JPS62189053A - 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 Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that uses ultrasonic waves to obtain tomographic images of a diagnostic region of a subject. The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that facilitates the determination of the position, shape, etc. of a puncture probe, and allows accurate introduction of a puncture needle of a puncture probe.

Conventional technology Conventional ultrasound diagnostic equipment has one probe that sends and receives ultrasound pulses to the diagnostic site of the subject, and therefore only one cross-sectional tomographic image is displayed on the screen of the display device. .

The problem that the invention aims to solve However, in such an ultrasound diagnostic device.

- It is difficult to confirm the position, shape, etc. of the currently examined diagnostic region using just a cross-sectional tomographic image, and the examiner must always visualize the position, shape, etc. of the region being examined based on the tomographic image in his/her own mind when making a diagnosis. I had to. Therefore,
In some cases, it has been difficult to correctly recognize the position, shape, etc. of the diagnostic site of the subject, resulting in a decrease in diagnostic efficiency. Furthermore, when inserting a puncture needle into an affected area using a puncture probe, it may not be possible to accurately detect the positional relationship between the target affected area and the puncture needle using a cross-sectional tomographic image. There was a risk that the test would be introduced to a location other than the intended affected area, which could reduce the safety of the test. Furthermore, the puncture needle has to be introduced toward the affected area by trial and error, which may reduce diagnostic efficiency.

To deal with this, an electronic sector type probe has been proposed in which two transducer rows are arranged orthogonally to each other and fixed in one probe. Because the arrangement relationship is fixed, it is difficult to use even if this is applied to a puncture probe, and the position of the puncture needle cannot be tracked depending on the direction when inserting the puncture needle toward an affected area, etc., making it difficult to use. No improvement in safety or diagnostic efficiency can be expected. Also, in mechanical sector scanning devices.

Some devices use two probes to display two tomographic images, but this is because the two probes transmit and receive ultrasound at different frequencies at the same time. This requires two separate systems of circuits such as a signal processing section, an amplifier section, and a signal processing section such as a filter processing section, making the structure complicated and expensive. Therefore, one object of the present invention is to solve such problems.

Means for Solving the Problems The means of the present invention for solving the above problems is to control a plurality of probes of the same type or different types, and the drive of the transducers in these probes, and to a control circuit that sequentially selects the probes and switches the output of the video signal in accordance with the selected probe; and a control circuit that sequentially selects the plurality of probes under the control of the control circuit. and the means to
Ultrasonic diagnosis comprising a switching means for outputting a video signal corresponding to the probe selected under control of the control circuit, and a display device for inputting the video signal switched by the switching means and displaying a tomographic image. made by the device.

Embodiments Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will 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 ultrasound diagnostic device uses ultrasound to obtain tomographic images of the diagnostic area of the subject.
A plurality of probes 1a, lb, . . . 1n, a control circuit 2, a selection circuit 3 for selecting the plurality of probes 1a to 1n, a switching circuit 4 for switching the output of a video signal, and a display device. 5a, 5b.

...5n.

The above-mentioned probes 1a to 1n are a plurality of probes of the same type or different types that mechanically or electronically perform linear scanning, sector scanning, etc. to transmit and receive ultrasonic pulses. The transducers, which are a source of ultrasonic pulses and receive reflected waves, are formed into strips and arranged in a row at regular intervals. Switching circuits 6a, 6b, . . . 6n are connected to the probes 1a to 1n, respectively.

The switching circuits 6a to 6n control the transducers in each of the probes 18 to 1n to be driven one by one or in appropriate groups.
It is controlled by inputting the control signal S sent from the .

The control circuit 2 controls the drive of the transducers in the plurality of probes 1a to 1n, and controls the probes 1a to 1n to be sequentially selected, and controls the selected probe 1a to 1n.
It controls the output of the video signal to be switched in accordance with the above conditions, etc., and consists of a clock generation circuit, and is configured to send a periodic signal to each required circuit.

The selection circuit 3 serves as means for sequentially selecting the plurality of probes 18 to 1n, and is composed of a switching circuit that inputs the selection signal S2 sent from the control circuit 2 and selects the probes in a time-division manner. This selection circuit 3 selects the plurality of probes 1
Although it is possible to automatically switch and select from a to 1n in sequence, it is also possible to select manually as appropriate. Moreover, it is also possible to select and fix only one of the probes. Furthermore, when sequentially automatically switching and selecting, the switching speed can be arbitrarily set by adjusting the control circuit 2.

Here, at the output section of the synchronization signal from the control circuit 2,
A pulse generation circuit 7 is connected. This pulse generating circuit 7 generates pulses that serve as a reference when driving the transducers of the probes 1a to 1n to emit ultrasonic waves. A transmission delay control circuit 8 connected to the pulse generation circuit 7 generates a group of delayed pulses with respect to the pulses from the pulse generation circuit 7, and is used to create a group of pulses delayed from the pulses from the pulse generation circuit 7. This is to improve the resolution by controlling the transmission of sound waves and giving focusing properties to the ultrasound waves. Further, a first amplifier circuit 9 is connected to the output side of the selection circuit 3. This amplifier circuit 9 amplifies the signal of a group of reflected echoes received by each transducer such as the probe 1a. A wave receiving delay control circuit 10 connected to the first amplifier circuit 9 generates a signal of a group of reflected echoes that is delayed with respect to a signal of a group of reflected echoes from the amplifier circuit 9, and is used for each detection. By controlling the reception of a group of reflected echoes received by the probe 1a etc., convergence is provided and the resolution is improved. A second amplification circuit 11 connected to this delay control circuit 10 for wave reception adds signals of a group of reflected echoes received by the transducers such as the probes 1a. A signal processing circuit 12 is connected to this second amplifier circuit 11. This signal processing circuit 12 processes the signal of the group of reflected echoes received above to generate a video signal of a tomographic image, and changes the amplification factor of the received signal with the passage of reception time, and processes the reflected echoes from the vicinity. A time gain control circuit that lowers the amplification factor for signals and increases the amplification factor for reflected echo signals from deep areas to obtain a uniform image.

It includes a logarithmic amplification circuit, a detection circuit, etc. for increasing gradation.

A switching circuit 4 is connected to the signal processing circuit 12 . This switching circuit 4 receives a selection signal S2 from the control circuit 2.
It serves as a means for switching to output the video signal corresponding to the probes 1a to 1n selected by the above-described switching circuit, which inputs the switching signal S sent out from the control circuit 2 and switches the video signal in a time-division manner. Become. Here, this switching signal S3 is the selection signal S of the probes 1a to 1n.
For example, when the first probe 1a is selected, a video signal corresponding to this probe 1a is output from the switching circuit 4.

On the output side of the switching circuit 4, video display devices 5a, 5 are provided.
b,...5n are provided. This display device 5a~
5n displays the video signal outputted via the switching circuit 4 as a tomographic image.

For example, they are cathode ray tubes (CRT), and the same number of probes are provided corresponding to the plurality of probes 1a to 1n.

Next, the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus configured as described above will be explained. First, from the control circuit 2, each probe 1a to 1
A control signal S□ is sent to the n switching circuits 6a to 6n to control the drive of the transducers in each of the probes 1a to ln, and transmit and receive ultrasonic pulses. At the same time, the control circuit 2 sends a selection signal S2 to the selection circuit 3,
This selection circuit 3 sequentially selects a plurality of probes 1a to 1n in a time-sharing manner. Then, the signals of the group of reflected echoes received by each of the probes 1a to 1n are input to the signal processing circuit 12 via the first amplifier circuit 9, the wave reception delay control circuit 10, and the second amplifier circuit 11. , this signal processing circuit 12 is connected to each probe 1a.
A video signal corresponding to 1n is generated. Then, this video signal is sequentially input to the switching circuit 4. At this time, the control circuit 2 sends a switching signal S synchronized with the selection signal S2 to the switching circuit 4, and the switching circuit 4 sends video signals corresponding to each of the probes 1a to 1n. Sequentially switch and output in time division. The video signals sequentially switched and output in this way are distributed to a plurality of display devices 5a to 5n, and the tomographic images of the diagnostic region received by the probes 18 to 1n corresponding to the respective display devices i5a to 5n are displayed. displayed on each screen. Therefore, a plurality of probes 1a~
1n, a plurality of tomographic images collected from different positions and directions can be displayed simultaneously on a plurality of display devices in a time-sharing manner.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, a gate circuit is provided inside each of the switching circuits 6a to 6n connected to each of the probes 1a to 1n, and a control circuit 2 is connected to the gate circuit of each of the switching circuits 68 to 6n. , lb...1n
Gate signals 541S4'l, . . . Here, the gate signals S 4184', . . . 84' are applied to each probe 1.
It serves as both a control signal for driving the transducers in a to 1n and a selection signal to sequentially select each of the probes 1a to 1n. Therefore, by sending the gate signals 541S4'l...S4' from the control circuit 2 to the respective switching circuits 6a to 6n, each probe 1a to
1n can be driven and controlled and can be sequentially selected. In this case, the gate signal 8 from the gate circuit provided inside the switching circuits 6a to 6n and the control circuit 2 is
4 to 84' constitute a selection means for the probes 1a to 1n, and the selection circuit 3 shown in FIG. 1 can be omitted and the structure can be simplified.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a third embodiment.

In this embodiment, a digital scan converter (rDSCJ) 13 is provided in place of the switching circuit 4 shown in FIG.
One television monitor 14 is provided in place of monitors a to 5n. In this case, by controlling the writing mode of the video signal to the DSC 13, data of a plurality of tomographic images corresponding to each of the probes 1a to 1n can be stored in the internal image memory, and these image data can also be stored. Can be read. Therefore, it is possible to divide the screen of one TV monitor 14 into a plurality of parts and display tomographic images corresponding to each of the probes 1a to 1n.

Note that each probe 1a is connected to a plurality of television monitors 14.
It is also possible to display tomographic images corresponding to 1n. Further, although FIG. 3 shows a case where the embodiment is applied to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, it can be similarly applied to the embodiment shown in FIG.

In addition, in one or more embodiments, the number of probes 18 to 1n is practically appropriate to be about four. This is when one screen is displayed on the display device 5a or the like.

This is because as the number of probes and display devices increases, the number of frames decreases and screen flickering increases.

Further, when using the DSC 13 shown in FIG.

When the number of split screens of one TV monitor 14 is increased, 1
This is because the display area of the screen of the section becomes smaller and it becomes impossible to display images sufficiently.

Effects of the Invention As described above, the present invention provides a plurality of probes 18 to 1n of the same type or different types, and selects the plurality of probes 18 to 1n under the control of the control circuit 2 using selection means such as the selection circuit 3. The video signals corresponding to the selected probes 1a to 1n are switched and outputted by switching means such as the switching circuit 4 under the control of the control circuit 2, and the switched video signals are displayed. Since the tomographic images are input to the apparatus and displayed, a plurality of tomographic images collected by the plurality of probes 18 to 1n at different positions and from different directions can be displayed simultaneously in a time-sharing manner. Therefore, while viewing the screen on which the plurality of tomographic images are displayed, the position, shape, etc. of the diagnostic region of the subject can be easily and correctly determined, and diagnostic efficiency can be improved. In addition, when using a puncture probe to insert a puncture needle into an affected area, for example, in combination with a linear scanning probe, image data can be collected from different positions and directions and displayed simultaneously. ,
The positional relationship between the target affected area, etc. and the puncture needle can be observed accurately,
The puncture needle can be correctly introduced into the target affected area. Therefore, it is possible to improve the safety of the test and the diagnostic efficiency thereof.

Furthermore, since the plurality of probes 1a to 1n transmit and receive ultrasonic waves of the same frequency by sequentially switching them by selection means such as the control circuit 2 and the selection circuit 3, the circuits such as the transmitting/receiving section and the signal processing section are connected to one system. The structure is simple and costs can be reduced.

[Brief explanation 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 block diagram showing a second embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a third embodiment. la, lb,...1n...Probe 2...Control circuit 3...Selection circuit (probe selection means) 4...Switching circuit (video signal switching means) 5a, 5b ,...5n...
-Display devices 6a, 6b,...6n...Switching circuit 13...Digital scan converter 14...
tv monitor

Claims (1)

[Claims] Controls driving of a plurality of probes of the same type or different types and the transducers in these probes, controls the selection of the probes in sequence, and responds to the selected probes. a control circuit that controls to switch the output of the video signal;
means for sequentially selecting the plurality of probes under the control of the control circuit; a switching means for outputting a video signal corresponding to the probe selected under the control of the control circuit; An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising: a display device that inputs a video signal and displays a tomographic image.