Ultrasonic imaging device and pulse wave imaging method

Abstract

The ultrasonic imaging device and pulse wave imaging method provided by the present invention acquire ultrasonic data of a predetermined time period, generate an ultrasonic image containing an axial section structure of a blood vessel according to the ultrasonic data, obtain a blood vessel wall hardness characterization amount reflected by a pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the blood vessel wall according to the ultrasonic data, and visualize the blood vessel wall hardness characterization amount along the axial direction of the blood vessel, thereby generating and displaying a pulse wave propagation state diagram. By visually expressing the blood vessel wall hardness characterization amount along the axial direction of the blood vessel, a pulse wave propagation state diagram is generated and displayed, so as to intuitively present the propagation of the pulse wave.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of medical devices, and in particular to an ultrasonic imaging device and a pulse wave imaging method. Background Art

[0002] Vascular pulse wave detection technology is an important means of clinical vascular detection. The pulse wave is a pulsed mechanical wave that pulsates radially and propagates axially on the vascular wall due to the heart pumping blood. The pulse wave is specifically manifested as two vascular expansions when the left ventricle starts pumping blood (mitral valve opens) and when the pumping ends (mitral valve closes). The two expansions correspond to the pulse waves in the early systole (Begin of systole, BS) and the late systole (End of systole, ES), respectively. The pulse wave will propagate along the artery from the proximal end to the distal end. The existing vascular pulse wave detection technology displays the pulse wave propagation velocity (PWV) through a display after detecting it. However, medical staff can only obtain a numerical value reflecting the pulse wave propagation velocity and an ultrasonic B-image, which cannot effectively show the dynamic process of pulse wave propagation. Therefore, the existing expression method is not intuitive enough and easily confuses medical staff. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] Technical issues

[0005] The present invention mainly provides an ultrasonic imaging device and a pulse wave imaging method, so as to intuitively present the propagation of the pulse wave.

[0006] Solution to the problem

[0007] Technical Solutions

[0008] According to the first aspect, an embodiment provides a pulse wave imaging method, comprising:

[0009] Acquiring ultrasound data of a predetermined time period, wherein the ultrasound data is data obtained after beam synthesis of ultrasound echo signals obtained by taking a blood vessel of a target object as a detection object;

[0010] generating an ultrasound image including blood vessels according to the ultrasound data;

[0011] Obtaining, according to the ultrasound data, a blood vessel wall hardness characterization amount reflected by a pulse wave propagating on the blood vessel wall along the axial direction of the blood vessel, wherein the blood vessel wall hardness characterization amount is a propagation speed of the pulse wave propagating on the blood vessel wall along the axial direction of the blood vessel; and

[0012] The propagation speed is dynamically displayed in a graphical visualization manner along the axial direction of the blood vessel in the order of propagation time on the display interface.

[0013] According to the second aspect, an embodiment provides a pulse wave imaging method, comprising:

[0014] Acquire multiple frames of ultrasound data, where the ultrasound data is data obtained after beamforming of ultrasound echo signals obtained by taking a blood vessel of a target object as a detection object;

[0015] generating an ultrasound image including an axial cross-sectional structure of a blood vessel according to at least a portion of the plurality of frames of ultrasound data;

[0016] Obtaining a blood vessel wall hardness representation amount reflected by a pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the blood vessel wall according to at least part of the plurality of frames of ultrasound data; and

[0017] The hardness characterization of the blood vessel wall is visualized along the axial direction of the blood vessel, thereby generating and displaying a pulse wave propagation state diagram.

[0018] According to a third aspect, an embodiment provides an ultrasonic imaging device, comprising:

[0019] An ultrasonic probe is used to transmit ultrasonic waves to the blood vessel to be tested, and receive the echo of the ultrasonic waves to obtain an echo signal;

[0020] A human-computer interaction device for obtaining user input and performing visual output;

[0021] A processor is used to obtain an echo signal from an ultrasound probe and process it into ultrasound data; generate an ultrasound image containing axially arranged blood vessels based on the ultrasound data; obtain a blood vessel wall hardness characterization quantity reflected by a pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the blood vessel wall based on the ultrasound data; visualize the blood vessel wall hardness characterization quantity along the axial direction of the blood vessel to generate a pulse wave propagation state diagram, and display the pulse wave propagation state diagram through the human-computer interaction device.

[0022] According to a fourth aspect, an embodiment provides an ultrasonic imaging device, comprising:

[0023] Memory, used to store programs;

[0024] The processor is used to execute the program stored in the memory to implement the method as described above.

[0025] According to the fifth aspect, an embodiment provides a computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that it includes a program, and the program can be executed by a processor to implement the method as described above.

[0026] Advantageous Effects of the Invention

[0027] Beneficial Effects

[0028] According to the ultrasonic imaging device and pulse wave imaging method of the above-mentioned embodiment, by visually expressing the vascular wall hardness characterization quantity along the axial direction of the blood vessel, a pulse wave propagation state diagram is generated and displayed to intuitively present the propagation of the pulse wave.

[0029] Brief description of the accompanying drawings BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] Figure 1 Schematic diagram of pulse wave propagation;

[0031] Figure 2 A structural block diagram of an ultrasonic imaging device provided by an embodiment;

[0032] Figure 3 A flow chart of a pulse wave imaging method provided by an embodiment;

[0033] Figure 4 A flow chart of a pulse wave imaging method provided by an embodiment;

[0034] Figure 5a A schematic diagram of an ultrasonic imaging device provided by an embodiment, in which an ultrasonic probe adopts a plane wave mode for scanning;

[0035] Figure 5b To adopt Figure 5a Schematic diagram of the reconstructed image of beam synthesis after scanning in the manner in FIG.

[0036] Figure 6a A schematic diagram of an ultrasonic imaging device provided in an embodiment, in which an ultrasonic probe adopts a conventional focused wave mode for scanning;

[0037] Figure 6b To adopt Figure 6a Schematic diagram of the reconstructed image using traditional beam synthesis after scanning in the manner described in the previous section;

[0038] Figure 7a A schematic diagram of an ultrasonic imaging device provided in an embodiment, in which an ultrasonic probe adopts a sparse focused wave mode for scanning;

[0039] Figure 7b To adopt Figure 7a Schematic diagram of the reconstructed image of beam synthesis after scanning in the manner in FIG.

[0040] Figure 8a A schematic diagram of an ultrasonic imaging device provided by an embodiment, in which an ultrasonic probe adopts a wide focused wave mode for scanning;

[0041] Figure 8b To adopt Figure 8a Schematic diagram of the reconstructed image of beam synthesis after scanning in the manner in FIG.

[0042] Fig. 9is an ultrasonic image of a blood vessel in one embodiment;

[0043] Fig.10 for Figure 4 , a specific flow chart of step 3';

[0044] Fig.11 A schematic diagram of two adjacent frames of ultrasound images of a blood vessel in an ultrasound imaging device provided by an embodiment;

[0045] Fig.12 A schematic diagram of a fitting curve of space-first time of each detection point in an ultrasonic imaging device provided by an embodiment;

[0046] Fig.13 A curve showing changes in blood vessel diameter over time in an ultrasonic imaging device provided by an embodiment;

[0047] Fig.14 A schematic diagram of a pulse wave propagation state diagram presented in a first visualization manner and displayed adjacent to an ultrasound image in an ultrasound imaging device provided by an embodiment;

[0048] Fig.15 A schematic diagram of superimposed display of a pulse wave propagation state diagram presented in the second visualization mode and the eighth visualization mode and an ultrasonic image in an ultrasonic imaging device provided in an embodiment;

[0049] Fig.16 A schematic diagram of a pulse wave propagation state diagram presented in a third visualization manner and superimposed on an ultrasound image in an ultrasound imaging device provided by an embodiment;

[0050] Fig.17 A schematic diagram of a pulse wave propagation state diagram presented in a fourth visualization manner and superimposed on an ultrasonic image in an ultrasonic imaging device provided by an embodiment;

[0051] Fig.18 A schematic diagram of a fifth visualization method of presenting a pulse wave propagation state diagram and an ultrasonic image superimposed on each other in an ultrasonic imaging device provided by an embodiment;

[0052] Fig.19 A schematic diagram of a sixth visualization method of superimposing a pulse wave propagation state diagram and an ultrasonic image in an ultrasonic imaging device provided in an embodiment;

[0053] Fig. 20 A schematic diagram of a pulse wave propagation state diagram presented in a seventh visualization manner and superimposed on an ultrasonic image in an ultrasonic imaging device provided in an embodiment;

[0054] Fig.21A schematic diagram of a pulse wave propagation state diagram using a waveform diagram to present a propagation velocity and an ultrasonic image in an ultrasonic imaging device provided by an embodiment;

[0055] Fig. 22 A schematic diagram of an ultrasonic imaging device provided in an embodiment, in which a pulse wave propagation state diagram showing a propagation velocity in the form of a bar graph is displayed adjacent to an ultrasonic image.

[0056] Embodiments of the invention

[0057] Embodiments of the present invention

[0058] The present invention is further described in detail below by specific embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Wherein similar elements in different embodiments adopt associated similar element numbers. In the following embodiments, many detailed descriptions are for making the present application better understood. However, those skilled in the art can easily recognize that some features can be omitted in different situations, or can be replaced by other elements, materials, methods. In some cases, some operations related to the present application are not shown or described in the specification, this is to avoid the core part of the present application being overwhelmed by too much description, and for those skilled in the art, it is not necessary to describe these related operations in detail, and they can fully understand the related operations according to the description in the specification and the general technical knowledge in the art.

[0059] In addition, the features, operations or characteristics described in the specification can be combined in any appropriate manner to form various implementations. At the same time, the steps or actions in the method description can also be interchanged or adjusted in a manner that is obvious to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the various sequences in the specification and the drawings are only for the purpose of clearly describing a certain embodiment and are not meant to be a required sequence, unless otherwise specified that a certain sequence must be followed.

[0060] The serial numbers of the components in this document, such as "first", "second", etc., are only used to distinguish the objects described and do not have any order or technical meaning. The "connection" and "coupling" mentioned in this application, unless otherwise specified, include direct and indirect connections (couplings).

[0061] Vascular pulse wave imaging is an important means of clinical vascular sclerosis detection. Figure 1As shown in the figure, the pulse wave is a pulsed mechanical wave that pulsates radially and propagates axially on the blood vessel wall when the heart pumps blood. The pulse wave is specifically manifested as two blood vessel expansions when the left ventricle starts pumping blood (mitral valve opens) and when the pumping ends (mitral valve closes). The two expansions correspond to the pulse waves in the early systole (Begin of systole, BS) and the late systole (End of systole, ES) respectively. The pulse wave will propagate along the artery from the proximal end to the distal end, and the propagation velocity (PWV) is related to the hardness of the blood vessel wall.

[0062] The present invention generates a pulse wave propagation state diagram, supplemented by the ultrasound B-image of the blood vessel, which can not only effectively associate the structure of the blood vessel wall with the pulsation condition, but also intuitively reflect the propagation condition of the pulse wave through the dynamic display of the pulse wave propagation state. The following is a detailed description with an embodiment.

[0063] like Figure 2 As shown, the ultrasonic imaging device provided by the present invention includes an ultrasonic probe 30, a transmitting / receiving circuit 40 (i.e., a transmitting circuit 410 and a receiving circuit 420), a beamforming module 50, an IQ demodulation module 60, a processor 20, a human-computer interaction device 70 and a memory 80.

[0064] The ultrasonic probe 30 includes a transducer (not shown in the figure) composed of a plurality of array elements arranged in an array. The plurality of array elements are arranged in a row to form a linear array, or arranged in a two-dimensional matrix to form a surface array. The plurality of array elements can also form a convex array. The array element is used to transmit ultrasonic waves according to the excitation electrical signal, or to convert the received ultrasonic waves into electrical signals. Therefore, each array element can be used to realize the mutual conversion between the electrical pulse signal and the ultrasonic wave, so as to realize the transmission of ultrasonic waves to the object to be imaged (for example, the arterial blood vessel in this embodiment), and can also be used to receive the echo of the ultrasonic wave reflected back by the tissue. When performing ultrasonic detection, the transmitting circuit 410 and the receiving circuit 420 can be used to control which array elements are used to transmit ultrasonic waves and which array elements are used to receive ultrasonic waves, or control the array elements to transmit ultrasonic waves or receive ultrasonic waves in time slots. The array elements participating in ultrasonic emission can be excited by electrical signals at the same time, thereby transmitting ultrasonic waves at the same time; or the array elements participating in ultrasonic emission can also be excited by several electrical signals with a certain time interval, thereby continuously transmitting ultrasonic waves with a certain time interval.

[0065] The array element uses, for example, a piezoelectric crystal, and converts the electrical signal into an ultrasonic signal according to the transmission sequence transmitted by the transmitting circuit 410. Depending on the purpose, the ultrasonic signal may include one or more scanning pulses, one or more reference pulses, one or more push pulses and / or one or more Doppler pulses. According to the wave form, the ultrasonic signal includes a focused wave, a plane wave and a diverging wave.

[0066] The user moves the ultrasonic probe 30 to select a suitable position and angle to transmit ultrasonic waves to the object to be imaged 10 and receive the echo of the ultrasonic waves returned by the object to be imaged 10, and outputs an ultrasonic echo signal. The ultrasonic echo signal is a channel analog electrical signal formed by the receiving array element as a channel, which carries amplitude information, frequency information and time information.

[0067] The transmitting circuit 410 is used to generate a transmitting sequence according to the control of the processor 20. The transmitting sequence is used to control some or all of the multiple array elements to transmit ultrasound to the object to be imaged. The transmitting sequence parameters include the array element position, the number of array elements and the ultrasound beam transmission parameters (such as amplitude, frequency, number of transmissions, transmission interval, transmission angle, waveform, focus position, etc.) used for transmission. In some cases, the transmitting circuit 410 is also used to phase delay the transmitted beam so that different transmitting array elements transmit ultrasound at different times so that each transmitted ultrasound beam can be focused on a predetermined area of ​​interest. Different working modes, such as B image mode, C image mode and D image mode (Doppler mode), may have different transmitting sequence parameters. After the echo signal is received by the receiving circuit 420 and processed by subsequent modules and corresponding algorithms, a B image reflecting the anatomical structure of the tissue, a C image reflecting the blood flow information and a D image reflecting the Doppler spectrum image can be generated.

[0068] The receiving circuit 420 is used to receive the ultrasonic echo signal from the ultrasonic probe 30 and process the ultrasonic echo signal. The receiving circuit 420 may include one or more amplifiers, analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), etc. The amplifier is used to amplify the received echo signal after appropriate gain compensation, and the amplifier is used to sample the analog echo signal at a predetermined time interval to convert it into a digitized echo signal, and the digitized echo signal still retains amplitude information, frequency information, and phase information. The data output by the receiving circuit 420 can be output to the beamforming module 50 for processing, or output to the memory 80 for storage.

[0069] The beamforming module 50 is connected to the receiving circuit 420 signal, and is used to perform beamforming processing such as corresponding delay and weighted summation on the echo signal. Since the distances from the ultrasonic receiving point in the measured tissue to the receiving array element are different, the channel data of the same receiving point output by different receiving array elements have delay differences, and delay processing is required to align the phases and perform weighted summation on the different channel data of the same receiving point to obtain the ultrasound image data after beamforming. The ultrasound image data output by the beamforming module 50 is also called radio frequency data (RF data). The beamforming module 50 outputs the radio frequency data to the IQ demodulation module 60. In some embodiments, the beamforming module 50 may also output the radio frequency data to the memory 80 for caching or storage, or directly output the radio frequency data to the processor 20 for image processing.

[0070] The beamforming module 50 may perform the above functions in the form of hardware, firmware or software. For example, the beamforming module 50 may include a central controller circuit (CPU) capable of processing input data according to specific logic instructions, one or more microprocessor chips or any other electronic components. When the beamforming module 50 is implemented in software, it may execute instructions stored in a tangible and non-transitory computer-readable medium (e.g., a memory) to perform beamforming calculations using any appropriate beamforming method. The beamforming module 50 may be integrated in the processor 20 or may be provided separately, which is not limited in the present invention.

[0071] The IQ demodulation module 60 removes the signal carrier through IQ demodulation, extracts the tissue structure information contained in the signal, and performs filtering to remove noise. The signal obtained at this time is called a baseband signal (IQ data pair). The IQ demodulation module 60 outputs the IQ data pair to the processor 20 for image processing.

[0072] In some embodiments, the IQ demodulation module 60 further outputs the IQ data pair to the memory 80 for caching or storage, so that the processor 20 reads the data from the memory 80 for subsequent image processing.

[0073] The IQ demodulation module 60 may also perform the above functions in the form of hardware, firmware or software. In some embodiments, the IQ demodulation module 60 may also be integrated with the beamforming module 50 in one chip.

[0074] The processor 20 is configured to be a central controller circuit (CPU), one or more microprocessors, a graphics controller circuit (GPU) or any other electronic component that can process input data according to specific logical instructions. It can control peripheral electronic components according to input instructions or predetermined instructions, or read and / or save data from the memory 80. It can also process the input data by executing the program in the memory 80, for example, performing one or more processing operations on the collected ultrasound data according to one or more working modes. The processing operations include but are not limited to adjusting or limiting the form of ultrasound waves emitted by the ultrasound probe 30, generating various image frames for subsequent display of the human-computer interaction device 70, or adjusting or limiting the content and form displayed on the display, or adjusting one or more image display settings displayed on the display (such as ultrasound images, interface components, and positioning areas of interest).

[0075] As echo signals are received, the acquired ultrasound data may be processed by the processor 20 in real time during scanning, or may be temporarily stored on the memory 80 and processed in quasi-real time in either on-line or off-line operation.

[0076] In this embodiment, the processor 20 controls the operation of the transmitting circuit 410 and the receiving circuit 420, for example, controls the transmitting circuit 410 and the receiving circuit 420 to work alternately or simultaneously. The processor 20 can also determine a suitable working mode according to the user's selection or the setting of the program, form a transmission sequence corresponding to the current working mode, and send the transmission sequence to the transmitting circuit 410, so that the transmitting circuit 410 uses the suitable transmission sequence to control the ultrasound probe 30 to transmit ultrasound waves.

[0077] The processor 20 is also used to process the ultrasound data to generate a grayscale image of signal strength changes within the scanning range, which reflects the anatomical structure inside the tissue, called a B image. The processor 20 can output the B image to the display of the human-computer interaction device 70 for display.

[0078] The human-computer interaction device 70 is used for human-computer interaction, that is, receiving user input and outputting visual information; it can receive user input using a keyboard, operation buttons, mouse, trackball, etc., or a touch screen integrated with a display; it can output visual information using a display.

[0079] based on Figure 2 The basic process of pulse wave imaging of the ultrasonic imaging device shown in FIG. Figure 3 As shown in steps 1, 3 and 4 in : obtaining multiple frames of ultrasound data, wherein the ultrasound data is the data after beam synthesis of the ultrasound echo signal obtained by taking the blood vessel of the target object as the detection object; obtaining the blood vessel wall hardness characterization quantity reflected by the pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the blood vessel wall according to the ultrasound data; visually expressing the blood vessel wall hardness characterization quantity along the axial direction of the blood vessel, thereby generating and displaying the pulse wave propagation state diagram. In this way, the doctor can intuitively observe the propagation of the pulse wave along the blood vessel wall through the pulse wave propagation state diagram.

[0080] When acquiring multiple frames of ultrasound data, ultrasound data of a certain time period may be acquired. The certain time period may be greater than or equal to one cardiac cycle, may be a predetermined time period set by the system by default, or may be a predetermined time period that can be freely adjusted and set by the user. When acquiring ultrasound data of a certain time period, ultrasound data of a certain time period may be acquired continuously, or may be acquired in segments and the accumulated time length may be a certain time period. For example, in the case of real-time acquisition and obtaining of a pulse wave propagation state diagram, the ultrasound imaging device acquires ultrasound data in real time according to the echo signal obtained by the ultrasound probe, and the time of real-time acquisition is the certain time period. For example, in real-time acquisition and obtaining of a pulse wave propagation state diagram, the ultrasound imaging device may acquire ultrasound data in real time according to the echo signal obtained by the ultrasound probe within a predetermined time period. For example, in real-time acquisition and obtaining of a pulse wave propagation state diagram, the ultrasound imaging device may acquire ultrasound data of a predetermined time period from the ultrasound data acquired in real time.

[0081] Of course, the present invention is not limited to this, and a more detailed embodiment is provided below. Figure 4 As shown, the pulse wave imaging method of the ultrasonic imaging device includes the following steps:

[0082] Step 1′, the processor 20 obtains ultrasonic data of a predetermined time period, wherein the ultrasonic data is the data of the ultrasonic echo signal obtained by taking the blood vessel of the target object as the detection object after beam synthesis. Specifically, the processor 20 controls the ultrasonic probe 30 through the transmitting / receiving circuit 40, so that the ultrasonic probe 30 excites the ultrasonic probe to transmit ultrasonic waves to the target object during the scanning time, and receives the echo of the ultrasonic waves to obtain the echo signal. For example, under the scanning control, the ultrasonic probe 30 transmits ultrasonic waves to the target object at a preset scanning frame rate, and receives the echo of the ultrasonic waves to obtain the ultrasonic echo signal. The ideal scanning frame rate should reach 1000Hz or exceed 1000Hz. When the frame rate is lower than this, the upper limit of the pulse wave propagation speed that can be detected by the pulse wave imaging will be limited, and the accuracy may be affected. The scanning time is not less than one cardiac cycle (about 0.6 seconds to 1 second), so that the processor 20 can obtain the ultrasonic data of at least one cardiac cycle. If it is less than one cardiac cycle, it cannot be guaranteed that the pulse wave is detected. The usual scanning time lasts for multiple cardiac cycles to facilitate subsequent observation by ultrasound physicians; the usual target object is the neck or abdomen, and the target blood vessel is the carotid artery or abdominal aorta.

[0083] After that, the processor 20 performs at least beamforming processing on the ultrasonic echo signal to obtain the ultrasonic data of the blood vessels of the target object in a predetermined time period. The signal processing of the ultrasonic echo signal in the ultrasonic imaging process may include analog signal gain compensation, beamforming, IQ demodulation, digital signal gain compensation, amplitude calculation and other signal processing links. Specifically, the echo signal is front-end filtered and amplified (i.e., gain compensation) by an analog circuit, and then converted into a digital signal by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and the channel data after the analog-to-digital conversion is further processed by beamforming to form scan line data. The data obtained after the completion of this stage, i.e., the ultrasonic echo signal output by the beamforming module 50, can be called radio frequency signal data, i.e., RF data. After obtaining the RF data, the signal carrier is removed by IQ demodulation, the tissue structure information contained in the signal is extracted, and filtering is performed to remove noise. At this time, the signal obtained is a baseband signal (IQ data). Finally, the intensity of the baseband signal is obtained and its grayscale level is logarithmically compressed and grayscale converted to obtain an ultrasonic image.

[0084] The ultrasonic data of the present invention is data processed by beamforming based on ultrasonic echo signals, that is, the ultrasonic data can be data generated by any link after the beamforming link in the above-mentioned signal processing link. For example, the ultrasonic data can be data after beamforming, such as the ultrasonic echo signal output by the beamforming module 50, or data after IQ demodulation, such as the ultrasonic echo signal output by the IQ demodulation module 60, or ultrasonic image data obtained by further processing based on the beamformed data or the IQ demodulated data.

[0085] The ultrasound data acquired by real-time scanning is sent to the memory 80 for storage, and the processor 20 can directly acquire the ultrasound data from the memory 80 for subsequent pulse wave propagation state processing.

[0086] Furthermore, in order to improve the scanning frame rate of the ultrasonic probe 30 in the above steps, any one of the following methods may be adopted.

[0087] Method 1: The ultrasonic probe 30 transmits unfocused ultrasound to the target object at a preset scanning frame rate. The scanning area of ​​the unfocused ultrasound transmitted once covers the designated inspection area of ​​the blood vessel (the target area a shown in the figure). Unfocused ultrasound includes planar ultrasound or divergent ultrasound. Taking planar ultrasound as an example, the ultrasonic probe 30 uses a plane wave mode for scanning, such as Figure 5a As shown, the arrows represent ultrasonic echoes, and the ultrasonic probe 30 transmits a plane wave covering the entire target area a (i.e., the blood vessel area of ​​the target object) and receives echo data. Figure 5b As shown, the beamforming module 50 performs beamforming to reconstruct the image b of the entire target area. Method 1 At the expense of reducing image quality, a single transmission and reception can complete a scan of the entire area, thereby increasing the scanning frame rate.

[0088] Method 2: If Figure 6a As shown, the ultrasonic probe 30 uses a conventional focused wave mode to transmit focused ultrasonic waves of a preset number of times in a focused imaging mode to the target object, for example, intensively transmitting focused waves (100 to 200 beams) to cover the entire designated inspection area (the target area b shown in the figure) and receiving echo signals. Then, beam synthesis is used to reconstruct the entire target area, as shown in FIG. Figure 6b The conventional focused wave mode can perform imaging with high image quality, but due to the large number of intensively emitted focused wave scans, the scanning frame rate is lower than that of the first mode.

[0089] The present invention further improves this traditional focused wave method to increase the scanning frame rate. The ultrasonic probe 30 of the present invention transmits multiple focused ultrasound waves to the target object at a preset scanning frame rate, wherein the number of multiple focused ultrasound wave transmissions is lower than the preset number of focused imaging transmissions, and the scanning area of ​​the multiple focused ultrasound waves covers the designated inspection area of ​​the blood vessel. See the following method 3 and method 4 for details.

[0090] Mode 3: The ultrasonic probe 30 uses a sparse focused wave mode for scanning, such as Figure 7a As shown, the arrows represent ultrasonic echoes. The ultrasonic probe 30 performs focused imaging based on the focused wave scanning mode, and reduces the transmission density and the number of transmissions (e.g., 10 to 20 times), thereby improving the scanning frame rate. Since the echo data mainly comes from the focused wave coverage area, beam synthesis only reconstructs the image information in this area. Figure 7b There are only two focused beams in the target area a, so after beam synthesis, only the area covered by these two focused beams is reconstructed in the target area a.

[0091] Mode 4: The ultrasound probe 30 uses a wide focused wave mode for scanning, and transmits at least one wide focused ultrasound wave to the target object at a preset scanning frame rate, and the scanning area of ​​the at least one wide focused ultrasound wave covers the designated inspection area of ​​the blood vessel. Figure 8a As shown, the arrows represent ultrasonic echoes. The ultrasonic probe 30 performs focused imaging based on the focused wave scanning mode, transmits wide focused waves to cover the entire target area a and receives echo signals, and increases the scanning frame rate by reducing the number of transmissions. Beamforming reconstructs the entire target area a to obtain image b.

[0092] Step 2', the processor 20 generates an ultrasound image containing blood vessels according to the ultrasound data. The blood vessels in the ultrasound image are arranged axially, that is, the doctor can see the blood vessels arranged in a "one" or "I" shape. For example, Figure 5a and Figure 5b As shown, the processor 20 reconstructs the image b of the target area a with multiple synthetic lines using the echo signals of each target position point, that is, obtains an ultrasound image frame. Since the time corresponding to the ultrasound data exceeds one cardiac cycle, the ultrasound image generated by the processor 20 based on the ultrasound data can be an ultrasound image video or an ultrasound image frame in the ultrasound image video. In addition, the ultrasound image can be a three-dimensional ultrasound image or a two-dimensional one, such as an ultrasound B image, an ultrasound C image, and the like. If the ultrasound image generated by the processor 20 is a three-dimensional ultrasound image, it can be an image in which the length of the blood vessel can be seen (non-sectional view), or it can include an axial section structure of the blood vessel wall (axial sectional view), both of which can reflect the axial direction of the blood vessel. If the ultrasound image generated by the processor 20 is a two-dimensional ultrasound image, it includes an axial section structure of the blood vessel wall, such as Fig. 9As shown, this embodiment is described using a two-dimensional ultrasound B image as an example, but the pulse wave propagation state diagram described in combination with the two-dimensional ultrasound B image can also be applied to a three-dimensional ultrasound B image, a two-dimensional or three-dimensional ultrasound C image, etc.

[0093] Step 3', the processor 20 obtains the vascular wall hardness characterization quantity reflected by the pulse wave propagating on the vascular wall along the axial direction of the blood vessel based on the ultrasonic data. The vascular wall hardness characterization quantity can be the propagation velocity (PWV) of the pulse wave propagating on the vascular wall along the axial direction of the blood vessel, or it can be the pulsation parameter (radial displacement, radial movement velocity, etc.) of the vascular wall pulsating in the radial direction of the blood vessel. This embodiment is explained by taking the propagation velocity as an example. The propagation velocity (PWV) of the pulse wave refers to the propagation velocity of the pulse wave between two predetermined points in the arterial system, including the pulse wave propagation velocity at the beginning of the systolic period (BS) and the end of the systolic period (ES) of the anterior wall of the artery. Only one of BS and ES can be calculated and displayed, or both can be calculated and displayed. Fig.13 It shows the changes in the diameter of the tube during two cardiac cycles. There are two peaks in one cardiac cycle. The highest peak is formed at the beginning of the contraction period of the anterior wall of the artery, and the lower peak is formed at the end of the contraction period.

[0094] Among them, Fig.10 As shown, step 3′ specifically includes:

[0095] Step 31, the processor 20 detects the pulsation parameters of each detection point arranged along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image at different time points based on the ultrasound data of the predetermined time period. The pulsation parameter is a parameter reflecting the pulsation of the blood vessel wall of the blood vessel in the radial direction. Affected by the pulsation of the heart, the blood vessel wall mainly pulsates along the radial direction of the blood vessel, so the pulsation parameter of the present invention refers to the radial direction. The pulsation parameters include: at least one of the displacement of the unilateral blood vessel wall, the radial movement speed of the unilateral blood vessel wall, the radial movement acceleration of the unilateral blood vessel wall, the change in blood vessel diameter, the change speed of the blood vessel diameter or the change acceleration of the blood vessel diameter. If the user does not circle the ROI (region of interest) through the human-computer interaction device, the processor 20 calculates the pulsation parameters of the blood vessel wall in the entire target area (acoustic window); if the user circles the ROI, the processor 20 only calculates the pulsation parameters within the ROI.

[0096] Further, the processor 20 detects the pulsation parameters of each detection point arranged along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image at different time points according to the ultrasound data of the predetermined time period, including: detecting the position of the blood vessel wall in the image frame according to a frame of image data in the ultrasound data; calculating the radial displacement of each detection point arranged along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the blood vessel wall at different time points according to the position of the blood vessel wall in different frames; and obtaining the pulsation parameters of each detection point at different time points according to the radial displacement of each detection point on the blood vessel wall. Each detection point can be evenly arranged along the axial direction of the blood vessel wall, which is equivalent to a sampling point, to save the amount of calculation. In some examples, the spacing between each detection point may also be unequal, that is, the detection points are non-uniformly arranged. Specifically, based on the ultrasound data, the processor 20 first extracts the spatial position information (such as coordinates) of the blood vessel wall from a frame of beam synthesis data obtained in the beam synthesis data link, or extracts the spatial position information of the blood vessel wall from the ultrasound image obtained in the image synthesis link. Since the acoustic properties of the blood vessel wall are significantly different from those of the blood in the lumen and the surrounding soft tissue, the image shows two bright long strips close to the echo-free area of ​​the lumen, such as Fig. 9 By setting an appropriate threshold in the Y-axis direction (blood vessel radial direction) to filter the signal, the specific position of the vessel wall can be obtained. The processor 20 takes each detection point on the vessel wall as the center point ( Fig.11 M in the left figure), a fixed-size one-dimensional data segment is taken in the Y-axis direction of the first frame of beam synthesis data or the first frame of ultrasound image ( Fig.11 The solid line segment passing through point M in the left figure) is used as the characteristic information of the tube wall at the current position. The same position is used as the center point on the second frame of beam synthesis data or the second frame of ultrasound image ( Fig.11 Point M in the right figure), within the one-dimensional search area in the Y-axis direction ( Fig.11 The solid line segment in the right figure) finds the data segment that best matches the feature information ( Fig.11 The dashed line segment in the right figure) and the center point of the data segment ( Fig.11 The position of the detection points (point N in the right figure) is taken as the new blood vessel wall position at the current horizontal position of the frame. The position change of each detection point between two frames is the radial change of the blood vessel wall in the corresponding time period. This process is repeated until the radial change of the blood vessel wall between every two adjacent frames or between several frames in the entire predetermined time period is calculated. The change results are accumulated to obtain the displacement of each detection point on the blood vessel wall at different time points in the predetermined time period. The pulsation parameters are radial displacement, radial velocity, radial acceleration, change in blood vessel diameter, change velocity of blood vessel diameter or change acceleration of blood vessel diameter. Subtract the radial displacement of the corresponding back wall detection point from the radial displacement of the front wall detection point to obtain the change in blood vessel diameter corresponding to the front wall detection point or the back wall detection point ( Fig.13). By taking the first and second order derivatives of the radial displacement and the change in the blood vessel diameter in the time dimension, respectively, the radial velocity, radial acceleration, and the speed and acceleration of change of the blood vessel diameter can be obtained. By integrating the pulsation parameters of each detection point on the blood vessel wall at different time points, the displacement of the unilateral blood vessel wall, the radial movement speed of the unilateral blood vessel wall, the radial movement acceleration of the unilateral blood vessel wall, the change in the blood vessel diameter, the speed of change of the blood vessel diameter, or the acceleration of change of the blood vessel diameter at different time points can be obtained. If the user does not circle the ROI (region of interest), the processor 20 calculates the pulsation parameters of the blood vessel wall in the entire target area; if the user circles the ROI, the processor 20 only calculates the pulsation parameters within the ROI. When calculating the pulsation parameters of the blood vessel wall, after determining the center point, two-dimensional data of a fixed size can also be taken from the first frame of beam synthesis data or the first frame of ultrasound image, and the same position can be used as the center point on the second frame of beam synthesis data or the second frame of ultrasound image. The two-dimensional image block is calculated by template matching or other methods to find the data block with the best matching feature information in the two-dimensional search area, and the center point position of the data block is used as the new blood vessel wall position at the current horizontal position of the frame.

[0097] The processor 20 is also used to obtain the propagation speed of the pulse wave along the axial direction on the blood vessel wall according to the pulsation parameters of each detection point.

[0098] Step 32: The processor 20 detects the first time when the pulsation parameter of each detection point reaches a first predetermined threshold.

[0099] Specifically, Fig.12 As shown, the points in the figure are detection points, the horizontal coordinates are the positions of the detection points in the axial direction of the blood vessel wall, and the vertical coordinates are the first time corresponding to the detection points. The first predetermined threshold can be set according to user needs. For example, for the pulse wave in the early stage of contraction, the pulsation parameter can be selected as radial displacement, and the first predetermined threshold can be the minimum value of the maximum radial displacement (corresponding to the peak) empirical value, or 50% or more of the maximum radial displacement empirical value. For the pulse wave in the late stage of contraction, the pulsation parameter of each detection point is detected to be in the first predetermined threshold interval and the first time of the maximum value. By setting the maximum value of the first predetermined threshold interval, the peak of the early stage of contraction can be excluded, and by setting the minimum value of the first predetermined threshold interval, the maximum value (lower peak in the cardiac cycle) of the late stage of contraction can be included. By judging the maximum value (conventional mathematical method), the first time when the peak of the pulse wave in the late stage of contraction arrives can be obtained. This embodiment takes the pulse wave in the early stage of contraction as an example for explanation.

[0100] The user can conveniently observe the pulsation parameter of interest by taking the minimum value of the empirical value of the pulsation parameter of interest as the first predetermined threshold. In other words, the pulsation parameters of each detection point can be connected in series to reflect the propagation process of the pulse wave. Usually, the user is interested in the propagation process of the wave crest, which is explained in this embodiment.

[0101] Step 33, the processor 20 obtains the propagation velocity of the pulse wave on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasonic image according to the position of each detection point in the axial direction of the blood vessel and the first time corresponding to each detection point. Specifically, the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave on a partial segment or the entire blood vessel wall in the ultrasonic image is obtained according to the position of each detection point in the axial direction of the blood vessel and the first time corresponding to each detection point; the propagation velocity of the pulse wave at each detection point is obtained according to the position of two adjacent detection points in the axial direction of the blood vessel and the difference between the first time corresponding to the two adjacent detection points. The two adjacent detection points here are not limited to two detection points that are adjacent in spatial position relationship, but may also refer to two detection points on the boundary of the blood vessel range corresponding to an acoustic window. For example, the processor 20 selects at least two detection points and extracts the first time of the detection points; the propagation velocity of the pulse wave can be obtained according to the axial distance between the detection points and the difference in the first time. In order to improve accuracy, multiple detection points are selected, and the more the better within the processing capacity, to obtain the corresponding relationship between time and space of each detection point, such as Fig.12 As shown, a slant line is obtained by linear fitting of each point, and the slope of the slant line is the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave in the current cardiac cycle. Of course, the propagation velocity of the pulse wave at each detection point can also be obtained according to the position of two adjacent detection points on the axial direction of the blood vessel and the difference between the first time of the two adjacent detection points, so that the user can obtain the hardness difference at different positions of the blood vessel wall.

[0102] Since the position of each detection point and the corresponding first time are known, the pulse wave propagation velocity at the beginning of the contraction period (BS) and the end of the contraction period (ES) of the anterior wall of the artery, the propagation velocity of any detection point on the blood vessel wall, the average propagation velocity of any segment, etc. can all be calculated by the above method.

[0103] On the basis of the above-mentioned method for calculating the propagation velocity, in an optional embodiment, the method for calculating the propagation velocity is optimized. Specifically, the processor 20 detects the time point when the pulsation parameter of a designated detection point reaches a predetermined specific value, and extends the preset time forward and / or backward with the time point as the starting point to obtain the effective time period; obtains the pulsation parameters of each detection point at different time points in the effective time period; detects the first time when the pulsation parameter of each detection point in the effective time period reaches the first predetermined threshold value; obtains the propagation velocity of the pulse wave on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image according to the position of each detection point on the axial direction of the blood vessel and the first time corresponding to each detection point. The designated detection point can be a detection point at the peak position, so as to facilitate the identification and selection of the designated detection point. The preset time can be set according to the actual situation, as long as the effective time period obtained is not shorter than the time required for the pulse wave to pass through each detection point. The setting of the effective time period is to reduce the amount of calculation of the processor 20. This is because the scanning range of the ultrasonic probe is relatively small (0.03 meters to 0.05 meters), the propagation time of the pulse wave within one cardiac cycle (0.6 seconds to 1 second) is (0.003 seconds to 0.02 seconds), and the time it takes for the pulse wave to pass through each detection point is very short (0.003 seconds to 0.02 seconds). After that, there will be a relatively long period of time (0.597 seconds to 0.98 seconds) when the pulsation parameters of each detection point change very little. If the data with very small changes in the pulsation parameters are also calculated, the amount of calculation will increase unnecessarily. Therefore, by limiting the effective time period, the amount of calculation required by the processor 20 to calculate the propagation speed can be saved.

[0104] In some examples, in addition to B imaging (two-dimensional or three-dimensional tissue grayscale imaging) of the target object's blood vessels, the ultrasound imaging device can also perform M imaging and Doppler imaging on the target object's blood vessels. Doppler imaging, for example, may include tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) and tissue velocity imaging (TVI). In each ultrasound imaging mode, the propagation velocity of the pulse wave can be obtained according to the following steps.

[0105] When the ultrasonic imaging device performs M imaging, ultrasonic data in the form of M data can be obtained. The M data includes grayscale data on multiple scan lines arranged along the axial direction of the blood vessel, and each detection point is a point on the blood vessel wall on each scan line. When the pulse wave propagates through a certain detection point, the blood vessel wall at the detection point will have a certain displacement change in the depth direction (i.e., the radial direction of the blood vessel) due to the action of the pulse wave, and the M data can reflect the change in the radial displacement accordingly. The processor 20 can obtain the grayscale value of the detection point on the blood vessel wall on the scan line that changes with time based on the M data of each scan line, and the radial displacement of the detection point on the blood vessel wall that changes with time can be calculated based on the grayscale value.

[0106] The processor 20 can then detect the first time when the radial displacement of each detection point reaches the second predetermined threshold. The second predetermined threshold can be set according to user needs. For example, the second predetermined threshold can be the minimum value of the maximum radial displacement empirical value, or it can be 50% or more of the maximum radial displacement empirical value. After detecting the first time of each detection point, the processor 20 can obtain the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the blood vessel wall based on the position of each detection point on the axial direction of the blood vessel and the first time corresponding to each detection point. The position of each detection point on the blood vessel wall is known, and after the time difference between each detection point is determined, the propagation speed of the pulse wave can be obtained.

[0107] When the ultrasonic imaging device performs B imaging, ultrasonic data in the form of M data can be obtained based on ultrasonic data in the form of B data (tissue grayscale), and then the processor 20 can calculate the propagation velocity of the pulse wave based on the method in the above-mentioned M imaging mode.

[0108] When the ultrasonic imaging device performs TVI imaging or TDI imaging, ultrasonic data with Doppler information can be obtained. The processor 20 can analyze the Doppler information of the ultrasonic data and calculate the velocity information of each detection point arranged along the axial direction of the blood vessel wall at different time points. For example, when performing TVI imaging, the velocity variance energy of the ultrasonic data with Doppler information can be solved to obtain the velocity information of each detection point changing with time. For example, when performing TDI imaging, a spectrum image of each detection point on the blood vessel wall can be obtained. The spectrum image records the frequency information of each detection point changing with time. Based on the frequency information, a simple conversion can be performed to obtain the velocity information of each detection point at different time points.

[0109] The processor 20 can then detect the first time when the speed information of each detection point reaches the third predetermined threshold. The third predetermined threshold can be set according to user needs. For example, the third predetermined threshold can be 50% or more of the maximum speed information detected. After detecting the first time of each detection point, the processor 20 can obtain the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the blood vessel wall according to the position of each detection point on the axial direction of the blood vessel and the first time corresponding to each detection point. The position of each detection point on the blood vessel wall is known, and after the time difference between each detection point is determined, the propagation speed of the pulse wave can be obtained.

[0110] Step 4′, the processor 20 visualizes the hardness characterization of the blood vessel wall along the axial direction of the blood vessel, thereby generating and displaying a pulse wave propagation state diagram through the human-computer interaction device 70. For example, along the axial direction of the blood vessel at the position corresponding to each detection point, a preset image element is used to visualize the pulse wave propagation velocity corresponding to each detection point. The pulse wave propagation state diagram can be static or dynamic. Taking the dynamic as an example, the processor 20 dynamically displays the pulse wave propagation velocity in the order of propagation time in a graphical visualization along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the display interface of the human-computer interaction device. For example, along the axial direction of the blood vessel at the position corresponding to each detection point, when the first time corresponding to each detection point arrives, the pulse wave propagation velocity corresponding to each detection point is visualized using a preset image element, thereby realizing the periodic update of the pulse wave propagation velocity of each detection point. The image element can be a combination of one or more of color, pattern, texture and pattern density. The pulse wave propagation state diagram shows the propagation velocity. Since doctors may be interested in the propagation velocity on the entire blood vessel wall, or on a certain section of the blood vessel wall, or on the propagation velocity at the position corresponding to each detection point, the pulse wave propagation state diagram has multiple ways to visualize the vascular wall hardness characterization quantity, which will be specifically explained below.

[0111] Before giving examples of various visualization expressions, the following will first explain how the pulse wave propagation state diagram and the ultrasound image are displayed together on the display interface. In order to combine the pulse wave propagation state diagram with the actual ultrasound image, there are two specific methods: adjacent display and superimposed display. The pulse wave propagation state diagram A1 is displayed near the ultrasound image C by the processor 20, as shown in FIG. Fig.14 As shown, this is adjacent display. In this way, when the blood vessel is horizontal, the pulse wave propagation state diagram A1 and the ultrasound image C share the same horizontal coordinate, that is, the two diagrams are set up correspondingly, such as Fig.14 As shown; when the blood vessel is in a vertical direction, the pulse wave propagation state diagram and the ultrasound image share the same vertical coordinate, that is, the two diagrams are arranged in a left-right corresponding manner. Of course, the pulse wave propagation state diagram A2 and the axial section structure of the blood vessel in the ultrasound image C can also be superimposed and displayed according to a preset weight by the processor 20, such as Fig.15As shown, this is a superimposed display, and the pulse wave propagation state diagram A2 and the ultrasound image C share a coordinate system after being superimposed. Further, the processor 20 is also used to detect the user's modification of the weight through the human-computer interaction device 70; the superimposed display of the pulse wave propagation state diagram A2-A8 and the axial section structure of the blood vessel in the ultrasound image C is updated according to the modified weight. When the weight of one of the diagrams is 0, only the other diagram is displayed. If both weights are not 0, it can reflect the structure of the blood vessel wall and intuitively reflect the propagation speed. By setting the weight, the doctor can adjust the display effect to highlight the structure of the blood vessel wall or the propagation speed. The ultrasound image C generated by the ultrasound data displayed on the display interface can be an ultrasound image frame or an ultrasound video. This embodiment is explained by taking the ultrasound image as an ultrasound video and superimposed display as an example.

[0112] Of course, regardless of adjacent display or superimposed display, the processor 20 also synchronously displays a value bar B for indicating the corresponding relationship between the size of the vascular wall hardness characterization value and the color, texture, pattern or pattern density through the display interface of the human-computer interaction device.

[0113] In one example, using Fig.14 The method shown in the figure visualizes the hardness characterization of the blood vessel wall. In this example, the hardness characterization of the blood vessel wall is the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the entire blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image, for example, the average propagation velocity of all detection points. The processor 20 visualizes the average propagation velocity at the position corresponding to the entire blood vessel wall along the axial direction of the blood vessel using a preset image element, and generates and displays a pulse wave propagation state diagram A1 distributed along the axial direction of the blood vessel. Taking the density of the image element as a pattern as an example, Fig.14 In the pulse wave propagation state diagram A1 shown, the oblique line (pattern) covers the entire blood vessel wall and must cover along the axial direction of the blood vessel. In the radial direction, it only needs to have a certain length, not necessarily Fig.14 The doctor can get the approximate range of the average propagation velocity based on the density of the oblique lines at a glance, and can get a more accurate average propagation velocity by comparing the value bar B. For the convenience of doctors, the specific value of the average propagation velocity is also displayed on the display interface, as well as the current moment relative to the entire time of the ultrasound data. Of course, it is more intuitive to use different colors to represent different average propagation velocities. For example, a colored area covers the entire blood vessel wall. The redder the color, the faster the speed, and the bluer the color, the slower the speed. In fact, it is equivalent to Fig.14 The shaded area is replaced with the corresponding color. Of course, the average propagation velocity can be the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave in one cardiac cycle, or the average of the average propagation velocities of the pulse wave in each cardiac cycle. Regardless of which one, since the propagation velocity of the pulse wave does not change much between cycles, Fig.14Even if the pulse wave propagation state diagram A1 shown is updated with the cardiac cycle, it does not change much and is basically static.

[0114] In another example, the vessel wall hardness characterization quantity is the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the vessel on the target segment of the vessel wall in the ultrasound image, and the target segment of the vessel wall in the ultrasound image includes a segment of the vessel wall through which the pulse wave currently propagates in the ultrasound image. Fig.15 As shown, the processor 20 uses preset image elements to visualize the average propagation velocity at a position corresponding to the target segment of the vascular wall along the axial direction of the blood vessel, and generates and displays a pulse wave propagation state diagram A2 distributed along the axial direction of the blood vessel. For example, the processor 20 obtains the average propagation velocity of the vascular wall segment that the pulse wave has passed through when the pulse wave propagates along the axial direction of the blood vessel to each detection point on the vascular wall in the ultrasound image; at a position corresponding to the vascular wall segment that the pulse wave has passed through along the axial direction of the blood vessel, the average propagation velocity is represented by color, pattern, or pattern density, and the pulse wave propagation state diagram A2 distributed along the axial direction of the blood vessel is generated and displayed, and the pulse wave propagation state diagram A2 is updated according to the time when the pulse wave propagates to the detection point during display (that is, dynamic display). Since the pulse wave propagation state diagram A2 presents the average propagation velocity of a section of the vascular wall that the pulse wave currently propagates through in the ultrasound image, the average propagation velocity presented in the pulse wave propagation state diagram A2 changes dynamically with the passage of time. As shown in FIG. Fig.15 As shown in FIG. 1 , the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave in the time period is calculated once when the pulse wave propagates on the blood vessel wall for 0.03 seconds, and the average propagation velocity is displayed in the range from the proximal end of the blood vessel (the starting end of the ultrasound image) to the current propagation position with preset image elements, such as pattern density, as shown in FIG. Fig.15 The oblique line area in the left figure; when the pulse wave continues to propagate on the blood vessel to 0.033s, the average propagation velocity within 0.033s is calculated again, and the propagation velocity is also displayed in the range from the proximal end of the blood vessel to the current propagation position with a preset image element, such as Fig.15 The oblique line area in the right figure. By analogy, the axial length of the oblique line area is determined by the current propagation range, and the density of the oblique line area is determined by the average propagation speed of the current propagation range. As the propagation progresses, the density of the oblique line changes, and the oblique line area becomes longer along the axial direction of the blood vessel. Similarly, different colors can be used to represent different average propagation speeds. For example, if a colored area covers the entire blood vessel wall, the redder the color, the faster the speed, and the bluer the color, the slower the speed, etc., which is actually equivalent to Fig.15 The slashed area is replaced with the corresponding color.

[0115] Since the pulse wave propagation state diagram A2 changes dynamically, the superposition result of the pulse wave propagation state diagram A2 and the ultrasound image C is equivalent to playing dynamically in the form of a movie in chronological order, that is, reflecting the propagation of the pulse wave in real time. The propagation of the pulse wave is reflected in: the pulse wave propagation state diagram A2 or the image element area of ​​the pulse wave propagation state diagram A2 advances from the proximal end to the distal end along the vascular axis according to the time of pulse wave propagation, for example Fig.15 As shown, the pulse wave propagates horizontally according to its propagation time. Fig.15 The left picture is a superimposed display of the pulse wave propagation state diagram A2 and the ultrasound video at a certain moment. The superimposed display after a period of time is the right picture, which shows the process of the pulse wave propagating from the left side of the picture to the right side. The pulse wave propagation state diagram A2 is dynamic when displayed on the display interface of the human-computer interaction device (the image elements change with the change of time), and can also be called a pulse wave propagation state video or a pulse wave propagation state animated picture.

[0116] In another example, the vessel wall hardness characterization quantity is the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the vessel on the target segment of the vessel wall in the ultrasound image, and the target segment of the vessel wall in the ultrasound image includes a segment of the vessel wall through which the pulse wave currently propagates in the ultrasound image. Fig.16 As shown, the processor 20 uses preset image elements to visualize the average propagation velocity of the target segment of the vascular wall at a position corresponding to the entire segment of the vascular wall in the ultrasound image along the axial direction of the blood vessel, and indicates the corresponding position of the target segment of the vascular wall on the entire segment of the vascular wall in the pulse wave propagation state diagram A3 (as shown by the triangular arrow in the figure, so that the doctor can know the peak position). In other words, the processor 20 obtains the average propagation velocity of the vascular wall segment through which the pulse wave passes when it propagates along the axial direction of the blood vessel to each detection point on the vascular wall in the ultrasound image; along the axial direction of the blood vessel at a position corresponding to the entire segment of the vascular wall in the ultrasound image, the color, pattern or pattern density is used to represent the average propagation velocity, and a pulse wave propagation state diagram distributed along the axial direction of the blood vessel is generated and displayed, and the pulse wave propagation state diagram is updated according to the time it takes for the pulse wave to propagate to the detection point during display. In other words, Fig.15 The average propagation speed shown is the same, but presented differently. Fig.15 Only the target segment of the blood vessel is displayed. Fig.16 It is to display image elements on the entire blood vessel. For example, when the pulse wave propagates on the blood vessel wall for 0.03s, the average propagation speed of the pulse wave in the blood vessel wall segment that has propagated during this time period is calculated, and the average propagation speed is displayed at the corresponding position of the entire blood vessel wall with a preset image element, such as Fig.16 The oblique line area; when the pulse wave continues to propagate on the blood vessel to 0.033s, the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave in the blood vessel wall segment that has propagated within 0.033s is calculated again, and the image elements are updated.

[0117] In another example, the vascular wall hardness characterization quantity is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point. Fig.17 As shown, the processor 20 uses preset image elements to visualize the propagation speed of each detection point at the position corresponding to each detection point in the ultrasound image along the axial direction of the blood vessel, and generates and displays a pulse wave propagation status diagram A4 distributed along the axial direction of the blood vessel. For example, if the total propagation time of the pulse wave on the blood vessel in the acoustic window (field of view) is 0.04s, the propagation speed of each detection point when the pulse wave propagates on the section of the blood vessel is obtained by processing and calculation, and the propagation speed of each detection point is displayed in a preset image element such as color mapping. In this way, it is clear at a glance which detection point has a slow propagation speed and which detection point has a fast propagation speed. Since the detection point is similar to the sampling point, it is impossible to calculate the propagation speed of all points on the axial direction of the blood vessel wall in terms of the amount of calculation. Therefore, the image element is used to represent the propagation speed of the detection point, and a small area is displayed, such as Fig.17 The small rectangular frame area in the image is used instead of a point in a narrow sense, so as to more intuitively present the propagation speed with image elements. Since the propagation speed of the detection point is not much different between each cardiac cycle, the color display range and color in the pulse wave propagation state diagram A4 basically do not change dynamically with the cardiac cycle. Similar to the first type, it belongs to the "static" pulse wave propagation state diagram A4. Dynamic display of the propagation speed is more intuitive, and the present invention focuses on the dynamic display. Of course, the processor 20 is also used to determine the standard deviation of the propagation speed of each detection point; and when displaying the pulse wave propagation state diagram A4, the standard deviation is synchronously displayed, so that the doctor can more intuitively see the uniformity of the pulse wave propagation speed.

[0118] In another example, the vascular wall hardness characterization quantity is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point. Fig.18As shown, the processor 20 uses preset image elements to visualize the pulse wave propagation speed corresponding to each detection point at the position corresponding to each detection point along the axial direction of the blood vessel when the pulse wave propagates to each detection point (such as the first time). For example, the processor 20 obtains the propagation speed of the pulse wave at each detection point on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image; along the axial direction of the blood vessel, at the position corresponding to each detection point on the blood vessel wall segment through which the pulse wave has passed, the color, pattern or pattern density is used to represent the propagation speed corresponding to each detection point, and a pulse wave propagation state diagram A5 distributed along the axial direction of the blood vessel is generated and displayed. When displayed, the pulse wave propagation state diagram A5 is updated according to the time when the pulse wave propagates to the detection point (that is, dynamic display). Since the pulse wave propagation state diagram A5 presents the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the blood vessel wall of the ultrasound image along the axial direction of the blood vessel to each detection point, as the propagation progresses, the pulse wave propagation state diagram A5 or the area of ​​the image element in the pulse wave propagation state diagram A5 changes dynamically. As shown Fig.18 As shown in the left figure, the pulse wave propagates on the blood vessel wall for 0.03s and the propagation speed of the detection point to which the current pulse wave propagates is calculated. The propagation speed is displayed at the position corresponding to the detection point with a preset image element, and the image elements corresponding to the detection point that the pulse wave has passed are retained. Fig.18 The oblique line area in the left figure; when the pulse wave continues to propagate on the blood vessel to 0.033s, the propagation speed of the detection point to which the current pulse wave propagates is calculated again, and the propagation speed is displayed at the position corresponding to the detection point with a preset image element, and the image elements corresponding to the detection point that the pulse wave has passed through continue to be retained, such as Fig.18 The oblique line area in the right figure. By analogy, the length of the entire oblique line area is determined by the current propagation range, and the oblique line density at the corresponding position of the detection point is determined by the propagation speed of the detection point. As the propagation progresses, the entire oblique line area becomes longer along the axial direction of the blood vessel. Similarly, different colors can be used to represent different propagation speeds, which is actually equivalent to Fig.18 Replace the slashes with the corresponding colors.

[0119] Since the pulse wave propagation state diagram A5 changes dynamically, the superposition result of the pulse wave propagation state diagram A5 and the ultrasound image C is equivalent to playing dynamically in the form of a movie in a time sequence, that is, reflecting the propagation of the pulse wave in real time. The propagation of the pulse wave is reflected in: the pulse wave propagation state diagram A5 or the image element area of ​​the pulse wave propagation state diagram A5 advances from the proximal end to the distal end along the vascular axis according to the time of pulse wave propagation, for example Fig.18 As shown, the pulse wave propagation time is advanced in the horizontal direction. This directly reflects the propagation process of the pulse wave and also allows the difference in propagation speed of each detection point to be observed.

[0120] In another example, the vascular wall hardness characterization quantity is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point. Fig.19 As shown, the processor 20 uses preset image elements to visualize the propagation speed of each detection point at the position corresponding to each detection point of the target segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the axial direction of the blood vessel. The target segment of the vascular wall includes a section of the vascular wall through which the pulse wave currently propagates in the ultrasound image. For example, the processor 20 obtains the propagation speed of the pulse wave at each detection point on the vascular wall in the ultrasound image (the speed of the pulse wave passing through the detection point is the instantaneous speed or the average speed of a small section of the vascular wall corresponding to the detection point); along the axial direction of the blood vessel, at the position corresponding to the current detection point where the pulse wave passes, the color, pattern or pattern density is used to represent the propagation speed corresponding to the current detection point, and generates and displays the pulse wave propagation state diagram A6 distributed along the axial direction of the blood vessel. When displayed, the pulse wave propagation state diagram A6 is updated according to the time it takes for the pulse wave to propagate to the detection point. Compared with this scheme, Fig.18 In fact, only the image elements outside the target segment of the vascular wall are not retained, and the others are the same, so no further description is given. Of course, the target segment of the vascular wall can also be a segment of the vascular wall extending from the detection point to which the pulse wave currently propagates and through which the pulse wave has propagated, that is, Fig.19 On the basis of the above, the extension length of the image element area in the axial direction of the blood vessel is adjusted as needed.

[0121] In another example, the vascular wall hardness characterization quantity is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point. Fig. 20 As shown, the processor 20 uses preset image elements to visualize the propagation velocity of the detection point to which the pulse wave currently propagates at a position corresponding to the entire section of the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image along the axial direction of the blood vessel, and indicates the position to which the pulse wave currently propagates on the entire section of the blood vessel wall in the pulse wave propagation state diagram A7. For example, the processor 20 obtains the propagation velocity of the pulse wave at each detection point on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image; at a position corresponding to the entire section of the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image along the axial direction of the blood vessel, color, pattern, or pattern density is used to represent the propagation velocity corresponding to the current detection point, generates and displays the pulse wave propagation state diagram A7 distributed along the axial direction of the blood vessel, and updates the pulse wave propagation state diagram A7 according to the time it takes for the pulse wave to propagate to the detection point during display. This solution is superior to Fig.19 The schemes all present the propagation speed corresponding to the current detection point or the propagation speed of a small section of blood vessel corresponding to the current detection point. The difference is that in this method, the image element area covers the entire blood vessel wall, and the current propagation position of the pulse wave is indicated by a mark (triangular arrow in the figure). Others are the same, so they are not repeated here.

[0122] In another example, the characterization of the hardness of the blood vessel wall is the propagation velocity of the pulse wave on the blood vessel wall of the ultrasound image along the axial direction of the blood vessel to each detection point. The processor 20 uses preset image elements to visualize the propagation velocity of the detection point to which the pulse wave currently propagates at a position corresponding to the target segment of the blood vessel wall of the ultrasound image along the axial direction of the blood vessel. The target segment of the blood vessel wall of the ultrasound image includes a section of the blood vessel wall through which the pulse wave currently propagates in the ultrasound image. For example, the processor 20 obtains the propagation velocity of the pulse wave at each detection point on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image; at the position corresponding to each detection point in the blood vessel wall segment through which the pulse wave passes along the axial direction of the blood vessel, the color, pattern, or pattern density is used to represent the propagation velocity corresponding to the current detection point, and a pulse wave propagation state diagram A distributed along the axial direction of the blood vessel is generated and displayed. When displaying, the pulse wave propagation state diagram A is updated according to the time it takes for the pulse wave to propagate to the detection point. The display effect of this method is similar to that of the conventional method. Fig.15 The method shown is similar, the difference is that Fig.15 The image element at the position corresponding to the target segment of the vascular wall represents the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave on the target segment of the vascular wall, and in this example, the image element at the position corresponding to the target segment of the vascular wall represents the propagation velocity of the detection point currently propagated to. Of course, the target segment of the vascular wall can also be a segment of the vascular wall extending from the detection point currently propagated to the pulse wave by a preset length and through which the pulse wave has propagated. In other words, Fig. 20 On the basis of the above, the extension length of the image element area in the axial direction of the blood vessel is adjusted as needed.

[0123] In the above-described visualization display mode, the processor 20 also obtains the second time when each detection point arranged along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image reaches the peak position according to the ultrasound data, and displays it on the pulse wave propagation state diagram with an icon (such as Fig.15 , 16 , 18-20) to mark the detection point where the current wave peak is located, so as to prompt the doctor where the current pulse wave has propagated, which is very intuitive. If the first predetermined threshold is a threshold used to determine the wave peak, then at the first time when each detection point reaches the wave peak position, the detection point where the current wave peak is located can be marked with an icon on the pulse wave propagation state diagram, without repeatedly calculating the second time.

[0124] In the above-described visualization display mode, the processor 20 also pauses the updating of the pulse wave propagation state diagram A1-A7 according to the pause command input by the user through the human-computer interaction device 70; and displays the propagation speed of the detection point closest to the cursor position on the paused pulse wave propagation state diagram A1-A7 according to the position of the cursor (mouse cursor, trackball cursor or touch point, etc.) of the human-computer interaction device. In this way, no matter which visualization mode is used, the doctor can obtain the propagation speed of the desired detection point position by manual selection.

[0125] In the above-mentioned visualization display method, when the pulse wave propagates through the entire blood vessel wall of the ultrasound image, the processor 20 also presents the propagation speed corresponding to each detection point in the form of a picture through the display interface of the human-computer interaction device, which is convenient for doctors to observe, record and print the results.

[0126] In an alternative embodiment, Figure 14-20 In addition to the dynamic display of the propagation speed in the form of a color map, the propagation speed can also be dynamically displayed in the form of a two-dimensional vector map. For example, the propagation speed can be represented by a waveform map, a bar graph or an area graph, and the pulse wave propagation state graphs A8 and A9 can be generated, such as Fig.21 and Fig. 22 shown.

[0127] The visualization of the present invention is preferably a dynamic display, by displaying the propagation speed of the pulse wave in a graphical manner on the display interface, and changing it with time, so that the ultrasound doctor can see it clearly at a glance, which is very convenient and intuitive.

[0128] Similarly, on the display interface, if the user does not circle the ROI, the entire segment of the vascular wall is the vascular wall segment of the ultrasound image in the entire target area, and the ultrasound B image video and pulse wave propagation state diagrams A1-A7 in the entire target area are superimposed; if the user circles the ROI, the entire segment of the vascular wall is the vascular wall segment of the ultrasound image in the ROI area, and only the ultrasound B image video and pulse wave propagation state diagrams A1-A7 in the ROI area can be superimposed. Of course, the specific value of the propagation speed can also be displayed in real time on the display interface, so that the user can accurately grasp it.

[0129] It can be seen that, by adopting the technical solution of the present invention, if in real-time imaging mode, the user only needs to place the probe flat on the body surface so that the viewing angle is on the long axis of the blood vessel. Keep the probe in place, start scanning, circle the ROI, and the ultrasonic imaging device can generate the blood vessel B map and the pulse wave propagation state map A, superimpose the blood vessel B map and the pulse wave propagation state map A, so that the propagation speed can be displayed at the corresponding position, and better associate the blood vessel structure with the propagation speed; if in non-real-time imaging mode, the ultrasonic imaging device obtains the data stored in the memory, and generates the blood vessel B map and the pulse wave propagation state map A after processing, so that the propagation speed displayed in the propagation state map can be displayed at the corresponding position. At the same time, the propagation status of the pulse wave is dynamically displayed in the form of a movie and combined with the indication of the wave peak, which can intuitively and accurately show the propagation process of the pulse wave. In the embodiment of the present invention, the pulse wave propagation state map and the blood vessel B map can be synchronously and dynamically displayed, or only the pulse wave propagation state map can be dynamically displayed and one frame of the B map in the propagation state process can be statically displayed.

[0130] This document is described with reference to various exemplary embodiments. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that changes and modifications may be made to the exemplary embodiments without departing from the scope of this document. For example, various operating steps and components for performing the operating steps may be implemented in different ways (e.g., one or more steps may be deleted, modified, or incorporated into other steps) depending on the specific application or considering any number of cost functions associated with the operation of the system.

[0131] In addition, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the principles of the present invention may be reflected in a computer program product on a computer-readable storage medium, which is pre-installed with a computer-readable program code. Any tangible, non-temporary computer-readable storage medium may be used, including magnetic storage devices (hard disks, floppy disks, etc.), optical storage devices (CD-ROMs, DVDs, Blu Ray disks, etc.), flash memory, and / or the like. These computer program instructions may be loaded onto a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing device to form a machine, so that these instructions executed on a computer or other programmable data processing device may generate a device that implements a specified function. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory, which may instruct a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory may form a manufactured product, including an implementation device that implements a specified function. The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device, so that a series of operating steps are performed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, so that the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable device may provide steps for implementing a specified function.

[0132] Although the principles of this invention have been shown in various embodiments, many modifications of structures, arrangements, proportions, elements, materials and components particularly suitable for specific environments and operational requirements can be used without departing from the principles and scope of this invention. The above modifications and other changes or amendments will be included in the scope of this invention.

[0133] The foregoing specific description has been described with reference to various embodiments. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the consideration of the present disclosure will be illustrative rather than restrictive, and all these modifications will be included in its scope. Similarly, the advantages, other advantages and solutions to the problems of various embodiments have been described above. However, the benefits, advantages, solutions to the problems and any elements that can produce these, or make them more clear, should not be interpreted as critical, necessary or necessary. The term "include" and any other variants used in this article are all non-exclusive inclusions, so that the process, method, article or device including the list of elements not only includes these elements, but also includes other elements that are not explicitly listed or do not belong to the process, method, system, article or device. In addition, the term "coupled" and any other variants used in this article refer to physical connections, electrical connections, magnetic connections, optical connections, communication connections, functional connections and / or any other connections.

[0134] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that many changes may be made to the details of the above-described embodiments without departing from the basic principles of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention should be determined from the following claims.

Claims

1. A pulse wave imaging method, characterized in that include: Acquiring ultrasound data of a predetermined time period, wherein the ultrasound data is data obtained after beam synthesis of ultrasound echo signals obtained by taking a blood vessel of a target object as a detection object; generating an ultrasound image including blood vessels according to the ultrasound data; Obtaining, according to the ultrasound data, a vascular wall hardness characterization amount reflected by a pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the vascular wall; and The vascular wall hardness characterization amount is the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the target segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image, and the target segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image includes a segment of the vascular wall through which the pulse wave currently propagates in the ultrasound image; on the display interface, along the axial direction of the blood vessel at a position corresponding to the vascular wall of the target segment, a preset image element is used to visualize the average propagation velocity, and the average propagation velocity is dynamically displayed in the order of propagation time; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization value is the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the target segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image, and the target segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image includes a segment of the vascular wall through which the pulse wave currently propagates in the ultrasound image; on the display interface, along the axial direction of the blood vessel at a position corresponding to the entire segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image, a preset image element is used to visualize the average propagation velocity, and the average propagation velocity is dynamically displayed in the order of propagation time; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization quantity is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; on the display interface, along the vascular axis direction at the position corresponding to each detection point in the ultrasound image, the propagation speed of each detection point is respectively visualized using preset image elements, and the propagation speed is dynamically displayed in the order of propagation time; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization value is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; on the display interface, along the vascular axis direction at the position corresponding to each detection point, when the pulse wave propagates to each detection point, the pulse wave propagation speed corresponding to each detection point that the pulse wave has passed is visualized using preset image elements, and the propagation speed is dynamically displayed in the order of propagation time; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization quantity is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; on the display interface, along the vascular axis direction at the position corresponding to each detection point of the target segment vascular wall of the ultrasound image, the propagation speed of each detection point is visualized using preset image elements, and the propagation speed is dynamically displayed in the order of propagation time; wherein, the target segment vascular wall includes a segment of the vascular wall through which the pulse wave currently propagates in the ultrasound image, or the target segment vascular wall includes a segment of the vascular wall extending from the detection point to which the pulse wave currently propagates and through which the pulse wave has propagated; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization value is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; on the display interface, along the vascular axis direction at a position corresponding to the target segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image, a preset image element is used to visualize the propagation speed of the detection point to which the pulse wave currently propagates, and the propagation speed is dynamically displayed in the order of propagation time; the target segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image includes a segment of the vascular wall through which the pulse wave currently propagates in the ultrasound image; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization value is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; on the display interface, along the vascular axis direction at a position corresponding to the entire vascular wall of the ultrasound image, a preset image element is used to visualize the propagation speed of the detection point to which the pulse wave currently propagates, and the propagation speed is dynamically displayed in the order of propagation time; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization quantity is the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the entire vascular wall in the ultrasound image; on the display interface, the average propagation velocity is represented by color, pattern or pattern density at a position along the axial direction of the blood vessel corresponding to the entire vascular wall in the ultrasound image, and the average propagation velocity is dynamically displayed in the order of propagation time.

2. A pulse wave imaging method, characterized in that include: Acquire multiple frames of ultrasound data, where the ultrasound data is data obtained after beamforming of ultrasound echo signals obtained by taking a blood vessel of a target object as a detection object; generating an ultrasound image including an axial cross-sectional structure of a blood vessel according to at least a portion of the plurality of frames of ultrasound data; Obtaining a blood vessel wall hardness representation amount reflected by a pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the blood vessel wall according to at least part of the plurality of frames of ultrasound data; and The blood vessel wall hardness characterization amount is the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the target segment of the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image, and the target segment of the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image includes a segment of the blood vessel wall through which the pulse wave currently propagates in the ultrasound image; At a position corresponding to the blood vessel wall of the target segment along the axial direction of the blood vessel, a preset image element is used to visualize the average propagation velocity, thereby generating and dynamically displaying a pulse wave propagation state diagram; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization value is the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the target segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image, and the target segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image includes a segment of the vascular wall through which the pulse wave currently propagates in the ultrasound image; along the axial direction of the blood vessel at a position corresponding to the entire segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image, the average propagation velocity is visualized using a preset image element, thereby generating and dynamically displaying a pulse wave propagation state diagram; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization value is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; along the vascular axis direction at the position corresponding to each detection point in the ultrasound image, the propagation speed of each detection point is respectively visualized using preset image elements, thereby generating and dynamically displaying a pulse wave propagation state diagram; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization value is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; along the vascular axis direction at a position corresponding to each detection point, when the pulse wave propagates to each detection point, a preset image element is used to visualize the pulse wave propagation speed corresponding to each detection point that the pulse wave has passed, thereby generating and dynamically displaying a pulse wave propagation state diagram; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization quantity is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; along the vascular axis direction at the position corresponding to each detection point of the target segment vascular wall of the ultrasound image, the propagation speed of each detection point is visualized using preset image elements, thereby generating and dynamically displaying a pulse wave propagation state diagram; wherein the target segment vascular wall includes a segment of the vascular wall through which the pulse wave currently propagates in the ultrasound image, or the target segment vascular wall includes a segment of the vascular wall extending from the detection point to which the pulse wave currently propagates and through which the pulse wave has propagated; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization quantity is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; along the vascular axis direction at a position corresponding to the target segment vascular wall of the ultrasound image, a preset image element is used to visualize the propagation speed of the detection point to which the pulse wave currently propagates, thereby generating and dynamically displaying a pulse wave propagation state diagram; the target segment vascular wall of the ultrasound image includes a segment of the vascular wall through which the pulse wave currently propagates in the ultrasound image; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization value is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; along the vascular axis direction at a position corresponding to the entire vascular wall of the ultrasound image, a preset image element is used to visualize the propagation speed of the detection point to which the pulse wave currently propagates, thereby generating and dynamically displaying a pulse wave propagation state diagram; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization value is the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the entire vascular wall in the ultrasound image; the average propagation velocity is represented by color, pattern or pattern density at a position corresponding to the entire vascular wall in the ultrasound image along the axial direction of the blood vessel, thereby generating and dynamically displaying a pulse wave propagation state diagram; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization quantity is the vascular wall hardness characterization quantity of each detection point on the vascular wall along the axial direction of the blood vessel; different vascular wall hardnesses are represented by different colors, patterns or pattern densities, or different vascular wall hardnesses are represented by waveform graphs, bar graphs or area graphs; a pulse wave propagation state diagram distributed along the axial direction of the blood vessel is generated and displayed.

3. A pulse wave imaging method, characterized in that: include: transmitting ultrasonic waves to blood vessels of a target object for ultrasonic imaging; receiving an ultrasonic echo returned by a blood vessel of the target object to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal; Performing signal processing on the ultrasonic echo signal to obtain ultrasonic data; Obtaining, based on the ultrasound data, a vascular wall hardness characterization amount reflected by a pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the vascular wall; and The blood vessel wall hardness characterization amount is the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the target segment of the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image, and the target segment of the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image includes a segment of the blood vessel wall through which the pulse wave currently propagates in the ultrasound image; At a position corresponding to the blood vessel wall of the target segment along the axial direction of the blood vessel, a preset image element is used to visualize the average propagation velocity to generate a real-time displayed pulse wave propagation state diagram; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization value is the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the target segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image, and the target segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image includes a segment of the vascular wall through which the pulse wave currently propagates in the ultrasound image; along the axial direction of the blood vessel at a position corresponding to the entire segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image, the average propagation velocity is visualized using a preset image element to generate a real-time displayed pulse wave propagation state diagram; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization value is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; along the vascular axis direction at the position corresponding to each detection point in the ultrasound image, the propagation speed of each detection point is respectively visualized using preset image elements to generate a real-time displayed pulse wave propagation state diagram; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization value is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; along the vascular axis direction at a position corresponding to each detection point, when the pulse wave propagates to each detection point, a preset image element is used to visualize the pulse wave propagation speed corresponding to each detection point that the pulse wave has passed, and a real-time pulse wave propagation state diagram is generated; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization quantity is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; along the vascular axis direction at the position corresponding to each detection point of the target segment vascular wall of the ultrasound image, the propagation speed of each detection point is visualized using preset image elements to generate a real-time displayed pulse wave propagation state diagram; wherein the target segment vascular wall includes a segment of the vascular wall through which the pulse wave currently propagates in the ultrasound image, or the target segment vascular wall includes a segment of the vascular wall extending from the detection point to which the pulse wave currently propagates and through which the pulse wave has propagated; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization value is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; along the vascular axis direction at a position corresponding to the target segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image, a preset image element is used to visualize the propagation speed of the detection point to which the pulse wave currently propagates, and a real-time pulse wave propagation state diagram is generated; the target segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image includes a segment of the vascular wall through which the pulse wave currently propagates in the ultrasound image; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization value is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; along the vascular axis direction at a position corresponding to the entire vascular wall of the ultrasound image, a preset image element is used to visualize the propagation speed of the detection point to which the pulse wave currently propagates, and a real-time pulse wave propagation state diagram is generated; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization value is the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the entire vascular wall in the ultrasound image; the average propagation velocity is represented by color, pattern or pattern density at a position corresponding to the entire vascular wall in the ultrasound image along the axial direction of the blood vessel to generate a real-time displayed pulse wave propagation state diagram; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization quantity is the vascular wall hardness characterization quantity of each detection point on the vascular wall along the axial direction of the blood vessel; different vascular wall hardnesses are represented by different colors, patterns or pattern densities, or different vascular wall hardnesses are represented by waveform graphs, bar graphs or area graphs; a real-time displayed pulse wave propagation state diagram distributed along the axial direction of the blood vessel is generated.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that The vascular wall hardness characterization quantity at each detection point on the vascular wall along the axial direction of the blood vessel is the propagation speed of the pulse wave at each detection point on the vascular wall along the axial direction of the blood vessel.

5. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: Acquisition of ultrasound data includes: Transmitting ultrasonic waves to the target object at a preset scanning frame rate, and receiving echoes of the ultrasonic waves to obtain ultrasonic echo signals; The ultrasonic echo signal is at least subjected to beamforming processing to obtain ultrasonic data of the blood vessel of the target object.

6. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The transmitting ultrasonic waves to the blood vessels of the target object includes: transmitting ultrasonic waves to the target object at a preset scanning frame rate.

7. The method according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that The scanning frame rate is at least 1000 Hz.

8. The method according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that The transmitting of ultrasonic waves to the target object at a preset scanning frame rate includes: Unfocused ultrasound waves are emitted to the target object at a preset scanning frame rate, and a scanning area of ​​the unfocused ultrasound waves emitted once covers a designated inspection area of ​​the blood vessel.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The unfocused ultrasound includes planar ultrasound or divergent ultrasound.

10. The method according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that: The transmitting of ultrasonic waves to the target object at a preset scanning frame rate includes: A plurality of focused ultrasound waves are emitted to the target object at a preset scanning frame rate, the number of emission of the plurality of focused ultrasound waves is lower than the preset number of emission of focused imaging, and the scanning area of ​​the plurality of focused ultrasound waves covers a designated inspection area of ​​the blood vessel.

11. The method according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that: The transmitting of ultrasonic waves to the target object at a preset scanning frame rate includes: At least one wide focused ultrasound wave is emitted to the target object at a preset scanning frame rate, and a scanning area of ​​the at least one wide focused ultrasound wave covers a designated inspection area of ​​the blood vessel.

12. The method according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that The vascular wall hardness characterization quantity obtained from the ultrasound data and reflected by the pulse wave propagating along the vascular axis on the vascular wall includes: Detecting the pulsation parameters of each detection point arranged along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image at different time points according to the ultrasound data; Detecting a first time when a pulsation parameter of each detection point reaches a first predetermined threshold; The propagation speed of the pulse wave on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasonic image is obtained according to the position of each detection point on the axial direction of the blood vessel and the first time corresponding to each detection point.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that The method of detecting the pulsation parameters of each detection point arranged along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image at different time points according to the ultrasound data includes: Detecting a time point at which a pulsation parameter of a designated detection point reaches a predetermined specific value, and taking the time point as a starting point and extending forward and / or backward by a preset time to obtain a valid time period; Obtain the pulsation parameters of each detection point at different time points within the effective time period.

14. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that The detecting, according to the ultrasound data, the pulsation parameters of each detection point arranged along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image at different time points comprises: Detecting the position of the blood vessel wall in a frame of image data in the ultrasound data; Calculate the radial displacement of each detection point arranged along the axial direction of the blood vessel wall at different time points according to the position of the blood vessel wall in different frames; The pulsation parameters of each detection point at different time points are obtained according to the radial displacement of each detection point on the blood vessel wall.

15. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that The pulsation parameter is the displacement of a unilateral blood vessel wall, the radial movement speed of a unilateral blood vessel wall, the radial movement acceleration of a unilateral blood vessel wall, the change in blood vessel diameter, the change speed of blood vessel diameter or the change acceleration of blood vessel diameter.

16. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that Ultrasonic imaging performed by emitting ultrasonic waves to the blood vessels of the target object includes B imaging or M imaging, and the ultrasonic data includes M data; the vascular wall hardness characterization quantity reflected by the pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the vascular wall obtained according to the ultrasonic data includes: Detecting the radial displacement of each detection point arranged along the axial direction of the blood vessel wall at different time points according to the M data; Detecting the first time when the radial displacement of each detection point reaches a second predetermined threshold; The propagation speed of the pulse wave on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasonic image is obtained according to the position of each detection point on the axial direction of the blood vessel and the first time corresponding to each detection point.

17. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that Ultrasonic imaging performed by emitting ultrasonic waves to the blood vessels of the target object includes Doppler imaging; the vascular wall hardness characterization quantity reflected by the pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the vascular wall obtained according to the ultrasonic data includes: Analyzing the Doppler information of the ultrasound data to obtain velocity information of each detection point arranged along the axial direction of the blood vessel wall at different time points; Detecting the first time when the speed information of each detection point reaches a third predetermined threshold; The propagation speed of the pulse wave on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasonic image is obtained according to the position of each detection point on the axial direction of the blood vessel and the first time corresponding to each detection point.

18. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The transmitting ultrasonic waves to the blood vessels of the target object for ultrasonic imaging includes: transmitting ultrasonic waves to the blood vessels of the target object for B imaging, M imaging, TDI imaging or TVI imaging.

19. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 18, characterized in that The propagation speed of the pulse wave on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image obtained according to the position of each detection point on the axial direction of the blood vessel and the first time corresponding to each detection point includes: Obtaining the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave on the entire blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image according to the position of each detection point on the blood vessel axis and the first time corresponding to each detection point; or The propagation speed of the pulse wave at each detection point is obtained according to the position of two adjacent detection points on the axial direction of the blood vessel and the difference between the first time corresponding to the two adjacent detection points.

20. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 18, characterized in that The method of visually expressing the pulse wave propagation velocity corresponding to each detection point in the ultrasound image at a position along the axial direction of the blood vessel corresponding to each detection point includes: visually expressing the pulse wave propagation velocity corresponding to each detection point in the ultrasound image at a position along the axial direction of the blood vessel corresponding to each detection point when the first time corresponding to each detection point arrives.

21. The method according to claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that When the average propagation velocity is visualized at the position corresponding to the entire segment of the vascular wall in the ultrasonic image along the axial direction of the blood vessel using a preset image element, the position corresponding to the target segment of the vascular wall is also indicated on the entire segment of the vascular wall.

22. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that The method further comprises: Determining the standard deviation of the propagation speed of each detection point; and The pulse wave propagation state diagram and the standard deviation are displayed synchronously.

23. The method of claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein: When the propagation speed of the detection point to which the pulse wave currently propagates is visualized using preset image elements at a position along the axial direction of the blood vessel corresponding to the entire blood vessel wall of the ultrasonic image, the position where the pulse wave currently propagates is also indicated on the entire blood vessel wall of the pulse wave propagation state diagram.

24. The method of claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein: The image elements include color, pattern or density of pattern.

25. The method of claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein: When performing visual expression, a value bar is also displayed synchronously to indicate the corresponding relationship between the magnitude of the vascular wall hardness characterization value and the color, pattern or pattern density.

26. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that When displaying the pulse wave propagation state diagram, the pulse wave propagation state diagram and the ultrasound image are specifically displayed in a superimposed manner according to a preset weight; or the pulse wave propagation state diagram is displayed near the ultrasound image.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein Also includes: detecting a modification of the weight by a user; The pulse wave propagation state diagram and the superimposed display of the ultrasound image are updated according to the modified weights.

28. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that The pulse wave propagation state diagram advances from the proximal end to the distal end along the axial direction of the blood vessel according to the pulse wave propagation time.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein: The pulse wave propagation state diagram advances in the horizontal direction according to the time of the pulse wave propagation.

30. The method of claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein: The propagation velocity of each detection point includes: an average propagation velocity of each detection point arranged along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasonic image or a propagation velocity value corresponding to the position of each detection point.

31. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that The vascular wall hardness characterization amount is the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the target segment vascular wall of the ultrasound image, and the target segment vascular wall of the ultrasound image includes a segment of the blood vessel wall through which the pulse wave currently propagates in the ultrasound image; along the axial direction of the blood vessel at a position corresponding to the vascular wall of the target segment, the average propagation velocity is visualized using a preset image element, so as to generate and dynamically display a pulse wave propagation state diagram or generate a real-time displayed pulse wave propagation state diagram, including: The average propagation velocity of the blood vessel wall segment through which the pulse wave passes when the pulse wave propagates along the axial direction of the blood vessel to each detection point on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image is obtained; at the position corresponding to the blood vessel wall segment through which the pulse wave passes along the axial direction of the blood vessel, the average propagation velocity is represented by color, pattern or pattern density, and a pulse wave propagation state diagram distributed along the axial direction of the blood vessel is generated and displayed, and the pulse wave propagation state diagram is updated according to the time when the pulse wave propagates to the detection point during display; wherein each detection point is arranged along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image; The vascular wall hardness characterization amount is the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the target segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image, and the target segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image includes a segment of the vascular wall through which the pulse wave currently propagates in the ultrasound image; along the axial direction of the blood vessel at a position corresponding to the entire segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image, the average propagation velocity is visualized using a preset image element, so as to generate and dynamically display a pulse wave propagation state diagram or generate a real-time displayed pulse wave propagation state diagram, including: The average propagation velocity of the blood vessel wall segment through which the pulse wave passes when the pulse wave propagates along the blood vessel axis to each detection point on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image; the average propagation velocity is represented by color, pattern or pattern density at a position along the blood vessel axis corresponding to the entire blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image, and a pulse wave propagation state diagram distributed along the blood vessel axis is generated and displayed, and the pulse wave propagation state diagram is updated according to the time when the pulse wave propagates to the detection point during display; wherein each detection point is arranged along the blood vessel axis on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image; The vascular wall hardness characterization amount is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; along the vascular axis direction at the position corresponding to each detection point in the ultrasound image, the propagation speed of each detection point is respectively visualized using preset image elements, so as to generate and dynamically display a pulse wave propagation state diagram or generate a real-time displayed pulse wave propagation state diagram, including: Acquire the propagation velocity of the pulse wave at each detection point on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image; use color, pattern or pattern density to represent the propagation velocity corresponding to each detection point at the position corresponding to each detection point in the ultrasound image along the axial direction of the blood vessel, and generate and display a pulse wave propagation state diagram distributed along the axial direction of the blood vessel; wherein each detection point is arranged along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image; The vascular wall hardness characterization amount is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; along the vascular axis direction at a position corresponding to each detection point, when the pulse wave propagates to each detection point, a preset image element is used to visualize the pulse wave propagation speed corresponding to each detection point that the pulse wave has passed, thereby generating and dynamically displaying a pulse wave propagation state diagram or generating a real-time displayed pulse wave propagation state diagram, including: Acquire the propagation velocity of each detection point on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image; at the position corresponding to each detection point on the blood vessel wall section through which the pulse wave passes along the axial direction of the blood vessel, use color, pattern or pattern density to represent the propagation velocity corresponding to each detection point, generate and display a pulse wave propagation state diagram distributed along the axial direction of the blood vessel, and update the pulse wave propagation state diagram according to the time when the pulse wave propagates to the detection point during display; wherein each detection point is arranged along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image; The vascular wall hardness characterization amount is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; along the vascular axis direction at a position corresponding to each detection point of the target segment vascular wall of the ultrasound image, a preset image element is used to visualize the propagation speed of each detection point, so as to generate and dynamically display a pulse wave propagation state diagram or generate a real-time displayed pulse wave propagation state diagram, the target segment vascular wall includes a segment of the vascular wall extending from the detection point to which the pulse wave currently propagates and through which the pulse wave has propagated; including: Acquire the propagation speed of the pulse wave at each detection point on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image; at the position corresponding to the current detection point where the pulse wave passes along the axial direction of the blood vessel, use color, pattern or pattern density to represent the propagation speed corresponding to the current detection point, generate and display a pulse wave propagation state diagram distributed along the axial direction of the blood vessel, and update the pulse wave propagation state diagram according to the time when the pulse wave propagates to the detection point during display; wherein each detection point is arranged along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image; The vascular wall hardness characterization amount is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; along the vascular axis direction at a position corresponding to the entire vascular wall of the ultrasound image, a preset image element is used to visualize the propagation speed of the detection point to which the pulse wave currently propagates, thereby generating and dynamically displaying a pulse wave propagation state diagram or generating a real-time displayed pulse wave propagation state diagram, including: Acquire the propagation velocity of the pulse wave at each detection point on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image; use color, pattern or pattern density to represent the propagation velocity corresponding to the current detection point at a position corresponding to the entire blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image along the axial direction of the blood vessel, generate and display a pulse wave propagation state diagram distributed along the axial direction of the blood vessel, and update the pulse wave propagation state diagram according to the time when the pulse wave propagates to the detection point during display; wherein each detection point is arranged along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image; The vascular wall hardness characterization quantity is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; on the display interface, along the vascular axis direction at a position corresponding to the target segment vascular wall of the ultrasound image, a preset image element is used to visualize the propagation speed of the detection point to which the pulse wave currently propagates, thereby generating and dynamically displaying a pulse wave propagation state diagram or generating a real-time displayed pulse wave propagation state diagram; the target segment vascular wall of the ultrasound image includes a segment of the vascular wall through which the pulse wave currently propagates in the ultrasound image; including: Acquire the propagation velocity of the pulse wave at each detection point on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image; use color, pattern or pattern density to represent the propagation velocity corresponding to the current detection point at the position corresponding to each detection point in the blood vessel wall segment passed by the pulse wave along the axial direction of the blood vessel, generate and display a pulse wave propagation state diagram distributed along the axial direction of the blood vessel, and update the pulse wave propagation state diagram according to the time when the pulse wave propagates to the detection point during display; wherein each detection point is arranged along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein: Also includes: The second time when each detection point arranged along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image reaches the peak position is obtained according to the ultrasound data, and the detection point where the current peak is located is marked with an icon on the pulse wave propagation state diagram.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein: Obtaining the blood vessel wall hardness characterization amount reflected by the pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the blood vessel wall according to the ultrasound data includes: obtaining the propagation speed of each detection point arranged along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image according to the ultrasound data; The method further includes: pausing the updating of the pulse wave propagation state diagram according to a pause instruction input by the user; and displaying the propagation speed of the detection point closest to the cursor position on the paused pulse wave propagation state diagram according to the position of the cursor of the human-computer interaction device.

34. The method of claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein: The method further comprises: When the pulse wave propagates through the entire blood vessel wall of the ultrasonic image, the propagation speed corresponding to each detection point is presented in the form of a picture.

35. The method of claim 1, wherein: The predetermined time period is greater than or equal to one cardiac cycle.

36. An ultrasonic imaging device, characterized in that: include: An ultrasonic probe is used to transmit ultrasonic waves to the blood vessel to be tested, and receive the echo of the ultrasonic waves to obtain an echo signal; A transmitting circuit, used for stimulating the ultrasonic probe to transmit ultrasonic waves to the detected blood vessel; A receiving circuit, used for controlling the ultrasonic probe to receive the echo of the ultrasonic wave returned from the detected blood vessel to obtain an echo signal; A human-computer interaction device for obtaining user input and performing visual output; Processor for: Acquire echo signals from the ultrasound probe and process them into ultrasound data; generating an ultrasound image including axially arranged blood vessels according to the ultrasound data; Obtaining, according to the ultrasound data, a vascular wall hardness characterization value reflected by a pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the vascular wall; Visually expressing the hardness characterization of the blood vessel wall along the axial direction of the blood vessel to generate a pulse wave propagation state diagram, and displaying the pulse wave propagation state diagram through the human-computer interaction device; wherein, visually expressing the hardness characterization of the blood vessel wall along the axial direction of the blood vessel to generate the pulse wave propagation state diagram includes: The vascular wall hardness characterization amount is the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the target segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image, and the target segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image includes a segment of the vascular wall through which the pulse wave currently propagates in the ultrasound image; along the axial direction of the blood vessel at a position corresponding to the vascular wall of the target segment, the average propagation velocity is visualized using a preset image element to generate a pulse wave propagation state diagram; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization value is the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the target segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image, and the target segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image includes a segment of the vascular wall through which the pulse wave currently propagates in the ultrasound image; along the axial direction of the blood vessel at a position corresponding to the entire segment of the vascular wall of the ultrasound image, the average propagation velocity is visualized using a preset image element to generate a pulse wave propagation state diagram; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization value is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; along the vascular axis direction at the position corresponding to each detection point in the ultrasound image, the propagation speed of each detection point is respectively visualized using preset image elements to generate a pulse wave propagation state diagram; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization value is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; along the vascular axis direction at a position corresponding to each detection point, when the pulse wave propagates to each detection point, a preset image element is used to visualize the pulse wave propagation speed corresponding to each detection point that the pulse wave has passed, and a pulse wave propagation state diagram is generated; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization quantity is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; along the vascular axis direction at the position corresponding to each detection point of the target segment vascular wall of the ultrasound image, the propagation speed of each detection point is visualized using preset image elements to generate a pulse wave propagation state diagram; wherein the target segment vascular wall includes a segment of the vascular wall through which the pulse wave currently propagates in the ultrasound image, or the target segment vascular wall includes a segment of the vascular wall extending from the detection point to which the pulse wave currently propagates and through which the pulse wave has propagated; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization value is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; along the vascular axis direction at a position corresponding to the target segment vascular wall of the ultrasound image, a preset image element is used to visualize the propagation speed of the detection point to which the pulse wave currently propagates, and a pulse wave propagation state diagram is generated; the target segment vascular wall of the ultrasound image includes a segment of the vascular wall through which the pulse wave currently propagates in the ultrasound image; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization value is the propagation speed of the pulse wave on the vascular wall of the ultrasound image along the vascular axis to each detection point; along the vascular axis direction at a position corresponding to the entire vascular wall of the ultrasound image, a preset image element is used to visualize the propagation speed of the detection point to which the pulse wave currently propagates, and generate a pulse wave propagation state diagram; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization value is the average propagation velocity of the pulse wave propagating along the axial direction of the blood vessel on the entire segment of the vascular wall in the ultrasound image; the average propagation velocity is represented by color, pattern or pattern density at a position corresponding to the entire segment of the vascular wall in the ultrasound image along the axial direction of the blood vessel to generate a pulse wave propagation state diagram; or, The vascular wall hardness characterization quantity is the vascular wall hardness characterization quantity of each detection point on the vascular wall along the axial direction of the blood vessel; different vascular wall hardnesses are represented by different colors, patterns or pattern densities, or different vascular wall hardnesses are represented by waveform graphs, bar graphs or area graphs; a real-time displayed pulse wave propagation state diagram distributed along the axial direction of the blood vessel is generated.

37. The ultrasonic imaging device according to claim 36, characterized in that The vascular wall hardness characterization quantity at each detection point on the vascular wall along the axial direction of the blood vessel is the propagation speed of the pulse wave at each detection point on the vascular wall along the axial direction of the blood vessel.

38. The ultrasonic imaging device according to claim 36, characterized in that: The processor acquires the echo signal from the ultrasound probe and processes it into ultrasound data, including: The ultrasonic probe transmits ultrasonic waves to the target object at a preset scanning frame rate, and receives the echo of the ultrasonic waves to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal; The ultrasonic echo signal is at least subjected to beamforming processing to obtain ultrasonic data of the blood vessel of the target object.

39. The ultrasonic imaging device according to claim 38, characterized in that The scanning frame rate is at least 1000 Hz.

40. The ultrasonic imaging device according to claim 38 or 39, characterized in that: The method of transmitting ultrasonic waves to the target object at a preset scanning frame rate through an ultrasonic probe includes: Unfocused ultrasound waves are emitted to the target object through an ultrasound probe at a preset scanning frame rate, and a scanning area of ​​the unfocused ultrasound waves emitted once covers a designated inspection area of ​​the blood vessel.

41. The ultrasonic imaging device according to claim 40, characterized in that The unfocused ultrasound includes planar ultrasound or divergent ultrasound.

42. The ultrasonic imaging device according to claim 38 or 39, characterized in that: The method of transmitting ultrasonic waves to the target object at a preset scanning frame rate through an ultrasonic probe includes: The ultrasound probe transmits multiple focused ultrasound waves to the target object at a preset scanning frame rate, the number of transmissions of the multiple focused ultrasound waves is lower than the preset number of transmissions of focused imaging, and the scanning area of ​​the multiple focused ultrasound waves covers a part of the designated inspection area of ​​the blood vessel.

43. The ultrasonic imaging device according to claim 38 or 39, characterized in that: The method of transmitting ultrasonic waves to the target object at a preset scanning frame rate through an ultrasonic probe includes: At least one wide focused ultrasound wave is transmitted to the target object through an ultrasound probe at a preset scanning frame rate, and a scanning area of ​​the at least one wide focused ultrasound wave covers a designated inspection area of ​​the blood vessel.

44. The ultrasonic imaging device according to claim 36, characterized in that When the processor uses preset image elements to visualize the average propagation velocity at a position corresponding to the entire segment of the blood vessel wall in the ultrasound image along the axial direction of the blood vessel, it also indicates the position corresponding to the target segment of the blood vessel wall on the entire segment of the blood vessel wall in the pulse wave propagation state diagram.

45. The ultrasonic imaging device according to claim 36, characterized in that The processor is also used to determine the standard deviation of the propagation speed of each detection point; and synchronously display the pulse wave propagation state diagram and the standard deviation through the human-computer interaction device.

46. ​​The ultrasonic imaging device according to claim 36, characterized in that The processor uses preset image elements to visualize the propagation speed of the detection point to which the pulse wave currently propagates at a position corresponding to the entire blood vessel wall of the ultrasound image along the axial direction of the blood vessel, and also indicates the position where the pulse wave currently propagates on the entire blood vessel wall of the pulse wave propagation status diagram.

47. The ultrasonic imaging device according to claim 36, characterized in that The processor visually expresses the vascular wall hardness characterization along the axial direction of the blood vessel and further comprises: The pulse wave propagation state diagram and the axially arranged blood vessels in the ultrasound image are superimposed and displayed according to preset weights; or the pulse wave propagation state diagram is displayed near the ultrasound image.

48. The ultrasonic imaging device according to claim 47, characterized in that The processor is further configured to: detecting a user's modification of the weights through a human-computer interaction device; The pulse wave propagation state diagram and the superimposed display of the axially arranged blood vessels in the ultrasound image are updated according to the modified weights.

49. An ultrasonic imaging device, characterized in that include: Memory, used to store programs; A processor, configured to execute the program stored in the memory to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 35.

50. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that The method comprises a program which can be executed by a processor to implement the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 35.

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