JPH0620457B2 - Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and more particularly, to a mark display function for displaying a mark in the vicinity of a tomographic image on a screen for displaying a tomographic image of an imaged living body. The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

[Prior Art] In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, which part of a living body this tomographic image belongs to on a display screen of a tomographic image of the living body, that is, which portion the ultrasonic probe is applied to A display means called a body mark is usually used in order to clearly indicate whether it is obtained. For example, in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus described in JP-B-61-34336, as shown in FIG. 6A of the present application, a tomographic image is displayed on a display screen (CRT screen) of a taken tomographic image or a recorded photograph.
21, body mark 22, probe mark 23, date and patient identification number 24 are displayed at the same time. Therefore, at a later date, by looking at this photograph, it is possible to roughly know which part of the body it is, and it can be useful for diagnosis and reexamination.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, with the conventional body mark and probe mark, although it is possible to know the approximate position of the probe on the body, the display mark indicates the direction in which the probe is applied. You cannot know it more intuitively. For example, changing the direction of the probe changes the scanning direction of the ultrasonic beam in that section,
As a result, the vertical and horizontal directions of the fault plane are different,
May cause confusion in diagnostics or retesting.

In order to make up for such drawbacks,
As shown in FIG. 6B of the present application, the probe mark is indicated by an arrow 25 to indicate the scanning direction. In addition, 63-181
In 08, as shown in FIG. 6C, the identification mark 26 indicating the observation direction of the tomographic image 21 is displayed together with the probe mark 23.

However, both of these two methods
The scanning direction or the observation direction is displayed, and the observer does not intuitively know the direction in which the probe is actually applied.

The present invention is provided with a probe mark that eliminates the drawbacks of the prior art, and by looking at the mark, it is possible to intuitively understand which part of the body and in which direction the probe is applied. An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that can accurately reproduce imaging conditions during diagnosis and reexamination.

[Means and Actions for Solving the Problem] According to the present invention, an ultrasonic pulse is transmitted from an ultrasonic probe to be incident on a subject, and an echo signal reflected in the subject is received. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for displaying as an ultrasonic image is a body mark display means for displaying a body mark near the ultrasonic image on the display screen, and an ultrasonic probe to a subject at a predetermined position on the body mark. A probe mark display means for displaying a probe mark indicating a contact position and an angle of the probe, and an image inversion mark display means for displaying an image inversion display mark indicating whether or not an operation to invert an image is performed. The probe mark and the image inverted display mark have shapes that can be identified in the direction of the probe, and the relative relationship between the subject and the image can be intuitively identified from the image inverted display mark and the probe mark. .

According to one feature of the invention, the probe mark comprises a substantially rectangular first portion corresponding to the width and length of the ultrasound probe and a cable connection portion of the probe at the first portion. And a second portion representing

According to another feature of the invention, the image inversion display mark has a substantially rectangular first portion corresponding to the height and length of the ultrasonic probe, and the probe in the first portion. A second portion representing the cable connection.

[Embodiment] Next, an embodiment of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention,
The basic device configuration as the ultrasonic diagnostic function may be the same as that of the conventional ultrasonic diagnostic device, and therefore detailed description thereof will be omitted. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present embodiment, on the body mark displayed on the image surface, a probe mark indicating the direction of the ultrasonic probe and an inverted display mark indicating whether or not an operation to invert the image is performed. indicate. The operator can intuitively know the left-right and up-down relative relationship between the subject and the image from these two marks.

In the body probe mark generation unit 180 shown in FIG. 1, graphic data representing the body mark, the probe mark, and the image reverse display mark described above are stored in advance in a storage device such as a ROM. Regarding the probe mark, in addition to the method of storing marks with different angles in ROM beforehand,
In order to save the capacity of, the method of drawing the mark to be displayed each time may be applied. The ultrasonic wave generated from the probe 100 driven by the transmission circuit 110 is sent in the scanning direction, is partially reflected inside the measured portion of the living body, and is received by the probe 100 as an ultrasonic echo signal. To be done. The received echo signal passes through the reception circuit 120 and the reception processing circuit 140.
Is converted into a digital signal by the input and input to the DSC circuit 150. The DSC circuit 150 stores this signal and the display mark of the mark generation unit 180 selected by the operation unit 190 in the memory, and displays the tomographic image and the display mark on the CRT surface 1 (FIG. 2) of the display unit 160. . The operation of each part of these devices is controlled by the control circuit 130. The image capturing unit 170 includes an image capturing device such as a camera that captures the image displayed on the display unit 160.

Referring to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, the body mark 5 displayed on the CRT surface 1 designates a body part mark such as a chest part and an abdominal part arranged on the operation panel 300 shown in FIG. Body mark switch 200 to be selected.

When the probe 100 and its cable connection portion 19 are viewed from the direction of the arrow 14, they have the shapes of the upper surfaces 13 and 13a in both figures.
The probe marks 3 and 3a shown in FIG. 5 are a design of the top surface shape of these, and the short side is the thickness of the probe 100,
The generally rectangular portion whose long sides correspond to the length, that is, the width, and the cable connection portion 19 of the probe 100.
It is composed of a circle mark 20 or 20a. Circles 20 and 2
The direction of the probe 100 is designated by 0a. This is displayed on the body mark 5 so that the probe 100 is displayed.
The position and angle at which the person hits the body 11 can be specifically expressed. Since the directions of the marks 3 and 3a are different by 180 °, it is possible to show the inversion of the tomographic images 2 and 2a. Specifically, the probe key 230 on the operation panel 300 shown in FIG. 7 is used to overlay the body mark 5 on the body mark 5, and the position and angle are set to the POSITION key 210.
The angle and position of the probe 100 on the body 11 can be defined by the and ANGLE keys 220, and this is a very information-rich mark.

The REV key 240 on the operation panel 300 is operated when it is desired to reverse the image on the CRT surface 1. The image inversion marks 4 and 4a shown in FIGS. 2 and 4 are schematic side views of the probe 100. For example, as can be seen from FIG. 2, the short side is the height of the probe 100. In addition, the long side corresponds to the length, respectively, and is a substantially rectangular part as a whole, and the probe 10
It is composed of a square portion representing the cable connection portion 19 of 0. The mark 4 indicates "no inversion" and the mark 4a indicates "inversion". In this way, the probe mark indicating the reversal and the image reversal mark are used by designing the top surface shape and the side surface shape of the directional probe 100 to intuitively relate the image and the object. Can be identified.

As shown in FIG. 2, the operator puts the probe 100 on the body 11 and photographs the cross section 12, and then the CRT of the display unit 160 in FIG.
The obtained tomographic image 2 is displayed on the surface 1. Next, the body mark 5 of the imaged part is displayed on the operation panel 300 of the operation unit 190.
When the body mark 200 is selected, the corresponding body mark 5 stored in the body probe mark generation unit 180 is displayed on the CRT surface 1 of the display unit 160. Next, when the body mark key 230 of the operation panel 300 is pressed in order to display the position and orientation or angle of the probe 100 applied on the body mark 5, the body mark 5 on the CRT surface 1 is searched. Tentacle mark 3
Are overlaid. Therefore, the POS of the operation panel 300 is adjusted so that the position and angle of the probe mark 3 are matched with the position and angle of the actual probe 100 applied to the body 11.
The IION key 210 and the ANGLE key 220 are operated.

FIG. 3 is an image of the same section 12 of the same body 11 as that of FIG. 2, but the orientation of the probe 100 is different by 180 °, so that the CRT surface 1 of FIG. , Tomographic image 2 of FIG.
A left-right inverted tomographic image 2a is displayed. The body mark 5 has the same display as in Fig. 2, but the probe mark 3a
Is set and displayed in a direction different from the mark 3 in FIG. 2 by 180 °.

After shooting, the display on the CRT surface 1 is recorded by the shooting unit 170 on a visible image recording medium such as an instant film. By looking at the probe marks 3 and 3a and the body mark 5 in FIG. 2 or FIG. 3 in the recorded image, it is possible to immediately determine which position on the body 11 and at what angle the probe 10 is applied. I can figure it out. Especially, the probe mark 3
Or, the circle 20 or 20a on 3a represents the position of the cable connection portion 19 of the probe 100, so if you look at the displayed probe mark, the orientation of the probe 100 will be intuitive. I can know.

Further, in the prior art, the scanning direction is displayed on the body mark, but the scanning direction can be changed independently of the direction in which the probe is applied. For example, by pressing the image inversion key 240 on the operation panel 300 in FIG. 7, the left and right display directions are inverted in the DSC circuit 150 in FIG. 1, which causes the probe 100 to move as shown in FIG. Image 2a obtained by applying to body 11
Could be reversed and displayed as image 2 in FIG. To avoid such confusion, in this embodiment, the probe is used.
To clearly indicate the relative relationship between 100 orientations and images,
The image reverse display mark 4 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 and
4a is provided.

More specifically, if both the probe mark 3 and the image reversal display mark 4 are seen in FIG. 2, the probe 100 is applied to which part of the body 11 and the left side of the tomographic image 2 obtained at this time. It is possible to clearly understand which direction of the body 11 corresponds to. In the case of FIG. 2, the right abdomen of the body 11 corresponds to the left of the image 2. In the case of FIG. 3, the image reversal display mark 4 has the same orientation as that of FIG. 2, so that the image 2a is as shown in FIG. The left and right are reversed. In the case of FIG. 3, the left abdomen of the subject is image 2
You can see that it corresponds to the left side of. At this time, in order to make the right abdomen of the subject (actually, the left abdomen of the subject) seen from the examiner correspond to the right side of the image, it is sufficient to operate the image reverse display key 240. The display direction can be changed as shown.

In the present embodiment, by using the probe mark and the image reverse display mark together, it is possible to clearly and immediately know the position where the probe is applied and the corresponding positional relationship between the body of the subject and the image. Thus, very useful information for diagnosis can be obtained.

In the conventional example, the probe mark 25 with an arrow shown in FIG.
It may be possible to infer the positional relationship between the subject and the image 21 from the information obtained from the identification mark 26 indicating the observation direction and the body mark 22 shown in the figure. However, there are four combinations of the forward and reverse directions of the probe and the presence / absence of operation of the image inversion key. Therefore, when a large number of examinees are examined, the efficiency is low and the determination is erroneous. There was a risk. Moreover, the probe mark 25 indicated by an arrow indicates the scanning direction, but does not indicate the actual direction of the probe. As is well known, since the position of the probe in ultrasonic diagnosis is very delicate, the probe mark display of the present embodiment, which allows the contact position and angle of the probe to the body to be grasped quickly, is useful for medical examination. ,
It is effective.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, according to the present invention, an ultrasonic tomographic image that is taken can be detected by looking at the probe mark and the image inversion display mark displayed on the body mark. It is possible to intuitively know what position and in what direction the tentacle was applied to the body. This also allows the specific position of the probe to be ascertained and provides a lot of information useful for diagnosis and reexamination.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, and FIGS. 2, 3, and 4 are views showing display examples of various marks in the embodiment shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a probe mark displayed in the same embodiment, FIGS. 6A, 6B and 6C are diagrams showing an example of a display mark in a conventional example, and FIG. It is a top view showing an example of an operation panel in the example. Explanation of symbols of main parts 1 …… CRT surface 2,2a …… tomographic image 3,3a …… probe mark 11 …… body 12 …… cross section 13 …… top surface of probe 19 …… connecting cable 100 ...... Probe 110 ...... Transmission circuit 120 ...... Reception circuit 130 ...... Control circuit 140 ...... Reception processing circuit 150 ...... DSC circuit 160 …… Display section 190 …… Operation section 200 …… Body mark key 230 …… Transducer mark key 240 …… Image reverse key 300 …… Operation panel

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for transmitting an ultrasonic pulse from an ultrasonic probe to cause the ultrasonic pulse to enter a subject, and receiving an echo signal reflected in the subject to display as an ultrasonic image. The apparatus includes a body mark means for displaying a body mark near an ultrasonic image on a display screen, a contact position of the ultrasonic probe to the subject at a predetermined position on the body mark, and A probe mark display means for displaying a probe mark indicating an angle; and an image inversion mark display means for displaying an image inversion display mark indicating whether or not the image is inverted, Has a shape including a substantially rectangular first portion corresponding to the thickness and length of the ultrasonic probe and a second portion that represents a cable connection portion of the probe in the first portion. However, the image inversion display mark is A shape having a substantially rectangular first portion corresponding to the height and length of the wave probe and a second portion representing the cable connection portion of the probe in the first portion; An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized in that a relative relationship between a subject and the image can be intuitively identified from the image reverse display mark and the probe mark.