Ultrasound elastography system and method

Abstract

An ultrasonic elastography system and method, the system comprising: a transmitting-receiving module (11) for transmitting ultrasonic pulses to a target (2) to be detected and receiving ultrasonic echo signals reflected by the target (2) to be detected; an imaging display module (13) for processing the received ultrasonic echo signals and displaying an image (I) obtained after the processing; an analysis module (15) for detecting a region of interest (R) selected by an operator on the image (I) and a shell region (S), calculating elastic parameters of the reference region and the shell region (S) respectively, and analyzing and outputting an analysis result according to the calculation results of the two. By extracting and processing the elastic parameters of the shell region (S) of the region of interest (R) selected by the operator from the image (I), and comparing the elastic parameters with those of other regions, more information can be provided.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of the following parent application:

[0002] The parent application has a filing date of August 10, 2015, a Chinese application number of 201580008886.7, and a title of Ultrasound Elastography System and Method. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The present application relates to ultrasound imaging technology, and in particular to an ultrasound elastography system and method. BACKGROUND

[0004] Ultrasound elastography is one of the hotspots of clinical research in recent years, which mainly reflects the elasticity or softness of the tissue.

[0005] The basic principle of elastic ultrasound imaging is that the probe slightly compresses the target tissue or forms a certain pressure on the tissue by means of the body's own breathing, blood vessel pulsation and other processes, acquires two frames of ultrasound echo signals before and after compression, when the tissue is compressed, a strain along the compression direction will be generated in the tissue, if the Young's modulus distribution in the tissue is uneven, the strain distribution in the tissue will also be different, then the strain information of the tissue is detected by some methods, output to the interface and displayed in the form of an elastic image. This imaging method mainly displays the elastic parameters in the region of interest in a qualitative or quantitative method, forms an elastic distribution image, and uses different gray scales or different colors on the image to distinguish the softness of the tissue.

[0006] However, in many cases, only displaying the elastic image cannot meet the user's needs. The user not only needs to identify the target of interest, but also needs to make further detailed analysis on the target of interest to find more information. For example, in some applications, the hardness of the infiltrated area around the lesion may be one of the objects that the user focuses on. SUMMARY

[0007] According to an embodiment of one aspect of the present application, an ultrasonic elastography system is provided, comprising: a transmitting-receiving module configured to transmit ultrasonic pulses to a target to be detected and receive ultrasonic echo signals reflected by the target to be detected; an imaging display module configured to process the received ultrasonic echo signals and display an image obtained after the processing; and an attention analysis module configured to detect a region of interest selected by an operator on the image and a shell region, perform elastic parameter calculation on a reference region and the shell region respectively, analyze and output an analysis result according to the calculation results of the two regions, wherein the shell region is a region obtained by removing the region of interest from an expanded region after expansion of the region of interest, or the shell region is a region obtained by removing a reduced region after reduction of the region of interest from the region of interest, and the reference region is the region of interest, or the reference region is a reference region selected by the operator on the image, or the reference region is a region set by the system in advance.

[0008] According to an embodiment of another aspect of the present application, an ultrasonic elastography method is provided, comprising: a transmitting-receiving step of transmitting ultrasonic pulses to a target to be detected and receiving ultrasonic echo signals reflected by the target to be detected; an imaging display step of processing the received ultrasonic echo signals and displaying an image obtained after the processing; and an attention analysis step of detecting a region of interest selected by an operator on the image and a shell region, performing elastic parameter calculation on a reference region and the shell region respectively, analyzing and outputting an analysis result according to the calculation results of the two regions, wherein the shell region is a region obtained by removing the region of interest from an expanded region after expansion of the region of interest, or the shell region is a region obtained by removing a reduced region after reduction of the region of interest from the region of interest, and the reference region is the region of interest, or the reference region is a reference region selected by the operator on the image, or the reference region is a region set by the system in advance.

[0009] According to the ultrasonic elastography system or method of the present application, after the operator selects the region of interest from the image, the elastic parameters of the shell region of the region of interest are extracted and compared with the elastic parameters of other regions, so that more information can be provided. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0010] Figure 1 FIG. 1 is a structural schematic diagram of an ultrasonic elastography system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0011] Figure 2 FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a shell region obtained by expanding a region of interest according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0012] Figure 3A diagram for expanding the region of interest to obtain the shell region in an embodiment of the present application.

[0013] Figure 4 A diagram for drawing the shell region and the reference region in an embodiment of the present application.

[0014] Figure 5 A histogram statistics diagram for shell analysis in an embodiment of the present application.

[0015] Figure 6 A diagram of the structure of the ultrasonic elastography system of Embodiment 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] To meet the deeper user needs of users, the present application selects the key attention region according to the region of interest and makes detailed analysis, thereby providing more information.

[0017] The present application will be further described in detail below with specific embodiments and the accompanying drawings.

[0018] Embodiment 1

[0019] As shown in the figure, the ultrasonic elastography system of the present embodiment includes a transmitting-receiving module 11, an imaging display module 13 and an attention analysis module 15. Figure 1

[0020] In the transmitting-receiving module 11, the ultrasonic probe transmits a special pulse sequence to the target 2 to be detected according to the scanning rule set by the transmitting sequence control unit, and receives the ultrasonic echo signal reflected by the target 2 to be detected.

[0021] In the imaging display module 13, the received ultrasonic echo signal is processed, and the processed image is displayed. In the present embodiment, the imaging display module 13 sends the received echo signal to a two-dimensional image processing unit for processing after beam synthesis processing, and displays the gray-scale image (i.e. two-dimensional image) of human tissue obtained by processing. In another embodiment, the module 13 can also increase other processing operations known to those skilled in the art, such as signal amplification, analog-to-digital conversion, orthogonal decomposition, etc. The beam synthesis, two-dimensional image processing, etc. involved in the imaging display module 13 can be implemented by using related ultrasonic technology, which will not be described in detail here.

[0022] In the attention analysis module 15, the operator selects the region of interest and the shell region on the displayed image, and then calculates the elastic parameters of the region of interest and the shell region respectively, analyzes and outputs the analysis results according to the calculation results of the two. The shell region is the key attention region, which is a certain range of region corresponding to the region of interest. For example, the infiltration area around the lesion. In the present embodiment, as shown in the figure, the operator selects the region of interest A and the shell region B on the displayed image, and then the attention analysis module 15 calculates the elastic parameters of the region of interest A and the shell region B respectively, analyzes and outputs the analysis results according to the calculation results of the two.​Figure 2 As shown, the shell region S refers to the region between the boundary line RL of the region of interest R and the boundary line SL of the dilated region of the region of interest R, i.e. the region obtained by removing the region of interest R from the dilated region of the region of interest R, and the thickness of the shell region S is dS. In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2B, the shell region refers to the region between the boundary line RL of the region of interest R and the boundary line SL of the shrunk region of the region of interest R, i.e. the region obtained by removing the shrunk region of the region of interest R from the region of interest R, and the thickness of the shell region S is dS. Figure 3 As shown, the shell region S refers to the region between the boundary line RL of the region of interest R and the boundary line SL of the dilated region of the region of interest R, i.e. the region obtained by removing the region of interest R from the dilated region of the region of interest R, and the thickness of the shell region S is dS. In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2B, the shell region refers to the region between the boundary line RL of the region of interest R and the boundary line SL of the shrunk region of the region of interest R, i.e. the region obtained by removing the shrunk region of the region of interest R from the region of interest R, and the thickness of the shell region S is dS. Figure 2 As shown, the shell region S refers to the region between the boundary line RL of the region of interest R and the boundary line SL of the dilated region of the region of interest R, i.e. the region obtained by removing the region of interest R from the dilated region of the region of interest R, and the thickness of the shell region S is dS. In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2B, the shell region refers to the region between the boundary line RL of the region of interest R and the boundary line SL of the shrunk region of the region of interest R, i.e. the region obtained by removing the shrunk region of the region of interest R from the region of interest R, and the thickness of the shell region S is dS. Figure 3 As shown, the shell region S refers to the region between the boundary line RL of the region of interest R and the boundary line SL of the dilated region of the region of interest R, i.e. the region obtained by removing the region of interest R from the dilated region of the region of interest R, and the thickness of the shell region S is dS. In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2B, the shell region refers to the region between the boundary line RL of the region of interest R and the boundary line SL of the shrunk region of the region of interest R, i.e. the region obtained by removing the shrunk region of the region of interest R from the region of interest R, and the thickness of the shell region S is dS.

[0023] The operator can select the region of interest on the displayed image by using an input device connected to the system, such as a trackball, a touch screen or a mouse, to frame or manually draw the region of interest on the displayed image. Here, framing refers to the system providing a framing tool for the operator to select, for example, the system providing an elliptical closed region for selection, and the operator only needs to determine the major and minor axis positions and lengths of the ellipse to easily draw the elliptical closed region, and the system determines the drawn region as the region of interest. Of course, the system can also provide other shapes for selection. The framed region of interest can be a target region of any shape and size, such as a regular geometric shape such as a circle, a rectangle, an ellipse, or an irregular geometric shape.

[0024] After obtaining the region of interest, the operator needs to draw the shell region, as shown in FIG. 2A or FIG. 2B. Figure 2 As shown, the shell region S refers to the region between the boundary line RL of the region of interest R and the boundary line SL of the dilated region of the region of interest R, i.e. the region obtained by removing the region of interest R from the dilated region of the region of interest R, and the thickness of the shell region S is dS. In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2B, the shell region refers to the region between the boundary line RL of the region of interest R and the boundary line SL of the shrunk region of the region of interest R, i.e. the region obtained by removing the shrunk region of the region of interest R from the region of interest R, and the thickness of the shell region S is dS. Figure 3 As shown, the shell region S refers to the region between the boundary line RL of the region of interest R and the boundary line SL of the dilated region of the region of interest R, i.e. the region obtained by removing the region of interest R from the dilated region of the region of interest R, and the thickness of the shell region S is dS. In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2B, the shell region refers to the region between the boundary line RL of the region of interest R and the boundary line SL of the shrunk region of the region of interest R, i.e. the region obtained by removing the shrunk region of the region of interest R from the region of interest R, and the thickness of the shell region S is dS.

[0025] After obtaining the region of interest and the key focus area (i.e., the shell area), they are analyzed and calculated, usually to calculate the parameters of these areas. These parameters can be the parameters selected by the operator to be analyzed, or they can be the parameters set by the system default. The parameters can be some conventional measurement parameters, such as area, diameter, distance, volume, etc., or some special elasticity-related parameters. Of course, elastic parameters also include a variety of elasticity parameters depending on the elastic imaging method. For example, in conventional press-type elastic imaging, the elastic parameters can be strain, strain ratio, strain rate, etc.; for example, in shear wave elastic imaging, the elastic parameters can be shear wave velocity, shear wave velocity ratio, Young's modulus, shear modulus, Young's modulus ratio, shear modulus ratio, shear wave propagation distance, etc. In this embodiment, the parameters include but are not limited to: strain and strain ratio, strain-time curve, shear wave velocity and shear wave velocity ratio, elastic modulus and elastic modulus ratio, elastic histogram statistics, etc. These parameters are explained below.

[0026] For the parameters strain and strain ratio, the system can respectively calculate the average strain result StrainMean_target in the region of interest (i.e., the area within the drawn boundary line of the target of interest), and the average strain result strainMean_shell in the shell area, and calculate the ratio of the two StrainRatio = StrainMean_target / StrainMean_shell. Of course, when calculating the ratio, it can also be calculated as StrainRatio = StrainMean_shell / StrainMean_target. It is only necessary to clearly mark the numerator and denominator in the system. The strain ratio can reflect the degree of elasticity difference or soft and hard difference between the region of interest and its shell area. Under a certain pressure, the greater the tissue strain value, the smaller its hardness.

[0027] Of course, the system can also calculate the strain rate (ie, the rate of change of strain with time) and / or the ratio of the strain rates of the two.

[0028] In another embodiment, Figure 4 As shown, the system can also draw a reference area (the area surrounded by the boundary line CL as shown in the figure), calculate the average strain or strain rate results in the shell area S and the reference area, and calculate the strain ratio or strain rate ratio between the two.

[0029] For the parameter strain-time curve, the system calculates the average strain result (StrainMean_target) within the region of interest and the average strain result (StrainMean_shell) within the shell region at each time point over a period of time, forming two strain-time curves. By displaying these two strain-time curves, the elastic difference between the target region of interest and its shell region can be analyzed, and their stability over time can be studied.

[0030] In another embodiment, Figure 4 As shown, the system can also draw a reference area and calculate the strain-time curves in the shell area and the reference area.

[0031] For the shear wave velocity and shear wave velocity ratio parameters, the system calculates the average shear wave velocity (SpeedMean_target) within the target region of interest and the average shear wave velocity (SpeedMean_shell) within the shell region, and then calculates the ratio (SpeedRatio) of the two. This ratio reflects the degree of elasticity or hardness difference between the target region of interest and its shell region. Generally speaking, a higher shear wave velocity indicates greater hardness.

[0032] In another embodiment, Figure 4 As shown, the system can also draw a reference area and calculate the shear wave velocity and the shear wave velocity ratio in the shell area and the reference area.

[0033] For the elastic modulus and elastic modulus ratio parameters, the system calculates the average elastic modulus of the target region of interest (ElastoMean_target) and the average elastic modulus of the shell region (ElastoMean_shell), and then calculates the ratio of the two (ElatoRatio). This ratio reflects the degree of elasticity or hardness difference between the target region of interest and its shell region. Generally speaking, a higher elastic modulus of tissue indicates greater hardness.

[0034] Elastic modulus includes Young's modulus, shear modulus, etc.

[0035] In a compression-type elastography system, the relationship between Young's modulus E and strain follows Hooke's law: stress = E*strain, where stress represents the stress applied by the probe and strain represents the resulting strain.

[0036] In the shear wave elastography system, the relationship between Young's modulus E and shear wave velocity is approximately: E = 3ρ*C s 2where p represents tissue density, C s represents the resulting shear wave velocity.

[0037] The relationship between the shear modulus G and the shear wave velocity is approximately G = p * C s .

[0038] In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10B, the system can additionally draw a reference region, and calculate the elastic modulus and the elastic modulus ratio in the shell region and in the reference region. Figure 4 For the parametric elastic histogram statistics, since the elasticity image reflects the hardness difference between tissues in gray scale or color, the statistics of the gray scale or color distribution of each local region can reflect the hardness of the local tissue from another aspect.

[0039] As shown in FIG. 10B, the system can calculate the histogram statistics in the region of interest and in the shell region respectively, and draw them in the same or different coordinates, wherein the horizontal coordinate is the atlas used for the elasticity image mapping, and the vertical coordinate is the number or relative percentage of the pixel points in the statistical region. The horizontal coordinate of the histogram distribution graph is the atlas of the current elasticity image mapping (the system can provide multiple atlases for selection), and the vertical coordinate is the number or relative percentage of the pixel points in the statistical region. The narrower the range of the histogram distribution graph, the more concentrated the hardness distribution of the tissue in the statistical region. The closer the histogram distribution graph is to a certain color on the horizontal coordinate, the closer the hardness of the tissue in the statistical region is to the hardness corresponding to the color. In addition to the histogram distribution graph, the histogram result also includes the maximum value, the minimum value, the mean value, the standard deviation, etc. in the statistical sense.

[0040] Figure 5 In addition, as shown in FIG. 10B, the system can additionally draw a reference region, and calculate the histogram distribution in the shell region and in the reference region.

[0041] The above can obtain the elasticity condition of the shell region (i.e. the focus region) by analyzing the elasticity parameters of the shell region and the region of interest or the reference region. In one embodiment, the system can display the corresponding results according to the analysis parameters obtained by the focus analysis module. For example, if the user selects to calculate the average strain value and the strain ratio between the shell region and the region of interest, the system displays the calculated strain result and the strain ratio on the interface. In another embodiment, when the operator stores the current elasticity image, the shell analysis result can also be stored together on the current image. Of course, the operator can also perform operations such as deleting the current shell analysis result or changing the display position. Figure 4

[0042] The above can obtain the elasticity condition of the shell region (i.e. the focus region) by analyzing the elasticity parameters of the shell region and the region of interest or the reference region. In one embodiment, the system can display the corresponding results according to the analysis parameters obtained by the focus analysis module. For example, if the user selects to calculate the average strain value and the strain ratio between the shell region and the region of interest, the system displays the calculated strain result and the strain ratio on the interface. In another embodiment, when the operator stores the current elasticity image, the shell analysis result can also be stored together on the current image. Of course, the operator can also perform operations such as deleting the current shell analysis result or changing the display position.

[0043] ​​Based on the above system, an embodiment further provides an ultrasound elastography method, comprising the following steps:

[0044] a transmitting and receiving step, in which an ultrasonic pulse is transmitted to the target to be detected, and an ultrasonic echo signal reflected by the target to be detected is received;

[0045] an imaging and displaying step, in which the received ultrasonic echo signal is processed and an image obtained after the processing is displayed;

[0046] Focus on the analysis step, in which the region of interest and the shell region selected by the operator on the displayed image are detected, elastic parameters are calculated for the reference region and the shell region respectively, analysis is performed based on the calculation results of the two and the analysis results are output, the shell region refers to the region obtained by removing the expanded region after the region of interest is expanded, or the shell region refers to the region obtained by removing the reduced region after the region of interest is reduced, the reference region is the region of interest, or the reference region is the reference region selected by the detected operator on the displayed image, or the reference region is the region preset by the system.

[0047] Among them, the imaging display step includes: a two-dimensional image processing sub-step and a two-dimensional image display sub-step; in the two-dimensional image processing sub-step, the received ultrasonic echo signal is processed to obtain a two-dimensional image; in the two-dimensional image display sub-step, the processed two-dimensional image is displayed.

[0048] The specific processing process of this method refers to the corresponding modules mentioned above and will not be repeated here.

[0049] The ultrasonic elastic imaging system provided in this embodiment can extract and process elastic parameters of the shell region after the operator selects the region of interest from the image, and compare it with the elastic parameters of other regions, thereby providing more information.

[0050] Example 2

[0051] like Figure 6 As shown, the ultrasound elastography system of this embodiment includes a transmitting and receiving module 61, an imaging display module 63, and a focus analysis module 65. The transmitting and receiving module 61 and the focus analysis module 65 are similar to the transmitting and receiving module 11 and the focus analysis module 15 of Example 1, respectively, and are not repeated here.

[0052] In the imaging display module 63, the received echo signals are sent to the elastic physical quantity calculation unit after the beam synthesis processing, and the elastic image obtained by the processing is displayed. In another embodiment, the module 63 can also add other processing operations known to those skilled in the art, such as signal amplification, analog-to-digital conversion, orthogonal decomposition, etc. The beam synthesis, elastic physical quantity calculation, etc. involved in the imaging display module 63 can be implemented by using related ultrasonic technology, which will not be described in detail here. Obviously, the difference between the present embodiment and embodiment 1 is that the selection of the region of interest and the shell region in the present embodiment is performed on the elastic image, while in embodiment 1, the selection is performed on the two-dimensional image.

[0053] Based on the system of the present embodiment, an embodiment provides a corresponding ultrasonic elastography method, and the specific process is similar to the method embodiment in the foregoing embodiment 1, except that the imaging display step includes an elastic physical quantity calculation sub-step and an elastic image display sub-step. In the elastic physical quantity calculation sub-step, the received ultrasonic echo signals are processed to calculate the physical quantity reflecting the elasticity of the target to be detected, and a corresponding elastic image is generated according to the physical quantity. In the elastic image display sub-step, the elastic image is displayed.

[0054] It can be understood that, by using the present embodiment, the calculation amount of the elastic parameters of the region of interest can be reduced when the attention analysis module 65 is used.

[0055] Embodiment 3

[0056] The ultrasonic elastography system of the present embodiment is actually a combination of embodiment 1 and embodiment 2, i.e., the ultrasonic elastography system also includes a transmitting and receiving module, an imaging display module, and an attention analysis module. The transmitting and receiving module and the attention analysis module are similar to the transmitting and receiving module 11 and the attention analysis module 15 of embodiment 1 or the transmitting and receiving module 61 and the attention analysis module 65 of embodiment 2, respectively, and will not be repeated here. The imaging display module includes the features of both embodiment 1 and embodiment 2, i.e., the received ultrasonic echo signals are processed, which includes elastic physical quantity calculation and two-dimensional image processing, and the displayed images are elastic images and two-dimensional images, or the displayed images can be displayed as elastic images or two-dimensional images according to the needs of the operator.

[0057] As can be seen from the above embodiments, in the ultrasonic elastic imaging method or system of the present invention, the region of interest and the shell region are first selected, that is, after obtaining an image such as a two-dimensional image and / or an elastic distribution image, the operator can manually draw the region of interest and the shell region based on the elastic image or the two-dimensional image, or semi-automatically draw the region of interest and the shell region with the assistance of the system; then the shell region is analyzed and calculated. During this process, the system provides a series of optional analysis parameters, and automatically performs relevant parameter calculation and analysis on the shell region based on certain parameters selected by the operator; finally, the shell analysis calculation results are optionally displayed, for example, the system displays the shell analysis results according to the needs of the operator, or when the elastic image is stored, the shell analysis results can be stored together, or the shell analysis results can also be deleted, the display position is changed, and other operations.

[0058] The above specific examples are used to illustrate the present invention, which are only used to help understand the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention. For those skilled in the art, according to the concept of the present invention, the above specific embodiments can be modified.

Claims

1. An ultrasonic elastography system, characterized in that: include: The transmitting and receiving module is used to transmit ultrasonic pulses to the target to be detected and receive ultrasonic echo signals reflected by the target to be detected; an imaging display module, configured to process the received ultrasonic echo signal and display the image obtained after the processing; and Focus on the analysis module; in: The focus analysis module obtains the region of interest by the operator through an input device, by selecting or manually drawing a region of interest on the displayed image, so as to obtain the region of interest; wherein the region of interest is selected by providing a region selection tool for the ultrasound elastography system to select; the region selection tool is used to provide an ellipse, a circle or a rectangle for the operator to select; After obtaining a region of interest selected by an operator on a displayed image, the focus analysis module further obtains a shell region drawn manually or with system assistance by the operator, wherein the region of interest is a lesion; wherein the system-assisted drawing includes: the ultrasound elastography system providing an option of whether to reduce the shell region and providing a thickness of the shell region for the operator to select; the ultrasound elastography system receiving the operator's option of reducing the shell region and the thickness of the shell region selected by the operator, and automatically drawing the shell region; the shell region refers to the region obtained by removing the reduced region of the lesion after the lesion is reduced inwardly; The focus analysis module calculates elastic parameters for the lesion and the area obtained by removing the lesion from the reduced area after the lesion is reduced inwardly, respectively, to obtain parameters, the parameters including: elastic histogram statistical results of the lesion and the elastic histogram statistical results of the area obtained by removing the lesion from the reduced area after the lesion is reduced inwardly; the elastic histogram statistical results include a histogram distribution graph; the parameters also include: analysis results obtained by analyzing the results of elastic parameter calculations for the lesion and the area obtained by removing the lesion from the reduced area after the lesion is reduced inwardly, the analysis results being used to represent the degree of elasticity difference or the degree of hardness and softness difference between the lesion and the area obtained by removing the lesion from the reduced area after the lesion is reduced inwardly; The focus analysis module simultaneously plots the histogram of the lesion and the histogram of the area obtained by removing the reduced area after the lesion is reduced inward, on the same or different coordinates; wherein the horizontal axis is the atlas used for elastic image mapping, and the vertical axis is the number of pixels or relative percentage in the statistical area.

2. The ultrasonic elastography system according to claim 1, characterized in that: include: After obtaining the region of interest selected by the operator on the displayed image, the interest analysis module then obtains the shell region drawn manually by the operator or assisted by the system; The system-assisted drawing further includes: the ultrasound elastography system providing an option of whether the shell region is to be expanded, and providing a thickness of the shell region for the operator to select; the ultrasound elastography system receiving the operator's selection of the shell region expansion and the thickness of the shell region selected by the operator, and automatically drawing the shell region; the shell region refers to the region obtained by subtracting the lesion from the expanded region after the lesion is expanded outward; The focus analysis module calculates elastic parameters for the lesion and the area obtained by removing the lesion from the expanded area after the lesion expands outward, respectively, to obtain parameters, the parameters including: elastic histogram statistics of the lesion and elastic histogram statistics of the area obtained by removing the lesion from the expanded area after the lesion expands outward; the elastic histogram statistics include a histogram distribution graph; the parameters also include: analysis results obtained by analyzing the results of elastic parameter calculations for the lesion and the area obtained by removing the lesion from the expanded area after the lesion expands outward, respectively, the analysis results being used to represent the degree of elasticity difference or the degree of hardness and softness difference between the lesion and the area obtained by removing the lesion from the expanded area after the lesion expands outward; The focus analysis module simultaneously plots the histogram of the lesion and the histogram of the area obtained by removing the lesion from the expanded area after the lesion expands outward, on the same or different coordinates; wherein the horizontal axis is the atlas used for elastic image mapping, and the vertical axis is the number of pixels or relative percentage in the statistical area.

3. The ultrasonic elastography system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The elastic histogram statistical results also include the maximum value, minimum value, mean value or standard deviation in a statistical sense.

4. The ultrasonic elastography system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The parameters also include at least one of the following: the strain of the region of interest, the strain of the shell region, and the strain ratio between the region of interest and the shell region; a strain-time curve of the region of interest, a strain-time curve of the shell region; a shear wave velocity of the region of interest, a shear wave velocity of the shell region, and a shear wave velocity ratio between the region of interest and the shell region; The elastic modulus of the region of interest, the elastic modulus of the shell region, and the ratio of the elastic moduli of the region of interest to the shell region.

5. The ultrasonic elastography system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The imaging display module includes a two-dimensional image processing unit and a two-dimensional image display unit; the two-dimensional image processing unit is used to process the received ultrasonic echo signal to obtain a two-dimensional image; the two-dimensional image display unit is used to display the two-dimensional image; and / or, The imaging display module includes an elastic physical quantity calculation unit and an elastic image display unit; the elastic physical quantity calculation unit is used to process the received ultrasonic echo signal, calculate the physical quantity reflecting the elasticity of the target to be detected, and generate a corresponding elastic image based on the physical quantity; the elastic image display unit is used to display the elastic image.

6. The ultrasonic elastography system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The attention analysis module further acquires a reference region different from the region of interest and the shell region; the reference region is a reference region selected by an operator on the image, or the reference region is a region preset by the system; The focus analysis module calculates the average strain or strain rate results in the shell region and the reference region, and calculates the strain ratio or strain rate ratio between the two; Alternatively, the focus analysis module calculates strain-time curves in the shell region and the reference region; Alternatively, the focus analysis module calculates the shear wave velocity in the shell region and the reference region, and calculates the shear wave velocity ratio between the two; or, the focus analysis module calculates the elastic modulus in the shell region and the reference region, and calculates the elastic modulus ratio between the two; Alternatively, the focus analysis module calculates the histogram distribution in the shell region and the reference region, wherein the abscissa of the histogram distribution is the atlas used for elastic image mapping, and the ordinate is the number of pixels or relative percentage in the statistical area.

7. The ultrasonic elastography system according to claim 1, 2 or 6, wherein: The elastic parameters depend on the different elastic imaging methods. When the elastic imaging method is a conventional press-type elastic imaging method, the elastic parameters include one or a combination of strain, strain ratio and strain rate; when the elastic imaging method is a shear wave elastic imaging method, the elastic parameters include one or a combination of shear wave velocity, shear wave velocity ratio, Young's modulus, shear modulus, Young's modulus ratio, shear modulus ratio and shear wave propagation distance.

8. An ultrasonic elastography method, characterized in that: include: Transmitting ultrasonic pulses to the target to be detected and receiving ultrasonic echo signals reflected by the target to be detected; Performing signal processing on the received ultrasonic echo signal and displaying the processed image; The operator selects a region of interest on the displayed image through an input device or manually draws a frame to obtain the region of interest; wherein the frame selection provides a frame selection tool for the ultrasound elastography system to select; the frame selection tool is used to provide an ellipse, a circle or a rectangle for the operator to select; After obtaining a region of interest selected by an operator on the displayed image, obtaining a shell region drawn manually or with the assistance of the system by the operator, wherein the region of interest is a lesion; The system-assisted drawing includes: providing an option of whether to reduce the shell area and providing a thickness of the shell area for the operator to select; automatically drawing the shell area by receiving the operator's option of reducing the shell area and receiving the thickness of the shell area selected by the operator; the shell area refers to the area obtained by removing the reduced area of ​​the lesion after the lesion is reduced inwardly; Elasticity parameters are calculated for the lesion and a region obtained by removing the lesion from a reduced area after the lesion is reduced inwardly, respectively, to obtain parameters, the parameters including: elasticity histogram statistics of the lesion and elasticity histogram statistics of the region obtained by removing the lesion from a reduced area after the lesion is reduced inwardly; the elasticity histogram statistics include a histogram distribution graph; the parameters also include: analysis results obtained by analyzing the results of elasticity parameter calculations for the lesion and the region obtained by removing the lesion from a reduced area after the lesion is reduced inwardly, the analysis results being used to indicate a degree of difference in elasticity or a degree of difference in hardness and softness between the lesion and the region obtained by removing the lesion from a reduced area after the lesion is reduced inwardly; The histogram of the lesion and the histogram of the lesion and the area obtained by removing the lesion from the reduced area after the lesion is reduced inward are simultaneously plotted on the same or different coordinates; wherein the horizontal axis is the atlas used for elastic image mapping, and the vertical axis is the number of pixels or relative percentage in the statistical area.

9. The ultrasonic elastography method according to claim 8, wherein: Also includes: After obtaining the region of interest selected by the operator on the displayed image, the shell region drawn manually or with the assistance of the system by the operator is obtained; The system-assisted drawing includes: providing a shell region expansion option and a shell region thickness option for the operator to select; automatically drawing the shell region by receiving the operator's selection of the shell region expansion option and the shell region thickness selected by the operator; the shell region refers to the region obtained by removing the lesion from the expanded region after the lesion is expanded outward; Elasticity parameters are calculated for the lesion and a region obtained by removing the lesion from an expanded region after the lesion expands outward, respectively, to obtain parameters, the parameters including: elasticity histogram statistics of the lesion and elasticity histogram statistics of a region obtained by removing the lesion from an expanded region after the lesion expands outward; the elasticity histogram statistics include a histogram distribution graph; the parameters also include: analysis results obtained by analyzing results of elasticity parameter calculations for the lesion and a region obtained by removing the lesion from an expanded region after the lesion expands outward, respectively, the analysis results being used to indicate a degree of difference in elasticity or a degree of difference in hardness and softness between the lesion and a region obtained by removing the lesion from an expanded region after the lesion expands outward; The histogram of the lesion and the histogram of the area obtained by removing the lesion from the expanded area after the lesion expands outward are simultaneously plotted under the same or different coordinates; wherein the horizontal axis is the atlas used for elastic image mapping, and the vertical axis is the number of pixels or relative percentage in the statistical area.

10. The ultrasonic elastography method according to claim 8 or 9, wherein: The elastic histogram statistical results also include the maximum value, minimum value, mean value or standard deviation in a statistical sense.

11. The ultrasonic elastography method according to claim 8 or 9, wherein: The signal processing of the received ultrasonic echo signal and displaying the image obtained after the processing includes: Processing the received ultrasonic echo signal to obtain a two-dimensional image, and displaying the two-dimensional image; and / or, The received ultrasonic echo signal is processed to calculate a physical quantity reflecting the elasticity of the target to be detected, a corresponding elastic image is generated according to the physical quantity, and the elastic image is displayed.

12. The ultrasonic elastography method according to claim 11, wherein: The image includes the elastic image. When a command to store the current elastic image is received from the operator, parameters obtained by performing elastic parameter calculations on the region of interest and the shell region are stored together.

13. An ultrasonic elastography system, characterized in that: include: The transmitting and receiving module is used to transmit ultrasonic pulses to the target to be detected and receive ultrasonic echo signals reflected by the target to be detected; an imaging display module, configured to process the received ultrasonic echo signal and display the image obtained after the processing; and Focus on the analysis module; in: The attention analysis module detects a region of interest and a shell region selected by an operator on the image; wherein the region of interest is a lesion, and the shell region refers to a region of the lesion obtained by removing a shrinkage region after the lesion shrinks inward; The focus analysis module calculates elastic parameters for the lesion and the area obtained by removing the shrinkage area after the lesion is shrunk inward, respectively; wherein the elastic parameters are determined according to different elastic imaging methods. When the elastic imaging method is a conventional compression elastic imaging method, the elastic parameters include one or a combination of strain, strain ratio and strain rate; when the elastic imaging method is a shear wave elastic imaging method, the elastic parameters include one or a combination of shear wave velocity, shear wave velocity ratio, Young's modulus, shear modulus, Young's modulus ratio, shear modulus ratio and shear wave propagation distance; The focus analysis module obtains the elasticity of the lesion and the area obtained by removing the reduced area after the lesion is shrunk inward based on the elastic parameters of the lesion and the elastic parameters of the area obtained by removing the reduced area after the lesion is shrunk inward; wherein, the focus analysis module obtains the analysis result based on the results of elastic parameter calculation of the lesion and the area obtained by removing the reduced area after the lesion is shrunk inward, and the analysis result is used to represent the degree of elasticity difference or softness and hardness difference between the lesion and the area obtained by removing the reduced area after the lesion is shrunk inward.

14. The ultrasonic elastography system according to claim 13, wherein: The shell region may also refer to a region obtained by removing the lesion from the expanded region after the lesion has expanded outwards; The focus analysis module also obtains an analysis result based on the results of elastic parameter calculation of the lesion and the area obtained by removing the lesion from the expanded area after the lesion expands outward. The analysis result is used to represent the degree of elasticity difference or the degree of softness and hardness difference between the lesion and the area obtained by removing the lesion from the expanded area after the lesion expands outward.

15. The ultrasonic elastography system according to claim 13 or 14, wherein: The focus analysis module obtains the elasticity of the shell region according to the elastic parameters of the region of interest and the elastic parameters of the shell region, including at least one of the following: The focus analysis module calculates a ratio between an average strain result of the shell region and an average strain result of the region of interest, where the ratio is used to reflect the degree of elasticity difference or hardness difference between the shell region and the region of interest; The focus analysis module calculates a ratio between the strain rate of the shell region and the strain rate of the region of interest, where the ratio is used to reflect the degree of elasticity difference or softness and hardness difference between the shell region and the region of interest; The focus analysis module calculates the ratio between the average shear wave velocity of the shell region and the average shear wave velocity of the region of interest, where the ratio is used to reflect the degree of elasticity difference or softness and hardness difference between the shell region and the region of interest; The focus analysis module calculates the ratio between the average elastic modulus result of the shell region and the average elastic modulus result of the region of interest, and the ratio is used to reflect the degree of elastic difference or softness and hardness difference between the shell region and the region of interest.

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