Contrast agent microbubble crushing method for myocardial angiography and ultrasonic imaging system

Abstract

The invention discloses a contrast agent microbubble crushing method for myocardial angiography and an ultrasonic imaging system.The method is applied to the ultrasonic imaging system.The cardiac muscle contains contrast agent microbubbles, and the ultrasonic imaging system comprises an ultrasonic probe and a processor; wherein the processor executes the following steps: controlling the ultrasonic probe to emit a first ultrasonic wave to the cardiac muscle and receive a returned ultrasonic echo to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal, and obtaining ultrasonic contrast data comprising at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasonic echo signal; acquiring a contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle; when the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle meets the contrast agent microbubble crushing condition, the ultrasonic probe is controlled to emit second ultrasonic waves, and the second ultrasonic waves are used for crushing the contrast agent microbubbles.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of ultrasonic imaging, and in particular to a contrast agent microbubble crushing method for myocardial angiography and an ultrasonic imaging system. Background Art

[0002] In the study of myocardial perfusion, the normality of myocardial tissue perfusion can be used to determine whether the myocardial cells are adequately supplied with oxygen. Under normal physiological conditions, the tissue's demand for oxygen determines the tissue's blood flow, so blood flow is an important parameter for determining heart disease. Currently, contrast-agent-based microvascular perfusion testing is the most direct and accurate method for assessing myocardial perfusion.

[0003] Myocardial angiography focuses on the process of intramyocardial contrast agent microbubbles breaking and refilling, in order to evaluate the blood flow of the myocardium. Myocardial angiography generally adopts a drip injection method to maintain a stable contrast agent concentration in the myocardium. When performing myocardial angiography, the doctor needs to first determine that the intramyocardial contrast agent is in a state of complete filling and stable contrast agent concentration based on the intensity of the contrast agent in the myocardium, and then break the contrast agent microbubbles on this basis, and then observe the refilling process after breaking.

[0004] Currently, whether the contrast agent in the myocardium is fully filled and the contrast agent concentration is stable is judged by medical staff through visual observation, which is somewhat subjective, and the contrast agent microbubble crushing is also performed manually by medical staff. Summary of the invention

[0005] A series of simplified concepts are introduced in the Summary of the Invention, which will be further described in detail in the Detailed Description of the Invention. The Summary of the Invention does not mean to attempt to define the key features and essential technical features of the claimed technical solution, nor does it mean to attempt to determine the scope of protection of the claimed technical solution.

[0006] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for crushing contrast agent microbubbles for myocardial contrast imaging, which is applied to an ultrasound imaging system, wherein the myocardium contains contrast agent microbubbles, and the ultrasound imaging system includes an ultrasound probe and a processor, wherein the steps performed by the processor include:

[0007] Controlling the ultrasonic probe to transmit a first ultrasonic wave to the myocardium and receive a returned ultrasonic echo to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal, and acquiring ultrasonic contrast imaging data including at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasonic echo signal;

[0008] Acquire the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle;

[0009] When the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle meets the contrast agent microbubble crushing condition, the ultrasound probe is controlled to emit a second ultrasonic wave, and the second ultrasonic wave is used to crush the contrast agent microbubbles.

[0010] In an embodiment of the present application, before acquiring the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle, the method further includes:

[0011] A trigger instruction of a myocardial contrast imaging mode is received to obtain scanning parameters corresponding to the myocardial contrast imaging mode and activate an automatic contrast agent microbubble crushing function, wherein the automatic contrast agent microbubble crushing function is used to control the ultrasound probe to emit the second ultrasonic wave to crush the contrast agent microbubbles when the contrast agent concentration meets the contrast agent microbubble crushing condition.

[0012] In an embodiment of the present application, acquiring the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle includes:

[0013] The average power or the average intensity of the ultrasound echo signal of the at least one cardiac cycle is acquired based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle.

[0014] In an embodiment of the present application, acquiring the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle includes:

[0015] An image average intensity of the ultrasound contrast image of the at least one cardiac cycle is acquired based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle.

[0016] In an embodiment of the present application, acquiring the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle includes:

[0017] Acquire the contrast agent concentration of each cardiac cycle in the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle; or,

[0018] Acquire the contrast agent concentration of every N cardiac cycles in the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle, wherein N≥2 and N is an integer; or

[0019] The contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle is acquired based on the ultrasound contrast data of a specific phase or a specific time phase interval in the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle.

[0020] In an embodiment of the present application, the contrast agent concentration of at least one cardiac cycle satisfies the contrast agent microbubble crushing condition, including:

[0021] Calculating the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle to obtain a calculation result;

[0022] When the calculated result is less than a preset threshold, the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle satisfies the contrast agent microbubble crushing condition.

[0023] In an embodiment of the present application, the calculation includes one or more of standard deviation calculation, variance calculation, and average deviation calculation.

[0024] In an embodiment of the present application, calculating the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle includes:

[0025] Acquiring an image average intensity of the ultrasound contrast image of the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle;

[0026] The image average intensity of the ultrasound contrast images of the m most recent cardiac cycles including the current cardiac cycle is calculated, where m≥1 and m is an integer.

[0027] In an embodiment of the present application, the power of the second ultrasonic wave is higher than the power of the first ultrasonic wave.

[0028] In an embodiment of the present application, the method further includes: acquiring electrocardiogram data, and determining the at least one cardiac cycle based on the electrocardiogram data.

[0029] In an embodiment of the present application, the acquiring of ultrasound contrast imaging data including at least one cardiac cycle comprises:

[0030] The starting point and the ending point of the at least one cardiac cycle are determined based on the characteristic wave or the characteristic phase of the at least one cardiac cycle, and one or more ultrasound contrast data between the starting point and the ending point are acquired.

[0031] In an embodiment of the present application, after the ultrasonic probe emits the second ultrasonic wave, the method further includes:

[0032] Acquire ultrasound contrast data of contrast agent reperfusion process;

[0033] generating a contrast agent time intensity curve based on the ultrasound contrast data of the contrast agent reperfusion process;

[0034] A reperfusion fitting parameter is obtained based on the contrast agent time intensity curve, and the reperfusion fitting parameter is used to characterize one or more of the blood volume, blood flow velocity, and myocardial blood flow of the tissue.

[0035] In an embodiment of the present application, the ultrasound imaging system also includes a display, which is used to display one or more of the ultrasound contrast image of at least one cardiac cycle, the contrast agent concentration of at least one cardiac cycle, the time-intensity curve, and the reperfusion fitting parameters.

[0036] A second aspect of the present application provides a method for crushing contrast agent microbubbles for myocardial contrast imaging, which is applied to an ultrasound imaging system, wherein the myocardium contains contrast agent microbubbles, and the ultrasound imaging system includes an ultrasound probe and a processor, wherein the steps performed by the processor include:

[0037] Receiving a trigger instruction of a myocardial contrast imaging mode to obtain scanning parameters corresponding to the myocardial contrast imaging mode and activate an automatic microbubble crushing function of the contrast agent;

[0038] Controlling the ultrasonic probe to transmit a first ultrasonic wave to the myocardium based on scanning parameters corresponding to the myocardial contrast imaging mode and receiving a returned ultrasonic echo to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal;

[0039] Acquiring ultrasound contrast data based on the ultrasound echo signal, and generating an ultrasound contrast image reflecting the contrast agent perfusion situation according to the ultrasound contrast data;

[0040] After the myocardial contrast imaging mode is triggered, when a preset time period has passed or a preset number of cardiac cycles has been exceeded, the ultrasound probe is controlled to emit a second ultrasound wave, and the ultrasound wave is used to break up the contrast agent microbubbles.

[0041] In an embodiment of the present application, when a preset time has passed after the myocardial contrast imaging mode is triggered, it also includes:

[0042] Determine the time when the myocardial contrast imaging mode is triggered as the start time;

[0043] Determining a contrast agent microbubble crushing time based on the start time and the preset time length;

[0044] When the contrast agent microbubble crushing time is reached, the ultrasound probe is controlled to emit ultrasound waves.

[0045] In an embodiment of the present application, when the myocardial contrast imaging mode is triggered and a preset number of cardiac cycles have passed, it also includes:

[0046] Acquiring electrocardiogram data, and determining a cardiac cycle based on the electrocardiogram data;

[0047] determining a phase for triggering a myocardial contrast imaging mode as a starting phase;

[0048] Determine the contrast agent microbubble crushing position based on the starting phase and the preset cardiac cycle number;

[0049] When the contrast agent microbubble crushing position is reached, the ultrasound probe is controlled to emit ultrasound.

[0050] A third aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides an ultrasound imaging system, characterized in that it includes: an ultrasound probe; a transmitting circuit for stimulating the ultrasound probe to transmit ultrasound to the myocardium; a receiving circuit for controlling the ultrasound probe to receive the echo of the ultrasound to obtain the echo signal of the ultrasound; and a processor for executing the steps of the contrast agent microbubble fragmentation method for myocardial angiography as described in any one of the above items.

[0051] According to the contrast agent microbubble crushing method and ultrasound imaging system for myocardial contrast imaging provided by the present application, the contrast agent concentration is determined by ultrasound contrast imaging data, and when the contrast agent concentration meets the contrast agent microbubble crushing conditions, ultrasonic waves are automatically emitted to crush the contrast agent microbubbles. There is no need for medical personnel to judge the contrast agent filling status or click the "contrast crushing" button, thereby achieving automatic contrast agent microbubble crushing and simplifying the workflow of contrast agent reperfusion. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0052] The following drawings of the present invention are used to understand the present invention as part of the present invention. The embodiments of the present invention are shown in the drawings and the description thereof is used to explain the principle of the present invention.

[0053] In the attached figure:

[0054] Figure 1 A schematic block diagram of an ultrasound imaging system according to an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0055] Figure 2 A flow chart of a contrast agent microbubble crushing method for myocardial angiography according to an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0056] Figure 3 A flow chart of a contrast agent microbubble crushing method for myocardial angiography according to an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0057] Figure 4 A flow chart of a contrast agent microbubble crushing method for myocardial angiography according to an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0058] Figure 5 A flow chart of a contrast agent microbubble fragmentation method for myocardial angiography according to an embodiment of the present application is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0059] In the following description, a large number of specific details are provided to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention can be implemented without one or more of these details. In other examples, in order to avoid confusion with the present invention, some technical features well known in the art are not described.

[0060] It should be understood that the present invention can be implemented in different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments presented herein. On the contrary, providing these embodiments will make the disclosure thorough and complete and fully convey the scope of the present invention to those skilled in the art. In the accompanying drawings, the sizes and relative sizes of layers and regions may be exaggerated for clarity. The same reference numerals throughout represent the same elements.

[0061] The purpose of the terms used herein is only to describe specific embodiments and is not intended to be limiting of the present invention. When used herein, the singular forms "one", "an" and "said / the" are also intended to include plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the terms "consisting of" and / or "comprising", when used in this specification, determine the presence of the features, integers, steps, operations, elements and / or parts, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, parts and / or groups. When used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of the relevant listed items.

[0062] In order to fully understand the present invention, detailed steps and detailed structures will be presented in the following description to illustrate the technical solution proposed by the present invention. The preferred embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below, but in addition to these detailed descriptions, the present invention may also have other implementations.

[0063] Next, first refer to Figure 1 An ultrasound imaging system according to an embodiment of the present application is described. Figure 1 A schematic structural block diagram of an ultrasound imaging system 100 according to an embodiment of the present application is shown.

[0064] like Figure 1 As shown, the ultrasound imaging system 100 includes an ultrasound probe 110, a transmitting circuit 112, a receiving circuit 114, a processor 116, and a display 118. Further, the ultrasound imaging system may also include a transmit / receive selection switch 120 and a beamforming module 122, and the transmitting circuit 112 and the receiving circuit 114 may be connected to the ultrasound probe 110 through the transmit / receive selection switch 120.

[0065] The ultrasonic probe 110 includes a plurality of transducer array elements, which can be arranged in a row to form a linear array, or arranged in a two-dimensional matrix to form a surface array, or a plurality of transducer array elements can also form a convex array. The transducer array element is used to transmit ultrasonic waves according to the excitation electrical signal, or to convert the received ultrasonic waves into electrical signals, so each transducer array element can be used to realize the mutual conversion between the electrical pulse signal and the ultrasonic wave, so as to realize the transmission of ultrasonic waves to the tissue of the target area of ​​the object to be tested, and can also be used to receive the ultrasonic wave echo reflected by the tissue. When performing ultrasonic testing, which transducer array elements are used to transmit ultrasonic waves and which transducer array elements are used to receive ultrasonic waves can be controlled by the transmission sequence and the reception sequence, or the transducer array elements can be controlled to transmit ultrasonic waves or receive ultrasonic wave echoes in time slots. The transducer array elements participating in ultrasonic wave transmission can be excited by electrical signals at the same time, so as to transmit ultrasonic waves at the same time; or, the transducer array elements participating in ultrasonic wave beam transmission can also be excited by several electrical signals with a certain time interval, so as to continuously transmit ultrasonic waves with a certain time interval.

[0066] During the ultrasonic imaging process, the transmitting circuit 112 sends the delayed focused transmitting pulse to the ultrasonic probe 110 through the transmitting / receiving selection switch 120. The ultrasonic probe 110 is stimulated by the transmitting pulse to transmit an ultrasonic beam to the tissue of the target area of ​​the object to be measured, and receives the ultrasonic echo with tissue information reflected from the tissue of the target area after a certain delay, and reconverts the ultrasonic echo into an electrical signal. The receiving circuit 114 receives the electrical signal converted and generated by the ultrasonic probe 110, obtains the ultrasonic echo signal, and sends these ultrasonic echo signals to the beamforming module 122, which performs focusing delay, weighting and channel summing on the ultrasonic echo data, and then sends them to the processor 116. The processor 116 performs signal detection, signal enhancement, data conversion, logarithmic compression and other processing on the ultrasonic echo signal to form an ultrasonic image. The ultrasonic image obtained by the processor 116 can be displayed on the display 118 or stored in the memory 124.

[0067] Optionally, the processor 116 may be implemented as software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof, and may use a single or multiple application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), a single or multiple general purpose integrated circuits, a single or multiple microprocessors, a single or multiple programmable logic devices, or any combination of the aforementioned circuits and / or devices, or other suitable circuits or devices. Furthermore, the processor 116 may control other components in the ultrasound imaging system 100 to perform the corresponding steps of the methods in various embodiments of the present specification.

[0068] The display 118 is connected to the processor 116, and the display 118 may be a touch screen, a liquid crystal display, etc.; or, the display 118 may be an independent display such as a liquid crystal display, a television, etc., which is independent of the ultrasound imaging system 100; or, the display 118 may be a display screen of an electronic device such as a smart phone or a tablet computer, etc. The number of the display 118 may be one or more.

[0069] The display 118 can display the ultrasound image obtained by the processor 116. In addition, while displaying the ultrasound image, the display 118 can also provide the user with a graphical interface for human-computer interaction. One or more controlled objects are set on the graphical interface, and the user is provided with a human-computer interaction device to input operation instructions to control these controlled objects, thereby performing corresponding control operations. For example, an icon is displayed on the graphical interface, and the icon can be operated by the human-computer interaction device to perform a specific function, such as drawing a region of interest box on the ultrasound image.

[0070] Optionally, the ultrasound imaging system 100 may further include other human-machine interaction devices in addition to the display 118, which are connected to the processor 116. For example, the processor 116 may be connected to the human-machine interaction device via an external input / output port, and the external input / output port may be a wireless communication module, or a wired communication module, or a combination of the two. The external input / output port may also be implemented based on USB, bus protocols such as CAN, and / or wired network protocols.

[0071] The human-computer interaction device may include an input device for detecting user input information, which may be, for example, a control instruction for ultrasonic transmission / reception timing, an operation input instruction for drawing points, lines or frames on an ultrasonic image, or other instruction types. The input device may include a keyboard, a mouse, a scroll wheel, a trackball, a mobile input device (such as a mobile device with a touch screen, a mobile phone, etc.), a multi-function knob, etc., or a combination of multiple thereof. The human-computer interaction device may also include an output device such as a printer.

[0072] The ultrasound imaging system 100 may further include a memory 124 for storing instructions executed by the processor, storing received ultrasound echoes, storing ultrasound images, etc. The memory may be a flash memory card, a solid-state memory, a hard disk, etc. It may be a volatile memory and / or a non-volatile memory, a removable memory and / or a non-removable memory, etc.

[0073] It should be understood that Figure 1 The components included in the ultrasonic imaging system 100 are only exemplary, and the ultrasonic imaging system 100 may include more or fewer components, and the present application is not limited thereto.

[0074] Refer to the following Figure 2 The present invention describes a method for crushing contrast agent microbubbles for myocardial angiography proposed in an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 2 is a schematic flow chart of a contrast agent microbubble crushing method 200 for myocardial angiography according to an embodiment of the present application. Specifically, the contrast agent microbubble crushing method 200 for myocardial angiography according to an embodiment of the present application is applied to Figure 1 The ultrasound imaging system 100 shown in the figure comprises an ultrasound probe 110 and a processor 116, wherein the processor 116 performs the following steps:

[0075] Step S210, controlling the ultrasonic probe to transmit a first ultrasonic wave to the myocardium and receiving a returned ultrasonic echo to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal, and acquiring ultrasonic contrast imaging data including at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasonic echo signal;

[0076] Step S220, acquiring the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle;

[0077] Step S230, when the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle meets the contrast agent microbubble crushing condition, control the ultrasound probe to emit a second ultrasonic wave, wherein the second ultrasonic wave is used to crush the contrast agent microbubbles.

[0078] Myocardial perfusion refers to the injection of contrast agent into the target object. After the contrast agent reaches the heart, the heart is imaged ultrasonically, and the blood supply status of the myocardium is determined based on the results of the ultrasonic imaging. The contrast agent is a solution containing contrast microbubbles, which has high echogenicity, that is, the ability to reflect ultrasound. There is a great difference between the echogenicity of the gas in the contrast microbubbles and that of human tissues. Therefore, the part containing contrast microbubbles can produce an ultrasound image with high contrast due to the high echogenicity difference. After the contrast agent is injected intravenously, the contrast agent is perfused into various tissues and organs with the blood flow, which enhances the tissue imaging. The myocardial perfusion process is the process of contrast agent perfusion into the myocardium, and the myocardial reperfusion process is to use a high mechanical index pulse (High MI Flash) to destroy the contrast microbubbles in the myocardium at a certain moment during the myocardial perfusion process, and continuously observe the filling-dissipation process of the contrast agent after that moment. The intensity of the high mechanical index pulse that destroys the contrast microbubbles is preferably enough to just destroy the contrast microbubbles in the myocardium without destroying the microbubbles in the cardiac cavity. Generally, the mechanical index can be set between 0.8 and 1.2.

[0079] Exemplarily, before obtaining the contrast agent concentration of at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle, the steps executed by the processor 116 also include: receiving a trigger instruction of a myocardial contrast imaging mode to obtain scanning parameters corresponding to the myocardial contrast imaging mode and activating an automatic contrast agent microbubble crushing function.

[0080] In an embodiment of the present application, before performing myocardial contrast imaging, the user usually first interacts with the ultrasound imaging system 100 to enable the ultrasound imaging system 100 to enter the myocardial contrast imaging mode. When entering the myocardial contrast imaging mode, the "contrast crushing" button is turned on by default. Therefore, the processor 116 receives the trigger instruction of the myocardial contrast imaging mode and obtains the scanning parameters, and also obtains the contrast agent microbubble crushing instruction, activating the contrast agent microbubble automatic crushing function. The contrast agent microbubble automatic crushing function is used to control the ultrasound probe to emit ultrasonic waves to crush the contrast agent microbubbles when the contrast agent concentration meets the contrast agent microbubble crushing condition.

[0081] When the user switches to the myocardial contrast imaging mode, he has expressed his intention to observe the myocardial reperfusion process. At this time, in order to obtain the data of the reperfusion process, further clicking the "Contrast Crush" button leads to redundancy of user operation steps. The present application optimizes the workflow by merging the triggering of the "Contrast Crush" button and the opening of the myocardial contrast imaging mode into a single step.

[0082] In step S210, the ultrasonic probe is controlled to transmit a first ultrasonic wave to the myocardium and receive a returned ultrasonic echo to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal, and ultrasonic contrast imaging data including at least one cardiac cycle is acquired based on the ultrasonic echo signal.

[0083] In the embodiments of the present application, based on the aforementioned Figure 1 First, the transmitting circuit 112 excites the ultrasonic probe 110 to generate a first ultrasonic wave, so as to transmit the first ultrasonic wave to the myocardium based on the scanning parameters obtained above. Then, the receiving circuit 114 receives the echo of the first ultrasonic wave returned from the myocardium to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal. The processor 116 can generate ultrasonic contrast data of the myocardium based on the ultrasonic echo signal.

[0084] In step S220, the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle is acquired based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle.

[0085] Exemplarily, acquiring the contrast agent concentration of at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle includes: acquiring the contrast agent concentration of each cardiac cycle in the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle; or, acquiring the contrast agent concentration of every N cardiac cycles in the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle, wherein N ≥ 2 and N is an integer; or, acquiring the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of a specific phase or a specific time phase interval in the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle.

[0086] In the embodiment of the present application, it is usually necessary to obtain ultrasound contrast data of multiple cardiac cycles and electrocardiogram data including the multiple cardiac cycles, so as to obtain the contrast agent concentration of each cardiac cycle or each group of cardiac cycles in the multiple cardiac cycles. For ultrasound contrast data of multiple cardiac cycles, an "interruption condition" is usually set to group the ultrasound contrast data. The "interruption condition" is a set mark moment, usually a characteristic wave or a specific phase, and then the starting point and the ending point of each cardiac cycle or each group of cardiac cycles are determined based on the characteristic wave or the characteristic phase, and one or more ultrasound contrast images between the starting point and the ending point are obtained. Taking the R wave as an example, the ultrasound contrast data between two adjacent R waves are divided into ultrasound contrast data of one cardiac cycle, and these ultrasound contrast data are processed to obtain the contrast agent concentration of the cardiac cycle. The above-mentioned "interruption condition" is usually a condition that is satisfied once for each cardiac cycle. However, as needed, for example, when the ultrasound contrast imaging data to be processed includes data of more cardiac cycles, each N (N ≥ 2 and N is an integer) cardiac cycles can also be divided into a group to calculate the contrast agent concentration of each group of cardiac cycles. For each cardiac cycle or each group of cardiac cycles, the ultrasound contrast imaging data can be partially or completely processed to obtain the contrast agent concentration of the cardiac cycle or the group of cardiac cycles. For example, only the ultrasound contrast imaging data of a specific phase or a specific time phase interval in the cardiac cycle is processed, which can reduce the workload of data processing and improve the data processing speed of the ultrasound contrast imaging system 100. In addition, the contrast agent concentration obtained by processing the ultrasound contrast imaging data of a specific phase or a specific time phase interval may have a more obvious contrast agent concentration characteristic, making the result difference more obvious.

[0087] Exemplarily, acquiring the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle includes: acquiring the average power or average intensity of the ultrasound echo signal of the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle.

[0088] In the embodiment of the present application, the received echo signal is displayed on the display 118 after logarithmic compression, dynamic range conversion and other processing steps. The data in these processing steps are all related to the concentration of the contrast agent and can be used to characterize the concentration of the contrast agent, including but not limited to the power of the echo signal or the intensity of the echo signal. When the concentration of the contrast agent is low, the power of the echo signal is linearly related to the concentration of the contrast agent. Therefore, when performing quantitative analysis, the preferred data is the power of the echo signal, which can more objectively reflect the changing trend of the concentration of the contrast agent.

[0089] Exemplarily, acquiring the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle includes: acquiring the image average intensity of the ultrasound contrast image of the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle.

[0090] In the embodiment of the present application, the ultrasound contrast imaging data is processed to obtain an ultrasound contrast imaging image, and then the image intensity of the ultrasound contrast imaging image is obtained. The image intensity of the ultrasound contrast imaging image can be characterized by parameters such as the grayscale value of the ultrasound contrast imaging and the brightness of the ultrasound contrast imaging. Therefore, obtaining the image average intensity of the ultrasound contrast imaging image includes obtaining the image average grayscale value of the ultrasound contrast imaging image or obtaining the image average brightness of the ultrasound contrast imaging image, and the present application does not limit this.

[0091] In step S230, when the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle meets the contrast agent microbubble crushing condition, the ultrasound probe is controlled to emit a second ultrasonic wave, and the second ultrasonic wave is used to crush the contrast agent microbubbles.

[0092] Exemplarily, the contrast agent concentration of at least one cardiac cycle satisfies the contrast agent microbubble crushing condition, including: calculating the contrast agent concentration of at least one cardiac cycle to obtain a calculation result; when the calculation result is less than a preset threshold, the contrast agent concentration of at least one cardiac cycle satisfies the contrast agent microbubble crushing condition.

[0093] In the embodiment of the present application, it is assumed that the current cardiac cycle is the kth cardiac cycle after entering the myocardial contrast imaging mode, and the average image intensity of the ultrasound contrast image of this cardiac cycle is recorded as I k , the average image intensity of the ultrasound contrast images of the m (m ≥ 1 and m is an integer) cardiac cycles of the current cardiac cycle are expressed as I k-m+1 ,I k-m+2 ,……,I k , where k ≥ m, for [I k-m+1 ,I k-m+2 ,……,I k ] is calculated, and the calculation method includes but is not limited to one or more of standard deviation calculation, variance calculation, and average deviation calculation to obtain a calculation result. The calculation result is then compared with a preset threshold value. When the calculation result is greater than the preset threshold value, it indicates that the contrast agent does not fill the myocardium. When the calculation result is less than the preset threshold value, it indicates that the contrast agent concentration has reached stability and fills the myocardium.

[0094] In the embodiment of the present application, when the contrast agent concentration does not meet the contrast agent microbubble crushing condition, the process continues to wait and repeats the above calculation process for a certain number of recent cardiac cycles including the new current cardiac cycle.

[0095] In the embodiment of the present application, when the contrast agent concentration reaches stability and fills the myocardium, the contrast agent microbubble crushing condition is met, and the transmitting circuit 112 excites the ultrasound probe 110 to generate a second ultrasonic wave, the power of which is higher than the power of the first ultrasonic wave to crush the contrast agent microbubbles.

[0096] According to the above algorithm, the processor 116 of the ultrasound angiography system 100 can determine whether the myocardium is in a state where the contrast agent concentration is stable and fills the myocardium based on the contrast agent concentration, without the need for intervention by users or medical personnel; when it is determined that the contrast agent concentration is stable and fills the myocardium, contrast agent microbubbles can be directly crushed and the myocardial reperfusion process can be observed without clicking the "contrast crushing" button, thereby realizing automatic contrast agent microbubble crushing and simplifying the workflow of contrast agent reperfusion.

[0097] Exemplarily, after the ultrasound probe emits the second ultrasonic wave, it also includes: acquiring ultrasound contrast data of a contrast agent reperfusion process; generating a contrast agent time-intensity curve based on the ultrasound contrast data of the contrast agent reperfusion process; and obtaining reperfusion fitting parameters based on the contrast agent time-intensity curve, wherein the reperfusion fitting parameters are used to characterize one or more of tissue blood volume, blood flow velocity, and myocardial blood flow.

[0098] In one embodiment, ultrasound contrast data of the contrast agent reperfusion process is obtained, and the beamforming module 112 performs corresponding delay and weighted summation processing on the ultrasound contrast data of the reperfusion process to achieve beamforming, and then sends it to the processor 116. After some or all of the image post-processing steps such as denoising, smoothing, and enhancement, an ultrasound image during myocardial reperfusion is obtained. A region of interest is selected from the ultrasound image, and a time intensity curve is drawn by quantitative analysis of the region of interest in the ultrasound image. The formula C(t)=A×(1-e^ (-βt) ) fits the time-intensity curve to obtain fitting parameters, wherein the fitting parameters include one or more of a parameter A for representing blood volume, a parameter β for representing blood flow velocity, and a parameter A×β for representing myocardial blood flow. Furthermore, a time-intensity fitting curve can be generated based on the fitting parameters.

[0099] In one embodiment, the display 118 of the ultrasound imaging system 100 can be used to display one or more of the ultrasound contrast image of the at least one cardiac cycle, the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle, the time-intensity curve, and the reperfusion fitting parameters, and the present application does not impose any limitations on this.

[0100] According to the contrast agent microbubble crushing method and ultrasound imaging system for myocardial contrast imaging provided by the present application, the contrast agent concentration is determined by ultrasound contrast imaging data, and when the contrast agent concentration meets the contrast agent microbubble crushing conditions, ultrasonic waves are automatically emitted to crush the contrast agent microbubbles. There is no need for medical personnel to judge the contrast agent filling status or click the "contrast crushing" button, thereby achieving automatic contrast agent microbubble crushing and simplifying the workflow of contrast agent reperfusion.

[0101] Refer to the following Figure 3 The present invention describes a method for crushing contrast agent microbubbles for myocardial angiography proposed in an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 3 3 is a schematic flow chart of a contrast agent microbubble crushing method 300 for myocardial angiography according to an embodiment of the present application. Specifically, the contrast agent microbubble crushing method 300 for myocardial angiography according to an embodiment of the present application is applied to Figure 1 The ultrasound imaging system 100 shown in the figure comprises an ultrasound probe 110 and a processor 116, wherein the processor 116 performs the following steps:

[0102] Step S310, receiving a trigger instruction of a myocardial contrast imaging mode to obtain scanning parameters corresponding to the myocardial contrast imaging mode and activate an automatic crushing function of contrast agent microbubbles;

[0103] Step S320, controlling the ultrasonic probe to transmit a first ultrasonic wave to the myocardium based on the scanning parameters corresponding to the myocardial contrast imaging mode and receiving a returned ultrasonic echo to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal;

[0104] Step S330, acquiring ultrasound contrast data based on the ultrasound echo signal, and generating an ultrasound contrast image reflecting the contrast agent perfusion situation according to the ultrasound contrast data;

[0105] Step S340, when a preset time has passed or a preset number of cardiac cycles has been exceeded after the myocardial contrast imaging mode is triggered, the ultrasound probe is controlled to emit a second ultrasound wave, and the ultrasound wave is used to break up the contrast agent microbubbles.

[0106] In step S310, before performing myocardial contrast imaging, the user usually first interacts with the ultrasound imaging system 100 to enable the ultrasound imaging system 100 to enter the myocardial contrast imaging mode. When entering the myocardial contrast imaging mode, the "contrast crushing" button is turned on by default. Therefore, the processor 116 receives the trigger instruction of the myocardial contrast imaging mode and obtains the scanning parameters, and also obtains the contrast agent microbubble crushing instruction, activating the contrast agent microbubble automatic crushing function. The contrast agent microbubble automatic crushing function is used to control the ultrasound probe to emit ultrasonic waves to crush the contrast agent microbubbles when the contrast agent concentration meets the contrast agent microbubble crushing condition.

[0107] When the user switches to the myocardial contrast imaging mode, he has expressed his intention to observe the myocardial reperfusion process. At this time, in order to obtain the data of the reperfusion process, further clicking the "Contrast Crush" button leads to redundancy of user operation steps. The present application optimizes the workflow by merging the triggering of the "Contrast Crush" button and the opening of the myocardial contrast imaging mode into a single step.

[0108] In step S320 and step S330, the ultrasonic probe is controlled to transmit a first ultrasonic wave to the myocardium based on the scanning parameters corresponding to the myocardial contrast imaging mode and receive the returned ultrasonic echo to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal; ultrasonic contrast data is obtained based on the ultrasonic echo signal, and an ultrasonic contrast image reflecting the perfusion of the contrast agent is generated based on the ultrasonic contrast data. Figure 1 First, the transmitting circuit 112 excites the ultrasonic probe 110 to generate a first ultrasonic wave, so as to transmit the first ultrasonic wave to the myocardium based on the scanning parameters obtained above. Then, the receiving circuit 114 receives the echo of the first ultrasonic wave returned from the myocardium to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal. The processor 116 can also generate ultrasonic contrast data of the myocardium based on the ultrasonic echo signal, and generate an ultrasonic contrast image reflecting the perfusion of the contrast agent according to the ultrasonic contrast data of the myocardium.

[0109] In step S340, when a preset time period or a preset number of cardiac cycles has elapsed after the myocardial contrast imaging mode is triggered, the ultrasound probe is controlled to emit a second ultrasonic wave, and the ultrasonic wave is used to break up the contrast agent microbubbles.

[0110] In an embodiment of the present application, when a preset time has passed after the myocardial contrast imaging mode is triggered, it also includes: determining the time when the myocardial contrast imaging mode is triggered as the start time; determining the contrast agent microbubble crushing time based on the start time and the preset time; when the contrast agent microbubble crushing time is reached, controlling the ultrasound probe to emit ultrasonic waves.

[0111] In an embodiment of the present application, when the myocardial contrast imaging mode is triggered and a preset number of cardiac cycles have passed, it also includes: acquiring electrocardiogram data, and determining the cardiac cycle based on the electrocardiogram data; determining the phase at which the myocardial contrast imaging mode is triggered as the starting phase; determining the contrast agent microbubble crushing position based on the starting phase and the preset number of cardiac cycles; and when the contrast agent microbubble crushing position is reached, controlling the ultrasound probe to emit ultrasonic waves.

[0112] The present application also provides an ultrasonic imaging system for implementing the above-mentioned contrast agent microbubble crushing method for myocardial angiography. The ultrasonic imaging system includes an ultrasonic probe, a transmitting circuit, a receiving circuit, a processor and a display. Figure 1 , the ultrasound imaging system can be implemented as follows Figure 1The ultrasound imaging system 100 shown may include an ultrasound probe 110, a transmitting circuit 112, a receiving circuit 114, a processor 116 and a display 118. Optionally, the ultrasound imaging system 100 may also include a transmit / receive selection switch 120, a beamforming module 122 and a memory 124. The transmitting circuit 112 and the receiving circuit 114 may be connected to the ultrasound probe 110 via the transmit / receive selection switch 120. The relevant description of each component may refer to the relevant description above and will not be repeated here.

[0113] Among them, the transmitting circuit 112 is used to control the ultrasonic probe 110 to transmit ultrasonic waves to the target tissue; the receiving circuit 114 is used to control the ultrasonic probe 110 to receive the echo of the ultrasonic wave returned by the target tissue to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal; the processor 116 is used to perform ultrasonic imaging based on the ultrasonic echo signal; the processor 116 is also used to execute the steps of the above-mentioned contrast agent microbubble fragmentation method for myocardial angiography.

[0114] The above only describes the main functions of the components of the ultrasound imaging system. For more details, please refer to the relevant description of the contrast agent microbubble fragmentation method used for myocardial angiography, which will not be repeated here.

[0115] Although example embodiments have been described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, it should be understood that the above example embodiments are merely exemplary and are not intended to limit the scope of the present application to this. Those of ordinary skill in the art may make various changes and modifications therein without departing from the scope and spirit of the present application. All these changes and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present application as required by the appended claims.

[0116] Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of this application.

[0117] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic, for example, the division of the units is only a logical function division, and there may be other division methods in actual implementation, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another device, or some features can be ignored or not executed.

[0118] In the description provided herein, a large number of specific details are described. However, it is understood that the embodiments of the present application can be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known methods, structures and techniques are not shown in detail so as not to obscure the understanding of this description.

[0119] Similarly, it should be understood that in order to streamline the present application and help understand one or more of the various inventive aspects, in the description of the exemplary embodiments of the present application, the various features of the present application are sometimes grouped together into a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof. However, the method of the present application should not be interpreted as reflecting the following intention: the claimed application requires more features than the features clearly stated in each claim. More specifically, as reflected in the corresponding claims, the inventive point is that the corresponding technical problem can be solved with features less than all the features of a single disclosed embodiment. Therefore, the claims following the specific embodiment are hereby explicitly incorporated into the specific embodiment, wherein each claim itself serves as a separate embodiment of the present application.

[0120] It will be understood by those skilled in the art that, except for mutually exclusive features, all features disclosed in this specification (including the accompanying claims, abstracts and drawings) and all processes or units of any method or device disclosed in this specification may be combined in any combination. Unless otherwise expressly stated, each feature disclosed in this specification (including the accompanying claims, abstracts and drawings) may be replaced by an alternative feature that provides the same, equivalent or similar purpose.

[0121] In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciate that, although some embodiments described herein include certain features included in other embodiments but not other features, the combination of features of different embodiments is meant to be within the scope of the present application and form different embodiments. For example, in the claims, any one of the claimed embodiments can be used in any combination.

[0122] The various component embodiments of the present application can be implemented in hardware, or in software modules running on one or more processors, or in a combination thereof. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP) can be used in practice to implement some or all of the functions of some modules in the article analysis device according to the embodiment of the present application. The present application can also be implemented as a device program (e.g., computer program and computer program product) for executing part or all of the methods described herein. Such a program implementing the present application can be stored on a computer-readable medium, or can have the form of one or more signals. Such a signal can be downloaded from an Internet website, or provided on a carrier signal, or provided in any other form.

[0123] It should be noted that the above embodiments illustrate the present application rather than limit the present application, and that those skilled in the art may design alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims. In the claims, any reference symbol between brackets should not be constructed as a limitation to the claims. The word "comprising" does not exclude the presence of elements or steps not listed in the claims. The word "one" or "an" preceding an element does not exclude the presence of multiple such elements. The present application may be implemented by means of hardware including several different elements and by means of a suitably programmed computer. In a unit claim that lists several devices, several of these devices may be embodied by the same hardware item. The use of the words first, second, and third, etc. does not indicate any order. These words may be interpreted as names.

[0124] The above is only a specific implementation or description of a specific implementation of the present application, and the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any technician familiar with the technical field can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application, which should be included in the protection scope of the present application. The protection scope of the present application shall be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for crushing contrast agent microbubbles for myocardial angiography, characterized in that: Applied to an ultrasound imaging system, the myocardium contains contrast agent microbubbles, the ultrasound imaging system comprises an ultrasound probe and a processor, wherein the steps performed by the processor include: Controlling the ultrasonic probe to transmit a first ultrasonic wave to the myocardium and receive a returned ultrasonic echo to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal, and acquiring ultrasonic contrast imaging data including at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasonic echo signal; Acquire the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle; When the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle meets the contrast agent microbubble crushing condition, the ultrasound probe is controlled to emit a second ultrasonic wave, and the second ultrasonic wave is used to crush the contrast agent microbubbles.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that Before acquiring the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle, the method further includes: A trigger instruction of a myocardial contrast imaging mode is received to obtain scanning parameters corresponding to the myocardial contrast imaging mode and activate an automatic contrast agent microbubble crushing function, wherein the automatic contrast agent microbubble crushing function is used to control the ultrasound probe to emit the second ultrasonic wave to crush the contrast agent microbubbles when the contrast agent concentration meets the contrast agent microbubble crushing condition.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The acquiring of the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle comprises: The average power or the average intensity of the ultrasound echo signal of the at least one cardiac cycle is acquired based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The acquiring of the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle comprises: An image average intensity of the ultrasound contrast image of the at least one cardiac cycle is acquired based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that Acquiring the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle comprises: Acquire the contrast agent concentration of each cardiac cycle in the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle; or, Acquire the contrast agent concentration of every N cardiac cycles in the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle, wherein N≥2 and N is an integer; or The contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle is acquired based on the ultrasound contrast data of a specific phase or a specific time phase interval in the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle.

6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The contrast agent concentration of at least one cardiac cycle meets the contrast agent microbubble crushing condition, which includes: Calculating the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle to obtain a calculation result; When the calculated result is less than a preset threshold, the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle satisfies the contrast agent microbubble crushing condition.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The calculation includes one or more of standard deviation calculation, variance calculation, and average deviation calculation.

8. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that Calculating the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle comprises: Acquiring an image average intensity of the ultrasound contrast image of the at least one cardiac cycle based on the ultrasound contrast data of the at least one cardiac cycle; The image average intensity of the ultrasound contrast images of the m most recent cardiac cycles including the current cardiac cycle is calculated, where m≥1 and m is an integer.

9. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The power of the second ultrasonic wave is higher than the power of the first ultrasonic wave.

10. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that Also includes: Acquire electrocardiogram data, and determine the at least one cardiac cycle based on the electrocardiogram data.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that The acquiring of ultrasound contrast imaging data including at least one cardiac cycle comprises: The starting point and the ending point of the at least one cardiac cycle are determined based on the characteristic wave or the characteristic phase of the at least one cardiac cycle, and one or more ultrasound contrast data between the starting point and the ending point are acquired.

12. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that After the ultrasonic probe emits the second ultrasonic wave, the method further comprises: Acquire ultrasound contrast data of contrast agent reperfusion process; generating a contrast agent time intensity curve based on the ultrasound contrast data of the contrast agent reperfusion process; A reperfusion fitting parameter is obtained based on the contrast agent time intensity curve, and the reperfusion fitting parameter is used to characterize one or more of the blood volume, blood flow velocity, and myocardial blood flow of the tissue.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that The ultrasound imaging system further comprises a display for displaying one or more of the ultrasound contrast image of the at least one cardiac cycle, the contrast agent concentration of the at least one cardiac cycle, the time intensity curve, and the reperfusion fitting parameters.

14. A method for crushing contrast agent microbubbles for myocardial angiography, characterized in that: Applied to an ultrasound imaging system, the myocardium contains contrast agent microbubbles, the ultrasound imaging system comprises an ultrasound probe and a processor, wherein the steps performed by the processor include: Receiving a trigger instruction of a myocardial contrast imaging mode to obtain scanning parameters corresponding to the myocardial contrast imaging mode and activate an automatic microbubble crushing function of the contrast agent; Controlling the ultrasonic probe to transmit a first ultrasonic wave to the myocardium based on scanning parameters corresponding to the myocardial contrast imaging mode and receiving a returned ultrasonic echo to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal; Acquiring ultrasound contrast data based on the ultrasound echo signal, and generating an ultrasound contrast image reflecting the contrast agent perfusion situation according to the ultrasound contrast data; After the myocardial contrast imaging mode is triggered, when a preset time period has passed or a preset number of cardiac cycles has been exceeded, the ultrasound probe is controlled to emit a second ultrasound wave, and the ultrasound wave is used to break up the contrast agent microbubbles.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that When a preset time has passed after the myocardial contrast imaging mode is triggered, the method further includes: Determine the time when the myocardial contrast imaging mode is triggered as the start time; Determining a contrast agent microbubble crushing time based on the start time and the preset time length; When the contrast agent microbubble crushing time is reached, the ultrasound probe is controlled to emit ultrasound waves.

16. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that When the myocardial contrast imaging mode is triggered and a preset number of cardiac cycles have passed, the method further includes: Acquiring electrocardiogram data, and determining a cardiac cycle based on the electrocardiogram data; determining a phase for triggering a myocardial contrast imaging mode as a starting phase; Determine the contrast agent microbubble crushing position based on the starting phase and the preset cardiac cycle number; When the contrast agent microbubble crushing position is reached, the ultrasound probe is controlled to emit ultrasound.

17. An ultrasonic imaging system, characterized in that: include: Ultrasound probe; A transmitting circuit, used for stimulating the ultrasonic probe to transmit ultrasonic waves to the myocardium; A receiving circuit, used for controlling the ultrasonic probe to receive the ultrasonic echo to obtain the ultrasonic echo signal; A processor for executing the steps of the contrast agent microbubble fragmentation method for myocardial angiography according to any one of claims 1 to 16.

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