WO2018133096A1

WO2018133096A1 - Imaging system and method, and ultrasound imaging system

Info

Publication number: WO2018133096A1
Application number: PCT/CN2017/072196
Authority: WO
Inventors: 杨芳; 覃东海; 史志伟; 朱磊
Original assignee: 深圳迈瑞生物医疗电子股份有限公司
Priority date: 2017-01-23
Filing date: 2017-01-23
Publication date: 2018-07-26
Also published as: CN107223035B; CN107223035A

Abstract

An imaging system and method, and an ultrasound imaging system. The imaging system comprises: a laser emitting device (11), a laser detecting device (12), and an ultrasound device (13). The laser detecting device (12) is used for detecting a laser emitted from the laser emitting device (11) to acquire a laser detection signal. The ultrasound device (13) comprises: an ultrasound probe (131), emitting/receiving circuit, and a processor. The emitting/receiving circuit is used, when the imaging system is in a first work state, for controlling the ultrasound probe (131) to receive a photoacoustic signal produced by a laser-irradiated tested tissue. The processor is used, when the imaging system is in the first work state, for generating a control signal and transmitting the control signal to the laser emitting device (11) so as to allow the laser emitting device (11) to work under the effect of the control signal; at the same time, the processor also is used for processing the photoacoustic signal on the basis of the laser detection signal so as to remove a noise signal from the photoacoustic signal acquired by the ultrasound probe (131), thus increasing the accuracy of a reconstructed image.

Description

Imaging system, method and ultrasonic imaging system

Technical field

The invention belongs to the technical field of medical imaging, and more particularly to an imaging system, a method and an ultrasound imaging system.

Background technique

Photoacoustic Imaging (PAI) is a non-invasive and non-ionized biomedical imaging method. Photoacoustic imaging is based on photoacoustic effect. The imaging principle of photoacoustic imaging is illustrated in conjunction with Figure 1. The imaging principle of photoacoustic imaging is: when the measured body tissue 103 is irradiated by a short pulse (on the order of ns nanoseconds) laser 101, the substance 105 (such as blood) having strong optical absorption characteristics in the body tissue 103 under test absorbs light energy. Local heating and thermal expansion are then induced, thereby generating a photoacoustic signal 104 and propagating outwardly, such that the ultrasound device receives the photoacoustic signal 104 through the ultrasound probe 102, which in turn reconstructs the substance 105 using the image reconstruction algorithm based on the photoacoustic signal 104. The position and shape within the body tissue 103.

From the PA (photoacoustic) image obtained by photoacoustic imaging, the PA image obtained by photoacoustic imaging can reflect the functional information of the body tissue under test, and the ultrasound image obtained by ultrasound imaging can reflect the structural information of the body tissue under test, so An imaging system with photoacoustic-ultrasonic bimodal imaging has emerged. The imaging system with photoacoustic-ultrasonic bimodal imaging can obtain PA images based on photoacoustic imaging, and can also obtain ultrasound images based on ultrasound imaging, output PA images and ultrasound images, so that the functions of the measured body tissues can be simultaneously reflected. Information and structural information of the body organization under test.

At present, an imaging system with photoacoustic-ultrasonic bimodal imaging is to add a laser emitting device (laser) to the ultrasonic device. The laser emitting device has two working modes: the first working mode is that the laser emitting device actively triggers the ultrasonic wave. The second mode of operation of the device is that the ultrasound device triggers the laser emitting device. For the first mode of operation, the modification of the ultrasound device is larger and the implementation is more complicated; The working mode is reduced in complexity compared to the first mode of operation, but the laser emitting device emits a laser pulse after delaying an unfixed delay after receiving the trigger pulse. The uncertainty of the unfixed delay causes the laser The uncertainty of the laser emitted by the transmitting device reduces the accuracy of the photoacoustic signal obtained by the imaging system, thereby reducing the accuracy of reconstructing the image.

Summary of the invention

In view of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide an imaging system, method and ultrasound imaging system. The technical solution can be as follows:

In some embodiments of the invention, an imaging system is provided, the system comprising: a laser emitting device, a laser detecting device, and an ultrasound device. The laser emitting device can be used to generate laser light that illuminates the body tissue to be tested, and the laser detecting device can be used to detect the laser light emitted from the laser emitting device to obtain a laser detecting signal, wherein the laser detecting signal can indicate that the laser light is emitted from the laser emitting device Actual time of issue. The ultrasound apparatus can include an ultrasound probe, a transmit/receive circuit, and a processor. The transmit/receive circuitry can be used to excite the ultrasound probe to receive a photoacoustic signal generated by the body tissue being illuminated by the laser when the imaging system is in the first operational state. The processor can be configured to generate a control signal and launch the control signal to the laser emitting device when the imaging system is in the first working state, to control the laser emitting device to emit laser light to the body of the tested body, the processor is further configured to The laser detecting signal detected by the laser detecting device processes the photoacoustic signal, and obtains a photoacoustic image according to the processed photoacoustic signal.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the transmitting/receiving circuit can also be configured to excite the ultrasonic probe to emit an ultrasonic beam to the body tissue under test when the imaging system is in the second working state, and receive the ultrasonic tissue from the body tissue under test. The echo generated is obtained by obtaining an ultrasonic echo signal; the processor is further configured to obtain an ultrasonic image according to the ultrasonic echo signal when the imaging system is in the second working state.

In some embodiments of the invention, the processor may also be operable to control the frame rate of the ultrasound image to be the same as the repetition rate of the laser light emitted by the laser emitting device.

In some embodiments of the invention, the processor may generate the aforementioned control signals based on the estimated delay of the laser emitting device when the imaging system is in the first operational state.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the laser detecting device may detect an optical flow signal on the optical path illuminated by the laser light emitted by the laser emitting device, and obtain the aforementioned laser detecting signal according to the optical flow signal.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the processor processing the photoacoustic signal according to the laser detection signal detected by the laser detecting device may include: the processor removing the actual indication indicated by the laser detection signal from the photoacoustic signal according to the laser detection signal. Signal before the time is issued.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the processor may further be configured to output an ultrasound image and a photoacoustic image to display the ultrasound image and the photoacoustic image; or the processor may further be configured to fuse the ultrasound image and the photoacoustic image, A fused image is obtained and the fused image is output; or the processor can be further configured to fuse the ultrasound image and the photoacoustic image to obtain a fused image and output the fused image and the ultrasound image.

In some embodiments of the invention, an imaging method is also provided. The method may include: when in the first operating state, the ultrasonic device generates a control signal, and transmits the control signal to the laser emitting device to control the laser emitting device to emit laser light to the body of the tested body; receiving the ultrasonic probe through the ultrasonic device a laser-irradiated photoacoustic signal generated by the body tissue; detecting a laser emitted from the laser emitting device by using a laser detecting device to obtain a laser detecting signal, the laser detecting signal indicating an actual emitting time of the laser emitted from the laser emitting device; The laser detection signal processes the photoacoustic signal and obtains a photoacoustic image based on the processed photoacoustic signal.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the method may further include: when in the second working state, exciting the ultrasonic probe to emit an ultrasonic beam to the body tissue to be tested and receiving an echo generated by the body tissue under the action of the ultrasonic beam, An ultrasonic echo signal is obtained, and an ultrasound image is obtained based on the ultrasonic echo signal.

In some embodiments of the invention, the method may further include controlling the frame rate of the ultrasound image to be the same as the repetition frequency of the laser emitting device to emit the laser light.

In some embodiments of the invention, the ultrasound device may generate a control signal based on the estimated delay of the laser emitting device.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the laser detecting device may detect an optical flow signal on an optical path illuminated by the laser light emitted by the laser emitting device, and obtain a laser detecting signal according to the optical flow signal.

In some embodiments of the present invention, processing the photoacoustic signal according to the laser detection signal may include removing a signal from the photoacoustic signal before the actual emission time indicated by the laser detection signal according to the laser detection signal.

In some embodiments of the invention, an ultrasound imaging system is also provided. The ultrasonic imaging system may include: a laser detecting device for obtaining a laser detecting signal from a laser emitted from the laser emitting device, wherein the laser detecting signal indicates an actual emitting time of the laser from the laser emitting device; an ultrasonic probe; a transmitting/receiving circuit for controlling the ultrasonic probe to receive the photoacoustic signal generated by the laser-irradiated body tissue when the ultrasonic imaging system is in the first working state; and the processor for performing the first work in the ultrasonic imaging system In the state, a control signal is generated to control the laser emitting device to emit laser light to the body tissue to be tested, and the processor is further configured to process the photoacoustic signal according to the laser detecting signal detected by the laser detecting device, and according to the processed light The acoustic signal obtains a photoacoustic image.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the transmitting/receiving circuit may be further configured to: when the ultrasonic imaging system is in the second working state, excite the ultrasonic probe to emit an ultrasonic beam to the body tissue to be tested, and receive the measured body The echo generated by the ultrasonic beam is organized to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal; and the processor can be further configured to obtain an ultrasonic image according to the ultrasonic echo signal when the ultrasonic imaging system is in the second working state.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the processor processing the photoacoustic signal according to the laser detection signal detected by the laser detecting device may include: removing, by the processor, the photoacoustic signal according to the laser detection signal The signal before the actual time of the laser detection signal indicates the time of the signal.

In some embodiments of the invention, an imaging system is also provided. The imaging system may include: a laser emitting device for generating laser light that illuminates the body tissue to be tested; and a laser detecting device for detecting laser light emitted from the laser emitting device to obtain a laser detecting signal, wherein the laser detecting signal indicates the laser light source The actual emitting time of the laser emitting device; the ultrasonic probe; the transmitting/receiving circuit for controlling the ultrasonic probe to receive the photoacoustic signal generated by the measured body tissue irradiated by the laser; the processor for generating the control signal and the laser The transmitting device transmits the control signal to control the laser emitting device to emit laser light to the body tissue to be tested, and the processor is further configured to process the photoacoustic signal according to the laser detecting signal detected by the laser detecting device, and according to the processed photoacoustic The signal acquires a photoacoustic image.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the laser detecting device may detect an optical flow signal on the optical path illuminated by the laser light emitted by the laser emitting device, and obtain a laser detecting signal according to the optical flow signal.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the processor processing the photoacoustic signal according to the laser detection signal detected by the laser detecting device may include: removing, by the processor, the actual emission indicated by the laser detection signal from the photoacoustic signal according to the laser detection signal Signal before time.

DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly described below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are Some embodiments of the present invention may also be used to obtain other drawings based on these drawings without departing from the art.

1 is a schematic view of a conventional photoacoustic imaging principle;

2 is a schematic structural diagram of an imaging system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a signaling diagram of an imaging method according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

4 is a schematic structural diagram of a laser detecting device in an imaging system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a scan control sequence group according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

FIG. 6 is another signaling diagram of an imaging method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

detailed description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the invention. The examples are only a part of the embodiments of the invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without creative efforts are within the scope of the present invention.

In general, the present invention provides an imaging system, a corresponding imaging method, and an ultrasound imaging system. The imaging system and the ultrasound imaging system may include a scanning device and a processor, and the imaging system and the ultrasound imaging system may be an imaging system of photoacoustic-ultrasonic bimodal imaging, ie, the imaging system and the ultrasound imaging system may operate in two imaging systems. In the mode: the first working state and the second working state, the processor controls the scanning device to scan the measured body tissue in two working states to obtain an image signal of the measured body tissue, wherein the first working state may be In the photoacoustic imaging mode, the second working state may be a conventional ultrasonic imaging mode, which will be explained below.

For example, in an embodiment of the invention, the imaging system and the ultrasound imaging system can be modified on an ultrasound device, the corresponding scanning device being the ultrasound probe in the ultrasound device. The processor can control the scanning device or imaging system or ultrasound imaging system to implement the imaging method of the embodiments of the invention described in detail below. Here, although the term "image signal" is used to describe the signal obtained by the scanning device, herein, the "image signal" may also include unprocessed or obtained after the scanning device scans or obtained, but has also been processed. There is no signal when the image is formed. For example, for an imaging system, the image signal herein also includes an ultrasonic echo signal obtained after the ultrasonic echo received by the ultrasonic probe, a processed RF signal, and the like.

Referring to FIG. 2, an imaging system provided by some embodiments of the present invention may include: a laser emitting device 11, a laser detecting device 12, and an ultrasonic device 13, and the ultrasonic device 13 may include an ultrasonic probe 131 and The transmitting/receiving circuit and the processor (the transmitting/receiving circuit and the processor are located inside the ultrasonic device 13, not shown in Fig. 2). When the imaging system is in the first working state or in the second working state, the interaction process between the various devices in the imaging system is as shown in FIG. 3, which shows a signaling diagram of the imaging system-based imaging method, which may include The following steps:

301: The processor generates a control signal when the imaging system is in the first working state.

302: The processor sends a control signal to the laser emitting device 11.

303: The laser emitting device 11 operates under the action of a control signal to emit laser light to the body of the tested body, that is to say, in these embodiments, the laser emitting device 11 can be in an external triggering mode, and the laser emitting device 11 is used to generate an illumination. The laser of the body tissue is measured. When the laser emitting device 11 is in the external triggering mode of operation, the laser emission of the laser emitting device 11 produces an indeterminate delay (eg, receiving a control signal (eg, a trigger signal that emits laser light) from the laser emitting device 11 to the laser light source The laser emitting device 11 emits a delay between the delay, and the delay is uncertain, and the delay may be different each time the transmission is performed, and the uncertainty delay may reduce the accuracy of the image reconstruction. In the embodiment of the present invention, the laser detecting device 12 is disposed on the optical path illuminated by the laser light emitted from the laser emitting device 11, and may be disposed, for example, at a position close to the laser emitting device 11 on the optical path or at a position close to the ultrasonic probe 131 on the optical path. The laser detecting device 12 can detect the laser light emitted from the laser emitting device 11 to determine the specific time at which the laser light is emitted from the laser emitting device 11. Specifically, for example, the laser detecting device 12 can detect the laser light emitted from the laser emitting device 11 to obtain a laser detecting signal, which can indicate the actual emitting time of the laser light emitted from the laser emitting device. The laser detection signal can be transmitted to the processor such that the processor can determine the specific time that the laser is emitted from the laser emitting device 11 by the laser detection signal output from the laser detecting device 12 (step 304).

For example, in some embodiments of the present invention, the control signal generated by the processor may be a signal in the form of a digital level, and the laser detecting device 12 may detect the optical flow signal on the optical path after the optical detecting device 12 detects the optical flow signal. Converting an optical flow signal into a laser detection signal (eg, a digital level letter) number). When there is an optical flow signal on the optical path, it indicates that the laser light has been emitted from the laser emitting device 11. Since the speed of the light is fast, it can be considered that the time at which the optical flow signal is detected to obtain the laser detection signal is the time when the laser light is actually emitted from the laser emitting device 11. That is, the laser detection signal indicates the actual emission time of the laser light emitted from the laser emitting device 11.

The laser detection signal can be transmitted to the processor for use by the processor. For example, the processor can calculate the time difference between the control signal and the rising edge of the laser detection signal, which can be the laser emission delay. Of course, the processor can also process and/or utilize the laser detection signal in other ways.

The circuit structure of the laser detecting device 12 can be as shown in FIG. 4, and can include: a photoelectric conversion module 121, a preamplification module 122, and a shaping module 123. The photoelectric conversion module 121 is disposed on the optical path to convert the optical flow signal on the optical path into a voltage signal. Since the level of the voltage signal is low, it needs to be amplified by the preamplifier module 122 and then formed into a digital power by the shaping module 123. The signal is flat and the digital level signal is sent to the processor.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the laser emitting device 11 may include a first laser and a second laser. For example, the first laser may be a Nd:YAG laser, and the second laser may be a tunable wavelength laser after receiving the control signal. The Nd:YAG laser pumpes the tunable wavelength laser to emit laser light. The body structure of the measured object on the optical path of the laser is irradiated by the laser. The substance with strong optical absorption characteristics (such as blood) in the measured body tissue absorbs the light energy and causes locality. The temperature rises and thermally expands, thereby generating a PA signal and propagating outward, and the PA signal is received by the ultrasonic probe 131 (step 305).

In order for the ultrasonic probe 131 to receive the PA signal, the laser light emitted by the laser emitting device 11 can be coupled to the ultrasonic probe 131 via the light beam, such that in step 305: the ultrasonic probe 131 can ensure the laser irradiation when scanning the body tissue under test. The body tissue is tested so that a substance having strong optical absorption characteristics (such as blood) in the body tissue to be tested generates a PA signal, which is received by the ultrasonic probe 131 that scans the body tissue to be tested.

Step 306 and step 307: the ultrasonic probe 131 transmits the PA signal to the transmitting/receiving circuit to It is sent to the processor through a transmit/receive circuit.

308: After receiving the PA signal, the processor may process the PA signal according to the foregoing laser detection signal to remove the noise signal in the photoacoustic signal, such as when the laser emitting device 11 does not emit laser light (for example, when the laser detection signal indicates The signal received by the ultrasonic probe 131 before the actual firing time of the laser. After processing the PA signal, the processor performs image reconstruction processing such as beam synthesis on the processed PA signal to obtain a PA image that reflects function information of the measured body organization.

309: When the imaging system is in the second working state, the transmitting/receiving circuit excites the ultrasonic probe 131 to emit an ultrasonic beam to the tissue of the tested body, and receives an echo generated by the ultrasonic tissue under the action of the ultrasonic beam after a certain delay. And convert this echo back into an electrical signal.

310: The transmitting/receiving circuit receives the electrical signal generated by the ultrasonic probe 131 conversion to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal.

311: The transmit/receive circuit transmits an ultrasonic echo signal to the processor.

312: The processor performs image reconstruction processing such as beam synthesis on the ultrasonic echo signal to obtain an ultrasound image that reflects structural information of the body structure to be tested. The ultrasound image mentioned in the embodiment of the present invention may be a B image, a C image, or an M image. The basic ultrasound image may also be a Doppler blood flow image obtained based on the basic ultrasound image, a spectral Doppler image, an ultrasound image superimposed with a tissue elasticity parameter (abbreviated as an elasticity image), or the like.

In some embodiments of the invention, after obtaining the PA image and the ultrasound image, the processor may also output the ultrasound image and the PA image onto the display of the ultrasound device 13 to display the ultrasound image and the PA image on the display.

Still alternatively, the processor may fuse the ultrasound image and the PA image to obtain a fused image and output the fused image onto the display of the ultrasound device 13 to fuse the image on the display.

Still alternatively, after obtaining the fused image, the processor outputs the fused image and the ultrasound image onto the display of the ultrasound device 13 to fuse the image and the ultrasound image on the display.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the processor may fuse the ultrasound image and the PA image in a pseudo-color manner, for example, when the pixel values of the ultrasound image and the PA image range from 0 to 255, the ultrasound image is regarded as an ultrasound grayscale image, The PA image is regarded as a PA gray image, and the size and resolution of the two images of the ultrasonic gray image and the PA gray image are equal. The corresponding fusion process may be: the processor follows a preset gray-color mapping. The relationship transforms the PA gray image into a color image with RGB three channels (referred to as PA color image), and superimposes the PA color image and the ultrasonic gray image, for example, when the gray value of the pixel in the PA gray image is greater than When the threshold is preset, the pixel in the fused image displays the pixel value of the PA color image, and the other pixels display the pixel value of the ultrasonic gradation image, wherein the preset threshold may be determined according to an actual application, and the present invention is not limited to the specific application. value.

In some embodiments of the invention, the processor may employ two different scan control sequences to control other devices in the imaging system while the imaging system is in the first operational state or in the second operational state. For example, in the first operational state, control is performed with a first scan control sequence, and in a second operational state, control is performed with a second scan control sequence, and the first scan control sequence is different from the second scan control sequence. However, problems can arise when the processor employs two different scan control sequences while the imaging system is in different operating states. For example, when the ultrasonic probe 131 is switched from the second working state to the first working state, the ultrasonic probe 131 may not receive the echo generated by the body tissue under the action of the ultrasonic beam, which may cause the processor to fail to reconstruct the ultrasound correctly. image.

To this end, the processor can control the frame rate of the ultrasonic image to be the same as the repetition frequency of the laser light emitted by the laser emitting device 11, so that when the ultrasonic probe 131 enters the first working state, the ultrasonic probe 131 can completely receive the ultrasonic tissue in the body tissue under test. The echo generated below. For the processor, it may generate a scan control sequence group according to a repetition frequency of the laser light emitted by the laser emitting device, wherein the scan control sequence group may include an ultrasonic transmit receive scan control sequence and a PA transmit receive scan control sequence of the plurality of imaging periods. In each imaging cycle, the processor obtains one frame of ultrasound image and one frame of PA image. In each imaging cycle, the ultrasound transmit receive scan control sequence can control the imaging system in the second job In the state of operation, the PA transmit receive scan control sequence can control the operation of the imaging system in the first operating state.

In each imaging cycle, the ultrasonic emission receiving scan control sequence can control the ultrasonic probe 131 to emit one or more ultrasonic beams to the body tissue under test, and receive the echo of the ultrasonic beam to obtain a line or lines of images, and finally synthesize one frame. B-mode image, also in each imaging cycle, the PA emission scan control sequence can control the ultrasound probe 131 to turn off the transmission function, and turn on the reception function to receive a PA signal or several PA signals to finally synthesize a frame of PA image.

As described above, there is a delay between the laser emitting device receiving the control signal and the actual emission of the laser, which cannot be accurately determined in advance, so that the delay is difficult to accurately consider in the design of the prior scan control sequence. Therefore, in some embodiments, the processor may determine the estimated laser emission time based on the estimated delay of the laser emitting device 11 (which may be detected or predicted by a user or manufacturer of the laser emitting device, for example). A control signal (eg, in the form of a digital level) is generated based on the estimated laser emission time to control the imaging system operation. Then, during the operation of the imaging system, the laser detection signal detected by the laser detecting device determines the actual emission time of the laser to make a trade-off between the received signals, thereby compensating for the uncertainty of the delay and accurately positioning the actual light. Acoustic signal.

Of course, in other embodiments, the estimated delay and the estimated laser emission time may not be used, but the probe is directly controlled to receive all signals, and the actual emission time of the laser determined by the laser detection signal is received from the probe. Accurately locate and separate photoacoustic signals.

The process of generating a scan control sequence and a control signal by the processor is described below by taking the scan control sequence group shown in FIG. 5 as an example. In the scan control sequence group shown in FIG. 5, the ultrasonic scan is performed by B-scan to obtain a B-type two-dimensional ultrasonic image. (B-ultrasound image for short) is taken as an example, but the present invention is not limited to a B-mode image, and may be a Doppler blood flow image, an elastic image, or the like.

In theory, the frame rate of a PA image is much higher than the frame rate of a B image, but is limited by the pulse repetition frequency of the laser (usually only a dozen Hz), and the frame rate of the PA image is only a dozen frames per second. Therefore, enter After the first operating state, the frame rate of the B picture can be reduced to coincide with the repetition frequency of the transmitted laser so that the processor can be controlled with scan control sequences having the same time interval.

As shown in FIG. 5, the time interval between two PA images in the scan control sequence is Tp, and when the repetition frequency of the emitted laser is set to 10 Hz, the frame rate of the B image and the frame rate of the PA image are both 10 frames/second. The processor obtains Tp=100 ms in FIG. 5 according to the frame rate, and then sets a transmission and reception scan control sequence of the B image in the scan control sequence and a transmission scan control sequence of the PA image according to the Tp.

It can be seen from the scan control sequence group in FIG. 5 that two PA transmit and receive scan control sequences are inserted in the N (N is a natural number greater than 1) B image transmission and reception scan control sequence in each imaging cycle, for example, multiple After the B image transmits and receives the scan control sequence, two PA transmit and receive scan control sequences are inserted, wherein the N B image transmit and receive scan control sequences are used to control the N B image scan, and the ultrasound probe transmits each time the B image scans. The ultrasonic beam receives the echo of the ultrasonic beam, and the PA transmitting and receiving scanning control sequence is used to control the PA scanning, and the transmitting and receiving gating signals (tr_gate) and the transmitting gating signal (tx_gate) are received from the two PA transmitting and receiving scanning control sequences. And receiving the gating signal (rx_gate), the first PA scan will send a control signal (laser_triger) to the laser emitting device on the first falling edge of the receiving gating signal, so that the laser emitting device starts to emit laser light. The ultrasonic probe neither transmits the ultrasonic beam nor receives the PA signal, and the ultrasonic probe does not emit the ultrasonic beam during the second PA scan, but receives the gating signal. The second falling edge begins to receive the PA signal, where T2, T3 and Tw are the pulse widths of the respective signals.

Since the speed of the laser is faster than the speed of sound, it can be considered that the measured body tissue generates the PA signal at the moment of laser emission, so the time interval T1 of the two PA scans is equal to the estimated delay Td, and the rising edge of the control signal to the second receiving The time of the falling edge of the gating signal is the estimated delay Td, so that after the ultrasonic probe 131 turns on the receiving PA signal, the laser emitting device 11 emits the laser so that the ultrasonic probe 131 can receive the complete PA signal.

For the scan control sequence group shown in FIG. 5, the interaction process between the devices in the imaging system can be As shown in FIG. 6, another signaling diagram of the imaging method provided by the embodiment of the present invention is shown, which may include the following steps:

601: Exciting the ultrasonic probe to emit N times of ultrasonic beams to the body of the tested body through the transmitting/receiving circuit during the first scanning to the Nth scanning in one imaging period (that is, obtaining one frame B image and one frame PA image), And receiving the echo generated by the body tissue under the action of the ultrasonic beam, and obtaining the ultrasonic echo signal through the transmitting/receiving circuit, wherein the first scan to the Nth scan is a B image transmission and reception scan control sequence in an imaging cycle. The N-time B image scan controlled.

602: At the N+1th scan, the processor turns off the transmitting function and the receiving function of the ultrasonic probe, and generates a control signal in the form of a digital level according to the estimated delay, wherein the so-called digital level control signal may have only The signal of a rising edge, the rising edge of the control signal to the falling edge of the second receiving gate signal is the estimated delay Td.

603: The processor sends a control signal to the laser transmitting device on a first falling edge of the receiving gating signal.

604: The laser emitting device emits a laser.

605: At the N+2th scan, the processor still turns off the transmitting function of the ultrasonic probe, but turns on the receiving function of the ultrasonic probe. The N+1th scan to the N+2th scan is a PA in an imaging cycle. The transmitter receives two PA scans controlled by the scan control sequence.

606: The ultrasonic probe receives the PA signal generated by the body tissue under test, and sends the signal to the processor through the transmitting/receiving circuit.

607: The laser detecting device transmits a laser detecting signal (for example, a digital level signal) obtained by converting the optical flow signal to the processor, and the digital level signal may also be a signal having only one rising edge.

608: The processor determines the actual emission time of the laser according to the laser detection signal.

609: The processor processes the PA signal according to the actual emitting time of the laser, and the processing may be: using the actual sending time as the time origin, deleting the actual sending time and estimating the PA signal. The data between the light emission times, because the above-mentioned estimated delay of the laser emitting device is a roughly estimated delay, and the corresponding estimated laser emission time is also a rough estimated time, such as the estimated laser emission time is t The actual emitted time of the laser obtained by the measurement is t+s. According to the logic design of the processor, when the laser emission time t is estimated, the ultrasonic probe is turned on and starts to receive the photoacoustic signal, but actually, the ultrasonic probe is turned on. After the elapsed time s, the laser is emitted, that is to say, the ultrasonic probe acquires the real PA signal. From the time t to the time t+s, the signal received by the probe is not a true photoacoustic signal. Therefore, when reconstructing an image, the data (signal) corresponding to the s time in the PA signal can be subtracted from the data (signal) collected by the ultrasonic probe with the actual emission time of the laser as the time origin.

610: The processor performs image reconstruction on the ultrasonic echo signal obtained by scanning the N times B image to obtain a B image of the frame, and performs image reconstruction on the PA signal after the N+2 PA scanning process to obtain a frame PA image.

With the above technical solution, the laser detecting device in the imaging system enables the processor to obtain the actual emitting time of the laser emitting device to emit the laser, and the processor can remove the noise in the photoacoustic signal obtained by the ultrasonic probe according to the actual emitting time of the laser. The signal (such as the signal received by the ultrasonic probe when the laser emitting device does not emit laser light) improves the accuracy of reconstructing the image.

In addition, the imaging system provided in some embodiments of the present invention can be obtained by adding a laser emitting device and a laser detecting device to the ultrasonic device, that is, by simply modifying the existing ultrasonic device, a PA scanning channel can be added through the PA. Scan the channel to obtain the PA signal to get the PA image, reducing the cost of modification.

Furthermore, embodiments of the present invention also provide an ultrasound imaging system that can include a laser detection device and an ultrasound device.

The laser detecting device can be used to detect laser light emitted from the laser emitting device to obtain a laser detecting signal. The laser detection signal can indicate the actual time the laser is emitted from the laser emitting device.

The ultrasound apparatus can include an ultrasound probe, a transmit/receive circuit, and a processor.

The transmit/receive circuitry can be used to control the ultrasound probe to receive photoacoustic signals generated by the body tissue being illuminated by the laser when the ultrasound imaging system is in the first operational state.

The processor may be configured to generate a control signal to control the laser emitting device to emit laser light to the body tissue under test when the ultrasonic imaging system is in the first working state, and the processor is further configured to detect the laser light detecting device according to the laser detecting device The laser detection signal processes the photoacoustic signal and obtains a photoacoustic image based on the processed photoacoustic signal.

In some embodiments of the invention, the means for emitting the laser may be a device in an external environment that is independent of the ultrasound imaging system for emitting laser light that illuminates the body tissue under test, and the device emits a laser repeat The frequency is simply referred to as the repetition frequency of the laser emission.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the laser detecting device may be a device independent of the ultrasonic device, connected to the ultrasonic probe by electrical connection, or the ultrasonic device includes a laser detecting device, and the laser detecting device is located at the position of the ultrasonic probe, and For a specific implementation of the functions of the laser detecting device, the ultrasonic probe, the transmitting/receiving circuit, and the processor, refer to the related description in the embodiment of the imaging system, which is not described in the embodiment of the present invention.

In other embodiments of the present invention, the aforementioned imaging system and ultrasound imaging system may also be specially designed new complete systems, each of which is part of the system and is not limited to existing ultrasound equipment. Improved.

It should be noted that, in this context, relational terms such as first and second are used merely to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply such entities or operations. There is any such actual relationship or order between them. Furthermore, the term "comprises" or "comprises" or "comprises" or any other variations thereof is intended to encompass a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or device that comprises a plurality of elements includes not only those elements but also Other elements, or elements that are inherent to such a process, method, item, or device. In The elements defined by the phrase "comprising a singular" are not to be construed as limiting the same.

The above description of the disclosed embodiments enables those skilled in the art to make or use the invention. Various modifications to these embodiments are obvious to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Therefore, the present invention is not to be limited to the embodiments shown herein, but the scope of the invention is to be accorded

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and it should be noted that those skilled in the art can also make several improvements and retouchings without departing from the principles of the present invention. It should be considered as the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

An imaging system, comprising:

a laser emitting device for generating a laser that illuminates the body tissue to be tested;

a laser detecting device for detecting laser light emitted from the laser emitting device to obtain a laser detecting signal, the laser detecting signal indicating an actual emitting time of the laser light emitted from the laser emitting device;

An ultrasound device, the ultrasound device comprising:

Ultrasound probe

a transmitting/receiving circuit for controlling the ultrasonic probe to receive a photoacoustic signal generated by the body tissue to be irradiated by the laser when the imaging system is in a first working state;

a processor for generating a control signal when the imaging system is in a first operational state and transmitting the control signal to the laser emitting device to control the laser emitting device to organize the measured body The laser is emitted, and the processor is further configured to process the photoacoustic signal according to the laser detection signal detected by the laser detecting device, and obtain a photoacoustic image according to the processed photoacoustic signal.
The system of claim 1 wherein said transmitting/receiving circuitry is further operative to energize said ultrasonic probe to emit an ultrasonic beam to said subject tissue when said imaging system is in a second operational state And receiving an echo generated by the body tissue under the action of the ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal;

The processor is further configured to obtain an ultrasound image based on the ultrasound echo signal when the imaging system is in a second operational state.
The system of claim 2 wherein said processor further controls the frame rate of said ultrasound image to be the same as the repetition rate of said laser emitting device to emit laser light.
The system of claim 1 wherein said processor generates said control signal based on an estimated delay of said laser emitting device when said imaging system is in a first operational state.
The system according to claim 1, wherein said laser detecting means detects an optical flow signal on an optical path illuminated by said laser light emitted from said laser emitting device, and obtains said laser detecting signal based on said optical flow signal .
The system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the processing of the photoacoustic signal by the processor according to the laser detection signal detected by the laser detecting means comprises: the processor detecting the laser according to the laser A signal is removed from the photoacoustic signal prior to the actual issuance time indicated by the laser detection signal.
The system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the processor is further configured to output an ultrasound image and the photoacoustic image to display the ultrasound image and the photoacoustic image;

or,

The processor is further configured to fuse the ultrasound image and the photoacoustic image to obtain a fused image and output the fused image;

or,

The processor is further configured to fuse the ultrasound image and the photoacoustic image to obtain a fused image and output the fused image and the ultrasound image.
An imaging method, characterized in that the method comprises:

In the first working state, the ultrasonic device generates a control signal, and sends the control signal to the laser emitting device to control the laser emitting device to emit laser light to the body of the tested body;

Receiving a photoacoustic signal generated by the body tissue under test by the laser through an ultrasonic probe in the ultrasonic device;

A laser detecting device detects laser light emitted from the laser emitting device to obtain a laser detecting signal No. the laser detection signal indicates an actual emission time of the laser light emitted from the laser emitting device;

The photoacoustic signal is processed according to the laser detection signal, and a photoacoustic image is obtained according to the processed photoacoustic signal.
The method of claim 8 further comprising:

In the second working state, the ultrasonic probe is excited to emit an ultrasonic beam to the body tissue to be tested and receive an echo generated by the body tissue under the action of the ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal;

An ultrasound image is obtained from the ultrasound echo signal.
The method according to claim 9, wherein the method further comprises: controlling a frame rate of the ultrasonic image to be the same as a repetition frequency of the laser light emitted by the laser emitting device.
The method of claim 8 wherein said ultrasound device generates said control signal based on an estimated delay of said laser emitting device.
The method according to claim 8, wherein said laser detecting means detects an optical flow signal on an optical path illuminated by the laser light emitted from said laser emitting device, and obtains said laser detecting signal based on said optical flow signal .
The method according to any one of claims 8 to 12, wherein processing the photoacoustic signal according to the laser detection signal comprises: removing the photoacoustic signal from the photodetection signal according to the laser detection signal The laser detection signal indicates a signal prior to the actual issuance time.
An ultrasound imaging system, comprising:

a laser detecting device for detecting laser light emitted from the laser emitting device to obtain a laser detecting signal, the laser detecting signal indicating an actual emitting time of the laser light emitted from the laser emitting device;

Ultrasound probe

a transmitting/receiving circuit for the first work in the ultrasonic imaging system In the state of being controlled, the ultrasonic probe is controlled to receive a photoacoustic signal generated by the body tissue to be irradiated by the laser;

a processor, configured to generate a control signal to control a laser emitting device to emit laser light to the body of the tested body when the ultrasonic imaging system is in a first operating state, the processor further configured to detect the laser according to the laser The laser detection signal detected by the device processes the photoacoustic signal, and obtains a photoacoustic image according to the processed photoacoustic signal.
The system according to claim 14, wherein said transmitting/receiving circuit is further configured to excite said ultrasonic probe to emit ultrasonic waves to said body tissue when said ultrasonic imaging system is in a second operational state And receiving an echo generated by the body tissue under the action of the ultrasonic beam to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal;

The processor is configured to obtain an ultrasound image according to the ultrasound echo signal when the ultrasound imaging system is in a second working state.
The system according to claim 15, wherein said laser detecting means detects an optical flow signal on an optical path illuminated by the laser light emitted from said laser emitting device, and obtains said laser detecting signal based on said optical flow signal .
The system according to any one of claims 14 to 16, wherein the processing of the photoacoustic signal by the processor based on the laser detection signal detected by the laser detecting means comprises: the processor detecting the laser according to the laser A signal is removed from the photoacoustic signal prior to the actual issuance time indicated by the laser detection signal.
An imaging system, comprising:

a laser emitting device for generating a laser that illuminates the body tissue to be tested;

a laser detecting device for detecting laser light emitted from the laser emitting device to obtain a laser detecting signal, the laser detecting signal indicating an actual emitting time of the laser light emitted from the laser emitting device;

Ultrasound probe

a transmitting/receiving circuit for controlling the ultrasonic probe to receive a photoacoustic signal generated by the body tissue to be irradiated by the laser;

a processor for generating a control signal and transmitting the control signal to the laser emitting device to control the laser emitting device to emit laser light to the body tissue to be tested, the processor further for The laser detecting signal detected by the laser detecting device processes the photoacoustic signal, and obtains a photoacoustic image according to the processed photoacoustic signal.
The system according to claim 18, wherein said laser detecting means detects an optical flow signal on the optical path illuminated by the laser light emitted by said laser emitting device, and obtains said laser detecting signal based on said optical flow signal .
The system according to claim 18 or 19, wherein the processing of the photoacoustic signal by the processor based on the laser detection signal detected by the laser detecting means comprises: the processor from the laser detecting signal according to the The signal before the actual issuance time indicated by the laser detection signal is removed from the photoacoustic signal.