JPS6336257B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic apparatus capable of displaying tomographic images of a subject and obtaining Doppler information.

Ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic devices are particularly useful in cardiac function diagnosis, and conventionally, the following ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic devices have been used for cardiac function diagnosis.

FIG. 1 shows a conventional ultrasound Doppler diagnostic device. In the figure, an electronic sector scanning probe 12 is held in close contact with the surface of a subject 10. Transmission and reception of the probe 12 is controlled by a transmission and reception unit 16 that is controlled by a transmission and reception control unit 14, and alternately transmits and receives the ultrasound beam 100 for tomography and the ultrasound beam 200 for Doppler information detection. can be done. Then, the heart 1 is
A tomographic image of 0a is displayed on the display unit 18, while
Ultrasonic beam 20 for Doppler information detection of probe 12
By transmitting and receiving 0, the speed and amount of blood flowing into the heart 10a are displayed as Doppler information on the Doppler unit 20 constituting the Doppler display section.

FIG. 2 shows the state in which the conventional apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is used.
There is a head and a foot on the left side, and 300 indicates blood flowing through the heart 10a.

In the figure, the probe 12 has an ultrasonic beam 100
Ultrasonic beam 20 for transmitting and receiving and detecting Doppler information
0, the transmission and reception of the ultrasound beam 100 scanned by sectors in the numerical order shown, that is, the odd numbered order in the figure, and the transmission and reception of the ultrasound beam 200 for Doppler information detection at a predetermined position in the even numbered order. Can be done alternately. As a result, a tomographic image of the heart 10a is displayed on the display section 18, and Doppler information is obtained on the Doppler unit 20 at the same time.

Figure 3 explains the Doppler effect.
The velocity of 00 is v, the transmission frequency of the Doppler information detection ultrasound beam 200 incident on the blood 300 is f ₀ ,
The incident angle of the Doppler information detection ultrasound beam 200 with respect to the blood 300 is indicated by θ, and the reflection frequency of the Doppler information detection ultrasound beam 200 reflected by the blood 300 is indicated by f ₁ .

Here, if the Doppler shift frequency that is the difference between the transmission frequency f ₀ and the reflection frequency f ₁ is expressed as f _d , then the following relationship exists between the Doppler shift frequency f _d and the incident angle θ.

f _d =2v/cf ₀ cosθ where c is the sound speed of the ultrasonic wave in the blood flow.

Using the Doppler shift frequency f _d obtained using the above relationship, the ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic device
Doppler information regarding the flow state of 0 can be obtained.

Therefore, in order to detect Doppler information with high sensitivity,
It is preferable to transmit and receive the Doppler information detection ultrasound beam 200 in the direction of movement of the blood 300.

However, while the heart 10a is located as shown in FIG. 2, in the conventional apparatus shown in FIG.
Ultrasonic beam 20 for Doppler information detection according to the flow of
0 is incident almost perpendicularly, and cos θ in the above equation takes an extremely small value, so in this device, the Doppler shift frequency f _d takes an extremely small value and the detection sensitivity of Doppler information becomes extremely low.

The conventional device to be described next eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks of the conventional device shown in FIG. 1, and this second conventional device is shown in FIG.

In the figure, in addition to a probe 12a dedicated to tomographic image display using an electronic sector scanning method, this apparatus is provided with a probe 12b dedicated to Doppler and equipped with one transducer. Both probes 12a and 12b each have a transmitting/receiving section 16 controlled by a transmitting/receiving control section 14.
a, 16b, and the probe 12a
performs sector scanning of the ultrasonic beam 100, and the probe 12b is capable of transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic beam 200 for Doppler information detection consisting of a single beam that is not scanned. Both probes 12a and 12b are held by a supporter 22, and both probes 12a and 12b are held by a supporter 22.
The angles of a and 12b are detected by an angular position detection device (not shown) such as a potentiometer. The angular position detection signal 400 detected by this angular position detection device is supplied to the ultrasonic beam direction position calculation unit 24 for Doppler information detection. The transmission/reception direction and position of the acoustic beam 200 can be calculated. The calculation result of the Doppler direction position calculation unit 24 is given to the display unit 18, and the display unit 18 uses the calculation result to display the Doppler information detection ultrasound beam 2 in the tomographic image.
A cursor line indicating the direction and position of 00 can be displayed.

The conventional device shown in FIG. 4 has the above configuration, and its operation will be explained below.

FIG. 5 explains the usage state of the conventional device shown in FIG. 4, in which the ultrasound beam 100 and the Doppler information detection ultrasound beam 200
The signals are transmitted alternately in the order of 1, 2, 3, 4, . . . in the figure.

According to this conventional device, the angle θ between the moving direction of the blood 300 and the ultrasound beam 200 for detecting Doppler information is smaller and becomes an acute angle, unlike the conventional device shown in FIG. is good.

However, the conventional device shown in FIG. 4 has the disadvantage that it requires a long time to adjust its operation.

That is, the probe 12b is only equipped with one transducer, and in order to irradiate each part of the heart 10a with the Doppler information detection ultrasound beam 200, the operator must display the tomographic image on the display unit 18. The direction and position of the probe 12b must be manually adjusted while observing the cursor line and the cursor line. Therefore, cardiac function diagnosis using the conventional apparatus shown in FIG. 4 requires a long time.

The present invention was made in view of the problems of the conventional devices shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 above, and its purpose is to provide an ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic device that has excellent operability and good Doppler information detection sensitivity. .

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a scanning probe that performs ultrasound beam scanning, a display section that displays tomographic images based on signals received by the scanning probe, and a Doppler display that transmits and receives ultrasound beams. An ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic device having a Doppler probe that detects information, a display section that displays Doppler information, and a transmission/reception control section that controls transmission and reception of the scanning probe and the Doppler probe, A sector scanning type probe that transmits and receives an ultrasonic beam for detecting Doppler information obliquely with an ultrasonic beam for detecting tomographic information is used as the Doppler probe, and a Doppler probe for the scanning type probe is used. Doppler information detection in the tomographic image of the tomographic image display unit using an angular position detection device that detects the relative angle and position of the child, and the angular position detection signal of the angular position detection device and the transmission/reception direction information of the ultrasound beam for Doppler information detection. a Doppler direction calculation unit that calculates the transmission and reception direction of the ultrasound beam for Doppler information detection, and the tomographic image display unit displays a cursor line indicating the transmission and reception direction of the ultrasound beam for Doppler information detection in the tomographic image. It is characterized by

Here, when the scanning probe provided for forming a tomographic image is a sector type, the transmission and reception direction of the sector scanning probe is oriented obliquely to the central scanning line of the sector scanning, and the scanning If the type probe is a linear type, it shall be oriented obliquely to the linear scanning line.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 6 shows a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and the same members as those in the previous figures are given the same reference numerals and their explanations will be omitted.

In this embodiment, in order to arbitrarily select the transmission/reception direction of the ultrasound beam 200 for Doppler information detection, the Doppler probe 12c is a sector scanning ultrasound probe, and the transmission/reception unit 16c is a scanning ultrasound probe. things are being adopted.

Further, in this embodiment, in order to display on the display unit 18 a cursor line indicating the transmission/reception direction of the selected Doppler information detection ultrasound beam 200, that is, the Doppler information detection direction, the Doppler information detection ultrasound beam 200 is Transmitting/receiving direction information 500 indicating the transmitting/receiving angle is supplied from the transmitting/receiving section 16c to the Doppler direction position calculating section 24, and the Doppler direction position calculating section 24 uses the transmitting/receiving direction information 500 and the angular position detection signal 400 to detect the cross-sectional image on the display section 18. The transmission and reception directions of the ultrasound beam 200 for detecting Doppler information can be calculated and determined.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the display section 26 that displays the tomographic image of the heart 10a is replaced by the Doppler display section 28 so that the operator can easily confirm the Doppler information detection site.
It is set in. The probe 12c can scan the ultrasound beam 200a so that the display unit 26 can display the tomographic image. Note that the scanning of the ultrasound beam 200a and the transmission and reception of the ultrasound beam 200 for Doppler information detection are alternately performed because interference will occur if both are performed at the same time.

The apparatus of this embodiment has the above-mentioned configuration, and its operation will be explained below.

FIG. 7 shows the state of use of the embodiment device of FIG. 6. Transducer 1 before starting Doppler information detection
2a and 12c are brought into close contact with the subject 10, and an angular position detection signal 400 is given to the Doppler direction position calculation unit 24 from the angular position detection device.

Next, the ultrasonic beams 100, 200a are transmitted and received in the order of symbols 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. in FIG.
8, 26 are tomographic images scanned by the probe 12a,
Each tomographic image scanned by the probe 12c is displayed. By observing both the tomographic images on the display sections 18 and 26, the operator can easily know the position of the region P in FIG. 7 where Doppler information should be detected.

The operator who knows the position of the region P gives a command to the apparatus to select the Doppler information detection ultrasound beam 200 to be irradiated to the region P. Transmission/reception control section 14
With this command, the ultrasonic beam 2 of the probe 12c
The transmission and reception of 00a is stopped, and the ultrasound beam 200 for detecting Doppler information is transmitted and received at the site P alternately with the ultrasound beam 100 in the order of 2, 4, 6, . . . .
As a result of this transmission and reception of the ultrasound beam 200, the Doppler unit 20 obtains Doppler information. Note that at this time, a tomographic image of the heart 10a is displayed on the display unit 18. On the other hand, the transmission/reception direction information 500 of the ultrasound beam 200 for Doppler information detection is supplied to the Doppler direction position calculation unit 24 at the same time as the selection command of the ultrasound beam 200 for Doppler information detection, and the Doppler direction position calculation unit 24 calculates Display section 1 depending on the result
8, a cursor line indicating the direction in which Doppler information is detected is displayed. This cursor line allows the operator to confirm that Doppler information is being obtained from site P.

Next, when attempting to obtain Doppler information for a site Q different from site P, the operator stops the transmission and reception of the ultrasound beam 200 for detecting Doppler information, and starts scanning the ultrasound beam 200a again to obtain the heart 10a.
The tomographic image of is displayed on the display unit 26. The operator confirms the position of the region Q using the tomographic images on the display sections 18 and 26, and instructs the apparatus to select the Doppler information detection ultrasound beam 200 for the region Q.
In response to this command, the device stops transmitting and receiving the ultrasound beam 200a, transmits the Doppler ultrasound beam 200 to the site Q, displays Doppler information on the Doppler unit 20, and displays a tomographic image of the heart 10a and a cursor line on the display unit 18. .

As described above, the operator can obtain Doppler information about each part of the heart 10a.

As explained above, according to this embodiment, since the direction of transmission and reception of the Doppler ultrasound beam 200 can be electrically selected arbitrarily, the probe 12c
It is easy to select the transmission/reception direction of the ultrasonic beam 200, and the operation is convenient. Furthermore, according to this embodiment,
The site (P, Q) for which Doppler information is to be obtained can be easily known from the tomographic image on the display unit 26. Furthermore, according to this embodiment, since a cursor line is displayed on the display unit 18, it is easy to confirm the Doppler information detection direction.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic device with excellent operability and high Doppler information detection sensitivity.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the probe 12c is of an electronic scanning type, but it may be of a mechanical type.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the configuration of a first example of a conventional ultrasound Doppler diagnostic device, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the conventional device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the principle of the Doppler effect.
FIG. 4 is a configuration explanatory diagram showing a second example of a conventional ultrasound Doppler diagnostic device, FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the conventional device shown in FIG. 4, and FIG. 6 is a configuration explanatory diagram of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 7 are explanatory diagrams of the operation of the embodiment device of FIG. 6. 10...Subject, 10a...Heart, 12a, 1
2c...Probe, 14...Transmission/reception control unit, 16
a, 16c...transmission/reception unit, 22...supporter, 24
. . . Doppler direction position calculation section, 28 . . . Doppler display section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A scanning probe that performs ultrasound beam scanning, a display unit that displays a tomographic image based on a signal received by the scanning probe, and a display unit that transmits and receives ultrasound beams to detect Doppler information. In an ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic apparatus having a Doppler probe, a display section for displaying Doppler information, and a transmission/reception control section for controlling transmission and reception of the scanning probe and the Doppler probe, for detecting Doppler information. A sector scanning probe that transmits and receives ultrasound beams so as to be oblique to the ultrasound beam for detecting tomographic information is used as the Doppler probe, and the relative angle of the Doppler probe with respect to the scanning probe is determined. and an angular position detection device that detects the position of the angular position detection device, and an ultrasonic beam for Doppler information detection in the tomographic image of the tomographic image display unit based on the angular position detection signal of the angular position detection device and the transmission/reception direction information of the ultrasonic beam for Doppler information detection. a Doppler direction calculation unit that calculates the transmission and reception direction of the ultrasound beam for detecting Doppler information, and the tomographic image display unit displays a cursor line indicating the transmission and reception direction of the ultrasound beam for detecting Doppler information in the tomographic image. Ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic equipment. 2. The ultrasonic Doppler diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transmission/reception control section causes the Doppler probe to perform ultrasound beam scanning, and the Doppler display section displays a tomographic image.