67 results about "Sonoelastography" patented technology

The present invention pertains to a remote center of motion robot for medical image scanning and image-guided targeting, hereinafter referred to as the “Euler” robot. The Euler robot allows for ultrasound scanning for 3-Dimensional (3-D) image reconstruction and enables a variety of robot-assisted image-guided procedures, such as needle biopsy, percutaneous therapy delivery, image-guided navigation, and facilitates image-fusion with other imaging modalities. The Euler robot can also be used with other handheld medical imaging probes, such as gamma cameras for nuclear imaging, or for targeted delivery of therapy such as high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). 3-D ultrasound probes may also be used with the Euler robot to provide automated image-based targeting for biopsy or therapy delivery. In addition, the Euler robot enables the application of special motion-based imaging modalities, such as ultrasound elastography.

A technique for imaging relative elastic properties combines B-scan and power Doppler signals to produce images of relative vibration amplitude. A method for imaging relative elastic properties of tissue includes vibrating an area of tissue of interest and capturing a power Doppler image of at least part of the vibrating tissue.

The invention relates to an ultrasonic elastic imaging system and method. The ultrasonic elastic imaging system comprises a control unit, an exciting unit, a probe and an ultrasonic signal processing unit. The probe comprises an ultrasonic sensor array, a vibration exciter and a pressure sensor. The control unit selects a work mode according to a received user instruction and converts the user instruction into a control signal. The exciting unit receives the controls signal and outputs a vibration exciting signal; the vibration exciter receives the vibration exciting signal and drives the probe to make periodical mechanical vibration; the ultrasonic signal processing unit receives the control signal, transmits and receives ultrasonic waves through the ultrasonic sensor array and performs signal processing on the received ultrasonic waves, and a processing result is sent to the control unit. An instantaneous elastic imaging probe and a B ultrasonic mode probe are combined. The B ultrasonic mode probe has the effects of transmitting and receiving ultrasounds and meanwhile has the function of vibrating an exciting source. Seamless switching of elastic imaging measurement and B ultrasonic mode measurement is achieved through the relevant imaging process and the relevant imaging algorithm. The problem that ultrasonic elastic imaging in the prior art is not accurate is solved.

The present invention belongs to the field of basic biological tissue mechanical attribute measuring technology. The supersonic elastic imaging balance pressure measuring unit includes one extruded plate, one B-mode supersonic probe, N pressure sensors, one multi-channel data acquiring card and one computer. The B-mode supersonic probe and the N pressure sensors are installed on the extruded plate, the B-mode supersonic probe is located in the middle part of the plate and the N pressure sensors are distributed around the probe. The outputs of the N pressure sensors are connected to the multi-channel data acquiring card separately, and the multi-channel data acquiring card is inserted in the mainboard of the computer. The present invention utilizes several pressure sensors for regulating the tissue compressing direction and compressing amount to ensure the precision of supersonic elastic imaging.

The invention discloses an ultrasonic elastic imaging device and an elastic imaging result evaluation method. A first ultrasonic wave used for detecting shear waves in a region of interest is transmitted to the region of interest in biological tissues to obtain first ultrasonic echo data. According to the first ultrasonic echo data, on the one hand, an elastic distribution image is generated, andon the other hand, credibility information of a target region is calculated in order to enable a doctor to intuitively understand the credibility of a current shear wave elasticity result, so that thedoctor can judge whether the current shear wave elasticity result is acceptable or not according to the credibility information, or make a comprehensive judgment on the condition of a patient according to the current shear wave elasticity result and the credibility information thereof.

The invention provides an ultrasound and magnetic resonance image fusion and registration method which comprises the following steps: a finite element model of a prostate magnetic resonance image is constructed, prostate biomechanics information obtained by ultrasonic elastography is infused to the finite element model, according to the finite element model, principal component analysis is adopted to construct a prostate individuation statistics motion model to realize data registration between the prostate magnetic resonance image and a three-dimensional per rectum ultrasonic image. According to the ultrasound and magnetic resonance image fusion and registration method, the prostate biomechanics information obtained by ultrasonic elastography is infused to the finite element model, so that the finite element model is more accurate, and the data registration between the prostate magnetic resonance image and a three-dimensional per rectum ultrasonic image is more accurate; the ultrasound and magnetic resonance image fusion and registration method is suitable for clinical application.

The invention discloses a multi-frequency alternative-ejecting real-time ultrasonic elastography method which comprises the steps of: 1, alternatively ejecting N kinds of frequency ultrasonic waves by an ultrasonic probe in a process of extracting tissues by using hands; 2, carrying out displacement estimation on adjacent same frequency echoes by using a two-dimensional weighting phase separation algorithm; 3, equally weighting N frames of continuous different frequency displacement images to generate a compound displacement image; 4, carrying out gradient operation on the compound displacement image to generate a strain image; and 5, carrying out downsampling on the strain image and carrying out gray scale mapping, and scanning and converting into an elastic image. According to the method, displacement images with different noise modes are generated by using different ejecting frequencies, the displacement estimation error is reduced through compounding of the displacement images, and the elastography pseudomorphism noise caused by speckle noise is inhibited. The signal to noise ratio of the elastic image generated by the compound image is higher than that of an elastic image generated by compounding the former frequency sub-displacement image, and therefore, the property and the quality of elastography are improved.

The present invention belongs to the field of supersonic elastic imaging technology. The two size biological tissue displacement estimating method includes: taking the data d1 of the size Ta in the first scanning line in the 2D RF signal before tissue compression, finding the cross correlation function of the data d1 and the scanning data after tissue compression, taking data e1 in the size Tb at the center of data section d1, finding the cross correlation function of the data e1 and the scanning line data to obtain the position t''1 corresponding to maximum data, and finally finding out the fine regulated displacement t1 of the small data section d1 to obtain the tissue displacement evaluation corresponding to the scanning lines. In case of great tissue compression amount, the present invention will combine the displacement estimation methods with great size and small size and thus has raised tissue displacement estimation precision.

The invention discloses an automatic focusing method for ultrasonic elastography. The method comprises the following steps: normalizing and binarizing a plurality of obtained elastic displacement images; dividing the elastic displacement images into a plurality of image blocks; counting deformation amount of all image blocks; according to the deformation amount of each image block, dividing all the image blocks into two categories by using a cluster analysis: one is background and the other is an area of interest; and delimiting the final area of interest according to the classified image block information, defining the precomputed average displacement of the elastic images at a single line at the top of the area of the interest as the initial displacement of the area of interest, and carrying out elastic computation and imaging to only the area of interest during the following imaging process so as to realize automatic focusing. The automatic focusing method for ultrasonic elastography carries out elastic computation to ultrasonic radio frequency signals only in the area of interest, improves the imaging speed without influencing the imaging accuracy, can achieve the requirements of real-time application better and provides position information of underlying nidus for doctors automatically.

An elasticity information providing method performed by an ultrasound apparatus includes acquiring an elastography image of an object, detecting a region corresponding to a predetermined elastic modulus in the elastography image, and providing information about the region that is detected along with the elastography image.

The invention discloses a system and a method for real-time ultrasonic elastography displacement estimation. The method includes: firstly, pre-estimating to-be-processed two frames of radio-frequency signals by means of the two-dimensional matching algorithm to obtain a displacement field U(u,v), wherein displacement variation exists between the two frames of radio-frequency signals; secondly, setting a priori estimate tp which is equal to the axial displacement Ut(u) of the displacement field U(u,v); thirdly, keeping displacement of the two frames of radio-frequency signals within a 1/4 wavelength; and finally, calculating phase shift according to the priori estimate tp and the lateral placement Ut(v) of the displacement field U(u,v) to obtain the axial displacement field u(t). By means of the system and the method for real-time ultrasonic elastography displacement estimation, the problem of phase aliasing in traditional phase shifting algorithm is solved, and estimation precision is effectively improved on the premise of giving consideration to the arithmetic speed.

The present invention belongs to the field of supersonic elastic imaging technology. The 2D complex cross correlative biological tissue displacement estimating method includes: taking the (m+1)-th scanning line data separately from the 2D RF signals before and after tissue compression, with m being the 2D cross correlative complex coefficient, and taking several data sections of length T to find out the cross correlative functions of the data sections and the scanning line data after compression with maximum value in the position corresponding to the displacement of the data section, to weighted average the cross correlative functions and to obtain the 2D complex cross correlative function; similarly finding out tissue displacement estimation corresponding to various scanning line data. The present invention has decreased error caused by transverse tissue displacement and raised precision of longitudinal tissue displacement estimation.

The invention provides a real-time ultrasonic elasticity imaging method and system. The imaging method mainly comprises the steps of obtaining B-mode images under different states of deformation of biological tissues caused by slow extrusion of external force; selecting ROI areas of two frame images; obtaining displacement fields by using the optical flow method and transmitting parameter information of sub-steps requiring acceleration operations and containing repetitive operations to a first GPU data caching module in the calculation process; performing the operation treatment of all the sub-steps requiring acceleration operations with a GPU working group; putting the operation result information of all the sub-steps into an optical flow method operation process and finally obtaining the displacement fields, namely, the optical flow fields, of the ROI areas; obtaining the axial strain fields of the ROI areas of the images; performing noise reduction treatment on axial strain field information; performing colorizing treatment on obtained information; performing elastic classification on target areas in the ROI areas. The real-time ultrasonic elasticity imaging method has the advantages of high operation speed, relatively high precision and relatively great robustness.

A system useful for performing ultrasound elastography of organs such as the liver allows efficient and robust data acquisition. The system may be applied to perform real-time, non-invasive ultrasound imaging of the liver in humans. Steady-state, shear wave absolute elastography is used to measure the Young's modulus of the liver tissue. This method involves the use of an external exciter or vibrator to shake the tissue and generate a shear wave. Accurate placement of an ultrasound transducer facilitates measurement of the tissue motion due to the shear wave. The stiffness of tissues in the region being imaged may be computed from the measured tissue motions. The following innovations address both vibrator and transducer placement, as well as some specific methods to ensure adequate wave propagation, in order to obtain accurate and consistent measurements.

An ultrasonic elastograph imaging method comprises the following steps: continuously storing B-type image data and RF data corresponding to the B-type image data during the real-time ultrasonic elastograph imaging process; and then performing off-line ultrasonic elastograph imaging according to the stored B-type image data and the RF data so as to generate and display an elastograph image with different generated parameters. In the method, off-line ultrasonic elastograph imaging can be performed according to the stored RF data and the B-type image data under an off-line status; the elastographimage with different generated parameters can be generated and displayed by adjusting the generated parameters of the ultrasonic elastograph image; during the generation process of the off-line ultrasonic elastograph image, the frame number of the RF data is in a one-to-one relationship with that of the B-type image data, so a B-type image can be taken as reference of the elastograph image; and finally the more optimized elastograph images can be obtained according to the RF data and the generated parameters by selecting an image processing algorithm.

An elasticity information providing method performed by an ultrasound apparatus includes acquiring an elastography image of an object, detecting a region corresponding to a predetermined elastic modulus in the elastography image, and providing information about the region that is detected along with the elastography image.

The invention discloses a multifrequency shear wave amplitude analysis-based ultrasonic elasticity imaging technique and relates to the field of medical imaging and the field of man-machine interfaces. The ultrasonic elasticity imaging technique comprises the following steps: modulating a drive pulse of a shear wave to enable the shear wave to generate different angular frequency shear waves; measuring vibration amplitudes of a particle in a tissue caused by the shear wave at different frequencies; comparing the particle vibration amplitudes in the shear wave under different angular frequencies to obtain a shear wave angular frequency corresponding to the maximal particle vibration amplitude; and acquiring the wave velocity of the shear wave or a shear modulus of the tissue or the wave velocity of the shear wave and the shear modulus of the tissue according to the angular frequency. According to the ultrasonic elasticity imaging technique, the amplitude is subjected to measurement of arelative value, rather than measurement of an absolute value, and amplitude information has higher interference resistance when being measured, relative to conventional phase information in the priorart. The ultrasonic elasticity imaging technique can be implemented through two ultrasonic vibration elements, is easy to realize portability, and has a great application potential in the field of man-machine interfaces.