WO2023159654A1

WO2023159654A1 - Deep nerve ultrasonic automatic positioning and mapping method, and apparatus, device and medium

Info

Publication number: WO2023159654A1
Application number: PCT/CN2022/078562
Authority: WO
Inventors: 肖杨
Original assignee: 深圳高性能医疗器械国家研究院有限公司
Priority date: 2022-02-24
Filing date: 2022-03-01
Publication date: 2023-08-31
Also published as: CN114209355B; CN114209355A

Abstract

A deep nerve ultrasonic automatic positioning and mapping method, comprising: covering a target region to be positioned of a subject with a multi-array-element ultrasonic array transducer; transmitting a plurality of ultrasonic waves by means of driving the multi-array-element ultrasonic array transducer; performing focusing at any preset detection position of said target region in a human body, so as to form a focus to provide ultrasonic stimulation; and acquiring corresponding stimulation response data at an action site which is associated with a nerve to be positioned. In this way, the movement of a probe can be prevented, the target region can be automatically and completely scanned simply by means of adjusting the position of the focus formed by focusing, thereby improving coupling with the human body; and then, among a plurality of pieces of acquired stimulation response data, determining to be the position of said nerve in said target region a preset detection position which corresponds to stimulation response data that is greater than a preset response threshold value. The deep nerve ultrasonic automatic positioning and mapping method can realize accurate positioning of a nerve to be positioned that is performed by an ultrasonic wave. In addition, further provided are a nerve positioning apparatus and device, and a storage medium.

Description

Deep nerve ultrasound automatic positioning and mapping method, device, equipment and medium

technical field

The present application relates to the technical field of medical devices, in particular to a deep nerve ultrasonic automatic positioning and mapping method, device, equipment and medium.

Background technique

Nervous system is the leading functional regulation system in the human body. After being received by receptors, various information of internal and external environments are transmitted to the central centers of the brain and spinal cord at all levels for integration through peripheral nerves, and then the body is controlled and adjusted through peripheral nerves. The activities and functions of various system organs to maintain the relative balance between the body and the internal and external environments. Therefore, by precisely locating nerves, we can gain a deeper understanding of the mechanism of the human body.

technical problem

Nerve localization and mapping methods based on electrical stimulation have poor penetration, and electrodes need to be used to directly contact the nerves, and non-contact deep stimulation cannot be performed; if a single electrode is used for stimulation, it is necessary to manually change the target point, which has the problem of poor flexibility However, if the electrode array is used for stimulation, there are problems such as poor penetrability of the surface electrode array, large trauma of the implanted electrode array, poor spatial directivity, and low resolution.

Ultrasound is a mechanical wave that propagates in elastic media (biological tissues), and has complex acoustic effects such as wave effects, thermal effects, and mechanical effects. It has the advantages of deep penetrating power, good spatial directivity, and dynamic focus scanning. Wide range of applications. In traditional biomedical ultrasound, ultrasonic diagnostic imaging technology mainly uses its wave effect, and high-intensity focused ultrasound therapy technology mainly uses its thermal effect. In the prior art, there is only a solution for locating the treatment target area of biological tissue through ultrasound, but there is no solution for locating and mapping nerves through ultrasound, and most of them are emitted by single-element ultrasonic array transducers. Ultrasonic, while the single-element ultrasonic array transducer can only fixedly stimulate the detection position of a certain relative position in the area to be tested, so it is necessary to use a displacement device to continuously move the position of the probe in the ultrasonic transducer to achieve automatic complete scanning The purpose of the target area. However, this solution has extremely poor coupling with the human body, and it is difficult to control the probe accurately.

technical solution

Based on this, it is necessary to address the above problems and provide deep nerve ultrasound automatic positioning and mapping methods, devices, equipment and media to solve the extremely poor coupling with the human body and insufficient nerve positioning due to the need to move the probe. exact question.

A deep nerve self-ultrasound automatic positioning and mapping method, applied to a nerve localization system, the nerve localization system includes a multi-element ultrasonic array transducer, and the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer covers the subject's Above the target area to be positioned, the method includes:

Driving the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer to emit multiple channels of ultrasonic waves, the multiple channels of ultrasonic waves are used to focus at the target detection position to form a focus to provide ultrasonic stimulation, and obtain the corresponding signal at the target detection position at the nerve-related action site to be located Stimulus response data; wherein, the target detection position is any one of a plurality of preset detection positions, and the plurality of preset detection positions are located in the target area to be located, and the stimulus response data indicates that due to the focus The amount of change in physiological information generated by ultrasonic stimulation;

Among the plurality of stimulus response data obtained corresponding to the plurality of preset detection positions, the preset detection position corresponding to the stimulus response data greater than the preset response threshold value is determined as the position of the nerve to be located in the target area to be located .

In one of the embodiments, the driving of the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer emits multiple channels of ultrasonic waves, and the multiple channels of ultrasonic waves are used to focus and form a focus at the target detection position to provide ultrasonic stimulation. The part acquires the stimulus response data corresponding to the target detection position, including:

Drive the multiple probes of the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer to emit multiple channels of ultrasonic waves with target energy to focus and form a focus at the target detection position to provide ultrasonic stimulation, and obtain the target detection at the nerve-related action site to be located The position corresponds to the stimulus response data of the target energy, so as to obtain a plurality of stimulus response data corresponding to the target energy of the plurality of preset detection positions;

Among the plurality of stimulus response data acquired, determining the preset detection position corresponding to the stimulus response data greater than the preset response threshold as the position of the nerve to be located in the target area to be located includes:

Among the plurality of stimulus response data corresponding to the target energy at the plurality of preset detection positions, if there is a stimulus response data less than or equal to the first preset number greater than the response threshold, the stimulus response data is greater than the preset The preset detection position corresponding to the response threshold of is determined as the position of the nerve to be located in the target area to be located.

In one of the embodiments, the determination of the preset detection position corresponding to the stimulus response data greater than the preset response threshold as the position of the nerve to be located in the target area to be located includes:

From the preset detection positions corresponding to the stimulus response data greater than the response threshold, determine the preset detection position with the largest stimulus response data as the position of the nerve to be located.

In one of the embodiments, the plurality of probes driving the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer emit multiple channels of ultrasonic waves with target energy to focus and form a focus at the target detection position to provide ultrasonic stimulation. Before obtaining the stimulus response data of the target detection position corresponding to the target energy at the nerve-associated action site to obtain multiple stimulus response data of the multiple preset detection positions corresponding to the target energy, it also includes:

Drive the multiple probes of the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer to emit multiple channels of ultrasonic waves of the first energy to focus and form a focus at the target detection position to provide ultrasonic stimulation, and acquire the target at the nerve-related action site to be located The detection position corresponds to the first stimulus response data of the first energy;

Among the plurality of acquired first stimulus response data corresponding to the first energy at the plurality of preset detection positions, if there is a second preset number of first stimulus response data greater than or equal to the response threshold, then Using the preset detection positions corresponding to the first stimulus response data whose first stimulus response data is greater than the response threshold as reserved detection positions; wherein, the second preset number is greater than the first preset number;

If there is less than a second preset number of first stimulus response data greater than the response threshold, increase the first energy, and return to the execution of the drive of the multiple probes of the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer to transmit the first A step of multi-channel ultrasound of energy;

Drive the multiple probes of the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer to emit multiple channels of ultrasonic waves of the second energy to focus and form a focus at the target retention detection position to provide ultrasonic stimulation, and obtain the target retention at the nerve-related action site to be located The detection position corresponds to the second stimulus response data of the second energy; wherein, the second energy is smaller than the corresponding first energy when determining the reserved detection position, and the target reserved detection position is the second preset amount Any one of the reserved detection positions;

Among the acquired plurality of second stimulus response data corresponding to the second energy at the reserved detection position, if there is a second stimulus response data less than or equal to the first preset number greater than the response threshold, the The energy of the multi-channel ultrasonic waves emitted by the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer is used as the target energy;

If there are second stimulus response data greater than the first preset number greater than the response threshold, then reduce the second energy, and return to the execution of the drive of multiple probes of the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer The step of emitting multiple ultrasonic waves of the second energy.

In one of the embodiments, the increasing the first energy includes: increasing the first energy with a first energy difference;

Said reducing said second energy comprises:

reducing the second energy by a second energy difference; wherein the second energy difference is smaller than the first energy difference.

In one of the embodiments, the plurality of preset detection positions are evenly distributed in the target area to be positioned, and the driving the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer to emit multiple channels of ultrasonic waves includes:

Acquiring a preset movement trajectory constructed based on the plurality of preset detection positions;

The multi-element ultrasonic array transducer is driven to emit multiple channels of ultrasonic waves according to the preset movement trajectory, so that the focal point moves along the preset movement trajectory.

A nerve localization device, which is applied to a nerve localization system, the nerve localization system includes a multi-element ultrasonic array transducer, and the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer is covered above a subject's target area to be localized, and the Said devices include:

The ultrasonic stimulation module is used to drive the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer to emit multiple channels of ultrasonic waves, and the multiple channels of ultrasonic waves are used to focus and form a focus at the target detection position to provide ultrasonic stimulation, wherein the target detection position is multiple any one of a plurality of preset detection positions, and the plurality of preset detection positions are located in the target area to be positioned;

The physiological information acquisition module is used to acquire the stimulus response data corresponding to the target detection position at the nerve-associated action site to be located, and among the plurality of stimulus response data corresponding to the acquired preset detection positions, the stimulus response data The preset detection position corresponding to the response threshold greater than the preset value is determined as the position of the nerve to be located in the target area to be located; the stimulus response data indicates the amount of change of physiological information generated by the ultrasonic stimulation at the focal point.

A computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the processor is made to execute the steps of the above-mentioned deep nerve ultrasound automatic positioning and mapping method.

A nerve localization device, comprising a memory and a processor, the memory stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by the processor, the processor executes the steps of the above-mentioned deep nerve ultrasound automatic localization and mapping method .

Beneficial effect

Implementing the embodiment of the present application will have the following beneficial effects:

This application provides deep nerve ultrasound automatic positioning and mapping methods, devices, equipment, and media. The multi-element ultrasonic array transducer is covered on the subject's target area to be positioned, and then the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer is driven The transducer emits multiple ultrasonic waves, which can be focused at any preset detection position of the target area to be located in the human body to form a focus to provide ultrasonic stimulation, and obtain a corresponding stimulus response data at the nerve-associated action site to be located; In the prior art, the single-element ultrasonic array transducer continuously moves the position of the single probe through the displacement device to realize the method of automatic and complete scanning of the target area, which can avoid moving the probe and only adjust the position of the focal point formed by focusing. Realize automatic and complete scanning of the target area, thus also improving the coupling between the device and the human body. At the same time, compared with conventional electrical stimulation to the surface, ultrasonic stimulation can reach the deep target area non-invasively. Then, among the plurality of stimulus response data obtained, the preset detection position corresponding to the stimulus response data greater than the preset response threshold is determined as the position of the nerve to be located in the target area to be located, so compared with the existing positioning biological tissue treatment The scheme of the target area, this scheme can realize the precise positioning of the nerve to be positioned by ultrasound for the first time.

Description of drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings that need to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the accompanying drawings in the following description are only These are some embodiments of the present application. Those skilled in the art can also obtain other drawings based on these drawings without creative work.

in:

Fig. 1 is a structural schematic diagram of a nerve localization system in an embodiment;

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a multi-element ultrasonic array transducer in an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a multi-element ultrasonic array transducer covering the subject's target area to be located in one embodiment;

Fig. 4 is a schematic flowchart of the deep nerve ultrasound automatic positioning and mapping method in the first embodiment;

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a multi-element ultrasonic array transducer emitting ultrasonic waves in one embodiment;

Fig. 6 is a schematic flow chart of the deep nerve ultrasound automatic positioning and mapping method in the second embodiment;

Fig. 7 is a schematic flow chart of determining target energy in an embodiment;

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of controlling the focus to move according to a preset movement track in an embodiment;

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a nerve positioning device in an embodiment;

Fig. 10 is a structural block diagram of a nerve localization device in an embodiment.

Embodiments of the present invention

The diameter of most nerves is about 2-3mm, and the diameter of some nerves is 1-2mm. Imaging examinations (such as ultrasound, etc.) can provide rough information about the nerve's location and anatomical structure, but it is difficult to clearly image and locate the nerve. Ultrasound is a mechanical wave that propagates in elastic media (biological tissues), and has complex acoustic effects such as wave effects, thermal effects, and mechanical effects. It has the advantages of deep penetrating power, good spatial directivity, and dynamic focus scanning. Wide range of applications. In the prior art, there is only a solution for locating the treatment target area of biological tissue through ultrasound, but there is no solution for locating and mapping nerves through ultrasound, and the ultrasound is basically emitted by a single-element ultrasonic array transducer , while the single-element ultrasonic array transducer can only fixedly stimulate the detection position of a certain relative position in the area to be tested, so it is necessary to continuously move the position of the probe in the ultrasonic transducer through a displacement device to realize automatic complete scanning of the target. purpose of the district. However, the coupling between this scheme and the human body is extremely poor, and the control of the probe is difficult to achieve accurately, which also leads to inaccurate nerve positioning.

In view of the above problems, as shown in Figure 1, the present application proposes a nerve localization system, which includes a multi-element ultrasonic array transducer, a pulse excitation generation module, a monitoring module, an imaging module and a control module.

Among them, the control module compiles the input control instructions, and sends the compiled instructions to each module through the data transmitter to realize corresponding functions.

The pulse excitation generation module includes a programmable logic device (Field Programmable Gate Array, FPGA), which supports full-channel output, that is, each physical channel corresponds to driving an array element. The pulse excitation generation module performs digital-to-analog conversion based on the waveform function data generated by the control module. The converted signal is low-pass filtered to generate a pulse sequence waveform, which is amplified by a linear broadband power amplifier and output to the impedance matching circuit to generate a multi-channel The ultrasound emits pulsed electrical signals. The ultrasonic emission pulse electric signal of one channel correspondingly drives an array element ultrasonic array transducer.

The multi-element ultrasonic array transducer, connected with the pulse excitation generation module, is used to convert the ultrasonic transmission pulse electrical signal of each channel into multiple channels of ultrasonic waves sent to the target area where the nerve to be located is located, so that the target area to be located Any position in the area is electronically focused to form a focal point to provide ultrasonic stimulation, and to realize traversal ultrasonic stimulation scanning search at the nerve-associated action site to be located. As shown in FIG. 2 , the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer may include a hemispherical array, a planar array, a linear array, a ring array, or other array arrangements that can achieve effective electronic focusing. Multi-element ultrasonic array transducers can act on nerves in different parts of the human body. As shown in Figure 3, multi-element ultrasonic array transducers cover different target areas such as the brain, heart, thyroid, and blood vessels, and the corresponding Multi-element ultrasonic array transducers can adopt different scales and shapes, non-invasive or invasive.

The monitoring module includes a contact detection device, a sensor, a data collector and a data transmitter. Wherein the contact detection device can provide an indication of whether the sensor is in physical contact with the measured site. Sensors may include electrodes, Doppler wires, temperature sensors, force sensors, position encoders, accelerometers, piezoelectric transducers, or other combinations capable of translating physiological, functional signals into variable electrical signals. Each sensor may include fastening means, such as adhesive material/patch, etc., to be fixed near the target area to be located. The data collector may include a filter, a signal amplifier, an analog-to-digital converter, and other devices capable of converting the electrical signal collected by the sensor into a digital signal and transmitting it to the data transmitter. The data transmitter transmits the collected data to the control module for processing, analysis and display.

The imaging module may include imaging equipment such as ultrasound imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, computerized tomography (Computed Tomography, CT) imaging, X-ray imaging, and any other medical imaging equipment or combination. The imaging module is used to display the anatomical structure information of the target area, the focus scanning position and the nerve localization information.

As shown in Figure 4, Figure 4 is a schematic flow chart of the deep nerve ultrasound automatic positioning and mapping method in the first embodiment, the deep nerve ultrasound automatic positioning and mapping method is applied to the above-mentioned nerve localization system, and the first embodiment The steps provided by the deep nerve ultrasound automatic localization and mapping method in the example include:

Step 402, drive the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer to emit multiple channels of ultrasonic waves, and the multiple channels of ultrasonic waves are used to focus at the target detection position to form a focus to provide ultrasonic stimulation, and obtain stimulus response data corresponding to the target detection position at the nerve-related action site to be located .

First, based on the anatomical structure information or imaging information provided by the imaging module, the target area of interest to be located is manually selected, such as the brain or heart in Figure 3, which can be determined according to the needs of the user, and will not be done here Specific limits. Furthermore, it is necessary to manually determine a plurality of preset detection positions in the target area to be located, and the preset detection positions should cover the entire target area to be located as much as possible, so as to ensure that no positioning is missed.

Then place the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer on the target area to be positioned, as shown in Figure 5, the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer converts the multi-channel ultrasonic transmission pulse electrical signals, and transmits them through multiple probes. Multiple channels of ultrasonic waves are emitted, and finally electronically focused at the target detection position (solid point in the figure) in the target area to be positioned to form a focal point. Among them, the target detection position is any one of multiple preset detection positions. Since the timing and waveform parameters of each channel of the pulse excitation generation module can be independently controlled, each element can be changed by changing the phase delay of the electrical signal corresponding to each array element. The emission direction of the ultrasonic wave can be changed to change the position of the focus, so that, for example, the focus at the solid point in Figure 5 moves to the hollow point. Therefore, continuously changing the phase delay of the electrical signal can achieve the purpose of automatically and completely scanning the target area, so that the probe of the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer does not need to be moved, and the coupling between the ultrasonic array transducer and the human body is improved.

In this embodiment, the stimulus response data is collected by the monitoring module, indicating the amount of change in physiological information caused by the ultrasonic stimulation at the focal point. Whenever the focal point moves to one of the preset detection positions, a corresponding stimulus response is collected. data. Depending on the selected target area to be located, the stimulus response data in this application are also correspondingly different. For example, when the target area to be located is the brain, the stimulus responds to data EEG; when the target area to be located is the heart, the stimulus responds to data ECG. Similarly, the stimulus response data may also be data such as electromyographic signals, blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, blood oxygen saturation, and hemodynamic parameters.

Step 404 , among the multiple acquired stimulus response data corresponding to multiple preset detection positions, determine the preset detection position corresponding to the stimulus response data greater than the preset response threshold as the position of the nerve to be located in the target area to be located.

After traversing the multiple preset detection positions, multiple corresponding stimulus response data can be obtained. In these preset detection positions, not all positions are spread over the nerves to be located, and due to the nonlinear effect of ultrasound, the medium (nerves) in the sound field will be affected by radiation force, and the mechanical sensitivity expressed on neurons Sexual ion channel (Mechanosensitive channel of large conductance (MscL) can respond to the mechanical stimulation generated by ultrasound, showing a relatively obvious stimulus response data. Therefore, in this embodiment, the preset detection position corresponding to the stimulus response data greater than the preset response threshold is determined as the position of the nerve to be located in the target area to be located, and the imaging module will mark and display these positions, so that the location to be located can be realized. Precise localization of nerves.

The above-mentioned deep nerve ultrasound automatic positioning and mapping method covers the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer on the subject’s target area to be located, and then drives the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer to emit multiple channels of ultrasonic waves. Electronically focus at any preset detection position of the target area to be located in the human body to form a focus to provide ultrasonic stimulation, and obtain a corresponding stimulus response data at the nerve-related action site to be located; The array transducer continuously moves the position of a single probe through the displacement device to realize the method of automatic and complete scanning of the target area, which can avoid moving the probe, and can realize automatic and complete scanning of the target area only by adjusting the position of the focal point formed by focusing. It also improves the coupling between the device and the human body. At the same time, compared with conventional electrical stimulation to the surface, ultrasonic stimulation can reach the deep target area non-invasively. Then, among the plurality of stimulus response data obtained, the preset detection position corresponding to the stimulus response data greater than the preset response threshold is determined as the position of the nerve to be located in the target area to be located, so compared with the existing positioning biological tissue treatment The scheme of the target area, this scheme can realize the precise positioning of the nerve to be positioned by ultrasound for the first time.

As shown in Figure 6, Figure 6 is a schematic flow chart of the deep nerve ultrasound automatic positioning and mapping method in the second embodiment, which is also applied to the above-mentioned nerve positioning system, and the deep nerve ultrasound automatic positioning and mapping method in the second embodiment The steps provided by the test method include:

Step 602, drive multiple probes of the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer to emit multiple channels of ultrasonic waves with target energy to focus at the target detection position to form a focal point to provide ultrasonic stimulation, and obtain the target corresponding to the target detection position at the nerve-related action site to be located Energy stimulus response data to obtain multiple stimulus response data corresponding to target energy at multiple preset detection positions.

In this embodiment, before driving the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer to emit multiple ultrasonic waves, it is necessary to set an appropriate target energy in the control module so as to control the ultrasonic waves to properly stimulate the target area to be positioned. Because if the target energy is set too high, most of the detection positions in the target area to be located will have relatively large stimulus response data, and thus the nerve to be located cannot be accurately found; on the contrary, if the target If the energy is set too low, most of the detection positions in the target area to be located will have a relatively small stimulus response data, which is not enough to find the nerve to be located.

Therefore, in a specific embodiment, as shown in Figure 7, the target energy is found in advance through the following steps:

Step 602a, drive multiple probes of the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer to emit multiple channels of ultrasonic waves of the first energy, to electronically focus at the target detection position to form a focus to provide ultrasonic stimulation, and obtain the target detection position at the nerve-related action site to be located First stimulus response data corresponding to the first energy.

Wherein, the initial setting of the first energy setting is relatively small, so that there will be no first stimulus response data greater than the response threshold at the beginning, or only a very small amount of first stimulus response data greater than the response threshold. The entire target area to be positioned is scanned with multiple channels of ultrasound waves of the first energy, and a plurality of first stimulus response data corresponding to the first energy are obtained.

Step 602b, among the multiple acquired first stimulus response data corresponding to the first energy at multiple preset detection positions, determine whether there is a second preset number of first stimulus response data greater than or equal to the response threshold. If yes, step 602c is performed, and the preset detection position corresponding to the first stimulus response data whose first stimulus response data is greater than the response threshold is used as a reserved detection position. If not, execute step 602d, increase the first energy, and return to execute step 602a.

In this embodiment, the second preset number is a quantitative value for roughly locating the target energy, that is, once there is a first stimulus response data greater than or equal to the second preset number greater than the response threshold, it can roughly The location to the nerve to be located, the preset detection positions that meet the condition that the first stimulus response data is greater than the response threshold are reserved as reserved detection positions, and the rest of the preset detection positions that do not meet the first stimulus response data greater than the response threshold are eliminated. At this time, the first energy is close to appropriate, and the precise positioning of the target energy can be directly performed through subsequent steps 602e-602h.

On the contrary, if there are only less than the second preset number of first stimulus response data greater than the response threshold, it means that the nerve to be located cannot be roughly located, continue to increase the first energy, and return to step 602a until the existence of The first stimulus response data greater than or equal to the second preset number is greater than the response threshold, so as to complete the task of roughly locating the target energy in the first stage.

Step 602e, drive the multiple probes of the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer to emit multiple channels of ultrasonic waves of the second energy to focus and form a focus at the target retention detection position to provide ultrasonic stimulation, and obtain target retention detection at the nerve-related action site to be located The location corresponds to the second stimulus response data of the second energy.

Wherein, the second energy is smaller than the corresponding first energy when determining the reserved detection position, and the target reserved detection position is any one of the plurality of reserved detection positions. Specifically, the second energy can be set to be slightly smaller than the first energy, so that no omission will occur when locating the target energy. A plurality of reserved detection positions determined in steps 602a-602d of the multi-channel ultrasonic scanning of the second energy are used to obtain a plurality of second stimulus response data corresponding to the second energy.

Step 602f, among the obtained plurality of second stimulus response data corresponding to the second energy at the reserved detection position, determine whether there is a second stimulus response data less than or equal to the first preset number greater than the response threshold. If yes, step 602g is executed, and the energy of the multi-channel ultrasonic waves emitted by the current multi-element ultrasonic array transducer is used as the target energy. If not, execute step 602h, reduce the second energy, and return to execute step 602e.

In this embodiment, the first preset number is a quantitative value used to accurately locate the target energy, that is, once there are second stimulus response data less than or equal to the first preset number greater than the response threshold, it can be relatively more accurate At this time, the energy of the multi-channel ultrasonic waves emitted by the current multi-element ultrasonic array transducer is used as the target energy. It can be understood that the first preset quantity is smaller than the second preset quantity.

On the contrary, if there are more than the first preset number of second stimulus response data greater than the response threshold, it means that the nerve to be located has not been located relatively accurately, continue to reduce the first energy, and return to step 602e until Satisfied that there is less than or equal to the first preset number of second stimulus response data greater than the response threshold, so as to complete the task of accurately locating the target energy in the second stage.

Of course, in the process of locating the target energy, in order to ensure the realization of coarse positioning in the first stage and precise positioning in the second stage, in this embodiment, the first energy is increased with the first energy difference, and the second energy difference is used to increase the first energy. Reduce the second energy. And it is also set that the second energy difference is smaller than the first energy difference.

Further, considering that there are many preset detection positions, in one specific embodiment, the imaging module is used to construct a preset movement trajectory based on the multiple preset detection positions, for example, constructing a spiral movement trajectory as shown in FIG. 7 , and set a number for each preset detection position. Of course, it can also be other preset movement trajectories, as long as all the preset detection positions are serially connected in series, and details will not be described here. Correspondingly, when executing steps 602a-602d, the control focus moves along the sequence of numbers. Then, when performing steps 602e-602h, it is only necessary to number the remaining reserved detection positions, for example, only 1-5 in FIG. 7 are reserved detection positions, and then control the focus to continue searching along the second number until the traversal is completed.

Step 604: Among the plurality of stimulus response data corresponding to the target energy of the plurality of preset detection positions, if there is a stimulus response data less than or equal to the first preset number greater than the response threshold, set the stimulus response data greater than the preset response threshold The corresponding preset detection position is determined as the position of the nerve to be located in the target area to be located.

After transmitting multiple ultrasound waves with target energy, it can be obtained that there are only stimulus response data less than or equal to the first preset number greater than the response threshold. The imaging module marks and displays the positions corresponding to these data, so that the precise positioning of the nerve to be located can be realized.

In order to further improve the accuracy of nerve positioning, in one of the specific embodiments, from the preset detection positions corresponding to the stimulus response data determined in this step greater than the response threshold, determine the preset detection position with the largest stimulus response data as the location to be located The position of the nerve, which is about to be stimulated by the ultrasound, and the position where the feedback is the strongest is the position of the nerve to be located.

The above-mentioned deep nerve ultrasonic automatic positioning and mapping method sets a reasonable target energy for the ultrasonic wave to control the ultrasonic wave to properly stimulate the target area to be located. The fastest and most accurate way to find the nerve to be located, and avoid the problem of inaccurate or impossible positioning.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9 , a nerve localization device is proposed, which is applied to a nerve localization system. The nerve localization system includes a multi-element ultrasonic array transducer, and the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer covers the affected area. Above the subject's target area to be located, the device includes:

The ultrasonic stimulation module 902 is used to drive the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer to emit multiple channels of ultrasonic waves, and the multiple channels of ultrasonic waves are used to electronically focus at the target detection position to form a focus to provide ultrasonic stimulation; wherein, the target detection position is a plurality of preset detection positions Any one of the positions, multiple preset detection positions are located in the target area to be located;

The physiological information acquisition module 904 is configured to acquire stimulus response data corresponding to the target detection position at the nerve-associated action site to be located, and among the plurality of stimulus response data corresponding to the acquired multiple preset detection positions, set the stimulus response data greater than the preset The preset detection position corresponding to the response threshold of is determined as the position of the nerve to be located in the target area to be located, wherein the stimulus response data indicates the amount of change in physiological information generated by the ultrasonic stimulation at the focal point.

Fig. 10 shows an internal structural diagram of a nerve localization device in one embodiment. As shown in FIG. 10 , the neural localization device includes a processor, a memory, and a network interface connected through a system bus. Wherein, the memory includes a non-volatile storage medium and an internal memory. The non-volatile storage medium of the nerve positioning device stores an operating system and also stores a computer program. When the computer program is executed by the processor, the processor can realize the deep nerve ultrasound automatic positioning and mapping method. A computer program may also be stored in the internal memory, and when the computer program is executed by the processor, the processor may execute the deep nerve ultrasound automatic positioning and mapping method. Those skilled in the art can understand that the structure shown in Figure 10 is only a block diagram of a part of the structure related to the solution of this application, and does not constitute a limitation on the nerve positioning equipment applied to the solution of this application. The specific nerve positioning Devices may include more or fewer components than shown in the figures, or combine certain components, or have a different arrangement of components.

A nerve positioning device, comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, the processor implements the following steps when executing the computer program: driving a multi-element ultrasonic array transducer Multiple channels of ultrasonic waves are emitted, and the multiple channels of ultrasonic waves are used to focus and form a focus at the target detection position to provide ultrasonic stimulation, and obtain the stimulus response data corresponding to the target detection position at the nerve-associated action site to be located; Among the plurality of stimulus response data, the preset detection position corresponding to the stimulus response data greater than the preset response threshold is determined as the location of the nerve to be located in the target area to be located.

A computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and the computer program is executed by a processor to implement the following steps: drive a multi-element ultrasonic array transducer to emit multiple channels of ultrasonic waves, and the multiple channels of ultrasonic waves are used for Focus at the target detection position to form a focus to provide ultrasonic stimulation, and obtain the stimulus response data corresponding to the target detection position at the nerve-related action site to be located; among the multiple stimulus response data corresponding to the acquired multiple preset detection positions, the stimulus response The preset detection position corresponding to the data greater than the preset response threshold is determined as the position of the nerve to be located in the target area to be located.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned method, device, equipment, and computer-readable storage medium for automatic positioning and mapping of deep nerve ultrasound belong to a general application concept, and the method, device, equipment, and computer-readable storage medium for automatic positioning and mapping of deep nerve ultrasound The contents in the media embodiments are applicable to each other.

Those of ordinary skill in the art can understand that all or part of the processes in the methods of the above embodiments can be implemented through computer programs to instruct related hardware, and the programs can be stored in a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium. When the program is executed, it may include the procedures of the embodiments of the above-mentioned methods. Wherein, any references to memory, storage, database or other media used in the various embodiments provided in the present application may include non-volatile and/or volatile memory. Nonvolatile memory can include read only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory can include random access memory (RAM) or external cache memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM is available in many forms such as Static RAM (SRAM), Dynamic RAM (DRAM), Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), Double Data Rate SDRAM (DDRSDRAM), Enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), Synchronous Chain Road (Synchlink) DRAM (SLDRAM), memory bus (Rambus) direct RAM (RDRAM), direct memory bus dynamic RAM (DRDRAM), and memory bus dynamic RAM (RDRAM), etc.

The technical features of the above embodiments can be combined arbitrarily. For the sake of concise description, all possible combinations of the technical features in the above embodiments are not described. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, they should be It is considered to be within the range described in this specification.

The above examples only express several implementation modes of the present application, and the description thereof is relatively specific and detailed, but should not be construed as limiting the patent scope of the present application. It should be noted that those skilled in the art can make several modifications and improvements without departing from the concept of the present application, and these all belong to the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the scope of protection of the patent application should be based on the appended claims.

Claims

A deep nerve ultrasonic automatic positioning and mapping method, characterized in that it is applied to a nerve localization system, and the nerve localization system includes a multi-element ultrasonic array transducer, and the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer covers the affected area. Above the target area to be located on the subject, the method includes:

Driving the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer to emit multiple channels of ultrasonic waves, the multiple channels of ultrasonic waves are used to focus at the target detection position to form a focus to provide ultrasonic stimulation, and obtain the corresponding signal at the target detection position at the nerve-related action site to be located Stimulus response data; wherein, the target detection position is any one of a plurality of preset detection positions, and the plurality of preset detection positions are located in the target area to be located, and the stimulus response data indicates that due to the focus The amount of change in physiological information generated by ultrasonic stimulation;

Among the plurality of stimulus response data obtained corresponding to the plurality of preset detection positions, the preset detection position corresponding to the stimulus response data greater than the preset response threshold value is determined as the position of the nerve to be located in the target area to be located .
The method according to claim 1, wherein the driving the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer emits multiple ultrasonic waves, and the multiple ultrasonic waves are used to focus and form a focus at the target detection position to provide ultrasonic stimulation, Acquiring stimulus response data corresponding to the target detection position at the nerve-associated action site to be located, including:

Drive the multiple probes of the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer to emit multiple channels of ultrasonic waves with target energy to focus and form a focus at the target detection position to provide ultrasonic stimulation, and obtain the target detection at the nerve-related action site to be located The position corresponds to the stimulus response data of the target energy, so as to obtain a plurality of stimulus response data corresponding to the target energy of the plurality of preset detection positions;

Among the plurality of stimulus response data acquired, determining the preset detection position corresponding to the stimulus response data greater than the preset response threshold as the position of the nerve to be located in the target area to be located includes:

Among the plurality of stimulus response data corresponding to the target energy at the plurality of preset detection positions, if there is a stimulus response data less than or equal to the first preset number greater than the response threshold, the stimulus response data is greater than the preset The preset detection position corresponding to the response threshold of is determined as the position of the nerve to be located in the target area to be located.
The method according to claim 2, wherein the determination of the preset detection position corresponding to the stimulus response data greater than the preset response threshold as the position of the nerve to be located in the target area to be located comprises:

From the preset detection positions corresponding to the stimulus response data greater than the response threshold, determine the preset detection position with the largest stimulus response data as the position of the nerve to be located.
The method according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of probes driving the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer transmit multi-channel ultrasonic waves of target energy to focus and form a focal point at the target detection position to provide Ultrasonic stimulation, before obtaining the stimulus response data corresponding to the target energy at the target detection position at the nerve-associated action site to be located, so as to obtain multiple stimulus response data corresponding to the target energy at the multiple preset detection positions, include:

Drive the multiple probes of the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer to emit multiple channels of ultrasonic waves of the first energy to focus and form a focus at the target detection position to provide ultrasonic stimulation, and acquire the target at the nerve-related action site to be located The detection position corresponds to the first stimulus response data of the first energy;

Among the plurality of acquired first stimulus response data corresponding to the first energy at the plurality of preset detection positions, if there is a second preset number of first stimulus response data greater than or equal to the response threshold, then Using the preset detection positions corresponding to the first stimulus response data whose first stimulus response data is greater than the response threshold as reserved detection positions; wherein, the second preset number is greater than the first preset number;

If there is less than a second preset number of first stimulus response data greater than the response threshold, increase the first energy, and return to the execution of the drive of the multiple probes of the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer to transmit the first A step of multi-channel ultrasound of energy;

Drive the multiple probes of the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer to emit multiple channels of ultrasonic waves of the second energy to focus and form a focus at the target retention detection position to provide ultrasonic stimulation, and obtain the target retention at the nerve-related action site to be located The detection position corresponds to the second stimulus response data of the second energy; wherein, the second energy is smaller than the corresponding first energy when determining the reserved detection position, and the target reserved detection position is one of the plurality of reserved detection positions anyone;

Among the acquired plurality of second stimulus response data corresponding to the second energy at the reserved detection position, if there is a second stimulus response data less than or equal to the first preset number greater than the response threshold, the The energy of the multi-channel ultrasonic waves emitted by the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer is used as the target energy;

If there are second stimulus response data greater than the first preset number greater than the response threshold, then reduce the second energy, and return to the execution of the drive of multiple probes of the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer The step of emitting multiple ultrasonic waves of the second energy.
The method according to claim 4, wherein said increasing the first energy comprises: increasing the first energy by a first energy difference;

Said reducing said second energy comprises:

reducing the second energy by a second energy difference; wherein the second energy difference is smaller than the first energy difference.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of preset detection positions are evenly distributed in the target area to be positioned, and the driving of the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer emits multiple channels of ultrasonic waves, include:

Acquiring a preset movement trajectory constructed based on the plurality of preset detection positions;

The multi-element ultrasonic array transducer is driven to emit multiple channels of ultrasonic waves according to the preset movement trajectory, so that the focal point moves along the preset movement trajectory.
A nerve localization device, characterized in that it is applied to a nerve localization system, and the nerve localization system includes a multi-element ultrasonic array transducer, and the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer covers a target to be localized in a subject area above, the device includes:

The ultrasonic stimulation module is used to drive the multi-element ultrasonic array transducer to emit multiple channels of ultrasonic waves, and the multiple channels of ultrasonic waves are used to focus and form a focus at the target detection position to provide ultrasonic stimulation, wherein the target detection position is multiple any one of a plurality of preset detection positions, and the plurality of preset detection positions are located in the target area to be positioned;

The physiological information acquisition module is used to acquire the stimulus response data corresponding to the target detection position at the nerve-associated action site to be located, and among the plurality of stimulus response data corresponding to the acquired preset detection positions, the stimulus response data The preset detection position corresponding to the preset response threshold value is determined as the position of the nerve to be located in the target area to be located; wherein, the stimulus response data indicates a change in physiological information due to ultrasonic stimulation at the focal point quantity.
A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, wherein when the computer program is executed by a processor, the processor is made to perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.
A nerve localization device, comprising a memory and a processor, characterized in that the memory stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by the processor, the processor executes any one of claims 1 to 6. A step of said method.