JPH1080423A - Ultrasonic diagnosing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simultaneously display color mapping corresponding to an optional direction M mode image or a Doppler spectrum in an ultrasonic diagnosing device having an optional direction M mode display function. SOLUTION: The diagnosing device is constituted by providing the optional direction M mode display function and a color Doppler/PW Doppler arithmetic function. At this time, an ODM-interface (1F) part 44 is provided between a Doppler arithmetic part 40 which executes a color Doppler quantity operation and/or a PW operation and a DSC part 30, image data of the optional direction M mode image which is generated in the DSC part 30 is transmitted to the Doppler arithmetic part 40 and also control for synchronizing the output of the optional direction M mode operation with a color Doppler quantity arithmetic output/PW Doppler arithmetic output is executed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a function of transmitting / receiving an ultrasonic wave to / from a diagnostic site in a subject, creating and displaying an M image in an arbitrary direction from a reflected echo signal, and a demodulation obtained from the reflected echo signal. CFM (Color Flow Mapping) that calculates the color Doppler amount of various blood flow parameters from the signal and displays the image
And an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having a function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a B / M mode superimposing device capable of displaying both a tomographic image (B mode image) of a diagnosis site and a temporal change (M mode image) in a depth direction of a predetermined ultrasonic beam section. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is generally used, and an ultrasonic Doppler method for diagnosing blood flow is combined with such a B / M ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus as shown in FIG. There is a diagnostic device. This device mainly includes a probe 10 for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from a subject, and a probe 10
An ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 20 that supplies a transmission signal to the probe 10 and amplifies and delays a reflection echo signal received by the probe 10, and forms image data from the reflection echo signal received by the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 20, A digital scan converter (hereinafter, referred to as DSC) unit 30 for displaying on an image display unit and a component subjected to Doppler shift due to blood flow are detected from a reflected echo signal received by the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 20, and a CFM is detected. Calculation and PW Doppler calculation (frequency calculation) to perform blood flow information DS
It comprises a Doppler operation unit 40 for sending to the C unit 30, a central control unit 50 for controlling the operation of each of these components, and an operation panel 60 connected to the central control unit 50 for inputting operation commands.

[0003] The DSC section 30 converts the reflected echo signal into the probe 10
The image data is formed and arrayed and interpolated according to
Display on 70. Further, the Doppler operation unit 40 detects a component subjected to Doppler shift due to blood flow from the reflected echo signal, a Doppler demodulation unit 41, and frequency-analyzes a signal output from the Doppler demodulation unit 41 to obtain an image as a Doppler spectrum. Display
A color flow mapping unit (CF) that calculates a color Doppler amount of various blood flow parameters from a signal output from the frequency calculation unit 43 output to the DSC unit 31 and a signal output from the Doppler demodulation unit 41 and outputs it to the DSC unit 30
M) an operation unit 42.

In such an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, FIG.
As shown in (a) and (b), in addition to the B / M mode image, the display of the Doppler spectrum (D mode image) ((a) in the figure) and the blood flow velocity and dispersion are used as two-dimensional hue information. It is possible to display the displayed CFM image (FIG. 2B).

On the other hand, in recent years, there has been proposed an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of extracting and displaying an M-mode (hereinafter, referred to as ODM mode) image in an arbitrary direction from a B-mode image (tomographic image) (Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-214,197). JP-A-5-107261, JP-A-7-32
No. 3030). In such a B / ODM mode ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, an M-mode image is formed by extracting and interpolating data on an M-mode image extraction line in an arbitrary direction from one frame of image data formed in the DSC unit. indicate. Therefore, while the conventional M-mode image is obtained for each set position beam L as shown in FIG. 7A, the M image data in the arbitrary direction L ′ is 1 as shown in FIG.
Obtained for each frame. In such an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, by using the ODM mode, it is possible to observe a relatively fast-moving portion such as a heart valve at various angles in cross-section, and to diagnose more biological tissue information. It has become useful.

[0006]

However, the information on the cross section in any direction obtained by such an ODM mode ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus has no more information than the dynamics of the living tissue, and is closely related to the dynamics of the living tissue. It does not have a function of displaying the combined blood flow information of the neighborhood having the above. That is, ODM
The output obtained by the operation is generated for each frame, whereas the output of the Doppler operation unit is generated for each beam of the normal M image setting position, and cannot be used as it is.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of displaying a cross section of a living tissue in an arbitrary direction in a subject including blood flow information, in order to address such a problem.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention comprises a probe for transmitting / receiving ultrasonic waves to / from a subject, a probe for supplying a transmission signal to the probe, and An ultrasonic transmitting / receiving unit for amplifying and phasing the reflected echo signal received by the probe, and arranging and interpolating the reflected echo signal received by the ultrasonic transmitting / receiving unit according to the probe and displaying the image data as image data. Digital Scan Converter (D
SC) unit and a component subjected to Doppler shift due to blood flow is detected from the reflected echo signals received by the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit, and the frequency of the detected signal is analyzed. In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus including a Doppler operation unit that calculates an original color Doppler amount and outputs the same to the DSC unit, and a central control unit that controls the operations of the DSC unit and the Doppler operation unit, the DSC unit may be configured to arbitrarily convert image data. And an arbitrary direction M-mode image generation unit (ODM) for interpolating and creating an M-mode image in the direction. The Doppler operation unit detects a Doppler shift component performed by the Doppler operation unit based on information from the ODM unit. An interface unit for controlling the operation is provided.

In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, the Doppler calculation unit calculates the color flow mapping image based on the information from the interface unit, and displays the color flow mapping image simultaneously with the display of the M-mode image in an arbitrary direction. It has a function of calculating a Doppler spectrum based on information from the function and / or the interface unit and displaying a Doppler spectrum in an arbitrary direction at the same time as displaying an M-mode image in an arbitrary direction. This makes it possible to simultaneously display the cross-sectional information and the blood flow information of the living tissue in an arbitrary direction in the subject, and obtain information having a higher diagnostic value.

In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention, preferably, the DSC unit includes a cine memory unit for sequentially storing image data, and displays an M-mode image in any direction and a color flow mapping image or a Doppler spectrum in real time. Alternatively, the reproduction is performed from the cine memory unit.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below 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 transmits / receives an ultrasonic wave to / from a diagnostic site in a subject, and obtains B mode, M mode, M
A function of displaying an image in an (ODM) mode or the like, and a function of detecting a component subjected to Doppler shift due to blood flow, performing a frequency calculation and a color Doppler amount calculation from a blood flow signal of the subject, and displaying the same. Mainly equipped with the probe 10,
Ultrasound transmitting / receiving unit 20, DSC unit 30, Doppler operation unit 40
, A central control unit 50, an operation panel 60, and a monitor unit 70.
An ODM-IF unit 44 is provided as an interface unit for providing information on the M mode to the Doppler operation unit 40.
Inside.

The probe 10 transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to and from a diagnostic site in the subject. Although not shown, the probe 10 includes a transducer that is a source of ultrasonic waves and receives reflected waves. have.

The ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 20 supplies a transmission signal to the probe 10 and phasing of a reflection signal received by the probe 10. A transmitting circuit that performs, a receiving amplifier that amplifies a received signal,
It has a delay circuit for phasing the amplified signal, an adder, and a control circuit for controlling them.

The DSC section 30 uses the received reflected echo signal as image data to record, reproduce, and further interpolate and display an image in accordance with the type of the probe and the setting of the display mode. Its internal structure is an image processing that temporarily stores the reflected echo signals from the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 20 sequentially in a frame memory, and outputs an image while interpolating the image according to the type of the probe and the setting of the display mode. A cine memory unit 32 for recording and reproducing images by exchanging image data with a frame memory in the image processing unit 31 in the cine memory mode; and interpolating an M mode image in an arbitrary direction in the ODM mode for image processing. It comprises an ODM unit 33 for outputting to the unit 31.

The Doppler calculating section 40 detects a component subjected to Doppler shift from the received reflected echo signal by the blood flow, analyzes the frequency of the blood flow on the set sample gate, and calculates the luminance level of each frequency component. At the same time, it calculates the color Doppler amounts of various blood flow parameters. Its internal structure is
A Doppler demodulation unit 41 that demodulates a reflected echo signal from the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 20 and detects a component subjected to a Doppler shift, and a luminance level of each frequency component obtained by frequency-analyzing the demodulated signal is used as an image of the DSC unit 30. Frequency calculation unit 43 that outputs to processing unit 31
And the phase change of the demodulated signal is detected using an MTI (Moving Target Indication) filter, and the speed, variance,
It comprises a CFM (color flow mapping) calculation unit 42 for two-dimensionally displaying the blood flow based on the hue and the luminance based on the degree of the reflection intensity.

The central control unit 50 controls the operation of each of the above-mentioned components, and comprises a CPU (central processing unit) and the like, and is connected to an operation panel 60 for inputting various operation commands.

The ODM-IF unit 44 is a feature of the present invention.
The DM output is provided to the Doppler operation unit 40 and a signal for controlling the operation in the Doppler operation unit 40 is provided.

In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having such a configuration, any one of various display modes can be selected by the selection from the operation panel 60, whereby the tomographic image and the luminance change of the cross section in the predetermined beam direction can be selected. B / M mode for displaying the tomographic image, and B for displaying the tomographic image and the luminance change of the cross section in an arbitrary direction
/ ODM mode, B / CFM / M mode which added color Doppler to these modes, B / CFM / ODM mode,
Furthermore, B / M / D mode, B / ODM / D mode, B / CFM / M / D mode, B / ODM / D mode, B / CFM / ODM / D mode, etc. are realized by adding Doppler spectrum display. it can. Furthermore, these can be displayed in real time, and by selecting the cine memory mode, the image data recorded in the cine memory unit 32 can be reproduced and displayed at any time in any display mode.

Here, the B / CFM / ODM mode and the B / C mode realized by the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention are described.
The operation in the FM / ODM / D mode will be described.

First, a probe 10 is mechanically or electronically scanned with a beam to transmit and receive an ultrasonic wave to and from a subject, thereby obtaining one frame of reflected echo. The received signal for one frame obtained by receiving the reflected echo by the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 20 is processed by the DSC unit 30 to obtain one tomographic image (B-mode image) as shown in FIG. Is displayed on the monitor. The operator uses the operation panel 60 to display a point A as a display start point of the M mode image on the B mode,
The point B is arbitrarily set as the display end point.

One frame of data is stored in the frame memory of the DSC unit 30, and when the above-described setting is made from the operation panel 60, the ODM unit 33, as shown in FIG. Display start point A from data for one frame
Connecting the display end point B (ODM extraction line)
The data P1 to P128 on L 'are selected by addressing, and the data P1 to P128 are selected as shown in FIG.
It is arranged on the pixel line. At this time, the ODM
If there is no data on the extraction line, data on the line is obtained by interpolation from the data on both sides. The number of data obtained in this way is at most equal to the number of scanning beams. If the number of data matches the number of pixels of the M pixel line, the data may be arranged as it is. Further, the data is interpolated. This ODM part 33
Is displayed on the monitor unit 70 by the image processing unit 31.

As described above, in the ODM mode, one OD
One frame is transmitted and received to obtain M data,
The ODM image is output at the same cycle as the frame rate.

On the other hand, the Doppler operation unit 40 includes a Doppler demodulation unit.
At 41, a Doppler shift component is detected by mixing the received signal and the transmitted signal, and color flow mapping or frequency analysis is performed based on the Doppler signal. In the case of color flow mapping, as shown in FIG.
After removing unnecessary low-frequency components with the MTI filter in the M calculation unit 42, the blood flow velocity, blood flow variance, and reflection intensity are calculated, and a predetermined hue and luminance are assigned to the color flow mapping to output the CFM. I do. At this time, in order to perform color flow mapping on the ODM image, it is necessary to use data on the M image extraction line (AB) generated by the ODM unit as a reception signal for detecting a Doppler shift component. For this reason, the ODM-IF unit 44 sends the data on the M image extraction line, which is the ODM output, to the Doppler operation unit 40. The Doppler operation unit 40 performs the CFM operation using the ODM output from the ODM-IF unit 44 instead of the reception signal from the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 20.

The pulse repetition period (PRF) in the CFM operation is the same as the transmission / reception period of the M image position beam in the normal CFM / M mode.
In the mode, as described above, the output of the ODM unit 33 is output at the same cycle as the frame rate, so that the PRF in the CFM calculation is also calculated at the same cycle as the ODM data output cycle. The ODM-IF unit 44
When transmitting the DM output to the Doppler operation unit 40, the ODM
Time synchronization for synchronizing the output with the CFM output and transmission of an operation timing signal are performed. Thus, as shown in FIG. 4A, the blood flow information can be displayed together with the display of the dynamic change (ODM mode image) in a cross section in an arbitrary direction.

In this case, the received signal is converted to D
The case where the processing is performed by the SC unit 30 and the ODM unit 33 has been described. In the case of the cine memory mode, an arbitrary ODM extraction line is set, and the ODM extraction line is read from the frame memory recorded in the cine memory unit 32. An image can be reproduced and displayed by selecting the upper data by addressing and arranging and interpolating the data on the M pixel lines. Also in this case, the CF is transmitted via the ODM-IF unit 44.
By transmitting the data and the operation timing signal necessary for the M operation to the Doppler demodulation unit 41, it is possible to display the dynamic change including the blood flow information with respect to an arbitrary direction cross section on the monitor 70 as in the case of real time.

Next, the operation in the B / ODM / D mode will be described. In this case, the DSC unit 30 has a B / CFM / O
Although exactly the same as in the case of the DM mode, the Doppler unit 40 uses the phase detection in the frequency calculation unit 43 to detect the signal in which the Doppler shift component is detected by the Doppler demodulation unit 41, as shown in FIG. The blood flow component in the sample gate section is taken in, unnecessary high frequency and low frequency components are removed, and the frequency is calculated by FFT (Fast Fourier Transform method) to output FFT. In this case as well, the data on the M image extraction line generated by the ODM unit is input to the Doppler demodulation unit 41 via the ODM-IF unit 44, and the PDM Doppler operation (detection of Doppler shift and Frequency calculation). At this time, in order to set a sample gate section (sample volume), the ODM-IF unit 44 controls the M image extraction line (AB).
When transmitting the above data to the Doppler operation unit 40, a control signal for designating the start point a and the end point b of the sampling is simultaneously transmitted. Information on the start point a and the end point b can be obtained from the address information used in the ODM unit 33.

Also in this case, the PRF in the PW Doppler operation is calculated at the same cycle as the frame rate, in accordance with the fact that the ODM data output cycle is the same as the frame rate. At this time, the operation timing signal is output to the ODM-IF unit 44 so that the ODM output and the PW Doppler output are simultaneously set.
Given by As a result, as shown in FIG. 4B, an M-mode image of a section in an arbitrary direction and a Doppler spectrum of the section can be displayed.

In the case of this B / CFM / ODM / D mode display, similarly to the case of the B / CFM / ODM mode display, the frame memory recorded in the cine memory unit 32 is used.
The data on this ODM extraction line is read out and the OD
By transmitting the operation timing signal and the control signal necessary for the Doppler demodulation unit 41 via the M-IF unit 44, the Doppler spectrum can be monitored for a sample volume in a cross section in an arbitrary direction as in the case of real time.
Can be played and displayed on 70.

As described above, the PRF of the Doppler operation is limited to the ODM / CFM, OD
M / D becomes possible. In this case, by realizing an apparatus having a high frame rate, an image having an image quality equal to that of a conventional M-mode image can be obtained.

In the above description, the CFM / ODM mode and the CFM / D mode have been described as separate modes, but a combined display (B / CFM / ODM / D mode) is also possible.

[0032]

As is clear from the above embodiments, according to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention, a means for displaying cross-sectional information of a living tissue in an arbitrary direction in a subject (an arbitrary-direction M-mode image generation unit) ) And an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having means for calculating blood flow information, an interface unit for providing information from an arbitrary direction M-mode image generation unit to means for calculating blood flow information is provided. By calculating the flow information, it is possible to display the blood flow information superimposed on the cross-sectional information of the living tissue, and it is possible to provide diagnostic information of higher diagnostic value.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a view for explaining formation of image data in an ODM mode.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an operation of a Doppler operation unit according to the present invention;
(A) is for CFM / ODM mode, (b) is for ODM
The case of the / D mode is shown.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a display mode realized by the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention, wherein (a) shows B / CFM / OD.
(B) shows the B / ODM / D mode.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a display mode by the present invention and a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, wherein (a) shows a B / M / D mode;
(B) shows the B / CFM / M mode.

7A and 7B are diagrams showing examples of display modes according to the present invention and a conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, wherein FIG. 7A shows a B / M mode, and FIG.
Indicates B / ODM mode.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Probe 20 Ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 30 DSC unit 31 Image processing unit 32 Cine memory unit 33 ODM unit (M-mode image generation unit in arbitrary direction) 40 ... Doppler operation unit 41 ... Doppler demodulation unit 42 ... CFM operation unit 43 ... frequency operation unit 44 ... ODM-IF unit (interface unit) 50 ... central control unit 60 ... control panel

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] November 13, 1996

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Drawing

[Correction target item name] Figure 3

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

FIG. 3

Claims (4)

[Claims] A probe for transmitting / receiving ultrasonic waves to / from a subject, an ultrasonic transmitting / receiving unit for supplying a transmission signal to the probe and amplifying and phasing a reflected echo signal received by the probe; ,
A digital scan converter unit that arranges and interpolates the reflected echo signals received by the ultrasonic transmitting and receiving unit according to the probe and displays the data as image data, and a Doppler bias due to blood flow from the reflected echo signals received by the ultrasonic transmitting and receiving unit. A Doppler calculation unit that detects the transferred component, performs frequency analysis on the detected signal, calculates the color Doppler amount of various blood flow parameters from the detected signal, and outputs the calculated color Doppler amount to the digital scan converter unit, An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: a digital scan converter unit and a central control unit that controls an operation of the Doppler operation unit. The digital scan converter unit interpolates and creates an M-mode image in an arbitrary direction from the image data. An arbitrary-direction M-mode image generation unit, wherein the Doppler operation unit performs processing based on information from the arbitrary-direction M-mode image generation unit. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising an interface unit for controlling detection and calculation of a Doppler shift component. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the Doppler calculation unit calculates a color flow mapping image based on information from the interface unit, and displays the color flow mapping image simultaneously with the display of the arbitrary direction M mode image. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein 3. The Doppler calculation unit calculates a Doppler spectrum based on information from the interface unit, and displays the Doppler spectrum in the arbitrary direction simultaneously with the display of the M-mode image in the arbitrary direction. 3. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 4. The digital scan converter section has a cine memory section for sequentially storing the image data, and displays an M-mode image in any direction and a color flow mapping image or a Doppler spectrum in real time or by reproduction from the cine memory section. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: