Acoustic border detection using power modulation
First Claim
1. A method for enabling an ultrasound system to identify a boundary between a tissue area and a blood-filled area, both lying within a region of interest ROI) to which a contrast agent has been administered, said method comprising the steps of:
- a) transmitting a first ultrasound beam at a first power level into said ROI, processing first echo return signals and storing first digital values in accord therewith;
b) transmitting a second ultrasound beam at a second power level into said ROI, processing second echo return signals and storing second digital values in accord therewith; and
c) deriving phase information from coherent time segments of said first digital values and second digital values to determine a boundary location between said tissue area and said blood-filled area.
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Abstract
The method of the invention controls an ultrasound system to identify a boundary between a tissue region and a blood-filled region that lies within an ROI. The method initially administers a contrast agent to the region of interest and then transmits first and second ultrasound beams at a different power levels into the ROI. Signal returns from the first and second beams are processed to derive first and second digital values, respectively. It has been determined that, under certain circumstances, a phase change of echo returns occurs at the boundary between tissue and blood-containing contrast agent. Detection of the phase change enables precise identification of the boundary, based upon the time segment in which the phase change is detected. Accordingly, time segment values of the first and second stored digital values are then phase-compared to enable determination of a boundary location between the tissue region and the blood-filled region by detection of the phase change.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for enabling an ultrasound system to identify a boundary between a tissue area and a blood-filled area, both lying within a region of interest ROI) to which a contrast agent has been administered, said method comprising the steps of:
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a) transmitting a first ultrasound beam at a first power level into said ROI, processing first echo return signals and storing first digital values in accord therewith;
b) transmitting a second ultrasound beam at a second power level into said ROI, processing second echo return signals and storing second digital values in accord therewith; and
c) deriving phase information from coherent time segments of said first digital values and second digital values to determine a boundary location between said tissue area and said blood-filled area. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A memory media including instructions for controlling an ultrasound system to identify a boundary between a tissue area and a blood-filled area, both lying within a region of interest ROI) to which a contrast agent has been administered, said memory media comprising:
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a) means for controlling said ultrasound system to transmit a first ultrasound beam at a first power level into said ROI, to process first echo return signals and store first digital values in accord therewith;
b) means for controlling said ultrasound system to transmit a second ultrasound beam at a second power level into said ROI, to process second echo return signals and store second digital values in accord therewith; and
c) means for controlling said ultrasound system to derive phase information from coherent time segments of said first digital values and second digital values to determine a boundary location between said tissue area and said blood-filled area. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21)
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16. An ultrasound method for determining boundaries of a fluid-filled cavity, comprising the steps of:
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introducing a contrast agent into a fluid-filled cavity within a body; and
imaging the fluid-filled cavity and surrounding tissue such that an image is created where the contrast agent in the fluid-filled cavity is represented in brighter intensities than is said surrounding tissue;
applying a threshold value to pixel data values comprising regions of the image;
classifying brighter areas of the image as representing the fluid-filled cavity and darker areas of the image as representing surrounding tissue.
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19. A memory media including instructions for controlling an ultrasound system to determine boundaries of a fluid-filled cavity into which a contrast agent has been introduced, comprising
a) means for controlling said ultrasound system to image the fluid-filled cavity and surrounding tissue such that an image is created where the contrast agent in the fluid-filled cavity is represented in brighter intensities than is said surrounding tissue; -
b) means for controlling said ultrasound system to apply a threshold value to pixel data values comprising regions of the image; and
c) means for controlling said ultrasound system to classify brighter areas of the image as representing the fluid-filled cavity and darker areas of the image as representing surrounding tissue.
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Specification