Ultrasound Diagnosis with Dual-Scan Needle Visualization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional ultrasound diagnosis apparatuses face challenges in maintaining high visibility of a puncture needle while minimizing degradation of tissue information due to side-lobe effects during oblique scanning, leading to reduced diagnosability and safety in procedures like radio frequency ablation.
Innovation Solution
The apparatus employs a dual scanning process, combining a first scanning direction perpendicular to the tissue for optimal imaging and multiple oblique scanning directions to enhance needle visibility, followed by image processing to generate a synthesized image with improved brightness distribution and artifact reduction, ensuring clear visualization of both tissue and needle.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If oblique scanning is performed to improve needle visibility, then needle brightness is enhanced, but tissue image quality degrades due to side-lobe effects
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the image processing into two separate components: a needle image extracted from oblique scanning data and a tissue image from perpendicular scanning data. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently - the needle image benefits from enhanced brightness through oblique scanning while the tissue image maintains quality through perpendicular scanning, resolving the contradiction between needle visibility and tissue image quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the needle image and tissue image into a synthesized composite image. The needle image obtained from oblique scanning (with high brightness) is combined with the tissue image from perpendicular scanning (with high quality), allowing both the needle and tissue to be clearly visualized simultaneously without the side-lobe degradation affecting the tissue representation.
2Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If synthesized image is generated to improve needle visibility, then needle detection is enhanced, but diagnosability decreases due to tissue information degradation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the needle image as a separate component from the oblique scanning data before synthesizing with the tissue image. This extraction process isolates the needle information, allowing it to be enhanced for detection purposes while preserving the original tissue information in the perpendicular scanning data for diagnostic purposes, thus preventing information loss.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses image synthesis as an intermediary process that combines enhanced needle visibility with preserved tissue information. The synthesized image serves as a mediator that provides improved needle detection while the original perpendicular scanning data remains available for accurate tissue diagnosis, preventing loss of diagnostic information.
3Illumination intensity
If oblique scanning is used to enhance needle brightness, then puncture needle visibility is improved, but side-lobe artifacts increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the imaging process to acquire needle information through oblique scanning while acquiring tissue information through perpendicular scanning. By separating these functions, the side-lobe artifacts generated during oblique scanning affect only the needle image component, which is then synthesized with the clean tissue image, effectively isolating and minimizing the impact of artifacts on the final diagnostic image.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach improves the visibility and safety of both tissue and puncture needle, enhancing the precision and accuracy of procedures by reducing artifacts and maintaining high image quality.
Implementation Method 1
an ultrasound probe to perform a first scanning process by transmitting an ultrasound wave in a first direction with respect to a surface of a vibrator for taking an image of a tissue of a subject and a second scanning process by transmitting an ultrasound wave in each of a plurality of directions with respect to the surface of the vibrator
Data Source
AI summary
An ultrasound diagnosis apparatus includes: a scan controlling unit that exercises control to perform a first scanning process by transmitting an ultrasound wave in a first direction and a second scanning process by transmitting an ultrasound wave in each of a plurality of directions; an image generating unit that generates a first ultrasound image and second ultrasound images from the first and the second scanning processes, respectively; an image generation controlling unit that has a needle image generated, based on an analysis result on the brightness distribution of each member of a group of images based on the first ultrasound image and the second ultrasound images or an analysis result on the brightness distribution of each of the second ultrasound images; an image synthesizing unit that generates a synthesized image from the first ultrasound image and the needle image; and a display controlling unit that displays the synthesized image.