have a processor.

The control circuit 29 has a function as an information processing device (computer), and is a control means (processor) that controls the operation of the device main body 9 of the ultrasonic diagnostic device 1. The control circuit 29 reads a control program for executing image generation / display and the like from the storage circuit 25 and executes calculations / controls related to various processes.

In the present embodiment, each processing function performed by the setting function 291 and the indicator generation function 293, the display control function 295 and the rotation control function 297 is stored in the storage circuit 25 in the form of a program that can be executed by a computer. The control circuit 29 is a processor that realizes the functions corresponding to each program by reading the programs corresponding to these functions from the storage circuit 25 and executing the programs.

The term "processor" used in the above description means, for example, a CPU, a GPU (Graphical Processing Unit), an integrated circuit for a specific application (Application Specific Integrated Circuit: ASIC), or a programmable logic device (for example, a simple programmable logic device (Simple)). It means a circuit such as a Programgable Logic Device (SPLD), a compound programmable logic device (Complex Programmable Logical Device: CPLD), and a field programmable gate array (Field Programmable Gate Array: FPGA).

The processor realizes the function by reading and executing the program stored in the storage circuit 25. Instead of storing the program in the storage circuit 25, the program may be directly incorporated in the circuit of the processor. In this case, the processor realizes the function by reading and executing the program embedded in the circuit. Similarly, other circuits such as the ultrasonic transmission circuit 11, the ultrasonic reception circuit 13, the B mode processing circuit 15, the Doppler processing circuit 17, the image generation circuit 19, the image synthesis circuit 23, and the interface circuit 27 are also the above-mentioned processors. It is composed of electronic circuits such as.

The control circuit 29 that realizes the setting function 291 sets general conditions such as, for example, various conditions related to the output of the ultrasonic probe 3 and ultrasonic scanning.

The control circuit 29 that realizes the indicator generation function 293 generates an indicator indicating the positional relationship between the scanning surface formed by the ultrasonic waves output from the ultrasonic probe 3 and the marker included in the ultrasonic probe 3.

The control circuit 29 that realizes the display control function 295 displays an indicator on a display unit such as a monitor 7 together with an ultrasonic image of a scanning surface generated based on the output of the ultrasonic probe 3. The control circuit 29 that realizes the display control function 295 changes the display of the indicator according to the rotation of the scanning surface when the scanning surface is rotated according to the instruction of the rotation control function 297.

The control circuit 29 that realizes the rotation control function 297 outputs a control instruction indicating the amount of rotation, and is output from the ultrasonic probe 3 centering on an axis along the normal direction of the acoustic radiation surface in front of the ultrasonic probe. Controls the rotation of the scanning surface of ultrasonic waves. The rotation of the scanning surface is a general rotation realized by rotation by a general electronic scanning or rotation of an oscillator by a motor (not shown) in the case of a mechanical probe, and thus a detailed description here. Is omitted.

Next, the details of the ultrasonic probe 3 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 2 is a simplified display of the ultrasonic probe 3. The ultrasonic probe 3 has a probe direction marker 203 on a part of the side surface 202 of the ultrasonic probe 3 which is different from the front ultrasonic transmission / reception surface (acoustic radiation surface) 201. By referring to the probe direction marker 203, the user can grasp which direction the ultrasonic probe 3 is facing.
The probe direction marker 203 may indicate the initial position of the scanning surface before rotation.

In the example of FIG. 2, the probe direction marker 203 is formed by a protrusion having a convex structure, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the probe direction marker 203 may be formed on the ultrasonic probe 3 in a concave structure. Alternatively, a sticker may be attached to the ultrasonic probe 3. Further, the probe direction marker 203 may be formed by differently arranging the color of the probe direction marker 203 and the color around the probe direction marker 203, or the housing may emit light such as an LED (Light Emitting Diode). By arranging or embedding a member and causing the light emitting member to emit light, the member may serve as a probe direction marker 203. That is, the probe direction marker 203 may be in any form as long as it is an index for defining the direction of the ultrasonic probe 3.

Further, in the present embodiment, the ultrasonic probe 3 has one probe direction marker 203, but a plurality of probe direction markers 203 may be formed. However, when a plurality of probe direction markers 203 are formed, it may be confusing if the probe direction markers 203 having the same color scheme or shape are formed at positions facing the positions where the probe direction markers 203 are formed. Therefore, a plurality of different probe direction markers 203 may be formed so that the direction of the ultrasonic probe 3 can be specified. When a plurality of probe direction markers 203 are formed in this way, it is desirable that the probe direction markers 203 are in a form that can be distinguished from each other.

Further, in the example of FIG. 2, the probe direction marker 203 is formed on the side surface 202 of the ultrasonic probe 3, but it may be formed on one side of the ultrasonic wave transmission / reception surface 201. For example, a part (for example, one side) of the housing portion of the ultrasonic probe 3 on the ultrasonic transmission / reception surface 201 side has a structure having light transmission, and a light emitting member is arranged or embedded as a probe direction marker 203 in the structure. , The light emitting member may be made to emit light. By doing so, the user can recognize the direction of the ultrasonic probe 3 by visually recognizing the light emitting portion.

Next, the details of the indicator will be described with reference to FIG.
The indicator 300 shown in FIG. 3 has a portion indicating the position of the scanning surface formed by the ultrasonic probe 3 (hereinafter, scanning surface marker 301) and a portion indicating the position of the probe direction marker 203 in the ultrasonic probe 3 (hereinafter, hereinafter,). The reference marker 304) and a portion indicating the moving direction of the scanning line (hereinafter, the scanning position marker 302) are included.

For example, the scanning surface marker 301 is shown as a straight line in FIG. 3 and indicates the position of the ultrasonic scanning surface as seen from the depth direction (ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving surface side) of the subject P. Further, the scanning position marker 302 is indicated by a “□ (square)” at the end of the scanning surface marker 301, and indicates a start position or an end position in the scanning direction. In other words, the scanning position marker 302 indicates the moving direction of the scanning line. When the scanning surface marker 301 rotates, the scanning position marker 302 also rotates integrally. The figure of the scanning position marker 302 does not have to be “□”, and any display such as an arrow may be used as long as the end portion (or the moving direction of the scanning line) of the scanning surface marker 301 can be indicated. Further, the scanning position marker 302 may be hidden.

The rotation range marker 303 is indicated by a circle and indicates the rotation range of the scanning surface. The rotation range marker 303 may have a shape that matches the shape of the housing when the ultrasonic probe 3 is viewed from a direction perpendicular to the ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving surface. The reference marker 304 is indicated by “Δ (triangle)” so as to indicate a part of the rotation range marker 303, and indicates a position where the probe direction marker 203 is formed in the housing of the ultrasonic probe 3. The rotation range marker 303 and the reference marker 304 are not limited to circles and triangles, and may be represented in any way, such as the rotation range marker 303 being represented by a square and the rotation range marker 303 being represented by "◯ (point)".

As a method of reflecting the position of the probe direction marker 203 as the reference marker 304, for example, the number (ID) of at least one oscillator among the plurality of oscillators of the ultrasonic probe 3 is designated as the position of the probe direction marker 203. By doing so, the position of the designated oscillator with respect to the scanning surface can be grasped from the positional relationship between the output of the designated oscillator and the scanning surface, so that the position of the reference marker 304 may be reflected in the indicator 300. Alternatively, the position of the probe direction marker 203 may be reflected on the indicator 300 by mounting the magnetic sensor on the ultrasonic probe 3 and offsetting the position of the probe direction marker 203.

Further, the indicator 300 may numerically display the angle of the scanning surface with respect to the probe direction marker 203, that is, the relative angle between the scanning surface marker 301 and the reference marker 304. In the example of FIG. 3, it is displayed as "45 °".

The reference marker 304 may indicate the position of the scanning surface corresponding to the initial position of rotation instead of indicating the position where the probe direction marker 203 is formed. This is because it is considered that the direction of the ultrasonic probe 3 and the initial position in the scanning direction of the ultrasonic wave are predetermined. Therefore, the indicator 300 represents the positional relationship between the initial position of the scanning surface and the rotated position of the scanning surface after rotation, so that the same effect as when the reference marker 304 represents the position of the probe direction marker 203 can be obtained. it can.

Further, the indicator 300 may include an indicator indicating whether the indicator is viewed from the ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving surface side of the ultrasonic probe 3 or the handle side of the ultrasonic probe 3.

Next, the display control process of the indicator will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The display control process is realized by each function of the control circuit 29.

In step S401, the indicator generation function 293 refers to the scanning surface of the ultrasonic wave and the direction of the ultrasonic probe 3 to generate an indicator.
In step S402, the display control function 295 causes the indicator to be displayed on the display unit. The display control function 295 may also display an ultrasonic image based on the scanning surface.

In step S403, the display control function 295 determines whether or not the scanning surface has been rotated by the rotation control function 297. Whether or not the scanning surface has rotated may be determined by, for example, whether or not the rotation control function 297 outputs a control instruction. If the scanning surface is rotated, the process proceeds to step S404, and if the scanning surface is not rotated, the display of the indicator is not changed and the process waits (returns to its own processing step S403).

In step S404, the display control function 295 maintains the positional relationship between the scanning surface and the marker based on the amount of rotation when the rotation control function 297 rotates the scanning surface, and the scanning surface marker or the reference marker of the indicator. To rotate.

In the following, the operation of rotating the scanning surface marker or the reference marker of the indicator already displayed by the display control function 295 will be described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, even if the indicator generation function 293 generates a new indicator by rotating the scanning surface marker or the reference marker according to the amount of rotation of the scanning surface, and the display control function 295 displays the new indicator on the display unit. Good.

Next, the correspondence between the ultrasonic scanning surface and the indicator in the ultrasonic probe 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.
FIG. 5 shows a case where the position of the probe direction marker 203 and the end position of the scanning line on the scanning surface coincide with each other. In this case, since the angle of the scanning surface with respect to the probe direction marker 203 is "0 degree", it is displayed as shown by the indicator 501 shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 shows a case where the scanning surface is rotated 90 degrees clockwise from the probe direction marker 203 by the rotation control function 297. In this case, the display control function 295 indicates that the scanning surface marker 301 is rotated 90 degrees clockwise while maintaining the positional relationship between the scanning surface formed by ultrasonic waves and the marker according to the rotation of the scanning surface. Controls the display of 601. The rotation may be counterclockwise.

Note that FIG. 6 shows a case where the reference marker 304 related to the probe direction marker 203 is fixed and the scanning surface marker 301 is rotated as a display method of the indicator 601. However, the scanning surface marker 301 is fixed and the reference marker 304 is rotated. You may let me. When the rotation range marker 303 represents the shape of the housing of the ultrasonic probe 3, the rotation range marker 303 and the reference marker 304 may be rotated together. That is, it may be displayed so that the relative positional relationship between the probe direction marker 203 and the scanning surface can be grasped.

Next, a display example of the indicator and the ultrasonic image displayed on the monitor 7 will be described with reference to FIG. 7.
As shown in FIG. 7, the ultrasonic image 701 and the indicator 300 indicating the direction of the ultrasonic probe 3 and the direction of the scanning surface with respect to the ultrasonic image 701 are displayed together on the monitor 7.

According to the first embodiment shown above, the ultrasonic probe has a marker, and an indicator showing the positional relationship between the marker and the scanning surface of the ultrasonic wave is displayed on the display unit according to the amount of rotation of the scanning surface. To rotate the scanning surface marker or reference marker of the indicator. By doing so, it is possible to easily grasp the direction of the ultrasonic probe currently applied to the subject by the user and the direction of the scanning surface rotating by electron scanning. Therefore, the user is less conscious of the direction of the ultrasonic probe, and the operability of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus can be improved.

(Modification example)
As a modification, the display of the indicator described above corresponds the coordinate positions of the ultrasonic image (cross-sectional image) acquired by the ultrasonic probe 3 and the cross-sectional image acquired by a different modality such as MRI. It can also be used in so-called fusion display, which is displayed by superimposing.

As the method for displaying the fusion, a conventionally known method can be appropriately selected, and specifically, it can be performed as follows. First, the ultrasonic probe 3 is provided with a position detecting means, and the positioning between images obtained by other modality is performed. For example, a magnetic sensor is used as the position detecting means, and a magnetic transmitter is provided in the vicinity of the magnetic sensor. From the magnetic transmitter, the magnetic fields in the x, y, and z directions are switched and radiated in time series, and the magnetic sensor synchronizes with this to detect the position in the x, y, z directions and the rotation with respect to each axis. can do.

To align the images between different modality, the user first makes sure that the ultrasonic image displayed by the ultrasonic probe 3 is substantially parallel to the cross-sectional image (hereinafter referred to as another modality image) by another modality. Operate the ultrasonic probe 3.

Next, a characteristic part that serves as a mark is searched for on the ultrasonic image, and that part is marked as the mark position. Next, while referring to the image, a part having the same feature is searched for in another modality image. When a tomographic image that seems to be the same part is obtained from another modality image, marking is performed on the part that seems to correspond to the mark position on the image.

By the above work, the parameters necessary for the corresponding alignment between the ultrasonic image and the other modality image can be obtained. After that, coordinate transformation is automatically performed in the device to match both images, and the tomographic image of another modality corresponding to the real-time image obtained by the ultrasonic probe 3 is displayed. ..

A display example of the fusion image and the indicator will be described with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 8, the image 800 on the left side is a fusion image in which a modality image 801 other than the ultrasonic image and an ultrasonic image 802 based on scanning by the ultrasonic probe 3 are superimposed. The image 810 on the right is an ultrasonic image 802 and an indicator 803 used for the fusion image.

When the user rotates the scanning surface of the ultrasonic probe 3, the control circuit 29 that realizes the display control function 295 scans the ultrasonic probe image 804 shown in the fusion image shown in the image 800 according to the amount of rotation. Control the surface to rotate. Similarly, the control circuit 29 that realizes the display control function 295 rotates the scanning surface marker or the reference marker of the indicator 803 shown in the image 810 according to the amount of rotation.

According to the modification according to the present embodiment shown above, by displaying the indicator even when the fusion image is used, the direction of the ultrasonic probe currently applied to the subject by the user and the rotation by electronic scanning are performed. It is possible to easily grasp the direction of the scanning surface.

When the ultrasonic probe 3 itself is rotated, the entire display of the indicator may also be rotated. For example, the control circuit 29 that realizes the display control function 295 determines the position of the ultrasonic probe 3 with respect to the subject as the initial position before the measurement. After that, the amount of inclination and the amount of rotation of the ultrasonic probe 3 from the initial position are calculated using a magnetic sensor or the like. The control circuit 29 that realizes the display control function 295 tilts the indicator from the position corresponding to the initial position to the back side (or the front side) of the paper so that the entire indicator becomes an ellipse according to the amount of inclination and the amount of rotation. It may be a visible display.

In addition, each function according to the embodiment can also be realized by installing a program for executing the process on a computer such as a workstation and expanding these on a memory. At this time, a program that allows a computer to execute the method can be stored and distributed in a storage medium such as a magnetic disk (hard disk, etc.), an optical disk (CD-ROM, DVD, etc.), or a semiconductor memory. ..

Although some embodiments of the present invention have been described, these embodiments are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other embodiments, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the scope of the invention described in the claims and the equivalent scope thereof.

1 ... Ultrasonic diagnostic device, 3 ... Ultrasonic probe, 5 ... Input device, 7 ... Monitor, 9 ... Device body, 11 ... Ultrasonic transmission circuit, 13 ... Ultrasonic reception circuit, 15 ... B mode processing circuit, 17 ... Doppler processing circuit, 19 ... image generation circuit, 21 ... image memory, 23 ... image synthesis circuit, 25 ... storage circuit, 27 ... interface circuit, 29 ... control circuit (CPU), 111 ... pulse generator, 113 ... transmission delay circuit , 115 ... pulsar circuit, 131 ... preamplifier, 133 ... reception delay circuit, 135 ... adder, 201 ... ultrasonic transmission / reception surface, 202 ... side surface, 203 ... probe direction marker, 291 ... setting function, 293 ... indicator generation function, 295 ... ... Display control function, 297 ... Rotation control function, 300,501,601,803 ... Indicator, 301 ... Scanning surface marker, 302 ... Scanning position marker, 303 ... Rotation range marker, 304 ... Reference marker, 701,802 ... Ultrasonic Image, 800, 810 ... image, 801 ... modality image, 804 ... ultrasonic probe image.

Claims (8)

An ultrasonic probe that performs ultrasonic scanning from the front acoustic radiation surface along the scanning surface and has a marker at a position that does not interfere with the ultrasonic scanning.
A rotation control unit that rotates the scanning surface around an axis along the normal direction of the acoustic radiation surface in front of the ultrasonic probe.
A generation unit that generates an indicator indicating a positional relationship between the scanning surface and the marker,
A display control unit that displays the indicator on the display unit together with an ultrasonic image of the scanning surface generated based on the output of the ultrasonic probe.
It is an ultrasonic diagnostic device equipped with
The indicator is an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus including an indication indicating from which side of the acoustic radiation surface side and the handle side of the ultrasonic probe is the positional relationship . The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the marker indicates an initial position of rotation of the scanning surface. The ultrasonic probe executes the ultrasonic scanning while moving the position of the scanning line along the scanning surface.
The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the indicator includes a portion indicating the position of the scanning surface, a portion indicating the position of the marker, and a portion indicating a moving direction of the scanning line. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the marker is formed in a concave structure or a convex structure in the ultrasonic probe. Said marker, it said has a different color from the color of the periphery of the marker in the ultrasonic probe, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4. The ultrasonic probe further includes a plurality of transducers for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves, respectively,
The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the marker is located so as to correspond to at least one of the plurality of oscillators. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the ultrasonic probe has the marker on a side surface. An ultrasonic probe that performs ultrasonic scanning from the front acoustic radiation surface along the scanning surface,
A rotation control unit that rotates the scanning surface around an axis along the normal direction of the acoustic radiation surface in front of the ultrasonic probe.
A generator that generates an indicator indicating the positional relationship between the scanning surface at the initial position of rotation and the scanning surface after rotation, and
A display control unit that controls the display to be displayed on the display unit together with the ultrasonic image of the scanning surface generated based on the output of the ultrasonic probe.
It is an ultrasonic diagnostic device equipped with
The indicator is an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus including an indication indicating from which side of the acoustic radiation surface side and the handle side of the ultrasonic probe is the positional relationship .