JPS6243686B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention provides a real-time ultrasonic tomography/Doppler complex diagnostic device capable of displaying an ultrasonic tomographic image and displaying Doppler measurement of a specific part within the tomographic image. This is related to the improvement of.

[Prior art]

Regarding the examination of hemodynamic function, it has been considered that the method of obtaining blood flow velocity at any depth from the body surface using a pulsed Doppler ultrasonic blood flowmeter is an excellent method, but this method alone cannot measure the blood flow rate in vivo. It was not possible to know which part of the throat was being measured. Therefore, as shown in Fig. 1, a tomography probe 1 and a Doppler (blood flow) probe 2 are connected by an arm 3, and each ultrasonic emission pulse is emitted as shown in Fig. 2 (a).
is a display switching signal, b is a pulse signal for tomographic drive,
c is a pulse signal for Doppler driving, and signals b and c
are synchronized), by switching in chronological order and detecting the relative positions of the tomographic probe 1 and the Doppler probe 2 with the potentiometer 4, A real-time ultrasonic tomography/Doppler composite diagnostic apparatus has been proposed that simultaneously measures the blood flow velocity at any point within a displayed tomographic image and superimposes the measurement point of the blood flow velocity on the tomographic image.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, in the method of this device, the tomography probe 1 and the Doppler probe 2 are connected by an arm 3, and the positioning of the Doppler measurement site is performed by a potentiometer 4, which reduces the positional accuracy. When raising the height, not only was it time consuming to adjust the potentiometer 4, but it was also inconvenient to handle. In addition, in order to prevent acoustic interference during tomography and Doppler measurement, the repetition frequency is lowered and ultrasonic pulses are emitted alternately at approximately 1.5 to 3 KHz, but the Doppler frequency is sufficient to emit ultrasound pulses alternately in this way. (The maximum is half the repetition frequency, i.e.
0.75KHz to 1.5KHz), as shown in Figure 3 (C is UCG, D is blood flow pattern, and m is the part that cannot be detected and displayed), the fast velocity portion m of the frequency distribution (blood flow pattern) of the Doppler signal is There was a problem where it could not be detected and displayed. Here, UCG (Ultrasound
cardiogram) is an echocardiogram.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems.

An object of the present invention is to provide a real-time ultrasonic tomography/Doppler composite diagnostic apparatus that can obtain a high Doppler frequency and is free from acoustic interference during tomography and Doppler measurement.

Another object of the present invention is to display blood flow patterns and tomographic images simultaneously on separate screens in a real-time ultrasonic tomography/Doppler complex diagnostic system.
A technology that can display that the blood flow pattern detected during tomographic scanning and the blood flow pattern displayed during Doppler detection are in different detection directions is used. It is about providing.

The present invention has been made to achieve the above object, and its features are as follows.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of the specification and the accompanying drawings.

[Means for solving problems]

A brief overview of typical inventions disclosed in this application is as follows.

That is, a real-time ultrasonic tomography/Doppler complex diagnostic device has a function of simultaneously displaying the blood flow velocity at a predetermined point in the displayed tomographic image and the tomographic image, and superimposing the measurement point of the blood flow velocity on the tomographic image. means for repeatedly emitting ultrasonic pulses only in a specific direction; means for detecting a Doppler component of a reflected signal of the emitted ultrasonic pulses; , means for displaying the blood flow pattern and tomographic image obtained by both means on separate screens, and means for displaying the tomographic scanning period in the displayed blood flow pattern. That is.

[Operation] According to the above means, the period during Doppler measurement is lengthened, the period during tomography is shortened, and ultrasonic pulses are emitted in each direction during each period, so that the time period during Doppler measurement and the time during Doppler measurement are shortened. At the same time as preventing acoustic interference during tomography, the launch frequency of ultrasonic pulses for blood flow measurement is increased, making it possible to sufficiently cover the high Doppler frequency range.

In addition, if two monitor CRTs (display devices using cathode ray tubes) are used to simultaneously display blood flow patterns and tomographic images on separate monitor CRTs, the Doppler CRT will display UCG + blood flow patterns. In addition, a distance mark and a frequency mark are displayed, and blood flow velocity measurement points are displayed in the tomographic image on a tomographic CRT, so diagnostic efficiency can be further improved.

In addition, when displaying the blood flow pattern and the tomographic image simultaneously, the tomographic image data stored in the image memory circuit is rewritten at the timing of displaying each mark of the blood flow pattern, or the blood flow is By erasing the pattern and displaying the tomographic scanning period in the blood flow pattern, each displayed image of the blood flow pattern during the period of tomographic scanning and the blood flow pattern during Doppler detection can be It is possible to display that the detection directions are different. That is, since the tomographic scanning period is displayed by distance marks, frequency marks, etc. in the blood flow pattern, the ultrasound beam of the displayed blood flow pattern during the tomographic scanning period is directed in the direction in which Doppler signals are to be detected. It can show that it is not suitable. This can prevent misdiagnosis.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail using the present example. In addition, in all the figures for explaining the embodiments, parts having the same functions are designated by the same reference numerals.
The repeated explanation will be omitted.

FIG. 4 is a block configuration diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic scanning type fan-shaped ultrasonic tomography/Doppler composite diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 4, 5 is a control section, 6 is a transmitting/receiving section,
7 is a probe consisting of a large number of transducers (32 pieces) arranged in a row, 8 is a Doppler detection section, 9 is a speaker for generating Doppler sound, and 10 is a frequency-voltage conversion circuit (for example, a zero-crossing circuit, a frequency splitting circuit, etc.), 11,
11' is a video mixer, 11'' is a video switcher, and 12 is a video mixer.
CRT sweep signal generation circuit, 13 is monitor CRT
It is.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be explained.

First, in the control unit 5, the direction of the ultrasonic pulse emitted from the probe 7 is determined,
A high-voltage pulse group is generated in the transmitting/receiving section 6, and the probe 7
are sequentially supplied to the oscillators. As a result, ultrasonic pulses are sequentially emitted from the transducer of the probe 7 only in the predetermined direction. Then, the reflected wave is received by the probe 7 and converted into an electrical signal. This electric signal (reflected signal) is amplified and phase-combined by the transmitter/receiver 6 and input to the image mixer 11 and the Doppler detector 8 . In the Doppler detection section 8, the phase-combined reflected signal from the transmitting/receiving section 6 and the control section 5 are combined.
A Doppler signal obtained by mixing the original oscillation carrier signal from the oscillation carrier signal is detected as a Doppler signal at an arbitrary depth by a control signal from the control unit 5. The Doppler signal obtained here drives the speaker 9 to generate Doppler sound, is converted into a blood flow pattern signal by the frequency-voltage conversion circuit 10, and is input to the image mixer 11. The video mixer 11 synchronizes and mixes the reflected signal from the transmitting/receiving section 6 and the blood flow pattern signal to produce UCG and blood flow pattern brightness modulation signals. A video switching device 1 that synchronizes and mixes a tomographic image reflection signal and a Doppler measurement point mark signal and switches the tomographic image brightness modulation signal to a monitor CRT 13 in synchronization with a sweep switching signal to be described later.
1''.The sweep signal generation circuit 12 of the monitor CRT 13 inputs the data as shown in Fig. 5 (A is a tomographic image, B is a Doppler (blood flow velocity) measurement position, C is a UCG, and D is a blood flow pattern. ), according to the control signal from the control unit 5, the "UCG + blood flow pattern" is
A sweep switching signal for display (U signal) and a sweep switching signal for tomographic image display (T signal) are generated alternately. U
The period of the signal is set to be a long time, and the period of the T signal is set to be a short time of about the time required to complete one frame of a tomographic image.

FIG. 6 is a detailed block configuration diagram showing a more detailed configuration of the real-time ultrasonic tomography/Doppler composite diagnostic apparatus of the embodiment.

In Figure 6, 14 is an oscillation frequency of 2 to 3MHz
15 is a counter that counts down the oscillation frequency of the primary oscillator 14 in order to create the ultrasonic emission timing, and 15' is a Doppler measurement pre-processor for specifying the ultrasonic pulse emission direction for Doppler (blood flow velocity) measurement. Set knob, 16 is a ROM for determining the direction of ultrasonic wave emission
(Read Only Memory), 17 is a 32-channel pulser for generating a high-pressure pulse to emit an ultrasonic beam from the probe 7, and 18 is a 32-channel high frequency for amplifying the reflected signal received by the probe 7. 19 is a delay circuit for adjusting the phase of the output signal of the high frequency amplifier 18; 20 is a detection circuit for detecting the reflected signal to obtain a video signal; 21 is a tuning circuit; 22 is a mixer; 23 is a sample.・Hold circuit, 23' is a setting knob for detecting a signal of a predetermined depth from the detected Doppler signal, 24 is a filter for removing the sound component of the sample period, DM and FM are distance marks and PM is the frequency mark signal, and PM is the measurement point mark signal.

Next, the operation of this device will be explained.

The original oscillation of 2 to 3 MHz from the original oscillator 14 is counted down by the counter 15, and the address of the ROM 16 is specified. The pulsers 17 of 32 channels are driven in accordance with the ejection command stored in the ROM 16, and generate a group of high-voltage pulses whose ejection directions are sequentially changed. This high-voltage pulse group is sequentially applied to the transducer of the probe 7 to emit ultrasonic pulses in a fan shape to scan the object. This emitted ultrasonic pulse is reflected by the subject, received by the transducer, and converted into an electrical signal. This electric signal (reflected signal) is amplified by the high frequency amplifier 18, and is processed in the delay circuit 19 according to the reception command of the ROM 16.
The phases of the 32 channels are matched to form a reflected signal in the transmission direction, which passes through the detection circuit 20 and becomes a video signal of the tomographic image. At this time, by setting the value of the counter 15 to a specific value with the Doppler measurement preset knob 15', a specific address in the ROM 16 is specified, and the predetermined direction shown by the solid line is set during the period of the U signal. Ultrasonic pulses are always transmitted and received continuously. Then, by mixing the output signal of the delay circuit 19 with the original oscillation sine wave that has passed through the tuning circuit 21 in the mixer 22, a Doppler signal is obtained. The sample-and-hold circuit 23 detects a signal with a predetermined depth set by the setting knob 23' from the obtained Doppler signal, and the filter 24 removes the sound component of the sampling period to obtain a Doppler signal with a predetermined depth. A signal is detected. Also, the delay circuit 19
The output signal passes through the detection circuit 20 and becomes a video signal for UCG.

The subsequent operation is the same as that described in FIG. and is input to the video mixer 11. The video mixer 11 synchronizes and mixes the video signal from the detection circuit 20 with blood flow pattern, depth mark, frequency mark signals, etc., and the video mixer 11' mixes the video signal for tomographic images from the detection circuit 20. Synchronize and mix signals and measurement point mark signals for monitoring.
As the brightness modulation signal Z of CRT13, video switch 1
1" to switch and input, "Tomographic image" and "UCG+
"Blood flow pattern" are alternately displayed on the monitor CRT 13.

In this way, by inserting various marks into the displayed blood flow pattern, the tomographic scanning period is displayed in the blood flow pattern. Furthermore, the blood flow pattern may be erased as a means for displaying the tomographic scanning period. As a result, it is possible to display that the detection direction of each display image of the blood flow pattern during the period of tomographic scanning and the blood flow pattern during Doppler detection is different, thereby preventing misdiagnosis. It can be prevented.

FIG. 7 is a block configuration diagram when the "tomographic image" and "UCG + blood flow pattern" are monitored using two CRTs according to another embodiment of the present invention, and 13' is an additional CRT for tomography. , M is an image memory circuit for storing tomographic images until the next input signal arrives.

The video mixed output signal "UCG + blood flow pattern" etc. of the video mixer 11 is the Z signal (luminance signal), and the sweep signal of the frequency corresponding to the depth generated by the CRT sweep signal generator 12 is the Y signal (vertical). (sweep signal) and a low-speed time sweep signal are each input to the monitor CRT 13 as an X signal (horizontal sweep signal). The X' and Y' signals corresponding to the scanning of the ultrasonic pulses output from the CRT's sweep signal generator 12 and the video mixed output Z' signal from the video mixer 11' are input to the tomographic CRT 13', respectively. .

As mentioned above, since the input signal to the tomographic CRT 13' is input only momentarily (for one or two sweeps of tomographic scanning), the tomographic image signal is stored in the image memory circuit M until the next input signal arrives. or
Use a CRT13' with afterglow properties.

FIG. 8 shows images displayed on the screens of the monitors CRTs 13 and 13'. A is tomographic image, B is Doppler measurement point mark, C is UCG, D is blood flow pattern,
E is a distance mark and a frequency (time) mark. The distance mark and frequency mark on the screen of the CRT 13 correspond to the detection circuit 20 shown in FIG.
A distance mark (DM) and frequency mark (FM) insertion circuit (not shown) is input to the UCG video output signal during the tomographic image display period.

As can be seen from the above explanation, according to this embodiment, the period during Doppler measurement is lengthened, the period during tomography is shortened, and ultrasonic pulses are emitted in each direction during each period. This prevents acoustic interference during Doppler measurement and tomography, and at the same time increases the launch frequency of ultrasonic pulses for blood flow measurement, making it possible to sufficiently cover the high Doppler frequency range.

In addition, if two monitor CRTs are used to simultaneously display blood flow patterns and tomographic images on separate monitor CRTs, the Doppler CRT will display distance marks and frequency A mark is displayed, and blood flow velocity measurement points are displayed in the tomographic image on the tomographic CRT, so diagnostic efficiency can be further improved.

Furthermore, when displaying the blood flow pattern and the tomographic image simultaneously, the tomographic image data stored in the image memory circuit is rewritten at the timing of displaying each mark of the blood flow pattern, and the blood flow pattern during the tomographic scanning period is The detection direction of each displayed image of the blood flow pattern during the period of tomographic scanning and the blood flow pattern during Doppler detection is displayed using distance marks, frequency marks, etc. It is possible to display that it is different. In other words, since distance marks, frequency marks, etc. are displayed in the blood flow pattern during the tomographic scanning period, the ultrasound beam of the displayed blood flow pattern during the tomographic scanning period must not be directed in the direction in which the Doppler signal is to be detected. can be displayed. This can prevent misdiagnosis.

Although the above description has been made regarding an electronic scanning type fan-shaped ultrasonic tomography/Doppler composite diagnostic device, the present invention may be applied to an electronic scanning linear type device or other devices as the diagnostic device without changing the gist of the present invention. You can also do that.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, a composite tomographic/Doppler diagnostic device is configured with one probe, so the effort of adjusting potentiometers to improve position accuracy can be omitted, and the operation can be simplified. It's extremely easy to do. In addition, by increasing the period of Doppler measurement, etc., shortening the period during tomography, and emitting ultrasound pulses in each direction during each period, acoustic interference between Doppler measurement and tomography can be reduced. At the same time, the frequency of ultrasonic pulses for blood flow measurement is increased, and the high range of the Doppler frequency can be sufficiently obtained. Furthermore, when two monitor CRTs are used, the Doppler CRT can display distance marks and frequency marks in addition to the UCG + blood flow pattern display, and the tomographic CRT can display blood flow velocity measurement points. Since the displayed tomographic image can be displayed, diagnostic efficiency can be further improved.

In addition, when displaying blood flow patterns and tomographic images at the same time, distance marks, frequency marks, etc. are displayed in the blood flow patterns during the period during which tomographic scanning is performed. It is possible to display that the detection direction (direction of the ultrasonic beam) of each display image of the blood flow pattern in the bloodstream and the blood flow pattern during Doppler detection is different, thus preventing misdiagnosis. can do.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the vicinity of the probe of a conventional real-time ultrasonic tomography/Doppler combined diagnosis device, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the drive switching of the probe in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a display image of the conventional "UCG + blood flow pattern"; FIG. 4 is a block configuration diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electronic scanning fan-shaped ultrasonic diagnosis/Doppler combined diagnosis apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a CRT sweep signal, FIG. 6 is a detailed block configuration diagram showing the configuration of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention in FIG. 4, and FIG.
A block diagram of another embodiment of the present invention in which a "tomographic image" and "UCG+blood flow pattern" are monitored using two CRTs, FIG. 8 shows the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. It is an explanatory diagram for explaining. In the figure, 7...Probe, 10...Frequency voltage conversion circuit, 11, 11'...Video mixer, 11''...Video switcher, 12...CRT sweep signal generation circuit, 1
3,13'...CRT, 14...Original oscillator, 15...
...Counter, 15'...Preset knob, 16
... ROM, 17 ... High voltage pulser, 18 ... High frequency amplifier, 19 ... Delay circuit, 20 ... Detection circuit, 21 ... Tuning circuit, 22 ... Mixer, 23 ...
...sample/hold circuit, 24...filter,
M... Image memory circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a real-time ultrasonic tomography/Doppler complex diagnostic device that has a function of simultaneously displaying the blood flow velocity at a predetermined point in the displayed tomogram and the tomogram, and superimposing the measurement point of the blood flow velocity on the tomogram. , a means for repeatedly emitting ultrasonic pulses only in a specific direction, a means for detecting a Doppler component of a reflected signal of the emitted ultrasonic pulses, and a tomographic image by performing tomographic scanning with a probe emitting the ultrasonic pulses , means for displaying the blood flow pattern and tomographic image obtained by both means on separate screens, and means for displaying the tomographic scanning period in the displayed blood flow pattern. A real-time ultrasonic tomography/Doppler composite diagnostic device.