Ultrasound elastography method and ultrasound imaging apparatus

Abstract

The embodiment of the present application discloses an ultrasonic elastography method and an ultrasonic imaging device. The ultrasonic imaging device determines a stress result according to a shear wave elasticity reference result and a strain elasticity reference result, determines a first quantitative elasticity result of a target region according to the stress result and a strain elasticity result corresponding to the target region, determines a second quantitative elasticity result of a first region of interest according to a shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest and the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region, and displays the second quantitative elasticity result. Since the shear wave elasticity reference result, the strain elasticity reference result and the strain elasticity result of the target region are all accurate, the first quantitative elasticity result and the second quantitative elasticity result calculated according to the above results are more accurate than a result obtained by directly performing shear wave elasticity measurement on the target region, and can more accurately describe the hardness condition of the tissue.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] Embodiments of the present application relate to the field of medical equipment, and in particular to an ultrasonic elastography method and an ultrasonic imaging device. BACKGROUND

[0002] Ultrasound elastography technology can non-invasively extract the elasticity or hardness information of human tissues and perform imaging, making up for the deficiency of traditional ultrasound medical imaging in not being able to extract mechanical information. In various clinical scenarios such as tumor benignity and malignancy identification, liver fibrosis assessment, blood vessel hardening, muscle and nerve damage, etc., ultrasound elastography technology plays an increasingly important role.

[0003] Shear wave elastography is a relatively high-end ultrasonic elastography technology. It is based on acoustic radiation force to generate shear waves inside the tissue, and then detects the propagation process of the shear waves through ultrasound, and calculates physical quantities such as shear wave propagation velocity and Young's modulus to perform imaging, thereby quantitatively measuring the elasticity parameters of the tissue and directly describing the hardness of the tissue. However, since the shear wave source generated inside the tissue is usually only microns deep, for example, only ten microns deep, the penetration power is limited for large-area and high-hardness lesions (such as malignant cancer), and accurate measurement results cannot be obtained inside the lesions. At the same time, the spatial resolution of shear wave elastography images is insufficient, and the lesion hardness boundary morphology cannot be accurately displayed. SUMMARY

[0004] Embodiments of the present application provide an ultrasonic elastography method and an ultrasonic imaging device for obtaining quantitative elasticity results of a shear wave elasticity result to-be-improved region, so as to more accurately describe the hardness condition of the to-be-improved region.

[0005] A first aspect of embodiments of the present application provides an ultrasonic elastography method, comprising:

[0006] obtaining shear wave elasticity results of a first region of interest of a target tissue, and obtaining strain elasticity results of a second region of interest of the target tissue, wherein a tissue region corresponding to the first region of interest at least partially overlaps with a tissue region corresponding to the second region of interest;

[0007] determining shear wave elasticity reference results based on shear wave elasticity results of a first reference region in the first region of interest, and determining strain elasticity reference results based on strain elasticity results of a second reference region in the second region of interest;

[0008] determining stress results according to the shear wave elasticity reference results and the strain elasticity reference results;

[0009] acquire a target region in the first region of interest to be improved in the shear wave elasticity result, wherein the at least partially overlapped tissue region comprises a tissue region corresponding to the target region;

[0010] acquire a strain elasticity result corresponding to the target region in the strain elasticity result of the second region of interest, and determine a first quantitative elasticity result of the target region according to the stress result and the strain elasticity result corresponding to the target region;

[0011] determine a second quantitative elasticity result of the first region of interest according to the shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest and the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region;

[0012] display the second quantitative elasticity result of the first region of interest.

[0013] The second aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides an ultrasonic imaging device, comprising:

[0014] an ultrasonic probe;

[0015] a transmitting circuit configured to excite the ultrasonic probe to emit ultrasonic waves to a target tissue of a subject;

[0016] a receiving circuit configured to control the ultrasonic probe to receive echoes of the ultrasonic waves returned by the target tissue, and obtain an ultrasonic echo signal;

[0017] a processor configured to process the ultrasonic echo signal to obtain an ultrasonic image of the target tissue, and perform the ultrasonic elastography method of the first aspect based on the ultrasonic image.

[0018] It can be seen from the above technical solutions that the embodiments of the present application have the following advantages:

[0019] The shear wave elasticity reference result of the first region of interest and the strain elasticity reference result of the second reference region are determined, a stress result is determined according to the shear wave elasticity reference result and the strain elasticity reference result, the tissue region at least partially overlapping the first region of interest and the second region of interest includes a tissue region corresponding to the target region, a first quantitative elasticity result of the target region is determined according to the stress result and the strain elasticity result of the target region, a second quantitative elasticity result of the first region of interest is determined according to the shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest and the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region, and the second quantitative elasticity result is displayed. Since the shear wave elasticity reference result, the strain elasticity reference result and the strain elasticity result of the target region are all accurate, the first quantitative elasticity result and the second quantitative elasticity result calculated according to the above results are more accurate than the result obtained by directly performing shear wave elasticity measurement on the target region, and can more accurately describe the tissue hardness condition of the target region. The shape and boundary of the region with an inaccurate shear wave elasticity result, such as a lesion, can also be more accurately presented. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0020] Figure 1 An exemplary block diagram of an ultrasound imaging device in the embodiments of the present application;

[0021] Figure 2 An exemplary flowchart of an ultrasound elasticity imaging method in the embodiments of the present application;

[0022] Figure 3 An exemplary display effect diagram of displaying a first region of interest and a shear wave elasticity result thereof in an ultrasound image in the embodiments of the present application;

[0023] Figure 4 An exemplary display effect diagram of displaying a second quantitative elasticity result after replacing a shear wave elasticity result of a target region with a first quantitative elasticity result in the embodiments of the present application; Figure 3 An exemplary display effect diagram of displaying a second quantitative elasticity result after replacing a shear wave elasticity result of a target region with a first quantitative elasticity result in the embodiments of the present application;

[0024] Figure 5 An exemplary positional relationship diagram of a first region of interest and a second region of interest in the embodiments of the present application;

[0025] Figure 6 Another exemplary positional relationship diagram of a first region of interest and a second region of interest in the embodiments of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] The ultrasound elasticity imaging method and the ultrasound imaging device provided in the embodiments of the present application are used to obtain a quantitative elasticity result of a shear wave elasticity result to-be-improved region, so as to more accurately describe the tissue hardness condition of the to-be-improved region.

[0027] The terms "first", "second", "third", "fourth" and the like in the description and in the claims of the present application, and in the above-described drawings if any, are used for distinguishing between similar objects and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the use of the terms so construed herein is merely for convenience and only to aid in understanding the application and in no way define the scope of the application. It is also to be understood that the application can be practiced with more than one nor with only one of the described embodiments. Furthermore, the terms "comprise", "comprising", "include", "including", and the like, when used in this specification and in the following claims, are intended to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, or components but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components, or groups thereof.

[0028] Referring now to the drawings Figure 1 In an embodiment of the present application, the ultrasonic imaging device comprises:

[0029] The ultrasonic imaging device further comprises an ultrasonic probe 110, a transmitting circuit 112, a receiving circuit 114, a processor 118 and a display 120. In addition, the ultrasonic imaging device can further comprise a transmitting / receiving selection switch 122, a beamforming module 116 and a memory 124.

[0030] The ultrasonic probe 110 can be any probe used for ultrasonic detection, such as a 2D ultrasonic probe and a 3D ultrasonic probe, etc. The acoustic head part of the ultrasonic probe 110 can be an array composed of a plurality of array elements, such as a linear array composed of a plurality of array elements arranged in a row, a planar array composed of a plurality of array elements arranged in a two-dimensional matrix, or a convex array. The array elements are used to emit ultrasonic beams according to excitation electrical signals, or convert received ultrasonic echoes into electrical signals. Therefore, each array element can be used to realize the mutual conversion between electrical pulse signals and ultrasonic beams, so as to realize the emission of ultrasonic waves to human target tissues, and can also be used to receive the echoes of ultrasonic waves reflected by the tissues.

[0031] The transmitting circuit 112 is used to generate a transmission sequence according to the control of the transmitting control module of the processor 118, and the transmission sequence is used to control part or all of the plurality of array elements to emit ultrasonic waves to biological tissues.

[0032] The receiving circuit 114 is used to receive electrical signals of ultrasonic echoes from the ultrasonic probe 110, obtain ultrasonic echo signals, and send the ultrasonic echo signals to the beamforming module 116.

[0033] The beamforming module 116 is used to perform corresponding delay processing, weighted summation, and beamforming processing on the signals output by the receiving circuit 114. Because the distances from the ultrasonic receiving points in the measured tissues to the receiving array elements are different, the channel data of the same receiving point output by different receiving array elements have delay differences, and thus need to be delayed, phase-aligned, and weighted summed to obtain the data after beamforming.

[0034] The processor 118 is connected with the beam synthesis module 116, and mainly performs detection, signal enhancement, data conversion, and logarithmic compression on the data after beam synthesis to form an ultrasound image. The ultrasound image obtained by the processor 118 can be displayed on the display 120 or stored in the memory 124.

[0035] Optionally, the processor 118 can be at least one of an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a Digital Signal Processing Device (DSPD), a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a controller, a microcontroller, or a microprocessor, so that the processor 118 can control other components in the ultrasound imaging device 100 to perform the ultrasound imaging steps in various embodiments of the present specification. The processor 118 can be one element, or a general term of a control device and a processing device capable of controlling other components in the ultrasound imaging device to perform various functions in various embodiments.

[0036] The display 120 is connected with the processor 118, and the display 120 can be a touch display screen or a liquid crystal display screen, etc. Alternatively, the display 120 can be a liquid crystal display or a separate display such as a television, which is independent of the ultrasound imaging system 100. Alternatively, the display 120 can be a display screen of an electronic device such as a smart phone or a tablet computer, etc. The number of the display 120 can be one or more.

[0037] In addition to the above structure, the ultrasound imaging device 100 can further include a human-computer interaction device. Specifically, the human-computer interaction device can be the display 120, and the functions of the human-computer interaction device are integrated into the display 120. The display 120 can display an ultrasound image and provide a graphical interface for a user to perform human-computer interaction. One or more controlled objects are provided on the graphical interface, and the user can input operation instructions to control the controlled objects by using the human-computer interaction device, so as to perform corresponding control operations. For example, an icon is displayed on the graphical interface, and the icon can be operated by using the human-computer interaction device to perform specific functions, such as exchanging positions of images and / or magnifying display of a specific region, etc.

[0038] The human-machine interaction device can also be other than the display 120. For example, the human-machine interaction device can include an input device for detecting input information of a user, such as instructions for editing and marking the ultrasound image, or other instruction types. The input device can include one or a combination of a keyboard, a scroll wheel, a trackball, a mobile input device (such as a mobile device with a touch display, a mobile phone, etc.), a multifunction knob, etc. The human-machine interaction device can also include an output device such as a printer.

[0039] The ultrasound imaging device 100 described above can also include a memory 124 for storing instructions for processing execution, for storing received ultrasound echo signals, for storing ultrasound image data, etc. The memory 124 can be a volatile memory such as a random access memory (RAM), or a non-volatile memory such as a read only memory (ROM), a flash memory, a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), or a combination of the above types of memories, and provides instructions and data to the processor.

[0040] It should be understood that Figure 1 The components included in the ultrasound imaging device 100 shown are only illustrative, and the present application does not limit the number of components.

[0041] Based on the specific structure and function of the ultrasound imaging device described above, the ultrasound elastography method performed by the ultrasound imaging device in the embodiments of the present application will be further described in detail below. Please refer to Figure 2 An embodiment of the ultrasound elastography method in the embodiments of the present application includes:

[0042] 201, obtaining a shear wave elasticity result of a first region of interest of a target tissue, and obtaining a strain elasticity result of a second region of interest of the target tissue, wherein the tissue region corresponding to the first region of interest and the tissue region corresponding to the second region of interest at least partially overlap;

[0043] The target tissue can be a liver, a spleen, a pancreas, a kidney or the like of a subject. The user can use an ultrasound probe to perform an ultrasound scan on the target tissue of the subject. The ultrasound imaging device transmits an ultrasound wave to the target tissue of the subject based on the ultrasound probe, receives an echo of the ultrasound wave, and obtains an ultrasound echo signal based on the echo of the ultrasound wave. The ultrasound echo signal can be used to generate an ultrasound image of the target tissue. The ultrasound elasticity imaging method and the ultrasound imaging device provided in the present application can be applied to a human body and various animals, i.e., the subject can be a human body or various animals.

[0044] The user can perform a shear wave elastography measurement on a first region of interest of the target tissue to obtain a shear wave elastography result of the first region of interest, and perform a strain elastography measurement on a second region of interest of the target tissue to obtain a strain elastography result of the second region of interest. The tissue region corresponding to the first region of interest and the tissue region corresponding to the second region of interest at least partially overlap, i.e., the first region of interest and the second region of interest include the same tissue region.

[0045] 202. Determine a shear wave elasticity reference result based on a shear wave elasticity result of a first reference region in the first region of interest, and determine a strain elasticity reference result based on a strain elasticity result of a second reference region in the second region of interest;

[0046] 203. Determine a stress result based on the shear wave elasticity reference result and the strain elasticity reference result;

[0047] A part of the first region of interest weakens the penetration of the shear wave due to a relatively deep depth in the target tissue or a relatively large hardness of the tissue in the part, resulting in an inaccurate shear wave elasticity result of the part and affecting the diagnosis of the shear wave elastography measurement. In order to improve the measurement result of such a tissue region to more accurately present the hardness of the tissue, the present embodiment determines a shear wave elasticity reference result based on a shear wave elasticity result of a first reference region in the first region of interest. The shear wave elasticity result of the first reference region is more accurate than the shear wave elasticity result of the tissue region with a relatively deep depth in the target tissue or a relatively large hardness of the tissue, and thus the calculated shear wave elasticity reference result is also accurate. For example, the shear wave elasticity result of a region with a relatively shallow depth or a non-diseased region in the target tissue is used to calculate the shear wave elasticity reference result.

[0048] In addition, the strain elasticity reference result is determined based on a strain elasticity result of a second reference region in the second region of interest. Since the tissue depth, tissue hardness and other factors have relatively small influence on the accuracy of the strain elasticity measurement, the second reference region can be any region in the second region of interest, the strain elasticity result of the second reference region is accurate, and thus the strain elasticity reference result calculated based on the strain elasticity result of the second reference region is also accurate.

[0049] The stress result is determined based on the shear wave elasticity reference result and the strain elasticity reference result, and the stress result is used to improve the shear wave elasticity result of the partial tissue region to obtain an accurate measurement result.

[0050] 204, obtaining a target region in the first region of interest for which the shear wave elasticity result is to be improved, wherein the tissue region that at least partially overlaps with the second region of interest includes a tissue region corresponding to the target region;

[0051] 205, obtaining a strain elasticity result corresponding to the target region from the strain elasticity result of the second region of interest, and determining a first quantitative elasticity result of the target region based on the stress result and the strain elasticity result corresponding to the target region;

[0052] The target region can be a region in the target tissue that has a relatively large depth and hardness and for which the shear wave elasticity result is inaccurate, such as a focal lesion region of the target tissue, which has a relatively large hardness and for which the shear wave elasticity result is inaccurate. In addition, the doctor can determine the target region for which the shear wave elasticity result is to be improved from the shear wave elasticity image of the first region of interest based on his or her experience in operating the shear wave elasticity measurement. The tissue region that at least partially overlaps with the second region of interest includes a tissue region corresponding to the target region.

[0053] The stress corresponding to each point in a tissue region in which the strain elasticity measurement is performed is generally the same or approximately constant, i.e., the stress to which each point in the second region of interest is subjected when the strain elasticity measurement is performed is generally the same or approximately constant. Based on this, the strain elasticity result corresponding to the target region can be obtained from the strain elasticity result of the second region of interest. Since the stress to which each point in the second region of interest is subjected is the same or approximately constant, and the second region of interest includes the target region, the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region can be determined based on the stress result calculated in the above step and the strain elasticity result corresponding to the target region.

[0054] 206, determining a second quantitative elasticity result of the first region of interest based on the shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest and the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region;

[0055] 207、displaying the second quantitative elasticity result of the first region of interest;

[0056] After the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region is calculated, the second quantitative elasticity result of the first region of interest can be determined according to the shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest and the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region, and the second quantitative elasticity result of the first region of interest is displayed.

[0057] In the embodiment, the ultrasound imaging device determines the shear wave elasticity reference result of the first region of interest and the strain elasticity reference result of the second reference region, determines the stress result according to the shear wave elasticity reference result and the strain elasticity reference result, the tissue region at least partially overlapped by the first region of interest and the second region of interest includes the tissue region corresponding to the target region, determines the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region according to the stress result and the strain elasticity result of the target region, and determines the second quantitative elasticity result of the first region of interest according to the shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest and the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region and displays the second quantitative elasticity result. Since the shear wave elasticity reference result, the strain elasticity reference result and the strain elasticity result of the target region are all accurate, the first quantitative elasticity result and the second quantitative elasticity result calculated according to the above results are more accurate than the results obtained by directly performing shear wave elasticity measurement on the target region, and can more accurately describe the tissue hardness condition of the target region, and the shape and boundary of the region such as lesion whose shear wave elasticity result is inaccurate can also be more accurately presented.

[0058] The ultrasound imaging device generates an ultrasound image based on the user's operation of holding the ultrasound probe to perform ultrasound scanning on the target tissue, determines a first region of interest in the ultrasound image and performs shear wave elasticity measurement on the first region of interest to obtain a shear wave elasticity result, or determines a second region of interest in the ultrasound image and performs strain elasticity measurement on the second region of interest to obtain a strain elasticity result. In the embodiment, the ultrasound image used to obtain the shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest and the ultrasound image used to obtain the strain elasticity result of the second region of interest can be obtained by imaging the same section or the same position of the target tissue. In addition, the above two ultrasound images can also be obtained by imaging different sections or different positions of the target tissue, but the above two ultrasound images should at least image the same target region of the target tissue, that is, the above two ultrasound images should both contain the same target region.

[0059] The first region of interest and the second region of interest at least partially overlap, and the tissue region at least partially overlapped includes the tissue region corresponding to the target region.

[0060] In a preferred embodiment, the ultrasound image used to obtain the shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest is the same ultrasound image used to obtain the strain elasticity result of the second region of interest, and the first region of interest and the second region of interest are completely overlapped. The user can achieve the above effect by manually adjusting the probe position and angle or fixing the probe, based on the section matching, etc.

[0061] Another means to achieve the above effect is that the first region of interest and the second region of interest correspond to the same tissue region in the target tissue, the ultrasound imaging device can emit an acoustic radiation force pulse to the target tissue to generate a shear wave propagating in the same tissue region, and emit an ultrasound wave to the same tissue region to track the shear wave propagating in the same tissue region, and receive the echo of the ultrasound wave, obtain ultrasound echo data based on the echo of the ultrasound wave, generate the shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest based on the ultrasound echo data, and generate the strain elasticity result of the second region of interest based on the ultrasound echo data.

[0062] Therefore, in this case, the shear wave elasticity result and the strain elasticity result are obtained simultaneously based on the same ultrasound image and the same region of interest, and the section corresponding to the ultrasound image is completely consistent, and the region of interest is also completely consistent.

[0063] Moreover, compared with obtaining the shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest by the shear wave elasticity measurement and obtaining the strain elasticity result of the second region of interest by the strain elasticity measurement respectively, this method can simplify the user's operation and improve the efficiency of obtaining the shear wave elasticity result and the strain elasticity result without switching the measurement mode (such as switching from the shear wave elasticity measurement to the strain elasticity measurement, or switching from the strain elasticity measurement to the shear wave elasticity measurement).

[0064] The above is to obtain the shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest and the strain elasticity result of the second region of interest simultaneously based on the duplex mode, and they can also be obtained in sequence based on the non-duplex mode. Based on the non-duplex mode, the ultrasound imaging device generates a first shear wave propagating in the first region of interest, and emits a first ultrasound wave to the first region of interest to track the first shear wave propagating in the first region of interest, and receives the echo of the first ultrasound wave, obtains a first ultrasound echo signal, and further obtains the shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest based on the first ultrasound echo signal. The ultrasound imaging device also causes the tissue corresponding to the second region of interest to generate displacement or strain, and emits a second ultrasound wave at different time instants to the second region of interest to detect the change of displacement or the change of strain of the tissue corresponding to the second region of interest, and receives the echo of the second ultrasound wave at different time instants, obtains a second ultrasound echo signal, and obtains the strain elasticity result of the second region of interest based on the second ultrasound echo signal.

[0065] The displacement or strain in the tissue corresponding to the second region of interest can be induced by mechanical force (such as pressing on the target tissue) or by acoustic radiation force. In non-duplex mode, this embodiment does not limit the order of execution of shear wave elastic measurement and strain elastic measurement.

[0066] When determining the second quantitative elastic result of the first region of interest based on the shear wave elastic result of the first region of interest and the first quantitative elastic result of the target region, one implementation may be to replace the shear wave elastic result of each local point in the target region with the first quantitative elastic result of that local point. Then, the first quantitative elastic result of the target region and the shear wave elastic results of other regions in the first region of interest other than the target region constitute the second quantitative elastic result of the first region of interest.

[0067] like Figure 3 As shown, after obtaining an ultrasound image of the target tissue, the first region of interest (such as...) can be determined. Figure 3 The region marked with a rectangle in the ultrasound image is used to perform shear wave elasticity measurements on the first region of interest (ROI) to obtain shear wave elasticity results. The target region within the ROI whose shear wave elasticity results require improvement is then identified. After obtaining the first quantitative elasticity result for the target region, the shear wave elasticity result for each local point within the target region is replaced with the first quantitative elasticity result for that local point. Thus, the target region is displayed as shown below. Figure 4 The first quantitative elasticity result shown, and then Figure 4 The shear wave elasticity results in the first region of interest and the first quantitative elasticity results constitute the second quantitative elasticity result.

[0068] Furthermore, after replacing the shear wave elastic result of each local point in the target area with the first quantitative elastic result of that local point, the data at the edge of the target area will have obvious transition traces relative to the shear wave elastic results of the surrounding area. At this time, image smoothing, weighting, median filtering and other processing methods can be used to process the edge data to reduce the transition traces at the boundary.

[0069] In determining the second quantitative elastic result of the first region of interest based on the shear wave elastic result of the first region of interest and the first quantitative elastic result of the target region, another embodiment may be to calculate, for the target region, the weighted sum of the shear wave elastic result of each local point and the first quantitative elastic result of that local point, and then the weighted sum corresponding to the local points in the target region and the shear wave elastic results of other regions in the first region of interest excluding the target region constitute the second quantitative elastic result.

[0070] For example, based on Figure 3The shear wave elasticity result of the target region is shown. After obtaining the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region, a weighted sum of the shear wave elasticity result of each local point in the target region and the first quantitative elasticity result of the local point can be calculated, and the weighted sum corresponding to the local point in the target region and the shear wave elasticity result of the other region in the first region of interest except the target region constitute the second quantitative elasticity result. Wherein, in the calculation of the weighted sum, the weight corresponding to the shear wave elasticity result of each local point in the target region and the weight corresponding to the first quantitative elasticity result of the local point, the sum of the two weights can be any value, for example, the sum of the weights can be 1, can also be 100, or other arbitrary value, not limited here. In addition, the weight of the two can also be set by the user, the user can determine the weight according to the reliability or accuracy of the shear wave elasticity result of the target region, such as low reliability and accuracy, set the weight corresponding to the shear wave elasticity result of the local point in the target region is small.

[0071] In another embodiment of the present embodiment, in addition to calculating the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region, the strain elasticity result of the other overlapping region in the at least partially overlapping tissue region except the tissue region corresponding to the target region can also be obtained in the strain elasticity result of the second region of interest, and the first quantitative elasticity result of the other overlapping region is determined according to the stress result calculated above and the strain elasticity result of the other overlapping region.

[0072] For example, as shown in the figure, Figure 5 The first region of interest and the second region of interest have an overlapping region, which includes the target region whose shear wave elasticity result needs to be improved. In addition to calculating the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region, the first quantitative elasticity result of the other overlapping region except the target region can also be calculated.

[0073] It should be noted that, Figure 5 The shapes of various regions and their positional relationship are only exemplary and do not limit the scope of the present embodiment. The present embodiment only limits that the tissue region corresponding to the first region of interest and the tissue region corresponding to the second region of interest at least partially overlap, and the at least partially overlapping tissue region includes the tissue region corresponding to the target region, without limiting the shapes of the above-mentioned various regions.

[0074] Further, in determining the second quantitative elasticity result of the first region of interest according to the shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest and the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region, another embodiment can also be that for the target region, the weighted sum of the shear wave elasticity result of each local point and the first quantitative elasticity result of the local point is calculated; and for the other overlapping region, the weighted sum of the shear wave elasticity result of each local point and the first quantitative elasticity result of the local point is calculated.

[0075] Therefore, if the tissue region corresponding to the first region of interest and the tissue region corresponding to the second region of interest partially overlap, the weighted sum of the local points in the target region, the weighted sum of the local points in the other overlapping region, and the shear wave elasticity result of the other region of the first region of interest except the at least partially overlapping tissue region (i.e., the region not overlapping with the second region of interest) constitute the second quantitative elasticity result. As shown in FIG. 8, the shear wave elasticity result of the region of the first region of interest not overlapping with the second region of interest, the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region, and the first quantitative elasticity result of the other overlapping region except the target region constitute the second quantitative elasticity result. Figure 5 As shown in FIG. 9, the first region of interest and the second region of interest completely overlap, and the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region and the first quantitative elasticity result of the other overlapping region except the target region constitute the second quantitative elasticity result.

[0076] If the tissue region corresponding to the second region of interest completely contains the tissue region corresponding to the first region of interest, the weighted sum of the local points in the target region and the weighted sum of the local points in the other overlapping region constitute the second quantitative elasticity result. As shown in FIG. 10, the first region of interest and the second region of interest completely overlap, and the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region and the first quantitative elasticity result of the other overlapping region except the target region constitute the second quantitative elasticity result. Figure 6 As shown in FIG. 9, the first region of interest and the second region of interest completely overlap, and the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region and the first quantitative elasticity result of the other overlapping region except the target region constitute the second quantitative elasticity result. Figure 6 For example only, the first region of interest and the second region of interest can not be in the form of complete overlap, as long as the tissue region corresponding to the second region of interest can completely contain the tissue region corresponding to the first region of interest, the second region of interest and the first region of interest can be displayed in the same window or in different windows, which is not limited here.

[0077] Wherein, for the target region, if the weight corresponding to the shear wave elasticity result of the local point is α; for the other overlapping region except the target region, if the weight corresponding to the shear wave elasticity result of the local point is β, then α can be equal to β, or α can not be equal to β.

[0078] For example, if the sum of the weights is 1, for the target region, the weight corresponding to the shear wave elasticity result of the local point is α, the weight corresponding to the first quantitative elasticity result of the local point is 1-α, and 0<α<1; for the other overlapping region except the target region, the weight corresponding to the shear wave elasticity result of the local point is β, the weight corresponding to the first quantitative elasticity result of the local point is 1-β, and 0<β<1. Wherein, α and β can be equal or not equal, which can be set by the user. For example, the user thinks that the shear wave elasticity result of the other overlapping region is relatively more reliable and accurate, and the user can set the value of β to be larger; the user thinks that the shear wave elasticity result of the target region is relatively less reliable and accurate, and the user can set the value of α to be smaller, so that the weight of the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region is larger.

[0079] Similarly, if the data of the edge of the target region relative to the data of the surrounding region will have obvious transition traces after the calculation of the weighted sum corresponding to the target region or the weighted sum corresponding to the other overlapping region, the edge data can also be processed using image smoothing, weighting, median filtering and the like to reduce the transition traces of the boundary.

[0080] In this embodiment, the target tissue can be any parenchymal tissue, such as liver tissue, kidney tissue, spleen tissue, pancreas tissue, etc. If the target tissue is liver tissue, the target region described above includes a focal lesion region inside a lesion in the liver tissue, and the shear wave penetration in such a region is limited, and it is difficult to obtain accurate shear wave elasticity results. The other overlapping region of the first and second regions of interest other than the target region includes a diffuse lesion region outside the lesion of the liver tissue or a non-lesion region outside the lesion, and the shear wave penetration in such a region is less limited, and accurate shear wave elasticity results can be obtained.

[0081] Therefore, by this embodiment, the first quantitative elasticity result of the lesion region of the tissue can be obtained, which is more accurate and has higher reliability than the shear wave elasticity result of the lesion region obtained by the conventional shear wave elasticity measurement method, and can more accurately describe the hardness condition of the lesion region. At the same time, the first quantitative elasticity result can also be used to more accurately display the lesion hardness boundary morphology.

[0082] The shear wave elasticity result can include a Young's modulus result. According to Hooke's law, under a certain stress, the strain elasticity result is inversely proportional to the Young's modulus result E, i.e. Stress = Strain * E. Moreover, the stress corresponding to each point in a tissue region where strain elasticity measurement is performed is generally the same or approximately constant, i.e. for the second region of interest, the stress received by each point during strain elasticity measurement is generally the same or approximately constant. Based on this, in one preferred embodiment of the present embodiment, according to the formula Stress = Strain * E, the product of the shear wave elasticity reference result and the strain elasticity reference result can be calculated, and this product is the stress result, which represents the stress received by each point in the second region of interest. Further, according to the formula Stress = Strain * E, for each local point in the target region, the quotient between the stress result and the strain elasticity result of the local point can be calculated, and this quotient is taken as the first quantitative elasticity result of the local point, which is represented as the Young's modulus result E.

[0083] The first quantitative elasticity result is a Young's modulus result E, but the Young's modulus result E can be further converted into a shear wave propagation velocity, a shear modulus, or other physical quantities representing shear wave elasticity results. Therefore, the shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest can be represented by the propagation velocity of the shear wave, the Young's modulus, or the shear modulus, and the first quantitative elasticity result can also be represented by the propagation velocity of the shear wave, the Young's modulus, or the shear modulus.

[0084] In this embodiment, if the other regions in the first region of interest, except the target region, belong to non-disease regions or diffuse disease regions outside the lesion, the shear wave elasticity results of the other regions are accurate and reliable, and in this case, the shear wave elasticity results of each point in the other regions are also uniformly distributed, and the shear wave elasticity reference results corresponding to different regions in the other regions are the same or approximately the same, and further, the first reference region can be any region in the other regions, and further, the first reference region and the second reference region can be different regions. In addition, in some preferred modes, the first reference region and the second reference region can also be partially overlapped or completely overlapped.

[0085] For example, the case where the first reference region and the second reference region are partially overlapped or completely overlapped can be that the first reference region and the second reference region are both located in the overlapping region of the first region of interest and the second region of interest, and the first reference region and the second reference region are partially overlapped or completely overlapped with each other.

[0086] The way to calculate the shear wave elasticity reference result can be to calculate the mean value of the shear wave elasticity results of a plurality of local points in the first reference region, and take this mean value as the shear wave elasticity reference result; or determine the median value of the shear wave elasticity results of a plurality of local points in the first reference region, and take this median value as the shear wave elasticity reference result.

[0087] In addition to calculating the mean value or the median value of the shear wave elasticity result, other statistical physical quantities that can represent the average level of the shear wave elasticity result in the first reference region can also be used, such as the mode of the shear wave elasticity results of a plurality of local points in the first reference region, and the like.

[0088] Similarly, the way to determine the strain elasticity reference result can be to calculate the mean value of the strain elasticity results of a plurality of local points in the second reference region, and take this mean value as the strain elasticity reference result; or determine the median value of the strain elasticity results of a plurality of local points in the second reference region, and take this median value as the strain elasticity reference result.

[0089] In addition to calculating the mean value or the median value of the strain elasticity result, other statistical physical quantities that can represent the average level of the strain elasticity result in the second reference region can also be used, such as the mode of the strain elasticity results of a plurality of local points in the second reference region, and the like.

[0090] In another preferred embodiment of the present embodiment, after the second quantitative elasticity result of the first region of interest is determined, the second quantitative elasticity results of a plurality of local points in the target region can also be calculated and displayed, and the statistical result includes any one or more of the median, mean, maximum value, minimum value, and standard deviation. Thus, through the statistical result, the user can know the hardness distribution of the tissue region corresponding to the target region, such as knowing the hardness distribution difference of the tissue region corresponding to the target region through the standard deviation, knowing the local point of the minimum hardness or the local point of the maximum hardness in the tissue region through the maximum value or the minimum value, knowing the overall level of the hardness of the tissue region through the mean, and the like.

[0091] In addition, the second quantitative elasticity results of a plurality of local points in the first region of interest can also be calculated and displayed for the entire first region of interest, and the statistical result includes any one or more of the median, mean, maximum value, minimum value, and standard deviation. Similarly, through the statistical result, the user can know the hardness distribution of the tissue region corresponding to the first region of interest, such as knowing the hardness distribution difference of the tissue region corresponding to the first region of interest through the standard deviation, knowing the local point of the minimum hardness or the local point of the maximum hardness in the tissue region through the maximum value or the minimum value, knowing the overall level of the hardness of the tissue region through the mean, and the like.

[0092] In a preferred embodiment of the present embodiment, in addition to displaying the second quantitative elasticity result of the first region of interest, the ultrasound imaging device can also display the ultrasound image corresponding to the target tissue, and the second quantitative elasticity result of the first region of interest can be displayed on the position corresponding to the first region of interest in the ultrasound image, such as shown in Figure 4 .

[0093] In addition, the position of the first region of interest and / or the position of the second region of interest can also be displayed in the ultrasound image, for example, the position of the first region of interest and / or the position of the second region of interest can be circled by a closed figure of any shape, such as shown in Figure 3 or Figure 4 , so as to frame the position of the first region of interest by a box, so as to let the user confirm the position of the first region of interest and confirm the position of the second region of interest.

[0094] When the second quantitative elasticity result of the first region of interest is displayed, the shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest can also be displayed, which can facilitate the user to compare the difference between the result obtained by the conventional shear wave elasticity measurement and the second quantitative elasticity result obtained by the above quantitative calculation, and can compare the tissue hardness and elasticity difference represented by the two results.

[0095] In addition, the strain elasticity result of the second region of interest can be displayed, so as to facilitate the user to compare the tissue hardness and elasticity represented by the strain elasticity measurement mode and the quantitative calculation mode.

[0096] In another preferred embodiment of the present embodiment, when the second quantitative elasticity result of the first region of interest is displayed, the second quantitative elasticity result of the first region of interest can be mapped into a quantitative elasticity image of a target display effect, and the quantitative elasticity image of the target display effect is displayed. The target display effect can include any one or more of gray scale, pseudo-color, and color display effects.

[0097] As shown in Figure 4 After the shear wave elasticity result of the target region is replaced by the first quantitative elasticity result, the first quantitative elasticity result can be mapped into a quantitative elasticity image of any one of gray scale, pseudo-color, and color, and the shear wave elasticity result of the other regions of the first region of interest except the target region can also be mapped into an elasticity image of any one of gray scale, pseudo-color, and color. The quantitative elasticity image corresponding to the target region and the elasticity image corresponding to the other regions constitute the quantitative elasticity image of the second quantitative elasticity result, and the quantitative elasticity image of the second quantitative elasticity result can be displayed at the position corresponding to the first region of interest in the ultrasound image.

[0098] The conventional strain elasticity image can only qualitatively reflect the relative hardness of the tissue, such as the red block in the strain elasticity image representing the corresponding tissue region being relatively hard, and the blue block representing the corresponding tissue region being relatively soft. However, the first quantitative elasticity result and the second quantitative elasticity result obtained by the quantitative calculation based on the strain elasticity result can quantitatively reflect the hardness of the tissue, such as different colors representing different Young's modulus, so as to quantitatively describe the hardness condition of the tissue region.

[0099] In the present embodiment, the first region of interest, the second region of interest, the target region, the first reference region, and the second reference region can be automatically determined by the ultrasound imaging device. The ultrasound imaging device can automatically determine the above-mentioned regions based on a pre-set rule, such as selecting a region containing a lesion region as the first region of interest, and then the ultrasound imaging device can automatically determine the first region of interest based on the rule. In addition, the ultrasound imaging device can automatically determine the target region in the first region of interest according to the reliability or quality of the shear wave elasticity result. In addition, the above-mentioned regions can also be manually determined by the user, that is, the user inputs a setting operation on the above-mentioned regions, and the ultrasound imaging device determines the above-mentioned regions based on the setting operation of the user. The present embodiment does not limit the manner of determining the above-mentioned regions.

[0100] Therefore, by the present embodiment and various preferred implementation manners thereof, the shear wave elasticity result with low accuracy and reliability obtained by the conventional shear wave elasticity measurement can be corrected, the quantitative elasticity result is calculated based on the shear wave elasticity reference result and the strain elasticity reference result with high accuracy and reliability, the result is more accurate and has higher reliability compared to the result obtained by the conventional shear wave elasticity measurement, and thus the tissue hardness and elasticity condition of the area with inaccurate shear wave elasticity result such as a lesion can be more accurately described, and the morphology and boundary of the area with inaccurate shear wave elasticity result such as a lesion can be better depicted.

[0101] The functions of the components of the ultrasound imaging device shown in the foregoing Figure 1 The functions of the components of the ultrasound imaging device shown in the foregoing

[0102] In the present embodiment, the ultrasound imaging device comprises:

[0103] an ultrasound probe;

[0104] a transmitting circuit configured to excite the ultrasound probe to emit ultrasound waves to target tissue of a subject;

[0105] a receiving circuit configured to control the ultrasound probe to receive echoes of the ultrasound waves returned by the target tissue, and obtain an ultrasound echo signal;

[0106] a processor configured to process the ultrasound echo signal to obtain an ultrasound image of the target tissue, and perform the foregoing Figure 2 The ultrasound elasticity imaging method performed by the ultrasound imaging device in the foregoing

[0107] The functions of the components of the ultrasound imaging device in the foregoing Figure 2 The functions of the components of the ultrasound imaging device in the foregoing

[0108] In the embodiment, the ultrasound imaging device determines a shear wave elasticity reference result of a first region of interest and a strain elasticity reference result of a second reference region, determines a stress result according to the shear wave elasticity reference result and the strain elasticity reference result, the tissue region at least partially overlapping the first region of interest and the second region of interest includes a tissue region corresponding to the target region, determines a first quantitative elasticity result of the target region according to the stress result and the strain elasticity result of the target region, determines a second quantitative elasticity result of the first region of interest according to the shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest and the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region, and displays the second quantitative elasticity result. Since the shear wave elasticity reference result, the strain elasticity reference result, and the strain elasticity result of the target region are all accurate, the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region calculated according to the above results is more accurate than a result obtained by directly performing shear wave elasticity measurement on the target region, and the shape and boundary of a region such as a lesion, for which the shear wave elasticity result is inaccurate, can also be more accurately presented.

[0109] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the system, the device and the unit described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be described here.

[0110] In several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, device and method can be implemented in other manners. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic; the division of the units is only a logical function division; there can be another division manner for the actual implementation, for example, multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the displayed or discussed mutual couplings or direct couplings or communication connections between the units can be indirect couplings or communication connections through some interfaces, devices or units, and can be electrical, mechanical or in other forms.

[0111] The units described as separate components can or can not be physically separate, and the components shown as units can or can not be physical units, i.e., can be located in one place, or can be distributed on multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the embodiment.

[0112] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application can be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit can exist physically, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be implemented in the form of hardware, or in the form of a software functional unit.

[0113] The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software function unit and sold or used as an independent product, can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the present application essentially or the part that contributes to the prior art or the whole or part of the technical solutions can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes a plurality of instructions for causing a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: a U disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM, read-only memory), a random access memory (RAM, random access memory), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and various media that can store program codes.

Claims

1. An ultrasonic elastography method, characterized by, The method comprises: obtaining a shear wave elasticity result of a first region of interest of a target tissue, and obtaining a strain elasticity result of a second region of interest of the target tissue, wherein a tissue region corresponding to the first region of interest at least partially overlaps with a tissue region corresponding to the second region of interest; determining a shear wave elasticity reference result based on a shear wave elasticity result of a first reference region in the first region of interest, and determining a strain elasticity reference result based on a strain elasticity result of a second reference region in the second region of interest; determining a stress result according to the shear wave elasticity reference result and the strain elasticity reference result; obtaining a target region in the first region of interest for which the shear wave elasticity result is to be improved, wherein the at least partially overlapping tissue region comprises a tissue region corresponding to the target region; obtaining a strain elasticity result corresponding to the target region from the strain elasticity result of the second region of interest, and determining a first quantitative elasticity result of the target region according to the stress result and the strain elasticity result corresponding to the target region; determining a second quantitative elasticity result of the first region of interest according to the shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest and the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region; displaying the second quantitative elasticity result of the first region of interest.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The determining of the second quantitative elasticity result of the first region of interest according to the shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest and the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region comprises: replacing the shear wave elasticity result of each local point in the target region with the first quantitative elasticity result of the local point; wherein the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region and the shear wave elasticity result of a region other than the target region in the first region of interest constitute the second quantitative elasticity result.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein, The determining of the second quantitative elasticity result of the first region of interest according to the shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest and the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region comprises: calculating a weighted sum of the shear wave elasticity result of each local point and the first quantitative elasticity result of the local point for the target region; wherein the weighted sum and the shear wave elasticity result of a region other than the target region in the first region of interest constitute the second quantitative elasticity result.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein, The method further comprises: obtaining a strain elasticity result of an overlapping region other than the tissue region corresponding to the target region from the strain elasticity result of the second region of interest, wherein the overlapping region is in the at least partially overlapping tissue region; determining a first quantitative elasticity result of the overlapping region according to the stress result and the strain elasticity result of the overlapping region.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein, The determining of the second quantitative elasticity result of the first region of interest according to the shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest and the first quantitative elasticity result of the target region comprises: calculating a weighted sum of the shear wave elasticity result of each local point and the first quantitative elasticity result of the local point for the target region; For the other overlapping regions, a weighted sum of the shear wave elasticity result of each local point and the first quantitative elasticity result of the local point is calculated; If the tissue region corresponding to the second region of interest completely contains the tissue region corresponding to the first region of interest, the weighted sum of the shear wave elasticity result of the local point in the target region and the first quantitative elasticity result and the weighted sum of the shear wave elasticity result of the local point in the other overlapping region and the first quantitative elasticity result constitute the second quantitative elasticity result; If the tissue region corresponding to the first region of interest partially overlaps with the tissue region corresponding to the second region of interest, the weighted sum of the shear wave elasticity result of the local point in the target region and the first quantitative elasticity result, the weighted sum of the shear wave elasticity result of the local point in the other overlapping region and the first quantitative elasticity result, and the shear wave elasticity result of the other region in the first region of interest except the partially overlapping tissue region constitute the second quantitative elasticity result.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein, The target tissue includes liver tissue, the target region includes a local lesion region inside a lesion of the liver tissue, and the other overlapping region includes a diffuse lesion region outside the lesion of the liver tissue or a non-lesion region outside the lesion.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein, The first quantitative elasticity result of the target region is determined according to the stress result and the strain elasticity result corresponding to the target region, including: For each local point in the target region, a quotient value between the stress result and the strain elasticity result of the local point is calculated, and the quotient value is taken as the first quantitative elasticity result of the local point; The stress result is determined according to the shear wave elasticity reference result and the strain elasticity reference result, including: A product of the shear wave elasticity reference result and the strain elasticity reference result is calculated, and the product is taken as the stress result.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein, The shear wave elasticity reference result is determined based on the shear wave elasticity result of a first reference region in the first region of interest, including: A mean value of the shear wave elasticity results of a plurality of local points in the first reference region is counted, and the mean value is taken as the shear wave elasticity reference result; Or, A median value of the shear wave elasticity results of a plurality of local points in the first reference region is determined, and the median value is taken as the shear wave elasticity reference result.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein, The strain elasticity reference result is determined based on the strain elasticity result of a second reference region in the second region of interest, including: A mean value of the strain elasticity results of a plurality of local points in the second reference region is counted, and the mean value is taken as the strain elasticity reference result; Or, A median value of the strain elasticity results of a plurality of local points in the second reference region is determined, and the median value is taken as the strain elasticity reference result.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that, The first region of interest and the second region of interest correspond to a same tissue region in the target tissue; The shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest of the target tissue is acquired, and the strain elasticity result of the second region of interest of the target tissue is acquired, including: transmitting acoustic radiation force impulse to the target tissue to generate a shear wave propagating in the same tissue region; transmitting ultrasound wave to the same tissue region to track the shear wave propagating in the same tissue region, and receiving echo of the ultrasound wave to obtain ultrasound echo data based on the echo of the ultrasound wave; generating shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest based on the ultrasound echo data, and generating strain elasticity result of the second region of interest based on the ultrasound echo data.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that, The obtaining shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest of the target tissue and the obtaining strain elasticity result of the second region of interest of the target tissue comprises: generating a first shear wave propagating in the first region of interest; transmitting first ultrasound wave to the first region of interest to track the first shear wave propagating in the first region of interest, and receiving echo of the first ultrasound wave to obtain first ultrasound echo signal; obtaining shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest based on the first ultrasound echo signal; inducing displacement or strain of the tissue corresponding to the second region of interest; transmitting second ultrasound wave at different time instants to the second region of interest to detect change of the displacement or change of the strain of the tissue corresponding to the second region of interest, and receiving echo of the second ultrasound wave at the different time instants to obtain second ultrasound echo signal; obtaining strain elasticity result of the second region of interest based on the second ultrasound echo signal.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that, The method further comprises: statistically processing second quantitative elasticity result of multiple local points in the target region, and displaying the statistical result; and / or, statistically processing second quantitative elasticity result of multiple local points in the first region of interest, and displaying the statistical result; The statistical result comprises median, mean, maximum, minimum, and standard deviation.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that, The method further comprises: displaying ultrasound image corresponding to the target tissue, and displaying position of the first region of interest and / or position of the second region of interest in the ultrasound image; and / or, displaying shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest; and / or, displaying strain elasticity result of the second region of interest.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that, The shear wave elasticity result of the first region of interest is represented by propagation velocity of shear wave, Young's modulus, or shear modulus, and the first quantitative elasticity result is represented by propagation velocity of shear wave, Young's modulus, or shear modulus.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that, The displaying the second quantitative elasticity result of the first region of interest comprises: mapping the second quantitative elasticity result of the first region of interest into quantitative elasticity image of target display effect, and displaying the quantitative elasticity image of the target display effect; the target display effect comprises any one or more of gray scale, pseudo-color, and color display effect.

16. An ultrasound imaging device, characterized by comprises: an ultrasound probe; a transmitting circuit configured to excite the ultrasound probe to transmit ultrasound wave to target tissue of a subject; a receiving circuit configured to control the ultrasound probe to receive echo of ultrasound wave returned by the target tissue, and obtain ultrasound echo signal; a processor configured to process the ultrasound echo signals to obtain an ultrasound image of the target tissue, and perform the ultrasound elastography method of any one of claims 1-15 based on the ultrasound image.

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