Automated heart rate detection for 3d ultrasonic fetal imaging

Abstract

An ultrasound system and method provide a workflow to acquire 3D images of the fetal heart gated by a synthetic heart gating signal. An ROI is defined in an ultrasound image which delineates the fetal heart. The ultrasound system is controlled to automatically estimate the fetal heart rate from echo signals received from the ROI. When the system has acquired a stable synthetic heart rate signal, an indication thereof is given to the user and the user then commands the system to acquire 3D fetal heart images for a number of fetal heart cycles which are gated using the synthetic heart rate signal.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to medical diagnostic systems, and in particular, to ultrasonic diagnostic imaging systems for diagnosing the fetal heart by three-dimensional (3D) imaging. Background technique [0002] Ultrasound is well suited for fetal imaging because it performs noninvasive imaging without exposing either the mother or the fetus to ionizing radiation. The purpose of many fetal examinations is to evaluate the development of fetal anatomy to determine whether the fetus is developing normally. As ultrasound image quality has improved over the years, more areas of anatomy can be visualized for developmental assessment, and in greater detail. Consequently, fetal ultrasonography has become more thorough with increasing demands on the anatomy to be examined. The developing fetal heart is an anatomical region of particular scrutiny. In recent years, the outflow tract of the heart has become the focus of much attention. However, imaging th...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

These algorithms rely on image data quality that may not be satisfactory

Efforts have been made to improve the situation by using suggested manipulation of the probe to acquire an optimal data set, but this is technique dependent and its use of anatomical statistics can make it dependent on the individual patient

But the bigger problem is that the fetus is often in motion and may not remain still for the full ten or more seconds required for data collection

As the fetus moves, it is expected that the orientation of the image data relative to the probe will change and may be completely out of view, resulting in the absence of expected anatomical structures in the acquired data set

Furthermore, the motion of the fetus during acquisition limits the accuracy of the derived synthetic fetal heart cycle, which introduces artifacts into the reconstructed 3D data

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