System and method for organizing, recording and displaying images in ultrasound imaging systems

Abstract

An ultrasound imaging system includes a video processor receiving coherent echo signals from a beamformer. The video processor converts the coherent echo signals to image data, which are applied to a streaming digital video processor. The system also includes an ECG monitor and processor that obtains an ECG signal and uses the signal to provide heart cycle data indicative of the beginning and end of each of the plurality of heart cycles. The streaming digital video processor converts the image data into streaming digital data, which are divided into the heart cycle sections as indicated by the heart cycle data. The system also includes a digital video disk recorder that records a digital video disk containing the digital video data divided into chapters containing respective heart cycle sections. The recorder may also record chapters of ECG data derived from the ECG signal along with the digital video data.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to diagnostic ultrasound imaging systems, and, in particular, to a system and method for allowing ultrasound images to be organized and displayed in relation to the corresponding cardiac cycle at which they were acquired. Background technique [0002] One advantage that diagnostic ultrasound has over many other diagnostic imaging modalities is the ability to generate real-time images. This advantage is particularly pronounced in cardiology, where the physiology of an organ in constant motion—the heart—is the object of study. In contrast to abdominal and obstetrical applications where the tissues and organs under study are static and can easily be examined by static imaging, in echocardiography real-time imaging is a real requirement. Like other physicians in diagnostic ultrasound, sonocardiologists record their ultrasound examinations for subsequent diagnosis, review, and comparison. Because echocardiographic studies use...

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Problems solved by technology

Also, while videocassette tapes can store large amounts of digital data, and organizing the stored data for easy access really isn't a problem, since such tapes can only store data in a linear fashion, no matter how you organize the data, you can't random access to the data

DVDs, on the other hand, allow random access to any portion of the stored data, but unless the data is organized in a meaningful way, this benefit cannot be exploited

However, DVDs, designed primarily for multimedia use, have very limited flexibility for organizing data, making it difficult to organize ultrasound images stored on DVDs in a logical manner

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