Ultrasound contrast imaging method and device

Abstract

The present invention provides an ultrasound contrast imaging method and device, the method comprising: controlling a first ultrasound probe to transmit a first ultrasound wave to a liver region of a target object; generating a first ultrasound image based on a first ultrasound echo signal, acquiring a region of interest on the first ultrasound image, so as to determine a position region in the liver region to be subjected to contrast imaging; when a contrast agent is injected into the target object, controlling the first ultrasound probe to transmit a second ultrasound wave to the position region; after the contrast agent is injected and when a preset condition is met, controlling the second ultrasound probe to transmit a third ultrasound wave to a portal vein region of the liver region, the third ultrasound wave being used to blast microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein, the emission of the second ultrasound wave and the emission of the third ultrasound wave being performed alternately or independently; generating a contrast image based on the second ultrasound echo signal. The method and device of the present invention can realize ultrasound contrast imaging of the hepatic artery alone.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of ultrasonic imaging, and more particularly to an ultrasonic contrast imaging method and device. Background Art

[0002] In modern medical imaging, ultrasound technology has become the most widely used and most frequently used examination method with the fastest popularization and application due to its advantages such as high reliability, fast and convenient, real-time imaging and repeatable examination. The development of some new ultrasound technologies has further promoted the application of ultrasound imaging in clinical diagnosis and treatment.

[0003] Ultrasonic waves will scatter when they encounter scatterers. The intensity of the scattering is related to the size and shape of the scatterer and the difference in acoustic impedance with the surrounding tissues. Although blood contains tangible substances such as red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets, their acoustic impedance difference is very small, and the scattering of ultrasonic waves is very weak, so blood appears "echoless" on ordinary ultrasound instruments. If a medium (microbubbles) with an acoustic impedance that is completely different from that of blood is added to the blood, the scattering in the blood will be enhanced. This is the basic principle of acoustic contrast imaging. Tissue ultrasound contrast imaging uses this principle. Ultrasonic contrast agents, that is, solutions containing microbubbles, are injected intravenously. The contrast agents enter organs and tissues with blood perfusion, making the organs and tissues visible or enhancing the appearance, thus providing an important basis for clinical diagnosis.

[0004] Liver ultrasound contrast imaging is the earliest and most widely used in clinical practice, and its effect is also the most significant. This is closely related to the special blood supply mode of the liver, which is different from other organs. The blood supply of the two systems of hepatic artery and portal vein, plus the substantial background of the liver, make the liver the best target organ for contrast enhancement. Due to the characteristics of the liver's dual blood supply, after the contrast agent is injected through the peripheral vein, it passes through the right heart, pulmonary circulation, left heart, and aorta, and then enters the liver through two pathways: one is from the abdominal artery to the hepatic artery, and the other is through the portal vein into the hepatic sinusoids. Three typical vascular phases can be observed using the current low mechanical index ultrasound contrast imaging technology: 1. Hepatic artery phase: starts 10-20 seconds after intravenous injection of contrast agent and lasts for 10-15 seconds. The normal liver shows that the arterial vessels in the liver parenchyma are rapidly imaged, showing bright line-like strong echoes, and the vascular branches are regular in shape. As the contrast agent enters the tiny blood vessels and hepatic sinusoids (equivalent to the liver microcirculation), the echo of the liver parenchyma gradually increases; 2. Portal vein phase: starts approximately 30-45 seconds after intravenous injection of contrast agent and lasts until 2 minutes after contrast agent injection. The normal liver shows that the portal vein trunk and its branches are filled with contrast agent, and the liver parenchyma is more significantly enhanced at this time; 3. Delayed phase: After the portal vein phase, the contrast agent continues until it is cleared from the liver parenchyma.

[0005] For abnormal liver lesions, different forms of vascular phase enhancement can differentiate between benign and malignant liver lesions and further determine the type of lesion. The arterial phase provides information on the number and type of vascular distribution. The portal phase and delayed phase provide information on the clearance of ultrasound contrast agents from lesions compared with normal tissue. The arterial phase is of great value in the diagnosis of focal liver diseases with high perfusion (such as focal nodular hyperplasia, hepatocellular adenoma, liver cancer, and liver metastases). Enhancement in the portal and delayed phases can provide important information about the characteristics of the lesion: most malignant lesions are hypoenhanced in the portal and delayed phases (such as liver metastases of the gastrointestinal tract with low perfusion, probably due to the lack of normal liver sinusoidal tissue in such lesions), while most solid benign lesions are isoenhanced or hyperenhanced in the portal or delayed phases.

[0006] It should be noted that the phase of liver angiography is a concept of time period rather than an absolute value of time. The three phases have a certain overlap in time. The most typical overlap is the arterial phase and the portal phase. In the current liver ultrasound angiography examination, although there is a certain time interval between the appearance of the angiography images of the arterial phase and the portal phase, this time interval is very short. Soon after the microbubble image of the arterial phase appears, the microbubbles from the portal vein begin to appear. Therefore, the quality of the hepatic artery angiography image, especially the image of the late arterial phase, will be seriously disturbed by the microbubbles of the portal vein contrast agent. According to the existing liver ultrasound angiography imaging technology (intravenous injection of contrast agent), the hepatic artery angiography image obtained by the doctor is not completely consistent with the hepatic artery angiography image displayed by the method of injecting contrast agent directly after hepatic artery catheterization (invasive method) in the operating room. The current liver ultrasound angiography technology cannot achieve pure hepatic artery angiography imaging in the true sense, and cannot present the complete arterial enhancement process. In clinical practice, the results of pure hepatic artery angiography are crucial for doctors to judge the nature of tumors and surrounding tissues and to define the safe boundary of tumors in surgical treatment plans. Summary of the invention

[0007] According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ultrasound contrast imaging method, the method comprising: controlling a first ultrasound probe to transmit a first ultrasound wave to a liver region of a target object, and receiving an echo of the first ultrasound wave to obtain a first ultrasound echo signal; generating and displaying a first ultrasound image based on the first ultrasound echo signal, and obtaining a region of interest on the first ultrasound image for determining a position region in the liver region to be subjected to contrast imaging; in a case where a contrast agent is injected into the target object, controlling the first ultrasound probe to transmit a second ultrasound wave to the position region, and receiving an echo of the second ultrasound wave to obtain a second ultrasound echo signal; after the contrast agent is injected and when a preset condition is met, controlling the second ultrasound probe to transmit a third ultrasound wave to a portal vein region of the liver region, the third ultrasound wave being used to burst microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein, the emission of the second ultrasound wave and the emission of the third ultrasound wave being performed alternately or independently; and generating a contrast image based on the second ultrasound echo signal.

[0008] According to another aspect of the present invention, an ultrasonic imaging device is provided, the device comprising: the device comprising at least two ultrasonic probes, a transmit / receive sequence controller, a processor and a display device, wherein: the transmit / receive sequence controller is used to control the first ultrasonic probe to transmit a second ultrasonic wave to a position area in the liver region of the target object where contrast imaging is to be performed, and receive an echo of the second ultrasonic wave to obtain a second ultrasonic echo signal when a contrast agent is injected into the target object; the transmit / receive sequence controller is also used to control the second ultrasonic probe to transmit a third ultrasonic wave to a portal vein region of the liver region, the third ultrasonic wave being used to burst microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein, wherein the transmit / receive sequence controller controls the transmission of the second ultrasonic wave and the transmission of the third ultrasonic wave to be performed alternately or independently; the processor is also used to generate a contrast image based on the second ultrasonic echo signal and display it by the display device.

[0009] According to another aspect of the present invention, an ultrasonic imaging device is provided, the ultrasonic imaging device comprising a first ultrasonic imaging device and a second ultrasonic imaging device, wherein: the first ultrasonic imaging device comprises a first ultrasonic probe, a first transmit / receive sequence controller, a first processor and a first display device, wherein: the first transmit / receive sequence controller is used to control the first ultrasonic probe to transmit a first ultrasonic wave to a liver region of a target object, and receive an echo of the first ultrasonic wave to obtain a first ultrasonic echo signal; the first processor is used to generate a first ultrasonic image based on the first ultrasonic echo signal and display it by the first display device, and obtain a region of interest on the first ultrasonic image for determining a position region within the liver region to be subjected to contrast imaging; the first transmit / receive sequence controller is used to control the first ultrasonic probe to transmit a first ultrasonic wave to a liver region of a target object, and receive an echo of the first ultrasonic wave to obtain a first ultrasonic echo signal; the first processor is used to generate a first ultrasonic image based on the first ultrasonic echo signal and display it by the first display device, and obtain a region of interest on the first ultrasonic image for determining a position region within the liver region to be subjected to contrast imaging; the first transmit / receive sequence controller is used to control the first ultrasonic probe to transmit a first ultrasonic wave to a liver region of a target object, and receive an echo of the first ultrasonic wave to obtain a first ultrasonic echo signal; the first processor is used to generate a first ultrasonic image based on the first ultrasonic echo signal and display it by the first display device, and obtain a region of interest on the first ultrasonic image to determine ... The device is also used to control the first ultrasound probe to transmit a second ultrasound wave to the location area and receive the echo of the second ultrasound wave to obtain a second ultrasound echo signal when the contrast agent is injected into the target object; the first processor is also used to generate a contrast image based on the second ultrasound echo signal and display it by the first display device; the second ultrasound imaging device includes a second ultrasound probe and a second transmit / receive sequence controller, wherein: the second transmit / receive sequence controller is used to control the second ultrasound probe to transmit a third ultrasound wave to the portal vein area of ​​the liver area, and the third ultrasound wave is used to burst the microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein; wherein the first ultrasound imaging device and the second ultrasound imaging device transmit the second ultrasound wave and the third ultrasound wave alternately or independently.

[0010] The ultrasound contrast imaging method and device according to the embodiment of the present invention avoids interference with hepatic artery contrast imaging by blasting the microbubbles produced by the contrast agent in the portal vein, thereby achieving pure hepatic artery ultrasound contrast imaging and improving the integrity of the hepatic arterial phase contrast imaging image. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] The above and other purposes, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing the embodiments of the present invention in more detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The accompanying drawings are used to provide a further understanding of the embodiments 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, the same reference numerals generally represent the same components or steps.

[0012] Figure 1 A schematic flow chart of an ultrasound contrast imaging method according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0013] Figure 2 A schematic diagram showing the alternating transmission of the second ultrasonic wave and the third ultrasonic wave in the ultrasonic contrast imaging method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0014] Figure 3 A schematic structural block diagram of an ultrasound contrast imaging device according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0015] Figure 4 Show according to Figure 3 A schematic diagram of two-way imaging processing of an ultrasound contrast imaging device in the illustrated embodiment.

[0016] Figure 5 Show according to Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a stereoscopic view of an ultrasound contrast imaging device in the illustrated embodiment.

[0017] Figure 6 A schematic structural block diagram of an ultrasound contrast imaging device according to another embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0018] Figure 7 A schematic structural block diagram of an ultrasound contrast imaging device according to another embodiment of the present invention is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] In order to make the purpose, technical scheme and advantages of the present invention more obvious, the exemplary embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, rather than all the embodiments of the present invention, and it should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments described herein. Based on the embodiments of the present invention described in the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative work should fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0020] First, refer to Figure 1 The ultrasound contrast imaging method of the present invention is described. Figure 1 FIG. 1 is a schematic flow chart of an ultrasound contrast imaging method 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 As shown, the ultrasound contrast imaging method 100 may include the following steps:

[0021] In step S110 , the first ultrasound probe is controlled to transmit a first ultrasound wave to the liver region of the target object, and an echo of the first ultrasound wave is received to acquire a first ultrasound echo signal.

[0022] In an embodiment of the present invention, the target object may be a person who is to undergo an ultrasound examination of the liver. In an embodiment of the present invention, the first ultrasound probe is an ultrasound probe for performing contrast imaging of the liver of the target object, and is named in this way to distinguish it from the second ultrasound probe to be described below, without any other restrictive effect. In addition, since the first ultrasound probe is an ultrasound probe for performing contrast imaging of the liver of the target object, the first ultrasound probe may also be referred to as a contrast probe for convenience of description.

[0023] In an embodiment of the present invention, the first ultrasonic wave is emitted to obtain an ultrasonic image (e.g., an ultrasonic B image) of a liver region of a target object for obtaining a region of interest (e.g., a tumor region of the liver). The first ultrasonic wave is named so as to distinguish it from the second ultrasonic wave and the third ultrasonic wave described below, and has no other limiting effect. A first ultrasonic echo signal can be obtained based on an echo reflected by the target object from the first ultrasonic wave to generate a first ultrasonic image, as will be described in the next step.

[0024] In step S120, a first ultrasound image is generated and displayed based on the first ultrasound echo signal, and a region of interest on the first ultrasound image is acquired to determine a position region in the liver region where contrast imaging is to be performed.

[0025] In an embodiment of the present invention, a first ultrasound image is generated based on a first ultrasound echo signal. The first ultrasound image is named so as to distinguish it from a second ultrasound image to be described below, and has no other limiting effect. Exemplarily, the first ultrasound echo signal may be processed such as gain compensation, beamforming, orthogonal demodulation, image enhancement, etc. to obtain an ultrasound image of the liver region of the target object, i.e., the first ultrasound image.

[0026] In an embodiment of the present invention, by generating a first ultrasound image of a liver region of a target object, a region of interest on the first ultrasound image, such as a tumor region or other lesion region, can be acquired. In one example, the first ultrasound image can be displayed so that a user can determine the region of interest on the first ultrasound image. In another example, the region of interest in the first ultrasound image can be automatically detected by various computer algorithms. In yet another example, the region of interest can also be acquired by semi-automatic detection, for example, the region of interest is first detected by a computer algorithm, and then corrected by the user to obtain a more accurate region of interest. Based on the acquired region of interest, the position area in the liver region of the target object to be imaged can be determined.

[0027] Here, it should be understood that the region of interest can be determined based on the ultrasound B image of the liver region acquired by the first ultrasound, or the region of interest can be determined by acquiring the ultrasound B image of the liver region using the second ultrasound in the following steps. That is, in other embodiments of the present invention, steps S110 and S120 of method 100 can directly enter the contrast imaging mode, and use the second ultrasound to perform imaging to determine the region of interest.

[0028] In step S130 , when the contrast agent is injected into the target object, the first ultrasound probe is controlled to transmit a second ultrasound wave to the location area, and an echo of the second ultrasound wave is received to acquire a second ultrasound echo signal.

[0029] In an embodiment of the present invention, after determining the position area to be imaged in the liver region of the target object, a contrast agent can be injected into the target object, and when the contrast agent is injected into the target object, the first ultrasound probe is controlled to transmit a second ultrasound wave to the position area. After the position area to be imaged is determined, the first ultrasound probe can be controlled to transmit the second ultrasound wave to the position area, that is, the first ultrasound probe continuously transmits the second ultrasound wave before and after the contrast agent is injected, or the first ultrasound probe can be controlled to transmit the second ultrasound wave to the position area when the injection of the contrast agent is detected.

[0030] In the embodiment of the present invention, the second ultrasonic wave is emitted to obtain a contrast image of a region of interest of a liver region of the target object. The second ultrasonic wave is named so as to distinguish it from the first ultrasonic wave described above and the third ultrasonic wave to be described below, without any other limiting effect.

[0031] In step S140, the second ultrasonic probe is controlled to transmit a third ultrasonic wave to the portal vein region of the liver region. The third ultrasonic wave is used to burst the microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein. The emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the emission of the third ultrasonic wave are performed alternately or independently.

[0032] As mentioned before, liver ultrasound angiography is performed by injecting contrast agents through peripheral veins. The contrast agents return to the right heart through the peripheral veins, then to the left heart through the pulmonary circulation, and then enter the aorta from the left heart to the hepatic artery, thus forming the arterial phase of liver angiography. Subsequently, the contrast agent quickly returns to the portal vein through the superior mesenteric artery and vein, thus forming the portal venous phase of liver angiography. There is a certain time interval between the appearance of the arterial phase image and the portal venous phase image. During the period when the liver artery is imaged and the portal vein has not begun to enhance, if the contrast agent microbubbles are prevented from entering the liver through the portal vein, true hepatic artery angiography can be achieved, thereby improving and ameliorating the shortcomings and limitations of the current liver ultrasound angiography technology.

[0033] Based on this, in an embodiment of the present invention, the second ultrasound probe is controlled to emit a third ultrasonic wave to the portal vein region of the liver region of the target object to burst the microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein. In an embodiment of the present invention, when the contrast agent is usually injected into the target object, the second ultrasound probe is controlled to emit a third ultrasonic wave to burst the microbubbles generated by the contrast agent. By bursting the microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein, the contrast imaging of the region of interest of the target object using the first ultrasound probe can only present the hepatic artery angiography image, and the image of the late artery will not be seriously interfered by the microbubbles of the portal vein contrast agent, so that the doctor can obtain the result of simple hepatic artery angiography to more accurately judge the nature of the tumor and surrounding tissues and to define the safe boundary of the tumor in the surgical treatment plan.

[0034] In addition, as mentioned above, the contrast images of the arterial phase and the portal venous phase have a certain time interval in the order of appearance. Therefore, generally after the contrast agent is injected and when the preset condition is met, the second ultrasound probe is controlled to transmit the third ultrasound wave to the portal vein region of the liver region of the target object to explode the microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein. In one example, the preset condition can be met by: timing from the injection of the contrast agent to the preset time. In this example, the preset time can be predefined according to the time interval between the contrast images of the arterial phase and the portal venous phase, so that the microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein are exploded after a certain time of hepatic artery angiography and before the microbubbles in the portal vein interfere with the hepatic artery angiography. In another example, the preset condition can be met by: receiving an instruction from the user to start the second ultrasound probe. In this example, the time to start the microbubbles in the portal vein can be determined by the user. In another embodiment, the second ultrasound probe can be controlled to transmit the third ultrasound wave to the portal vein region of the liver region of the target object before the contrast agent is injected. In this embodiment, the second ultrasound probe can be in the start state from the beginning, and there is no need to set conditions to turn it on, which is simpler to implement.

[0035] In an embodiment of the present invention, the second ultrasonic probe is an ultrasonic probe for bursting microbubbles in the portal vein, which is named in this way to distinguish it from the first ultrasonic probe described above, and there is no other limiting effect. In addition, since the second ultrasonic probe is an ultrasonic probe for bursting microbubbles in the portal vein, the second ultrasonic probe may also be referred to as a bursting probe for convenience of description. In an embodiment of the present invention, the third ultrasonic wave is emitted to burst the microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein. The third ultrasonic wave is named in this way to distinguish it from the first ultrasonic wave and the second ultrasonic wave described above, and there is no other limiting effect.

[0036] In addition, it should be understood that the first ultrasonic probe emits the second ultrasonic wave in order to perform contrast imaging of the region of interest of the target object, and the ultrasonic contrast agent microbubbles are easily crushed under high sound pressure excitation. Therefore, in order to prevent the microbubbles in the hepatic artery from being crushed during the scanning process, the first ultrasonic probe generally operates under the excitation condition of low mechanical index (MI). The mechanical index mentioned here is proportional to the maximum negative pressure in the sound field and inversely proportional to the square root of the transmission frequency. Under the emission condition of constant waveform and aperture, the maximum negative pressure is proportional to the emission voltage of the driving transducer. Therefore, the voltage that excites the first ultrasonic probe to emit the second ultrasonic wave is usually a smaller voltage. In contrast, the second ultrasonic probe emits the third ultrasonic wave in order to burst the microbubbles in the portal vein, and the ultrasonic contrast agent microbubbles are easily crushed under high sound pressure excitation. Therefore, the second ultrasonic probe generally operates under the excitation condition of high mechanical index (MI), that is, the voltage that excites the second ultrasonic probe to emit the third ultrasonic wave is usually a larger voltage. In other words, the voltage that excites the second ultrasonic probe to emit the third ultrasonic wave should generally be greater than the voltage that excites the first ultrasonic probe to emit the second ultrasonic wave.

[0037] In one embodiment of the present invention, the emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the emission of the third ultrasonic wave can be performed alternately. As mentioned above, the voltage for stimulating the second ultrasonic probe to emit the third ultrasonic wave should generally be greater than the voltage for stimulating the first ultrasonic probe to emit the second ultrasonic wave, and the microbubbles of the ultrasonic contrast agent are easily broken under high sound pressure excitation. Therefore, in order to avoid the third ultrasonic wave from interfering with the microbubbles of the hepatic artery, and also to avoid the second ultrasonic wave and the third ultrasonic wave from interfering with each other, the emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the emission of the third ultrasonic wave can be performed alternately, which can further ensure the accuracy of the angiography imaging results. Of course, the portal vein area and the location area of ​​the angiography imaging may also be separated by a long distance, and the interference of the third ultrasonic wave on the microbubbles of the hepatic artery angiography imaging can be ignored. Therefore, in another embodiment of the present invention, the emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the emission of the third ultrasonic wave can also be performed independently. For example, they can be performed simultaneously.

[0038] In one embodiment of the present invention, the power source for stimulating the first ultrasonic probe and the second ultrasonic probe may be the same power source. In this embodiment, the emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the emission of the third ultrasonic wave are performed alternately, because the same power source generally cannot provide two voltages of different magnitudes at the same time. In this embodiment, the power source may alternately stimulate the first ultrasonic probe to emit the second ultrasonic wave and stimulate the second ultrasonic probe to emit the third ultrasonic wave with a first voltage and a second voltage, respectively, wherein the first voltage is less than the second voltage.

[0039] In another embodiment of the present invention, the power sources for stimulating the first ultrasonic probe and the second ultrasonic probe may be different power sources. In this embodiment, the emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the emission of the third ultrasonic wave may be performed alternately or independently. The power source for stimulating the first ultrasonic probe may be referred to as the first power source, and the power source for stimulating the second ultrasonic probe may be referred to as the second power source. The first power source and the second power source stimulate the first ultrasonic probe to emit the second ultrasonic wave and stimulate the second ultrasonic probe to emit the third ultrasonic wave with a first voltage and a second voltage, respectively, wherein the first voltage is less than the second voltage.

[0040] In an embodiment of the present invention, the first power supply may have a larger voltage dynamic range relative to the second power supply. In this embodiment, since the second power supply is used to excite the second ultrasound probe (blasting probe), it mainly plays the role of blasting microbubbles in the portal vein, that is, generally providing a high voltage; and the first power supply is used to excite the first ultrasound probe (contrast probe), which may sometimes need to blast microbubbles of hepatic artery angiography imaging in contrast imaging, such as microbubbles in some useless areas, that is, the first power supply may provide a high voltage in some scenarios while mainly providing a low voltage. Therefore, a first power supply with a larger voltage dynamic range relative to the second power supply can be provided to meet such application scenarios.

[0041] In an embodiment of the present invention, when the emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the emission of the third ultrasonic wave can be performed alternately (whether driven by the same power supply or different power supplies), the emission time of each second ultrasonic wave can be the time to complete at least one frame of contrast image, and the emission time of each third ultrasonic wave can be the time to complete at least one frame of ultrasound image. Figure 2 To schematically describe the alternating emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the third ultrasonic wave. Figure 2 As shown, Tc is the emission time of each second ultrasonic wave, during which, for example, one frame of contrast image (i.e., contrast region image) can be completed; Td is the emission time of each third ultrasonic wave, during which, for example, one frame of ultrasound image (i.e., blast region image) can be completed. Generally, the time to complete one frame of contrast image is longer than the time to complete one frame of ultrasound image, so Tc is generally longer than Td. In addition, from Figure 2 It can be seen that the voltage for exciting the emission of the second ultrasonic wave is smaller than the voltage for exciting the emission of the third ultrasonic wave, as described above.

[0042] In an embodiment of the present invention, the aforementioned first ultrasonic probe and the second ultrasonic probe may belong to the same ultrasonic device, or may belong to different ultrasonic devices, which will be further described later below.

[0043] Now return to continue reference Figure 1, continue to describe the subsequent steps of the ultrasound contrast imaging method 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[0044] In step S150, a contrast image is generated based on the second ultrasound echo signal, and the generated contrast image is stored at the same time, so that the required contrast image can be viewed later, and the contrast image can be further displayed.

[0045] In the embodiment of the present invention, since the emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the emission of the third ultrasonic wave are performed alternately or independently, that is, in the process of generating microbubbles in the portal vein based on the third ultrasonic wave blasting, the second ultrasonic wave is also continuously emitted (alternating emission can also be understood as intermittent continuous emission), then the second ultrasonic echo signal obtained according to the echo of the second ultrasonic wave can fully reflect the contrast effect of the hepatic artery without interference from the microbubbles in the portal vein. Therefore, the second ultrasonic echo signal can be subjected to contrast imaging processing to generate a simple hepatic artery contrast image.

[0046] In addition, in an embodiment of the present invention, the method 100 may further include (not shown): receiving the echo of the third ultrasonic wave to obtain a third ultrasonic echo signal; generating and displaying a second ultrasonic image based on the third ultrasonic echo signal, so as to obtain the position of the portal vein region and continue to transmit the third ultrasonic wave, and / or to display the bursting effect of the microbubbles in the portal vein. In this embodiment, the position of the portal vein region is obtained by the second ultrasonic image generated according to the third ultrasonic echo signal, so that the user can locate the bursting region; in addition, the user can also confirm the bursting effect of the microbubbles in the portal vein according to the second ultrasonic image generated based on the third ultrasonic echo signal, and if the bursting effect is not good, the voltage for exciting the emission of the third ultrasonic wave can be changed to improve the bursting effect.

[0047] Based on the above description, the ultrasound contrast imaging method according to the embodiment of the present invention avoids interference with hepatic artery contrast imaging by bursting the microbubbles produced by the contrast agent in the portal vein, thereby realizing pure hepatic artery ultrasound contrast imaging and improving the integrity of the hepatic arterial phase contrast imaging image.

[0048] The above exemplary shows the ultrasound contrast imaging method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figures 3 to 7 An ultrasound contrast imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is described.

[0049] Figure 3 FIG. 4 shows a schematic block diagram of an ultrasound contrast imaging device 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 3As shown, the ultrasound contrast imaging device 300 includes a first ultrasound probe 310, a second ultrasound probe 320, a transmit / receive sequence controller 330, a processor 340 and a display device 350. The transmit / receive sequence controller 330 is used to control the first ultrasound probe 310 to transmit a second ultrasound wave to a location area in the liver region of the target object where contrast imaging is to be performed, and receive an echo of the second ultrasound wave to obtain a second ultrasound echo signal when a contrast agent is injected into the target object. The transmit / receive sequence controller 330 is also used to control the second ultrasound probe 320 to transmit a third ultrasound wave to a portal vein region of the liver region, and the third ultrasound wave is used to burst microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein, wherein the transmit / receive sequence controller 330 controls the emission of the second ultrasound wave and the emission of the third ultrasound wave to be performed alternately or independently. The processor 340 is used to generate a contrast image based on the second ultrasound echo signal and display it on the display device 350. The ultrasound contrast imaging device 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention can be implemented in combination with the above. Figure 1 and Figure 2 A method 100 for ultrasound contrast imaging according to an embodiment of the present invention is described.

[0050] In an embodiment of the present invention, the target object may be a person to be subjected to an ultrasound examination of the liver. In an embodiment of the present invention, the first ultrasound probe 310 is an ultrasound probe for performing liver contrast imaging of the target object, so for convenience of description, the first ultrasound probe 310 may also be referred to as a contrast probe. In an embodiment of the present invention, the second ultrasound probe 320 is an ultrasound probe for performing microbubble bursting in the portal vein, so for convenience of description, the second ultrasound probe 320 may also be referred to as a bursting probe. It should be understood that in an embodiment of the present invention, the number of the first ultrasound probe 310 may be one or more, for example, two first ultrasound probes 310 are used, one of which is used to transmit the first ultrasonic wave described herein, and the other is used to transmit the second ultrasonic wave described herein. Similarly, the number of the second ultrasound probe 320 may also be one or more.

[0051] In an embodiment of the present invention, in order to obtain a position area in the liver region where contrast imaging is to be performed, the transmit / receive sequence controller 330 may control the first ultrasound probe 310 to transmit a first ultrasound wave to the liver region of the target object, in order to obtain an ultrasound image (e.g., ultrasound B image) of the liver region of the target object for obtaining a region of interest (e.g., a tumor region of the liver). The first ultrasound probe 310 may obtain a first ultrasound echo signal based on the echo reflected by the target object from the first ultrasound wave, so as to be used by the processor 340 to generate a first ultrasound image. Exemplarily, the processor 340 may perform processing such as gain compensation, beamforming, orthogonal demodulation, image enhancement, etc. on the first ultrasound echo signal to obtain an ultrasound image of the liver region of the target object, i.e., a first ultrasound image.

[0052] In an embodiment of the present invention, by generating a first ultrasound image of a liver region of a target object, a region of interest on the first ultrasound image, such as a tumor region or other lesion region, can be obtained. In one example, the display device 350 can display the first ultrasound image so that the user can determine the region of interest on the first ultrasound image. In another example, the processor 340 can automatically detect the region of interest in the first ultrasound image through various computer algorithms. In yet another example, the region of interest can also be obtained by semi-automatic detection, for example, the processor 340 first detects the region of interest through a computer algorithm, and then displays the detected region of interest through the display device 350 for correction by the user to obtain a more accurate region of interest. Based on the acquired region of interest, the position area to be imaged in the liver region of the target object can be determined.

[0053] In other embodiments of the present invention, in order to obtain the position area to be imaged by contrast in the liver region, the transmit / receive sequence controller 330 may also control the first ultrasonic probe to transmit a second ultrasonic wave, and determine the position area to be imaged by contrast based on the ultrasonic scanning of the liver region by the second ultrasonic wave. That is, the ultrasonic contrast imaging device 300 of the present invention may enter the contrast imaging mode for contrast imaging after determining the position area in the B imaging mode, or may directly determine the position area and perform contrast in the contrast imaging mode.

[0054] In an embodiment of the present invention, after determining the position area in the liver region of the target object where contrast imaging is to be performed, a contrast agent may be injected into the target object. When the contrast agent is injected into the target object, the transmit / receive sequence controller 330 controls the first ultrasound probe 310 to transmit a second ultrasonic wave to the position area. The transmit / receive sequence controller 330 may control the first ultrasound probe 310 to transmit the second ultrasonic wave to the position area after the position area to be contrast imaging is determined, that is, the first ultrasound probe 310 continuously transmits the second ultrasonic wave before and after the injection of the contrast agent, or may control the first ultrasound probe 310 to transmit the second ultrasonic wave to the position area when the injection of the contrast agent is detected. In an embodiment of the present invention, the transmit / receive sequence controller 330 controls the first ultrasound probe 310 to transmit the second ultrasonic wave to the position area in order to obtain a contrast image of the region of interest of the liver region of the target object.

[0055] As mentioned above, liver ultrasound angiography is performed by injecting contrast agents through peripheral veins. The contrast agents return to the right heart through the peripheral veins, then to the left heart through the pulmonary circulation, and then enter the aorta from the left heart to the hepatic artery, thus forming the arterial phase of liver angiography. Subsequently, the contrast agent quickly returns to the portal vein through the superior mesenteric artery and vein, thus forming the portal venous phase of liver angiography. There is a certain time interval between the appearance of arterial phase images and portal venous phase images. During the period when the liver artery is imaged and the portal vein has not begun to enhance, if contrast agent microbubbles are prevented from entering the liver through the portal vein, true hepatic artery angiography can be achieved, thereby improving and ameliorating the shortcomings and limitations of current liver ultrasound angiography technology.

[0056] Based on this, in an embodiment of the present invention, after contrast agent injection, the transmit / receive sequence controller 330 controls the second ultrasound probe 320 to transmit a third ultrasonic wave to the portal vein region of the liver region of the target object to burst the microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein. In an embodiment of the present invention, when the contrast agent is injected into the target object, the transmit / receive sequence controller 330 controls the second ultrasound probe 320 to transmit a third ultrasonic wave to burst the microbubbles generated by the contrast agent. By bursting the microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein, the contrast imaging of the region of interest of the target object using the first ultrasound probe 310 can only present the hepatic artery angiography image, and the image of the late artery will not be seriously interfered by the microbubbles of the portal vein contrast agent, so that the doctor can obtain the result of simple hepatic artery angiography to more accurately judge the nature of the tumor and surrounding tissues and to define the safe boundary of the tumor in the surgical treatment plan.

[0057] In addition, as mentioned above, the contrast images of the arterial phase and the portal venous phase have a certain time interval in the order of appearance. Therefore, in one embodiment, the transmission / reception sequence controller 330 generally controls the second ultrasound probe 320 to transmit the third ultrasound wave to the portal vein region of the liver region of the target object to burst the microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein after the contrast agent is injected and the preset condition is met. In one example, the preset condition can be met by: the timing reaches the preset time from the injection of the contrast agent. In this example, the preset time can be predefined according to the time interval between the contrast images of the arterial phase and the portal venous phase, so that the microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein are burst after a certain time of hepatic artery angiography and before the microbubbles in the portal vein interfere with the hepatic artery angiography. In another example, the preset condition can be met by: receiving an instruction from the user to start the second ultrasound probe (for example, receiving the instruction via a user interaction device, not shown). In this example, the time to start the bursting of microbubbles in the portal vein can be determined by the user. In another embodiment, the transmit / receive sequence controller 330 can control the second ultrasound probe 320 to transmit the third ultrasound wave to the portal vein region of the liver region of the target object before the contrast agent is injected. In one embodiment, the second ultrasound probe 320 can be in the start state from the beginning, and there is no need to set conditions to turn it on, which is simpler to implement. In one embodiment, the second ultrasound probe 320 can be in the start state before the contrast agent is injected. After the user determines the portal vein region through the scanning of the third ultrasound wave, the second ultrasound probe 320 can be paused first, and the second ultrasound probe 320 can be started again after the contrast agent is injected, for example, after the injection and when the preset requirements are met, the second ultrasound probe can be started again.

[0058] It should be understood that the transmit / receive sequence controller 330 controls the first ultrasonic probe 310 to transmit the second ultrasonic wave in order to perform contrast imaging of the target object's region of interest, and the ultrasonic contrast agent microbubbles are easily crushed under high sound pressure excitation. Therefore, in order to prevent the microbubbles in the hepatic artery from being crushed during the scanning process, the first ultrasonic probe 310 generally operates under the excitation condition of low mechanical index (MI). Exemplarily, the first ultrasonic probe 310 may refer to a transducer for conventional ultrasonic contrast imaging with low mechanical index. The mechanical index mentioned here is proportional to the maximum negative pressure in the sound field and inversely proportional to the square root of the transmission frequency. Under the transmission condition where the waveform and aperture remain unchanged, the maximum negative pressure is proportional to the transmission voltage of the driving transducer. Therefore, the voltage that excites the first ultrasonic probe 310 to emit the second ultrasonic wave is usually a smaller voltage. In contrast, the second ultrasonic probe 320 transmits the third ultrasonic wave in order to burst the microbubbles in the portal vein, and the ultrasonic contrast agent microbubbles are easily crushed under high sound pressure excitation. Therefore, the second ultrasonic probe 320 generally operates under the excitation condition of a high mechanical index (MI), that is, the voltage that excites the second ultrasonic probe to emit the third ultrasonic wave is generally a relatively large voltage. In other words, the voltage that excites the second ultrasonic probe 320 to emit the third ultrasonic wave should generally be greater than the voltage that excites the first ultrasonic probe 310 to emit the second ultrasonic wave. Exemplarily, the second ultrasonic probe 320 may refer to a transducer that emits high acoustic energy.

[0059] In one embodiment of the present invention, the emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the emission of the third ultrasonic wave can be performed alternately. As mentioned above, the voltage for stimulating the second ultrasonic probe 320 to emit the third ultrasonic wave should generally be greater than the voltage for stimulating the first ultrasonic probe 310 to emit the second ultrasonic wave, and the ultrasonic contrast agent microbubbles are easily broken under high sound pressure excitation. Therefore, in order to avoid the third ultrasonic wave from interfering with the microbubbles of the hepatic artery, and also to avoid the second ultrasonic wave and the third ultrasonic wave from interfering with each other, the emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the emission of the third ultrasonic wave can be performed alternately, which can further ensure the accuracy of the contrast imaging results. Of course, the portal vein area and the location area for contrast imaging may also be separated by a long distance, and the interference of the third ultrasonic wave on the microbubbles in the hepatic artery area can be ignored. Therefore, in another embodiment of the present invention, the emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the emission of the third ultrasonic wave can also be performed independently. For example, they can be performed simultaneously.

[0060] In one embodiment of the present invention, the power source for stimulating the first ultrasonic probe 310 and the second ultrasonic probe 320 may be the same power source. In this embodiment, the emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the emission of the third ultrasonic wave are performed alternately, because the same power source generally cannot provide two voltages of different magnitudes at the same time. In this embodiment, the device 300 may include a power source (not shown) that alternately stimulates the first ultrasonic probe 310 to emit the second ultrasonic wave and stimulates the second ultrasonic probe 320 to emit the third ultrasonic wave with a first voltage and a second voltage, respectively, wherein the first voltage is less than the second voltage.

[0061] In another embodiment of the present invention, the power sources for stimulating the first ultrasonic probe 310 and the second ultrasonic probe 320 may be different power sources. In this embodiment, the emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the emission of the third ultrasonic wave may be performed alternately or independently. In this embodiment, the device 300 may include a first power source and a second power source (not shown), the power source for stimulating the first ultrasonic probe 310 may be referred to as the first power source, and the power source for stimulating the second ultrasonic probe 320 may be referred to as the second power source. The first power source and the second power source stimulate the first ultrasonic probe 310 to emit the second ultrasonic wave and stimulate the second ultrasonic probe 320 to emit the third ultrasonic wave with a first voltage and a second voltage, respectively, wherein the first voltage is less than the second voltage.

[0062] In an embodiment of the present invention, the first power supply may have a larger voltage dynamic range than the second power supply. In this embodiment, since the second power supply is used to excite the second ultrasonic probe 320, it mainly plays the role of bursting microbubbles in the portal vein, that is, generally providing a high voltage; and the first power supply is used to excite the first ultrasonic probe 310, which may sometimes need to burst microbubbles of hepatic artery angiography imaging in contrast imaging, such as microbubbles in some useless areas, that is, the first power supply may provide a high voltage in some scenarios while mainly providing a low voltage. Therefore, a first power supply with a larger voltage dynamic range than the second power supply can be provided to meet such application scenarios.

[0063] In an embodiment of the present invention, when the emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the emission of the third ultrasonic wave can be performed alternately (whether driven by the same power supply or different power supplies), the emission time of each second ultrasonic wave can be the time to complete at least one frame of contrast image, and the emission time of each third ultrasonic wave can be the time to complete at least one frame of ultrasound image.

[0064] In the embodiment of the present invention, since the emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the emission of the third ultrasonic wave are performed alternately or independently, that is, in the process of blasting the microbubbles generated by the contrast in the portal vein based on the third ultrasonic wave, the second ultrasonic wave is also continuously emitted (alternating emission can also be understood as intermittent continuous emission), then the second ultrasonic echo signal obtained according to the echo of the second ultrasonic wave can fully reflect the hepatic artery contrast imaging effect that is not interfered by the microbubbles in the portal vein. Therefore, the second ultrasonic echo signal can be subjected to contrast imaging processing to generate a simple hepatic artery contrast image. In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, the transmit / receive sequence controller 330 can also be used to receive the echo of the third ultrasonic wave to obtain the third ultrasonic echo signal, and the processor 340 is also used to generate a second ultrasonic image based on the third ultrasonic echo signal and display it by the display device 350, so as to obtain the position of the portal vein area and / or to display the blasting effect of the microbubbles in the portal vein. In this embodiment, the position of the portal vein region is obtained by the second ultrasound image generated based on the third ultrasound echo signal, so that the user can accurately locate the blasting region; in addition, the user can also confirm the blasting effect of the microbubbles in the portal vein based on the second ultrasound image generated based on the third ultrasound echo signal, and if the blasting effect is not good, the voltage for stimulating the emission of the third ultrasound wave can be changed as needed to improve the blasting effect. The above imaging process diagram of the contrast image and the ultrasound image can be combined with Figure 4 Come to understand.

[0065] Based on the above description, the ultrasound contrast imaging device according to the embodiment of the present invention avoids interference with hepatic artery contrast imaging by blasting the microbubbles produced by the contrast agent in the portal vein, thereby realizing pure hepatic artery ultrasound contrast imaging and improving the integrity of the hepatic arterial phase contrast imaging image.

[0066] The above exemplarily describes an ultrasound angiography imaging device 300 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the ultrasound angiography imaging device 300 including at least two ultrasound probes is used to realize the process of hepatic artery angiography imaging based on ultrasound probes by bursting the microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein through other ultrasound probes, thereby realizing single hepatic artery ultrasound angiography imaging. Figure 3 The schematic block diagram of the ultrasound contrast imaging device 300 is shown as an example. The stereoscopic structure diagram of the ultrasound contrast imaging device according to this embodiment can be as follows: Figure 5 As shown, since the functions and operations of the various components of the ultrasound contrast imaging device 300 have been described above, they will not be repeated here for the sake of brevity.

[0067] Combine the following Figure 6 hereinafter is a schematic structural block diagram of an ultrasound contrast imaging device 600 according to another embodiment of the present invention. Figure 6As shown, the ultrasound contrast imaging device 600 includes a first ultrasound imaging device 610 and a second ultrasound imaging device 620. The first ultrasound imaging device 610 includes a first ultrasound probe 611, a first transmit / receive sequence controller 612, a first processor 613 and a first display device 614. The first transmit / receive sequence controller 612 is used to control the first ultrasound probe 611 to transmit a first ultrasound wave to the liver region of the target object, and receive the echo of the first ultrasound wave to obtain a first ultrasound echo signal; the first processor 613 is used to generate a first ultrasound image based on the first ultrasound echo signal and display it by the first display device 614, and obtain a region of interest on the first ultrasound image to determine the position region to be imaged by contrast imaging in the liver region. The first transmit / receive sequence controller 612 is also used to control the first ultrasound probe 611 to transmit a second ultrasound wave to the position region when a contrast agent is injected into the target object, and receive the echo of the second ultrasound wave to obtain a second ultrasound echo signal; the first processor 613 is also used to generate a contrast image based on the second ultrasound echo signal and display it by the first display device 614. The second ultrasonic imaging device 620 includes a second ultrasonic probe 621 and a second transmit / receive sequence controller 622, wherein the second transmit / receive sequence controller 622 is used to control the second ultrasonic probe 621 to transmit a third ultrasonic wave to the portal vein region of the liver region, wherein the third ultrasonic wave is used to burst the microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein. The first ultrasonic imaging device and the second ultrasonic imaging device transmit the second ultrasonic wave and the third ultrasonic wave alternately or independently.

[0068] Combined with Figure 3 The embodiment described is different in that the first ultrasonic probe 611 and the second ultrasonic probe 621 included in the ultrasonic contrast imaging device 600 are not from the same ultrasonic imaging device, but from different ultrasonic imaging devices, namely the first ultrasonic imaging device 610 and the second ultrasonic imaging device 620. In the ultrasonic contrast imaging device 600, the two ultrasonic imaging devices can cooperate to implement the ultrasonic contrast imaging method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[0069] In one example, the first ultrasonic imaging device 610 and the second ultrasonic imaging device 620 can both be connected to an external control device, and the control device is used as an external control console to control the first ultrasonic imaging device 610 and the second ultrasonic imaging device 620 to cooperate to implement the ultrasonic contrast imaging method according to the embodiment of the present invention. For example, when the contrast agent is injected into the target object, the control device controls the first ultrasonic imaging device 610 to start the first ultrasonic probe 611 to transmit the second ultrasonic wave to the position area in the liver area of ​​the target object to be subjected to contrast imaging; in addition, the control device starts timing from the injection of the contrast agent, and after reaching the preset time, controls the second ultrasonic imaging device 620 to start the second ultrasonic probe 621 to transmit the third ultrasonic wave to the portal vein area of ​​the liver area, and so on. In another example, the first ultrasonic imaging device 610 and the second ultrasonic imaging device 620 can communicate with each other via a communication device, and implement the ultrasonic contrast imaging method according to the embodiment of the present invention through communication and interaction with each other. For example, the first ultrasonic imaging device 610 starts timing from the injection of contrast agent, and after reaching a preset time, it sends a notification to the second ultrasonic imaging device 620, and the second ultrasonic imaging device 620 receives the notification and starts the second ultrasonic probe 621 to transmit the third ultrasonic wave to the portal vein area of ​​the liver area, etc. In another example, the first ultrasonic imaging device 610 and the second ultrasonic imaging device 620 can both be imaging devices with editable imaging intervals. In this example, imaging interval instructions can be preset for the first ultrasonic imaging device 610 and the second ultrasonic imaging device 620, respectively, so that the first ultrasonic imaging device 610 and the second ultrasonic imaging device cooperate to implement the ultrasonic contrast imaging method according to an embodiment of the present invention, for example, the second ultrasonic wave and the third ultrasonic wave are alternately transmitted according to their respective imaging intervals, etc.

[0070] In an embodiment of the present invention, the target object may be a person to be subjected to an ultrasound examination of the liver. In an embodiment of the present invention, the first ultrasound probe 611 is an ultrasound probe for performing liver contrast imaging of the target object, so for the convenience of description, the first ultrasound probe 611 may also be referred to as a contrast probe. In an embodiment of the present invention, the second ultrasound probe 621 is an ultrasound probe for performing microbubble bursting in the portal vein, so for the convenience of description, the second ultrasound probe 621 may also be referred to as a bursting probe. It should be understood that in an embodiment of the present invention, the number of the first ultrasound probe 611 may be one or more, for example, two first ultrasound probes 611 are used, one of which is used to transmit the first ultrasonic wave described herein, and the other is used to transmit the second ultrasonic wave described herein. Similarly, the number of the second ultrasound probe 622 may also be one or more. In some examples, the second ultrasound imaging device 620 may also be provided with a third ultrasound probe (not shown), and the third ultrasound probe and the second ultrasound probe 622 may both be provided in the portal vein region, wherein the third ultrasound probe is used to perform ultrasound imaging of the portal vein region, and when the second ultrasound imaging device 620 confirms the presence of contrast microbubbles in the ultrasound image of the third ultrasound probe, it activates the second ultrasound probe 622 to blast the microbubbles in the portal vein.

[0071] In an embodiment of the present invention, the transmit / receive sequence controller 612 controls the first ultrasound probe 611 to transmit the first ultrasound wave to the liver region of the target object in order to obtain an ultrasound image (e.g., ultrasound B image) of the liver region of the target object for obtaining a region of interest (e.g., a tumor region of the liver). The first ultrasound probe 611 can obtain a first ultrasound echo signal based on the echo reflected by the target object to the first ultrasound wave, so as to be used by the processor 613 to generate a first ultrasound image. Exemplarily, the processor 613 can perform processing such as gain compensation, beamforming, orthogonal demodulation, image enhancement, etc. on the first ultrasound echo signal to obtain an ultrasound image of the liver region of the target object, i.e., a first ultrasound image.

[0072] In an embodiment of the present invention, by generating a first ultrasound image of a liver region of a target object, a region of interest on the first ultrasound image, such as a tumor region or other lesion region, can be acquired. The region of interest can be manually determined by a user, or can be automatically detected by a system, or can be acquired by semi-automatic detection.

[0073] In an embodiment of the present invention, after determining the position area in the liver region of the target object where contrast imaging is to be performed, a contrast agent can be injected into the target object. When the contrast agent is injected into the target object, the transmit / receive sequence controller 612 controls the first ultrasound probe 611 to transmit a second ultrasonic wave to the position area. The transmit / receive sequence controller 612 can control the first ultrasound probe 611 to transmit the second ultrasonic wave to the position area after the position area to be contrast imaging is determined, that is, the first ultrasound probe 611 continuously transmits the second ultrasonic wave before and after the injection of the contrast agent, or can control the first ultrasound probe 611 to transmit the second ultrasonic wave to the position area when the injection of the contrast agent is detected. In an embodiment of the present invention, the transmit / receive sequence controller 612 controls the first ultrasound probe 611 to transmit the second ultrasonic wave to the position area in order to obtain a contrast image of the region of interest of the liver region of the target object.

[0074] As mentioned above, liver ultrasound angiography is performed by injecting contrast agents through peripheral veins. The contrast agents return to the right heart through the peripheral veins, then to the left heart through the pulmonary circulation, and then enter the aorta from the left heart to the hepatic artery, thus forming the arterial phase of liver angiography. Subsequently, the contrast agent quickly returns to the portal vein through the superior mesenteric artery and vein, thus forming the portal venous phase of liver angiography. There is a certain time interval between the appearance of arterial phase images and portal venous phase images. During the period when the liver artery is imaged and the portal vein has not begun to enhance, if contrast agent microbubbles are prevented from entering the liver through the portal vein, true hepatic artery angiography can be achieved, thereby improving and ameliorating the shortcomings and limitations of current liver ultrasound angiography technology.

[0075] Based on this, in an embodiment of the present invention, after contrast agent injection, the transmit / receive sequence controller 622 controls the second ultrasonic probe 621 to transmit a third ultrasonic wave to the portal vein region of the liver region of the target object to burst the microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein. In an embodiment of the present invention, when the contrast agent is injected into the target object, the transmit / receive sequence controller 622 controls the second ultrasonic probe 621 to transmit a third ultrasonic wave to burst the microbubbles generated by the contrast agent. By bursting the microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein, the contrast imaging of the region of interest of the target object using the first ultrasonic probe 611 can only present the hepatic artery angiography image, and the image of the late artery will not be seriously interfered by the microbubbles of the portal vein contrast agent, so that the doctor can obtain the result of simple hepatic artery angiography to more accurately judge the nature of the tumor and surrounding tissues and to define the safe boundary of the tumor in the surgical treatment plan.

[0076] In addition, as mentioned above, the contrast images of the arterial phase and the portal venous phase have a certain time interval in the order of appearance. Therefore, in one embodiment, the transmission / reception sequence controller 622 generally controls the second ultrasound probe 621 to transmit the third ultrasound wave to the portal vein region of the liver region of the target object to burst the microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein after the contrast agent is injected and the preset condition is met. In one example, the preset condition can be met by: timing from the injection of the contrast agent to a preset time. In this example, the preset time can be predefined according to the time interval between the contrast images of the arterial phase and the portal venous phase, so that the microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein are burst after a certain time of hepatic artery angiography and before the microbubbles in the portal vein interfere with the hepatic artery angiography. In this example, the second ultrasound imaging device 620 can also include a second processor (not shown), and the second processor performs timing. In another example, the preset condition can be met by: receiving an instruction from a user to start the second ultrasound probe (for example, receiving an instruction via a user interaction device of the second ultrasound imaging device 620, not shown). In this example, the time to start bursting the microbubbles in the portal vein can be determined by the user. In another embodiment, the transmit / receive sequence controller 622 can control the second ultrasound probe 621 to transmit the third ultrasound wave to the portal vein region of the liver region of the target object before contrast agent injection. In this embodiment, the second ultrasound probe 621 can be in the start state from the beginning, and there is no need to set conditions to turn it on, which is simpler to implement.

[0077] It should be understood that the transmit / receive sequence controller 612 controls the first ultrasonic probe 611 to transmit the second ultrasonic wave in order to perform contrast imaging of the target object's region of interest, and the ultrasonic contrast agent microbubbles are easily crushed under high sound pressure excitation. Therefore, in order to prevent the microbubbles in the hepatic artery from being crushed during the scanning process, the first ultrasonic probe 611 generally operates under the excitation condition of low mechanical index (MI). Exemplarily, the first ultrasonic probe 611 may refer to a transducer for conventional ultrasonic contrast imaging with low mechanical index. The mechanical index mentioned here is proportional to the maximum negative pressure in the sound field and inversely proportional to the square root of the transmission frequency. Under the transmission condition where the waveform and aperture remain unchanged, the maximum negative pressure is proportional to the transmission voltage of the driving transducer. Therefore, the voltage that excites the first ultrasonic probe 611 to emit the second ultrasonic wave is usually a smaller voltage. In contrast, the second ultrasonic probe 621 transmits the third ultrasonic wave in order to burst the microbubbles in the portal vein, and the ultrasonic contrast agent microbubbles are easily crushed under high sound pressure excitation. Therefore, the second ultrasonic probe 621 generally works under the excitation condition of high mechanical index (MI), that is, the voltage that excites the second ultrasonic probe to emit the third ultrasonic wave is generally a relatively large voltage. In other words, the voltage that excites the second ultrasonic probe 621 to emit the third ultrasonic wave should generally be greater than the voltage that excites the first ultrasonic probe 611 to emit the second ultrasonic wave. Exemplarily, the second ultrasonic probe 621 may refer to a transducer that emits high sound energy.

[0078] In one embodiment of the present invention, the emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the emission of the third ultrasonic wave can be performed alternately. As mentioned above, the voltage for stimulating the second ultrasonic probe 621 to emit the third ultrasonic wave should generally be greater than the voltage for stimulating the first ultrasonic probe 611 to emit the second ultrasonic wave, and the ultrasonic contrast agent microbubbles are easily broken under high sound pressure excitation. Therefore, in order to avoid the third ultrasonic wave from interfering with the microbubbles of the hepatic artery, and also to avoid the second ultrasonic wave and the third ultrasonic wave from interfering with each other, the emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the emission of the third ultrasonic wave can be performed alternately, which can further ensure the accuracy of the contrast imaging results. Of course, the portal vein area and the location area for contrast imaging may also be separated by a long distance, and the interference of the third ultrasonic wave on the microbubbles of the hepatic artery can be ignored. Therefore, in another embodiment of the present invention, the emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the emission of the third ultrasonic wave can also be performed independently. For example, they can be performed simultaneously.

[0079] In an embodiment of the present invention, the first ultrasonic imaging device 610 may include a first power supply (not shown), and the second ultrasonic imaging device 620 may include a second power supply (not shown), the first power supply is used to stimulate the first transmit / receive sequence controller 612 to control the first ultrasonic probe 611, and the second power supply is used to stimulate the second transmit / receive sequence controller 622 to control the second ultrasonic probe 621, the first power supply and the second power supply respectively stimulate the first ultrasonic probe 611 to emit a second ultrasonic wave and stimulate the second ultrasonic probe 621 to emit a third ultrasonic wave with a first voltage and a second voltage, wherein the first voltage is less than the second voltage.

[0080] In an embodiment of the present invention, the first power supply may have a larger voltage dynamic range than the second power supply. In this embodiment, since the second power supply is used to excite the second ultrasonic probe 621, it mainly plays the role of bursting microbubbles in the portal vein, that is, generally providing a high voltage; and the first power supply is used to excite the first ultrasonic probe 611, which may sometimes need to burst microbubbles of hepatic artery angiography imaging in contrast imaging, such as microbubbles in some useless areas, that is, the first power supply may provide a high voltage in some scenarios while mainly providing a low voltage. Therefore, a first power supply with a larger voltage dynamic range than the second power supply can be provided to meet such application scenarios.

[0081] In an embodiment of the present invention, when the emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the emission of the third ultrasonic wave can be performed alternately (whether driven by the same power supply or different power supplies), the emission time of each second ultrasonic wave can be the time to complete at least one frame of contrast image, and the emission time of each third ultrasonic wave can be the time to complete at least one frame of ultrasound image.

[0082] In the embodiment of the present invention, since the emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the emission of the third ultrasonic wave are performed alternately or independently, that is, in the process of blasting the microbubbles generated by the angiography in the portal vein based on the third ultrasonic wave, the second ultrasonic wave is also continuously emitted (alternating emission can also be understood as intermittent continuous emission), then the second ultrasonic echo signal obtained according to the echo of the second ultrasonic wave can fully reflect the hepatic artery angiography imaging effect that is not interfered by the microbubbles in the portal vein. Therefore, the second ultrasonic echo signal can be subjected to angiography imaging processing to generate a simple hepatic artery angiography image.

[0083] In addition, in an embodiment of the present invention, the transmit / receive sequence controller 622 can also be used to receive the echo of the third ultrasonic wave to obtain a third ultrasonic echo signal. In this embodiment, the second ultrasonic imaging device 620 can also include a second processor and a second display device (not shown). The processor is also used to generate a second ultrasonic image based on the third ultrasonic echo signal and display it by the display device, so as to obtain the position of the portal vein area and / or to confirm the bursting effect of the microbubbles in the portal vein by the user. In this embodiment, by obtaining the position of the portal vein area according to the second ultrasonic image generated by the third ultrasonic echo signal, it is convenient for the user to accurately locate the bursting area; in addition, the user can also confirm the bursting effect of the microbubbles in the portal vein according to the second ultrasonic image generated based on the third ultrasonic echo signal. If the bursting effect is not good, the voltage for exciting the emission of the third ultrasonic wave can be changed according to the demand to improve the bursting effect.

[0084] Based on the above description, the ultrasound angiography imaging device 600 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes at least two ultrasound imaging devices, wherein one of the ultrasound imaging devices is used to blast the microbubbles produced by the contrast agent in the portal vein during hepatic artery angiography imaging to avoid interference with the hepatic artery angiography imaging, thereby achieving simple hepatic artery ultrasound angiography imaging and improving the integrity of the hepatic artery phase angiography image.

[0085] In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a storage medium is also provided, on which program instructions are stored, and when the program instructions are executed by a computer or a processor, the corresponding steps of the ultrasound contrast imaging method of the embodiment of the present invention are executed. The storage medium may include, for example, a memory card of a smart phone, a storage component of a tablet computer, a hard disk of a personal computer, a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), a USB memory, or any combination of the above storage media.

[0086] Based on the above description, the ultrasound angiography method and device according to the embodiment of the present invention avoids interference with hepatic artery angiography by blasting the microbubbles produced by the contrast agent in the portal vein, thereby realizing pure hepatic artery ultrasound angiography and improving the integrity of the hepatic artery phase angiography image.

[0087] Although example embodiments have been described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, it should be understood that the above example embodiments are merely exemplary and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention thereto. Various changes and modifications may be made therein by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. All such changes and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention as required by the appended claims.

[0088] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of the present invention.

[0089] In the several embodiments provided by the present invention, it should be understood that the disclosed devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic, for example, the division of the units is only a logical function division, and there may be other division methods in actual implementation, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another device, or some features can be ignored or not executed.

[0090] In the description provided herein, a large number of specific details are described. However, it is understood that embodiments of the present invention can be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known methods, structures and techniques are not shown in detail so as not to obscure the understanding of this description.

[0091] Similarly, it should be understood that in order to streamline the present invention and help understand one or more of the various inventive aspects, in the description of the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the various features of the present invention are sometimes grouped together into a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof. However, the method of the present invention should not be interpreted as reflecting the following intention: the claimed invention requires more features than the features explicitly stated in each claim. More specifically, as reflected in the corresponding claims, the inventive point is that the corresponding technical problem can be solved with less than all the features of a single disclosed embodiment. Therefore, the claims following the specific embodiment are hereby expressly incorporated into the specific embodiment, wherein each claim itself serves as a separate embodiment of the present invention.

[0092] It will be understood by those skilled in the art that, except for mutually exclusive features, all features disclosed in this specification (including the accompanying claims, abstracts and drawings) and all processes or units of any method or device disclosed in this specification may be combined in any combination. Unless otherwise expressly stated, each feature disclosed in this specification (including the accompanying claims, abstracts and drawings) may be replaced by an alternative feature that provides the same, equivalent or similar purpose.

[0093] In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciate that, although some embodiments described herein include certain features included in other embodiments but not other features, the combination of features of different embodiments is meant to be within the scope of the present invention and form different embodiments. For example, in the claims, any one of the claimed embodiments may be used in any combination.

[0094] The various component embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in hardware, or in software modules running on one or more processors, or in a combination thereof. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP) may be used in practice to implement some or all of the functions of some modules in the article analysis device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The present invention may also be implemented as a device program (e.g., a computer program and a computer program product) for executing part or all of the methods described herein. Such a program implementing the present invention may be stored on a computer-readable medium, or may be in the form of one or more signals. Such a signal may be downloaded from an Internet website, or provided on a carrier signal, or provided in any other form.

[0095] It should be noted that the above embodiments illustrate the present invention rather than limit it, and that those skilled in the art may devise alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims. In the claims, any reference symbol between brackets shall not be construed as a limitation on the claims. The word "comprising" does not exclude the presence of elements or steps not listed in the claims. The word "one" or "an" preceding an element does not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements. The present invention may be implemented by means of hardware comprising a number of different elements and by means of a suitably programmed computer. In a unit claim enumerating a number of devices, several of these devices may be embodied by the same hardware item. The use of the words first, second, and third, etc., does not indicate any order. These words may be interpreted as names.

[0096] The above is only a specific embodiment of the present invention or an explanation of a specific embodiment. The protection scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed by the present invention, which should be included in the protection scope of the present invention. The protection scope of the present invention shall be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. An ultrasound contrast imaging method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Controlling the first ultrasonic probe to transmit a first ultrasonic wave to the liver area of ​​the target object, and receiving an echo of the first ultrasonic wave to acquire a first ultrasonic echo signal; Generate and display a first ultrasound image based on the first ultrasound echo signal, and acquire a region of interest on the first ultrasound image to determine a location region in the liver region where contrast imaging is to be performed; When a contrast agent is injected into the target object, controlling the first ultrasound probe to transmit a second ultrasound wave to the location area, and receiving an echo of the second ultrasound wave to acquire a second ultrasound echo signal; After the contrast agent is injected and when a preset condition is met, the second ultrasound probe is controlled to emit a third ultrasound wave to the portal vein region of the liver region, wherein the third ultrasound wave is used to explode microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein to prevent the contrast agent microbubbles from entering the liver through the portal vein, and the emission of the second ultrasound wave and the emission of the third ultrasound wave are performed alternately or independently; generating a first hepatic artery contrast image and a second hepatic artery contrast image based on the second ultrasonic echo signal, wherein the first hepatic artery contrast image is generated before contrast agent microbubbles enter the liver through the portal vein, and the second hepatic artery contrast image is generated after the contrast agent microbubbles in the portal vein are exploded; receiving the echo of the third ultrasonic wave to acquire a third ultrasonic echo signal, generating and displaying a second ultrasonic image based on the third ultrasonic echo signal, for acquiring the position of the portal vein region while continuing to emit the third ultrasonic wave, and for displaying the bursting effect of the microbubbles in the portal vein; The power source for stimulating the first ultrasonic probe is a first power source, and the power source for stimulating the second ultrasonic probe is a second power source. The first power source has a larger voltage dynamic range than the second power source.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The satisfying of the preset condition includes: the timing from the injection of the contrast agent reaches a preset time, or receiving an instruction from a user to start the second ultrasound probe.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: When the emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the emission of the third ultrasonic wave are performed alternately, each emission time of the second ultrasonic wave is the time to complete at least one frame of contrast image, and each emission time of the third ultrasonic wave is the time to complete at least one frame of ultrasonic image.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first power supply and the second power supply respectively excite the first ultrasonic probe to emit the second ultrasonic wave and excite the second ultrasonic probe to emit the third ultrasonic wave with a first voltage and a second voltage, wherein the first voltage is smaller than the second voltage.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The first ultrasound probe and the second ultrasound probe belong to the same ultrasound device or to different ultrasound devices.

6. An ultrasound contrast imaging device, characterized in that: The device comprises at least two ultrasound probes, a transmit / receive sequence controller, a processor and a display device, wherein: The transmit / receive sequence controller is used to control the first ultrasound probe to transmit a second ultrasound wave to a location area in the liver area of ​​the target object where contrast imaging is to be performed, and to receive an echo of the second ultrasound wave to obtain a second ultrasound echo signal when a contrast agent is injected into the target object; The transmit / receive sequence controller is also used to control the second ultrasonic probe to transmit a third ultrasonic wave to the portal vein region of the liver region, wherein the third ultrasonic wave is used to explode microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein to prevent the contrast agent microbubbles from entering the liver through the portal vein, and the emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the emission of the third ultrasonic wave are performed alternately or independently; The processor is used for generating a first hepatic artery contrast image and a second hepatic artery contrast image based on the second ultrasonic echo signal and displaying them by the display device, wherein the first hepatic artery contrast image is generated before the contrast agent microbubbles enter the liver through the portal vein, and the second hepatic artery contrast image is generated after the contrast agent microbubbles in the portal vein are exploded; The transmit / receive sequence controller is also used to receive the echo of the third ultrasonic wave to obtain a third ultrasonic echo signal; The processor is further configured to generate a second ultrasound image based on the third ultrasound echo signal and display the second ultrasound image by the display device, so as to acquire the position of the portal vein region while continuing to emit the third ultrasound wave, and to display the bursting effect of the microbubbles in the portal vein; The device also includes a first power supply and a second power supply, the first power supply is used to stimulate the transmit / receive sequence controller to control the first ultrasonic probe, and the second power supply is used to stimulate the transmit / receive sequence controller to control the second ultrasonic probe, and the first power supply has a larger voltage dynamic range than the second power supply.

7. The device according to claim 6, characterized in that The transmit / receive sequence controller controls the second ultrasound probe to transmit the third ultrasound wave to the portal vein region of the liver region after the contrast agent is injected and when a preset condition is met.

8. The device according to claim 7, characterized in that The preset condition is met when: the processor reaches a preset time from the start of the injection of the contrast agent, or the processor receives an instruction from a user to start the second ultrasound probe.

9. The device according to claim 6, characterized in that The transmitting / receiving sequence controller controls the second ultrasound probe to transmit the third ultrasound wave to the portal vein region of the liver region, including: controlling the second ultrasound probe to transmit the third ultrasound wave before the contrast agent is injected.

10. The device according to claim 6, characterized in that When the emission of the second ultrasonic wave and the emission of the third ultrasonic wave are performed alternately, each emission time of the second ultrasonic wave is the time to complete at least one frame of contrast image, and each emission time of the third ultrasonic wave is the time to complete at least one frame of ultrasonic image.

11. The device according to any one of claims 6 to 10, characterized in that The first power supply and the second power supply respectively excite the first ultrasonic probe to emit the second ultrasonic wave and excite the second ultrasonic probe to emit the third ultrasonic wave with a first voltage and a second voltage, wherein the first voltage is smaller than the second voltage.

12. An ultrasound contrast imaging device, characterized in that: The apparatus comprises a first ultrasonic imaging device and a second ultrasonic imaging device, wherein: The first ultrasonic imaging device includes a first ultrasonic probe, a first transmit / receive sequence controller, a first processor and a first display device, wherein: the first transmit / receive sequence controller is used to control the first ultrasonic probe to transmit a first ultrasonic wave to the liver area of ​​the target object, and receive the echo of the first ultrasonic wave to obtain a first ultrasonic echo signal; the first processor is used to generate a first ultrasonic image based on the first ultrasonic echo signal and display it by the first display device, and obtain a region of interest on the first ultrasonic image to determine a position area of ​​the target object to be subjected to contrast imaging; the first transmit / receive sequence controller is also used to control the first ultrasonic probe to transmit a second ultrasonic wave to the position area when a contrast agent is injected into the target object, and receive the echo of the second ultrasonic wave to obtain a second ultrasonic echo signal; the first processor is also used to generate a first contrast image of the hepatic artery and a second contrast image of the hepatic artery based on the second ultrasonic echo signal and display them by the first display device, wherein the first contrast image of the hepatic artery is generated before the contrast agent microbubbles enter the liver through the portal vein, and the second contrast image of the hepatic artery is generated after the contrast agent microbubbles in the portal vein are burst; The second ultrasonic imaging device comprises a second ultrasonic probe and a second transmit / receive sequence controller, a second processor and a second display device, wherein: the second transmit / receive sequence controller is used to control the second ultrasonic probe to transmit a third ultrasonic wave to the portal vein region of the liver region, and the third ultrasonic wave is used to burst microbubbles generated by the contrast agent in the portal vein to prevent the contrast agent microbubbles from entering the liver through the portal vein; The first ultrasonic imaging device and the second ultrasonic imaging device transmit the second ultrasonic wave and the third ultrasonic wave alternately or independently; The second transmit / receive sequence controller is also used to receive the echo of the third ultrasonic wave to obtain a third ultrasonic echo signal; The second processor is further used to generate a second ultrasound image based on the third ultrasound echo signal and display it by the second display device, so as to acquire the position of the portal vein region while continuing to emit the third ultrasound wave, and to display the bursting effect of the microbubbles in the portal vein; The first ultrasonic imaging device includes a first power supply, and the second ultrasonic imaging device includes a second power supply. The first power supply is used to stimulate the first transmit / receive sequence controller to control the first ultrasonic probe, and the second power supply is used to stimulate the second transmit / receive sequence controller to control the second ultrasonic probe. The first power supply has a larger voltage dynamic range than the second power supply.

13. The device according to claim 12, characterized in that The second transmit / receive sequence controller controls the second ultrasound probe to transmit the third ultrasound wave to the portal vein region of the liver region after the contrast agent is injected and when a preset condition is met.

14. The device according to claim 13, characterized in that The preset condition is satisfied when: the second processor reaches a preset time from the start of the injection of the contrast agent, or the second processor receives an instruction from a user to start the second ultrasound probe.

15. The device according to claim 12, characterized in that When the first ultrasonic imaging device and the second ultrasonic imaging device alternately transmit the second ultrasonic wave and the third ultrasonic wave, the transmission time of the first ultrasonic imaging device transmitting the second ultrasonic wave each time is the time to complete at least one frame of contrast image, and the transmission time of the second ultrasonic imaging device transmitting the third ultrasonic wave each time is the time to complete at least one frame of ultrasonic image.

16. The device according to any one of claims 12 to 15, characterized in that The first power supply and the second power supply respectively excite the first ultrasonic probe to emit the second ultrasonic wave and excite the second ultrasonic probe to emit the third ultrasonic wave with a first voltage and a second voltage, wherein the first voltage is smaller than the second voltage.

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