KR101312303B1 - Apparatus and method for HIFU therapy capable of confirming focal spot of therapy signal - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a Haifu treatment apparatus capable of confirming a focal position of an ultrasound signal HIFU. The Haifu treatment device is a Haifu treatment transducer for transmitting high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) for focusing energy to the treatment site, the transmitted high intensity focused ultrasound for therapy is reflected from the treatment site A B-mode signal processor configured to receive an ultrasound to form a B-mode focus image of a focus region, an ultrasound signal processor to generate a treatment region image, which is an ultrasound image of a treatment region of a patient, and the B-mode focus And an image integrator configured to output an image and a signal integrating the treatment site image into a single image. The procedure can be performed via the Haifu signal without damaging important blood vessels and organs, and can improve the stability and accuracy of the Haifu procedure.

Description

Apparatus and method for HIFU therapy capable of confirming focal spot of therapy signal

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an ultrasound therapy apparatus and method, and more particularly, to a Haifu therapy apparatus and method thereof capable of identifying a focal position of an ultrasound signal HIFU.

Ultrasound is an inaudible vibration sound that is very high at 17,000 to 20,000 Hz, which is inaudible to human ears. In other words, ultrasonic waves are sounds, not electromagnetic fields or spectrums. Recently, the range of use of such ultrasound therapy is getting wider.

Human tissue is known to be necrotic when the temperature of the site is 60-85 degrees Celsius. High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) treatment using this phenomenon is a technique that focuses the ultrasound energy at one point (focus) to necrosize cancer tissues by thermal coagulation and mechanical cavitation. With the development of ultrasound therapy, certain ultrasound therapy, in particular HIFU, is applied to the damaging dose in order to effectively treat many kinds of diseases, especially tumors.

Compared with conventional surgical and chemical therapy, HIFU treatment can lessen the trauma of the patient and realize non-invasive treatment. Therefore, its clinical application is developing rapidly. These signs include Liver cancer, Bone sarcoma, Breast cancer, Pancreas cancer, Kidney cancer, Soft tissue tumors and Pelvic tumors. It includes.

Ultrasound tumor treatment devices generally employ spherical focusing. Ultrasonic waves emitted from all points are directed to the center of the sphere and become focused ultrasound waves. An emitter on the ultrasound therapy device emits ultrasound from the outside of the body to the inside of the body, which is focused during emission and transmission to form a high energy focus point. Thus, high intensity and continuous ultrasound energy is applied to the target region of the subject.

The effects of excessive high temperatures (65-100 ° C.), cavitation effects, mechanical effects and sonic-chemical effects occurring at the focal point selectively produce coagulative necrosis of diseased tissues, It is used to prevent tumor proliferation, invasion and metastasis.

Accurate, safe and effective localization of the focal point during the application of HIFU treatment is essential for successful treatment, and there is a need to further improve the convenience of operation to locate the target. Therefore, the procedure can be performed through HIFU signal without damaging important blood vessels and organs, and it is necessary to confirm the correct focus of HIFU (hereinafter referred to as 'high-fu') treatment signal which can improve the stability and accuracy of HIFU procedure. .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in an effort to provide a hifu treatment device and a hifu treatment method capable of identifying a focal position of a high intensity focused ultrasound signal (HIFU) without damaging important blood vessels and organs.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a Haifu therapeutic transducer for transmitting high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) for focusing energy to a treatment site, wherein the transmitted high intensity focused ultrasound is transmitted from the treatment site. A B-mode signal processor configured to receive reflected ultrasound to form a B-mode focus image of a focus region, an ultrasound signal processor to generate a treatment region image, which is an ultrasound image of a treatment region of a patient, and the B-mode Provided is a Haifu treatment apparatus including an image integration unit for outputting a signal integrating a focus image and the treatment site image into a single image.

The hi-fu treatment apparatus comprises a system control unit for compensating the focal position of the high intensity focused ultrasound for the treatment by a user input or by using an image in which a target point is set in the single image and the treatment region image acquired before the hi-fu treatment procedure. It may further include.

The hi-fu treatment apparatus may further include an imaging transducer for transmitting an ultrasound to generate a treatment site image to the treatment site.

The hi-fu treatment apparatus may further include a display unit for displaying an ultrasound image generated by receiving a signal from the image integrator on a screen.

The B-mode (Brigtness mode) may be a mode for displaying the size of the echo (echo) coming into the human body on the screen.

 According to another aspect of the present invention, a high-future imaging imaging transducer for transmitting high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to a treatment site for focusing energy and obtaining images for treatment, and the transmission. The high intensity focused ultrasound provides a high-fuel treatment apparatus including a B-mode signal processor configured to receive an ultrasound reflected from the treatment site to form a B-mode (Brigtness mode) focus image of a focal point.

The hi-fu treatment apparatus is a system for compensating for the focal position of the transmitted high-intensity focused ultrasound by a user input or by using an image set as a target point in the B-mode focus image and the treatment region image acquired before the hi-fu treatment procedure. The control unit may further include.

The hi-fu treatment apparatus may further include a display unit which displays an ultrasound image generated by receiving a signal from the B-mode signal processor.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the method comprises the steps of: transmitting a therapeutic high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) for focusing energy to a treatment site, the ultrasonic wave reflected by the transmitted treatment high intensity focused ultrasound Receiving an image to form a B-mode focus image of the focal region, generating a treatment region image that is an ultrasound image of the treatment region of the patient, and single-bing the B-mode focus image and the treatment region image It provides a Haifu treatment method comprising the step of integrating into an image.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) for focusing energy on a treatment site and obtaining an image for treatment, and transmitting the high intensity focused ultrasound to the treatment site. The present invention provides a method for treating hippo including receiving ultrasound reflected from a treatment site to form a B-mode focus image of a focal region.

According to the present invention, after transmitting the hi-fu signal to the treatment site, the signal reflected from the treatment site can be received again to confirm the focus position of the hi-fu signal transmitted to the treatment site through imaging. The procedure can be performed via the Haifu signal without damaging important blood vessels and organs, and can improve the stability and accuracy of the Haifu procedure.

1 is a block diagram showing a Haifu treatment device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 2 is a flow chart showing a method of treating the Haifu according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a diagram illustrating the timing of a treatment region image signal.
4 is a diagram illustrating timing of a B-mode focus image signal.
Figure 5 is a block diagram showing a Haifu treatment device according to another embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a flow chart showing a method for treating hyfu according to another embodiment of the present invention.
7 shows an image of the treatment site according to the present embodiment.

The present invention is capable of various modifications and various embodiments, and specific embodiments are illustrated and described in the drawings. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments, but includes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

The terms including ordinal, such as second, first, etc., may be used to describe various elements, but the elements are not limited to these terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, the second component may be referred to as a first component, and similarly, the first component may also be referred to as a second component. And / or < / RTI > includes any combination of a plurality of related listed items or any of a plurality of related listed items.

When a component is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" to another component, it may be directly connected to or connected to that other component, but it may be understood that other components may be present in between. Should be. On the other hand, when an element is referred to as being "directly connected" or "directly connected" to another element, it should be understood that there are no other elements in between.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention. Singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In this application, the terms "comprise" or "have" are intended to indicate that there is a feature, number, step, operation, component, part, or combination thereof described in the specification, and one or more other features. It is to be understood that the present invention does not exclude the possibility of the presence or the addition of numbers, steps, operations, components, components, or a combination thereof.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries are to be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the contextual meaning of the related art and are to be interpreted as either ideal or overly formal in the sense of the present application Do not.

The ultrasound signal is diffracted, refracted, and reflected as it travels through body tissues, so that the size and location of the focal point may be different from the prediction. Therefore, the focus of the hi-fu signal must be confirmed. The present embodiment provides a focus confirmation technique of the hypu signal before the hypu procedure to improve the effectiveness (efficacy) of the hypu procedure and to ensure stability.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, and the same or corresponding components will be given the same reference numerals regardless of the reference numerals, and redundant description thereof will be omitted.

1 is a block diagram showing a Haifu treatment device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the hi-fu treatment apparatus 100 may include a system controller 110, an imaging transducer 121, a first transmit beamformer 123, a first receive beamformer 125, and an ultrasonic signal processor 130. ), The Haifu therapeutic transducer 141, the second transmit beamformer 143, the second receive beamformer 145, the B-mode signal processor 150, the image integrator 160, and the display 170. And an input unit 180.

The system controller 110 controls the operation of the hi-fu treatment transducer 141 and the imaging transducer 121 according to the present embodiment described below. According to the present exemplary embodiment, the focus of the hi-fu treatment transducer 141 identified through the display unit 170 is automatically compensated for or by a user input. The system controller 110 may stop the operation of the hi-fu treatment transducer 141 in order to acquire an ultrasound image of the treatment site after the procedure, and may compensate for the focus.

Imaging transducer 121 transmits ultrasound to a treatment site to obtain an image. The first transmit beamformer 123 compensates the focus so that the ultrasound of the imaging transducer 121 is directed to the treatment site. The first receiving beamformer 125 receives the ultrasound reflected back to the treatment site and compensates for the focus of the imaging transducer 121 for this purpose.

The ultrasound signal processor 130 generates an ultrasound image (hereinafter, referred to as a 'treatment site image') of the treatment area of the patient. The ultrasonic signal processor 130 and the B-mode signal processor 150 to be described later may use the video codec to generate a continuous image in which the treatment region moves.

The Haifu therapeutic transducer 141 transmits therapeutic ultrasound to focus energy at the treatment site. The second transmission beamformer 143 automatically or according to the focal position confirmed through the display unit 170 or the focal position determined by the display unit 170, and the user adjusts the focal position through the input unit 180. To compensate for the focus of the Haifu therapeutic transducer 141 to transmit the therapeutic ultrasound. The second receive beamformer 145 receives the ultrasound reflected back to the treatment site and compensates for the focus of the hi-fu treatment transducer 141 for this purpose.

The B-mode signal processor 150 forms a B-mode focus image of the focal region of the hi-fu treatment transducer 141 based on the gain-compensated received signal. Specifically, it serves to convert the B-mode focus image signal into a form displayed on an actual monitor. Here, the B-mode (Brigtness mode) is a mode that displays the size of the echo (Echo) coming into the human body on the screen, the bright point means that there is a strong reflector inside the human body, the dark point is the hypo-eco (hypo) -echoic)

The image integrator 160 integrates the B-mode focus image from the B-mode signal processor 150 and the treatment site image, which is an ultrasound image of the treatment region of the patient generated from the ultrasound signal processor 130.

The display unit 170 displays the ultrasound image generated by receiving a signal from the image integrator 160 on the screen. The display unit 170 may be a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display panel (PDP), an organic light emitting device (OLED), or the like. The user may check the ultrasound image from the display unit 170 and input a focus correction command through the input unit 180.

Figure 2 is a flow chart showing a method of treating the Haifu according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, a treatment site image is obtained (S210). Here, the treatment region image may be an ultrasound 2D / 3D image. Then, a hi-fu signal is transmitted to the treatment site (S220). The transmitted hi-fu signal receives a signal reflected from the treatment site to obtain a B-mode focus image (S230). Specifically, a B-mode focus image is formed based on the received signal whose gain is compensated. The B-mode focus image acquired in S230 and the treatment site image acquired in S210 are integrated (S240). Here, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the image integration may be performed using various known methods for integrating a plurality of image signals into one image signal.

Hereinafter, an example of an image integration method will be described.

3 is a diagram illustrating the timing of a treatment region image signal.

Referring to FIG. 3, assuming that one frame of the treatment region image signal displays an image of “Y”, one frame of the treatment region image signal may be divided into N + 1 line data. Each line data is synchronized with the first single horizontal synchronization signal, and the frames of the first single image signal are separated by the first single vertical synchronization signal.

4 is a diagram illustrating timing of a B-mode focus image signal.

Referring to FIG. 4, assuming that one frame of the B-mode focus video signal displays an image of “Z”, one frame of the B-mode focus video signal may be divided into N + 1 line data. . Each line data is synchronized with the second single horizontal synchronization signal, and the frame of the second single image signal is divided by the second single vertical synchronization signal.

Referring to S240 again with reference to FIG. 2, the image integrator receives the first single image signal, the first single horizontal synchronization signal, and the first single vertical synchronization signal from the ultrasonic signal processor, and the second single from the B-mode signal processor. The image signal, the second single horizontal synchronous signal, and the second single vertical synchronous signal are inputted to detect the first single horizontal synchronous signal and the second single horizontal synchronous signal, and based on the calculated frequency of the integrated horizontal synchronous signal. Then, the first single vertical synchronizing signal and the second single vertical synchronizing signal are detected and based on this, the frequency of the integrated vertical synchronizing signal is calculated.

One integrated frame of the integrated image signal, in which data of one frame of the treatment region image signal and the B-mode focus image signal is synthesized, is synchronized with the calculated integrated horizontal synchronizing signal and integrated vertical synchronizing signal. The line data of the treatment region image signal and the B-mode focus image signal may be synthesized as described above in units of frames.

Then, it is checked whether the focal position of the Haifu treatment is correct from the integrated image (S250). In this case, the focus position may be confirmed through a change in brightness due to a change in amplitude of the integrated image. The confirmation of the focus position may be performed by the user through the display unit, and automatically from the image integration or the comparison of the integrated image signal with the image signal in which the target point is set in the treatment region image signal acquired prior to the HIFU treatment procedure. May be performed.

If the identified focus position is not correct, the focus of the treatment transducer is compensated (S260), and the hi-fu signal is transmitted to the treatment site again. If the focus position is correct, proceed to the Haifu operation (S270).

Figure 5 is a block diagram showing a Haifu treatment device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the hifu treatment apparatus 500 includes a system control unit 510, a transmit beamformer 520, a receive beamformer 530, a hifu treatment imaging imaging transducer 540, and a B-mode signal. The processor 550 includes a display unit 560 and an input unit 570.

The system control unit 510 controls the operation of the hi-fu treatment imaging imaging transducer 540 according to the present embodiment described below. According to the present exemplary embodiment, the focus of the hi-fu treatment imaging imaging transducer 540 identified through the display unit 560 is automatically compensated for by focus or by a user input.

The Haifu therapeutic imaging imaging transducer 540 focuses energy on the treatment site and transmits ultrasound to the treatment site for imaging. The transmission beamformer 520 compensates for the focus so that the ultrasound of the hi-fu treatment imaging imaging transducer 540 is directed to the treatment site. The reception beamformer 530 receives the ultrasound reflected back to the treatment site and compensates for the focus of the hi-fu treatment imaging imaging transducer 540 for this purpose.

The B-mode signal processor 550 forms a B-mode focus image of the focal region of the hi-fu treatment imaging imaging transducer 540 based on the gain-compensated received signal. In detail, the B-mode signal processor 550 may use the video codec to generate a continuous image in which the treatment region moves.

The display unit 560 displays a B-mode ultrasound image generated by receiving a signal from the B-mode signal processor 550 on the screen. The user may check the B-mode ultrasound image from the display unit 560 and input a correction command of the focus through the input unit 570, and the correction of the focus may be automatically performed. In this case, when the focus is automatically corrected, the focus position of the ultrasound may be compensated by using the B-mode focus image and the image of the target point set in the treatment region image acquired before the hi-fu treatment procedure.

6 is a flow chart showing a method for treating hyfu according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6, a hi-fu signal is transmitted to a treatment site (S610). The transmitted hi-fu signal receives the signal reflected from the treatment area to obtain a B-mode ultrasound image (S620). Then, it is checked whether the focal position of the hi-fu treatment is correct from the B-mode ultrasound image (S630). Here, the focal position may be confirmed through a change in brightness due to a change in amplitude of the B-mode ultrasound image. Confirmation of the focus position may be performed by the user through a display unit, and image integration between the image signal in which a target point is set and the B-mode ultrasound image signal obtained from the treatment region image signal acquired before the treatment of the hi-fu treatment, or their comparison It may also be performed automatically from.

If the identified focus position is not correct, the focus of the hi-fu treatment imaging imaging transducer is compensated (S640), and the hi-fu signal is transmitted to the treatment site again. If the focus position is correct, proceed to the Haifu operation (S650).

Hereinafter, the effect by the present embodiment will be described.

The hifu treatment transducer used a 64 channel 1D array transducer, and the hifu signal transmitted a signal having a center frequency of 3 MHz, a signal length of 20 cycles, and a focal position of 6 cm to the treatment site. After receiving all signals reflected after the transmission of the hi-fu signal, a scanning line necessary for an image was generated and imaged.

7 shows an image of the treatment site according to the present embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 7, the focus position of the transducer for transmitting the hi-fu signal may be checked through the change in brightness.

As used in this embodiment, the term " portion " refers to a hardware component such as software or an FPGA (field-programmable gate array) or ASIC, and 'part' performs certain roles. However, 'part' is not meant to be limited to software or hardware. &Quot; to " may be configured to reside on an addressable storage medium and may be configured to play one or more processors. Thus, by way of example, 'parts' may refer to components such as software components, object-oriented software components, class components and task components, and processes, functions, , Subroutines, segments of program code, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuitry, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and variables. The functions provided in the components and components may be further combined with a smaller number of components and components or further components and components. In addition, the components and components may be implemented to play back one or more CPUs in a device or a secure multimedia card.

All of the functions described above may be performed by a processor such as a microprocessor, a controller, a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. according to software or program code or the like coded to perform the function. The design, development and implementation of the above code will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the description of the present invention.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. You will understand. Therefore, it is intended that the present invention covers all embodiments falling within the scope of the following claims, rather than being limited to the above-described embodiments.

100: Haifu treatment device 110: system control unit
121: imaging transducer 123: first transmission beamformer
125: first reception beamformer
130: ultrasonic signal processing unit 141: Haifu therapeutic transducer
143: second transmit beamformer 145: second receive beamformer
150: B-mode signal processing unit 160: video integration unit
170: display unit 180: input unit

Claims (15)

A Haifu therapeutic transducer that transmits a therapeutic high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to focus energy on the treatment site;
A B-mode signal processor configured to receive an ultrasound wave reflected from the treatment site by using the high intensity focused ultrasound for therapy transmitted from the hi-fu treatment transducer to form a B-mode focus image of a focal point;
An imaging transducer for transmitting ultrasound to generate a treatment site image, which is an ultrasound image of a treatment site of a patient;
An ultrasonic signal processor configured to receive the ultrasonic waves transmitted from the imaging transducer to reflect the ultrasonic waves from the treatment portion to generate the treatment portion image; And
And an image integration unit for outputting a signal integrating the B-mode focus image and the treatment site image into a single image. The method of claim 1,
And a system controller for compensating the focus position of the high intensity focused ultrasound for the treatment by a user's input or by using an image in which a target point is set in the single image and the treatment region image acquired before the hi-fu treatment procedure. Haifu treatment device. delete The method of claim 1,
And a display unit for displaying the ultrasound image generated by receiving a signal from the image integrator on a screen. The method of claim 1,
The B-mode (Brigtness mode) is a mode for displaying the size of the echo (echo) coming into the human body on the screen in the hi-fu treatment device. delete delete delete delete Receiving an ultrasound to form a B-mode (focus mode) focus image of the focal region;
Generating a treatment site image that is an ultrasound image of the treatment site of the patient; and
Integrating the B-mode focus image and the treatment site image into a single image,
The ultrasonic wave is an ultrasonic wave in which therapeutic high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is reflected from the treatment area and received.
The high intensity focused ultrasound for therapy is an ultrasound method for imaging energy treatment apparatus, characterized in that the ultrasound to focus energy on the treatment site. 11. The method of claim 10,
Compensating the focus position of the high intensity focused ultrasound for the treatment by using an image in which a target point is set in the single image and the treatment region image obtained before the treatment of the hi-fu treatment. Way. 11. The method of claim 10,
The B-mode (Brigtness mode) is a mode for displaying the size of the echo (echo) coming into the human body on the screen, the imaging method of the Haifu treatment device. Receiving an ultrasound to form a B-mode (Brigtness mode) focus image of the focal region;
The ultrasonic wave is an ultrasonic wave in which therapeutic high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is reflected from the treatment area and received.
The high intensity focused ultrasound for therapy is an ultrasound for focusing energy on a treatment site for therapeutic purposes and imaging method of the Haifu treatment device, characterized in that to obtain an image. The method of claim 13,
Compensating the focus position of the received high-intensity focused ultrasound using an image set as a target point in the B-mode focus image and the treatment region image acquired before the hi-fu treatment procedure. Method of imaging. The method of claim 13,
The B-mode (Brigtness mode) is a mode for displaying the size of the echo (echo) coming into the human body on the screen, the imaging method of the Haifu treatment device.

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