Ultrasound systems and methods for automated fetal heartbeat identification

Abstract

Ultrasound systems and methods provide a workflow to automatically identify a fetal heartbeat. A region of interest (ROI) is identified in an ultrasound image and an ROI is identified that contains the fetal heart. The ultrasound system produces spatially different M-mode lines associated with the ROI. The ultrasound system can identify a fetal heartbeat by tracking the changing position of the heart wall and estimate the fetal heart rate, e.g. by measuring from peak-to-peak of two subsequent waves. The echo signals for the M-mode lines can also be ranked according to the likely presence of a fetal heartbeat in the echo data.

Description

technical field [0001] Ultrasound is well suited for fetal imaging because it performs non-invasive imaging without exposing the mother or fetus to ionizing radiation. The purpose of many fetal examinations is to assess 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 in greater detail for developmental assessment. Accordingly, fetal ultrasonography has become more comprehensive as the demands on the anatomy to be evaluated have increased. One area of ​​the anatomy that was scrutinized was the developing fetal heart. Background technique [0002] Ultrasound systems can be used to detect fetal heartbeats up to about five weeks' gestation. At this point, the normal fetal heart rate is similar to the mother's heart rate, eg, about 80-85 beats per minute. For the next month, the heart rate will increase steadily about three times per minute ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

As the fetus moves, the orientation of the desired image data relative to the probe will change, and the fetal heart may move completely out of the field of view, resulting in no desired anatomy in the acquired data set

Also, fetal movement during acquisition can limit the accuracy of fetal heart cycle measurements

Also, it may be difficult to distinguish the fetal heart rate from the mother's heart rate and / or other rhythmic background artifacts

Images