Carotid plaque strain force data acquisition system and method

Abstract

The invention provides a carotid plaque strain force data acquisition system and method, and the system comprises a region division module which is used for storing a target movie of a carotid plaque, selecting a template frame from the target movie to draw a plaque envelope region of the carotid plaque, and dividing the plaque envelope region into three regions in the x direction; the storage module is used for performing point taking and division on the whole plaque envelope area, determining all recording points of each section of area and data structures and structure information corresponding to the recording points, and storing all the recording points, the data structures corresponding to the recording points and the structure information in a memory to obtain recording point data; the movie playback module is used for calling the image data to perform movie playback, performing patch tracking and determining strain values of all recording points; and the strain force data recording module is used for outputting the strain force value to a file for recording. The plaque rupture risk can be predicted more accurately, and corresponding prevention measures can be taken in advance.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of ultrasonic medical technology, and in particular to a carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system and method. Background Art

[0002] Currently, with the aging of the global population and changes in lifestyle (smoking, lack of exercise, high-fat foods, etc.), atherosclerosis (especially carotid artery) has become a common health problem worldwide. Cardiovascular disease has become one of the important causes of death worldwide, among which stroke and heart disease caused by carotid plaques are particularly prominent. Since early carotid plaques often have no obvious symptoms, early detection and intervention are particularly important. The stability of carotid plaques is a key factor affecting clinical outcomes. Unstable plaques are more likely to rupture and trigger acute events (such as stroke and myocardial infarction). Factors such as the strain on the plaque surface will promote plaque rupture. Therefore, studying the strain distribution of the plaque, the structure of the fibrous cap, and the local blood flow conditions are crucial to predicting the risk of rupture.

[0003] However, in the assessment of carotid plaques, ultrasound technology cannot currently directly assess plaque stability and rupture risk. Elastography is still under development, but it has certain clinical prospects. The distribution of hardness and quantitative analysis of strain can help identify "weak areas" in the plaque, which may be areas at high risk of rupture. The distribution of hardness can qualitatively assess plaque stability, while quantitative analysis of strain data can quantitatively assess plaque stability. However, the plaque itself is a heterogeneous structure, and the physical properties, hardness, stability, and response to external forces of different regions may vary significantly.

[0004] Therefore, based on the above problems, the present invention proposes a carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system and method. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The present invention provides a carotid plaque strain data collection system and method, which divides the carotid plaque into regions and points, and stores all strain data during the entire movie playback process into a file for data analysis. This method can help doctors provide more data for evaluating plaque stability, enable more accurate prediction of the risk of plaque rupture, and take corresponding preventive measures in advance, thereby achieving accurate quantification of plaque strain data. Doctors can avoid unnecessary surgery or interventional treatment for some low-risk plaques.

[0006] The present invention provides a carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system, comprising:

[0007] A region division module is used to store a target movie of carotid artery plaques, select a template frame in the target movie, draw the plaque envelope region of the carotid artery plaque, and divide the plaque envelope region into three regions along the x-direction;

[0008] A storage module is used to take points and divide the entire plaque envelope area, determine all recording points in each area and the data structure and structural information corresponding to the recording points, and store all recording points, the data structure and structural information corresponding to the recording points in a memory to obtain recording point data;

[0009] A movie playback module is used to retrieve image data from the memory for movie playback according to a preset speed, and to track the plaque according to the movement changes of the tissue surrounding the plaque, and to determine the strain force values ​​of all recording points in each section of each frame of the image;

[0010] The strain data recording module is used to output the strain value to a file for recording.

[0011] Preferably, a carotid plaque strain data acquisition system includes, in a region division module:

[0012] The plaque envelope area is divided into three regions along the x direction: the proximal region, the middle region and the distal region.

[0013] Preferably, a carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system, a region division module, includes:

[0014] a cine storage unit for storing a target cine of carotid artery plaque according to a preset technique;

[0015] A template frame selection unit is used to select any movie frame in the target movie as a template frame and extract the target image corresponding to the template frame;

[0016] a tracing point determination unit, configured to trace the plaque envelope of the carotid artery plaque in the target image and determine the tracing points of the plaque envelope;

[0017] The area separation point determination unit is used to:

[0018] Obtain the coordinates of all traced points and determine the maximum and minimum horizontal coordinate values ​​of the traced points on the x-axis;

[0019] Divide the interval between the maximum horizontal coordinate value and the minimum horizontal coordinate value into three equal parts to obtain the first region separation point and the second region separation point along the X direction;

[0020] wherein the first region separation point is smaller than the second region separation point;

[0021] The region division unit is used to divide the plaque envelope region into three regions along the x direction according to the first region division point and the second region division point.

[0022] Preferably, a carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system and a storage module include:

[0023] A point acquisition unit is used to acquire points from the entire plaque envelope area, obtain recording points, and determine the data structure of the recording points;

[0024] A contour construction unit, configured to construct a target contour from a set of recorded points according to OpenCV technology, wherein the target contour is an irregularly shaped contour;

[0025] An area filling unit, configured to initialize a black single-channel image as a mask and perform area filling on the target contour according to a first preset function and the mask;

[0026] A structural information acquisition unit is used to perform coordinate transformation on the corresponding recording points in the filled target contour to obtain structural information of all recording points;

[0027] The storage unit is used to store all recording points, data structures of the recording points and structural information in the memory.

[0028] Preferably, in a carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system, in a point unit, the data structure of the recorded point includes: point ID, area ID, movie frame ID, point coordinates, and point strain value.

[0029] Preferably, a carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system, in which the storage module takes points and divides the entire plaque envelope area, includes:

[0030] a bounding box determination unit, configured to calculate a bounding box of the target contour according to a second preset function;

[0031] A traversal unit is used to preset the target size of the point-taking area, determine the target area of ​​the recording point according to the target size, and traverse the target area corresponding to each target size in the bounding box according to a nested loop to obtain the grayscale mean of the target area;

[0032] A determination unit, configured to:

[0033] Obtain a preset grayscale threshold, and determine whether the target area is within the plaque envelope area based on the grayscale mean value of the target area and the preset grayscale threshold;

[0034] When the target area is within the plaque envelope, the target area is divided.

[0035] Preferably, a carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system, comprising a determination unit, includes:

[0036] A comparison subunit, configured to:

[0037] Compare the average grayscale value of the target region with a preset grayscale threshold;

[0038] When the average grayscale value of the target region is greater than the preset grayscale threshold, it is determined that the target region is within the plaque envelope region;

[0039] Otherwise, it is determined that the target region is not within the plaque envelope region;

[0040] A region division subunit, configured to, when the target region is within the plaque envelope region, obtain the center point of the target region, and compare the abscissa value X of the center point of the target region with the abscissa value SegX1 of the first region division point and the abscissa value SegX2 of the second region division point respectively;

[0041] If X < SegX1, it is determined that the target region belongs to the proximal region;

[0042] If SegX1 ≤ X < SegX2, it is determined that the target region belongs to the middle region;

[0043] If X ≥ SegX2, it is determined that the target region belongs to the distal region.

[0044] Preferably, a carotid plaque stress data acquisition system, a movie playback module, includes:

[0045] An ROI template extraction unit, configured to:

[0046] Determine the average abscissa value MeanX and the average ordinate value MeanY based on the point coordinates of all the tracing points;

[0047] Extract an ROI template in the template frame with the average abscissa value MeanX and the average ordinate value MeanY as the center point, and a width m and a height n;

[0048] Wherein, the ROI template is T(MeanX, MeanY, m, n), MeanX and MeanY are the center points, and m and n are the width and height;

[0049] A first target difference determination unit, configured to:

[0050] Calculate the first pixel average value of the ROI template, and calculate the first target difference between each pixel value in the ROI template and the first pixel average value;

[0051] A movie playback unit, configured to play back the current frame image in the movie, and perform sliding matching on the ROI template within a range of width m+E and height n+E with MeanX and MeanY as the center point in the current frame image, and calculate the second pixel average value of the current frame image;

[0052] A second target difference determination unit, configured to calculate a second target difference between each pixel value in the current frame image and a second pixel average value;

[0053] Strain value determination unit, used for:

[0054] Performing standard deviation normalization on the first target difference and the second target difference to obtain the similarity between the ROI template and the current frame image;

[0055] Traverse and search the current frame image area, obtain the position of the maximum correlation value, and calculate the position offset of the target ROI;

[0056] The motion transformation of the tissue around the plaque is determined based on the similarity between the ROI template and the current frame image, the position of the maximum correlation value, and the position offset of the target ROI;

[0057] According to the motion transformation of the tissue around the plaque, the position offset of all recording points is obtained, and the strain force values ​​of all recording points in each area of ​​each frame image are determined.

[0058] Preferably, a carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system and a strain data recording module include:

[0059] The recording unit is used to write the data information of all recording points corresponding to all frames into a file when the movie playback ends.

[0060] The present invention provides a method for collecting carotid artery plaque strain data, comprising:

[0061] Step 1: Store a target movie of carotid artery plaques, select a template frame from the target movie, draw the plaque envelope of the carotid artery plaque, and divide the plaque envelope into three regions along the x-direction;

[0062] Step 2: Take points and divide the entire plaque envelope area, determine all recording points in each area and the data structure and structural information corresponding to the recording points, and store all recording points, the data structure and structural information corresponding to the recording points in the memory to obtain the recording point data;

[0063] Step 3: Retrieve image data from the memory for movie playback at a preset speed, and perform plaque tracking based on the movement changes of the tissue surrounding the plaque to determine the strain force values ​​of all recording points in each area of ​​each frame of the image;

[0064] Step 4: Output the strain value to a file for recording.

[0065] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0066] By dividing the carotid artery plaque into regions and points, and storing all strain data during the entire movie playback process in a document for data analysis, this method can help doctors provide more data for evaluating plaque stability, enable more accurate prediction of the risk of plaque rupture, and take corresponding preventive measures in advance, thereby achieving accurate quantification of plaque strain data. Doctors can avoid unnecessary surgery or interventional treatment for some low-risk plaques.

[0067] Other features and advantages of the present invention will be described in the following description, and in part will become apparent from the description, or will be understood by practicing the present invention. The purpose and other advantages of the present invention can be achieved and obtained through the structures specifically pointed out in this application document.

[0068] The technical solution of the present invention is further described in detail below through the accompanying drawings and embodiments. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0069] The accompanying drawings are used to provide a further understanding of the present invention and constitute a part of the specification. Together with the embodiments of the present invention, they are used to explain the present invention and do not constitute a limitation of the present invention. In the accompanying drawings:

[0070] Figure 1 This is a structural diagram of a carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0071] Figure 2 This is a structural diagram of a region division module in a carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0072] Figure 3 This is a flow chart of a method for collecting carotid artery plaque strain data according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0073] Figure 4 This is an example diagram of region separation in an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0074] The preferred embodiments of the present invention are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the preferred embodiments described herein are only used to illustrate and explain the present invention, and are not used to limit the present invention.

[0075] In one embodiment, a carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system is provided. Figure 1 As shown, including:

[0076] A region division module is used to store a target movie of carotid artery plaques, select a template frame in the target movie, draw the plaque envelope region of the carotid artery plaque, and divide the plaque envelope region into three regions along the x-direction;

[0077] A storage module is used to take points and divide the entire plaque envelope area, determine all recording points in each area and the data structure and structural information corresponding to the recording points, and store all recording points, the data structure and structural information corresponding to the recording points in a memory to obtain recording point data;

[0078] A movie playback module is used to retrieve image data from the memory for movie playback according to a preset speed, and to track the plaque according to the movement changes of the tissue surrounding the plaque, and to determine the strain force values ​​of all recording points in each section of each frame of the image;

[0079] The strain data recording module is used to output the strain value to a file for recording.

[0080] In this example, due to the heterogeneous structure of the plaque, the entire plaque is divided into regions (proximal, mid, and distal), and each region is further divided into points. During playback of the plaque movie, the plaque position is tracked, and the strain values ​​of all points in each region of each frame are output to a file. The generated file records the strain data for each position of the plaque during its dynamic changes.

[0081] In this embodiment, the plaque envelope region is divided into three regions along the x-direction, including a proximal region, a middle region, and a distal region.

[0082] In this embodiment, the data structure includes the point ID of the recording point, the area ID, the movie frame ID, the point coordinates, and the point strain value.

[0083] In this embodiment, the structural information refers to the position information of each point in the envelope region of the carotid artery plaque.

[0084] The working principle and beneficial effects of the above technical solution are: by dividing the carotid artery plaque into regions and points, and storing all the strain data during the entire movie playback process into a document for data analysis, this method can help doctors provide more data for evaluating plaque stability, enable more accurate prediction of the risk of plaque rupture, and take corresponding preventive measures in advance, thereby achieving accurate quantification of plaque strain data, and doctors can avoid unnecessary surgery or interventional treatment for some low-risk plaques.

[0085] In one embodiment, this embodiment provides a carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system, such as Figure 2 As shown, the area division module includes:

[0086] a cine storage unit for storing a target cine of carotid artery plaque according to a preset technique;

[0087] A template frame selection unit, configured to randomly select a movie frame in a target movie as a template frame and extract a target image corresponding to the template frame;

[0088] a tracing point determination unit, configured to trace the plaque envelope of the carotid artery plaque in the target image and determine the tracing points of the plaque envelope;

[0089] The area separation point determination unit is used to:

[0090] Obtain the coordinates of all traced points and determine the maximum and minimum horizontal coordinate values ​​of the traced points on the x-axis;

[0091] Divide the interval between the maximum horizontal coordinate value and the minimum horizontal coordinate value into three equal parts to obtain the first region separation point and the second region separation point along the X direction;

[0092] wherein the first region separation point is smaller than the second region separation point;

[0093] The region division unit is used to divide the plaque envelope region into three regions along the x direction according to the first region division point and the second region division point.

[0094] In this embodiment, the preset technology is the Rvp technology.

[0095] In this embodiment, the prerequisite of this solution is to use RVP technology to store a movie of carotid artery plaque; first, replay the carotid artery plaque movie stored in RVP, hereinafter referred to as the movie: 1. Stop at any frame of the movie (such as the first frame) as the template frame matTmp, enter the measurement function, select the [Trace Seg] function, use the mouse to trace the entire plaque, and record the trace point vector <point>vecTracePts; After the tracing is completed, based on the coordinates of all points vecTracePts, find the points with the minimum and maximum X coordinates, MinX (i.e., the minimum abscissa value) and MaxX (i.e., the maximum abscissa value), and the average values MeanX and MeanY of the X coordinates and Y coordinates of all points; Divide MinX and MaxX into three equal parts to obtain the X-direction area separation points SegX1 (i.e., the first area separation point) and SegX2 (i.e., the second area separation point) (SegX1 < SegX2), as Figure 4 shown.

[0096] The beneficial effects of the above technical solution are: effectively dividing the plaque envelope area.

[0097] In one embodiment, this embodiment provides a carotid plaque stress data acquisition system, a storage module, including:

[0098] A point-taking unit for taking points on the entire plaque envelope area to obtain recorded points and determining the data structure of the recorded points;

[0099] A contour construction unit for constructing a target contour from the set of recorded points according to OpenCV technology, where the target contour is a contour of an irregular shape;

[0100] An area filling unit for initializing a black single-channel image as a mask and filling the area of the target contour according to the first preset function and the mask;

[0101] A structure information acquisition unit for performing coordinate transformation on the corresponding recorded points in the filled target contour to obtain the structure information of all recorded points;

[0102] A storage unit for storing all recorded points, the data structure of the recorded points, and the structure information in a memory.

[0103] In this embodiment, the first preset function is the cv::fillPoly function.

[0104] In this embodiment, using OpenCV technology, the set of Trace points is constructed into a contour of an irregular shape, a mask binary image is created, and after filling the contour, through multiple coordinate transformations, the structure information of all points is obtained.

[0105] In this embodiment, a black single-channel image is initialized as a mask (pixel value is 0), and the cv::fillPoly function (i.e., the first preset function) is used to fill the area (i.e., the target contour) according to the given curve vecTracePts, and the filled pixel value is 255.

[0106] The beneficial effect of the above technical solution is: effectively realizing the structural information of the recording points in the target contour and the determination of the recording points, thereby ensuring the effectiveness and accuracy of the acquisition and storage of the structural information and data structure of the recording points.

[0107] In one embodiment, this embodiment provides a carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system. In the storage module, points are taken and divided for the entire plaque envelope area, including:

[0108] a bounding box determination unit, configured to calculate a bounding box of the target contour according to a second preset function;

[0109] A traversal unit is used to preset the target size of the point-taking area, determine the target area of ​​the recording point according to the target size, and traverse the target area corresponding to each target size in the bounding box according to a nested loop to obtain the grayscale mean of the target area;

[0110] A determination unit, configured to:

[0111] Obtain a preset grayscale threshold, and determine whether the target area is within the plaque envelope area based on the grayscale mean value of the target area and the preset grayscale threshold;

[0112] When the target area is within the plaque envelope, the target area is divided.

[0113] In this embodiment, the second preset function is the cv::boundingRect function.

[0114] In this embodiment, the cv::boundingRect function is used to obtain the boundingBox, which is used to calculate the bounding box of the curve area so as to know where to start and end the traversal.

[0115] In this embodiment, a nested loop is used to traverse each small area of ​​POINTSIZE*POINTSIZE pixels within the bounding box (defined as cv::Rect cellRect(x,y,POINTSIZE,POINTSIZE), the traversal range of x is [boundingBox.x,boundingBox.x+boundingBox.width], and the traversal range of y is [boundingBox.y,boundingBox.y+boundingBox.heigth]), where the small area is the target area.

[0116] In this embodiment, the preset grayscale threshold is 60. If the grayscale average value of the small area cellRect is greater than 60 (it is defined that the small area is within the curve area).

[0117] The beneficial effects of the above technical solution are as follows: Dividing the carotid artery plaque into sub-regions can help doctors provide more data for evaluating plaque stability.

[0118] In one embodiment, a carotid artery plaque stress data acquisition system is provided. The determination unit includes:

[0119] A comparison subunit, configured to:

[0120] Compare the gray-scale mean value of the target region with a preset gray-scale threshold;

[0121] When the gray-scale mean value of the target region is greater than the preset gray-scale threshold, it is determined that the target region is within the plaque envelope region;

[0122] Otherwise, it is determined that the target region is not within the plaque envelope region;

[0123] A region division subunit, configured to, when the target region is within the plaque envelope region, obtain the center point of the target region, and compare the abscissa value X of the center point of the target region with the abscissa value SegX1 of the first region separation point and the abscissa value SegX2 of the second region separation point respectively;

[0124] If X < SegX1, it is determined that the target region belongs to the proximal region;

[0125] If SegX1 ≤ X < SegX2, it is determined that the target region belongs to the middle region;

[0126] If X ≥ SegX2, it is determined that the target region belongs to the distal region.

[0127] In this embodiment, if the gray-scale mean value of the small region cellRect is greater than 60 (defining that the small region is within the curve region), then calculate its center point X, Y (X = x + POINTSIZE / 2, Y = y + POINTSIZE / 2), compare the X coordinate of the center point with SegX1 and SegX2 (SegX1 < SegX2). If X is less than SegX1, then this point belongs to region 1. If X is greater than or equal to SegX1 and less than SegX2, then this point belongs to region 2. If X is greater than or equal to SegX2, then this point belongs to region 3. Finally, all points are stored in the corresponding region Region1Points.

[0128] The beneficial effects of the above technical solution are as follows: It realizes the effective division of the target region where the recorded points are located within the plaque envelope region.

[0129] In one embodiment, this embodiment provides a carotid artery plaque stress data acquisition system. The movie playback module includes:

[0130] An ROI template extraction unit, configured to:

[0131] Determine the horizontal coordinate mean MeanX and the vertical coordinate mean MeanY based on the point coordinates of all the traced points;

[0132] The instrument takes the mean value of the horizontal coordinate MeanX and the mean value of the vertical coordinate MeanY as the center point, and extracts the ROI template in the template frame with the width m and height n of the image in the template frame;

[0133] Among them, the ROI template is T(MeanX,MeanY,m,n), MeanX and MeanY are the center points, and m and n are the width and height;

[0134] The first target difference determination unit is configured to:

[0135] Calculating a first pixel average value of the ROI template, and calculating a first target difference between each pixel value in the ROI template and the first pixel average value;

[0136] The movie playback unit is used to play back the current frame image in the movie, and perform sliding matching on the ROI template with MeanX and MeanY as the center points in the current frame image, within the range of width m+E and height n+E, to calculate the second pixel average value of the current frame image;

[0137] A second target difference determination unit, configured to calculate a second target difference between each pixel value in the current frame image and a second pixel average value;

[0138] Strain value determination unit, used for:

[0139] Performing standard deviation normalization on the first target difference and the second target difference to obtain the similarity between the ROI template and the current frame image;

[0140] Traverse and search the current frame image area, obtain the position of the maximum correlation value, and calculate the position offset of the target ROI;

[0141] The motion transformation of the tissue around the plaque is determined based on the similarity between the ROI template and the current frame image, the position of the maximum correlation value, and the position offset of the target ROI;

[0142] According to the motion transformation of the tissue around the fixed plaque, the position offset of all recording points is obtained, and the strain force value of all recording points in each area of ​​each frame image is determined.

[0143] In this embodiment, during the movie playback, all the RegionPoints are offset along with the tissue pulsation.

[0144] In this embodiment, normalized cross-correlation template matching is performed, 1. extracting the ROI template: taking MeanX and MeanY as the center point, width m, and height n, taking the ROI template matTmpRegion (defining T(MeanX, MeanY, m, n), MeanX and MeanY as the center point, m and n as the width and height) (target area) in the movie matTmp frame; 2. calculating the average value: calculating the pixel average value fMeanTmpRegion of the template matTmpRegion; 3. removing the mean value: subtracting the average value fMeanTmpRegion (defined as) from each pixel value of the template matTmpRegion to obtain a new template matTmpAdju st; 4. Movie playback: Get the current frame image matCurFrame during playback; 5. Matching: In matCurFrame, with MeanX and MeanY as the center points, and a width of m+E and a height of n+E, perform sliding matching (search for the target area) within this range, traverse and take the ROI with a width of m and a height of n, defined as matCurRegion(I(x,y,m,n), where x and y are the center points, and m and n are the width and height), calculate the average value fMeanCurRegion of matCurRegion (defined as ), and subtract the average value fMeanCurRegion from each pixel value of matCurRegion to obtain matCurAdjust.

[0145] The beneficial effect of the above technical solution is: by effectively determining the strain force values ​​of all recording points in each area of ​​each frame of the image, it can provide doctors with more accurate and comprehensive plaque assessment information, help doctors better identify high-risk plaques, prevent cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events at an early stage, and provide patients with safer and more accurate treatment plans.

[0146] In one embodiment, a carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system is provided, wherein the strain data recording module comprises:

[0147] The recording unit is used to write the data information of all recording points corresponding to all frames into a file when the movie playback ends.

[0148] In one embodiment, a method for collecting carotid artery plaque strain data is provided. Figure 3 As shown, including:

[0149] Step 1: Store a target movie of carotid artery plaques, select a template frame from the target movie, draw the plaque envelope of the carotid artery plaque, and divide the plaque envelope into three regions along the x-direction;

[0150] Step 2: Take points and divide the entire plaque envelope area, determine all recording points in each area and the data structure and structural information corresponding to the recording points, and store all recording points, the data structure and structural information corresponding to the recording points in the memory to obtain the recording point data;

[0151] Step 3: Retrieve image data from the memory for movie playback at a preset speed, and perform plaque tracking based on the movement changes of the tissue surrounding the plaque to determine the strain force values ​​of all recording points in each area of ​​each frame of the image;

[0152] Step 4: Output the strain value to a file for recording.

[0153] The working principle and beneficial effects of the above technical solution are: by dividing the carotid artery plaque into regions and points, and storing all the strain data during the entire movie playback process into a document for data analysis, this method can help doctors provide more data for evaluating plaque stability, enable more accurate prediction of the risk of plaque rupture, and take corresponding preventive measures in advance, thereby achieving accurate quantification of plaque strain data, and doctors can avoid unnecessary surgery or interventional treatment for some low-risk plaques.

[0154] Obviously, those skilled in the art may make various changes and modifications to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, if such changes and modifications fall within the scope of the claims and their equivalents, the present invention is intended to include such changes and modifications.< / point>

Claims

1. A carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system, characterized in that: include: A region division module is used to store a target movie of carotid artery plaques, select a template frame in the target movie, draw the plaque envelope region of the carotid artery plaque, and divide the plaque envelope region into three regions along the x-direction; A storage module is used to take points and divide the entire plaque envelope area, determine all recording points in each area and the data structure and structural information corresponding to the recording points, and store all recording points, the data structure and structural information corresponding to the recording points in a memory to obtain recording point data; A movie playback module is used to retrieve image data from the memory for movie playback according to a preset speed, and to track the plaque according to the movement changes of the tissue surrounding the plaque, and to determine the strain force values ​​of all recording points in each section of each frame of the image; The strain data recording module is used to output the strain value to a file for recording.

2. The carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The regional division module includes: The plaque envelope area is divided into three regions along the x direction: the proximal region, the middle region and the distal region.

3. The carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system according to claim 1, characterized in that: Regional division module, including: a cine storage unit for storing a target cine of carotid artery plaque according to a preset technique; A template frame selection unit is used to select any movie frame in the target movie as a template frame and extract the target image corresponding to the template frame; a tracing point determination unit, configured to trace the plaque envelope of the carotid artery plaque in the target image and determine the tracing points of the plaque envelope; The area separation point determination unit is used to: Obtain the coordinates of all traced points and determine the maximum and minimum horizontal coordinate values ​​of the traced points on the x-axis; Divide the interval between the maximum horizontal coordinate value and the minimum horizontal coordinate value into three equal parts to obtain the first region separation point and the second region separation point along the X direction; wherein the first region separation point is smaller than the second region separation point; The region division unit is used to divide the plaque envelope region into three regions along the x direction according to the first region division point and the second region division point.

4. The carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system according to claim 1, characterized in that: Storage module, including: A point acquisition unit is used to acquire points from the entire plaque envelope area, obtain recording points, and determine the data structure of the recording points; A contour construction unit, configured to construct a target contour from a set of recorded points according to OpenCV technology, wherein the target contour is an irregularly shaped contour; An area filling unit, configured to initialize a black single-channel image as a mask and perform area filling on the target contour according to a first preset function and the mask; A structural information acquisition unit is used to perform coordinate transformation on the corresponding recording points in the filled target contour to obtain structural information of all recording points; The storage unit is used to store all recording points, data structures of the recording points and structural information in the memory.

5. The carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system according to claim 4, characterized in that: In the point acquisition unit, the data structure of the recorded point includes: point ID, area ID, movie frame ID, point coordinates, and point strain value.

6. The carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system according to claim 1, characterized in that: In the storage module, the entire plaque envelope area is divided into points, including: a bounding box determination unit, configured to calculate a bounding box of the target contour according to a second preset function; A traversal unit, configured to preset the target size of a point-taking area, determine the target area of recording points according to the target size, and traverse the target area corresponding to each target size within the bounding box according to nested loops to obtain the gray-scale average value of the target area; A determination unit, configured to: Obtain a preset gray-scale threshold, and determine whether the target area is within the plaque envelope area according to the gray-scale average value of the target area and the preset gray-scale threshold; When the target area is within the plaque envelope area, perform area division on the target area.

7. A carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system according to claim 2, 3 or 6, characterized in that: The determination unit includes: A comparison subunit, configured to: Compare the gray-scale average value of the target area with the preset gray-scale threshold; When the gray-scale average value of the target area is greater than the preset gray-scale threshold, determine that the target area is within the plaque envelope area; Otherwise, determine that the target area is not within the plaque envelope area; An area division subunit, configured to, when the target area is within the plaque envelope area, obtain the center point of the target area, and compare the abscissa value X of the center point of the target area with the abscissa value SegX1 of the first area separation point and the abscissa value SegX2 of the second area separation point respectively; If X < SegX1, determine that the target area belongs to the proximal area; If SegX1 ≤ X < SegX2, determine that the target area belongs to the middle area; If X ≥ SegX2, determine that the target area belongs to the distal area.

8. A carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system according to claim 1 or 3, characterized in that: A movie playback module, including: An ROI template extraction unit, configured to: Determine the abscissa average value MeanX and the ordinate average value MeanY based on the point coordinates of all tracing points; Extract an ROI template in the template frame with the abscissa average value MeanX and the ordinate average value MeanY as the center point, and width m and height n; Wherein, the ROI template is T(MeanX, MeanY, m, n), MeanX and MeanY are the center points, and m and n are the width and height; A first target difference determination unit, configured to: Calculate the first pixel average value of the ROI template, and calculate the first target difference between each pixel value in the ROI template and the first pixel average value; A movie playback unit, configured to playback the current frame image in the movie, and perform sliding matching on the ROI template within the range of width m + E and height n + E with MeanX and MeanY as the center points in the current frame image, and calculate the second pixel average value of the current frame image; A second target difference determination unit, configured to calculate the second target difference between each pixel value in the current frame image and the second pixel average value; A stress value determination unit, configured to: Perform standard deviation normalization processing on the first target difference and the second target difference to obtain the similarity between the ROI template and the current frame image; Traverse and search the current frame image area to obtain the position of the maximum correlation value, and calculate the target ROI position offset; Determine the motion transformation of the tissue around the plaque according to the similarity between the ROI template and the current frame image, the position of the maximum correlation value, and the position offset of the target ROI; According to the motion transformation of the tissue around the plaque, obtain the position offsets of all recording points, and determine the stress values of all recording points in each segment area of each frame image.

9. The carotid artery plaque strain data acquisition system according to claim 1, characterized in that: A stress data recording module, including: The recording unit is used to write the data information of all recording points corresponding to all frames into a file when the movie playback ends.

10. A method for collecting carotid artery plaque strain data, characterized in that: include: Step 1: Store a target movie of carotid artery plaques, select a template frame from the target movie, draw the plaque envelope of the carotid artery plaque, and divide the plaque envelope into three regions along the x-direction; Step 2: Take points and divide the entire plaque envelope area, determine all recording points in each area and the data structure and structural information corresponding to the recording points, and store all recording points, the data structure and structural information corresponding to the recording points in the memory to obtain the recording point data; Step 3: Retrieve image data from the memory for movie playback at a preset speed, and perform plaque tracking based on the movement changes of the tissue surrounding the plaque to determine the strain force values ​​of all recording points in each area of ​​each frame of the image; Step 4: Output the strain value to a file for recording.

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