KR100306341B1 - Medical image diagnostic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention is a medical image diagnosis apparatus capable of accurately grasping the positional relationship between a tissue image and a structure, and includes a tomogram T1 of a predetermined cross-section of an actual tissue image T and a viewpoint side along the Z axis rather than the tomogram T1. The blood vessel image S of the front side) is synthesized and a three-dimensional solid tissue is formed by changing the position of the tomographic image displayed along the Z axis by the operator performing a predetermined manipulation input from an operation means including a mouse or a keyboard. A two-dimensional tomographic image (B mode image) constituting an image can be displayed in order as if turning a bookcase.

Description

MEDICAL IMAGE DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS}

The present invention provides a three-dimensional (hereinafter referred to as "3D") display of a medical image, which provides a medical image diagnosis apparatus, in particular, structures, such as tissues and blood vessels that form the organs in vivo, in an easy-to-understand form suitable for diagnosis or treatment. And a method for obtaining quantitative parameters relating to the living body from 3D information.

Understanding the vascular structure in vivo in three dimensions is important in carrying out various diagnostics. For example, identifying nutritional vessels that enter the hepatic tumor in the liver is important for discriminating malignant benign and determining the therapeutic effect, and in evaluating the function of the kidney, the reflux state of blood flow in the kidney is an indicator.

However, the three-dimensional information of the blood vessel structure alone is often insufficient to make an appropriate diagnosis. For example, even if a blood vessel is detected and imaged near the liver tumor and a 3D image of the blood vessel is obtained, it is necessary to know whether the blood vessel enters the inside of the tumor in order to determine whether the tumor of the blood vessel is a trophic vessel. There is. However, the diagnosis cannot be performed because the location of the tumor cannot be known only by the blood vessel image without the tumor image.

In addition, it is not clear whether the blood flows to the vicinity of the surface of the kidney unless the body or the surface of the kidney is known about the kidney blood. That is, the image of the blood organ or blood vessel and the organ organ in which the positional relationship is maintained is simultaneously obtained and not displayed, so that a sufficient diagnosis cannot be made.

Since organs of organs are filled in all spaces within organs, it is difficult to display grayscale images such as internal entities of organs obtained by conventional medical image diagnosis apparatuses in 3D. In addition, it is difficult to clearly display the construction of blood vessels inside the organ so that the positional relationship with the internal entity can be recognized.

As one means of solving this problem, there is a method of extracting contours of a tumor or the like and simultaneously displaying the contours and the vascular structures in 3D. However, the contour of the tumor is generally not clear, so automatic contour extraction is difficult. In addition, since the 3D image is constructed by human hands, the trace of the contour for many tomographic images requires considerable effort, and is not practical for the operation during the examination in front of the patient.

By the way, it is important to quantitatively indicate the abundance of blood flow and blood vessel composition. However, for the same reason as above, the calculation range of the quantitative parameter cannot be determined by the blood vessel phase alone, and the quantitative parameter cannot be obtained with sufficient reliability. In addition, there is a problem that it is difficult to obtain a sufficiently quantitative parameter itself.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide the following medical image diagnosis apparatus.

(1) A medical imaging apparatus for displaying 3D information on a structure of a network-like structure such as a blood vessel and a gray-scale tissue such as an organ organ, so that its positional relationship can be clearly displayed without reducing the amount of information.

(2) A medical imaging apparatus capable of accurately obtaining quantitative parameters from 3D information of network structures such as blood vessels by using tissue 3D information.

1 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing from 3D data collection to image synthesis by the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a process of synthesizing and displaying a tissue image and a blood vessel image of a region including a tumor,

3 is a view showing another example of the tissue region manipulation;

4 is a view showing a composite display example when the XYZ axis is rotated by a predetermined angle;

FIG. 5 is a view showing a composite display example in the case where a blood flow image hidden by the display region on the tissue is displayed to be transparent from the tissue image;

6 is a diagram illustrating a case where two three-dimensional images are displayed side by side;

7 is a view for explaining an example of a range setting method using a tissue image in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

8 is a diagram showing another example in the case of performing a trace on the tissue image;

9 is a diagram showing an example in which a trace curve is also displayed on a blood vessel image and a composite image of the tissue image when the trace is performed on the tissue image;

10 is a view showing a state of performing correction using a tissue signal, and

Fig. 11 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings

1: ultrasonic probe 2: transmitter

3: Receiving system 4: Signal processing system for B mode

5: color Doppler treatment system 6: MTI filter

7, 8: autocorrelation calculation unit 9: display system

10: meter 11: monitor

MEANS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM In order to solve the said subject and achieve the objective, the medical image diagnostic apparatus of this invention is comprised as follows.

That is, the medical imaging apparatus of the present invention can collect bidirectional 3D information of structures such as blood vessels and tissues such as organs while maintaining a positional relationship.

(1) The structured and cross-sectional structures The 3D images of the structures are matched by coordinates and displayed on the same screen, and the display method of the 3D images is changed before and after the cross-sectional images.

(2) When obtaining the quantitative parameters for the structure, the range of obtaining the parameters is specified for the 3D data on the tissue, and the range is adapted to the 3D data of the structure to which the positional relationship is associated, and the quantitative parameters are calculated.

(3) In addition to the range setting, both the structure information and the structure information are used in the calculation of the quantitative parameter itself.

Here, the information represents a quantitative parameter representing the characteristics of the living body, and the three-dimensional data represents a collection of numerical values corresponding to each point of the three-dimensional matrix, which is expressed by the expression "f (x, y, z)", The three-dimensional data of the biological tissue is a three-dimensional matrix of data of the biological tissue obtained from the data obtained by scanning by a medical device.

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiment of this invention is described, referring drawings.

As an example of an image diagnosis apparatus capable of simultaneously obtaining information of an organ entity and information of a structure such as a blood vessel, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, an X-ray computed tomography apparatus (CT), a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus (MRI), and the like can be given.

The first to third embodiments described later apply the present invention to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, the tissue image of an organ entity can be obtained by the B mode, and at the same time, the structure image (vascular image) of almost the same time can be obtained by the color Doppler mode. The information obtained by the color Doppler mode is basically two kinds of information consisting of the blood flow velocity and the power of the reflected signal from the blood flow, but the power information is more suitable for constructing the blood vessel image than the blood flow velocity information.

Recently, a method of imaging perfusion in a vascular or organ entity using a contrast agent has been proposed, for example, a method called contrast echo or harmonic imaging. The above-described structural image may be generated based on the information obtained by this method, and may be used together with the tissue image of an organ entity obtained by B mode.

(1st embodiment)

1 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing from 3D data collection to image synthesis. Basically, a cross section of a designated area of collected 3D data or a two-dimensional tomographic image is used as a tissue image. On the structure, the 3D image is constructed from the 3D data and displayed in combination with the texture image.

First, as shown in step S1, 3D data is collected by an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus (image diagnosis apparatus). Next, in step S2, based on the collected 3D data, the tissue image (f (x, y, z): black and white gradation image), and the structure image (g (x, y, z), Two types of images are generated. Further, in step S3, the tomographic image F (x, y, z) is generated based on the tissue image, and in step S4, the 3D image G (x, y, z) is based on the structure image. ).

In step S5, predetermined image processing is performed on the 3D image G (x, y, z) to obtain G '(x, y, z), followed by tomographic image F (x, y, z). And the 3D image G '(x, y, z) after image processing are synthesized to obtain a composite image F (x, y, z) + G' (x, y, z). In step S6, the composite image F (x, y, z) + G '(x, y, z) is displayed.

Here, the generation and display of the image in steps S3 to S5 will be specifically described.

FIG. 2 illustrates the basic concept of the present invention and illustrates a process of synthesizing and displaying a tissue image and a blood vessel image of a region including a tumor.

2 (a) shows a solid tissue image. The spherical object shown by the dotted line in the solid tissue image (T) represents the tumor (T _t ). This entity tissue image T is composed of a plurality of two-dimensional tomographic images. And (b) of FIG. 2 has shown the structure image. The structure image (vascular image) S is a 3D image viewed from a predetermined viewpoint, and the construction method (3D image) is not limited to a specific method.

Substantial tissue images T and blood vessel images S shown in Figs. 2A and 2B are synthesized as follows.

First, as illustrated in FIG. 2C, the Z-axis is formed from the tomographic image T1 of the predetermined cross-section (XY plane at the initial position on the Z-axis) of the solid tissue image T and the tomographic image T1. Therefore, the 3D image S of the blood vessel constructed using the 3D data of the viewpoint side (front side) is synthesized and displayed.

Here, the operator can change the position on the tomographic image to be displayed along the Z axis by performing a predetermined operation input from operation means (not shown) including a mouse, a keyboard, or the like. Thereby, the two-dimensional tomographic image (B mode image) constituting the three-dimensional entity tissue image can be displayed in order as if turning a bookshelf.

Fig. 2 (d) shows the tomogram T2 in the case where the position on the Z axis is moved inward from T1 by the operation means, and Fig. 2 (e) shows the position on the Z axis more than T2. The tomographic image T3 at the time of letting inward is shown.

In addition, the display of the blood vessel image S is also automatically updated as shown in Figs. 2C to 2E in accordance with the display update to the tomographic images T1 to T3 by the operation means.

In this way, the operator can enlarge the region of the blood vessel (3D) by making the region of the tissue smaller, and by repeating this region manipulation, the operator observes in detail the positional relationship between the tumor and the vessel (image) represented by the tissue image. can do.

Fig. 3 is a diagram showing another example of tissue region manipulation. In the example of FIG. 2, only the tomographic image of the XY plane is displayed. In the example of FIG. 3, the tomographic image T _yz of the YZ plane is also displayed in addition to the tomographic image T _xy of the XY surface. In addition, in the example of FIG. 2, the operation area is changed only in the Z direction. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the position of the Z direction (arrow A direction) of the tomogram T _xy and the tomogram ( It is possible to change the position of the X direction (arrow B direction) of T _yz ) and to change the operation area in more detail. Of course, you may change the operation area | region in arbitrary forms.

4 is a diagram showing an example of a composite display when the XYZ axis is rotated by a predetermined angle. In this example, not only the proximal side S _A but also the proximal side S _B of the blood vessel structure is displayed. In addition, the position of the tomogram T _n can be changed in the arrow C direction along the Z direction.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a synthesis display example in the case where the blood flow image hidden by the display region on the tissue is displayed to be transparent from the tissue image. In this example, the display to show becomes the light through the base end of the vasculature (S _c) blood vessel image of all, the tip end side position of the 3D being displayed, and a single layer a (T _n) (S _d) is a single layer a (T _n) .

6 is a diagram illustrating a case where two three-dimensional images are displayed side by side. In this example, the blood vessel image S1 on the region V1 side (view point side) and the region V2 side (tomographic image) among the three-dimensional display regions V1 and V2 separated from each other by the tomogram T _n . The blood vessel image S2 of the inner side (T _n ) is displayed side by side.

By the notation described above, the operator can accurately grasp the positional relationship between the tissue image and the structure. In addition, the operator can observe not only the region and the cross section of the tissue but also the direction of the viewpoint at the same time, thereby allowing a more detailed observation.

(2nd embodiment)

How to determine the range is important when trying to obtain some indicators (quantitative parameters) representing, for example, the abundance of tumor vegetative vessels from the obtained 3D information.

7 is a diagram for explaining an example of the range setting method using the structure image according to the present embodiment. As shown in Fig. 7A, a case where a large number of blood vessels different from the vegetative blood vessel of the tumor run near the tumor is considered. Determining individual blood vessels individually based on the blood vessel image is a difficult task. On the other hand, according to the tissue image, it is possible to accurately determine the extent of the tumor. Therefore, in this embodiment, the range for quantification is determined based on the tissue image (FIG. 7B). That is, in the present embodiment, as shown in Figs. 7C to 7E, the stereoscopic structure image of three planes (for example, a predetermined XY plane, YZ plane, and XZ plane) is displayed. By tracking the tumor on this image, the range for quantification is set.

More specifically, the range setting information R1 is obtained by tracing the cross section T1 of the tumor on the tissue on the XY plane, and the range setting information R2 is obtained by tracing the cross section T2 of the tumor on the tissue on the YZ plane. The range setting information R3 is obtained by tracing the cross section T3 of the tumor on the tissue on the XZ plane.

Although such a trace operation is required, according to this embodiment, quantitative parameters based on a clear definition can be obtained.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating another example of performing a trace on a tissue image in the same manner as in FIG. 7. In the example of FIG. 8, the trace surface is selected from a plurality of cross-sections parallel to each other in the solid texture image shown in FIG. 8A, and as shown in FIGS. Six cross sections made of XY-6 are used as the trace surface.

9 is a diagram showing an example in which a trace curve is displayed even on a synthetic image of a blood vessel image and a tissue image when the trace is performed on a tissue image. In this example, the trace curve T _c1 (X ----- X) is displayed on the tissue image T _n1 to perform the trace, and T _c1 on the synthetic image of the blood vessel image S and the tissue image T _n2 . The trace curve T _c2 corresponding to is displayed.

As a result, the operator can perform the trace operation while confirming that the other blood vessel is out of the trace range, so that the operator does not have to worry about the accuracy of the trace and can perform the trace simply and reliably. In addition, a trace curve may be displayed on the blood vessel image rather than on the synthetic image of the blood vessel image and the tissue image.

In addition, in any of the above-described examples of FIGS. 8 and 9, the cross-sectional image to be traced may be a tissue-only image or a two-dimensional synthetic image in which the same cross-sectional image of blood vessels is superimposed on a tissue tomography layer.

In addition, a trace does not necessarily need to be performed manually by an operator, but may perform an automatic trace based on an algorithm.

As explained above, according to 2nd Embodiment, the range at the time of calculating a quantification parameter can be set simply and correctly.

(Third embodiment)

When using quantitative parameters, there is a case where the information of the structure alone causes problems in quantitativeity. This embodiment aims to provide more quantitative information by also using the information from a tissue image.

For example, the abundance of intravascular tumor flow, ie, "vascularity", is quantified from the total amount of Doppler power values in the tumor in the color Doppler power display of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. What hinders quantification at that time is that Doppler power itself is affected by device or in vivo characteristics. In other words, when the transmission power and reception sensitivity of the device are low, the Doppler power itself obtained from within the tumor becomes small even if the tumor vasculature is high. In addition, even when the tumor is deep, the Doppler signal is also attenuated by in vivo attenuation when sound waves propagate between the ultrasound probe and the tumor. This factor is a factor that significantly lowers the quantitative value by the Doppler signal.

The change in the Doppler signal due to the above factors also affects the organization. Therefore, in this embodiment, correction is performed using a tissue signal. 10 shows its appearance.

Here, first, the total amount DP of the Doppler signal in the tumor is calculated according to the following equation.

d is the power of each point of the Doppler signal, R is the tumor range (integrated range)

Next, the total amount BP of the B mode signal in the tumor is calculated according to the following equation.

d is the power of each point of the B mode signal, R is the tumor range (integrated range)

Then, the vasculature index (f (DP, BP)) is calculated as DP / BP, for example, and the transmission power, reception sensitivity, etc. of the ultrasonic probe are corrected based on this.

In addition, although the correction signal is acquired from the tissue image T in a tumor here, you may specify other areas other than a tumor as a correction area. In fact, in a tumor, the intensity of a signal may change greatly according to a characteristic of a tumor, and it may not be suitable for correcting transmission power, a reception sensitivity, etc.

By the way, limited to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, the normal tissue image refers to the B mode image, but the transmission and reception conditions are different in the B mode image and the color Doppler image, and thus, the influence of attenuation or the like on the obtained information cannot be said to be equivalent. Therefore, the B mode phase is not optimal as the texture image used for the correction.

11 is a block diagram showing the device structure for solving this problem. In the figure, "1" is an ultrasonic probe, "2" is a transmission system, "3" is a reception system, "4" is a signal processing system for B mode, "5" is a color Doppler processing system, and "9". Is an indicator, "10" is a measurement system, and "11" is a monitor.

Color Doppler processing systems for obtaining Doppler signals typically include an HPF (low pass cutoff filter) called an MTI filter for removing signals from tissue and displaying only signals from the bloodstream.

The color Doppler processing system 5 of the present embodiment passes from the reception system 3 without passing through the MTI filter 6 and the autocorrelation calculation unit 7 which performs power calculation after passing through the MTI filter 6. An autocorrelation calculating section 8 that calculates power using a signal directly is provided.

According to such a structure, the structure | tissue image suitable for a correction can be obtained based on the power value obtained by the autocorrelation calculating part 8.

As described above, according to the third embodiment, error factors at the time of quantification can be corrected, and a parameter having high quantitative value can be obtained.

This invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, It can variously deform and implement.

According to the present invention, the following medical image diagnosis apparatus can be provided.

(1) A medical imaging apparatus capable of displaying the positional relationship of 3D information on a structure of a network-like structure such as blood vessels, and on a gray-scale tissue such as an actual organ without clearly reducing the amount of information.

(2) A medical imaging apparatus capable of accurately obtaining quantitative parameters from 3D information of network structures such as blood vessels by using 3D information of tissues.

Claims (21)

First collecting means for collecting three-dimensional data of biological tissue, Second collection means for collecting three-dimensional data of a biological structure existing in a living body in correspondence with the biological tissue and a position coordinate; Tissue tomogram generating means for generating a tissue tomography from the three-dimensional data of the biological tissue, Structure image generating means for generating a structure image from the three-dimensional data of the biological structure, and And a composite display means for synthesizing and displaying the tissue tomography image and the structure image, wherein the display aspect of the structure image is changed before and after the position on the tissue tomography image. The method of claim 1, And said structure tomography image is a black and white gradation image and said structure image is a color image. The method of claim 1, And designating means for designating an area to be used for generating the structure image from the three-dimensional data collected by the second collecting means. And an image of the structure of the area designated by said designation means, wherein said tissue tomogram is displayed on at least part of the boundary of said area. The method of claim 1, The medical imaging apparatus, characterized in that for displaying the tissue tomographic image and the structure image by overlapping the position coordinates. The method of claim 4, wherein Medical imaging apparatus, characterized in that for removing or reducing the information on the tissue tomography of the area where the tissue tomographic layer and the structure image overlap. The method of claim 4, wherein And a plurality of tissue tomograms parallel to each other at equal intervals. The method of claim 4, wherein And a means for switching either one of the tissue tomography image and the structure image to display or non-display. The method of claim 1, And a structure image showing the position of the tissue tomography and the position of the tissue tomography side by side. The method of claim 1, And displaying the image on the structure by parallel movement, rotation, or a combination thereof. The method of claim 1, The tissue tomography is a soft tissue of the living body and the medical imaging device, characterized in that the biological structure is a blood vessel. The method of claim 1, And a brightness or color change of the structure image before and after the tissue tomography. The method of claim 1, And a plurality of tissue tomograms which are not parallel to each other to be synthesized and displayed. The method according to claim 1 or 7, And a three-dimensional display of the tissue tomography. First collecting means for collecting three-dimensional data of biological tissue, Second collecting means for collecting the three-dimensional data of the biological structure existing in the living body in correspondence with the living tissue and the position coordinates; Means for generating a tissue tomogram from the three-dimensional data of the biological tissue, Means for setting a region of interest using the tissue tomography; And means for obtaining a quantitative parameter indicative of characteristics of the living body corresponding to the region of interest based on the region of interest and three-dimensional data of the living body structure. The method of claim 14, And an operator to determine the contour of the region on the tissue tomography. The method of claim 14, And an outline of the area on the tissue tomography is automatically determined using information on the tissue tomography. The method of claim 14, A medical imaging apparatus, characterized by displaying an outline of a region determined or determined on a tissue tomogram on the structure image or a composite image on the structure tomography layer and the structure. Means for collecting three-dimensional data of a biological tissue, means for collecting three-dimensional data of a biological structure existing in a living body in correspondence with the coordinates of the biological tissue, and means for generating a structure image from the three-dimensional data of the biological structure. Equipped, And at least one numerical value representing the information of the living body using both the information of the biological structure and the information of the biological tissue. The method of claim 1, Medical imaging apparatus, characterized in that the information of the biological tissue is obtained by the B mode of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. Means for collecting first three-dimensional image data in a first imaging mode, and collecting second three-dimensional image data in correspondence with the first three-dimensional image data and a position coordinate in a second imaging mode; Means for generating a tomographic image from said first three-dimensional image data collected by said collecting means, Means for generating a three-dimensional image from the second three-dimensional image data collected by the collecting means; Means for matching and synthesizing the tomographic image generated by the tomographic layer generating means with a part of the three-dimensional image generated by the three-dimensional image generating means in both positions; and And a means for displaying the image synthesized by the synthesizing means. Means for collecting first three-dimensional image data in a first imaging mode, and collecting second three-dimensional image data in correspondence with the first three-dimensional image data and a position coordinate in a second imaging mode; Means for generating a tomogram from the first three-dimensional image data collected by the collecting means; Means for generating a three-dimensional image from the second three-dimensional image data collected by the collecting means; Means for setting a specific region of the three-dimensional image generated by the three-dimensional image generating means based on the tomographic image generated by the tomographic image generating means, and And means for calculating biometric information of the subject based on data of a specific region set by the region setting means among three-dimensional image data collected by the second imaging mode.