Ultrasonic diagnostic device and echo image display method

Abstract

To provide an ultrasonic diagnostic device that can perform quantitative evaluation of treatment effects on the basis of comparison of echo images before and after the treatment such as acupuncture and moxibustion.SOLUTION: An ultrasonic diagnostic device includes: a similarity determination unit which determines the similarity between a pre-echo image acquired before the treatment and a post-echo image acquired after the treatment; and a display processing unit which generates a diagnostic image in which the pre-echo image and the post-echo image acquired at the same position are arranged side by side in such a manner that comparison is possible. The device handles the pre-echo image and the post-echo image determined that they are similar to each other by the similarity determination unit as the echo images acquired at the same position.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for acquiring an echo image based on ultrasonic waves reflected inside the body of a subject, and a method for displaying an echo image in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus. [Background technology]

[0002] Ultrasound diagnostic devices can obtain cross-sectional images of the inside of a living body in real time, and have the advantages of being less invasive than other medical devices such as X-ray CT, and being small and easy to carry. In recent years, ultrasound images have been widely used not only for medical diagnosis of surgical diseases, but also in acupuncture and moxibustion clinics to evaluate and record the effects of treatment.

[0003] Since the echo images obtained by ultrasound diagnostic devices are scanned manually by an operator such as a doctor or acupuncturist, it is difficult to record and save the images in exactly the same position. Therefore, it is difficult to objectively evaluate the effect of acupuncture treatment by visualizing it in an echo image. In particular, muscles are wrapped in fascia, and when the fascia is adhered, it appears white in the echo image, but there is also the issue that it is difficult to judge the amount of change by visual inspection.

[0004] In relation to such problems, for example, Patent Document 1 proposes a method for quantitatively evaluating myocardial adhesions based on relative motion information of the heart and its surrounding tissues obtained from M-mode images of an ultrasound diagnostic device. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] JP 2012-152532 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus or an echo image display method that enables a quantitative evaluation of the effect of treatment, for example, acupuncture or moxibustion, based on a comparison of echo images taken before and after the treatment. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is an ultrasound diagnostic device that acquires an echo image by emitting ultrasound from an ultrasound probe toward a body and receiving the ultrasound reflected inside the body with the ultrasound probe, and is equipped with a display processing unit that generates a diagnostic image in which a pre-echo image acquired in a first period and a post-echo image acquired at the same position as the pre-echo image in a second period that is temporally later than the first period are arranged side by side in a manner that allows them to be compared.

[0008] The ultrasonic diagnostic device may further include a multi-frame memory that stores a plurality of post-echo images acquired during the second period, an approximation determination unit that determines an approximation of each of the post-echo images stored in the multi-frame memory to the pre-echo image, and a capture unit that captures an image that is approximating the pre-echo image among the plurality of post-echo images stored in the multi-frame memory as a post-echo image acquired at the same position.

[0009] The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus may further include an evaluation unit that evaluates an amount of change in echo intensity based on brightness between the pre-echo image and the post-echo image acquired at the same position.

[0010] The present invention also provides an echo image display method in an ultrasound diagnostic device that acquires an echo image by emitting ultrasound from an ultrasound probe toward a body and receiving ultrasound reflected within the body with the ultrasound probe, the echo image display method including the steps of acquiring a pre-echo image in a first period, acquiring a post-echo image at the same position as the pre-echo image in a second period that is temporally later than the first period, and generating a diagnostic image in which the pre-echo image acquired in the first period and a post-echo image acquired in the second period at the same position as the pre-echo image are arranged side by side in a manner that allows them to be compared.

[0011] The echo image display method may further include the steps of storing a plurality of post-echo images acquired during the second period in a multi-frame memory, determining the degree of similarity of each of the post-echo images stored in the multi-frame memory to the pre-echo image, and capturing an image among the plurality of post-echo images stored in the multi-frame memory that is similar to the pre-echo image as a post-echo image acquired at the same position.

[0012] The echo image display method may further include a step of evaluating an amount of change in echo intensity based on brightness between the pre-echo image and the post-echo image acquired at the same position. Effect of the Invention

[0013] According to the present invention, for example, by displaying a pre-echo image acquired in a first period before a treatment and a post-echo image acquired at the same position as the pre-echo image in a second period after the treatment side by side in a manner that allows for comparison, comparison of these images can contribute to a quantitative evaluation of the effectiveness of the treatment. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0014] [Figure 1]1 is a functional block diagram for explaining a system configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 11 is a flow diagram for illustrating an example of a degree of approximation determination process. [Diagram 3] 11 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a comparison process between a pre-echo image and a post-echo image. FIG. [Figure 4] This is an example of a diagnostic image in which a pre-echo image (left) and a post-echo image (right) are arranged side-by-side. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0015] The ultrasonic diagnostic device 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention is a device that applies an ultrasonic probe 11 having a plurality of transducers to the surface of the skin of a subject, radiates ultrasonic waves toward the body, and receives the ultrasonic waves reflected inside the body by the ultrasonic probe 11 and performs signal processing to obtain an ultrasonic tomographic image (echo image). In particular, the ultrasonic diagnostic device 1 of this embodiment obtains a pre-echo image E obtained before a treatment (first period) in order to quantitatively evaluate the effect of the treatment by comparing echo images before and after acupuncture and moxibustion treatment, for example. pre and a post-echo image E taken at the same position after treatment (second period). post The apparatus has a function of generating a diagnostic image in which the two images are arranged side by side in a manner that allows comparison.

[0016] In the description of the embodiments in this specification, an ultrasonic tomographic image is a B-mode image, which is simply referred to as an "echo image." Furthermore, unless otherwise specified, an "echo image" refers to one image frame or its image data generated for each scan period. Needless to say, "obtaining" an image includes signal processing for generating image data visualized for display.

[0017] The configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic device 1 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram for explaining the system configuration of the ultrasonic diagnostic device 1. In the figure, a B-mode image generating unit 13, a display processing unit 14, a storage manager 16, a degree of approximation determining unit 19, a capture unit 20, and an evaluation unit 21 provided in a main body 10 are processing units whose functions are realized by a computer processor such as a system control unit 12 cooperating with hardware according to a predetermined program to execute arithmetic processing. In addition, these processing units may be composed of dedicated hardware integrated circuits or digital signal processing units specialized for image signal processing and / or AI (Artificial Intelligence).

[0018] In FIG. 1, the ultrasonic probe 11 has a transducer array 111 in which multiple transducers are arranged in one direction, a switching circuit 112 connected to the transducer array 111, a transmitting unit 113 that transmits an ultrasonic drive signal, and a receiving unit 114 that receives a reflected ultrasonic signal.

[0019] The transducer array 111 may be of any of convex, linear, and sector types, but the convex type has a relatively wide contact surface and is suitable for wide-angle and deep range observation. The transducer array 111 has an acoustic lens 111a and an acoustic matching layer 111b in this order from the side facing and contacting the body surface of the subject. The acoustic lens 111a is provided to focus the ultrasonic beam emitted from the transducer array 111 and improve the resolution in the thickness direction of the slice. The acoustic matching layer 111b is provided to reduce the difference in acoustic impedance between the transducer and the living body and to efficiently transmit and receive ultrasonic waves.

[0020] The transmitting unit 113 generates a pulsed driving signal for generating an ultrasonic beam emitted by the transducer array 111 under the control of the system control unit 12, and outputs the driving signal to the switching circuit 112. The receiving unit 114 is a circuit that receives a reflected ultrasonic signal detected and converted by the transducer array 111 and converts the signal into digital data. The switching circuit 112 is configured to switch the signal connection between each transducer provided in the transducer array 111 and the transmitting unit 113 and the receiving unit 114 according to a scan control signal from the system control unit 12. Specifically, the system control unit 12 outputs a scan control signal to the switching circuit 112, and selects a group of transducers in the transducer array 111 that transmit and receive ultrasonic waves while shifting them in the array direction, thereby performing linear scanning by the ultrasonic probe 11. The scan (frame) rate is appropriately set according to the image processing speed by the following B-mode image generating unit 13.

[0021] The B-mode image generating unit 13 generates echo image data based on the reflected ultrasonic signal received by the receiving unit 114. The display processing unit 14 sets display parameters such as brightness, contrast, and scale for the generated echo image data, and generates diagnostic images by arranging measurement values, diagnostic data, and the like in a predetermined layout. In the video mode, diagnostic images are processed sequentially for each scan period, and the echo images are displayed on the monitor 30 in real time as a video.

[0022] Furthermore, the echo image data generated by the B-mode image generating unit 13 is temporarily stored in the multi-frame memory 15. The multi-frame memory 15 has a memory area for storing a plurality of image frames, and a write address pointer is incremented every time a new echo image is captured. As a result, the multi-frame memory 15 sequentially stores a plurality of image frames acquired going back a predetermined time from the most recent one.

[0023] The storage manager 16 is a control processing unit that manages input / output (read / record / save) of image frame data between the multi-frame memory 15 and the data storage 17, and searches for echo images recorded in the data storage 17. For example, in the video mode, the operator can perform a "record" operation at any timing while watching the echo video displayed on the monitor 30, thereby recording echo image data depicting tissues or parts significant for medical diagnosis in the data storage 17. The operator can later search for the echo images recorded in the data storage 17 via the storage manager 16 and play them back on the monitor 30. The echo images recorded in the data storage 17 in this way may be a still image consisting of one frame, or may be a video consisting of multiple frames for a specified period.

[0024] For example, in order to quantitatively evaluate the effect of acupuncture and moxibustion treatment, an echo image near the subject's trigger point is taken before the treatment (this is called the "first period"), and the pre-echo image E pre The recorded pre-echo image E pre may be one or more images. pre If there are multiple images, the pre-echo images E pre The operator can specify and select which pre-echo image to use. pre The data is copied from data storage 17 to frame buffer 18 by storage manager 16.

[0025] Next, after acupuncture and moxibustion treatment is performed on the subject (this is referred to as the "second period" which is later than the first period), the ultrasonic probe 11 is moved around the subject's trigger points while taking a post-echo image E post As described above, in the moving image mode, frame data of echo images are stored in the multi-frame memory 15 in sequence.

[0026] The approximation determination unit 19 determines the pre-echo image E pre and each post-echo image E stored in the multi-frame memory 15 post The approximation determining unit 19 compares the pre-echo image E recorded in the frame buffer 18 with the pre-echo image E recorded in the frame buffer 18 by using an image analysis technique such as pattern matching, and calculates and determines the degree of approximation between the pre-echo image E and the pre-echo image E recorded in the frame buffer 18. pre and a post-echo image E stored in the multi-frame memory 15. post 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a comparison process with

[0027] The approximation determination unit 19 first calculates the pre-echo image E pre In step S11, a plurality of geometric feature points are found on the image, and the feature points are expressed as multidimensional vectors (called feature vectors) to perform feature extraction. Then, the center of gravity G pre In the same manner, the approximation determination unit 19 calculates the post-echo image E stored in the multi-frame memory 15 (step S12). post In step S13, multiple feature points are converted into multidimensional vectors, and the center of gravity G in the multidimensional space is calculated. Post is calculated (step S14).

[0028] The approximation determination unit 19 determines the two centers of gravity G pre , G Post The distance between the two points is calculated (step S15), and if the distance is not equal to or smaller than a predetermined value (step S16; NO), the pre-echo image E pre Post-echo image E post is not approximated, and the next new post-echo image E post The approximation determination unit 19 reads out the updated post-echo image E post The above-described processes in steps S13 to S16 are repeated for the pre-echo image E pre Determine the degree of approximation to

[0029] The approximation determination unit 19 determines the two centers of gravity G pre , G Post If the distance between the two is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value (step S16; YES), the pre-echo image E pre and post-echo image E post The pre-echo image E is determined to be close to the image, and is treated as having been acquired at the same position. pre Post-echo image E determined to have been acquired at the same position as post The pre-echo images E that are determined to have been acquired at the same position are automatically captured by the capture unit 20 (step S18). pre and post-echo image E post can be associated and recorded in the data storage 17.

[0030] The evaluation unit 21 evaluates the pre-echo images E pre and post-echo image E post The amount of change in echo intensity based on brightness is evaluated between the two. For example, by quantifying the change in the amount of fascia depicted in white, it can be used as a criterion for determining whether adhesions have been resolved.

[0031] The display processing unit 14 displays the pre-echo image E pre Post-echo image E taken at the same position as post A diagnostic image in which the echo images E and E are arranged side by side is generated and displayed on the monitor 30 (see, for example, FIG. 4). pre and ultrasound image E after treatment post By displaying the images in a comparative manner, doctors and other medical personnel can compare these images to quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment. [Explanation of symbols]

[0032] 1. Ultrasound diagnostic equipment 10 Main unit 11 Ultrasound probe 12 System control section 13 B-mode image generation unit 14 Display processing section 15 Multiframe Memory 16 Storage Manager 17 Data Storage 18 Frame Buffer 19 Approximation determination unit 20 Capture section 21 Evaluation Section 30 Monitor 111 Transducer Array 111a Acoustic Lens 111b Acoustic matching layer 112 Switching Circuits 113 Transmitter 114 Receiving unit

Claims

1. An ultrasound diagnostic device that emits ultrasound from an ultrasound probe into a body and receives ultrasound reflected from the body by the ultrasound probe to obtain an echo image, An ultrasound diagnostic device having a display processing unit that generates a diagnostic image in which a pre-echo image acquired in a first period and a post-echo image acquired at the same position as the pre-echo image in a second period that is temporally later than the first period are arranged side by side in a manner that allows comparison.

2. a multi-frame memory that stores a plurality of post-echo images acquired during the second period; an approximation determining unit that determines an approximation of each of the post-echo images stored in the multi-frame memory with respect to the pre-echo image; a capture unit that captures an image similar to the pre-echo image among the plurality of post-echo images stored in the multi-frame memory as a post-echo image acquired at the same position; The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:

3. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising an evaluation unit that evaluates an amount of change in echo intensity based on brightness between the pre-echo image and the post-echo image acquired at the same position.

4. 1. A method for displaying an echo image in an ultrasound diagnostic device, the method comprising: emitting an ultrasound wave from an ultrasound probe toward a body of a patient; and receiving, by the ultrasound probe, the ultrasound wave reflected from the body of the patient, to obtain an echo image, the method comprising the steps of: acquiring a pre-echo image during a first period; acquiring a post-echo image at the same position as the pre-echo image during a second time period that is later than the first time period; generating a diagnostic image in which a pre-echo image acquired during the first period and a post-echo image acquired during the second period at the same position as the pre-echo image are arranged side by side in a manner that allows comparison; A method for displaying an echo image, comprising:

5. storing a plurality of post-echo images acquired during the second period in a multi-frame memory; determining a degree of similarity of each of the post-echo images stored in the multi-frame memory to the pre-echo image; capturing an image similar to the pre-echo image among the plurality of post-echo images stored in the multi-frame memory as a post-echo image acquired at the same position; The method of claim 4 further comprising:

6. The echo image display method according to claim 5, further comprising the step of evaluating an amount of change in echo intensity based on brightness between the pre-echo image and the post-echo image acquired at the same position.

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