Method and system for ultrasound blood flow imaging and volume flow calculations
First Claim
1. A method of obtaining an image of volume flow in a blood vessel, the method comprising:
- using a two-dimensional ultrasound scanhead to obtain a three-dimensional Doppler image of blood flow velocity in a relatively narrow sample volume intersecting the lumen of the blood vessel, the sample volume being a predetermined distance from the scanhead;
electronically projecting the Doppler image onto a planar surface; and
creating an image of the electronically projected Doppler image.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An ultrasound imaging method and system includes a two-dimensional array transducer scanhead coupled to a beamformer. The beamformer and scanhead obtain signals corresponding to ultrasound echoes reflected from a measurement volume extending across a blood vessel. The signals are processed by a Doppler processor to generate data corresponding to a three-dimensional Doppler image of blood flow velocity in the sample volume. The signals are also processed by a B-mode processor to generate data corresponding to a cross section through the vessel. An image processor transforms the data corresponding to the three-dimensional Doppler image to data corresponding to a projection of the three-dimensional Doppler image onto a plane. The image processor also combines the transformed Doppler data with the B-mode data to create a composite image. Volume flow rate can also be determined by integrating the flow velocity in the projection of the three-dimensional Doppler image.
56 Citations
33 Claims
-
1. A method of obtaining an image of volume flow in a blood vessel, the method comprising:
-
using a two-dimensional ultrasound scanhead to obtain a three-dimensional Doppler image of blood flow velocity in a relatively narrow sample volume intersecting the lumen of the blood vessel, the sample volume being a predetermined distance from the scanhead;
electronically projecting the Doppler image onto a planar surface; and
creating an image of the electronically projected Doppler image. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. A method for estimating blood flow in a blood vessel, comprising:
-
acquiring velocity information from a blood vessel by moving a one dimensional array transducer to different orientations relative to a blood vessel;
projecting the velocity information acquired at each orientation onto a straight line to produce a velocity profile;
estimating the flow rate from the projected velocity information in combination with velocity information acquired from a different orientation to produce an updated estimate of flow rate; and
displaying the flow rate estimate. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18)
-
-
17. The method of claim 17 wherein the act of adjusting the template comprises adjusting the position of a selected portion of the template.
-
19. A method of determining the volume flow rate of blood flowing through a blood vessel, comprising:
-
using a two-dimensional array transducer to obtain data corresponding to a three-dimensional Doppler image of blood flow velocity in a relatively narrow sample volume intersecting the entire lumen of the blood vessel, the sample volume being a fixed distance from the transducer;
processing the data corresponding to the three-dimensional Doppler image to provide data corresponding to a projection of the three-dimensional Doppler image onto a plane thereby providing two-dimensional Doppler image data corresponding to a three-dimensional Doppler image of blood flow velocity in a surface; and
processing the two-dimensional Doppler image data to integrate the velocity of blood flow shown in the two-dimensional Doppler image across an area of blood flow to determine the blood volume flow rate. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
-
-
22. A system for displaying a volume flow image of blood flowing through a blood vessel, the system comprising:
-
a scanhead having a plurality of transducer elements;
a beamformer coupled to receive the echo signals from the ultrasonic transducer and to generate output signals corresponding thereto;
a Doppler processor coupled to the beamformer, the Doppler processor being operable to generate data corresponding to an image of the velocity of blood flowing through the blood vessel in a nonplanar surface intersected by the blood vessel;
an image processor coupled to the Doppler processor, the image processor being operable to generate 2-D Doppler image data corresponding to the projection of the blood flow velocity in the nonplanar surface onto a plane; and
a display displaying an image corresponding to the 2-D Doppler image data. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
-
- 31. A composite ultrasound image comprising a cross-sectional ultrasound image of a blood vessel superimposed on a 2-D Doppler image resulting from a projection onto a plane of a three-dimensional Doppler image showing the velocity of blood flowing through the blood vessel.
Specification