JPS60168440A - Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (al) Technical Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and in particular, to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that uses a sector scanning method to enlarge and display an arbitrary part of an ultrasonic tomographic image. Control Method lbl Background of the Technology The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus related to the present invention emits an ultrasonic beam to a subject, receives reflected waves due to differences in acoustic impedance within the subject, and detects tomographic images within the subject. It is something that gives you an image.

Generally, when trying to view a moving subject smoothly,
There are restrictions on the time required to generate one frame (one screen) of image information. Furthermore, in order to improve the lateral resolution and obtain an easily viewable tomographic image, it is necessary to increase the scanning line density.

However, the propagation speed of ultrasound in the object, which is the information transmission medium, is very slow at about 1530 m/s, so the problem is how deep the ultrasound reflected waves can be received. It's coming.

In other words, if the diagnostic depth is shallow, the time required for the reflected wave to return is less than if the diagnostic depth is deep (
In other words, it is possible to increase the number of scanning lines (that is, the scanning line density).

In addition, ultrasonic waves have a frequency of 2 db/MHz -c in vivo.
It has a characteristic of attenuating at a rate of m. Therefore, for example 3M1
For ultrasonic waves of lz, every 1 cm of ultrasound travels 6 db (i.e.,
(by half) will be attenuated. For this reason, when looking at deep places, it is necessary to reduce the ultrasound transmission power, and when looking at shallow places, conversely, if the transmission power is high, the ultrasonic transducer and probe There is a problem in that the image quality of the ultrasonic tomographic image of the shallow region deteriorates due to multiple reflections occurring between the device and the case.

As mentioned above, in ultrasonic diagnostic equipment, depending on the depth to be diagnosed, the scanning line density, scanning line depth,
It can be seen that there is an optimal value for transmission power.

Focusing on the above-mentioned characteristics of the sector scanning method, the present invention aims to optimize the scanning line density, scanning line depth, and transmission power according to the part of the B-Mo 1 ultrasonic tomogram that you want to see in particular detail. It is related to a method of emitting an ultrasonic beam to a subject and magnifying and displaying the obtained reflected image.

tel Conventional technology and problems In the conventional sector scanning type ultrasound diagnostic equipment, for example, when you want to see a shallow part of the subject, you can lower the power of the ultrasound beam (and scan with the ultrasound beam). The object was scanned for a short period of time, and one frame of image information was generated from the reflected signals, stored, and enlarged and displayed on a monitor television.

Also, when you want to see deep parts of the subject, increase the power of the ultrasound beam, scan the subject, generate and accumulate one frame of image information from the reflected signal, and display it on a monitor TV. Was.

Therefore, in the conventional method, an arbitrary region of interest (ROr: Region) of an ultrasound tomographic image (B-mode image).

There was a problem in that it was not possible to select, enlarge and display ``f Interest''.

fd) Purpose of the Invention In view of the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, the present invention provides a sector scanning type ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that selects an arbitrary region of interest (ROI) in an ultrasonic tomographic image (B-mode image).

The purpose of this is to provide a method for enlarging and displaying images.

According to the present invention, in a sector scanning type ultrasound diagnostic apparatus, a first means for specifying a region of interest in an ultrasound tomographic image, and a first means for specifying a region of interest in an ultrasound tomogram;
a second means for setting the scanning line density, or the scanning line depth, or the transmission power, or a combination thereof of the ultrasound beam; - when a particular region of interest is designated by the first means; This is achieved by providing a method for scanning a subject with an ultrasonic beam that is optimal for the region of interest set by the second means, and enlarging and displaying the obtained ultrasonic tomographic image. Any region of interest (ROI) in the image
There is an advantage in that even if you select and enlarge the image, you can still get a clear tomographic image.

ffl Embodiments of the Invention To summarize the gist of the present invention, in a sector-scanning ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, the scanning line density, scanning line depth, and transmission power are Focusing on the fact that there is an optimal value for the B-mode ultrasound beam, the optimal scanning line density, scanning line depth, An ultrasonic beam of transmitted power is emitted to the subject, and the obtained ultrasonic reflection image is enlarged and displayed.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

The figure is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, in which an arbitrary part of the B-mode image can be converted to the above-mentioned I? .

This is a schematic diagram of, for example, a joystick (hereinafter referred to as JS) for selecting as I, where ■ indicates the voltage applied to the JS, which outputs different output voltages X and Y depending on the position of JS. . 2 is a position detection circuit (hereinafter referred to as I'DET) that detects the 17+H part of the B mode 1: image selected by the above JS l by the values of X voltage and Y voltage; 3 is a scanning line density control circuit (hereinafter referred to as SDC), a scanning line density signal (for example, a signal with high density in a deep part) that is optimal for viewing any part of the B-mode image - to give a specific example, in the mechanical sector scanning method. outputs the transducer rotational speed signal).

4 is a diagnostic depth control circuit (hereinafter referred to as DDC), which generates the optimal diagnostic depth signal for viewing any part of the B-moat image (for example, if the part is shallow, a short scanning time is required;
outputs a signal that drives the transducer at a fast cycle. 5 is the drive circuit (hereinafter referred to as DV),
” 2. To emit an ultrasonic beam with the optimum power to see any part of the B-mode image (for example, an ultrasonic beam with a weaker power may be used for a shallow area) at the optimum transmission timing. Then, the voltage 5 of the transmission pulse is output by controlling the transmission timing. 6bal lansducer.

7 is the receiver (1?ν), 8 is the clock circuit (CL
9 is a data processing unit (hereinafter referred to as Kano R3),
10 is a monitor television (hereinafter referred to as CRT).

Now, when an arbitrary part of the B-mode image is selected using JS 1 in Section 5, voltage X in the X direction and voltage Y in the Y direction, which are determined by the position of JS 1, are applied to PDET 2, respectively. It is sent as position information of the OI site.

PDIET 2 reads the voltage
5. and sends it to the DPR39.

First, based on the location information of JS sent to DPR59, DPR39 is CI? On T10, a mark is displayed at the part of the B-mode image of the subject selected by JS1.

Next, in SDC3, the B specified by JS 1 above
A signal is sent to the DV 5 to control the rotational speed of the transducer 6 in order to obtain the optimum scan line density for the region of the mode image.

In DDC4, B mode L specified by JS 1 above
In order to give the optimum diagnostic depth to the image area, the clock signal that is constantly input from CLK8 is selectively controlled, and a clock signal that matches the diagnostic depth (i.e., scanning time) is output to DV5. Operate.

In DV5, first, for transducer 6,
” 5 JS 1 In order to give the optimum transmission power to the part of the B-mode image designated by 1, the voltage of the transmission pulse is controlled,
The controlled transmission pulse is transmitted to the transducer 6 at a transmission timing determined by a clock signal adapted to the scanning time from the DDC 4 and a rotation speed control signal for the transducer 6 from the SDC 3. works.

At this time, the read control signal 1'' specified at the transmission timing is sent to the leaf R59.

The receiver (RV) 7 operates to receive the ultrasound reflected signal from the subject, amplify it, and transmit it to the DPR 39 .

In the DPR 59, the ultrasonic reflected signal from the receiver (RV) 7 is detected, converted into, for example, an 8-bit digital signal by an analog/digital converter, and stored in the image memory for each frame (one screen). .

The information of the ultrasonic tomographic image of an arbitrary region (ROI) of the accumulated B-mode image is read out at a cycle of 30 frames/second, and CI? The image is controlled to be enlarged and displayed on the screen of T10.

In this case, the above ii! 8I image memory information to the above DV.
Image information is read out from the image memory by a readout operation (having a readout speed of 30 frames/second) synchronized with the readout control signal T specified in 5. By inserting a specific part of the B-mode image (RO
I) can be enlarged and displayed on the CRT 10.

In order to obtain an ultrasonic tomographic image with no flickering and smooth movement of the subject even after such enlargement processing, the ROI of the B-mode image selected in JS 1 as described above is
Since the optimal scanning line density, scanning line depth, and drive power are determined for each part of the body, and the reading timing from the image memory is synchronized with the scanning timing for the subject, JSl can be used to determine which part of the B-mode image Even if a site is selected as the ROI, a clearly enlarged ultrasonic tomographic image can be displayed.

(g+ Effects of the Invention As explained in detail above, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention uses sector scanning type ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 0. Focusing on the fact that there is an optimal value for line density, scanning line depth, and transmission power, we set the optimum scanning line density and scanning according to the region of ROI that we want to see in particular detail in the B-mode ultrasound tomographic image. depth of the line.

It emits an ultrasonic beam of transmitting power to the subject, and the resulting reflected image is enlarged and displayed.
No matter which part of the B-mode image the operator selects as the ROI using the joystick, a clearly enlarged ultrasonic tomographic image can be obtained.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The figure is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the drawings, 1 rotates any part of the B moat' image.
For example, joystick (JS
), 2 is a position detection circuit (Pl) ET) that detects a specific part of the B-mode image selected by JS 1 above.
, 3 is a scanning line density control circuit (SOC), 4 is a diagnostic depth control circuit (DDC), 5 is a drive circuit (DV), 6 is an I transducer, and 7 is a receiver (RV).
. 8 is a clock circuit (CLK), 9 is a data processing section (
DPR5) and 10 are monitor televisions (CRTs). 2

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] In a sector scanning type ultrasound diagnostic apparatus, a first means for specifying a region of interest in an ultrasound tomographic image, and a scanning line density of an ultrasound beam, or Scan line depth or transmit power. or a second means for setting a combination of these, and when a specific region of interest is specified by the first means, an ultrasonic beam optimal for the region of interest set by the second means is provided. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that scans a subject and enlarges and displays an obtained ultrasonic tomographic image.