WO2020041974A1

WO2020041974A1 - Ultrasound image processing method and equipment, and storage medium

Info

Publication number: WO2020041974A1
Application number: PCT/CN2018/102730
Authority: WO
Inventors: 王勃; 丛龙飞; 刘德杰; 史志伟; 朱磊; 孙健平
Original assignee: 深圳迈瑞生物医疗电子股份有限公司; 深圳迈瑞科技有限公司
Priority date: 2018-08-28
Filing date: 2018-08-28
Publication date: 2020-03-05
Also published as: CN112469341B; CN112469341A

Abstract

Disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention are an ultrasound image processing method and equipment, and a storage medium. The method comprises: determining a region of interest in an ultrasound image of an examination subject; determining an original ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the region of interest; determining a preset reference echo signal corresponding to the region of interest, wherein the preset reference echo signal is an original reference ultrasonic echo signal of a reference region in the examination subject that is different from the region of interest; determining evaluation parameters of the region of interest according to the original ultrasonic echo signal and the preset reference echo signal.

Description

Ultrasound image processing method and equipment, and storage medium

Technical field

Embodiments of the present invention relate to image processing technologies in the field of medical equipment, and in particular, to an ultrasonic image processing method and device, and a storage medium.

Background technique

With the improvement of medical standards and medical device research and development technology, the use of medical equipment for health index inspection or evaluation has played a very important role in the discovery and treatment of diseases. For example, with the improvement of obstetrics and neonatal intensive care technology, the survival rate of premature babies, especially very low birth weight babies, has improved significantly, and the incidence of brain injuries in preterm babies has also gradually increased. In surviving very low birth weight infants, neurological diseases such as cerebral palsy, cognitive, behavioral deficits, or mild dyskinesias are extremely prone to occur. The causes of the above-mentioned diseases are mainly related to premature infants with white matter damage (WMI , White Matter Injury), especially the softening of Periventricular Leucomalacia (PVL, Periventricular Leucomalacia). Therefore, it is particularly important to provide an indicator for the detection and evaluation of diseases such as brain injury.

At present, due to the advantages of convenience, dynamic observation at the bedside, relatively cheap, and no radiation damage, in many application scenarios, ultrasonic detection of the target area of the inspection object (that is, the area to be inspected) has been listed as the preferred inspection method, such as Ultrasound of head of newborn. In the early stage of white matter damage, due to edema, ultrasound mainly shows symmetrical echo enhancement. Therefore, by measuring the echo intensity, the white matter damage can be quantitatively analyzed. Clinical studies have shown that the increase in echo intensity is positively correlated with the degree of white matter damage, which is helpful for judging prognosis and guiding early clinical treatment.

However, the quantitative analysis in clinical practice is usually evaluated by the gray value of the ultrasound image obtained by ultrasound. The gray value of the ultrasound image is affected by many parameters (transmission, reception, and post-processing). There are also large differences between different ultrasound probes and different ultrasound inspection modes, which leads to a reduction in the accuracy of the index inspection.

Summary of the Invention

Embodiments of the present invention provide an ultrasonic image processing method, device, and storage medium, which can improve the accuracy and stability of evaluation.

An embodiment of the present invention provides an ultrasonic image processing method, including:

Determining the region of interest in the ultrasound image of the inspection object;

Determining an original ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the region of interest;

Determining a preset reference echo signal corresponding to the region of interest, wherein the preset reference echo signal is an original reference ultrasonic echo signal of a reference region different from the region of interest in the inspection object;

An evaluation parameter of the region of interest is determined according to the original ultrasonic echo signal and the preset reference echo signal.

In the above solution, before the region of interest is determined in the ultrasound image of the inspection object, the method further includes: acquiring an ultrasound echo signal corresponding to the inspection object;

Determining an ultrasound image of the inspection object according to the ultrasound echo signal;

The determining the original ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the region of interest includes:

Determining imaging position information of the region of interest in the ultrasound image;

Performing geometric transformation on the imaging position information to determine acquisition position information of the region of interest corresponding to the inspection object;

According to the collected position information, the original ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the region of interest is determined from the ultrasonic echo signal.

In the above solution, determining the region of interest in the ultrasound image includes:

Determining the region of interest in the ultrasound image by using an image recognition algorithm;

Alternatively, a gesture operation instruction for the ultrasound image is received, and the region of interest is determined in the ultrasound image according to the gesture operation instruction.

In the above solution, the evaluation parameter for determining the region of interest according to the original ultrasonic echo signal and the preset reference echo signal includes:

Acquiring first echo intensity information of the original ultrasonic echo signal, and acquiring second echo intensity information of the preset reference echo signal;

Determining an echo intensity difference value according to the first echo intensity information and the second echo intensity information;

According to a preset evaluation model and the echo intensity difference value, an evaluation parameter of the region of interest is determined.

In the above solution, obtaining the second echo intensity information of the preset reference echo signal includes:

Determining the reference area in the ultrasound image;

Determining the original reference ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the reference area from the ultrasonic echo signal, where the original reference ultrasonic echo signal is the preset reference echo signal;

Acquire reference echo intensity information of the original reference ultrasonic echo signal, and the reference echo intensity information is the second echo intensity information.

In the above solution, the acquiring the first echo intensity information of the original ultrasonic echo signal includes:

Count the internal gain of the second machine under different ultrasound modes;

Determining the first echo intensity information according to the original ultrasonic echo signal and the internal gain of the second machine.

Counting the preset reference echo signals corresponding to the reference regions of different acquisition batches;

Count the internal gain of the first machine under different ultrasound modes;

Determining the second echo intensity information according to the preset reference echo signal and the internal gain of the first machine.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides an ultrasonic image processing method, including:

Transmit ultrasonic waves to the inspection object;

Receiving an ultrasonic echo signal based on the ultrasonic wave returned from the inspection object;

Determining a region of interest in the ultrasound image;

An embodiment of the present invention further provides an ultrasound image processing device, including: a processor, a memory, and the memory and the processor are communicatively connected;

The memory is configured to store the processor-executable instructions or run a related program for ultrasonic image processing;

The processor is configured to call a program related to ultrasound image processing stored in the memory, and executes determining a region of interest in an ultrasound image of an inspection object; determining an original ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the region of interest; and determining the A preset reference echo signal corresponding to the region of interest, wherein the preset reference echo signal is an original reference ultrasonic echo signal of a reference region different from the region of interest in the inspection object; according to the original ultrasonic echo signal And the preset reference echo signal to determine an evaluation parameter of the region of interest.

In the above device, the processor is further configured to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the inspection object before determining a region of interest in an ultrasound image of the inspection object; and determine an ultrasound of the inspection object according to the ultrasonic echo signal image;

The processor is further specifically configured to determine imaging position information of the region of interest in the ultrasound image; perform geometric transformation on the imaging position information to determine acquisition of the region of interest corresponding to the inspection object Position information; determining the original ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the region of interest from the ultrasonic echo signal according to the collected position information.

In the above device, the processor is further specifically configured to determine the region of interest in the ultrasound image by using an image recognition algorithm;

or,

The processor is further specifically configured to receive a gesture operation instruction on the ultrasound image, and determine the region of interest in the ultrasound image according to the gesture operation instruction.

In the above device, the processor is further specifically configured to obtain first echo intensity information of the original ultrasonic echo signal and acquire second echo intensity information of the preset reference echo signal; according to the first echo The intensity information and the second echo intensity information determine an echo intensity difference value; and an evaluation parameter of the region of interest is determined according to a preset evaluation model and the echo intensity difference value.

In the above device, the processor is further specifically configured to determine the reference area in the ultrasound image; determine the original reference ultrasound echo signal corresponding to the reference area from the ultrasound echo signal, and The original reference ultrasonic echo signal is the preset reference echo signal; the reference echo intensity information of the original reference ultrasonic echo signal is obtained, and the reference echo intensity information is the second echo intensity information.

In the above device, the processor is further specifically configured to count the preset reference echo signals corresponding to the reference regions of different acquisition batches; count the internal gain of the first machine in different ultrasound modes; and according to the preset Set the reference echo signal and the internal gain of the first machine to determine the second echo intensity information.

In the above device, the processor is further specifically configured to count internal gain of the second machine in different ultrasound modes; and determine the first echo intensity information according to the original ultrasonic echo signal and the internal gain of the second machine. .

An embodiment of the present invention provides an ultrasound image processing system, including:

Ultrasound probe

A transmitting / receiving sequence controller that excites the ultrasonic probe to transmit an ultrasonic wave to a detection object through a transmission / reception selection switch; and receives an ultrasonic echo signal based on the ultrasonic wave returned from the inspection object ;

A processor that processes the ultrasound echo signal to obtain an ultrasound image corresponding to the inspection object;

A display that displays the ultrasound image;

The processor further performs the following steps:

Generating an ultrasonic image of the inspection object according to the ultrasonic echo signal; determining a region of interest in the ultrasonic image; determining an original ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the region of interest; determining a preset corresponding to the region of interest A reference echo signal, wherein the preset reference echo signal is an original reference ultrasonic echo signal of a reference region different from the region of interest in the inspection object; The signal determines an evaluation parameter of the region of interest.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a computer-readable storage medium, which is applied to an ultrasound image processing device or an ultrasound image processing system. The computer-readable storage medium stores one or more ultrasound image processing related programs, and the one or Multiple ultrasound image processing related programs may be executed by one or more processors to implement the above-mentioned ultrasound image processing method.

Embodiments of the present invention provide an ultrasonic image processing method and device, and a storage medium. The ultrasonic image processing device determines a region of interest in an ultrasound image of an inspection object; determines an original ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the region of interest; and determines a region of interest A corresponding preset reference echo signal, the preset reference echo signal is an original reference ultrasonic echo signal of a reference region different from the region of interest in the inspection object; and determining the region of interest based on the original ultrasonic echo signal and the preset reference echo signal Evaluation parameters. By adopting the above technical implementation scheme, since the ultrasonic image processing device is based on the original ultrasonic echo signal of the collected region of interest during the ultrasound imaging of the inspection object, the information lost during data transformation during the ultrasound imaging processing is reduced. The (artificial) difference caused by and, and the ultrasound image processing device can determine whether the original ultrasound echo signal has an echo increase / decrease based on the preset reference echo signal of the reference area, which can be based on the preset reference echo The signal and the original ultrasonic echo signal have similar machine parameter influences, and the machine parameter influences are directly eliminated to implement the index evaluation of the region of interest, thereby reducing the limitation of the evaluation by the influence of equipment parameters, etc., thereby improving the accuracy and stability of the evaluation. .

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a first schematic structural diagram of an ultrasonic image processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

FIG. 2 is a first schematic flowchart of an ultrasonic image processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

FIG. 3 is a second schematic flowchart of an ultrasonic image processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary schematic ultrasound image 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary schematic ultrasound image 2 according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

FIG. 6 is a third flowchart of an ultrasonic image processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

detailed description

In order to understand the features and technical contents of the embodiments of the present invention in more detail, the implementation of the embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The accompanying drawings are for reference only and are not intended to limit the embodiments of the present invention.

The embodiments of the present invention provide a quantitative analysis device that is not affected by machine parameters, can be standardized, can quantitatively reflect evaluation parameters, and can conveniently perform evaluation parameters. For many clinical practices, such as early diagnosis of brain damage in preterm infants, liver Or kidney tests, etc., have an important role.

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural block diagram of an ultrasound imaging system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The ultrasound imaging system 10 may include an ultrasound probe 100, a transmission / reception selection switch 101, a transmission / reception sequence controller 102, a processor 103, and a display 104. The transmitting / receiving sequence controller 102 can excite the ultrasonic probe 100 to transmit ultrasonic waves to the inspection object through the transmission / reception selection switch 101, and can also control the ultrasonic probe 100 to receive ultrasonic echoes returned from the inspection object, thereby obtaining ultrasonic echo signals / data. The processor 103 processes the ultrasonic echo signal / data to obtain relevant parameters and an ultrasonic image of the inspection object. The ultrasound images obtained by the processor 103 may be stored in the memory 105, and these ultrasound images may be displayed on the display 104.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the display 104 of the aforementioned ultrasonic imaging device 10 may be a touch display screen, a liquid crystal display screen, etc., or may be an independent display device such as a liquid crystal display or a television set independent of the ultrasonic imaging device 10, or may be Display for electronic devices such as mobile phones and tablets.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the foregoing memory 105 of the ultrasound imaging apparatus 10 may be a flash memory card, a solid state memory, a hard disk, or the like.

In addition, each component in this embodiment may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist separately physically, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules.

If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional module and is not sold or used as an independent product, it may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of this embodiment is essentially or It is said that a part that contributes to the existing technology or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for making a computer device (can It is a personal computer, a server, or a network device) or a processor (processor) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in this embodiment. The foregoing storage media include: magnetic random access memory (FRAM, ferromagnetic random access memory), read-only memory (ROM, Read Only Memory), programmable read-only memory (PROM, Programmable Read-Only Memory), and erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM, Erasable, Programmable, Read-Only Memory), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM, Electrically Programmable, Read-Only Memory), Flash Memory (Flash Memory), Magnetic Surface Memory, Optical Disk Or CD-ROM (Compact Disc, Read-Only Memory) and other media that can store program codes, which are not limited in the embodiments of the present invention.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a computer-readable storage medium, which is applied to an ultrasound image processing device or an ultrasound image processing system. The computer-readable storage medium stores one or more ultrasound image processing related programs, and the one or Multiple ultrasound image processing related programs may be executed by one or more processors 103 to implement some or all of the steps or any combination of the steps in the ultrasound image processing in the above embodiments of the present application.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the computer-readable storage medium may be the memory 105, which may be a non-volatile storage medium such as a flash memory card, a solid-state memory, a hard disk, and the like.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the processor 103 of the aforementioned ultrasound imaging apparatus 10 may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or a combination thereof, and may use a circuit, a single or multiple application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), a single or Multiple general-purpose integrated circuits, a single or multiple microprocessors, a single or multiple programmable logic devices, or a combination of the foregoing circuits or devices, or other suitable circuits or devices, so that the processor 103 can perform the foregoing implementations The corresponding steps of the ultrasound image processing method in the example.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the processor 103 further performs the following steps:

Generating an ultrasonic image of the inspection object according to the ultrasonic echo signal; determining a region of interest in the ultrasonic image; determining an original ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the region of interest; determining a preset corresponding to the region of interest A reference echo signal, wherein the preset reference echo signal is an original reference ultrasonic echo signal of a reference region different from the region of interest in the inspection object; according to the original ultrasonic echo signal and the preset reference echo The signal determines an evaluation parameter of the region of interest.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the processor 103 is further configured to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the inspection object before determining the region of interest in the ultrasound image of the inspection object; The ultrasound image of the inspection object;

The processor 103 is further specifically configured to determine imaging position information of the region of interest in the ultrasound image; perform geometric transformation on the imaging position information to determine a region of the region of interest corresponding to the inspection object. Collecting position information; and determining the original ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the region of interest from the ultrasonic echo signal according to the collected position information.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the processor 103 is further specifically configured to determine the region of interest in the ultrasound image by using an image recognition algorithm;

or,

The processor 103 is further specifically configured to receive a gesture operation instruction on the ultrasound image, and determine the region of interest in the ultrasound image according to the gesture operation instruction.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the processor 103 is further specifically configured to acquire first echo intensity information of the original ultrasonic echo signal, and acquire second echo intensity information of the preset reference echo signal; according to The first echo intensity information and the second echo intensity information determine an echo intensity difference value; and an evaluation parameter of a region of interest is determined according to a preset evaluation model and the echo intensity difference value.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the processor 103 is further specifically configured to determine the reference area in the ultrasound image; and determine the original reference ultrasound wave corresponding to the reference area from the ultrasound echo signal. An echo signal, the original reference ultrasonic echo signal is the preset reference echo signal; obtaining reference echo intensity information of the original reference ultrasonic echo signal, and the reference echo intensity information is the second echo intensity information.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the processor 103 is further specifically configured to count the preset reference echo signals corresponding to the reference regions of different acquisition batches; and count the internal gain of the first machine in different ultrasound modes Determining the second echo intensity information according to the preset reference echo signal and the internal gain of the first machine.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the processor 103 is further specifically configured to count the internal gain of the second machine in different ultrasound modes; and determine the internal ultrasound gain signal according to the original ultrasonic echo signal and the internal gain of the second machine. First echo intensity information.

Based on the above-mentioned structure of the ultrasound image processing system 10, the following embodiments of the ultrasound image processing method are proposed.

An embodiment of the present invention provides an ultrasonic image processing method. As shown in FIG. 2, the method may include:

S101. Determine a region of interest in an ultrasound image of an inspection object.

An ultrasonic image processing method provided by an embodiment of the present invention can be applied to an ultrasonic imaging process of an inspection object by using ultrasonic waves.

It should be noted that in the process of ultrasound imaging using ultrasound, the beam is scanned using an ultrasound probe. The scanning modes can be divided into A, B, C, and D. The scanning mode is characterized by using ultrasound to collect different physical quantities. Mode.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the ultrasound image processing device is based on the acquisition of ultrasonic echo signals, so it uses the B-scan mode for ultrasound imaging processing.

In this way, the ultrasound image processing device uses the transmit / receive sequence controller 102 to excite the ultrasound probe 100 to transmit ultrasound to the inspection object through the transmission / reception selection switch 101 during ultrasound imaging of the inspection object, and can also control the ultrasound probe 100 to receive the The ultrasound echoes returned by the inspection object are used to obtain ultrasound echo signals / data. Finally, ultrasound imaging technology is used to obtain ultrasound imaging ultrasound images, that is, the ultrasound images of the inspection object are determined based on the ultrasound echo signals. That is, an ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the inspection object is acquired, and an ultrasound image of the inspection object is determined according to the ultrasonic echo signal.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the ultrasound image processing apparatus may be an apparatus having an ultrasound probe and capable of performing ultrasound imaging, and the embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto.

It should be noted that, the process of ultrasonic imaging by using ultrasound may adopt traditional focused imaging technology or ultrasonic plane wave technology, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention.

Among them, in the conventional focused imaging technology, # 1, # 2, ..., #N and other transmission beams are transmitted through an ultrasonic probe, and imaging is performed through a reception beam that receives the transmission beam to obtain an ultrasonic image. Ultrasound plane wave technology only needs to send a full array of element excitation to perform global reception, and obtain a frame of ultrasound image, so that the number of transmissions using ultrasonic plane wave technology is 1 / N of traditional single-beam focused imaging technology, even if traditional focused imaging uses dual Parallel, multi-beam processing methods such as beams, four beams, and even eight beams increase the frame rate. The advantage of plane waves in reducing the number of transmissions is still huge. The ultimate manifestation is the use of ultrasonic plane wave technology to greatly increase the imaging frame rate.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the ultrasonic image processing device may use any of the foregoing ultrasound imaging technologies, and the embodiment of the present invention is not limited.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present invention, since the ultrasound image processing device performs the index evaluation process, it is necessary to perform ultrasound imaging processing on the organ, that is, the target object of the ultrasound detection is the inspection object.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the inspection object characterizes the body (or animal) of the human (or animal) to be inspected, for example, a skull object, a liver object, or a kidney object; the corresponding indexes may be: brain damage degree, fatty liver examination The data or liver and kidney examination data and the like are not limited in the embodiment of the present invention.

In the embodiment of the present invention, after the processor of the ultrasound image processing device acquires the ultrasound image of the ultrasound image, since the ultrasound image processing device needs to evaluate the index of the region of interest, the ultrasound image processing device needs to determine the The area of interest is obtained by ultrasound data, and based on the ultrasound image, the processor of the ultrasound image processing device determines an area of interest that represents the key area for index evaluation, that is, the area of interest is determined in the ultrasound image of the inspection object. , And then process the area of interest to evaluate the index. Among them, the region of interest represents the region where the index evaluation is performed on the inspection object.

Exemplarily, when the indicator is brain injury, the area characterizing the evaluation of the indicator may be white matter around the ventricle or other areas where the indicator can be detected, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention. When the indicator is fatty liver examination data, the region characterizing the evaluation of the indicator may be liver or the like, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention.

In some embodiments of the present invention, after acquiring the ultrasound image, the processor of the ultrasound image processing device directly displays the ultrasound image through the display, and the ultrasound image imaging display is a grayscale image. In this way, the determination of the region of interest may be determined by a detection person by performing a selection operation on the display. That is, the inspector can identify the region of interest based on the entire ultrasound image of the inspection object displayed on the display of the ultrasound image processing device, and then mark the region of interest on the display, that is, the processor of the ultrasound image processing device acquires The area of interest marked by the inspector is reached. Specifically, the processor receives a gesture operation instruction on the ultrasound image, and determines a region of interest in the ultrasound image according to the gesture operation instruction.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the region of interest may also be identified by the processor of the ultrasound image processing device, that is, the region of interest is determined in the ultrasound image by using an image recognition algorithm; the specific implementation process is S1011-S1012 .

S1011. Through the image recognition algorithm, a target area corresponding to the index is identified from the ultrasound image.

S1012. Determine a target area as a region of interest.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the processor of the ultrasound image processing device may perform image recognition on the ultrasound image, and identify a target region (ie, a region of interest) that can be used for index assessment. For example, when the index is a brain injury index, the target region (ie The region of interest) is the white matter region around the ventricle, so that the region of interest that needs to be detected can be labeled or determined by itself.

Here, when the index is an index of brain injury, the processor of the ultrasound image processing device recognizes the white matter region around the ventricle from the ultrasound image through an image recognition algorithm or technology; and determines the white matter region around the ventricle as the region of interest.

It should be noted that the processor of the ultrasound image processing device may identify the white matter region around the ventricle by performing feature extraction on the ultrasound image and identifying based on the extracted features.

In the embodiment of the present invention, there are many methods for extracting features, including: random forest, SIFT, Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG, etc.), and using these extracted features can express image features in ultrasound images Based on the characteristics of the image, the processor of the ultrasound image processing device can identify the area of interest.

Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, the processor of the ultrasound image processing device may also recognize a region of interest such as brain white matter through a deep learning algorithm, such as a convolutional neural network, and the embodiment of the present invention is not limited.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the manner in which the processor of the ultrasound image processing device determines the region of interest is not limited.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the target area, that is, the region of interest, corresponds to the indicator, that is, to see what kind of indicator needs to be evaluated, and then see that the part or organ corresponding to the indicator is evaluated as the target area, that is, the area of interest. region. For example, in the embodiment of the present invention, fatty liver evaluation may also be performed. Then, the region of interest is the liver, and the reference region is the kidney, and the index evaluation is performed by comparing the difference in liver and kidney echo intensity.

It can be seen that the ultrasound image processing method provided by the embodiment of the present invention is applicable to the scenes of health examination of different organs or different body parts, such as brain injury examination, fatty liver examination, liver and kidney contrast, etc. The embodiment of the present invention is not limited. .

S102. Determine the original ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the region of interest;

S103. Determine a preset reference echo signal corresponding to the region of interest, where the preset reference echo signal is an original reference ultrasonic echo signal of a reference region different from the region of interest in the inspection object.

After the processor of the ultrasound image processing device determines the region of interest, the processor can determine the index by judging whether the echo of the region of interest is enhanced or weakened. Therefore, the processor echoes the ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the region of interest Acquire, and acquire a preset reference echo signal corresponding to the region of interest. The preset reference echo signal is an echo signal of a reference area that can be determined in advance. The preset reference echo signal is an ultrasonic echo signal of a reference region different from the region of interest in the inspection object.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the processor of the ultrasonic image processing device can use the ultrasonic probe to use the original ultrasonic echo information originally collected in the region of interest to evaluate subsequent indicators. The original ultrasonic echo signal is acquired before ultrasonic imaging. The signal is not the gray value obtained by ultrasound imaging processing, that is, it has not undergone data transformation during the ultrasound imaging process. Therefore, the data information of the original ultrasound echo signal is relatively complete, and there is no transformation to lose detailed data. In some cases, the index evaluation using the original ultrasonic echo signal is more accurate.

Among them, the original ultrasonic echo signal is the initial echo signal collected by the ultrasonic probe, and the ultrasonic image can be formed only after the original signal is subjected to coordinate transformation and gray processing.

It should be noted that ultrasound imaging requires data conversion of the collected echo signals (ultrasonic echo signals), so there may be data loss. For example, the raw data (ie, the echo signal) collected by the ultrasound probe of the ultrasound image processing device may be the size of 16 to the power of 2, but the image data displayed by ultrasound imaging is already 256.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the process of the processor of the ultrasonic image processing device determining the original ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the region of interest may include: S1031-1033. as follows:

S1031. Determine the imaging position information of the region of interest in the ultrasound image;

S1032. Perform geometric transformation on the imaging position information to determine the acquisition position information of the region of interest corresponding to the inspection object.

S1033. Determine the original ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the region of interest from the ultrasonic echo signals according to the collected position information.

In some embodiments of the present invention, during the ultrasound imaging process, the processor of the ultrasound image processing device needs to perform geometric transformation and data transformation on the collected area and the collected ultrasonic echo signals to obtain the fan-shaped grayscale. The image is displayed on the device. Therefore, when you want to acquire the original ultrasonic echo signal collected from the region of interest, you need to first convert the region of interest determined on the ultrasound image back to the position of the acquisition region belonging to the inspection object, and then you can retrieve the The original ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the region of interest is found in all the ultrasonic echo signals of the inspection object.

Therefore, the processor of the ultrasound image processing device first determines the imaging position information of the region of interest in the ultrasound image, and geometrically transforms the imaging position information (which is the inverse transformation of the geometric transformation in ultrasound imaging) to obtain the inspection object of interest. The collected position information of the area, and finally the original ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the collected position information is determined from the ultrasonic echo signal.

Here, both the imaging position information and the collected position information may be embodied in the form of coordinates, and the embodiment of the present invention does not limit the expression form of the position information.

S104. Determine an evaluation parameter of the region of interest according to the original ultrasonic echo signal and a preset reference echo signal.

After the ultrasonic image processing device determines the original ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the region of interest from the ultrasonic echo signal, the index evaluation can be performed. In detail, the ultrasonic image processing device can first determine a reference area and obtain a preview of the reference area. Set the reference echo signal, and then evaluate the area of interest based on the original ultrasonic echo signal and the preset reference echo signal.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the reference area may be a non-interest area in the examination object. Taking brain damage assessment as an example, the reference area may be a choroid plexus, a gray matter area, and the like, which are not limited in the embodiment of the present invention.

In this way, the processor of the ultrasonic image processing device in the embodiment of the present invention can perform the index evaluation by eliminating the influence of machine parameters on the original ultrasonic echo signal based on the preset reference signal.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the preset reference echo signal may be a reference signal having a similar machine parameter influence as the original ultrasonic echo signal.

In detail, as shown in FIG. 3, the process of determining the evaluation parameter of the region of interest by the processor of the ultrasonic image processing device based on the original ultrasonic echo signal and the preset reference echo signal may include: S1041-S1043. as follows:

S1041. Acquire first echo intensity information of the original ultrasonic echo signal, and acquire second echo intensity information of a preset reference echo signal.

S1042. Determine an echo intensity difference value according to the first echo intensity information and the second echo intensity information.

S1043. Determine an evaluation parameter of the region of interest according to a preset evaluation model and an echo intensity difference value.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the processor of the ultrasound image processing device may obtain the signal strength of the original ultrasonic echo signal and the preset reference echo signal to obtain the first echo intensity information and the second echo intensity information. The difference between the echo intensity of the first echo intensity and the second echo intensity, to determine whether there is echo enhancement, that is, the difference of the echo intensity is input into the preset evaluation model, because the preset evaluation model is used to characterize the index's evaluation parameters and the difference in echo intensity. Then, the evaluation parameter of the index of the region of interest of the inspection object is output.

Exemplarily, the preset evaluation model is a preset corresponding relationship between the echo intensity difference value and the evaluation parameter. For example, when the echo intensity difference value is 10, the corresponding evaluation parameter is 0.1%. No restrictions.

Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, the manner in which the processor of the ultrasound image processing device determines the difference value of the echo intensity between the first echo intensity information and the second echo intensity information may be: combining the first echo intensity information and the second echo intensity The information is poor or processed by a quotient. The specific implementation manner is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention.

It should be noted that echo enhancement / reduction is a way to determine the index.

Further, the difference value of the echo intensity and the evaluation parameters can be displayed intuitively. Taking the evaluation parameter as an example of brain injury evaluation, as shown in FIG. 4, pseudo-color can be used to display the echo intensity obtained from the analysis of the region of interest 1 on the ultrasound image. The difference value 2 (obtained from the first echo intensity information 3-the second echo intensity information 4), and the final brain injury assessment result 5 (0db), that is, the brain injury is 0 is normal.

Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, the number of the region of interest and the reference region is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention, and may be multiple or one. In this way, based on the relevant data of multiple regions of interest and multiple reference regions, the evaluation of the indicators can be achieved, and the evaluation parameters can be obtained. This processing is more comprehensive and the effect is better.

Exemplarily, the index evaluation is used to evaluate the brain injury as shown in FIG. 5. In the ultrasound image, a brain injury evaluation method provided by an embodiment of the present invention may be performed based on the region of interest 1 and the region of interest 2 to obtain two Each brain injury evaluation result (ie, evaluation parameter), and then the two brain injury evaluation results are combined to give a final brain injury judgment.

It can be understood that, in the process of performing ultrasound imaging on the inspection object, based on the original ultrasonic echo signals of the collected region of interest, the information lost during data transformation during ultrasound imaging processing and the reduction ( Artificial) difference, and based on the preset reference echo signal in the reference area, the original ultrasonic echo signal can be judged whether it has an echo increase / decrease, so that the preset reference echo signal and the original ultrasonic echo signal have similar The influence of machine parameters can be directly eliminated to implement the evaluation of ultrasonic image processing equipment, thereby reducing the limitation of the index evaluation by the influence of equipment parameters, etc., thereby improving the accuracy and stability of the assessment.

The following describes the process by which the processor of the ultrasound image processing device obtains a preset reference echo signal.

In the embodiment of the present invention, there may be at least two cases of the preset reference echo signal. The first one may be based on the same ultrasound imaging process with the same machine parameter influence. Then, the non-interest can be determined from the above ultrasound image. For the reference area of the region, the original reference ultrasonic echo signal of the reference area is obtained according to the aforementioned processing process. The difference in echo intensity obtained in this way is more accurate by eliminating data of the same machine parameters. The second can be a preset reference echo signal that can be a parameter based on the non-interest area of different people collected in different acquisition batches and different ultrasound modes. The preset reference echo signal can be a standardized preset that subtracts internal gain. With reference to the echo signal, after the original ultrasonic echo signal is subjected to the same normalization processing, the difference in echo intensity obtained is the data that eliminates the effects of different acquisition batches, different ultrasound modes, and so on. Would be more accurate.

For the first processing method described above, the specific process of obtaining the second echo intensity information of the preset reference echo signal is: determining a reference region in the ultrasound image; and determining an original reference ultrasound echo corresponding to the reference region from the ultrasound echo signal. Signal, the original reference ultrasonic echo signal is a preset reference echo signal; the reference echo intensity information of the original reference ultrasonic echo signal is obtained, and the reference echo intensity information is the second echo intensity information.

For the second processing method described above, the process of specifically acquiring the first echo intensity information of the original ultrasonic echo signal and the second echo intensity information of the preset reference echo signal may include:

Count the internal gain of the second machine in different ultrasound modes; count the preset reference echo signals corresponding to the reference area of different acquisition batches; determine the corresponding first of the original ultrasonic echo signals according to the original ultrasonic echo signal and the internal gain of the second machine Standard echo intensity information, the first standard echo intensity information is the first echo intensity information; according to the preset reference echo signal and the first machine internal gain, determining the second standard echo intensity information corresponding to the preset reference echo signal, and the second standard echo The intensity information is the second echo intensity information.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present invention, the internal gain (machine fixed parameter) of the second machine refers to the current gain in different scanning areas under different acquisition environments and ultrasound modes. The first machine internal gain (machine fixed parameter) refers to the average gain in different scanning areas under different acquisition environments and ultrasound modes, and is a unified estimate.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the normalization process is a process of subtracting or removing the original ultrasonic echo signal and its corresponding internal gain of the machine, or a preset process of subtracting or removing the reference echo signal and its corresponding internal gain of the machine. This processing method is conducive to the standardized processing and promotion of ultrasound image processing methods on the basis of ensuring accurate evaluation.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, after S104, an ultrasonic image processing method provided by an embodiment of the present invention may further include: S105. as follows:

S105. Determine a risk assessment result according to a preset risk analysis model and evaluation parameters.

After the processor of the ultrasound image processing device obtains the evaluation parameters, it can further quantify the evaluation parameters to obtain the danger level, that is, the result of the danger evaluation.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the acquisition of the preset hazard analysis model is obtained through sample training, and the purpose of setting the hazard analysis model is to quantify the level of the evaluation parameter and the level of the hazard to obtain the evaluation of the degree of hazard.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the processor of the ultrasonic image processing device needs to obtain sample data first, and use the sample data and neural network to perform model training for machine learning, so as to obtain a preset risk analysis model.

During the model training process, the sample data includes: evaluation parameters (or echo signal difference values) and actual crisis situation information of personnel in different situations such as different ages and different conditions. Among them, the sample data can be statistically obtained in actual clinical.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the processor of the ultrasound image processing device inputs the evaluation parameters (echo signal difference values) of the sample data into the initial training model composed of the neural network, and outputs the training results. By comparing the situation information, the initial training model is continuously adjusted until the accuracy of the output training results is up to the standard. The adjusted book publishing training model thus obtained is the preset risk analysis model. Then, by using the preset risk analysis model, it is possible to analyze the crisis or danger degree of the newly arrived assessment parameter.

Exemplarily, when the evaluation parameter is 50%, the risk factor is 0.9 (assuming the risk factor is 0-1).

Further, in the embodiment of the present invention, the result of the risk assessment may be performed by performing an intuitive display process on a display of the ultrasound image processing device.

It can be understood that the risk assessment method in the embodiment of the present invention can also quantify the risk coefficient through a training model, intuitively reflect the degree of danger, and have better performance.

It can be understood that, in the process of performing ultrasound imaging on the inspection object, the ultrasound image processing device is based on the original ultrasonic echo signals of the collected region of interest, so the information and data lost during the ultrasound imaging processing are reduced. The (artificial) difference that is brought about, and the ultrasound image processing device can determine whether the original ultrasound echo signal has an echo increase / decrease based on the preset reference echo signal of the reference area, which can be based on the preset reference echo signal It has similar machine parameter effects to the original ultrasonic echo signals, and directly eliminates machine parameter effects to achieve evaluation, thereby reducing the limitation of evaluation parameters affected by equipment parameters, etc., thereby improving the accuracy and stability of the evaluation.

Those skilled in the art should understand that the embodiments of the present invention may be provided as a method, a system, or a computer program product. Therefore, the present invention may take the form of a hardware embodiment, a software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, magnetic disk memory, optical memory, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

The present invention is described with reference to flowcharts and / or block diagrams of methods, devices (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the present invention. It should be understood that each process and / or block in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams, and combinations of processes and / or blocks in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, special-purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, so that the instructions generated by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device are used to generate Means for implementing the functions specified in one or more flowcharts and / or one or more blocks of the block diagrams.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory capable of directing a computer or other programmable data processing device to work in a particular manner such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce a manufactured article including an instruction device, the instructions The device implements the functions specified in one or more flowcharts and / or one or more blocks of the block diagram.

These computer program instructions can also be loaded on a computer or other programmable data processing device, so that a series of steps can be performed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, which can be executed on the computer or other programmable device. The instructions provide steps for implementing the functions specified in one or more flowcharts and / or one or more blocks of the block diagrams.

The above description is only the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the protection scope of the present invention.

Industrial applicability

In the embodiment of the present invention, since the ultrasound image processing device is based on the original ultrasonic echo signals of the collected region of interest during the ultrasound imaging of the inspection object, the loss of data transformation during the ultrasound imaging processing is reduced. The information and the (artificial) differences brought about, and the ultrasound image processing device can determine whether the original ultrasound echo signal has an echo increase / decrease based on the preset reference echo signal of the reference area, which can be based on the preset reference The echo signal and the original ultrasonic echo signal have similar machine parameter effects, and the machine parameter effects are directly eliminated for evaluation, thereby reducing the limitation that the evaluation parameters are affected by device parameters, etc., thereby improving the accuracy and stability of the evaluation.

Claims

An ultrasonic image processing method, characterized in that the method includes:

Determining the region of interest in the ultrasound image of the inspection object;

Determining an original ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the region of interest;

Determining a preset reference echo signal corresponding to the region of interest, wherein the preset reference echo signal is an original reference ultrasonic echo signal of a reference region different from the region of interest in the inspection object;

An evaluation parameter of the region of interest is determined according to the original ultrasonic echo signal and the preset reference echo signal.
The method according to claim 1, wherein before the determining a region of interest in an ultrasound image of an inspection object, the method further comprises:

Acquiring an ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the inspection object;

Determining an ultrasound image of the inspection object according to the ultrasound echo signal;

The determining the original ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the region of interest includes:

Determining imaging position information of the region of interest in the ultrasound image;

Performing geometric transformation on the imaging position information to determine acquisition position information of the region of interest corresponding to the inspection object;

According to the collected position information, the original ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the region of interest is determined from the ultrasonic echo signal.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining a region of interest in an ultrasound image of an examination object comprises:

Determining the region of interest in the ultrasound image by using an image recognition algorithm;

Alternatively, a gesture operation instruction for the ultrasound image is received, and the region of interest is determined in the ultrasound image according to the gesture operation instruction.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining parameters of the region of interest based on the original ultrasonic echo signal and the preset reference echo signal comprises:

Acquiring first echo intensity information of the original ultrasonic echo signal, and acquiring second echo intensity information of the preset reference echo signal;

Determining an echo intensity difference value according to the first echo intensity information and the second echo intensity information;

According to a preset evaluation model and the echo intensity difference value, an evaluation parameter of the region of interest is determined.
The method according to claim 4, wherein the acquiring the second echo intensity information of the preset reference echo signal comprises:

Determining the reference area in the ultrasound image;

Determining the original reference ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the reference area from the ultrasonic echo signal, where the original reference ultrasonic echo signal is the preset reference echo signal;

Acquire reference echo intensity information of the original reference ultrasonic echo signal, and the reference echo intensity information is the second echo intensity information.
The method according to claim 4, wherein the acquiring the second echo intensity information of the preset reference echo signal comprises:

Counting the preset reference echo signals corresponding to the reference regions of different acquisition batches;

Count the internal gain of the first machine under different ultrasound modes;

Determining the second echo intensity information according to the preset reference echo signal and the internal gain of the first machine.
The method according to claim 4, wherein the acquiring the first echo intensity information of the original ultrasonic echo signal comprises:

Count the internal gain of the second machine under different ultrasound modes;

Determining the first echo intensity information according to the original ultrasonic echo signal and the internal gain of the second machine.
An ultrasound image processing method, comprising:

Transmit ultrasonic waves to the inspection object;

Receiving an ultrasonic echo signal based on the ultrasonic wave returned from the inspection object;

Determining an ultrasound image of the inspection object according to the ultrasound echo signal;

Determining a region of interest in the ultrasound image;

Determining an original ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the region of interest;

Determining a preset reference echo signal corresponding to the region of interest, wherein the preset reference echo signal is an original reference ultrasonic echo signal of a reference region different from the region of interest in the inspection object;

An evaluation parameter of the region of interest is determined according to the original ultrasonic echo signal and the preset reference echo signal.
An ultrasound image processing device, comprising: a processor, a memory, and the memory and the processor are communicatively connected;

The memory is configured to store the processor-executable instructions or run a related program for ultrasonic image processing;

The processor is configured to call a program related to ultrasound image processing stored in the memory, and executes determining a region of interest in an ultrasound image of an inspection object; determining an original ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the region of interest; and determining the A preset reference echo signal corresponding to the region of interest, wherein the preset reference echo signal is an original reference ultrasonic echo signal of a reference region different from the region of interest in the inspection object; according to the original ultrasonic echo signal And the preset reference echo signal to determine an evaluation parameter of the region of interest.
The device according to claim 9, characterized in that:

The processor is further configured to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the inspection object before determining a region of interest in the ultrasound image of the inspection object; determine an ultrasound image of the inspection object according to the ultrasonic echo signal;

The processor is further specifically configured to determine imaging position information of the region of interest in the ultrasound image; perform geometric transformation on the imaging position information to determine acquisition of the region of interest corresponding to the inspection object Position information; determining the original ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the region of interest from the ultrasonic echo signal according to the collected position information.
The device according to claim 9, characterized in that:

The processor is further specifically configured to determine the region of interest in the ultrasound image by using an image recognition algorithm;

or,

The processor is further specifically configured to receive a gesture operation instruction on the ultrasound image, and determine the region of interest in the ultrasound image according to the gesture operation instruction.
The device according to claim 9, characterized in that:

The processor is further specifically configured to obtain first echo intensity information of the original ultrasonic echo signal, and acquire second echo intensity information of the preset reference echo signal; according to the first echo intensity information and the The second echo intensity information determines an echo intensity difference value; and an evaluation parameter of the region of interest is determined according to a preset evaluation model and the echo intensity difference value.
The device according to claim 12, characterized in that:

The processor is further specifically configured to determine the reference area in the ultrasound image; determine the original reference ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the reference area from the ultrasonic echo signal, and the original reference ultrasonic echo signal Is the preset reference echo signal; obtaining reference echo intensity information of the original reference ultrasonic echo signal, and the reference echo intensity information is the second echo intensity information.
The device according to claim 12, characterized in that:

The processor is further specifically configured to count the preset reference echo signals corresponding to the reference regions of different acquisition batches; count the internal gain of the first machine in different ultrasound modes; and according to the preset reference echo signals and The internal gain of the first machine determines the second echo intensity information.
The device according to claim 12, characterized in that:

The processor is further specifically configured to count internal gain of the second machine in different ultrasound modes; and determine the first echo intensity information according to the original ultrasonic echo signal and the internal gain of the second machine.
An ultrasound image processing system, comprising:

Ultrasound probe

A transmitting / receiving sequence controller that excites the ultrasonic probe to transmit an ultrasonic wave to a detection object through a transmission / reception selection switch; and receives an ultrasonic echo signal based on the ultrasonic wave returned from the inspection object ;

A processor that processes the ultrasound echo signal to obtain an ultrasound image corresponding to the inspection object;

A display that displays the ultrasound image;

The processor further performs the following steps:

Generating an ultrasonic image of the inspection object according to the ultrasonic echo signal; determining a region of interest in the ultrasonic image; determining an original ultrasonic echo signal corresponding to the region of interest; determining a preset corresponding to the region of interest A reference echo signal, wherein the preset reference echo signal is an original reference ultrasonic echo signal of a reference region different from the region of interest in the inspection object; according to the original ultrasonic echo signal and the preset reference echo The signal determines an evaluation parameter of the region of interest.
A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that it is applied to an ultrasound image processing device or an ultrasound image processing system, the computer-readable storage medium stores one or more ultrasound image processing device evaluation related programs, and the one or The multiple ultrasound image processing device evaluation related programs may be executed by one or more processors to implement the ultrasound image processing method according to claims 1 to 8.