KR101398005B1 - HIFU system using by handheld type therapy ultrasonic transducer - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a HIFU system using a high power multichannel phased array transducer for a small ultrasonic wave, and more particularly, to a beamforming method for a high power multichannel phased array transducer for a small ultrasonic wave and a beam forming method Channel transducer driving system and a small-sized high-power multichannel phased array transducer for a small ultrasonic wave, so that the operator can carry out the operation while carrying the HIFU system. Thus, The present invention relates to a HIFU system, which is capable of being accessed effectively.
The present invention relates to a HIFU system having an ultrasonic transducer integrated with an image transducer and a HIFU transducer, wherein the HIFU transducer is located at an outer portion of the board of the ultrasonic transducer, the image transducer is a board of an ultrasonic transducer An ultrasonic transducer positioned at an inner portion except a portion where the HIFU transducer is located; Wherein the HIFU transducer generates an ultrasound beam signal by obtaining a time delay to be applied to each element of the image transducer through a beamsteering formula and generates an ultrasound beam signal for the HIFU transducer by using a beam focusing method, And a beam former controller for generating a HIFU beam control signal to form a focus of the transducer.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a high intensity focused ultrasound therapy system using a small-sized therapeutic ultrasound transducer,

The present invention relates to a high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) system using a high output multichannel phased array transducer for a small ultrasonic wave, and more particularly, to a beamforming method for a high output multichannel phased array transducer for a small ultrasonic wave And a multichannel transducer driving system in which the beam forming method is implemented. By using a high-power multichannel phased array transducer for a small ultrasonic wave, the operator can carry out the operation while carrying the HIFU system, The present invention relates to a HIFU system in which any location, location, or accessibility can be achieved.

Current medical ultrasound covers a wide range from diagnostic devices to surgery.

Medical ultrasound has a different amount of energy delivered to human tissue depending on what purpose it is used for, and thus the biological effect generated by the tissue is different.

In general, low energy does not induce biological changes, so it is applied mainly to diagnostic ultrasound. On the other hand, applying high energy can induce irreversible biological changes in tissue, restore it from its changes, or necrotize tissue, and this high energy level is applied to therapeutic ultrasound.

HIFU surgery is an operation that focuses ultrasound energy to a small focal point of cancer tissue in the body to remove the cancer tissue by generating a temperature of 60 ° C or higher.

In order to effectively perform HIFU surgery, it is necessary to predict the temperature change that will occur in the tissue through the amount of energy transmitted through the ultrasound, and to predict how much tissue will necrotize over time. Based on these techniques, the most important technology is to make the desired size and shape focus at the desired position in the human body for accurate HIFU operation.

In the case of conventional HIFU, the location where the HIFU transducer can exist is very limited and the attitude that the patient can take is limited. Therefore, it is difficult to precisely locate the HIFU transducer and the patient's body, and there is a disadvantage that the accessibility of treatment to the position of the cancer that may exist in various positions in the patient's body is inferior.

Also, by adjusting the focus mechanically using the motor system, it takes a considerable amount of time to operate and the whole procedure time is also very long.

Another problem that occurs in the existing HIFU system is that it does not provide anatomical information in real time to the practitioner, which makes it difficult to operate.

Failure to accurately focus the HIFU at the location where it is set will have a significant impact on long-term damage and treatment stability, so it should be possible to monitor the positional relationship between the target cancer tissue and the focus through an image guide. Such monitoring should be non-invasive and provide real-time feedback to the practitioner.

Equipment for monitoring such as MR and CT requires much time to acquire and implement images, and it is difficult to combine with HIFU equipment due to the inherent characteristics of the equipment such as very large equipment and very strong magnetism.

On the other hand, when the ultrasound imaging technique is used, the ultrasound image itself can not provide high resolution like MR and CT images because of its low resolution, but the anatomical information can be obtained in real time because the image processing speed is high. In addition, the fundamental principles of HIFU and ultrasound imaging are the same, making it relatively easy to combine the two devices and very limited in space.

In order to overcome the disadvantages and limitations of the existing HIFU system, the present invention integrates an image ultrasonic transducer and a HIFU transducer to provide visual information to a practitioner in real time during a procedure and uses a small transducer The handheld type probe is manufactured so that the practitioner can directly perform the intuitive procedure by hand rather than the control by the motor system.

In addition, the present invention provides a HIFU system using a small-sized and portable high-output multichannel phased array transducer for therapeutic ultrasound.

The conventional HIFU system is fixed at a specific position because it is relatively large in size of the transducer, fixed to a motor system or the like, and the operator repeatedly adjusts one focus position by mechanically adjusting the operation time and the patient's attitude And so on.

In the present invention, a small-sized, high-power multichannel phased array transducer is used so that an operator can carry it in a hand-carried state in order to effectively access any type of cancer cells present at an arbitrary position. In order to utilize such an ultrasonic array transducer, the present invention has developed a beam forming technique for a multi-channel transducer and developed a multi-channel transducer driving system capable of implementing the beam forming technique.

The present invention is directed to a beamforming method for a high power multichannel phased array transducer for a small ultrasonic wave and a multichannel transducer driving system in which the beamforming method is implemented and a high output multichannel phased array The present invention provides a HIFU system that enables a practitioner to carry out a surgery while carrying a HIFU system by using a transducer so that cancer cells can be effectively accessed regardless of their location,

Another problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a HIFU system using a small-sized and portable high-power multichannel phased array transducer for therapeutic ultrasound.

Another object of the present invention is to integrate an image ultrasonic transducer and a HIFU transducer in order to provide visual information to a practitioner in real time during a procedure and to provide a handheld type probe using a small transducer So that the practitioner can directly perform intuitive procedures by hand, not by the motor system.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a HIFU system having a high power transducer driving system capable of generating a suitable pulse for driving a therapeutic ultrasound transducer and a high voltage.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a HIFU system including an imaging system having transmission beam generation, reception beam focusing, and imaging algorithm of a received signal through an image transducer.

The present invention relates to a HIFU system including an ultrasonic transducer in which an image transducer and a HIFU transducer are integrated, wherein the HIFU transducer is located at an outer portion of the board of the ultrasonic transducer, And is located at an inner portion of the board other than the portion where the HIFU transducer is located.

The present invention also relates to an ultrasonic transducer, which is composed of a video transducer and a HIFU transducer and arranged linearly to form a 2D linear array; Wherein the HIFU transducer generates an ultrasound beam signal by obtaining a time delay to be applied to each element of the image transducer through a beamsteering formula and generates an ultrasound beam signal for the HIFU transducer by using a beam focusing method, And a beam former controller for generating a HIFU beam control signal to form a focus of the transducer.

In the HIFU system including the ultrasonic transducer in which the image transducer and the HIFU transducer are integrated, the FU transducer is located at an outer portion of the board of the ultrasonic transducer, and the image transducer is connected to the ultrasonic transducer, An ultrasonic transducer positioned at an inner portion of the board of the ducer except a portion where the HIFU transducer is located; A HIFU transmission mode unit for generating a HIFU driving signal having a continuous pulse for transmission to the HIFU transducer; An image transmission mode unit for converting an ultrasonic beam signal having intermittent pulses into an analog signal and removing noise and amplifying the analog signal for transmission to the image transducer; And a receiving mode unit for receiving and amplifying the ultrasonic response signal generated in the body, removing noise, and converting the ultrasonic response signal into a digital signal.

A transmission beam former for generating an ultrasonic beam signal according to a transmission beam control signal of the beam former control unit and transmitting the generated ultrasonic beam signal to an image transmission mode unit; And a reception beamformer for generating an image signal calculated by beamforming from the ultrasonic response signal received in the reception mode unit according to the reception beam control signal of the beamforming control unit.

And an arithmetic processing unit for performing a scan conversion for converting the image signal calculated by the beamforming received in the reception beamformer into a B mode image and converting the image signal into a 2D array form for display do.

And an ultrasound OS / UI unit for outputting an image mapped to the B mode image received by the operation processing unit to the display unit and providing an interface for a parameter input and a control key input related to HIFU generation by a practitioner.

The image transducer transmits the sound wave into the tissue for a time corresponding to the pulse generated in the image transmission mode unit and receives the ultrasonic response signal (echo signal) until the next pulse is generated, and transmits the ultrasonic response signal to the reception mode unit.

The HIFU transmission mode part includes an ultra-high current high-speed MOSFET driver and a bipolar high voltage MOSFET amplifier.

The image transmission mode unit includes a DA converter, a low pass filter (LPF), a high voltage linear amplifier, and the low pass filter (LPF) is a low pass filter of 1-15 MHz.

Wherein the reception mode unit comprises a transmission / reception switcher (T / R switcher) electrically connected to the image transducer only in the reception mode to receive an ultrasonic response signal (echo signal).

The receiving mode unit further includes a preamplifier, a low-pass filter, and an A / D converter. The preamplifier for amplifying the ultrasonic response signal received through the transceiver is connected to a T / R switcher (Echo signal) and amplifies the signal to a minimum noise level; A time gain compensator for generating a time gain compensation signal by a time gain compensation control signal received from a beam former control unit; A voltage adjustment attenuator for compensating the gain according to time with respect to the ultrasonic response signal received from the low noise amplifier according to the time gain compensation signal received from the time gain compensator; And a programmable gain amplifier for adjusting a gain from an output signal of the voltage adjustment attenuator and outputting the adjusted gain, wherein the low-pass filter is a low-pass filter of 1-15 MHz.

The present invention also provides a method of driving a HIFU system including an ultrasonic transducer in which an image transducer and a HIFU transducer are integrated, wherein the operation processing unit recognizes the image transducer, A ducer setting step; A mode setting step of reading a program according to a setting signal of an operation mode made up of a B-mode, a color flow, an M-mode, a Doppler, or a combination thereof; Adjusting a scan depth to fix a field of view of a displayed image; A focal length setting step of setting a focal length of the transmitted beam by setting a focal length of the transmitted beam (focus or transmit focal length selection), and shifting the focal length and position of the transmitted beam to a region of interest; And a TGC control step of receiving the time gain compensation setting data from the control panel of the ultrasonic OS / UI unit and applying a gain to signals arriving by time differently.

According to the HIFU system of the present invention, a beam forming method for a high output multi-channel phased array transducer for a small ultrasonic wave and a multi-channel transducer driving system in which the beam forming method is implemented are provided, and a high output multichannel phased array transformer Using a ducer, the practitioner can operate with the HIFU system in place so that cancer cells can be effectively accessed wherever they are, in whatever form they are.

The present invention is a HIFU system utilizing a high-power multichannel phased array transducer for therapeutic ultrasound which is small in size and easy to carry, and is easy to carry and easy to use in a procedure.

The HIFU system of the present invention integrates an image ultrasonic transducer and a HIFU transducer to provide visual information to a practitioner in real time during a procedure and manufactures a probe in a handheld type using a small transducer, It is possible to perform an intuitive operation by hand by the operator rather than by the system, so that the operation can be performed in accordance with the conditions and conditions of each operation, since it is not a mechanical operation. .

The present invention relates to an ultrasonic transducer having a high power transducer driving system capable of generating a suitable pulse for driving a therapeutic ultrasound transducer and also capable of generating and transmitting beam through a video transducer, And an imaging system equipped with an imaging algorithm of a received signal to enable a HIFU system utilizing a high output multi-channel phased array transducer for a small ultrasonic wave.

In the present invention, a 2D linear array transducer in which a video probe is located at the center and a HIFU transducer is linearly arranged at the periphery is used, and a conventional image transducer and a therapeutic transducer are separately used, or mechanically two It compensates for the disadvantages of rotating the transducer.

In addition, in the present invention, the focus can be electronically controlled using a linear array transducer, rather than a single-element transducer, and the multi-focus and half-focus can be utilized to reduce the procedure time and damage to peripheral organs.

In addition, the transducer of the present invention provides a real-time anatomical image and significantly reduces size and weight compared to conventional HIFU transducers. Thus, Can be performed.

The present invention can be applied to various fields such as HIFU surgery, transverse wave generation and transverse wave image reconstruction, measurement of biotissue elasticity and hardness using sound pressure, application of therapeutic ultrasound and acquisition of anatomical information through image.

1 is a block diagram for explaining a configuration of a HIFU system according to one embodiment of the present invention.
2 is an explanatory view of a handheld transducer in which a HIFU transducer and an image transducer are combined.
3 is an example of the ultrasonic transducer of Fig.
4 is a beam signal input to the image transducer of FIG.
5 is a driving signal input to the HIFU transducer of FIG.
6 is an example of a HIFU transmission mode section and impedance matching circuit of FIG.
7 is an explanatory diagram of beam forming using time delay and an example of a beam former control circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention.
8 is an example of a GUI of the HIFU system of the present invention.
9A and 9B are explanatory diagrams for explaining the appearance of the ultrasonic transducer of the present invention.
10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a method of forming a focus at a specific position through a beam focusing formula.
11 is an example of sound field simulation of an ultrasonic transducer.
12 shows an example of the amplitude value of each device calculated through the simulation of FIG.

Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of the HIFU system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram for explaining a configuration of a HIFU system according to one embodiment of the present invention.

The HIFU system of the present invention includes an ultrasound OS / UI unit 100, an ultrasonic transducer 150, a HIFU transmitting mode unit 200, an imaging transmitting mode unit 300, And includes a receiving mode unit 400, a front end control unit 600, a rear end control unit 500, a storage unit 540, a hard drive unit 550, a display unit 560, and a main power unit 700 .

The front end control unit 600 controls the front end of the HIFU system such as the ultrasonic transducer 150, the HIFU transmission mode unit 200, the image transmission mode unit 300, and the reception mode unit 400, And includes a beamformer control unit 610, a transmission beamformer 630, and a reception beamformer 670. The beamformer control unit 610 includes a beamformer control unit 610, a transmission beamformer 630,

The rear end control unit 500 is a control unit positioned at the rear end of the HIFU system (for example, located near the ultrasonic OS / UI unit 100 and the display unit 560) .

The ultrasound OS / UI unit 100 is a means for allowing the user to control the ultrasound waves for image and the therapeutic ultrasound waves. The ultrasound OS / UI unit 100 displays images mapped to the B mode images received by the operation processing unit 520 on the display unit 560, The operator provides an interface for parameter input and control key input related to HIFU generation and transmits the received control command to another device.

The HIFU control key includes a start key for starting the HIFU, a stop key for stopping the HIFU, a data storage key (data load + address) for storing the pulse parameter data at a predetermined address, A pattern storing key for storing a plurality of pulse parameter data in a pattern and transmitting data when the corresponding pattern button is pressed and a clear key for deleting all the currently loaded data clear) and the like.

In this case, the data storage key (data load + address) stores pulse parameter data at a predetermined address. At this time, a plurality of pulse parameter data can be generated to continuously control the focus, And can be executed.

The ultrasound OS / UI unit 100 calculates the HIFU focus shape and the generated position of the obtained image signal, that is, the image signal received from the reception beamformer 670 in the operation processing unit 520, And outputs the mapped image to the display unit 560

That is, the image that is basically used in the HIFU system of the present invention is a B mode scan, and the ultrasonic OS / UI unit 100 displays the B mode image on the display based on the acquired image signal, The shape and position of the image are calculated and mapped to the B mode image to provide the anatomical image of the patient to the operator and provide a guide for the operation.

The ultrasonic transducer 150 is means for converting an electric waveform, which is a received drive signal, into ultrasonic waves, that is, means for generating ultrasonic waves, detecting ultrasonic waves reflected from tissue, and generating HIFU. The ultrasonic transducer 150 uses a 2D linear array transducer in which a video transducer 170 is positioned at the center and a HIFU transducer 190 is linearly arranged at the periphery. The ultrasonic transducer 150 is in the form of a phased array. The ultrasonic transducer 150 of the present invention can use a transducer having a center frequency of 5 MHz.

The HIFU transducer 190 converts the driving signal (electric signal) received in the HIFU transmission mode unit 200 into ultrasonic waves and transmits the ultrasonic waves focused into the tissue, thereby obtaining a local tissue temperature It is a means to bring rise.

The image transducer 170 transmits ultrasonic waves into tissues and detects echo signals reflected from tissues in accordance with the driving signals (short rectangular waves, pulse electrical signals) received in the image transmission mode unit 300. That is, the image transducer 170 transmits a sound wave into the tissue for a short time according to the pulse generated in the image transmission mode unit 300, receives the echo signal until the next pulse is generated, and transmits the echo signal to the reception mode unit 400 do.

The HIFU transmission mode unit 200 generates a driving signal having a continuous pulse having a specific duty according to the HIFU beam control signal received from the beam former control unit 610 and transmits the driving signal to the HIFU transducer. The HIFU transmission mode unit 200 includes an ultra-high current high-speed MOSFET driver 220 and a bipolar high voltage MOSFET amplifier 240.

The ultra high current high speed MOSFET driver 220 switches the ultra high current high speed MOSFET according to the HIFU beam control signal received from the beam former control unit 610 to generate an ultra high current high speed pulse signal according to the HIFU beam control signal.

The positive high voltage MOSFET amplifier 240 amplifies the ultra high current high speed pulse signal according to the HIFU beam control signal output from the ultra high current high speed MOSFET driver 220 to generate a high voltage ultra high current high speed pulse signal according to the HIFU beam control signal. The high-voltage ultra-high-speed high-speed pulse signal according to the HIFU beam control signal is transmitted to the HIFU transducer 190 as a HIFU drive signal.

The image transmission mode unit 300 receives the ultrasound beam signal generated by the transmit bean former 630, converts the ultrasound beam signal into an analog signal, removes noise, amplifies the analog signal, and transmits the amplified signal to the image transducer 170 do. The ultrasonic beam signal is a driving signal of the image transducer 170, and is a short rectangular wave (pulse) having a length of micro second units. The image transmission mode unit 300 includes a DA converter 310, a low pass filter (LPF) 320, and a high voltage linear amplifier 340.

The DA converter 310 converts the ultrasonic beam signal generated by the transmission beam former 630 into an analog signal.

The low-pass filter 320 is a low-pass filter of 1-15 MHz. The low-pass filter 320 removes noise from the ultrasound beam signal received through the DA converter in the transmission beamformer 630, and outputs the frequency band of 1 to 15 MHz Only the ultrasonic beam signal is left.

The high-voltage linear amplifier 340 amplifies the ultrasonic beam signal output from the low-pass filter 320.

The receiving mode unit 400 receives and amplifies an echo signal generated in the body, removes noise, and converts the echo signal into a digital signal. That is, the echo signal reflected from the tissue is detected by the image transducer 170. The receiving mode unit 400 includes a T / R switcher 410, a preamplifier 420, a low pass filter 460, and an A / D converter 470.

The transceiver 410 is electrically connected to the image transducer 170 only in the reception mode to receive an ultrasonic echo signal, that is, an ultrasonic image signal.

The preamplifier 420 amplifies the echo signal received through the transceiver 410, that is, the ultrasound response signal. The preamplifier 420 includes a low noise amplifier (LNA) 430, a voltage controlled attenuator (VCA) 440, a programmable gain amplifier (PGA) 450, a time gain compensation Time gain compensation (TGC) 480.

The low noise amplifier (LNA) 430 receives an ultrasonic echo signal, that is, an ultrasonic response signal, from the image transducer 170 through the receiving switch 410, and amplifies the received signal to a minimum noise level. Here, when the LNA fixing gain of the low noise amplifier (LNA) 430 is 20 dB, the minimum noise level may be 0.8 nV / sqrt (Hz).

A time gain compensation (TGC) 480 generates a time gain compensation signal by the time gain compensation control signal received from the beam former control unit 610. The time gain compensating unit 480 compensates the amplification factor according to the time delay of the received signal so that the echo signal returning from afar can have a sufficient magnitude.

In general, a sound wave is absorbed or diffracted into a tissue while moving in a tissue, and a signal is lost. The time gain compensation unit (TGC) 480 compensates for the time gain compensation by setting the time gain compensation to an ultrasonic OS / It is possible to improve the signal level by varying the gain for the signal arriving in time by performing it in the control panel of the controller 100.

The voltage adjustment attenuator (VCA) 440 compensates the gain over time for the ultrasonic response signal received from the low noise amplifier 430 according to the time gain compensation signal received from the time gain compensation unit 480.

The programmable gain amplifier (PGA) 450 adjusts the gain from the output signal of the voltage adjustment attenuator 440 and is output.

The Programmable Gain Amplifier (PGA) 450 may adjust the gain from 1 to 10,000 times as desired to determine the gain in software from the digital input, such as through a MUX or Decoder. .

The low pass filter 460 is a low pass filter of 1-15 MHz and removes noise from an echo signal amplified by the preamplifier 420, that is, an ultrasonic response signal. The low pass filter 460 removes noise from a frequency band of 1 to 15 MHz Only an ultrasonic echo signal, i.e., an ultrasonic response signal is left.

The A / D converter 470 converts the output ultrasound echo signal, i.e., the ultrasound response signal, of the low-pass filter 460 into a digital signal and transmits the digital signal to the reception beamformer 670.

In general, when a sound wave passes through a tissue in the body, a lot of energy is lost due to attenuation. Also, since the echo signal returned from each tissue is also attenuated, the received echo signal is very weak. Therefore, the intensity of the signal is much weaker for a reflected signal that goes farther from the transducer. Therefore, the receiving mode unit 400 amplifies the weak received signal.

The front end control unit 600 includes a beam former control unit 610, a transmission beam former 630, and a reception beam former 670.

The beam former control unit 610 generates a HIFU beam control signal to perform HIFU focus formation in the HIFU transducer 190 and transmits the HIFU beam control signal to the ultra high current high speed MOSFET driver 220 of the HIFU transmission mode unit 200, The transmission beamformer 630 and the reception beamformer 670. The reception beamformer 670 transmits the reception beamforming signal to the transmission beamformer 630,

The transmission beamformer 630 generates an ultrasound beam signal according to a transmission beam control signal of the beam former controller 610 and transmits the ultrasound beam signal to the image transmission mode unit 300.

The reception beamformer 670 generates an image signal calculated by beamforming from the ultrasound response signal received in the reception mode unit 400 according to the reception beam control signal of the beamforming controller 610, ).

The beam former control unit 610 obtains the time delay to be applied to each element of the image transducer 170 through a beam steering formula and generates a plane wave in a specific direction.

In the case of the HIFU transducer 190, the beam former control unit 610 can form a focus at a specific position through a beam focusing method.

The pulse timings used in the above two methods using the beam steering formula and the beam focusing formula can be obtained through calculation and transmitted to the respective devices as an electrical signal through the beam former.

10, the sound field observed at the time t at the focus P can be obtained by the interference of the sound fields generated from the respective conversion elements by the principle of the huygens, so that the transmission beam focusing is performed at time t By matching the phases of the sound waves transmitted from the respective conversion elements. This can be accomplished by using an acoustic lens or by electrically delaying (di) the time of the input impulse xi of each conversion element. 10, when the distance from each transmission conversion element X to the focus P is d, the time at which the signal originating from each transmission conversion element x reaches the focus P is expressed as follows.

In the above equation, c is the ultrasound propagation velocity (1540 m / s), and dc and tc are the distance from the central transducer to the focal point and the signal arrival time, respectively.

The time delay difference from each conversion element xi to the focus point P is obtained by a relative time difference with respect to the central conversion element.

Δt _i = t _c - t _i The sum of the sound fields at each focus point P from each conversion element having the same time delay as

는 시각 t에 관찰되는 초점 P에서의 음장이고 S_i(t)는 각 변환소자들에 의해 발생되는 음장들의 전달 함수이며 W_i는 각 변환소자들의 임펄스의 크기를 조절하는 각 변환소자들에 대한 윈도우 함수이다This equation is a basic expression of ultrasound beam focusing,

Sound field, and S _i (t) at the focal point P are observed at time t is the transfer function of the sound field produced by the respective conversion elements W _i is for each transducer to control the impulse size of each of the conversion elements It is a window function

The rear end control unit 500 includes an arithmetic processing unit 520.

The operation processing unit 520 receives control commands according to parameters and control keys input from the ultrasonic OS / UI unit 100 and performs overall control of the HIFU system. . All control commands are input through the ultrasonic OS / UI unit 100, that is, the GUI of the PC, and are binarized into a 16-bit length and transmitted through a USB serial module to the field programmable gate array (FPGA) , A field programmable gate array).

The operation processing unit 520 reconstructs the image signal calculated by the beamforming received by the reception beamformer 670 into a B mode image and performs scan conversion for converting the image signal into a 2D array form for display.

That is, the ultrasound response signal (echo signal) obtained through the image transducer 170 is converted into a digital signal through the receiving mode unit 400. The image signal calculated by beamforming in the reception beamformer 670 is transferred to the arithmetic processing unit 520 and reconstructed into a B mode image. The data acquired by the reception beamformer 670 through the linear array ultrasonic transducer 150 includes the angle of the scan line as a variable. Accordingly, the operation processing unit 520 includes a scan conversion for converting the data into a 2D array form to store and display data in a storage unit (RAM) 540.

In addition, the arithmetic processing unit 520 enables us to visually observe the RF vector line data. This process is the last step for obtaining the ultrasound image. In the signal detection step, A preprocessing step, a scan conversion step, a postprocessing step, and a D / A conversion step.

The signal detection step lowers the signals received by the operation processing unit 520 to a level of 30 dB which is the maximum value of the gray-scale range. That is, since a signal obtained through a scan line has a dynamic range of 120 dB, it is possible to obtain a maximum value of a gray-scale range of 30 dB There is an amplifier that lowers the level to a certain level.

The preprocessing stage emphasizes the weakened signal with dynamic range compression.

In the scan conversion step, the output of the preprocessing step is subjected to the main oblique change. The reason for this is that in the case of a sector scan, a scanline vector is diagonally formed and it is necessary to perform a separate operation to transfer it to a rectangular image such as a monitor, scan conversion. In this process, since the data of the scan line and the position of the pixel are often incompatible with each other, it can not be used as an image. In general, a 2D interpolation formula, for example,

To solve this problem.

The post-processing step applies a nonlinear postprocessing curve to the data organized in 2D form to emphasize low voltage or high voltage signals. The final B mode image thus obtained may be color-mapped according to the purpose.

The D / A conversion step transfers the output of the post-processing step to the display through D / A conversion.

The main power unit 700 is a means for supplying power to the HIFU system and includes an AC / DC power supply unit including a green mode controller, a system power unit, (Supply-Voltage Supervisor).

The storage unit 540 receives the data output to the operation processing unit 520 through the ultrasonic OS / UI unit 100 and stores the received data.

The hard drive 550 stores a drive program and the like used in the HIFU system.

The display unit 560 receives and displays the output of the arithmetic processing unit 520 through the ultrasonic OS / UI unit 100.

Next, the control of the arithmetic processing unit 520 will be described.

The control of the arithmetic processing unit 520 is largely divided into image control and HIFU control. Among them, the image control is configured as follows.

In the present invention, the image transducer, the image transmission mode unit, the reception mode unit, the reception beamformer, and the beamformer control unit are referred to as an image system unit, and a HIFU transducer, a HIFU transmission mode unit, a transmission beamformer, .

In the image transducer setting step, the operation processing unit 520 recognizes the image transducer and sets the center frequency of the image system unit accordingly.

Generally, an image transducer having a different center frequency may be used depending on the purpose, which recognizes this and sets the center frequency of the system.

In the mode setting step, necessary programs are loaded according to the setting of the operation mode including B-mode, color flow, M-mode, Doppler, or a combination thereof.

The image system unit provides various operation modes, and typically includes an operation mode including a B mode, a color flow, an M mode, a Doppler, or a combination thereof. Lt; / RTI >

In the scan depth adjustment step, the depth of the scan is adjusted to fix the field of view of the displayed image.

In the focal distance setting step, the focus is set, and the focal length and position of the transmitted beam are shifted to the region of interest by setting the focus distance of the transmitted beam (focus or transmit focal length selection).

In the TGC control step, the time gain compensation setting data is received from the control panel of the ultrasonic OS / UI unit 100, thereby varying the gain for signals arriving in time.

In general, a sound wave is absorbed or diffracted into a tissue while moving in a tissue, and a signal is lost. A time gain compensation unit (TGC) 480 compensates for the loss of the signal. So that the signal level can be improved.

Adjusts the transfer level to adjust the operating voltage of the image transfer mode part. Several factors related to this are important factors in determining the acoustic output level of an ultrasound system. In other words, the acoustic output is measured through an acoustic measurement, which is measured in the final W / cm ² form. The ultrasonic transducer of the present invention can generate an acoustic output of about 30 W / cm ² , and the acoustic output is determined according to a pulse signal applied to the transducer.

Next, for the HIFU control, the position where the HIFU focus is to be generated is simulated according to the parameter input through the GUI of the ultrasonic OS / UI unit 100, and the parameters for each device calculated by the simulation are data And the sound parameters generated based on the simulation are transmitted to the FPGA. This allows control of the operating time and the driving and stopping of the HIFU transducer.

2 is an explanatory view of a handheld transducer combined with a HIFU transducer and an image transducer, and Fig. 3 is an example of the ultrasonic transducer of Fig.

In the present invention, a 2D linear array transducer is used, in which a video transducer is positioned at the center and a HIFU transducer is linearly arranged at the periphery, and a video transducer and a therapeutic transducer are separately used, It compensates for the disadvantages of rotating the transducers.

In the present invention, the ultrasonic transducer 150 has the appearance as shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B, the center frequency is 5 MHz, the elements of the HIFU transducer 190 are 130, the elements of the image transducer 170 are 128 , And each device size may be 6 mm x 1 mm.

In FIG. 2, 128 elements of the image transducer 170 to be used for an image at the center are arranged, and 130 elements of the HIFU transducer 190 to be used for the HIFU are arranged in the vicinity.

The ultrasonic transducers 150 are housed in a plastic case as shown in FIG. 9A, and the elements of the image transducer 170 and the HIFU transducer 190 and the cable It is connected and connected to the equipment by a single cable tied to the back of the plastic case. As shown in FIG. 9B, two cables connected to a thermocouple are arranged around a transducer cable. A thermocouple prevents an excessive heat from being transmitted to the transducer due to overheating of the transducer. To detect the temperature change of the surface of the transducer.

In the present invention, the focus can be electronically controlled by using a linear array transducer instead of a single-element transducer, and an advantage of being able to reduce the procedure time and minimize the damage of the surrounding organs by utilizing the multi-focus and half- have.

The position of the scan line and the focus generated in the transducer of the present invention is achieved through time delay through beamforming.

The transducer of the present invention provides a real-time anatomical image and significantly reduces the size and weight of the HIFU transducer compared to the conventional HIFU transducer, so that the operator can directly perform the HIFU operation Effect.

FIG. 4 is a beam signal input to the image transducer of FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a driving signal input to the HIFU transducer of FIG.

In the present invention, the electric signals transmitted to the image transducer and the HIFU transducer are basically the same in the form of a square wave. The length of the pulse used depends on the purpose of use.

As shown in FIG. 4, a short rectangular wave having a microsecond length is used in an image transducer, and transmits a sound wave into a tissue for a short time and receives an echo signal until a next pulse is generated .

On the other hand, in the case of a HIFU transducer, a continuous pulse having a specific duty is used, as shown in FIG. 5, because it aims at raising the local tissue temperature through transmission of sound wave energy into the tissue.

Therefore, since the center frequency and the power are different depending on the application of each transducer, the amplifier stage is designed as a device having different characteristics. The devices used are selected based on the center frequency of each transducer and the power consumption according to the parameters to be used.

Also, most of the energy to be transmitted is concentrated around a certain bandwidth around the center frequency. Therefore, there is a filter that filters 60% of the center frequency using a band pass filter. Impedance matching is added to each amplification stage for efficient transmission of electrical energy. Impedance matching is also added to the HIFU transmission mode unit 200 as shown in FIG.

7 is an explanatory diagram of beam forming using time delay and an example of a beam former control circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The ultrasonic transducer 150 according to the present invention has a phased array structure. In order to perform the B mode scan and the HIFU focus without mechanical movement of the ultrasonic transducer 150, a beamforming through a beamformer Is required. The time delay to be applied to each element of the image transducer 170 can be obtained through a beam steering formula and generates a plane wave in a specific direction. As a result, when the time delay is applied to each element as shown in FIG. 7, the effect of controlling the direction of the transducer is obtained. This applies to both transmission and reception, thereby forming a B mode scan line. In the case of the HIFU transducer 190, a focus can be formed at a specific position through a beam focusing method. The pulse timing used in these two methods can be obtained through calculation, and is transmitted as an electrical signal to each device through the beam former.

Fig. 11 shows an example of the sound field simulation of the ultrasonic transducer, and Fig. 12 shows amplitude values of the respective elements calculated through the simulation of Fig.

Field simulation using the transducer of the present invention can obtain the sound field results as shown in FIG. 11 at depths of 40, 52, and 64 mm, respectively. In order to operate the HIFU system, parameters should be calculated and transmitted for each device through simulation.

As shown in FIG. 12, an amplitude value to be transmitted for each element is calculated through a simulation, and it is transmitted to the FPGA to drive each transducer element.

As shown in FIG. 3, an actual transducer was manufactured. The total active area was 82.9 mm X 20 mm and the generated sound pressure was 30 W / cm ² .

It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited by what has been described above and illustrated in the drawings, and those skilled in the art will recognize that many modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the following claims.

100: Ultrasound OS / UI part 150: Ultrasonic transducer
200: HIFU transmission mode unit 300: Image transmission mode unit
400: Receive mode unit 500:
600:

Claims (17)

An ultrasonic transducer in which a video transducer and a HIFU transducer are integrated,
The HIFU transducer is located on the outside of the board of the ultrasonic transducer,
Wherein the image transducer is located in an inner portion of the board of the ultrasonic transducer excluding the portion where the HIFU transducer is located,
And an image transmission mode unit for receiving the ultrasound beam signal generated by the transmission beamformer, converting the ultrasound beam signal into an analog signal, removing noise, amplifying the amplified signal, and transmitting the amplified signal to an image transducer,
Wherein the image transducer transmits an ultrasonic response signal (echo signal) to the reception mode unit until a next pulse is generated, and transmits the ultrasonic response signal (echo signal) to the reception mode unit for a time corresponding to the pulse generated in the image transmission mode unit. An ultrasound transducer in which a video transducer and a HIFU transducer are combined and arranged linearly to form a 2D linear array;
A time delay to be applied to each element of the image transducer is obtained through a beamsteering formula to generate an ultrasonic beam signal,
A beamformer controller for generating a HIFU beam control signal for forming a focus of the HIFU transducer at a specific position using a beam focusing method for the HIFU transducer;
The HIFU system comprising:
And an image transmission mode unit for receiving the ultrasound beam signal generated by the transmission beamformer, converting the ultrasound beam signal into an analog signal, removing noise, amplifying the amplified signal, and transmitting the amplified signal to an image transducer,
Wherein the image transducer transmits an ultrasonic response signal (echo signal) to the reception mode unit until a next pulse is generated, and transmits the ultrasonic response signal (echo signal) to the reception mode unit for a time corresponding to the pulse generated in the image transmission mode unit. In a HIFU system having an ultrasonic transducer in which a video transducer and a HIFU transducer are integrated,
The HIFU transducer is located on the outside of the board of the ultrasonic transducer,
An ultrasonic transducer positioned at an inner portion of the board of the ultrasonic transducer excluding a portion where the HIFU transducer is located;
A HIFU transmission mode unit for generating a HIFU driving signal having a continuous pulse for transmission to the HIFU transducer;
An image transmission mode unit for converting an ultrasonic beam signal having intermittent pulses into an analog signal and removing noise and amplifying the analog signal for transmission to the image transducer;
A receiving mode unit for receiving and amplifying an ultrasonic response signal generated in the body, removing noise, and converting the ultrasonic response signal into a digital signal;
A time delay to be applied to each element of the image transducer is obtained through a beamsteering formula to generate an ultrasonic beam signal, and a beam focusing method for a HIFU transducer is used to determine the time delay to be applied to each element of the HIFU transducer A beamformer controller for generating a HIFU beam control signal to form a focus and transmitting the HIFU beam control signal to the HIFU transmission mode unit;
A transmission beam former for generating an ultrasonic beam signal according to a transmission beam control signal of the beam former control unit and transmitting the generated ultrasonic beam signal to an image transmission mode unit;
A reception beam former for generating an image signal calculated by beam forming from an ultrasonic response signal received in a reception mode unit according to a reception beam control signal of a beamforming control unit;
The HIFU system further comprising: delete 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
Further comprising a reception mode unit for receiving and amplifying the ultrasonic response signal generated in the body, removing noise, and converting the ultrasonic response signal into a digital signal. 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
Further comprising a HIFU transmission mode unit for generating an electric signal having a continuous pulse having a duty according to the HIFU beam control signal received from the beam former control unit and transmitting the generated electric signal to the HIFU transducer. delete The method of claim 3,
An arithmetic processing unit for reconstructing the image signal calculated by the beamforming received by the reception beamformer into a B mode image and performing scan conversion for converting the image signal into a 2D array form for display;
The HIFU system further comprising: The method of claim 8, wherein
An ultrasound OS / UI unit for outputting an image mapped to the B mode image received by the operation processing unit to the display unit and providing an interface for a parameter input and a control key input related to HIFU generation by a practitioner;
The HIFU system further comprising: delete The method according to claim 6,
The HIFU transmission mode part comprises an ultra-high current high-speed MOSFET driver and a bipolar high voltage MOSFET amplifier. 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
Wherein the image transmission mode unit comprises a DA converter, a low pass filter (LPF), and a high voltage linear amplifier. 13. The method of claim 12,
Wherein the low pass filter (LPF) is a low pass filter of 1-15 MHz. 6. The apparatus of claim 5,
And a transmission / reception switcher (T / R switcher) electrically connected to the image transducer only in the reception mode to receive an ultrasonic response signal (echo signal). 15. The method of claim 14,
The receiving mode unit further includes a preamplifier, a low-pass filter, and an A / D converter,
The preamplifier, which amplifies the ultrasonic response signal received through the transceiver,
A low noise amplifier for receiving an ultrasonic response signal (echo signal) received from a T / R switcher and amplifying the ultrasonic response signal to a minimum noise level;
A time gain compensator for generating a time gain compensation signal by a time gain compensation control signal received from a beam former control unit;
A voltage adjustment attenuator for compensating the gain according to time with respect to the ultrasonic response signal received from the low noise amplifier according to the time gain compensation signal received from the time gain compensator;
A programmable gain amplifier for adjusting the gain from the output signal of the voltage adjustment attenuator and outputting the adjusted gain;
And the HIFU system. The method of claim 15, wherein
Wherein the low pass filter is a low pass filter of 1-15 MHz. In driving a HIFU system having an ultrasonic transducer in which a video transducer and a HIFU transducer are integrated
The arithmetic processing unit includes a video transducer setting step of recognizing the video transducer and setting the center frequency of the video system unit accordingly;
A mode setting step of reading a program according to a setting signal of an operation mode made up of a B-mode, a color flow, an M-mode, a Doppler, or a combination thereof;
Adjusting a scan depth to fix a field of view of a displayed image;
A focal length setting step of setting a focal length of the transmitted beam by setting a focal length of the transmitted beam (focus or transmit focal length selection), and shifting the focal length and position of the transmitted beam to a region of interest;
A TGC control step of receiving the time gain compensation setting data from the control panel of the ultrasonic OS / UI unit and applying a gain to signals arriving in time differently;
And outputting the HIFU signal to the HIFU system.

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