JPH0741038B2 - Blood flow dynamics display method in ultrasonic diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (a) Field of Industrial Application The present invention can observe blood flow dynamics in a living body by utilizing the Doppler effect generated by the blood flow when an ultrasonic pulse is emitted into the living body. The present invention relates to a method for displaying blood flow dynamics in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

(B) Conventional technology and its problems In general, the ultrasonic pulse Doppler method is widely applied when diagnosing blood flow dynamics inside the heart. In order to display the blood flow dynamics in a living body in color using this ultrasonic pulse Doppler method, conventionally, only the average blood flow velocity distribution is displayed on the tomographic image, or the average blood flow velocity is displayed on the tomographic image. There are two methods of displaying and the dispersion degree in an overlapping manner. For example,
Displaying the average blood flow velocity and the degree of dispersion in an overlapping manner on the tomographic image is performed as follows.

First, radiate an ultrasonic pulse in a living body at a predetermined time interval,
While collecting tomographic data from the echo signal based on the ultrasonic echo reflected from the living body, the Doppler signal is extracted by phase detection of the echo signal, and the extracted Doppler signal is, for example, a fast Fourier transform (FFT). Calculate the frequency spectrum. Then, the average blood flow velocity and the degree of dispersion are calculated for each site in the living body from the frequency spectrum. And regarding the average blood flow velocity,
As shown in the figure, corresponding to the positive and negative directions and the magnitude, for example, when the blood flow approaches, the hue becomes red, and when it goes away, the hue becomes blue, and according to the magnitude of the blood flow velocity. Set a color code that changes brightness. Also,
As for the degree of dispersion, as shown in FIG. 4, a color code of a single color (green) in which the luminance sequentially changes corresponding to the degree of the degree of dispersion is set. Then, the color codes corresponding to the average blood flow rate data and the dispersity data are read out, these color codes are converted into color signals, and these color signals are mixed and output to the monitor. There is.

However, when the blood flow velocity distribution and the dispersity are superimposed and displayed on one tomographic image as described above, it becomes difficult to understand the dispersity when observing the dispersity independently.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to make it possible to clearly understand the magnitude of the degree of dispersion and to make an accurate diagnosis.

(C) Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the present invention irradiates an ultrasonic pulse into a living body, and utilizes the Doppler effect generated by the blood flow in the living body, thereby utilizing the frequency spectrum of the Doppler signal Seeking
In the blood flow dynamics display method in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for calculating the average blood flow velocity and the degree of dispersion of the blood flow from the frequency spectrum, and displaying the obtained data of the average blood flow velocity and the degree of dispersion in a color image , Setting a color code in which the hue sequentially changes corresponding to the magnitude of the degree of dispersion, and displaying the data of the degree of dispersion of blood flow based on this color code simultaneously with the data of the average blood flow rate. It is characterized in that the images are separately displayed on the tomographic image or the M-mode image.

(D) Example The method of the present invention will be described for the case of displaying the average blood flow velocity and the degree of dispersion on a monitor.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a color code set according to the degree of dispersion in the method of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an illustration of a display example of a color image of blood flow dynamics.

When displaying the blood flow dynamics, first, ultrasonic pulses are radiated into the living body at predetermined time intervals, tomographic data is collected from echo signals based on ultrasonic echoes reflected from the living body, and the echo signals are phased. A Doppler signal is extracted by detection, and the extracted Doppler signal is subjected to fast Fourier transform (FFT) to calculate its frequency spectrum.
Then, the average blood flow velocity and the degree of dispersion are calculated for each site in the living body from the frequency spectrum. Regarding the average blood flow velocity, as in the conventional case, as shown in FIG. 3, the average blood flow velocity is associated with the positive and negative directions and the size thereof, for example, red when the blood flow approaches, blue when the blood flow approaches. The color code that sets the hue of the color and the brightness changes according to the blood flow rate, and sets this color code to color RA.
Remember in M.

On the other hand, as for the dispersion degree, as shown in FIG. 1, a color code in which the hue sequentially changes corresponding to the magnitude of the dispersion degree is set. For example, the hue is set to sequentially change to blue, blue-green, green, yellow, and red as the degree of dispersion gradually increases. Then, this color code is stored in the color RAM.

Then, by giving the already obtained mean blood flow rate data and the degree of dispersion data as addressing signals to the respective color RAMs, color codes corresponding to the mean blood flow rate data and the degree of dispersion data are respectively obtained from the color RAM. After reading and converting these color codes into color signals, they are output to the monitor. At that time, the display of the dispersity based on the color code of FIG. 1 is displayed on the tomographic image separately from the display of the average blood flow velocity based on the color code of FIG. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the display screen of the monitor is divided into two, and for example, the screen on the left side of the figure shows the average blood flow velocity distribution on the tomographic image, and the screen on the right side shows the degree of dispersion on the tomographic image. The size of each is displayed. For example, taking the display of the blood flow dynamics inside the heart as an example, when the average blood flow velocity distribution approaches the blood flow on the left screen, it becomes red, when it goes away, it becomes blue hue and The brightness is changed and displayed according to the magnitude of the flow velocity. Regarding the dispersity, when the flow is laminar near the valve opening and becomes turbulent as it approaches the apex, the right screen is blue near the valve opening (that is, the dispersion is small) and the apex is red ( That is, the degree of dispersion is large), and the color layers are sequentially changed and displayed such as blue-green, green, and yellow during the display.

In this way, only the magnitude of the dispersity is displayed on the tomographic image separately from the average blood flow velocity distribution, so that by observing the change in hue, it is possible to easily grasp the change in the dispersity at the diagnostic site. it can.

It should be understood that each hue corresponding to the direction of the average blood flow velocity is not limited to this embodiment. Further, as in the above-described embodiment, the dispersity and the average blood flow velocity distribution are displayed on the same monitor in a screen-divided manner, or the dispersity and the average blood flow velocity distribution may be displayed on each monitor provided separately. . Further, although the magnitude of the degree of dispersion is displayed on the tomographic image in the above embodiment, the degree of degree of dispersion can be displayed on the M-mode image.

(E) Effect As described above, according to the present invention, the color code in which the hue sequentially changes corresponding to the degree of dispersion is set, and
Since the display of the dispersity data based on the color code is displayed on the tomographic image or the M-mode image separately from the mean blood flow velocity data, the size of the dispersity can be observed independently. Is possible. Therefore, since the degree of dispersion can be clearly grasped, an excellent effect such as more accurate diagnosis can be exhibited.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 and 2 show an embodiment of the method of the present invention. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view of a color code set according to the degree of dispersion, and FIG. 2 is a color image of blood flow dynamics. FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a display example of FIG. 4, FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of a color code set to display the direction and the magnitude of the average blood flow velocity, and FIG.
The figure is an explanatory diagram of a color code set to display the conventional degree of dispersion.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Gomi Tanaka, 1 Nishinokyo Kuwabara-cho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan Sanjo Factory Sanjo Factory (72) Inventor Yasushi Kondo 1 Nishinokyo Kuwabara-cho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Stock Shimadzu Sanjo Factory (56) Reference JP 59-20820 (JP, A) JP 60-119929 (JP, A) JP 56-68442 (JP, A) JP 60-157061 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An ultrasonic pulse is applied to the inside of a living body to obtain the frequency spectrum of a Doppler signal by utilizing the Doppler effect generated by the blood flow inside the living body. Respectively, and in the blood flow dynamics display method in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for displaying the data of the obtained average blood flow velocity and the degree of dispersion in a color image, the hue is sequentially changed in accordance with the magnitude of the degree of dispersion. Setting a changing color code, and displaying the data of the degree of dispersion of blood flow based on this color code simultaneously and separately from the data of the average blood flow velocity on a tomographic image or M-mode image. A method for displaying blood flow dynamics in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising: