JPS60190853A - Ultrasonic measuring apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable the discovery of an abnormal region, by applying press shaping to an object to be measured so at to obtain known thickness distribution and measuring a propagation time or an attenuation amount required in a thickness direction. CONSTITUTION:An object 10 to be measured is shaped to a definite thickness and an ultrasonic wave is transmitted through the shaped object 10 to be measured in a thickness direction and, if a time required in transmission is measured, the average sonic velocity of the object 10 to be measured can be measured. In this case, if transmitting/receiving characteristics are preliminarily calculated in such a state that the object 10 to be measured is absent as shown by the posi- tion S in the drawing and compared with that at a position Q, the attenuation amount in the object 10 to be measured can be measured. Therefore, if cancer 11 is present at a position P, it can be discovered as a large part on the distribution of a sonic velocity/attenuation amount.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to IT C (Tissue Charac).
The present invention relates to a device suitable for mass examination of mammary glands.

(Prior art to the invention) As a conventional technology of ultra-cancer wave diagnostic equipment (J.

■Super i':! I-wave CT (Computer Tomo
(Using graphy technology, the distribution of various parameters inside the object to be measured is determined using the transmission method and displayed as a tomographic image)
BMomo-force formula (Displays the distribution of changing points of the acoustic impedance of Bls in the body to be measured as a cross-section image) ■Anti-U = ] type TC (By processing reflected ultrasound,
A method that displays the distribution of various parameters inside the object to be measured as a 111i layer image) is known.

On the other hand, it can be used as a device for mass medical examinations.

+a+High speed (short time required to obtain measurement data,
and measurement results can be obtained immediately) (b) 'T'
It is required to be able to measure one tissue parameter rather than just a tomographic image, and it has been found from the research in 1.2 that sound velocity and attenuation are effective parameters. However, both methods (1) and (2) take too much calculation time (signal processing time) and do not satisfy the requirement (a). If we dare to increase the speed, it would require a huge amount of hardware, making it unsuitable for practical use in terms of size and price. Also, TC cannot be performed using the method described in Section 1.■.

Unable to make an effective diagnosis.

By the way, an ultrasound microscope is known as one of the ultrasound techniques. This is shown in FIG.

There are transmission type (A) and reflection type (B), but in both cases, a measurement sample 1 of the object to be measured is made into a thin slice and placed on a Mylar film 2, and ultrasonic waves are transmitted from a transducer 4 through an acoustic lens 3 made of Zaphire. The transducer 4 (or the same transducer 4 in the case of a reflective type) receives the ultrasonic waves that have passed through the sample to be measured, and measures the transmission distance or attenuation rate, etc.

The sample is moved in the X-Y direction and its distribution is displayed. The sample is surrounded by water.

However, in order to use such a microscope, the subject 71 [l
＋Regular closure The tissue fibers must be removed and processed into thin pieces, making it completely unsuitable for mass medical examinations.

[H aspect of invention]

The present invention takes into account the above points, and aims to provide an apparatus that satisfies both the requirements of ++ and (b) above and is relatively inexpensive.

[Key points of the invention]

The present invention compresses and shapes the object to be measured into a known thickness distribution, which may be constant or variable, and measures the propagation time or attenuation amount required in the thickness direction. This makes it possible to discover abnormalities based on the distribution of the sound velocity and/or attenuation rate in a plane orthogonal to the plane.

[Embodiments of the invention]

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

(A) is a sectional view taken along line AA' in (B), and (B) is a sectional view taken along line BB' in (8). As shown in the figure, mammary gland 10
is held between the approximately U-shaped compression shaping means 20 and shaped to a constant thickness. The upper and lower portions of the compression shaping means 20 are telescopically connected by a bellows mechanism 21.

Furthermore, a transmitting transducer 22 and a receiving transducer 23 are provided in each of the upper and lower parts. It is assumed that the transducers 22 and 23 are movable in the x and y directions while maintaining a positional relationship in which they face each other, so as to be able to scan two-dimensionally. Further, it is assumed that at least the surfaces 24 and 25 in contact with the object to be measured 10 are made of a material that transmits ultrasonic waves, and the interior thereof is filled with an acoustic coupling material 26 such as water. Further, the vicinity of the tip of the mammary gland 10 is filled with an acoustic coupling material 27 such as water or a well-known ultrasound coupling gel, so that ultrasound can pass therethrough.

In this way, by shaping the object 10 to be measured to a certain thickness, transmitting the supersonant waves in the thickness direction, and measuring the time required for the transmission, the average speed of the object 10 to be measured can be measured. In addition, as shown in the figure S position: 6, the transmission/reception characteristics in the state where the measured object 10 is not present (the state where the water pot is present) are determined in advance (or each time the measurement is made), and the 1 position 0 is set. When transmitting/receiving (by comparing 1 and 1, the amount of attenuation at the object to be measured) 0 can be measured. Therefore, at position P4, +y:n, if present, l') speed/attenuation 1; j minutes i 1'i, 1:
L: Zth ((as shown in the figure, 7F+speed/attenuation, r1i
] can be discovered as a large part.

As shown in position 1, 2 compression shaping plates 24 and 25 and the object to be measured I
Even in areas where O is not in close contact with O, measurement is possible by performing a correction process of -(-).A detailed explanation will be given below, including such a case.

First, the measurement at the 3rd position Q will be described.

The time difference δ (11) from the transmission of a convex wave pulse from the transmitting transteuser 22 until the reception of the ultrasonic pulse by the receiving transteuser 23 is Tq, the average sound velocity Vq is Vq = ((] -do) / (Tq-To) However,
do is the sum of the thickness of the compression shaping plates 24, 25, the sound 71fj inside the compression shaping means, and the thickness of the portion existing between the transducers of the coupling moon 26; LO is the time required to pass through the above dO; The transmission/reception time when the compression shaping plates 24 and 25 are brought into close contact is known, and d is the distance -ζ between the transte users 22 and 23 and is known.

In addition, the average attenuation rate q is calculated as follows.

-tioA, -(d, -do)85 Ps=Poxe *e 1)3/p9-o-(d-d'><”-Ay)In (
Ps/ Pq) = (d-do) (85-Aq) 8q= (1,n (Ps/ Pq)/ (d-do)
) +ΔS However, ΔS is a known attenuation rate of the acoustic coupler 27.

Ps is the known Vinic amplitude of the transmitted pulse at the position S. 80 is a known attenuation rate at a distance of do, and Po is a transmission amplitude at the transte user 22.

Next, measurement at position R will be described.

In this case, the actual INdm of the object to be measured 1o is unknown, but it is 3 times! (・This can be solved by using J waves. Figure 4 shows an example of observing reflected waves.
a: timing of the transmitted pulse, b: reflection from the compression shaping plate 24, C: reflection from the upper surface of the object to be measured IO, d: reflection from the object to be measured IO
1111 regular holiday] O corresponds to a foul on the lower surface, e corresponds to a foul on the compression shaping plate 25, and f corresponds to 1 to reflection at the lance depuzer 23. Therefore, the time Tm required for the object to be measured 10 to pass between dm is calculated from the distance between C and d in the figure. Follow me,
The average sound velocity νm at the portion of the object to be measured 10 is calculated by setting the actually measured transmission time to Tr.

Vm = dm/Tm - (d-do-dl) / Tm = (d-do-Vl, (Tr-To -Tm))
/Tm.

However, dl and Vl are the distance and sound speed of the acoustic coupler 27, and Vl is known.

Regarding the average decay magistrate at position R, see 1 below, IS
/ 11 r = e-(cL-cto”)(45-
A r)In (Ps/Pr) =-(d-do-d
i)-(As-8r)8r-whiten (Ps/Pr)
/(d-do-dl) ) 18S In addition, dl is as above < Vl (Tr-To-Tm)
You can do it.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention as described above, in which the transmitted pulse wave from the transmitting circuit 31 is converted into an ultrasonic pulse wave by the transducer 32 and transmitted to the object to be measured. The ultrasonic pulse wave transmitted through the object to be measured is received by the transte user 33, and the peak amplitude and the time at which the peak was received are detected by the peak detection circuit 35 via the receiving amplifier 34. On the other hand, TransteUser 3
2 also receives the reflected ultrasonic pulse wave, and sends it through the reception amplifier 36 to subicular detection circuit 1 (H"t -
Detects the wave corresponding to the reflection on the surface of the object to be measured, and detects the reception time. A calculation circuit 38 calculates this detection information.
The average sound velocity V and the attenuation rate are calculated by inputting the input into Display it graphically as shown in Figure 3, or
Display the distribution dimensionally. At that time, 1 detection circuit 4
1 to create a B-mode signal and display it together.

[Modifications of embodiments of the invention]

In FIG. 6, the compression shaping plates 24 and 25 are slightly tilted to make it easier to pinch the mammary gland. In this case, since the thickness differs depending on the position in the X direction, it is sufficient to measure each position using the j reflected wave in the same way as the measurement at the R position. As a simple version, if the inclination of the compression shaping plate is constant, the direct measurement value can be used as is, similar to the measurement at the Q position above.
In C, the measurement results in FIG. 3 are displayed in a tilted state as a whole, so it is possible to find locally abnormal (direct) results.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of an embodiment of a device for measuring using reflected waves.
0 is an ultrasonic reflecting plate formed of +A tag I, which has a significantly different acoustic impedance. In this case, the transducer 51 is a transmitter/receiver, or a transmitter/receiver pair. Although the transmission time is about 24 g compared to the transmission type, the measurement process is basically the same, so the explanation of 2 will be omitted.

The block diagram for the 2-reflection type is 1- in Figure 5.
The transducer may be rotated, and the received wave from the transducer may be input to the receiving amplifier 34 as shown by the dotted line in the figure.

FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram showing one embodiment of the scanning means, in which a linear array type transducer 61 is installed on one side of the compression shaping plate 60 for reception. The moon enables two-dimensional scanning of measurement points at high speed by only scanning one-dimensionally in the Y direction, and the other compression shaping plate 62 also serves as a large-diameter transducer for transmission.

Of course, the linear array type 1--lance due 9- can also be used in a reflective type as shown in FIG. Also 2
If a linear array type transducer with a dimensional array is used, one mechanically moving part can be eliminated, and the measurement time can be significantly shortened.

FIG. 9 is an example of a two-dimensional display, and the cancerous portion 11 can be judged as a change in consistency or color.

(A> is the distribution in the XY plane regarding the speed of sound, (B) is the distribution in the xy plane regarding the attenuation rate, and (C) is C-Cl.

This is a B-mode image, showing no surface.

In addition, by adding a mechanism that changes the compression force of the compression shaping means and seeing how the display changes depending on the change in compression force, we found that there is almost no change in the case of hard cancers, but in the case of soft cancers. Since both the measured value and the shape change depending on the compression force, it is also effective in determining the type of cancer.

Also, benign/malignant judgment based on sound velocity and benign/malignant based on attenuation rate.
It is also useful to display malignancy judgments, and combinations thereof.

Furthermore, the well-known phase method can also be used to measure the transmission time. That is, the phase of the received pulse relative to the phase of the transmitted pulse is detected, and the fact that the longer the transmission time is, the more the phase is delayed is utilized. In the case of the phase method, only phase changes within one wavelength can be detected, but it is only necessary to detect the difference in sound speed between normal tissue and abnormal tissue, so there is no need to know the absolute sound speed (transmission time).

Furthermore, instead of the attenuation rate, it is also possible to determine the frequency-dependent coefficient of the attenuation rate (so-called attenuation slope) using a well-known frequency ratio method or the like.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, by using the compression shaping means, the thickness of the object to be measured is made constant or a known value, and the average sound velocity and average attenuation rate can be easily calculated from the time required for transmission or reflection and the amount of attenuation. Ultrasonic TC can be easily and inexpensively achieved, making it ideal as a mass medical examination device.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of a conventionally known ultrasonic microscope. Fig. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 3 is an example of a display of measurement results according to the present invention, Fig. 4-1 is a waveform diagram showing an example of a reflected signal, and Fig. 5 is a - Zorock diagram of the embodiment, FIG. 6 is a schematic configuration M showing an example in which the compression shaping means is inclined, FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration diagram of an embodiment of the reflective type, and FIG. 8 is another embodiment of the present invention. A schematic configuration diagram showing an example, and FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of two-dimensional display. In FIG. 2, numeral 10 indicates a mammary gland as a subject to be measured. 24 and 25 are compression shaping plates, 22 is a transmitting transducer, and 23 is a receiving transducer. (A) Half 1 figure (A) (β) 2nd B ρ Qg S 30th 4th concave Y 5th @

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] (1) A pair of compression shaping means for compressing and shaping an object to be measured over a desired area to a constant thickness or any known thickness distribution, and the compressed object to be measured. The ultrasonic propagation time in the thickness direction and/or ultrasonic transmission 1 is δ
and a means for determining the measuring point within the above area in a one-dimensional or two-dimensional manner.
An ultrasonic measuring device comprising: means for dimensionally scanning; and means for displaying the measurement result or a quantity related thereto one-dimensionally or two-dimensionally. (2) Each of the pair of compression shaping means includes a plate made of an ultrasonic transmissive material, and the above) π determination means iJ
Includes a transducer for ultrasonic transmission or for both transmission and reception, which is provided on the outside of one of the pair of plates, and a transducer for ultrasonic reception, which is provided on the outside of the other of the pair of plates mentioned in 1. An ultra-8 wave measuring device according to claim (1), characterized in that: (March 2nd) One of the pair of compression shaping means includes a plate made of an ultrasonic transparent material, and the other includes a plate made of an ultraright wave reflecting material whose acoustic impedance is different from that of the object to be measured. It is characterized by including a pair of an ultrasonic transmitting transducer and an ultrasonic receiving transducer, or a transducer for ultrasonic transmitting/receiving, provided on the outside of the plate of the ultrasonic transparent material. Claim No. (
The ultrasonic measuring device according to item 1). +41.3: One of the pair of compression shaping means includes a plate made of an ultrasonic transparent material, and the other includes a large diameter ultrasonic transmitting transducer large enough to cover the above area, Claim 1, wherein the scanning means scans the area indicated by "-" using an ultrasonic receiving transducer installed in one of the compression shaping means. Ultrasonic measuring device. (5) The above-mentioned I transceiver is of a one-dimensional linear array type, and the scanning means has means for moving the transceiver in a direction perpendicular to the arrangement direction of the linear array. Hanma Dai (2+ Lf!
The ultrasonic wave measurement device according to any one of paragraphs (4) to (4).