WO2021232192A1

WO2021232192A1 - Ultrasound contrast imaging method and apparatus, and storage medium

Info

Publication number: WO2021232192A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/090855
Authority: WO
Inventors: 章希睿; 桑茂栋; 朱磊; 何绪金
Original assignee: 深圳迈瑞生物医疗电子股份有限公司
Priority date: 2020-05-18
Filing date: 2020-05-18
Publication date: 2021-11-25
Also published as: CN113164160A; CN113164160B

Abstract

An ultrasound contrast imaging method and apparatus, and a storage medium. The method comprises: acquiring at least two frames of contrast data (S310); calculating an information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data, and calculating a relationship between the information difference and one frame of contrast data in the two adjacent frames of contrast data (S320); and classifying the frame of contrast data on the basis of the relationship, and performing suppression processing on at least some data of the frame of contrast data on the basis of a classification result (S330). By means of the method, the difference between tissue residues and a contrast agent signal is mined from the perspective of a time domain difference (an interframe difference), such that a tissue residue part of contrast data and a contrast agent signal part thereof can be effectively distinguished from one another, the tissue residue part can thus be effectively suppressed, and the influence thereof on the effect of the intensity of a contrast agent is reduced to the greatest possible extent.

Description

Ultrasound contrast imaging method, device and storage medium

manual

Technical field

This application relates to the field of ultrasound contrast imaging technology, and more specifically to an ultrasound contrast imaging method, device and storage medium.

Background technique

Under ideal conditions, there is only background noise in the contrast-enhanced ultrasound image without the injection of contrast agent. However, in actual situations, it is inevitable to introduce tissue components while extracting the contrast agent signal, which is mainly caused by the asymmetry of the system's transmitting circuit. Take the positive and negative harmonic method as an example. In theory, two waveforms with the same amplitude and frequency and opposite phase can be completely canceled after being superimposed. However, the positive and negative pulses output by the actual transmitter circuit are not strictly symmetrical, and residues will be generated after the two are superimposed. The signal, reflected in the contrast image, is the residual tissue.

In addition, there are three factors that can cause tissue residue. One is that the tissue itself will also produce a nonlinear component, which is detected together with the nonlinear echo of the contrast agent; the other is that the linear component of the tissue cannot be cancelled after the amplitude of each pulse in the nonlinear imaging method is modulated due to the signal saturation. , Which mostly appear on strong reflective surfaces such as blood vessel walls, organ capsules, and bones; third, movement during scanning (probe displacement, patient respiration, etc.), which will cause the loss of correlation between pulse echoes in nonlinear imaging methods. Furthermore, the condition of tissue signal cancellation is not satisfied.

Tissue residues can interfere with the user's observation of the contrast agent signal, thereby affecting the accuracy of the diagnosis result. In this regard, the existing solutions start from the front-end hardware on the one hand, and study how to further improve the symmetry of the transmitted waveform, but the improvement is extremely difficult; on the other hand, it uses new imaging methods (sub-harmonics, etc.) or signal processing methods (filtering). Etc.) The tissue residue is suppressed as much as possible, but in addition to the non-linear components generated by the tissue itself, the tissue residue and the contrast agent signal caused by other reasons cannot be distinguished in the frequency domain, and the suppression ability is limited.

Summary of the invention

The present application provides a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging solution, which can effectively suppress tissue residue in the contrast-enhanced data. The following briefly describes the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging solution proposed by the present application, and more details will be described in the specific implementation in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In one aspect of the present application, a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method is provided. The method includes: controlling an ultrasound probe to transmit ultrasound to a target object, receiving an echo of the ultrasound, and obtaining an ultrasound echo signal based on the echo of the ultrasound; Acquire at least two frames of contrast signal data based on the ultrasound echo signal, wherein each frame of contrast signal data is used to generate a frame of contrast image; calculate the information difference between the contrast signal data of two adjacent frames, and calculate the information difference The relationship with one frame of contrast signal data in the two adjacent frames of contrast signal data; based on the relationship, the one frame of contrast signal data is divided into regions, and the contrast signal data in different regions is differently suppressed Factor processing; and generating a contrast image based on the processed one frame of contrast signal data.

Another aspect of the present application provides a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method. The method includes: controlling an ultrasound probe to transmit ultrasound to a target object, receiving echoes of the ultrasound, and obtaining ultrasound echo signals based on the echo of the ultrasound. Acquire contrast signal data based on the ultrasound echo signal, and generate contrast images based on the contrast signal data; acquire at least two frames of contrast images, calculate the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast images, and calculate the information difference And the relationship with one of the two adjacent frames of contrast images; and based on the relationship, the one frame of contrast images is divided into regions, and different regions of the one frame of contrast images are used. Inhibitors are processed.

In another aspect of the present application, there is provided a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging device, the device comprising: an ultrasound probe, a transmission/reception sequence controller, and a processor, wherein the transmission/reception sequence controller is used to: excite the ultrasound probe Transmit ultrasonic waves to a target object, receive echoes of the ultrasonic waves, and obtain ultrasonic echo signals based on the echoes of the ultrasonic waves; the processor is used to execute the above-mentioned contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method.

In yet another aspect of the present application, a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method is provided. The method includes: acquiring at least two frames of contrast data; calculating the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data, and calculating the difference between the information and the phase. The relationship between one frame of contrast data in two adjacent frames of contrast data; classifying the one frame of contrast data based on the relationship, and suppressing at least part of the one frame of contrast data based on the result of the classification deal with.

In yet another aspect of the present application, a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method is provided. The method includes: controlling an ultrasound probe to transmit ultrasound to a target object, receiving echoes of the ultrasound, and obtaining ultrasound echo signals based on the echo of the ultrasound. Obtain at least two frames of contrast signal data based on the ultrasound echo signal, wherein each frame of contrast signal data is used to generate a frame of contrast image; calculate the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast signal data, and calculate the information The relationship between the difference and one frame of contrast signal data in the two adjacent frames of contrast signal data; the one frame of contrast signal data is classified based on the relationship, and the one frame is classified based on the result of the classification At least part of the contrast signal data is subjected to suppression processing; and a contrast image is generated based on the processed one frame of contrast signal data.

In yet another aspect of the present application, a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method is provided. The method includes: controlling an ultrasound probe to transmit ultrasound to a target object, receiving echo of the ultrasound, and obtaining ultrasound echo signals based on the echo of the ultrasound. Obtain contrast signal data based on the ultrasound echo signal, and generate a contrast image based on the contrast signal data; calculate the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast image, and calculate the information difference and the adjacent two frames The relationship between a frame of contrast images in the contrast image; and classifying the frame of contrast images based on the relationship, and performing suppression processing on at least part of the frame of contrast images based on a result of the classification.

In another aspect of the present application, there is provided a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging device, which includes an ultrasound probe, a transmission/reception sequence controller, and a processor, wherein: the transmission/reception sequence controller is used to: The target object emits ultrasonic waves, receives the echoes of the ultrasonic waves, and obtains ultrasonic echo signals based on the echoes of the ultrasonic waves; the processor is configured to: obtain at least two frames of contrast data based on the ultrasonic echo signals; The information difference between the contrast data of the frame is calculated, and the relationship between the information difference and one frame of the contrast data of the two adjacent frames of contrast data is calculated; the one frame of contrast data is classified based on the relationship, and Based on the result of the classification, at least part of the data of the one frame of contrast data is suppressed.

In another aspect of the present application, there is provided a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging device, which includes an ultrasound probe, a transmission/reception sequence controller, and a processor, wherein: the transmission/reception sequence controller is used to: The target object emits ultrasonic waves, receives the echoes of the ultrasonic waves, and obtains ultrasonic echo signals based on the echoes of the ultrasonic waves; the processor is used to execute the above-mentioned contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method.

In another aspect of the present application, a storage medium is provided, and a computer program is stored on the storage medium, and the computer program executes the above-mentioned ultrasound contrast imaging method during operation.

The contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method, device, and storage medium according to the embodiments of the present application excavate the difference between the residual tissue and the contrast agent signal from the perspective of time domain difference (inter-frame difference), and can compare the residual part of the tissue and the contrast agent signal in the contrast data. The parts are effectively distinguished, so that the residual part of the tissue can be effectively suppressed and the effect of the contrast agent strength is not affected as much as possible.

Description of the drawings

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of residual tissue in a contrast image.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic block diagram of an ultrasound contrast imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic flowchart of a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 4 shows double real-time images of human thyroid contrast without injection of contrast agent.

FIG. 5A shows the comparison result of the signal amplitude of the first category data points in one frame of contrast data before and after the inter-frame difference.

FIG. 5B shows the comparison result of the signal amplitude of the second type of data points in one frame of contrast data before and after the inter-frame difference.

FIG. 5C shows the comparison result of the signal amplitude of the third category data points in one frame of contrast data before and after the inter-frame difference.

FIG. 6A shows an example of a double real-time image of human thyroid contrast when no contrast agent is injected and is not processed by the ultrasound contrast imaging method according to an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 6B shows an example of a double real-time image of human thyroid contrast after being processed by the ultrasound contrast imaging method according to the embodiment of the present application when no contrast agent is injected.

FIG. 7A shows an example of a canine liver contrast double real-time image after injection of a contrast agent and not processed by the ultrasound contrast imaging method according to an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 7B shows an example of a double real-time image of canine liver contrast after injection of a contrast agent and processed by the ultrasound contrast imaging method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 8 shows a schematic flowchart of a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 9 shows a schematic flowchart of a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method according to still another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 10 shows a schematic flowchart of a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method according to another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 11 shows a schematic flow chart of a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method according to still another embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 12 shows a schematic block diagram of an ultrasound contrast imaging apparatus according to another embodiment of the present application.

Detailed ways

In order to make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the present application more obvious, the exemplary embodiments according to the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments of the present application, and it should be understood that the present application is not limited by the exemplary embodiments described herein. Based on the embodiments of this application described in this application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative work should fall within the protection scope of this application.

In the following description, a lot of specific details are given in order to provide a more thorough understanding of this application. However, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that this application can be implemented without one or more of these details. In other examples, in order to avoid confusion with this application, some technical features known in the art are not described.

It should be understood that this application can be implemented in different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments presented here. On the contrary, the provision of these embodiments will make the disclosure thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the present application to those skilled in the art.

The purpose of the terms used here is only to describe specific embodiments and not as a limitation of the present application. When used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the/the" are also intended to include plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the terms "composition" and/or "including", when used in this specification, determine the existence of the described features, integers, steps, operations, elements and/or components, but do not exclude one or more other The existence or addition of features, integers, steps, operations, elements, parts, and/or groups. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of related listed items.

In order to thoroughly understand this application, detailed steps and detailed structures will be presented in the following description to explain the technical solutions proposed by this application. The preferred embodiments of the present application are described in detail as follows. However, in addition to these detailed descriptions, the present application may also have other implementation modes.

Under ideal conditions, there is only background noise in the contrast-enhanced ultrasound image without the injection of contrast agent. However, in actual situations, it is inevitable to introduce tissue components while extracting the contrast agent signal, which is reflected in the contrast image as the residual tissue, as shown in Figure 1. Tissue residue will interfere with the user's observation of the contrast agent signal, and then affect the accuracy of the image analysis results.

In this regard, the present application provides a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging solution, which excavates the difference between the tissue residue and the contrast agent signal from the perspective of time domain difference (inter-frame difference), which can effectively suppress the tissue residue in the contrast data. Hereinafter, the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging solution of the present application will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 12.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an ultrasound contrast imaging device in an embodiment of the application. The ultrasound contrast imaging apparatus 100 may include a probe 110, a transmitting circuit 112, a receiving circuit 114, a beam combining circuit 116, a processor 118, and a display 120. The transmitting circuit 112 and the receiving circuit 114 can be connected to the ultrasonic probe 110 through the transmitting/receiving selection switch 122. The transmitting circuit 112 can excite the probe 110 to transmit ultrasonic waves to the target tissue containing the contrast agent; the receiving circuit 114 can receive the ultrasonic echo returned from the target tissue through the probe 110 to obtain the ultrasonic echo signal/data; the ultrasonic echo signal/data After the beam combining circuit 116 performs beam combining processing, it is sent to the processor 118. The processor 118 processes the ultrasound echo signal/data to obtain an ultrasound image and a contrast image of the target tissue. The ultrasound image and the contrast image obtained by the processor 118 may be stored in the memory 124. These ultrasound images and contrast images can be displayed on the display 120. For more detailed description, please refer to the subsequent embodiments of this specification.

It should be understood that the components included in the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 2 are only schematic, and may include more or fewer components. The present invention is not limited to this. The contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging apparatus 100 shown in FIG. 2 may be used to perform the following contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 300 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 3, the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 300 may include the following steps:

In step S310, at least two frames of contrast data are acquired.

In step S320, the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data is calculated, and the relationship between the information difference and one frame of contrast data in the two adjacent frames of contrast data is calculated.

In step S330, one frame of contrast data is classified based on the relationship, and at least part of the one frame of contrast data is suppressed based on the classification result.

In the embodiment of the present application, the at least two frames of contrast data acquired in step S310 may be at least two frames of contrast signal data, wherein each frame of contrast signal data is used to generate one frame of contrast image; in addition, the contrast image acquired in step S310 The at least two frames of contrast data may also be at least two frames of contrast image data. In addition, the at least two frames of contrast data obtained in step S310 may be generated in real time, or may be from any source.

In the embodiment of the present application, based on the relationship between the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data and one frame of contrast data in two adjacent frames of contrast data, the data with strong tissue residue in one frame of contrast data can be Points and data points with weak tissue residue (or even no tissue residue) are clearly distinguished (described in further detail by examples below), so that a frame of angiographic data can be classified based on this relationship (for example, classified as data with strong tissue residue) Points, data points with weak tissue residues, data points without tissue residues, etc.), and based on the classification results, at least part of the data of a frame of contrast data (such as data points with strong tissue residue and data points with weak tissue residue) are suppressed Processing, so as to achieve the effect of effectively suppressing the residual part of the tissue without affecting the intensity of the contrast agent as much as possible.

In the embodiment of the present application, the contrast data of two adjacent frames includes the contrast data of the previous frame (for example, called the nth frame of contrast data D _n , where n is a natural number) and the contrast data of the next frame (for example, called the nth + One frame of contrast data D _n+1 . Based on this, in one embodiment, calculating the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data in step S320 may include: calculating the contrast data of the next frame and the contrast data of the previous frame The result of the forward difference is the result of D _n+1- D _n . Correspondingly, the relationship between the calculated information difference in step S320 and one frame of contrast data in two adjacent frames of contrast data may include: before calculation The data relationship between the difference result (ie D _n+1- D _n ) and the contrast data of the previous frame (ie D _n ), that is, the data relationship between (D _n+1- D _n ) and D _n is calculated. In one embodiment, calculating the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data in step S320 may include: calculating the backward difference result between the contrast data of the previous frame and the contrast data of the next frame, that is, D _n- D _n+ results _1. accordingly, the information calculated in step S320 and the relationship between the contrast difference data of the contrast data of two adjacent one, may include: calculating the result of the difference (i.e., D _{_n} -D _n _{+ 1)} The data relationship with the next frame of contrast data (ie D _n+1 ), that is, the data relationship between (D _n- D _n+1 ) and D _n+1 is calculated. Therefore, in step S320, the difference between the calculated information and the adjacent The relationship between one frame of contrast data in the two frames of contrast data can also be described as: the relationship between the difference in calculation information and the difference of one frame of contrast data in two adjacent frames of contrast data.

In the embodiment of the present application, when the contrast data is, for example, the contrast signal data after beam synthesis, one frame of contrast data (whether it is the aforementioned D _n or D _n+1 ) can be a complex analysis containing information such as amplitude and phase. The signal is, for example, an I×J-dimensional complex matrix, where I and J can represent the number of vertical dots and the number of horizontal lines, respectively. Based on this, the aforementioned information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data may include amplitude difference, phase difference or frequency difference. When the contrast data is, for example, contrast signal data after analog-to-digital conversion, one frame of contrast data (whether it is the aforementioned D _n or D _n+1 ) can be an analytical signal containing at least amplitude information, for example, an I×J dimensional matrix, Among them, I and J can respectively represent the number of vertical dots and the number of horizontal lines. Based on this, the aforementioned difference in information between two adjacent frames of contrast data may include a difference in amplitude.

Correspondingly, when the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data is a magnitude difference, in one embodiment, in step S320, the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data is calculated, and the information difference is calculated as compared with the adjacent one. The relationship between one frame of contrast data in two frames of contrast data may include: calculating the difference data between two adjacent frames of contrast data, and calculating the respective amplitude data of the difference data and one frame of contrast data; the amplitude based on the difference data The data and the amplitude data of one frame of contrast data are calculated to calculate the amplitude ratio of the difference data to one frame of contrast data, and the result of the relationship between the difference data and one frame of contrast data is obtained. In this embodiment, first calculate the amplitude data of the difference data and the differenced one frame of contrast data (for example, by means of envelope detection), then calculate the ratio of the two, and use the calculated amplitude ratio as the difference data The result of the relationship with the differenced one frame of contrast data. In a further embodiment of the present application, the ratio may be calculated after logarithmic compression is performed on the amplitude data to reduce the amount of calculation. For example, if the ratio (result of the relationship) is expressed as R, then R can be expressed as the following formula:

R=20log ₁₀ (abs(D _n+1 -D _n ))./20log ₁₀ (abs(D _n ))

Among them, abs represents the amplitude (absolute value), "log10" represents the logarithmic operation with 10 as the base, the symbol "./" represents the point-to-point division operation of the matrix, R is the I×J-dimensional real matrix, and I and J are such as The foregoing. It should be understood that this formula is only exemplary.

When the information difference between the contrast data of two adjacent frames is the amplitude difference, in another embodiment, the information difference between the contrast data of the two adjacent frames is calculated in step S320, and the information difference is calculated as compared with that of the adjacent two frames. The relationship between one frame of contrast data in the contrast data may include: calculating the difference data between two adjacent frames of contrast data, calculating the ratio between the difference data and one frame of contrast signal data; solving the amplitude of the contrast value to obtain the difference data and The amplitude ratio of one frame of contrast data is used as the result of the relationship between the difference data and one frame of contrast data. In this embodiment, the ratio between the difference data and the differenced frame of contrast data is calculated first, and then the amplitude is solved for the ratio, and finally the amplitude ratio between the difference data and the differenced frame of contrast data can be obtained. , As the result of the relationship between the difference data and the differenced one frame of contrast data. It should be understood that, in addition to calculating the ratio of the difference data and the differenced frame of contrast signal data, in other embodiments, the difference between the difference data and the differenced frame of contrast signal data can also be calculated, and then based on the difference and The relationship of the preset threshold value determines the result of the relationship between the difference data and the differenced one frame of contrast data.

In the embodiment of the present application, when the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data is a phase difference, in one embodiment, in step S320, the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data is calculated and calculated The relationship between the information difference and one frame of contrast data in two adjacent frames of contrast data may include: calculating the difference data between two adjacent frames of contrast data, and calculating the respective phase data of the difference data and one frame of contrast data; Based on the phase data of the differential data and the phase data of one frame of contrast data, the phase difference between the differential data and one frame of contrast data is calculated, and the result of the relationship between the differential data and one frame of contrast data is obtained. In this embodiment, first calculate the phase data of the difference data and the differenced frame of contrast data, then calculate the difference between the two, and use the calculated phase difference value as the difference data and the differenced frame of contrast data. The result of the relationship between the data.

In the embodiment of the present application, when the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data is a phase difference, in another embodiment, the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data is calculated in step S320, and Calculating the relationship between the information difference and one frame of contrast data in two adjacent frames of contrast data may include: calculating the difference data between two adjacent frames of contrast data, and calculating the ratio of the difference data to one frame of contrast data; comparison value The phase solution is performed, and the phase difference value between the difference data and one frame of contrast data is obtained as the result of the relationship between the difference data and one frame of contrast data. In this embodiment, the ratio between the difference data and the differenced frame of contrast data is calculated first, and then the phase is solved for the ratio, and finally the phase difference between the difference data and the differenced frame of contrast data can be obtained. Value as the result of the relationship between the difference data and the differenced one frame of contrast data.

In the embodiment of the present application, when the contrast data is contrast image data, one frame of contrast data (whether it is the aforementioned D _n or D _n+1 ) may be a data set containing gray information, for example, V×H A dimensional matrix, where V and H can represent the number of vertical pixels and the number of horizontal pixels, respectively. Based on this, in one embodiment, calculating the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data in step S320, and calculating the relationship between the information difference and one frame of contrast data in the adjacent two frames of contrast data may include : Calculate the forward difference result between the next frame of contrast image and the previous frame; calculate the gray ratio between the forward difference result and the previous frame of contrast image. In another embodiment, calculating the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data and calculating the relationship between the information difference and one frame of contrast data in the two adjacent frames of contrast data in step S320 may include: calculating The backward difference result of the previous frame of contrast image and the next frame of contrast image; calculate the gray ratio of the backward difference result and the next frame of contrast image.

The above exemplarily describes the calculation method of the relationship between the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data and one frame of contrast data in the adjacent two frames of contrast data. As mentioned above, based on the adjacent The relationship between the information difference between two frames of angiographic data and the differenced one frame of angiographic data in two adjacent frames of angiographic data can reduce the data points with strong tissue residue and weak (or even no tissue residue) in one frame of angiographic data. The data points of tissue residues are clearly distinguished. This will be described below in conjunction with FIG. 4 and FIGS. 5A to 5C.

Fig. 4 shows a double real-time image of human thyroid angiography when no contrast agent is injected. As shown in Figure 4, it shows that a total of 100 frames of contrast beam synthesis of the human thyroid gland are collected under the condition of no contrast agent. One of the corresponding contrast double real-time images of the I/Q data is shown in Figure 4 The left half of is the tissue image, and the right half is the contrast image. As shown in the right half of FIG. 4, the tissue residues are mainly concentrated at the data points included in the

boxes

410 and 420, and there is only noise at the remaining data points.

Based on this, a frame of contrast data (contrast signal data or contrast image data) can be classified. For example, the data points included in the box 410 (for example, referred to as first category data points) are mainly represented as cortex that is likely to cause signal saturation. The layer, which is the most obvious data point location area of tissue residue, is generally the near field area, and the relative displacement with the probe is small, and it is far away from the organ to be scanned, and is not easily affected by the patient’s breathing; after the frame difference, the data point The signal amplitude in the location area will be significantly reduced, as shown in Figure 5A. The data points included in the frame 420 (for example, called the second category data points) mainly include tissue residues caused by strong reflective surfaces such as blood vessel walls and organ envelopes. They are generally the midfield area and are located in the area of the organ to be scanned. It is easily affected by the patient's breathing; after the frame difference, the signal amplitude of the data point location area decreases less than that in the data point location area in the box 410, as shown in FIG. 5B. The data points included in the box 430 (for example, referred to as the third category data points) mainly include inter-frame noise, which is generally Gaussian-white noise, and generally the far-field area; after the inter-frame difference, the overall variance will become larger. , As shown in Figure 5C.

It can be seen that the characteristics of different types of data points in a frame of angiography data are significantly different before and after the inter-frame difference. Therefore, the embodiments of the present application are based on this, and the strong residual tissue in a frame of angiography data can be Data points and data points with weak tissue residue (or even no tissue residue) are clearly distinguished, so that a frame of contrast data can be classified based on the relationship, and at least part of the frame of contrast data can be suppressed based on the classification result Therefore, the residual part of the tissue can be effectively suppressed and the effect of the intensity of the contrast agent is not affected as much as possible.

As mentioned above, one frame of contrast data can be expressed as a matrix, so the difference data of two adjacent frames of contrast data can also be expressed as a matrix. In order to distinguish, the difference data of two adjacent frames of contrast data can be expressed as the first A matrix, and a frame of contrast data to be compared with the first matrix is expressed as a second matrix, then the step S330 to classify a frame of contrast data based on the relationship may include: determining the data points in the first matrix and The numerical interval to which the relationship result of the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix belongs; and the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix is classified as belonging to the corresponding category based on the numerical interval to which the relationship result belongs. In this embodiment, data points of different categories belonging to different numerical intervals in the second matrix (that is, a frame of contrast data to be differentiated) can be divided by presetting a number of numerical intervals.

In one embodiment, the numerical interval may be determined based on one or more preset thresholds. Obviously, the greater the number of preset thresholds, the more numerical intervals are divided, and the finer the classification of data points in a frame of angiographic data. For simplicity of description, a numerical interval based on a preset threshold T (where the value range of T is, for example, 0 to 1) is used as an example for description. In this example, the preset numerical interval may include a first numerical interval and a second numerical interval, the first numerical interval is, for example, (0, T], and the second numerical interval is, for example, (T, 1). (0,T) corresponds to the first type of data point, and the second numerical interval (T,1) corresponds to the second type of data point. When determining the data point in the first matrix (the difference data of two adjacent frames of angiographic data) and the first The relationship result (for example, the aforementioned amplitude ratio R) of the data points at the corresponding positions in the two matrices (one frame of contrast data that is differenced in two adjacent frames of contrast data) is within the first numerical interval, that is, R∈(0, T], the data points at the corresponding positions in the second matrix are divided into data points of the first category; when determining the relationship between the data points in the first matrix and the data points at the corresponding positions in the second matrix (for example, When the aforementioned amplitude ratio R) is within the second numerical interval, that is, Rε(T,1], the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix is divided into the second type of data point.

As mentioned above in conjunction with Figure 4 and Figure 5A, after the inter-frame difference, the signal amplitude will be significantly reduced compared to the signal amplitude of the differenced frame of contrast data. The ratio between the amplitudes is relatively small, that is, the R value is relatively small; as described above in conjunction with Figure 4 and Figure 5B, after the inter-frame difference, the signal amplitude is slightly weaker or close to the signal amplitude of the differenced frame of contrast data , That is, the ratio between the signal amplitude of the differential data and the signal amplitude of one frame of contrast data to be differentiated is relatively large, that is, the R value is relatively large. Therefore, the first category data points corresponding to R ∈ (0, T) are compared with the second category data points corresponding to R ∈ (T, 1], and the tissue residue at the first category data points is stronger than (more than ) Tissue residues at data points of the second category.

In a further embodiment of the present application, the numerical interval based on a preset threshold T may also include a third numerical interval, that is, a numerical interval (1,+∞)∪(- ∞,0). When determining the data point in the first matrix (the difference data of two adjacent frames of angiographic data) and the corresponding position in the second matrix (one frame of angiographic data that is differenced in two adjacent frames of angiographic data) The relationship result of the data points (for example, the aforementioned amplitude ratio R) is in the third numerical interval, that is, when R∈(1,+∞]∪(-∞,0), the data at the corresponding position in the second matrix The points are divided into the third category of data points. As mentioned above in conjunction with Figure 4 and Figure 5C, after the inter-frame difference, the signal amplitude is stronger than the signal amplitude of the differenced one frame of contrast data, that is, R is greater than 1, which means the third The category data points are noise data points (R less than 0 is considered to be a manifestation of the randomness of noise).

According to the above classification results, suppression processing can be performed in a targeted manner. In the embodiment of the present application, performing suppression processing on at least part of the data in one frame of contrast data based on the classification result in step S330 may include: determining, based on the classification result, data that needs to be suppressed in one frame of contrast data; Different types of data in the data that need to be suppressed are processed with different suppression factors.

In the embodiment of the present application, different types of data can be processed differently, for example, the data points with strong residual tissues described in the foregoing (such as the data points in the box 410 in FIG. 4 or the foregoing are classified as the first The data points of the category data points) can be processed with a stronger inhibitory factor (emphasis on inhibition) to better suppress the strong tissue residue in the angiographic data, where the inhibitory factor can be expressed as F, for example, F=R ^2. For a positive decimal R, it will be closer to 0 after being squared, which can enhance the suppression effect. For the data points with weak tissue residues described in the foregoing (the data points in box 420 in Figure 4 or the data points classified as the second category of data points in the previous section), a weaker suppression factor can be used for processing (moderate suppression ), in order to appropriately suppress the weak tissue residue in the contrast data without affecting the intensity of the contrast agent, where the suppression factor can be expressed as F, exemplarily,

For positive decimal R, it tends to 1 after opening the root sign, in order to achieve a more conservative inhibitory effect. For the unorganized residual data points described in the foregoing (the data points in the box 430 in Figure 4 or the data points classified as the third category of data points in the foregoing), the suppression process may not be required, or the suppression factor F It is equal to 1, that is, no processing is performed. Based on this, the effect of effectively suppressing tissue residue without affecting the intensity of the contrast agent can be achieved. It should be understood that the different types of data points represented by the above boxes 410-430 are only an example, and are not used to limit the present invention.

Since the differenced one frame of angiographic data can be expressed as a second matrix, different types of data points in the second matrix can be processed with different suppression factors F. Therefore, F can also be expressed as a matrix. The point-to-point multiplication of the two matrices can realize the tissue residue printing processing of the angiographic data. As mentioned earlier, F tends to 0, which means that the inhibitory effect is gradually strengthened; F tends to 1, which means that the inhibitory effect is weakened, or even no treatment.

Of course, the foregoing numerical interval divided by a single threshold, the calculation method of the suppression factor, and the action mode of the suppression factor are only exemplary, and multiple thresholds may be used to divide the numerical interval according to the teachings of the present application, and the suppression factor may also be other. The calculation method (such as other calculation methods other than square and root), and the action method of the suppression factor can also be other methods (such as not point-to-point multiplication, but addition, division, etc.).

Based on the above description, the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 300 according to the embodiment of the present application excavates the difference between the residual tissue and the contrast agent signal from the perspective of time domain difference (inter-frame difference), and can compare the residual part of the tissue and the contrast agent in the contrast data. The signal part is effectively distinguished, so that the residual part of the tissue can be effectively suppressed and the effect of the intensity of the contrast agent is not affected as much as possible.

6A to 7B can be used to check the tissue residue suppression effect obtained by the ultrasound contrast imaging method according to the embodiment of the present application. Among them, two scenarios are considered: the residual suppression effect when the contrast agent is not injected; the residual suppression effect after the injection of the contrast agent and the degree of influence on the intensity of the contrast agent. 6A shows an example of a human thyroid contrast dual real-time image processed by the ultrasound contrast imaging method according to the embodiment of the present application when no contrast agent is injected, and FIG. An example of double real-time images of human thyroid angiography processed by the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method. As shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the near-field residue is significantly suppressed, the mid-field residue is slightly weakened, and the background noise does not change, achieving the effect designed by the method of the embodiment. Fig. 7A shows an example of a canine liver contrast double real-time image after injection of a contrast agent and not processed by the ultrasound contrast imaging method according to an embodiment of the present application. FIG. 7B shows an example of a canine liver contrast double real-time image after injection of a contrast agent and processed by the ultrasound contrast imaging method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B, the near-field residual is significantly suppressed, the contrast agent signal is slightly lost, and the background noise is unchanged, and the desired effect is also achieved. Regarding how to further reduce the loss of the contrast agent signal, it can be achieved by optimizing the embodiment method under the teaching of this application, such as: using multiple thresholds with a smoother processing effect, improving the calculation method of the suppression factor, and so on.

The above exemplarily shows the ultrasound contrast imaging method 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method according to other embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 to 12.

FIG. 8 shows a schematic flowchart of a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 800 according to another embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 8, the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 800 may include the following steps:

In step S810, the ultrasonic probe is controlled to transmit ultrasonic waves to the target object, receive ultrasonic echoes, and obtain ultrasonic echo signals based on the ultrasonic echoes.

In step S820, at least two frames of contrast signal data are acquired based on the ultrasound echo signal, wherein each frame of contrast signal data is used to generate one frame of contrast image.

In step S830, the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast signal data is calculated, and the relationship between the information difference and one frame of contrast signal data in the two adjacent frames of contrast signal data is calculated.

In step S840, a frame of contrast signal data is divided into regions based on the relationship, and the contrast signal data of different regions is processed with different suppression factors.

In step S850, a contrast image is generated based on the processed one frame of contrast signal data.

In the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 800 according to the embodiment of the present application, at least two frames of contrast signal data are acquired in real-time, and based on the difference in information between two adjacent frames of contrast signal data and the difference in the contrast signal data of two adjacent frames For the relationship between one frame of contrast signal data, one frame of contrast signal data is divided into regions, the contrast signal data of different regions are processed with different suppression factors, and finally the contrast image is generated based on the processed contrast signal data.

Therefore, similar to the foregoing contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 300 according to the embodiment of the present application, in the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 800 according to the embodiment of the present application, it is also based on the difference in information between two adjacent frames of contrast data. The relationship between the differenced one-frame contrast data in the two-frame contrast data performs tissue residue suppression processing on the differenced one-frame contrast data. The difference is that in the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 800 according to the embodiment of the present application, it is based on the difference between the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast signal data and the differenced one frame of contrast signal data. The frame contrast signal data is divided into regions, and contrast images are generated based on the contrast signal data obtained after different regions are processed by different suppression factors. For the sake of brevity, the differences between the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 800 of the embodiment of the present application and the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 300 of the embodiment of the present application are mainly described here, and the remaining similarities are only briefly summarized.

In the embodiment of the present application, based on the relationship between the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast signal data and one frame of contrast signal data in two adjacent frames of contrast signal data, one frame of contrast signal data can be organized The area with strong residual (such as the contrast signal data corresponding to the area in the box 410 shown in Figure 4 above) and the area with weak tissue residual (such as the contrast signal data corresponding to the area in the box 420 shown in Figure 4 above) It is clearly distinguished from the area without tissue residue (such as the contrast signal data corresponding to the area in the box 430 shown in Figure 4 above), so that a frame of contrast signal data can be partitioned based on the relationship (for example, divided into tissue residue Strong areas, areas with weak tissue residues, areas without tissue residues, etc.), and based on the results of region division, different areas of a frame of contrast signal data are suppressed by different suppression factors, so that the generated contrast image can be organized The residual part is effectively suppressed and does not affect the effect of the contrast agent intensity.

In the embodiment of the present application, the contrast signal data of two adjacent frames includes the contrast signal data of the previous frame and the contrast signal data of the next frame. The calculation of the information difference between the contrast signal data of the two adjacent frames in step S830 may include : Calculate the forward difference result between the contrast signal data of the next frame and the contrast signal data of the previous frame; the relationship between the calculated information difference in step S830 and one frame of contrast signal data in two adjacent frames of contrast signal data includes: Calculate the relationship between the forward difference result and the contrast signal data of the previous frame.

In the embodiment of the present application, the contrast signal data of two adjacent frames includes the contrast signal data of the previous frame and the contrast signal data of the next frame. The calculation of the information difference between the contrast signal data of the two adjacent frames in step S830 includes: Calculate the backward difference result between the contrast signal data of the previous frame and the contrast signal data of the next frame; the relationship between the calculated information difference in step S830 and one frame of contrast signal data in two adjacent frames of contrast signal data includes: calculation The backward difference result is related to the size of the contrast signal data of the next frame.

In the embodiment of the present application, the contrast signal data acquired based on the ultrasound echo signal in step S820 may be the contrast signal data obtained after at least beam synthesis processing is performed on the ultrasound echo signal. The information difference includes amplitude difference, phase difference or frequency difference.

In the embodiment of the present application, the contrast signal data acquired based on the ultrasound echo signal in step S820 is the contrast signal data obtained after at least performing analog-to-digital conversion processing on the ultrasound echo signal. The difference in information includes the difference in amplitude.

In the embodiment of the present application, in step S830, the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast signal data is calculated, and the relationship between the information difference and one frame of contrast signal data in the two adjacent frames of contrast signal data is calculated, It may include: calculating the difference data between two adjacent frames of contrast signal data, performing envelope detection on the difference data and the differenced frame of contrast signal data, respectively, to obtain the respective amplitudes of the difference data and the differenced frame of contrast signal data Data; based on the amplitude data of the differential data and the amplitude data of the differenced one frame of contrast signal data, calculate the amplitude ratio of the difference data and the differenced one frame of contrast signal data to obtain the difference between the difference data and the differenced one frame of contrast signal data The result of the relationship.

In the embodiment of the present application, logarithmic compression may also be performed on the result obtained after envelope detection, and the area division of a frame of contrast signal data to be differentiated based on the amplitude ratio may be based on the logarithmically compressed amplitude ratio.

In the embodiment of the present application, in step S830, the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast signal data is calculated, and the information difference is calculated between the difference of one frame of contrast signal data in the adjacent two frames of contrast signal data The relationship may include: calculating the difference data between two adjacent frames of contrast signal data, calculating the ratio of the difference data and the differenced one frame of contrast signal data; performing envelope detection on the comparison value, and obtaining the difference data and the differenced one The amplitude ratio of the frame contrast signal data is taken as the result of the relationship between the difference data and the differenced one frame of contrast signal data.

In the embodiment of the present application, in step S830, the information difference between the contrast signal data of two adjacent frames is calculated, and the difference between the information difference and the contrast signal data of one frame of the contrast signal data of the adjacent two frames is calculated. The relationship may include: calculating the difference data between two adjacent frames of contrast signal data, and calculating the respective phase data of the difference data and the differenced one frame of contrast signal data; the phase data based on the difference data and the differenced one frame of contrast data The phase data of the signal data calculates the phase difference value between the difference data and the differenced frame of contrast signal data, and obtains the relationship result between the difference data and the differenced frame of contrast signal data.

In the embodiment of the present application, in step S830, the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast signal data is calculated, and the information difference is calculated between the difference of one frame of contrast signal data in the adjacent two frames of contrast signal data The relationship may include: calculating the difference data between two adjacent frames of contrast signal data, calculating the ratio between the difference data and the differenced one frame of contrast signal data; performing the argument detection on the comparison value, and obtaining the difference data and the differenced one The phase difference value of the frame contrast signal data is the result of the relationship between the difference data and the differenced one frame of contrast signal data.

In the embodiment of the present application, the difference data of two adjacent frames of contrast signal data may include a first matrix, and the differenced frame of contrast signal data may include a second matrix. In step S840, one frame of contrast signal data is determined based on the relationship. The area division may include: determining the numerical interval to which the relationship result between the data point in the first matrix and the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix belongs; and dividing the corresponding position in the second matrix based on the numerical interval to which the relationship result belongs The data points at are divided into corresponding areas. In this embodiment, data points in different regions belonging to different numerical intervals in the second matrix (that is, the differenced frame of contrast signal data) can be divided by pre-setting several numerical intervals.

In one embodiment, the numerical interval is determined based on one or more preset thresholds. Obviously, the greater the number of preset thresholds, the more numerical intervals are divided, and the finer the area division of one frame of contrast signal data. For simplicity of description, a numerical interval based on a preset threshold T (where the value range of T is, for example, 0 to 1) is used as an example for description. In this example, the preset numerical interval may include a first numerical interval and a second numerical interval. The first numerical interval is, for example, (0, T], and the second numerical interval is, for example, (T, 1).

When determining any data point in the first matrix (differential data of two adjacent frames of contrast signal data) and the corresponding position in the second matrix (one frame of contrast signal data that is differentiated in two adjacent frames of contrast data) The relationship result of the data points (for example, the aforementioned amplitude ratio R) belongs to the first numerical interval, that is, when R∈(0,T], the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix is divided into the data point of the first region, For example, the data points in the near-field residual area shown in the figure. When the relationship result between any data point in the first matrix and the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix (for example, the aforementioned amplitude ratio R) belongs to the second value The interval, that is, when R∈(T,1], the data points at the corresponding positions in the second matrix are divided into data points in the second area, such as the data points in the midfield residual area shown in the figure. Among them, the first area There are more tissue residues in the second region than in the second region.

In a further embodiment of the present application, the numerical interval based on a preset threshold T may also include a third numerical interval, that is, a numerical interval (1,+∞)∪(- ∞,0). When determining the data points in the first matrix (the difference data of the contrast signal data of two adjacent frames) and the second matrix (the contrast signal data of one frame of the contrast signal data of the adjacent two frames) The relationship result of the data point at the corresponding position (for example, the aforementioned amplitude ratio R) is in the third numerical interval, that is, when R∈(1,+∞]∪(-∞,0), the corresponding position in the second matrix The data points at are divided into data points in the noise area.

According to the above-mentioned area division result, the suppression processing can be performed in a targeted manner. As shown in the foregoing in conjunction with FIGS. 4 to 5C, the residual tissue in the near-field residual area is the most obvious, the residual tissue in the mid-field residual area is weak, and the noise area is basically free of tissue residual. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, the data points in the near-field residual area are processed by the first suppression factor, and the data points in the midfield residual area are processed by the second suppression factor. The suppression effect of the first suppression factor is greater than Inhibition of the second inhibitor. For example, the first inhibitor can be expressed as F1, by way of example, F1 = R ^2, R for a positive decimal, its request will squared closer to zero, can be enhanced inhibitory effect. The second inhibitory factor can be expressed as F2, exemplarily,

For positive decimal R, it tends to 1 after opening the root sign, in order to achieve a more conservative inhibitory effect. In addition, the data points in the noise area are processed by a third suppression factor, and the suppression effect of the third suppression factor is smaller than that of the second suppression factor. The third suppression factor can be expressed as F3, for example, F3=1. Based on this, the effect of effectively suppressing tissue residue without affecting the intensity of the contrast agent can be achieved. It should be understood that the above regional division of the near-field residual area, the mid-field residual area, and the far-field noise area is only an example, and is not intended to limit the present invention.

Since the differenced one frame of contrast signal data can be expressed as a second matrix, the data points in different regions in the second matrix can be processed by different suppression factors. Therefore, the suppression factor can also be expressed as a matrix. The second matrix performs point-to-point multiplication to realize the tissue residue printing processing of the angiographic data. As mentioned earlier, the inhibitory factor tends to 0, which means that the inhibitory effect is gradually strengthened; the inhibitory factor tends to 1, it means that the inhibitory effect is weakened, or even no treatment.

Based on the above description, the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 700 according to the embodiment of the present application excavates the difference between the residual tissue and the contrast agent signal from the perspective of time domain difference (inter-frame difference), and can compare the residual tissue area in the contrast signal data with the contrast agent signal. The agent signal area is effectively distinguished, so that the residual area of the tissue can be effectively suppressed and the effect of the contrast agent intensity is not affected as much as possible.

FIG. 9 shows a schematic flowchart of a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 900 according to another embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 9, the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 900 may include the following steps:

In step S910, the ultrasonic probe is controlled to transmit ultrasonic waves to the target object, receive ultrasonic echoes, and obtain ultrasonic echo signals based on the ultrasonic echoes.

In step S920, the contrast signal data is acquired based on the ultrasound echo signal, and a contrast image is generated based on the contrast signal data.

In step S930, at least two frames of contrast images are acquired, the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast images is calculated, and the relationship between the information difference and one of the two adjacent frames of contrast images is calculated.

In step S940, a frame of contrast image is divided into regions based on the relationship, and different regions of a frame of contrast image are processed with different suppression factors.

In the ultrasound contrast imaging method 900 according to the embodiment of the present application, at least two frames of contrast image data are acquired in real-time, and based on the difference in information between two adjacent frames of contrast image data and the difference between the two adjacent frames of contrast image data For the relationship between one frame of contrast image data, one frame of contrast image data is divided into regions, and the contrast image data of different regions is processed with different suppression factors.

Therefore, similar to the foregoing contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 800 according to the embodiment of the present application, in the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 900 according to the embodiment of the present application, it is also based on the difference in information between two adjacent frames of contrast data. The relationship between one frame of contrast data in the two frames of contrast data performs tissue residue suppression processing on one frame of contrast data. The difference is that in the ultrasound contrast imaging method 800 according to the embodiment of the present application, it is based on the difference between the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast image data and the difference between one frame of contrast image data in two adjacent frames of contrast image data. The relationship divides a frame of contrast image data into regions, instead of dividing a frame of contrast signal based on the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast signal data and the relationship between one frame of contrast signal data in two adjacent frames of contrast signal data The data is divided into regions. For brevity, the differences between the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 900 of the embodiment of the present application and the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 800 of the embodiment of the present application are mainly described here, and the remaining similarities are only briefly summarized.

In the embodiment of the present application, based on the relationship between the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast image data and one frame of contrast image data in two adjacent frames of contrast image data, one frame of contrast image data can be organized Areas with strong residues (such as the area within the box 410 shown in Figure 4 above) and areas with weak tissue residues (such as the area within the box 420 shown in Figure 4 above) and regions with basically no tissue residues (such as the above The area within the frame 430 shown in FIG. 4) is clearly distinguished, so that a frame of contrast image data can be partitioned based on the relationship (for example, divided into areas with strong tissue residue, areas with weak tissue residue, and no tissue residue). Based on the results of the area division, different areas of a frame of contrast image data are suppressed by different suppression factors, so that the residual part of the processed contrast image can be effectively suppressed without affecting the intensity of the contrast agent. Effect.

In the embodiment of the present application, two adjacent frames of contrast images include the previous frame of contrast images and the next frame of contrast images, and the calculation of the information difference between the two adjacent frames of contrast images in step S930 may include: calculating the latter The result of the forward difference between a frame of contrast image and the previous frame of contrast image; the relationship between the calculated information difference in step S930 and one frame of contrast image in two adjacent frames of contrast image may include: the calculation of the forward difference result and the previous frame The gray scale ratio of a contrast image.

In the embodiment of the present application, two adjacent frames of contrast image include the previous frame of contrast image and the next frame of contrast image, and the calculation of the information difference between the two adjacent frames of contrast image in step S930 may include: calculating the previous frame The result of the backward difference between one frame of contrast image and the next frame of contrast image; the relationship between the calculated information difference in step S930 and one of the two adjacent frames of contrast image may include: the result of calculating the backward difference and the latter one The gray ratio of the contrast image of the frame.

In the embodiment of the present application, the difference in information includes a first matrix, and a frame of contrasted image to be differentiated includes a second matrix. Based on the relationship, dividing the frame of contrasted image into regions may include: determining the difference in the first matrix The numerical interval to which the gray scale ratio of the data point and the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix belongs; and the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix is divided into the corresponding area based on the numerical interval to which the gray scale ratio belongs.

In the embodiment of the present application, the numerical interval is determined based on one or more preset thresholds.

In the embodiment of the present application, the numerical interval includes a first numerical interval and a second numerical interval determined based on a preset threshold; the first numerical interval corresponds to the first region, the second numerical interval corresponds to the second region, and More tissue residues in the second area than in the second area; when the gray scale ratio of any data point in the first matrix to the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix belongs to the first numerical interval, the first area The data points in the second matrix are processed by the first suppression factor; when the grayscale ratio of any data point in the first matrix to the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix belongs to the second numerical interval, the second area is The data points of using the second inhibitory factor for processing, the inhibitory effect of the first inhibitory factor is greater than the inhibitory effect of the second inhibitory factor.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first area is the near field residual area, and the second area is the midfield residual area.

In the embodiment of the present application, the numerical interval further includes a third numerical interval corresponding to the noise area; when the grayscale ratio of any data point in the first matrix to the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix belongs to the third In the numerical interval, the data points in the noise area are processed by the third suppression factor, and the suppression effect of the third suppression factor is less than the suppression effect of the second suppression factor.

In the embodiment of the present application, the third suppression factor is equal to 1.

Based on the above description, the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 900 according to the embodiment of the present application excavates the difference between the residual tissue and the contrast agent signal from the perspective of time domain difference (inter-frame difference), and can compare the residual tissue area in the contrast image data with the contrast agent signal. The agent image area is effectively distinguished, so that the residual area of the tissue can be effectively suppressed and the effect of the contrast agent strength is not affected as much as possible.

FIG. 10 is a schematic flowchart of a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 1000 according to another embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 10, the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 100 may include the following steps:

In step S1010, the ultrasonic probe is controlled to transmit ultrasonic waves to the target object, receive echoes of the ultrasonic waves, and obtain ultrasonic echo signals based on the echoes of the ultrasonic waves.

In step S1020, at least two frames of contrast signal data are acquired based on the ultrasound echo signal, wherein each frame of contrast signal data is used to generate one frame of contrast image.

In step S1030, the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast signal data is calculated, and the relationship between the information difference and one frame of contrast signal data in the two adjacent frames of contrast signal data is calculated.

In step S1040, the one frame of contrast signal data is classified based on the relationship, and at least part of the data of the one frame of contrast signal data is suppressed based on the classification result.

In step S1050, a contrast image is generated based on the processed one frame of contrast signal data.

The contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 1000 according to the embodiment of the present application is similar to the foregoing contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 300 according to the embodiment of the present application as a whole, except that the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 1000 according to the embodiment of the present application is real-time in steps S1010-S1020. Two frames of contrast data are acquired, and the acquired contrast data is contrast signal data used to generate a contrast image. In the embodiment of the present application, the contrast signal data acquired in steps S1010-S1020 may be baseband data, and the information difference between the contrast signal data of two adjacent frames includes amplitude difference, phase difference or frequency difference.

Based on the above description, the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 1000 according to the embodiment of the present application excavates the difference between the residual tissue and the contrast agent signal from the perspective of time domain difference (inter-frame difference), and can compare the residual tissue area in the contrast signal data with the contrast agent signal. The agent signal area is effectively distinguished, so that the residual area of the tissue can be effectively suppressed and the effect of the contrast agent intensity is not affected as much as possible.

FIG. 11 shows a schematic flowchart of a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 1100 according to another embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 10, the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 1100 may include the following steps:

In step S1110, the ultrasonic probe is controlled to transmit ultrasonic waves to the target object, receive ultrasonic echoes, and obtain ultrasonic echo signals based on the ultrasonic echoes.

In step S1120, the contrast signal data is acquired based on the ultrasound echo signal, and a contrast image is generated based on the contrast signal data.

In step S1130, the information difference between two adjacent contrast images is calculated, and the relationship between the information difference and one of the two adjacent contrast images is calculated.

In step S1140, the one-frame contrast image is classified based on the relationship, and at least part of the one-frame contrast image is suppressed based on the classification result.

The contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 1100 according to the embodiment of the present application is similar to the foregoing contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 300 according to the embodiment of the present application as a whole, except that the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 1100 according to the embodiment of the present application acquires in real time in steps S1110-S1120 At least two contrast images. In the embodiment of the present application, calculating the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast images in step S1130 may include: calculating the gray difference result between two adjacent frames of contrast images; calculating the information difference in step S1130 The relationship with one frame of contrast images in two adjacent frames of contrast images may include: calculating the gray level ratio between the gray difference result and one frame of contrast images in two adjacent frames of contrast images.

Based on the above description, the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method 1100 according to the embodiment of the present application excavates the difference between the residual tissue and the contrast agent signal from the perspective of time domain difference (inter-frame difference), and can compare the residual tissue area in the contrast image data with the contrast agent signal. The agent image area is effectively distinguished, so that the residual area of the tissue can be effectively suppressed and the effect of the contrast agent strength is not affected as much as possible.

2 again, an embodiment of the present invention also provides a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging apparatus 100, which can be used to implement the above-mentioned contrast-enhanced imaging method. The ultrasound contrast imaging apparatus 100 may include a probe 110, a transmitting circuit 112, a receiving circuit 114, a beam combining circuit 116, a processor 118 and a display 120, a transmitting/receiving selection switch 122, and some or all of the components in the memory 124, and the correlation of each component The description can refer to the above.

The transmitting circuit 112 is used to excite the ultrasonic probe 110 to transmit ultrasonic waves to the target object. The receiving circuit 114 is used to control the ultrasonic probe 110 to receive the ultrasonic echo returned from the target object to obtain the ultrasonic echo signal. The processor 118 may be used to execute the above-mentioned contrast-enhanced

ultrasound imaging methods

300, 800, 900, 1000, and 1100. Hereinafter, only the main functions of the ultrasound contrast imaging apparatus 100 are described, and the details that have been described above are omitted.

In one embodiment, the processor 118 calculates the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data, and calculates the relationship between the information difference and one frame of contrast data in the two adjacent frames of contrast data; The relationship classifies the one frame of contrast data, and performs suppression processing on at least part of the one frame of contrast data based on the classification result.

In one embodiment, the difference in information between two adjacent frames of contrast data includes an amplitude difference, a phase difference, or a frequency difference.

In one embodiment, when the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data is a magnitude difference, the processor 118 calculates the difference data between the two adjacent frames of contrast data, and calculates the difference data and the one. The amplitude data of each frame of contrast data; based on the amplitude data of the differential data and the amplitude data of the one frame of contrast data, the amplitude ratio of the differential data and the one frame of contrast data is calculated to obtain the difference data and the The result of the relationship between one frame of contrast data.

In one embodiment, when the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data is a magnitude difference, the processor 118 calculates the difference data between the two adjacent frames of contrast data, and compares the difference data with the one frame. Calculating the ratio of the contrast data; and solving the amplitude of the ratio to obtain the ratio of the amplitude of the difference data to the one frame of contrast data, which is used as the result of the relationship between the difference data and the one frame of contrast data.

In one embodiment, when the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data is a phase difference, the processor 118 calculates the difference data between the two adjacent frames of contrast data, and calculates the difference data and the one The phase data of each frame of contrast data; the phase difference between the difference data and the one frame of contrast data is calculated based on the phase data of the differential data and the phase data of the one frame of contrast data, to obtain the difference data and the phase data Describe the results of the relationship between one frame of contrast data.

In one embodiment, when the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data is a phase difference, the processor 118 calculates the difference data between the two adjacent frames of contrast data, and compares the difference data with the one frame. Calculating the ratio of the contrast data; and solving the phase of the ratio to obtain the phase difference value between the difference data and the one frame of contrast data as a result of the relationship between the difference data and the one frame of contrast data.

In an embodiment, the difference data includes a first matrix, the one frame of contrast data includes a second matrix, and the processor 118 is configured to determine the data points in the first matrix and the corresponding data points in the second matrix. The numerical interval to which the relationship result of the data point at the position belongs, and the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix is classified as belonging to the corresponding category based on the numerical interval to which the relationship result belongs.

In one embodiment, the processor 118 is configured to determine, based on the result of the classification, data that needs to be suppressed in the one frame of angiographic data; and use different suppression for different types of data in the data that needs to be suppressed. Factor processing.

In one embodiment, the numerical interval is determined based on one or more preset thresholds.

In one embodiment, the numerical interval includes a first numerical interval and a second numerical interval determined based on the preset threshold; the first numerical interval corresponds to a first type of data point, and the second numerical interval corresponds to a first numerical interval. Two types of data points, and the tissue residues at the first type data points are stronger than the tissue residues at the second type data points; when any data point in the first matrix and the second matrix When the result of the relationship between the data points at the corresponding positions belongs to the first numerical interval, the data points at the corresponding positions in the second matrix are divided into data points of the first category; when any of the data points in the first matrix When the result of the relationship between a data point and the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix belongs to the second numerical interval, the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix is divided into a second type of data point ; Using a first inhibitor to process the first category of data points, using a second inhibitor to process the second category of data points, the inhibitory effect of the first inhibitory factor is greater than that of the second inhibitory factor Inhibition.

In one embodiment, the processor 118 calculates the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data, and calculates the relationship between the information difference and one frame of contrast data in the two adjacent frames of contrast data; The relationship divides the one frame of contrast data into regions, and uses different suppression factors to process the contrast data in different regions. The contrast data may be contrast signal data used to generate one frame of contrast image, or one frame of contrast image data.

The following describes a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging apparatus according to another embodiment of the present application in conjunction with FIG. 12, which can be used to implement the above-mentioned contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

The following describes a schematic block diagram of an ultrasound contrast imaging apparatus according to another embodiment of the present application with reference to FIG. 12. FIG. 12 shows a schematic block diagram of an ultrasound contrast imaging apparatus 1200 according to an embodiment of the present application. The ultrasound contrast imaging apparatus 1200 includes a memory 1210 and a processor 1220.

Wherein, the memory 1210 stores programs for implementing corresponding steps in the ultrasound

contrast imaging methods

300, 800, 900, 1000, and 1100 according to the embodiments of the present application. The processor 1220 is configured to run a program stored in the memory 1210 to execute corresponding steps of the ultrasound

contrast imaging methods

300, 800, 900, 1000, and 1100 according to the embodiments of the present application.

In addition, according to an embodiment of the present application, there is also provided a storage medium on which program instructions are stored, and when the program instructions are run by a computer or a processor, they are used to execute the ultrasound contrast imaging The corresponding steps of the method. The storage medium may include, for example, a memory card of a smart phone, a storage component of a tablet computer, a hard disk of a personal computer, a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), USB memory, or any combination of the above storage media. The computer-readable storage medium may be any combination of one or more computer-readable storage media.

In addition, according to an embodiment of the present application, a computer program is also provided, and the computer program can be stored in a cloud or a local storage medium. When the computer program is run by a computer or a processor, it is used to execute the corresponding steps of the ultrasound contrast imaging method of the embodiment of the present application.

Based on the above description, the contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method, device, and storage medium according to the embodiments of the present application excavate the difference between the tissue residue and the contrast agent signal from the perspective of time domain difference (inter-frame difference), and can detect the tissue residue in the contrast data. The part is effectively distinguished from the signal part of the contrast agent, so that the residual part of the tissue can be effectively suppressed and the effect of the intensity of the contrast agent is not affected as much as possible.

Although the exemplary embodiments have been described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, it should be understood that the above-described exemplary embodiments are merely exemplary, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present application thereto. Those of ordinary skill in the art can make various changes and modifications therein without departing from the scope and spirit of the present application. All these changes and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present application as required by the appended claims.

A person of ordinary skill in the art may realize that the units and algorithm steps of the examples described in combination with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented by electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are executed by hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraint conditions of the technical solution. Professionals and technicians can use different methods for each specific application to implement the described functions, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed device and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative, for example, the division of the units is only a logical function division, and there may be other divisions in actual implementation, for example, multiple units or components may be combined or It can be integrated into another device, or some features can be ignored or not implemented.

In the instructions provided here, a lot of specific details are explained. However, it can be understood that the embodiments of the present application can be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known methods, structures, and technologies are not shown in detail, so as not to obscure the understanding of this specification.

Similarly, it should be understood that, in order to simplify this application and help understand one or more of the various aspects of the invention, in the description of the exemplary embodiments of this application, the various features of this application are sometimes grouped together into a single embodiment or figure. , Or in its description. However, the method of this application should not be interpreted as reflecting the intention that the claimed application requires more features than the features explicitly recorded in each claim. More precisely, as reflected in the corresponding claims, the point of the invention is that the corresponding technical problems can be solved with features that are less than all the features of a single disclosed embodiment. Therefore, the claims following the specific embodiment are thus explicitly incorporated into the specific embodiment, wherein each claim itself serves as a separate embodiment of the application.

Those skilled in the art can understand that, in addition to mutual exclusion between the features, any combination of all features disclosed in this specification (including the accompanying claims, abstract, and drawings) and any method or device disclosed in this manner can be used. Processes or units are combined. Unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed in this specification (including the accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) may be replaced by an alternative feature providing the same, equivalent or similar purpose.

In addition, those skilled in the art can understand that although some embodiments described herein include certain features included in other embodiments but not other features, the combination of features of different embodiments means that they are within the scope of the present application. Within and form different embodiments. For example, in the claims, any one of the claimed embodiments can be used in any combination.

The various component embodiments of the present application may be implemented by hardware, or by software modules running on one or more processors, or by a combination of them. Those skilled in the art should understand that a microprocessor or a digital signal processor (DSP) may be used in practice to implement some or all of the functions of some modules according to the embodiments of the present application. This application can also be implemented as a device program (for example, a computer program and a computer program product) for executing part or all of the methods described herein. Such a program for implementing the present application may be stored on a computer readable medium, or may have the form of one or more signals. Such a signal can be downloaded from an Internet website, or provided on a carrier signal, or provided in any other form.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments illustrate rather than limit the application, and those skilled in the art can design alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims. In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses should not be constructed as a limitation to the claims. The application can be realized by means of hardware including several different elements and by means of a suitably programmed computer. In the unit claims listing several devices, several of these devices may be embodied in the same hardware item. The use of the words first, second, and third, etc. do not indicate any order. These words can be interpreted as names.

The above are only specific implementations of this application or descriptions of specific implementations. The scope of protection of this application is not limited to this. Anyone familiar with the technical field within the technical scope disclosed in this application can easily Any change or replacement should be covered within the scope of protection of this application. The protection scope of this application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

A contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method, characterized in that the method includes:

Controlling the ultrasonic probe to transmit ultrasonic waves to the target object, receive the echo of the ultrasonic waves, and obtain ultrasonic echo signals based on the echo of the ultrasonic waves;

Acquiring at least two frames of contrast signal data based on the ultrasound echo signal, wherein each frame of contrast signal data is used to generate one frame of contrast image;

Calculating the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast signal data, and calculating the relationship between the information difference and one frame of contrast signal data in the two adjacent frames of contrast signal data;

Divide the one frame of contrast signal data into regions based on the relationship, and use different suppression factors to process the contrast signal data in different regions; and

A contrast image is generated based on the processed one frame of contrast signal data.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the contrast signal data of two adjacent frames comprises contrast signal data of the previous frame and contrast signal data of the next frame,

The calculating the information difference between the contrast signal data of two adjacent frames includes: calculating the forward difference result of the contrast signal data of the next frame and the contrast signal data of the previous frame;

The calculating the relationship between the information difference and the contrast signal data of one frame of the contrast signal data of the two adjacent frames includes: calculating the magnitude relationship between the forward difference result and the contrast signal data of the previous frame .
The method according to claim 1, wherein the contrast signal data of two adjacent frames comprises contrast signal data of the previous frame and contrast signal data of the next frame,

The calculating the information difference between the contrast signal data of two adjacent frames includes: calculating the backward difference result of the contrast signal data of the previous frame and the contrast signal data of the next frame;

The calculating the relationship between the information difference and the contrast signal data of one frame of the contrast signal data of the two adjacent frames includes: calculating the magnitude relationship between the backward difference result and the contrast signal data of the next frame .
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the contrast signal data obtained based on the ultrasound echo signal is a contrast signal obtained after at least beam synthesis processing is performed on the ultrasound echo signal Data, the information difference between the contrast signal data of two adjacent frames includes an amplitude difference, a phase difference or a frequency difference.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the contrast signal data obtained based on the ultrasound echo signal is a contrast signal obtained after at least an analog-to-digital conversion process is performed on the ultrasound echo signal. Signal data, the information difference between the contrast signal data of two adjacent frames includes amplitude difference.
The method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the amplitude difference between two adjacent frames of contrast signal data is calculated, and the amplitude difference is calculated as compared with one frame of contrast signal data in the two adjacent frames of contrast signal data. The relationship between signal data includes:

Calculate the difference data between the two adjacent frames of contrast signal data, and perform envelope detection on the difference data and one frame of the contrast signal data of the two adjacent frames of contrast signal data, respectively, to obtain the difference data and Respective amplitude data of the one frame of contrast signal data;

Based on the amplitude data of the differential data and the amplitude data of the one frame of contrast signal data, the amplitude ratio between the differential data and the one frame of contrast signal data is calculated to obtain the difference between the differential data and the one frame of contrast signal data. The relationship between the results.
The method according to claim 6, wherein the method further comprises:

Log compression is performed on the result obtained after the envelope detection, and the area division of the one frame of contrast signal data based on the amplitude ratio is based on the logarithmically compressed amplitude ratio.
The method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the amplitude difference between two adjacent frames of contrast signal data is calculated, and the amplitude difference is calculated as compared with one frame of contrast signal data in the two adjacent frames of contrast signal data. The relationship between signal data includes:

Calculating the difference data between the contrast signal data of the two adjacent frames, and calculating the ratio of the difference data to the contrast signal data of the one frame;

Envelope detection is performed on the ratio to obtain the amplitude ratio of the difference data to the one frame of contrast signal data as a result of the relationship between the difference data and the one frame of contrast signal data.
The method according to claim 4, wherein the phase difference between two adjacent frames of contrast signal data is calculated, and the phase difference is calculated from one frame of contrast signal data in the two adjacent frames of contrast signal data The relationship between, including:

Calculating the difference data between the two adjacent frames of contrast signal data, and calculating the respective phase data of the difference data and the one frame of contrast signal data;

Calculate the phase difference between the differential data and the one frame of contrast signal data based on the phase data of the differential data and the phase data of the one frame of contrast signal data to obtain the differential data and the one frame of contrast signal data The relationship between the results.
The method according to claim 4, wherein the phase difference between two adjacent frames of contrast signal data is calculated, and the phase difference is calculated from one frame of contrast signal data in the two adjacent frames of contrast signal data The relationship between, including:

Calculating the difference data between the contrast signal data of the two adjacent frames, and calculating the ratio of the difference data to the contrast signal data of the one frame;

Argument detection is performed on the ratio to obtain a phase difference value between the difference data and the one frame of contrast signal data as a result of the relationship between the difference data and the one frame of contrast signal data.
The method according to any one of claims 6-10, wherein the difference data includes a first matrix, the one frame of contrast signal data includes a second matrix, and the difference data includes a second matrix based on the relationship. One frame of contrast signal data is divided into areas, including:

Determining a numerical interval to which a result of a relationship between a data point in the first matrix and a data point at a corresponding position in the second matrix belongs;

The data points at the corresponding positions in the second matrix are divided into corresponding regions based on the numerical interval to which the relationship result belongs.
The method according to claim 11, wherein the numerical interval is determined based on one or more preset thresholds.
The method according to claim 12, wherein the numerical interval is determined based on a preset threshold T, the numerical interval includes a first numerical interval and a second numerical interval, and the first numerical interval is ( 0,T], the second numerical interval is (T,1];

When the result of the relationship between any data point in the first matrix and the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix belongs to the first numerical interval, the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix is The data points are divided into data points in the near-field residual area, and the data points in the near-field residual area are processed by the first suppression factor;

When the result of the relationship between any data point in the first matrix and the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix belongs to the second numerical interval, the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix is The data points are divided into data points in the midfield residual area, and the data points in the midfield residual area are processed by a second suppression factor, and the suppression effect of the first suppression factor is greater than the suppression effect of the second suppression factor .
The method according to claim 13, wherein the numerical interval further comprises a third numerical interval, and the third numerical interval is (-∞,0]∪(1,+∞);

When the result of the relationship between any data point in the first matrix and the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix belongs to the third numerical interval, the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix is The data points are divided into data points in a noise area, and the data points in the noise area are processed by a third suppression factor, and the suppression effect of the third suppression factor is smaller than that of the second suppression factor, wherein the The third suppression factor is equal to 1.
A contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method, characterized in that the method includes:

Controlling the ultrasonic probe to transmit ultrasonic waves to the target object, receive the echo of the ultrasonic waves, and obtain ultrasonic echo signals based on the echo of the ultrasonic waves;

Acquiring contrast signal data based on the ultrasound echo signal, and generating a contrast image based on the contrast signal data;

Acquiring at least two frames of contrast images, calculating the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast images, and calculating the relationship between the information difference and one of the two adjacent frames of contrast images; and

Based on the relationship, the one frame of contrast image is divided into regions, and different regions of the one frame of contrast image are processed with different suppression factors.
The method according to claim 15, wherein the two adjacent frames of contrast image include a previous frame of contrast image and a subsequent frame of contrast image,

The calculating the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast images includes: calculating a forward difference result of the contrast image of the next frame and the contrast image of the previous frame;

The calculating the relationship between the information difference and a contrast image of the two adjacent frames of contrast image includes: calculating the gray ratio of the result of the forward difference to the contrast image of the previous frame.
The method according to claim 15, wherein the two adjacent frames of contrast image include a previous frame of contrast image and a subsequent frame of contrast image,

The calculating the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast images includes: calculating a backward difference result of the contrast image of the previous frame and the contrast image of the next frame;

The calculating the relationship between the information difference and one frame of the contrast image of the two adjacent frames of contrast image includes: calculating the gray scale ratio of the backward difference result to the next frame of contrast image.
The method according to any one of claims 15-17, wherein the information difference comprises a first matrix, the one frame of angiographic image comprises a second matrix, and the one is divided based on the relationship Frame the contrast image for regional division, including:

Determining the numerical interval to which the gray scale ratio of the data point in the first matrix and the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix belongs;

The data points at the corresponding positions in the second matrix are divided into corresponding regions based on the numerical interval to which the gray-scale ratio belongs.
The method according to claim 18, wherein the numerical interval is determined based on one or more preset thresholds.
The method according to claim 19, wherein the numerical interval comprises a first numerical interval and a second numerical interval determined based on the preset threshold; the first numerical interval corresponds to the first region, and the first numerical interval The two-value interval corresponds to the second area, and the tissue residue in the first area is more than the tissue residue in the second area;

When the gray scale ratio of any data point in the first matrix to the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix belongs to the first numerical interval, the data point in the first region is used The first inhibitor is processed;

When the grayscale ratio of any data point in the first matrix to the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix belongs to the second numerical interval, the data point in the second region is used The second inhibitory factor is processed, and the inhibitory effect of the first inhibitory factor is greater than the inhibitory effect of the second inhibitory factor.
22. The method of claim 20, wherein the first area is a near-field residual area, and the second area is a mid-field residual area.
The method according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the numerical interval further comprises a third numerical interval corresponding to the noise area;

When the gray scale ratio of any data point in the first matrix to the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix belongs to the third numerical interval, the first data point in the noise region is adopted. Three inhibitory factors are processed, and the inhibitory effect of the third inhibitory factor is less than the inhibitory effect of the second inhibitory factor.
The method of claim 22, wherein the third suppression factor is equal to one.
An ultrasound contrast imaging device, characterized in that the device includes an ultrasound probe, a transmitting/receiving sequence controller, and a processor, wherein,

The transmitting/receiving sequence controller is used to excite the ultrasonic probe to transmit ultrasonic waves to a target object, receive echoes of the ultrasonic waves, and obtain ultrasonic echo signals based on the echoes of the ultrasonic waves;

The processor is configured to execute the ultrasound contrast imaging method according to any one of claims 1-23.
A contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method, characterized in that the method includes:

Obtain at least two frames of contrast data;

Calculating the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data, and calculating the relationship between the information difference and one frame of contrast data in the two adjacent frames of contrast data;

The one frame of contrast data is classified based on the relationship, and at least part of the one frame of contrast data is suppressed based on a result of the classification.
The method according to claim 25, wherein the contrast data of two adjacent frames comprise contrast data of the previous frame and contrast data of the next frame,

The calculating the information difference between the contrast data of two adjacent frames includes: calculating a forward difference result of the contrast data of the next frame and the contrast data of the previous frame;

The calculating the relationship between the information difference and one frame of contrast data in the two adjacent frames of contrast data includes: calculating the magnitude relationship between the forward difference result and the previous frame of contrast data.
The method according to claim 25, wherein the contrast data of two adjacent frames comprise contrast data of the previous frame and contrast data of the next frame,

The calculating the information difference between the contrast data of two adjacent frames includes: calculating the backward difference result of the contrast data of the previous frame and the contrast data of the next frame;

The calculating the relationship between the information difference and one frame of contrast data in the two adjacent frames of contrast data includes: calculating the magnitude relationship between the backward difference result and the next frame of contrast data.
The method according to any one of claims 25-27, wherein the information difference between the contrast data of two adjacent frames includes an amplitude difference, a phase difference or a frequency difference.
The method according to claim 28, wherein when the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data is an amplitude difference, the calculating the amplitude difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data, and calculating the amplitude difference The relationship with one frame of contrast data in the two adjacent frames of contrast data includes:

Calculating the difference data between the two adjacent frames of contrast data, and calculating the respective amplitude data of the difference data and the one frame of contrast data;

Calculate the amplitude ratio of the differential data and the one frame of contrast data based on the amplitude data of the differential data and the amplitude data of the one frame of contrast data to obtain the relationship between the differential data and the one frame of contrast data result.
The method according to claim 28, wherein when the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data is an amplitude difference, the calculating the amplitude difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data, and calculating the amplitude difference The relationship with one frame of contrast data in the two adjacent frames of contrast data includes:

Calculating the difference data between the two adjacent frames of contrast data, and calculating the ratio of the difference data to the one frame of contrast data;

Solving the magnitude of the ratio to obtain the magnitude ratio of the difference data to the one frame of contrast data is used as a result of the relationship between the difference data and the one frame of contrast data.
28. The method according to claim 28, wherein when the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data is a phase difference, said calculating the phase difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data, and calculating the phase difference The relationship with one frame of contrast data in the two adjacent frames of contrast data includes:

Calculating the difference data between the two adjacent frames of contrast data, and calculating the respective phase data of the difference data and the one frame of contrast data;

Calculate the phase difference between the differential data and the one frame of contrast data based on the phase data of the differential data and the phase data of the one frame of contrast data to obtain the difference between the differential data and the one frame of contrast data Relationship result.
28. The method according to claim 28, wherein when the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data is a phase difference, said calculating the phase difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data, and calculating the phase difference The relationship with one frame of contrast data in the two adjacent frames of contrast data includes:

Calculating the difference data between the two adjacent frames of contrast data, and calculating the ratio of the difference data to the one frame of contrast data;

A phase solution is performed on the ratio to obtain a phase difference value between the difference data and the one frame of contrast data as a result of the relationship between the difference data and the one frame of contrast data.
The method according to any one of claims 29-32, wherein the difference data includes a first matrix, the one frame of contrast data includes a second matrix, and the one frame is divided based on the relationship. Frame angiography data is classified, including:

Determining a numerical interval to which a result of a relationship between a data point in the first matrix and a data point at a corresponding position in the second matrix belongs;

The data points at the corresponding positions in the second matrix are classified as belonging to corresponding categories based on the numerical interval to which the relationship result belongs.
The method according to any one of claims 25-33, wherein the suppressing processing on at least part of the data in the one frame of contrast data based on the result of the classification comprises:

Determine, based on the result of the classification, data that needs to be suppressed in the one frame of contrast data;

Different types of data in the data to be suppressed are processed by using different suppression factors.
The method according to claim 33 or 34, wherein the numerical interval is determined based on one or more preset thresholds.
The method according to claim 35, wherein the numerical interval comprises a first numerical interval and a second numerical interval determined based on the preset threshold; the first numerical interval corresponds to a first type of data point, so The second numerical interval corresponds to a second type of data point, and the tissue residue at the first type data point is stronger than the tissue residue at the second type data point;

When the result of the relationship between any data point in the first matrix and the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix belongs to the first numerical interval, the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix is Data points are classified into the first category of data points;

When the result of the relationship between any data point in the first matrix and the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix belongs to the second numerical interval, the data point at the corresponding position in the second matrix is Data points are divided into second category data points;

The first inhibitory factor is used to process the first category of data points, and the second inhibitory factor is used to process the second category of data points. The inhibitory effect of the first inhibitory factor is greater than that of the second inhibitory factor effect.
A contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method, characterized in that the method includes:

Controlling the ultrasonic probe to transmit ultrasonic waves to the target object, receive the echo of the ultrasonic waves, and obtain ultrasonic echo signals based on the echo of the ultrasonic waves;

Acquiring at least two frames of contrast signal data based on the ultrasound echo signal, wherein each frame of contrast signal data is used to generate one frame of contrast image;

Calculating the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast signal data, and calculating the relationship between the information difference and one frame of contrast signal data in the two adjacent frames of contrast signal data;

Classifying the one frame of contrast signal data based on the relationship, and performing suppression processing on at least part of the one frame of contrast signal data based on the result of the classification; and

A contrast image is generated based on the processed one frame of contrast signal data.
The method according to claim 37, wherein the acquired contrast signal data is baseband data, and the information difference between the contrast signal data of two adjacent frames includes an amplitude difference, a phase difference or a frequency difference.
A contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method, characterized in that the method includes:

Controlling the ultrasonic probe to transmit ultrasonic waves to the target object, receive the echo of the ultrasonic waves, and obtain ultrasonic echo signals based on the echo of the ultrasonic waves;

Acquiring contrast signal data based on the ultrasound echo signal, and generating a contrast image based on the contrast signal data;

Calculate the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast images, and calculate the relationship between the information difference and one of the two adjacent frames of contrast images; and

The one-frame contrast image is classified based on the relationship, and at least part of the one-frame contrast image is suppressed based on the classification result.
The method according to claim 39, wherein the calculating the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast images comprises: calculating a gray difference result between two adjacent frames of contrast images;

The calculating the relationship between the information difference and one frame of the contrast image of the two adjacent frames of contrast image includes: calculating the gray difference result and one frame of the contrast image of the two adjacent frames of contrast image The ratio of gray levels between images.
An ultrasound contrast imaging device, characterized in that the device includes an ultrasound probe, a transmitting/receiving sequence controller and a processor, wherein:

The transmitting/receiving sequence controller is used to excite the ultrasonic probe to transmit ultrasonic waves to a target object, receive echoes of the ultrasonic waves, and obtain ultrasonic echo signals based on the echoes of the ultrasonic waves;

The processor is configured to: obtain at least two frames of contrast data based on the ultrasound echo signal; calculate the information difference between two adjacent frames of contrast data, and calculate the difference between the information difference and the contrast data of the two adjacent frames The relationship between one frame of contrast data; the one frame of contrast data is classified based on the relationship, and at least part of the one frame of contrast data is suppressed based on the result of the classification.
A storage medium, characterized in that a computer program is stored on the storage medium, and the computer program executes the ultrasound contrast imaging method according to any one of claims 1-23 and 25-40 during operation.