JPH0127742B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that simultaneously displays a blood flow pattern, an M-mode echocardiogram (hereinafter referred to as UCG), and a tomographic image on the same screen.

Regarding the examination of hemodynamic function, especially cardiac blood flow, there is a method of obtaining the frequency distribution of Doppler signals (hereinafter referred to as blood flow pattern) using an ultrasonic pulsed Doppler blood flow meter. Conventionally, methods for obtaining tomographic images using UCG and high-speed scanning ultrasonic tomography devices, such as sector-type or linear electronic scanning ultrasonic tomography devices, have been considered to be excellent methods for testing temporal deviations. Therefore, as shown in Fig. 1A and B (A is sector type, B is linear type), tomographic probe 1 and Doppler probe 2 are connected by arm 3, and each ultrasonic wave The tomographic probe 1 switches the emitted pulses in chronological order.
By detecting the relative position of the Doppler probe 2 with the potentiometer 4, it is possible to simultaneously measure the tomographic image and measure the blood flow velocity at any point within the displayed tomographic image in real time. Method Ultrasonic tomography/
A Doppler complex diagnostic device has been proposed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1989-1999)
-Refer to Publication No. 105881).

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 2, an improved version has been proposed in which the tomographic probe 1 shown in FIG. . In Fig. 2, 5 is a control section, 6 is a transmitter/receiver section, 7 is a probe consisting of a large number of transducers arranged in a row, 8 is a Doppler detection section consisting of a mixing circuit, a sample circuit, etc., and 9 is a Doppler detection section. A sound generating speaker, 10 a frequency-voltage conversion circuit comprising, for example, a zero-crossing circuit, a frequency analysis circuit, etc., 11 a video mixer, 12 a sweep signal generation circuit for a CRT display device,
13 is a CRT display device. In this device, a controller 5 determines the direction of ultrasonic pulses emitted from a probe 7, a transmitter/receiver 6 generates a group of high-voltage pulses, and the pulses are sequentially supplied to the transducer of the probe 7. As a result, ultrasonic pulses are sequentially emitted from the transducer of the probe 7 in the determined specific direction or in each direction of the tomographic image scanning range. When detecting a blood flow pattern, an ultrasonic pulse is emitted in a specific direction, and the reflected wave is received by the probe 7 and converted into an electrical signal. This electric signal (reflected signal) is amplified and phase-combined in the transmitting/receiving section 6, and
The signal is input to the image mixer 11 and the Doppler detection section 8. In the Doppler detection unit 8, the Doppler signal obtained by mixing the phase-combined reflected signal from the transmitter/receiver unit 6 and the original oscillation carrier signal from the control unit 5 is transmitted to an arbitrary depth by the control signal from the control unit 5. Detected as a Doppler signal. The Doppler signal obtained here drives the speaker 9 to generate Doppler sound, is converted into a blood flow pattern signal by the frequency-voltage conversion circuit 10, and is input to the image mixer 11. The image mixer 11 synchronizes and synthesizes the reflected signal (UCG signal) from the transmitting/receiving section 6 and the blood flow pattern signal from the Doppler detection section, and combines this mixed signal with the UCG and the blood flow pattern brightness modulation signal. do. On the other hand, the video mixer 11' synchronizes and mixes the tomographic image reflection signal from the transmitting/receiving section 6 and the Doppler sample position mark signal PM, and uses this mixed signal as a tomographic brightness modulation signal for the CRT display device 13. is input via a video switch 11'' that switches in synchronization with the sweep switching signal.CRT display device 1
The sweep signal generation circuit 12 of No. 3 is connected to the control unit 5 as shown in FIG. A sweep switching signal (U signal) for displaying "UCG+blood flow pattern" and a sweep switching signal (T signal) for tomographic image display are generated alternately in accordance with a control signal from the controller.

As described above, in the conventional real-time ultrasonic tomography/Doppler composite diagnostic apparatus, as shown in FIG. 3, tomographic images A, UCG C, and blood flow pattern D are alternately displayed on the same screen. Therefore,
On the UCG c + blood flow pattern 2 screen, it is unclear which part of the body the Doppler sample point is located in, and even if tomographic image A is referenced, when observing, the UCG c + blood flow pattern was not displayed, making it extremely difficult to see and reducing diagnostic efficiency.

The present invention has been made to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks, and is characterized by the ability to display blood flow patterns, UCG, and tomographic images on the same screen in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that has an ultrasonic tomography apparatus and an ultrasonic pulsed Doppler apparatus. The reason is that it is displayed at the same time.

The present invention will be described in detail below along with examples.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, in which 20 is an ultrasound probe consisting of a plurality of transducers, 21 is an ultrasound composite device that combines ultrasound tomography and Doppler images, 22 is a display switch, and 23 is a CRT display device.

The specific configuration of the ultrasonic composite device is shown in FIG. 5. In FIG. 5, 21A is an ultrasonic pulse transmitter/receiver, 21B is a phasing adder, 21C is a detector,
21P is an adder, which is used to add the tomographic image obtained from the detector and the Doppler sample-hold signal obtained from the control section 21L as a sample mark. 21N is an amplifier for amplifying the tomographic image A and the sample mark black; 21M is an X, Y sweep circuit for displaying the tomographic image A and the sample mark black on the CRT display device 23;

Further, 21D is a mixer, and a phasing adder 2
This is for mixing the output of 1B and the reference frequency of the ultrasonic frequency generated by the control unit 21L.
21E is a sample and hold circuit, and 21F is a low-pass filter, which demodulates the Doppler signal. 21G is a Doppler signal frequency analysis section, which analyzes the frequency of the demodulated Doppler signal,
It is used to obtain blood flow patterns. 21H is an electrocardiograph, 21J is an adder, and the tomographic image, UCG,
This is for adding blood flow patterns and electrocardiograms (hereinafter referred to as ECG). 21K is a video amplifier, and 21C is an X, Y sweep circuit for displaying the UCG, blood flow pattern, and ECG on the CRT display device 23.

The control unit 21L controls the ultrasonic launch signal and switching of the display switch 22 in synchronization with the ultrasonic launch signal, further outputs a sample hold signal and a sample marker signal, and also outputs a sample hold signal and a sample marker signal to the adder 21J. It outputs the UCG distance and Doppler frequency (time) marker.

Figures 6A and 6B are diagrams for explaining the operation of this embodiment; Figure A is a diagram showing the direction of the ultrasonic pulse beam and the order in which ultrasonic pulses are ejected; Figure B is a diagram showing the ultrasonic pulse ejection signal. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the timing of each biosignal display switching synchronization signal. In diagram B, T is a tomographic image signal detection period, and U is a Doppler signal and UCG signal detection period.

In addition, in FIGS. 6A and 6B, 20 is an ultrasonic probe, and the numbers indicate the order of emitting ultrasonic pulses.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

4 to 6, ultrasonic pulses are emitted from the probe 20 in the order of numbers shown in FIG. 6A, for example. And 1, 3, 5,
...2n-1, 2n+1 are ultrasound beam scanning lines for obtaining tomographic images, and 2, 4, 6, ...2n are ultrasound beam scanning lines for obtaining UCG and blood flow patterns. In this embodiment, the ratio of ultrasound beam scanning for obtaining tomographic images and ultrasound beam scanning for obtaining UCG and blood flow patterns is set to 1:1, but this may be changed as appropriate. The echo signals obtained by each scan are signal-processed and input to the display switching device 22, and are switched to the CRT display device 2 at the timing of each biological signal display switching synchronization signal as shown in FIG. 6B.
When the display switch 22 of No. 3 is switched, the tomographic image signal, blood flow pattern signal, and UCG signal detected by the respective biological signal detection devices shown in FIG. 5 are input to the Z axis of the CTR display device 23. ,CTR
7A, by the X and Y sweep signals of the display device 23.
Each is displayed at a predetermined position as shown in B.

In addition, when it is desired to insert an electrocardiogram, an electrocardiogram signal is outputted from the electrocardiograph 21H connected by the dotted line in FIG. , is displayed at a predetermined position by the X and Y sweep signals of the CRT display device 23.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of another embodiment of the present invention, in which a digital scan converter 24 is provided in place of the display switch 22 of the embodiment of FIG. 25, each biological signal is displayed. This operation is performed by the digital scan converter 24 by each biological signal display switching synchronization signal shown in FIG. 6B.
, and store the tomographic image, UCG, and blood flow pattern in a predetermined memory area by switching the memory address of
The contents of the memory are read out in synchronization with the horizontal and vertical sweeps of the television monitor 25, and images of each biological signal are displayed at predetermined positions as shown in FIG. 7A or B.

When used as diagnostic data, it is necessary to simultaneously display information on which part of the body the blood flow pattern belongs to when displaying the blood flow pattern obtained by the Doppler method. By looking at the tomographic image as the region information and the M-mode image as the temporal movement change of the region, for example, it is possible to easily associate the valve signal of the blood flow pattern with the blood flow signal.

Therefore, the present invention aims to store all of the above biological information in one
By doing so, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) Spatial confirmation of sample points using tomographic images,
It is possible to simultaneously confirm temporal changes in sample points using M-mode images, and confirm the direction of the ultrasound beam, blood flow direction, and blood flow velocity using tomographic images and blood flow patterns, improving diagnostic accuracy. and the diagnosis time can be shortened.

(2) Since biological information such as tomograms, UCG, and blood flow patterns are all displayed on one CRT display device, it is possible to record them in photographs or hard copies or
It can be easily recorded on a VTR, etc., and even after a certain period of time has elapsed from the time of the examination, diagnosis can be easily made using only the images. In conventional devices, it was necessary to store two images in association with each other, but with the present invention, this is not necessary.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1A and B and Figure 2 are diagrams showing a conventional example of a real-time ultrasonic tomography/Doppler complex diagnostic device, and Figure 3 is a diagram showing a screen displayed on a CRT display device of the conventional device. , FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG.
FIGS. 6A and 6B are diagrams showing a specific configuration of an embodiment of the ultrasonic tomography/Doppler combined diagnostic apparatus of the present invention, and FIGS.
FIGS. A and B are diagrams showing screens displayed on a CRT display device according to this embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the configuration of another embodiment of the invention in blocks. In the figure, 20... Ultrasonic probe, 21... Ultrasonic composite device, 21A... Ultrasonic pulse transmitting/receiving unit, 2
1B, 21P... Adder, 21C... Detector, 2
1D... Mixer, 21E... Sample hold circuit, 21F... Low pass filter, 21G... Doppler signal frequency analysis section, 21H... Electrocardiograph, 21
J...Adder, 21K...Video amplifier, 21L
... Control unit for periodic signal switching, 21M ... X, Y sweep circuit, 22 ... Display switch, 23 ... CRT display device, 24 ... Digital scan converter, 25 ... Television monitor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an ultrasonic diagnostic device having an ultrasonic tomography device and an ultrasonic pulsed Doppler device, ultrasonic transmission and reception to obtain a tomographic image signal by changing the direction of ultrasonic transmission and reception, and an M-mode echocardiogram signal and a blood flow pattern signal in a predetermined direction. an ultrasonic transmitting/receiving means for obtaining a tomographic image signal, an M-mode echocardiogram signal, and a blood flow pattern signal by alternately transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves at a predetermined ratio; and a tomographic image obtained by the ultrasonic transmitting/receiving means. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising means for simultaneously displaying a signal, an M-mode echocardiogram signal, and a blood flow pattern signal on the same screen.