JPH0659284B2 - Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial field of use] The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and in particular, to echo data obtained from tomographic information based on ultrasonic reflected signals from the inside of a living body from blood flow information. The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that synthesizes and displays the obtained color data.

[Conventional technology]

In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus used in the medical field, for example, the tomographic data (echo data) of the heart is displayed on a monitor in real time, or the blood flow velocity at a specific site is measured by the pulse Doppler method, and this distribution is calculated as described above. It is common to display on a monitor. Further, there is also a system in which the echo data is displayed on a monitor and the blood flow velocity at a specific site is displayed side by side on the monitor on which the echo data is displayed.

Also, recently, in order to grasp the blood flow velocity two-dimensionally, 2
The three-dimensional blood flow tomography method is adopted. This is to synthesize the blood flow velocity of echo data and express the blood flow velocity in two dimensions and in real time. That is, the tomographic information and the blood flow information are digitized and combined, and converted into R, G, B television signals. The blood flow velocity is superimposed and displayed on the normal tomographic image, and the average velocity profile of the detected blood flow is displayed in color (color flow mapping).

As described above, in the method of displaying the echo tomographic image and the color flow image in an overlapping manner, for example, in the B mode display, it is determined whether the echo display or the color display is performed on each pixel forming the image. It is done according to the color intensity. Based on the result of this determination, either echo or color is displayed for each pixel.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

Generally, in the B mode display, the purpose is to display flow velocity information such as blood flow at a correct position and at a correct speed. On the other hand, this B-mode display is often used for the purpose of quickly finding abnormal blood flow or the like.

However, in the conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, it is difficult to detect the ultrasonic diagnostic target area when the target area of the ultrasonic diagnosis is a thin blood flow such as a blood vessel in the kidney or a peripheral blood vessel. Therefore, when an abnormal blood flow portion such as a backflow portion occurs in the thin blood flow, there is a problem that it is difficult to find this abnormal blood flow portion.

An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of easily finding thin blood flow.

[Means for Solving the Problems]

An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention is an apparatus for combining color data with echo data for display, and a determination circuit for determining which of echo data and color data is to be displayed at each pixel on an ultrasonic scanning line. , An echo interpolating circuit and color interpolating circuit for creating echo data and color data to be interpolated between the ultrasonic scanning lines, and an interpolating data selecting circuit.

When the determination circuit determines that echo data is to be displayed on one side and color data is to be displayed on the other side for the corresponding pixels on adjacent scanning lines, the interpolation data selection circuit determines that the interpolation The output from the color interpolation circuit is preferentially selected over the output from the interpolation circuit.

[Action]

In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, first, the determination circuit determines whether each pixel on the scanning line should display echo data or color data. On the other hand, the echo interpolation circuit creates echo data to be inserted between adjacent ultrasonic scanning lines. Further, the color interpolation circuit creates color data to be inserted between adjacent ultrasonic scanning lines. Then, in the determination circuit, when one of the corresponding pixels on the adjacent ultrasonic scanning lines is determined to be an echo and the other is determined to be a color, the output from the color interpolation circuit is more than the output from the echo interpolation circuit. Is preferentially selected.

Therefore, when one of the scanning lines is color and the other is echo, the color display area is displayed wider. As a result, for example, even when the target flow region is a thin blood flow, the color display region is displayed broadly, which allows the thin blood flow to be easily found.

〔Example〕

FIG. 3 shows a schematic configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 3, the probe 1 is composed of a plurality of micro-vibrators and is connected to the transmission / reception circuit 2. The transmission / reception circuit 2 includes a high frequency pulse oscillator for transmitting an ultrasonic beam, a receiver for receiving and processing reflected echoes, a delay circuit for performing electronic scanning, a delay amount selection circuit, and the like. The output of the transmission / reception circuit 2 is connected to the echo reception shaping circuit 3 and the color Doppler detection / calculation circuit 4.

The echo wave shaping circuit 3 is a circuit for obtaining tomographic data (echo data) of a living body. The output of the echo wave shaping circuit 3 is connected to the display signal generation circuit 5.
The color Doppler detection and calculation circuit 4 is a circuit for obtaining blood flow data of a living body based on the Doppler shift frequency. The output of the color Doppler detection and calculation circuit 4 (here, color data) is connected to the display signal generation circuit 5. The display signal generation circuit 5 is a circuit for processing the input signal into a signal that can be displayed on the CRT of the display 6.
The output of the display signal generation circuit 5 is connected to the display device 6. The display 6 is for synthesizing and displaying the echo data and the color data on the CRT.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of the display signal generation circuit 5. In FIG. 2, the echo data output from the echo reception shaping circuit 3 is input to the echo image buffer memory 7. The color data output from the color Doppler detection and calculation circuit 4 is stored in the color image buffer memory 8
Has been entered in. The outputs of the echo image buffer memory 7 and the color image buffer memory 8 are connected to an interpolation / echo / color determination circuit 10 described later. An echo / color determination circuit 9 is connected to the outputs of the echo image buffer memory 7 and the color image buffer memory 8. The echo / color determination circuit 9 is a circuit for determining which of echo data and color data is to be displayed for each pixel on the ultrasonic scanning line. The output of the echo / color determination circuit 9 is connected to the interpolation / echo / color determination circuit 10. The output of the interpolation / echo / color determination circuit 10 is connected to the display signal synthesis circuit 11.

Next, a schematic configuration of the interpolation / echo / color determination circuit 10 will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 1, an echo interpolation circuit 12 is connected to the output of the echo image buffer memory 7. Further, the color interpolation circuit 13 is provided to the output of the color image buffer memory 8.
Are connected. The echo interpolation circuit 12 is a circuit for creating echo data to be interpolated between adjacent ultrasonic scanning lines. The color interpolation circuit is a circuit for creating color data to be interpolated between adjacent scanning lines. Echo interpolation circuit 12 and color interpolation circuit 13
Are output from the echo / color judgment circuits 14 and 1 respectively.
Connected to 5.

The echo / color judgment circuit 14 selects either the echo data or the color data for the interpolation data of each pixel by the same judgment reference (threshold value) as the echo / color judgment circuit 9 of FIG. It is a thing. Further, the echo / color determination circuit 15 is the echo / color determination circuit 1
The threshold value is set so that more color data than 4 is selected. Also, the echo / color determination circuit 9
The decision circuit 16 is connected to the output of FIG. The determination circuit 16 is a circuit for checking whether echo data is displayed or echo data is displayed for a corresponding pixel on an adjacent scanning line. The output of the decision circuit 16 is connected to the echo / color decision circuits 14 and 15. The outputs of the echo / color judgment circuits 14 and 15 are connected to the selection circuit 17. The selection circuit 17 is a circuit for allowing one of the outputs of the echo / color determination circuits 14 and 15 to pass, depending on the operator's selection.

Next, the operation will be described.

First, the high frequency pulse oscillator of the transmitter / receiver circuit 2 is driven,
A high frequency pulse is applied to the probe 1. As a result, an ultrasonic beam is transmitted from the probe 1. The reflected echo reflected in the living body is received by the probe 1 and input to the transmission / reception circuit 2. The reflected echo signal which has been subjected to the predetermined processing by the transmission / reception circuit 2 is input to the echo reception shaping circuit 3 and the color Doppler detection / calculation circuit 4. The reflected echo signal input to the echo reception shaping circuit 3 is subjected to signal processing such as amplification and waveform shaping, and then input to the display signal generation circuit 5. Further, the reflected echo signal input to the color Doppler detection / calculation circuit 4 is subjected to signal processing such as amplification, waveform shaping, and detection processing, and then input to the display signal generation circuit 5.

In the display signal generation circuit 5, the echo signal from the echo reception shaping circuit 3 is input to the echo image buffer memory 7,
It is stored as echo data. The color signal from the color Doppler detection and calculation circuit 4 is input to the color image buffer memory 8 and stored as color data. The echo / color judgment circuit 9 reads the echo data and the color data stored in the echo image buffer memory 7 and the color image buffer memory 8, respectively, and judges whether the data on the scanning line should be displayed as echo or color. The output of the echo / color determination circuit 9 is input to the interpolation / echo / color determination circuit 10.

In the interpolation / echo / color determination circuit 10, the echo interpolation circuit 1 is output according to the output from the echo / color determination circuit 9.
2 reads the echo data stored in the echo image buffer memory 7. Then, the echo interpolation circuit 12 creates echo data to be interpolated based on the read echo data. Similarly, the color interpolation circuit 13
The color data stored in the color image buffer memory 8 is read according to the output from the echo / color determination circuit 9. Then, the color interpolation circuit 13 creates color data to be interpolated based on the read color data.

Now, as shown in FIG. 4, when the data of the corresponding pixels 20 and 21 on the adjacent scanning lines are both color (C _L , C _R ), color interpolation is performed. That is, in this case, the echo / color determination circuits 14, 1
5 receives the instruction signal from the determination circuit 16 and selects the interpolation data output from the color interpolation circuit 13. As the interpolation data, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, from the pixel 20 to the pixel 21, {(N-1)
C _L + C _R } / N, {(N−2) C _L + 2C _R } / N,
, { _CL + (N-1) _CR } / N weighted data is used.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, when the pixels 20 and 21 corresponding to the scanning line are all echoes (E _L , E _R ), echo interpolation is performed. In this case, the echo / color judging circuits 14 and 15 select the interpolated data output from the echo interpolating circuit 12 according to the instruction signal from the judging circuit 16. As the interpolation data, for example, the fifth
As shown in the drawing, from the pixel 20 to the pixel 21, {(N-1) E _L + E _R } / N, {(N-2)
E _L + 2E _R } / N, ..., {E _L + (N−1) E _R } /
Weighted data such as N is used.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6, the data of the pixels 20 and 21 corresponding to the adjacent scanning lines are colored (C _L ) respectively.
And it will be described for the case of the echo _{(E R).}

In this case, first, as shown in FIG. 7A, the color interpolation circuit 13 outputs the color (C _L ) as the data of the pixel 20 and the color (C _L as the data of the pixel 21 from the color image buffer memory 8). _{Read R} '). The C _R ′ is color data that has not been selected as data for the pixel 21 in the echo / color determination circuit 9. Then, the color interpolation circuit 13 has a fourth
Similarly to the figure, C ₁ , C ₂ , ... C _N-1 are created as the respective interpolated data I ₁ , I ₂ , ... I _N-1 between both pixels 20, 21. On the other hand, the echo interpolation circuit 12 reads out the echo (E _L ′) as the data of the pixel 20 and the echo (E _R ) as the data of the pixel 21 from the echo image buffer memory 7. Note that this E _L ′ is an echo /
The echo data is not selected as the data of the pixel 20 in the color determination circuit 9. Then, the echo interpolating circuit 12 operates in the same manner as in FIG.
E ₁ , E ₂ ..., E _N-1 are created as the interpolated data I ₁ , I ₂ , ..., I _N-1 between 0 and 21.

The respective interpolation data created by the echo interpolation circuit 12 and the color interpolation circuit 13 are respectively the echo / color determination circuit 1
4 and 15 are input. Each echo / color judgment circuit 1
Reference numerals 4 and 15 select either C or E as the interpolated data I according to the preset selection conditions. That is, C ₁ or E as the interpolated data I _1
1 and C ₂ or E ₂ as the interpolated data I ₂ are sequentially selected in this order. In this case, the echo / color determination circuit 15 selects more C as the interpolation data I than the echo / color determination circuit 14.

The outputs of the echo / color determination circuits 14 and 15 are input to the selection circuit 17. The selection circuit 17 selects and outputs one of the outputs of the echo / color determination circuits 14 and 15 according to the operator's selection. The output of the selection circuit 17 is input to the display signal synthesis circuit 11. The output of the display signal synthesis circuit 11 is the output of the display signal generation circuit 5
Entered in. In the display signal generation circuit 5, the input signal is processed into a signal that can be displayed on the CRT of the display 6, and the display signal is output. The display 6 receives the display signal and displays the echo information and the color information on the CRT.

For example, when diagnosing a thin blood flow, the output of the echo / color determination circuit 15 passes through the selection circuit 17 by switching the selection circuit 17 to the echo / color determination circuit 15 side by the operator's selection. Echo / color judgment circuit 1
Since 5 outputs a large amount of colors as described above, the thin blood flow portion, which is a color region, is displayed broadly on the CRT of the display 6. As a result, it is possible to easily find a thin blood flow that is difficult to find with the conventional device. Further, after the thin blood flow is found or when it is not necessary to find it, the display is switched to the echo / color determination circuit 14 side, and the same display as the conventional display is obtained.

[Other Examples]

In the above embodiment, the operator selects the echo / color judgment circuit 14 or 15 by switching the judgment circuit 16, but the application of the present invention is not limited to this.

For example, the echo / color determination circuit 15 and the selection circuit 1
A configuration in which 7 is omitted may be adopted. In this case, when the data on the adjacent scanning lines are color and echo,
Only the color is output as the interpolated data from the echo / color determination circuit 14. Even in this case, the same effect as that of the above-described embodiment can be obtained.

〔The invention's effect〕

According to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention, since the selection circuit that preferentially selects the output from the color interpolation circuit is provided, thin blood flow can be easily found.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an interpolation and echo / color judgment circuit which constitutes an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a display signal generation circuit which constitutes the apparatus of the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of the apparatus of the above embodiment, FIG. 4, FIG. 5, FIG. 6, FIG. 7A, and FIG.
The figure is a diagram showing an example of creation of interpolation data. 5 ... Display signal generation circuit, 10 ... Interpolation and echo / color determination circuit, 12 ... Echo interpolation circuit, 13 ... Color interpolation circuit, 9, 14, 15 ... Echo / color determination circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for synthesizing and displaying echo data obtained from tomographic information and color data obtained from blood flow information, wherein any one of echo data and color data is displayed in each pixel on an ultrasonic scanning line. A determination circuit for determining whether to display, an echo interpolation circuit and color interpolation circuit for creating echo data and color data to be interpolated between ultrasonic scanning lines, and the corresponding pixels on adjacent scanning lines, When the determination circuit determines that echo data is displayed on one side and color data on the other side, the output from the color interpolation circuit has priority over the output from the echo interpolation circuit as the interpolation data. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus including: an interpolation data selection circuit that selectively selects.