JPH08252252A - Ultrasonic diagnostic system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To display the real time image and the slow motion reproduced image of a part to be diagnosed on the same screen in parallel and to display the heart tense of the real time image and that of the slow motion reproduced image on a part of the display screen simultaneously. CONSTITUTION: A simultaneous display synthesizing part 11 which synthesizes the signal of the real time image from an ultrasonic wave transmission/reception part 2 and the signal of a reproduced image read out from a memory part 3 by inputting for display is installed between the memory part 3 and a digital scan converter 4, and a command to start the slow motion reproduction of a tomographic image from a tense retroacting or passing by prescribed time after the specific tense of a viable wave detected by viable signal detecting means 5, 6 is issued by operating input to a control/graphic part 9. The completion of the slow motion reproduction is instructed at a tense passing by real time after the specific tense, and the real time image and the slow motion reproduced image are displayed on the same screen in parallel.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention uses ultrasonic waves to record a plurality of tomographic image data in time series for a diagnostic region in a subject, detects a biological signal, and displays the tomographic image and the biological signal. Regarding an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, in particular, a real-time image of a diagnostic region and a slow-motion reconstructed image are displayed in parallel on the same screen, and the cardiac time phase of the real-time image and the cardiac time phase of the slow-motion reconstructed image are displayed on a part of this display screen. The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of displaying and simultaneously.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of this type includes a probe for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from a subject and a signal of a reflection echo received by driving the probe to generate ultrasonic waves. An ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving section for processing the data, a memory section for digitizing a reflected echo signal from the ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving section and recording a plurality of tomographic image data in the subject including a moving tissue in time series, and a memory section from this memory section. A digital scan converter that writes a digital signal for each scanning line of an ultrasonic beam to form image data, and detects a biological wave of the subject to generate a biological signal and records the biological signal as an electrocardiographic waveform or the like. Bio-signal detection means, control
A graphic memory for storing graphic data output from the graphic unit, a synthesizing unit for synthesizing the output data from the digital scan converter and the biological signal detecting means, and the graphic memory for displaying an image, and each of the above constituent elements. It comprises a control / graphic part for controlling the operation and creating various graphic data, and an image display means for displaying the image data from the synthesizing part as an image. Then, a biological signal such as an electrocardiographic waveform is displayed on the screen of the image display means so as to be superposed on the obtained ultrasonic tomographic image, and the cardiac phase is grasped by the biological signal.

For example, during real-time observation in which an ultrasonic tomographic image is displayed while being measured, as shown in FIG.
An electrocardiographic waveform to be input in real time is displayed in a biomedical signal display area E provided below the display area of the tomographic image, and an electrocardiographic waveform rewriting line L is once drawn on the electrocardiographic waveform as shown by an arrow A, for example. From the side to the other side, the display is performed in the survey mode in which the old electrocardiographic waveform W ₀ one beat before is replaced with the new electrocardiographic waveform Wn of the current heartbeat. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 4B, an electrocardiographic waveform W to be input in real time is displayed in a biological signal display area E similar to the above, and the electrocardiographic waveform W is indicated by an arrow B as the heart beat progresses. The display was made to proceed in the scroll mode in which new electrocardiographic waveforms Wn of the current heartbeat appear in sequence on the right end C of the biological signal display area E. Further, at the time of reproducing the cine memory in which the ultrasonic tomographic images that have already been measured and recorded are read out and displayed, as shown in FIG. 5, the electrocardiographic waveform W read out from the cine memory is displayed in the biological signal display area E similar to the above. A bar D showing the current cardiac phase on this electrocardiographic waveform W.
Was moved from one end side to the other end side as indicated by arrow F, and the cardiac phase on the electrocardiographic waveform was displayed at the position where the bar D moved.

[0004]

However, in such a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, when observing a tomographic image of a diagnostic region in real time, only the real-time image is displayed on the display screen. During cine memory reproduction or slow motion reproduction in which a tomographic image that has already been measured and recorded is read and observed, only the cine reproduction image or slow motion reproduction image is displayed. Therefore, it was not possible to display the real-time image and the cine-reproduced image or the slow-motion reconstructed image of the diagnosis region side by side on the same screen. Therefore, the real-time image and the slow-motion reconstructed image cannot be observed in parallel on the same screen for the region of interest, and the diagnostic efficiency may decrease. Moreover, the cardiac phase of the real-time image and the cardiac phase of the slow-motion replay image cannot be grasped at the same time on the same screen, and which side of the current cardiac phase the slow-motion replay image has? Sometimes I couldn't make a correct diagnosis because I didn't know how to handle it.

Therefore, the present invention addresses such a problem and displays a real-time image of a diagnostic region and a slow-motion reproduced image side by side on the same screen, and the heart of the real-time image is displayed on a part of this display screen. An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of simultaneously displaying a time phase and a cardiac time phase of a slow motion reproduced image.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention includes a probe for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves in a subject, and an ultrasonic wave driven by the probe. Ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving unit for processing the received reflected echo signal and digitizing the reflected echo signal from the ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving unit to record the tomographic image data in the subject including the moving tissue in a plurality of frames in time series. Memory section,
A digital scan converter that writes a digital signal from the memory unit for each scanning line of an ultrasonic beam to form image data, and a biomedical signal generated by detecting a biomedical wave of the subject and the biomedical signal A biological signal detecting means for recording as a shape or the like, a graphic memory for storing graphic data output from the control / graphic part, an output data from the digital scan converter, the biological signal detecting means and the graphic memory are input and an image is displayed. Ultrasound having a synthesizing unit for synthesizing, a control / graphic unit for controlling the operation of each of the above-mentioned components and creating various graphic data, and an image display unit for displaying the image data from the synthesizing unit as an image In the diagnostic device, the memory unit and the digital scan Between the converter and the converter, there is provided a simultaneous display synthesizing unit for synthesizing the real-time image signal from the ultrasonic transmitting / receiving unit and the reproduced image signal read from the memory unit for display, and the control / graphic unit. By an operation input to, the slow motion reproduction of the tomographic image is instructed to start from a time phase that is traced back by a predetermined time from a specific time phase of the biological wave detected by the biological signal detecting means or a time phase that has elapsed,
The slow motion reproduction is instructed to end in a time phase after a predetermined time has elapsed from the specific time phase, and the real time image and the slow motion reproduction image are displayed in parallel on the same screen, and the real time image is displayed on a part of this display screen. The electrocardiographic waveform is displayed, and the electrocardiographic waveform of the slow-motion reproduced image is displayed on the electrocardiographic waveform.

[0007]

In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus configured as described above, the real-time image signal from the ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving section and the signal from the memory section are read by the simultaneous display synthesizing section provided between the memory section and the digital scan converter. A signal of a reproduced image is input and combined for simultaneous display, and an operation input to the control / graphic unit causes a time phase that is a predetermined time period back from a specific time phase of the biological wave detected by the biological signal detection means, or By instructing to start the slow motion reproduction of the tomographic image from the elapsed time phase and instructing to end the slow motion reproduction at the time phase when a predetermined time has elapsed from the specific time phase, the real-time image and the slow motion reproduction image are made the same. The images are displayed in parallel on the screen, the electrocardiographic waveform of the real-time image is displayed on a part of the display screen, and the slow motion is displayed on the electrocardiographic waveform. It operates so as to display the cardiac phase of ® down the reproduced image. This makes it possible to grasp which side of the current cardiac phase the cardiac phase of the slow-motion replay image displayed in parallel with the real-time image corresponds.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention. This ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus uses ultrasonic waves to record a plurality of tomographic image data in time series for a diagnostic site in a subject and detects a biological signal and displays the tomographic image and the biological signal.
As shown in FIG. 1, a probe 1, an ultrasonic wave transceiver 2,
A memory unit 3, a digital scan converter (hereinafter abbreviated as "DSC") 4, a biological signal detection unit 5, a biological information memory 6, a graphic memory 7, and a synthesizing unit 8
It has a control / graphics section 9, an image display section 10, and a simultaneous display composition section 11.

The probe 1 mechanically or electronically performs beam scanning to transmit and receive ultrasonic waves to a subject. Although not shown, the probe 1 is a source of ultrasonic waves. It contains multiple transducers that receive the reflected echoes. The ultrasonic wave transmission / reception unit 2 sends a drive pulse to the probe 1 to generate ultrasonic waves and processes a signal of the received reflection echo. A known transmission pulser and a transmission delay circuit for forming an ultrasonic beam to be transmitted from the child 1 to the subject;
A receiving amplifier that amplifies the reflected echo signal received by each transducer of the probe 1, and a receiving delay circuit that forms the ultrasonic beam of the received wave by aligning and adding the phases of the received reflected echo signals. And a phasing circuit including an adder and the like. Then, the probe 1 scans the ultrasonic beam in a certain direction in the body of the subject to obtain one tomographic image.

The memory section 3 includes the ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving section 2 described above.
A reflected echo signal from the device is input and converted into a digital signal, and raw tomographic image data in the subject including a moving tissue is recorded in time series in a plurality of frames.
It is composed of a D converter (not shown) and a semiconductor memory.

The DSC 4 writes the digital signal output from the memory unit 3 into a line memory for each scanning line or plural scanning lines of the ultrasonic beam to form image data, and sends it to a synthesizing unit 8 described later. To do.

The bio-signal detection unit 5 detects a bio-wave such as an electrocardiographic waveform of the subject to generate a bio-signal, and the electrocardiographic electrode 12 in contact with the hand or foot of the subject. Although not shown, the heartbeat signal is captured, the heartbeat signal is amplified by an internal configuration circuit, the signal at the R wave apex of the heartbeat waveform is detected from the amplified signal, and the generation interval of the R wave signal is measured. Has become. In addition, the biometric information memory 6 is
The biological signal from the biological signal detecting section 5 is input and recorded as an electrocardiographic waveform and the like, and the read data such as the electrocardiographic waveform is sent to the synthesizing section 8 described later. The electrocardiographic electrode 12, the biological signal detecting section 5 and the biological information memory 6 constitute a biological signal detecting means.

The graphic memory 7 stores graphic data such as various figures output from a control / graphic section 9 described later. Further, the synthesizing unit 8 is for synthesizing the output data from the DSC 4, the biometric information memory 6 and the graphic memory 7 in order to display the image.

The control / graphic section 9 controls the operation of each of the above-mentioned constituent elements and creates graphic data such as various figures. The control / graphic section 9 is composed of, for example, a CPU, and is arbitrarily input by an operator's operation from the input section 13. In response to the command, a required control signal is sent to each component.

The image display section 10 converts the image data output from the synthesizing section 8 into an analog video signal, and inputs the analog video signal to display it as an image by a television display system. It comprises, for example, a D / A converter (not shown) and a television monitor. In the case of a digital monitor,
The image data from the synthesizing section 8 is displayed as an image as it is.

Here, in the present invention, the simultaneous display synthesizing unit 11 is provided between the memory unit 3 and the DSC 4. The simultaneous display synthesizing unit 11 outputs the signal D ₁ of the real-time image as it is output from the ultrasonic transmitting / receiving unit 2.
And a signal D ₂ of a reproduced image which is once recorded in the memory unit 3 and then read out from the memory unit 3, and the image display unit 1
It is composed so as to be displayed simultaneously on 0.

Then, when a trackball, a joystick, a key switch or the like provided in the input unit 13 is operated and input to the graphic unit 9, a predetermined time from a specific time phase of the biological wave detected by the biological signal detection unit 5 is reached. The slow motion reproduction of the tomographic image is instructed to start from the time phase that goes back or the elapsed time phase, and the slow motion reproduction is instructed to end when the predetermined time has elapsed from the specific time phase.
The real-time image and the slow-motion replay image are displayed in parallel on the same screen, and the electrocardiographic waveform of the real-time image is displayed on a part of this display screen, and the slow-motion replay image of the real-time image is displayed on this electrocardiographic waveform. The phase is displayed.

Next, in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus configured as described above, a real-time image of the diagnosis region and a slow-motion reconstructed image are displayed in parallel on the same screen, and the heart of the real-time image is displayed on a part of this display screen. An operation of simultaneously displaying the time phase and the cardiac time phase of the slow motion reproduced image will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. First, as shown in FIG. 3, the normal operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus shown in FIG. 1 causes the real-time image display area E of the screen of the image display unit 10 to be displayed.
For example, a tomographic image 14 of the heart as a diagnosis region is displayed in r, and an electrocardiographic waveform 15 of the real-time image (14) is displayed in a part of the same screen, for example, a biological signal display area E below.
Are displayed at the same time. At this time, the biological signal display area E
In the same manner as shown in FIG. 4A described in the conventional example, the electrocardiographic waveform 15 is rewritten by the survey mode while moving the rewriting line L as indicated by the arrow A. Further, on the electrocardiographic waveform 15, a time phase bar 16 for slow motion reproduction in cine memory reproduction is moved and displayed in the same manner as shown in FIG. 5 described in the conventional example.

In this state, the input section 13 shown in FIG. 1 is operated, and the R wave as a specific time phase is displayed on the new electrocardiographic waveform Wn showing the current heartbeat of the electrocardiographic waveform 15 displayed as shown in FIG. The slow motion reproduction start mark 17 is appropriately moved and set to a position (at the start of systole) that is traced back by a predetermined time (step of FIG. 2). The slow-motion reproduction start mark 17 is for instructing to start the slow-motion reproduction of the tomographic image from the time phase when the slow-motion reproduction start mark 17 is set up, and its data is written in the graphic memory 7 shown in FIG. As a result, the control / graphic unit 9 shown in FIG. 1 receives the instruction signal from the input unit 13 and recognizes the position of the slow motion reproduction start mark 17 on the electrocardiographic waveform Wn shown in FIG. Time t _{1 that} goes back from the wave
Is calculated and stored (step).

Next, the input section 13 is operated again, and the slow motion reproduction end mark 18 is appropriately moved and set at a position (end systole) on the electrocardiographic waveform Wn where a predetermined time has elapsed from the R wave (end systole) ( Step). The slow-motion reproduction end mark 18 is an instruction to end the slow-motion reproduction of the tomographic image from the time phase when the slow-motion reproduction end mark 18 is set, and the data thereof is written in the graphic memory 7 shown in FIG. As a result, the control / graphics unit 9 inputs the instruction signal from the input unit 13, and
Recognizes the position of the slow-motion playback end mark 18 on the electrocardiographic waveform Wn shown, the time elapsed since the R-wave t ₂
Is calculated and stored (step).

Next, the control / graphic section 9 sets the time delay of the output with respect to the input of the image data to the memory section 3 to the above-mentioned time t ₁ (step). As described above, by outputting the image data from the memory unit 3 with a time delay of t ₁ , the television display screen of the image display unit 10 becomes a display delayed by the time t _{1 in} real time, but the biological information shown in FIG. Since the memory 6 is synchronized with the memory unit 3, the data of the electrocardiographic waveform Wn output from the biometric information memory 6 is also displayed with a delay of time t ₁ , and there is no particular problem. Here, as shown in FIG. 3, since the slow motion reproduction start mark 17 is set at a position that is traced back by time t ₁ from the time when the R wave on the electrocardiographic waveform Wn is detected, The time when the bio-signal detector 5 detects the R wave is the position of the slow motion reproduction start mark 17 on the screen of the television display.

As described above, the slow motion reproduction start mark 17 and the slow motion reproduction end mark 18 are set on the electrocardiographic waveform Wn displayed on a part of the screen of the image display unit 10 shown in FIG. In this state, tomographic image data is sequentially recorded in the memory unit 3 shown in FIG. At this time, the tomographic image 14 of the diagnostic region is displayed in real time on the real time image display area Er of the screen of the image display unit 10 shown in FIG. 3, and at the same time, the tomographic image is also displayed in real time on the slow motion reproduced image display area Es. It is displayed. Then, in the electrocardiographic waveform 15 displayed in the survey mode, when the rewriting line L moves in the direction of arrow A from the left end side in the figure to reach the position of the slow motion reproduction start mark 17 set above, slow motion is performed. The tomographic image 19 displayed in the reproduction image display area Es is switched to the slow motion reproduction state.

That is, under the control of the control / graphic section 9 shown in FIG. 1, the image data recorded in the memory section 3 is read out to output the signal D ₂ of the slow motion reproduced image, and the simultaneous display synthesizing section which inputs this signal. Reference numeral 11 synthesizes the real-time image signal D ₁ directly output from the ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving unit 2 and sends the synthesized image data to the DSC 4. At the same time, the control / graphic unit 9 obtains a signal of the cardiac phase during slow motion reproduction from the memory unit 3 and transfers the signal of the slow motion reproduction time phase bar 16 shown in FIG. Write.

In this state, the data output from the DSC 4, the biometric information memory 6 and the graphic memory 7 are input to the synthesizing section 8 and synthesized for image display,
It is sent to the image display unit 10. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3, the real-time image (14) and the slow-motion reproduced image (19) are displayed in parallel on the same screen, and the electrocardiogram of the real-time image (14) is displayed on a part of this display screen. The shape 15 is displayed, and the time phase bar 16 for slow motion reproduction is displayed on the electrocardiographic waveform 15.

After that, when the slow motion playback time phase bar 16 moves to the position of the slow motion playback end mark 18, the display of the slow motion playback time phase bar 16 disappears, and at the same time, The tomographic image 1 displayed in the slow motion reproduction image display area Es
9 is again displayed in real time. After that, the above operation is repeated.

[0026]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above,
A simultaneous display synthesizing unit provided between the memory unit and the digital scan converter inputs a real-time image signal from the ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving unit and a reproduced image signal read from the memory unit and synthesizes them for simultaneous display. However, the slow motion reproduction of the tomographic image is instructed to be started from the time phase that has been traced back by a predetermined time from the specific time phase of the biological wave detected by the biological signal detection means or the time phase that has elapsed, by an operation input to the control / graphic unit. , The real-time image and the slow-motion playback image are displayed in parallel on the same screen by instructing the end of the slow-motion playback at a time phase when a predetermined time has elapsed from the specific time phase, and the above-mentioned part is displayed on the display screen. The electrocardiographic waveform of the real-time image can be displayed, and the electrocardiographic phase of the slow motion reproduced image can be displayed on the electrocardiographic waveform. This makes it possible to grasp which side of the current cardiac phase the cardiac phase of the slow-motion replay image displayed in parallel with the real-time image corresponds. Therefore, the relationship between the slow-motion reproduced image and the electrocardiographic waveform is clarified, and correct diagnosis can be performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a procedure for setting a start and end mark of slow motion reproduction on a waveform of a biological signal detected by the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of image display by the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of grasping a cardiac phase by displaying an electrocardiographic waveform when a tomographic image is observed in real time in a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a method of grasping a cardiac time phase by displaying an electrocardiographic waveform when reproducing a tomographic image in a cine memory in a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Probe 2 ... Ultrasonic wave transmission / reception part 3 ... Memory part 4 ... DSC 5 ... Biological signal detection part 6 ... Biometric information memory 7 ... Graphic memory 8 ... Synthesis part 9 ... Control / graphic part 10 ... Image display part 11 ... Simultaneous display synthesis unit 13 ... Input unit 14 ... Tomographic image (real-time image) 15 ... Electrocardiographic waveform 16 ... Slow motion playback time bar 17 ... Slow motion playback start mark 18 ... Slow motion playback end mark 19 ... Tomographic image (slow) Motion playback image)

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Kenji Nozaka Kenji Noda, Kodaira City, Tokyo 393 Hitachi Electronics Techno System Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroshi Kanda 1-1-1, Uchikanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Hitachi Medical Co., Ltd. 14

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A probe for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from a subject, and an ultrasonic wave transmitting / receiving unit for driving the probe to generate ultrasonic waves and processing the received signals of reflected echoes.
A memory unit that digitizes the reflected echo signal from the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit and records a plurality of tomographic image data in the subject including a moving tissue in time series, and a digital signal from the memory unit is used as an ultrasonic beam scanning line. A digital scan converter for writing image data to form image data, a biological signal detecting unit for detecting a biological wave of the subject to generate a biological signal and recording the biological signal as an electrocardiographic waveform, and a control / graphic device. A graphic memory for storing graphic data output from the unit, a combining unit for inputting output data from the digital scan converter, the biological signal detecting unit, and the graphic memory, and combining the data to display an image; Control / Graphics that controls various graphics data In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having an image display unit for displaying the image data from the synthesis unit as an image, a real-time image from the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit is provided between the memory unit and the digital scan converter. A simultaneous display synthesizing unit is provided for synthesizing a signal and a reproduced image signal read from the memory unit for display, and a biological wave detected by the biological signal detecting means by an operation input to the control / graphic unit. The slow motion reproduction of the tomographic image is instructed to start from a time phase that has gone back a predetermined time from the specified time phase or has elapsed, and an instruction to end the slow motion reproduction has been issued when the predetermined time has elapsed from the specific time phase. , The real-time image and the slow-motion replay image are displayed in parallel on the same screen, and the electrocardiographic waveform of the real-time image is displayed on a part of this display screen. It is shown, and the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is characterized in that so as to display the cardiac phase of the slow motion reproduction image on the electrocardiographic waveform.