An artifact removal method, apparatus, device and storage medium suitable for intravascular ultrasound imaging

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application disclose a kind of artifact removal method, device, equipment and storage medium suitable for intravascular ultrasound imaging.The method comprises: obtaining the intravascular ultrasound image obtained by carrying out intravascular ultrasound imaging to target blood vessel, wherein intravascular ultrasound image is represented by three-dimensional data, one-dimensional data in three-dimensional data has time information and another dimensional data has spatial information;Merge one-dimensional data and another dimensional data, obtain space-time data with time information and spatial information simultaneously, to convert three-dimensional data into two-dimensional data based on space-time data;At least encode the space-time data in two-dimensional data, obtain space-time encoding result, and carry out artifact removal of intravascular ultrasound image based on space-time encoding result.The technical scheme of the embodiment of the present application can remove as many artifact signals as possible while retaining as many effective signals as possible.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] Embodiments of the present application relate to the technical field of ultrasonic imaging, and in particular to a method and device for removing artifacts in intravascular ultrasound imaging, equipment and storage medium. BACKGROUND

[0002] An intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging system sends a miniature ultrasonic transducer into a blood vessel through catheter technology, and uses ultrasonic waves to scan and reflect to generate a cross-sectional image inside the blood vessel, so as to show the internal morphology, size and plaque distribution of the blood vessel wall to the operator, thereby guiding the operator to perform a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) operation.

[0003] For IVUS imaging obtained by the IVUS imaging system, there is a blind area in the IVUS image due to the imaging mode of the IVUS imaging system. The blind area is a region where artifact signals exist, which will affect the doctor reading the IVUS image, especially when the catheter is attached to the wall.

[0004] Therefore, removing the artifact signals in the blind area is a key link in the IVUS imaging process. At present, the removal of artifact signals is mainly achieved by removing all signals in the blind area. For example, Figure 1a The highlighted part in the middle red frame line is an artifact signal, Figure 1b is Figure 1a the artifact removal result.

[0005] However, there are not only artifact signals but also effective signals that can reflect the situation inside the blood vessel in the blind area. The artifact removal scheme currently used removes not only the artifact signals but also the effective signals. For example, by comparing Figure 1a and Figure 1b it can be seen that Figure 1a all the signals in the highlighted part are removed in Figure 1b . Obviously, this will affect the doctor reading the IVUS image and needs to be solved urgently. SUMMARY

[0006] Embodiments of the present application provide a method and device for removing artifacts in intravascular ultrasound imaging, equipment and storage medium, which solve the problem that removing artifact signals also removes effective signals.

[0007] According to an aspect of the present application, a method for removing artifacts in intravascular ultrasound imaging is provided, which can include:

[0008] acquiring an intravascular ultrasound image obtained by performing intravascular ultrasound imaging on a target blood vessel, wherein the intravascular ultrasound image is represented by three-dimensional data, one dimension of the three-dimensional data has time information and another dimension has spatial information;

[0009] merging the one dimension and the another dimension to obtain space-time data having both the time information and the spatial information, so as to convert the three-dimensional data into two-dimensional data based on the space-time data;

[0010] encoding at least the space-time data in the two-dimensional data to obtain a space-time encoding result, and performing artifact removal on the intravascular ultrasound image based on the space-time encoding result.

[0011] According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided an artifact removal device suitable for intravascular ultrasound imaging, which can comprise:

[0012] an intravascular ultrasound image acquisition module configured to acquire an intravascular ultrasound image obtained by performing intravascular ultrasound imaging on a target blood vessel, wherein the intravascular ultrasound image is represented by three-dimensional data, one dimension of the three-dimensional data has time information and another dimension has spatial information;

[0013] a space-time data obtaining module configured to merge the one dimension and the another dimension to obtain space-time data having both the time information and the spatial information, so as to convert the three-dimensional data into two-dimensional data based on the space-time data;

[0014] an artifact removal module configured to encode at least the space-time data in the two-dimensional data to obtain a space-time encoding result, and perform artifact removal on the intravascular ultrasound image based on the space-time encoding result.

[0015] According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided an artifact removal device suitable for intravascular ultrasound imaging, which can comprise:

[0016] at least one processor; and

[0017] a memory connected with the at least one processor in communication; wherein,

[0018] the memory stores a computer program executable by the at least one processor, and the computer program is executed by the at least one processor to cause the at least one processor to implement the artifact removal method suitable for intravascular ultrasound imaging provided by any of the embodiments of the present application.

[0019] According to another aspect of the present application, there is provided a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer instructions for causing a processor to implement the artifact removal method suitable for intravascular ultrasound imaging provided by any of the embodiments of the present application.

[0020] The technical scheme of the embodiment of the present application comprises the following steps: obtaining an intravascular ultrasound image obtained by intravascular ultrasound imaging of a target blood vessel, the intravascular ultrasound image being represented by three-dimensional data, one-dimensional data in the three-dimensional data having time information and another one-dimensional data having space information; merging the one-dimensional data and the another one-dimensional data to obtain space-time data having both time information and space information, and converting the three-dimensional data into two-dimensional data based on the space-time data; encoding at least the space-time data in the two-dimensional data to obtain a space-time encoding result, and removing artifacts of the intravascular ultrasound image based on the space-time encoding result. Compared with encoding in the time dimension or the space dimension, the above technical scheme, by means of a joint space-time encoding process, makes the relative proportion of artifact signals and effective signals in the intravascular ultrasound image more stable, so that as many artifact signals as possible are removed while as many effective signals as possible are retained.

[0021] It should be understood that the content described in this part is not intended to identify key or important features of the embodiments of the present application, nor is it used to limit the scope of the present application. Other features of the present application will become apparent from the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0022] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the drawings needed in the embodiment description will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and other drawings can also be obtained by those skilled in the art without creative labor.

[0023] Figure 1a is a schematic diagram of an intravascular ultrasound image;

[0024] Figure 1b is a schematic diagram of an intravascular ultrasound image; Figure 1a is a schematic diagram of the corresponding artifact removal result;

[0025] Figure 2 is a flowchart of an artifact removal method suitable for intravascular ultrasound imaging according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0026] Figure 3a is a schematic diagram of an intravascular ultrasound image in an artifact removal method suitable for intravascular ultrasound imaging according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0027] Figure 3b is a schematic diagram of the corresponding artifact removal result in an artifact removal method suitable for intravascular ultrasound imaging according to an embodiment of the present application; Figure 3a is a schematic diagram of the corresponding artifact removal result in an artifact removal method suitable for intravascular ultrasound imaging according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0028] Figure 4is a flow chart of another method for removing artifacts suitable for intravascular ultrasound imaging according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0029] Figure 5 is a flow chart of another method for removing artifacts suitable for intravascular ultrasound imaging according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0030] Figure 6 is a flow chart of another method for removing artifacts suitable for intravascular ultrasound imaging according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0031] Figure 7 is a structural block diagram of a device for removing artifacts suitable for intravascular ultrasound imaging according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0032] Figure 8 is a structural block diagram of a device for removing artifacts suitable for intravascular ultrasound imaging according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] In order to make the person skilled in the art better understand the present application, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described clearly and completely below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative labor should fall within the scope of protection of the present application.

[0034] It should be noted that the terms "first", "second", and the like in the specification and claims of the present application and the above-described drawings are used to distinguish similar objects, and do not necessarily have to be used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the data thus used can be interchanged under appropriate circumstances, so that the embodiments of the present application described herein can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described herein. The case of "target", "original" and the like is similar, which will not be described here. In addition, the terms "include" and "have" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, for example, a process, method, system, product or device that includes a series of steps or units does not have to be limited to those steps or units clearly listed, but can include other steps or units that are not clearly listed or inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices.

[0035] Before introducing the embodiments of the present application, the application scenarios of the embodiments of the present application are exemplarily described. Exemplarily, assuming that the ultrasonic transducer receives an electronic signal of a preset frequency at time t, the piezoelectric ceramic in the ultrasonic transducer can convert the electronic signal into an ultrasonic wave in a time period t1-t2 (t1 is later than t), and at a time t3 in the time period t1-t2, the ultrasonic transducer is changed from a transmitting mode to a receiving mode, which makes the ultrasonic wave received by the ultrasonic transducer in a time period t3-t2 include the transmitted ultrasonic wave and the returned ultrasonic wave (i.e. echo). The transmitted ultrasonic wave is embodied as an artifact signal in an ultrasonic image, and the echo is embodied as an effective signal in the ultrasonic image, which is usually blocked by the artifact signal.

[0036] Exemplarily, the catheter applied to the IVUS imaging system is mainly a straight catheter, and the diameter of the blood vessel is usually obviously larger than the diameter of the catheter, which makes the position of the catheter in the blood vessel have a bias of adhesion to the wall. At the same time, the catheter is usually a guide wire fast exchange type catheter, that is, the catheter only has a guide wire guide and positioning in a relatively short part of the head end, so the probability of adhesion to the wall is greater. In addition, the individual differences of human blood vessels are large, and the sizes and shapes are different, which makes the adhesion to the wall of the catheter in the blood vessel cannot be avoided. When the catheter adheres to the wall, the blood vessel wall close to the catheter is the key attention area of the doctor reading the IVUS image, but it is blocked by the artifact signal, so the demand for artifact removal is more intense at this time.

[0037] Figure 2 is a flowchart of an artifact removal method for intravascular ultrasound imaging provided by the embodiments of the present application. The embodiments can be applied to the case of removing artifacts for intravascular ultrasound images. The method can be executed by an artifact removal device for intravascular ultrasound imaging provided by the embodiments of the present application, which can be realized by software and / or hardware, and can be integrated on an artifact removal device for intravascular ultrasound imaging. The artifact removal device can be various user terminals or servers.

[0038] Referring to Figure 2 The method of the embodiments of the present application specifically includes the following steps:

[0039] S110, obtaining an intravascular ultrasound image obtained by performing intravascular ultrasound imaging on a target blood vessel, wherein the intravascular ultrasound image is represented by three-dimensional data, one-dimensional data in the three-dimensional data has time information and the other one-dimensional data has spatial information.

[0040] The target blood vessel can be understood as a blood vessel to be intravascularly imaged. The intravascular ultrasound image can be understood as an image obtained by intravascularly imaging the target blood vessel, which is represented by three-dimensional data in the embodiment of the application, one-dimensional data M of the three-dimensional data has time information and another-dimensional data N has spatial information, and whether the remaining one-dimensional data K of the three-dimensional data has time information and / or spatial information is not limited herein.

[0041] S120, merging the one-dimensional data and the another-dimensional data to obtain space-time data having both time information and spatial information, and converting the three-dimensional data into two-dimensional data based on the space-time data.

[0042] The merging of the one-dimensional data M and the another-dimensional data N can obtain space-time data MN having both time information and spatial information, i.e., joint space-time space-time data MN.

[0043] Further, the three-dimensional data is converted into two-dimensional data based on the space-time data MN.

[0044] S130, encoding at least the space-time data in the two-dimensional data to obtain a space-time encoding result, and removing artifacts of the intravascular ultrasound image based on the space-time encoding result.

[0045] The encoding of at least the space-time data MN in the two-dimensional data can obtain a space-time encoding result, and then the removal of artifacts of the intravascular ultrasound image can be performed based on the space-time encoding result.

[0046] On this basis, in order to prove that the artifact removal process described in the embodiment of the application can remove the artifact signal while retaining the effective signal as much as possible, the following exemplary description is given in conjunction with specific examples.

[0047] Exemplarily, referring to Figure 3a The highlighted part in the red frame is an artifact signal, and the effective signal in the red frame is blocked by the artifact signal. After removing the artifact signal, referring to Figure 3b There is a clear boundary in the red frame on the right, and there are clear bright spots in the red frame on the left, which are all effective signals retained while removing the artifact signal.

[0048] The technical scheme of the embodiment of the present application comprises the following steps: obtaining an intravascular ultrasound image obtained by performing intravascular ultrasound imaging on a target blood vessel, wherein the intravascular ultrasound image is represented by three-dimensional data, one-dimensional data in the three-dimensional data has time information and another-dimensional data has space information; merging the one-dimensional data and the another-dimensional data to obtain space-time data having both time information and space information, converting the three-dimensional data into two-dimensional data based on the space-time data; encoding at least the space-time data in the two-dimensional data to obtain a space-time encoding result, and removing artifacts of the intravascular ultrasound image based on the space-time encoding result. Compared with encoding in the time dimension or the space dimension, the above technical scheme, through the joint space-time encoding process, makes the relative proportion of artifact signals and effective signals in the intravascular ultrasound image more stable, so that as many artifact signals as possible are removed while as many effective signals as possible are retained.

[0049] Figure 4 is a flowchart of another artifact removal method for intravascular ultrasound imaging provided in the embodiment of the present application. The present embodiment is optimized on the basis of the above technical schemes. In the present embodiment, optionally, the space-time data is data of the intravascular ultrasound image in the space-time dimension, and encoding at least the space-time data in the two-dimensional data to obtain a space-time encoding result comprises: for each scan line of the intravascular ultrasound image, encoding the scan line according to the position of the scan line in the space-time dimension to obtain a scan line encoding result; and obtaining a space-time encoding result corresponding to the space-time data according to the scan line encoding results corresponding to all scan lines respectively. The explanations of the same or corresponding terms as in the above embodiments are not repeated here.

[0050] Referring to Figure 4 , the method of the present embodiment can specifically comprise the following steps:

[0051] S210, obtaining an intravascular ultrasound image obtained by performing intravascular ultrasound imaging on a target blood vessel, wherein the intravascular ultrasound image is represented by three-dimensional data, one-dimensional data in the three-dimensional data has time information and another-dimensional data has space information.

[0052] S220, merging the one-dimensional data and the another-dimensional data to obtain space-time data having both time information and space information, and converting the three-dimensional data into two-dimensional data based on the space-time data, wherein the space-time data is data of the intravascular ultrasound image in the space-time dimension.

[0053] The space-time dimension can be understood as a dimension obtained by combining the space dimension and the time dimension, and correspondingly, the space-time data is data of the intravascular ultrasound image in the space-time dimension.

[0054] S230, for each scan line of the intravascular ultrasound image, encoding the scan line according to the position of the scan line in the space-time dimension, to obtain a scan line encoding result.

[0055] Wherein, for each scan line in the intravascular ultrasound image, the scan line is encoded according to the position of the scan line in the space-time dimension, to obtain a scan line encoding result. Through this step, the scan line encoding result corresponding to each scan line in the intravascular ultrasound image can be obtained.

[0056] S240, according to the scan line encoding result corresponding to each scan line, obtaining the space-time encoding result corresponding to the space-time data, and based on the space-time encoding result, removing the artifacts of the intravascular ultrasound image.

[0057] Wherein, according to the scan line encoding result obtained by the above step, the space-time encoding result corresponding to the space-time data can be obtained, and then the artifact removal process is based on the space-time encoding result.

[0058] The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application encodes the scan line according to the position of the scan line in the space-time dimension, and then the space-time encoding result corresponding to the space-time data can be accurately obtained based on the scan line encoding result corresponding to each scan line in the intravascular ultrasound image.

[0059] An optional technical scheme encodes the scan line according to the position of the scan line in the space-time dimension, to obtain a scan line encoding result, comprising:

[0060] Obtaining the number of scan lines in the intravascular ultrasound image;

[0061] According to the number of scan lines and the position of the scan line in the space-time dimension, the scan line is encoded to obtain a scan line encoding result.

[0062] Wherein, the number of scan lines can be understood as the number of all scan lines in the intravascular ultrasound image, and the number of scan lines is obtained, and then the scan line encoding process can be performed according to the number of scan lines and the position.

[0063] On this basis, optionally, the scan line encoding process can be performed by the following formula:

[0064]

[0065] Wherein, PE1 pos The scan line encoding result is represented by pos, which represents the position of the scan line in the space-time dimension, i.e. pos∈[1,MN] is the position of the scan line in the space-time dimension; N represents the number of scan lines; PRF represents the pulse emission frequency corresponding to the intravascular ultrasound image.

[0066] The above technical solution realizes accurate coding of the scan lines by using the number of all scan lines in the intravascular ultrasound image and combining the positions of the scan lines in the space-time dimension.

[0067] On this basis, optionally, the three-dimensional data is represented by a three-dimensional array of MxNxK, and the two-dimensional data is represented by a two-dimensional array of MNxK.

[0068] Wherein, M represents the number of frames, and the M dimension has time information; N represents the number of scan lines, and the N dimension has space information; and K represents the number of sampling points on each scan line.

[0069] Wherein, in the process of intravascular ultrasound imaging of the target blood vessel, the intravascular ultrasound images of each frame are obtained in sequence, so that the M dimension is continuous in time, i.e. has time information, but is unknown in space, i.e. lacks space information.

[0070] The N scan lines in one frame of intravascular ultrasound image scan different positions in the target blood vessel, so that the N dimension has space information. It should be noted that, in the N dimension, although the space information can be associated with the time information by velocity, the time information is unstable, so that the above technical solution is obtained by combining the M dimension and the N dimension to obtain the space-time data in the space-time dimension MN.

[0071] The number of sampling points K can be understood as the number of sampling points on one scan line, which can be considered as the spatial parameter of the blind area of the intravascular ultrasound image before the artifact removal in the technical solution. It should be noted that the K dimension does not have time information and space information.

[0072] Figure 5 is a flowchart of another artifact removal method suitable for intravascular ultrasound imaging provided in the embodiments of the present application. The present embodiment is optimized based on the above technical solutions. In the present embodiment, optionally, the two-dimensional data is composed of the space-time data and another one-dimensional data in addition to the one-dimensional data and the other one-dimensional data in the three-dimensional data, and the artifact removal of the intravascular ultrasound image based on the space-time coding result can include: obtaining a coded image based on the space-time coding result and the data coding result of the another one-dimensional data; and performing artifact removal of the intravascular ultrasound image based on the coded image. Wherein, the explanations of the same or corresponding terms in the above embodiments are not repeated here.

[0073] Referring to Figure 5 The method of the present embodiment can specifically include the following steps:

[0074] S310, acquire an intravascular ultrasound image obtained by performing intravascular ultrasound imaging on the target blood vessel, wherein the intravascular ultrasound image is represented by three-dimensional data, one-dimensional data of the three-dimensional data has time information and another one-dimensional data has spatial information.

[0075] S320, merge the one-dimensional data and the another one-dimensional data to obtain space-time data having both time information and spatial information, and convert the three-dimensional data into two-dimensional data based on the space-time data, wherein the two-dimensional data is composed based on the space-time data and still another one-dimensional data of the three-dimensional data other than the one-dimensional data and the another one-dimensional data.

[0076] The still another one-dimensional data K in the two-dimensional data can be encoded to obtain a data encoding result. On this basis, in combination with the application scenarios that the embodiments of the present application can involve, the encoding process can be performed based on a linear chirp encoding mode to obtain the data encoding result, and the start frequency and the end frequency of the linear chirp encoding can be determined according to the amplitude-frequency characteristic curve of the ultrasonic sensor. Of course, the encoding process can also be performed based on other encoding modes, which can be set according to actual needs and are not limited herein.

[0077] S330, at least encode the space-time data in the two-dimensional data to obtain a space-time encoding result.

[0078] S340, based on the space-time encoding result and the data encoding result of the still another one-dimensional data, obtain an encoding image, and perform artifact removal of the intravascular ultrasound image based on the encoding image.

[0079] The technical solution of the embodiments of the present application obtains an encoding image through the respective encoding results of each dimension of data in the two-dimensional data, and thus the artifact removal process can be implemented based on the encoding image.

[0080] An optional technical solution performs artifact removal of the intravascular ultrasound image based on the encoding image, comprising:

[0081] For the blind area in the intravascular ultrasound image, the region corresponding to the blind area in the encoding image is subjected to artifact removal to obtain an artifact removal image, wherein the blind area is a region in which the artifact signal in the intravascular ultrasound image is located.

[0082] The artifact removal image is decoded to complete the artifact removal process of the intravascular ultrasound image.

[0083] The blind area can be understood as a region in which the artifact signal in the intravascular ultrasound image is located in the intravascular ultrasound image. In combination with the application scenarios that the embodiments of the present application can involve, in general cases, there are not only artifact signals but also effective signals reflecting the intravascular conditions of the target blood vessel in the blind area.

[0084] The region in the coded image corresponding to the blind area is subjected to artifact removal to obtain an artifact-removed image, and then the artifact-removed image is decoded, thus completing the artifact removal process of the intravascular ultrasound image.

[0085] The above technical solution, after removing the artifact signals in the coded image, decodes the obtained artifact-removed image to obtain an IVUS image for a doctor to read.

[0086] In order to better understand the above-mentioned various technical solutions and related solutions from the whole, the following will be exemplarily described in combination with specific examples. Exemplarily, see Figure 6 , the specific implementation process is as follows:

[0087] 1. For the intravascular ultrasound image reconstructed based on the ultrasonic radio frequency signals, the spatial domain parameters of the blind area of the intravascular ultrasound image are obtained, that is, the sampling point number K of the sampling points on each scan line.

[0088] At this time, the ultrasonic radio frequency signals are represented as a three-dimensional array of MxNxK, wherein M is the frame number, and N is the number of scan lines in each frame of intravascular ultrasound image.

[0089] 2. Joint space-time coding, and the optional coding scheme is:

[0090] The three-dimensional array of MxNxK is represented as a two-dimensional array of MNxK, and the first dimension (i.e. MN dimension) is coded by using the following formula:

[0091]

[0092] Wherein, pos∈[1,MN] is the position of the scan line in the MN dimension, and PRF is the pulse transmission frequency.

[0093] The second dimension (i.e. K dimension) is coded by using linear chirp coding mode, and the starting frequency and the terminal frequency are determined according to the amplitude-frequency characteristic curve of the ultrasonic sensor.

[0094] According to the coding results of the two dimensions respectively, a coded image is obtained.

[0095] 3. Joint space-time SVD filtering:

[0096] The SVD filtering performance depends on the reasonable selection of singular value λ i . In order to remove the artifact signals, an artifact threshold α needs to be set. When , {λ iThe i-th (i < n) discarded, and based on this, the artifact signal is removed. That is, the encoded image is taken as the input of the SVD filtering algorithm, combined with the artifact threshold α, the region corresponding to the blind area in the encoded image is filtered to remove the artifact signal in the region, and an artifact removal image is obtained.

[0097] 4. Joint space-time decoding:

[0098] Referring to the joint space-time encoding process, the artifact removal image is subjected to joint space-time decoding, thereby completing the artifact removal process of the intravascular ultrasound image.

[0099] On this basis, the parameter adjuster can be used to analyze the artifact removal effect of the intravascular ultrasound image, adjust the artifact threshold α, and use the adjusted artifact threshold α for the artifact removal process of the next frame of intravascular ultrasound image of the intravascular ultrasound image.

[0100] The above examples, on the basis of adjusting the artifact threshold α, by combining the M dimension and the N dimension, can make the adjustment process of the artifact threshold α more accurate, so that as much as possible to remove the artifact signal, while as much as possible to retain the effective signal, thereby improving the artifact removal effect.

[0101] Figure 7 The structure block diagram of the artifact removal device for intravascular ultrasound imaging provided by the embodiments of the present application is used to execute the artifact removal method for intravascular ultrasound imaging provided by any of the above embodiments. The device and the artifact removal method for intravascular ultrasound imaging of each embodiment belong to the same inventive concept, and the details not described in the embodiment of the artifact removal device for intravascular ultrasound imaging can be referred to the above embodiment of the artifact removal method for intravascular ultrasound imaging. Referring to Figure 7 , the device can specifically include: an intravascular ultrasound image acquisition module 410, a space-time data obtaining module 420, and an artifact removal module 430.

[0102] The intravascular ultrasound image acquisition module 410 is configured to acquire an intravascular ultrasound image obtained by intravascular ultrasound imaging of a target blood vessel, wherein the intravascular ultrasound image is represented by three-dimensional data, one-dimensional data of the three-dimensional data has time information and the other one-dimensional data has spatial information.

[0103] The space-time data obtaining module 420 is configured to combine the one-dimensional data and the other one-dimensional data to obtain space-time data having both time information and spatial information, and convert the three-dimensional data into two-dimensional data based on the space-time data.

[0104] The artifact removal module 430 is configured to encode at least the space-time data in the two-dimensional data to obtain a space-time encoding result, and perform artifact removal on the intravascular ultrasound image based on the space-time encoding result.

[0105] Optionally, the space-time data is data of the intravascular ultrasound image in a space-time dimension, and the artifact removal module 430 can include:

[0106] The scan line encoding result obtaining unit is configured to, for each scan line of the intravascular ultrasound image, encode the scan line according to a position of the scan line in the space-time dimension to obtain a scan line encoding result.

[0107] The space-time encoding result obtaining unit is configured to obtain a space-time encoding result corresponding to the space-time data according to the scan line encoding results respectively corresponding to all the scan lines.

[0108] Optionally, the scan line encoding result obtaining unit can include:

[0109] The scan line number obtaining sub-unit is configured to obtain a scan line number of the scan lines in the intravascular ultrasound image.

[0110] The scan line encoding result obtaining sub-unit is configured to encode the scan line according to the scan line number and the position of the scan line in the space-time dimension to obtain the scan line encoding result.

[0111] Optionally, the three-dimensional data is represented by a three-dimensional array of MxNxK, and the two-dimensional data is represented by a two-dimensional array of MNxK.

[0112] In the formula, M represents a frame number, and the M dimension has time information; N represents a scan line number, and the N dimension has space information; and K represents a sample point number of sample points on each scan line.

[0113] Optionally, the two-dimensional data is composed of the space-time data and another one-dimensional data in the three-dimensional data other than the one-dimensional data and the other one-dimensional data, and the artifact removal module 430 can include:

[0114] The encoded image obtaining unit is configured to obtain an encoded image based on the space-time encoding result and a data encoding result of the another one-dimensional data.

[0115] The encoded image unit is configured to perform artifact removal on the intravascular ultrasound image based on the encoded image.

[0116] Optionally, the artifact removal apparatus can further include:

[0117] The data encoding result obtaining module is configured to encode the another one-dimensional data based on a linear chirp encoding manner to obtain the data encoding result.

[0118] Another optional, the encoding image unit, specifically for:

[0119] For the blind area in the intravascular ultrasound image, the region corresponding to the blind area in the encoding image is removed, and a pseudo image is obtained, wherein the blind area is the region where the pseudo signal in the intravascular ultrasound image is located.

[0120] The pseudo image is decoded to complete the pseudo removal process of the intravascular ultrasound image.

[0121] The embodiment of the application provides the artifact removal device suitable for intravascular ultrasound imaging, through the intravascular ultrasound image acquisition module, the intravascular ultrasound image obtained by intravascular ultrasound imaging of the target blood vessel is acquired, the intravascular ultrasound image is represented by three-dimensional data, one-dimensional data in the three-dimensional data has time information and another dimensional data has spatial information;Through the space-time data obtaining module, the one-dimensional data and the other dimensional data are combined to obtain space-time data having time information and spatial information at the same time, so as to convert the three-dimensional data into two-dimensional data based on the space-time data;Through the artifact removal module, at least the space-time data in the two-dimensional data is encoded to obtain a space-time encoding result, and then the artifact removal of the intravascular ultrasound image is carried out based on the space-time encoding result. Compared with the encoding in the time dimension or the space dimension, the above-mentioned device, by combining the encoding process of space-time, makes the relative proportion of the artifact signal and the effective signal in the intravascular ultrasound image more stable, so that as much as possible the artifact signal can be removed while as much as possible the effective signal can be retained.

[0122] The artifact removal device suitable for intravascular ultrasound imaging provided by the embodiment of the application can execute the artifact removal method suitable for intravascular ultrasound imaging provided by any embodiment of the application, and has the corresponding function modules and beneficial effects of the execution method.

[0123] It is worth noting that in the above-mentioned embodiment of the artifact removal device suitable for intravascular ultrasound imaging, each unit and module included is only divided according to the function logic, but is not limited to the above-mentioned division, as long as the corresponding function can be realized;In addition, the specific name of each functional unit is only for convenient mutual distinction, and is not used to limit the protection scope of the application.

[0124] Figure 8A block diagram of a structure of an artifact removal device (hereinafter referred to as artifact removal device) 10 for intravascular ultrasound imaging that can be used to implement embodiments of the present application is shown. The artifact removal device is intended to represent a variety of forms including digital computers such as laptops, desktops, workstations, personal digital assistants, servers, blade servers, mainframes, and other appropriate computers. The artifact removal device can also represent a variety of forms of mobile devices such as personal digital assistants, cellular phones, smart phones, wearable devices (e.g., headsets, glasses, watches, etc.), and other similar computing devices. The components shown herein, their connections and relationships, and their functions, are meant to be examples only, and are not meant to limit implementations of the present application described and / or claimed in this document.

[0125] As shown in Figure 8 The artifact removal device 10 can include at least one processor 11, and a memory, such as a read-only memory (ROM) 12, a random access memory (RAM) 13, etc., communicatively connected to the at least one processor 11, where the memory stores computer programs executable by the at least one processor 11, which can perform various appropriate actions and processes according to the computer programs stored in the read-only memory (ROM) 12 or loaded into the random access memory (RAM) 13 from the storage unit 18. Various programs and data required for the operation of the artifact removal device 10 can also be stored in the RAM 13. The processor 11, the ROM 12, and the RAM 13 are connected to each other through a bus 14. An input / output (I / O) interface 15 is also connected to the bus 14.

[0126] A plurality of components in the artifact removal device 10 are connected to the I / O interface 15, including an input unit 16, such as a keyboard, a mouse, etc., an output unit 17, such as various types of displays, speakers, etc., a storage unit 18, such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, etc., and a communication unit 19, such as a network card, a modem, a wireless communication transceiver, etc. The communication unit 19 allows the artifact removal device 10 to exchange information / data with other devices through a computer network, such as the Internet, and / or various telecommunication networks.

[0127] The processor 11 can be various general and / or special purpose processing components with processing and computing capabilities. Some examples of the processor 11 include, but are not limited to, a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), various special-purpose artificial intelligence (AI) computing chips, various processors running machine learning model algorithms, a digital signal processor (DSP), and any appropriate processor, controller, microcontroller, etc. The processor 11 performs various methods and processes described above, such as the artifact removal method.

[0128] In some embodiments, the artifact removal method can be implemented as a computer program tangibly embodied in a computer readable storage medium, e.g., storage unit 18. In some embodiments, portions of or all of the computer program can be loaded onto artifact removal device 10 via, e.g., ROM 12 and / or communication unit 19. When a computer program is loaded onto RAM 13 and executed by processor 11, one or more of the steps of the above-described artifact removal method can be performed. Alternatively, in other embodiments, processor 11 can be configured to perform the artifact removal method by other means, e.g., with the aid of firmware.

[0129] Various implementations of the systems and techniques described above can be realized in digital electronic circuitry, integrated circuitry, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a system on a chip (SOC), a programmable logic device (PLD), a computer hardware, firmware, software, and / or combinations thereof. These various implementations can include implementation in one or more computer programs that are executable and / or interpretable on a programmable system including at least one programmable processor, which can be special or general purpose, coupled to receive data and instructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a storage system, at least one input device, and at least one output device.

[0130] Computer programs used to implement the methods of the present application can be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These computer programs can be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the computer program, when executed, can implement the functions / acts specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams. The computer program can be executed entirely on a machine, partially on a machine, partially on a machine as a stand-alone software package, and partially on a machine or entirely on a remote machine or server.

[0131] In the context of the present application, a computer-readable storage medium can be a tangible medium that can contain or store a computer program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. A computer-readable storage medium can include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Alternatively, a computer-readable storage medium can be a machine-readable signal medium. More specific examples of a machine-readable storage medium will include one or more lines of a program of instructions in a transitory signal, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0132] To provide for interaction with a user, the systems and techniques described here can be implemented on a pseudo-artifact removal device having a display device (e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor) for displaying information to the user and a keyboard and a pointing device (e.g., a mouse or a trackball) by which the user can provide input to the pseudo-artifact removal device. Other kinds of devices can be used to provide for interaction with a user as well; for example, feedback provided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback (e.g., visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback); and input from the user can be received in any form, including acoustic, speech, or tactile input.

[0133] The systems and techniques described here can be implemented in a computing system that includes a back end component (e.g., as a data server), or that includes a middleware component (e.g., an application server), or that includes a front end component (e.g., a user computer having a graphical user interface or a Web browser through which a user can interact with an implementation of the systems and techniques described here), or any combination of such back end, middleware, or front end components. The components of the system can be interconnected by any form or medium of digital data communication (e.g., a communication network). Examples of communication networks include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a blockchain network, and the Internet.

[0134] The computing system can include clients and servers. A client and server are generally remote from each other and typically interact through a communication network. The relationship of client and server arises by virtue of computer programs running on the respective computers and having a client-server relationship to each other. The server can be a cloud server, also known as a cloud computing server or cloud host, which is a host product in the cloud computing service system, to solve the defects of large management difficulty and weak business scalability in traditional physical host and VPS service.

[0135] It should be understood that the various forms of flow shown above can be used to reorder, add or delete steps. For example, each step described in the present application can be executed in parallel, sequentially or in a different order, as long as the desired results of the technical solutions of the present application can be achieved, which is not limited herein.

[0136] The above detailed description does not constitute a limitation on the scope of protection of the present application. Those skilled in the art should understand that various modifications, combinations, sub-combinations and substitutions can be made according to design requirements and other factors. Any modifications, equivalent replacements and improvements made within the spirit and principles of the present application shall be included in the scope of protection of the present application.

Claims

1. An artifact removal method suitable for intravascular ultrasound imaging, characterized in that, The method comprises: acquiring an intravascular ultrasound image obtained by intravascular ultrasound imaging of a target blood vessel, wherein the intravascular ultrasound image is represented by three-dimensional data, one-dimensional data of the three-dimensional data having time information and another-dimensional data having spatial information; merging the one-dimensional data and the another-dimensional data to obtain space-time data having both the time information and the spatial information, so as to convert the three-dimensional data into two-dimensional data based on the space-time data; encoding at least the space-time data in the two-dimensional data to obtain a space-time encoding result, and performing artifact removal of the intravascular ultrasound image based on the space-time encoding result.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The space-time data is data of the intravascular ultrasound image in a space-time dimension, and the encoding at least the space-time data in the two-dimensional data to obtain a space-time encoding result comprises: for each scan line of the intravascular ultrasound image, encoding the scan line according to a position of the scan line in the space-time dimension to obtain a scan line encoding result; obtaining the space-time encoding result corresponding to the space-time data according to the scan line encoding results corresponding to all the scan lines respectively.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, The encoding the scan line according to the position of the scan line in the space-time dimension to obtain a scan line encoding result comprises: obtaining a number of scan lines of the intravascular ultrasound image; encoding the scan lines according to the number of scan lines and the positions of the scan lines in the space-time dimension to obtain scan line encoding results.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein, The three-dimensional data is represented by a three-dimensional array of MxNxK, and the two-dimensional data is represented by a two-dimensional array of MNxK; wherein M represents a number of frames, the M dimension has the time information; N represents a number of the scan lines, the N dimension has the spatial information; and K represents a number of sampling points on each of the scan lines.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein, The two-dimensional data is composed of the space-time data and still another-dimensional data in the three-dimensional data other than the one-dimensional data and the another-dimensional data, and the performing artifact removal of the intravascular ultrasound image based on the space-time encoding result comprises: obtaining an encoded image based on the space-time encoding result and a data encoding result of the still another-dimensional data; performing artifact removal of the intravascular ultrasound image based on the encoded image.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein, The method further comprises: encoding the still another-dimensional data based on a linear chirp encoding mode to obtain the data encoding result.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein, The performing artifact removal of the intravascular ultrasound image based on the encoded image comprises: performing artifact removal on a region corresponding to a blind area in the encoded image to obtain an artifact removal image, wherein the blind area is a region where artifact signals in the intravascular ultrasound image are located; decoding the artifact removal image to complete the artifact removal process of the intravascular ultrasound image.

8. An artifact removal device suitable for intravascular ultrasound imaging, characterized in that, The method comprises: An intravascular ultrasound image acquisition module is configured to acquire an intravascular ultrasound image obtained by performing intravascular ultrasound imaging on a target blood vessel, wherein the intravascular ultrasound image is represented by three-dimensional data, one dimension of the three-dimensional data has time information and another dimension of the three-dimensional data has spatial information; An space-time data obtaining module is configured to combine the one dimension and the another dimension to obtain space-time data having both the time information and the spatial information, and to convert the three-dimensional data into two-dimensional data based on the space-time data; An artifact removing module is configured to at least encode the space-time data in the two-dimensional data to obtain a space-time encoding result, and to perform artifact removing on the intravascular ultrasound image based on the space-time encoding result.

9. An artifact removal device suitable for intravascular ultrasound imaging, characterized in that, comprise: at least one processor; and a memory connected with the at least one processor in communication; wherein the memory stores a computer program executable by the at least one processor, and the computer program is executed by the at least one processor to cause the at least one processor to perform the artifact removing method for intravascular ultrasound imaging according to any one of claims 1-7.

10. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer readable storage medium stores computer instructions for causing a processor to perform the artifact removing method for intravascular ultrasound imaging according to any one of claims 1-7 when executed by the processor.

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