Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus

• US 20040159155A1
• Filed: 02/23/2004
• Published: 08/19/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Ogasawara, Yoichi
• Granted Patent: US 7,022,079 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 73/633
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/08 Detecting, measuring or recording devices for evaluating the respiratory organs A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7232 involving compression of the physiological signal, e.g. to extend the signal recording period
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/06 Measuring blood flow measuring volume flow in general G01F, e.g. G01F1/66, G01F1/72; measuring speed of fluids in general G01P5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/0858 involving measuring tissue layers, e.g. skin, interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/13 Tomography A61B8/10, A61B8/12 take precedence; tomography for radiation diagnosis A61B6/02
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/481 involving the use of contrast agent, e.g. microbubbles introduced into the bloodstream analysis of echo signal exploiting properties of a contrast enhancer in devices for short-range imaging with acoustic waves G01S7/52039
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/54 Control of the diagnostic device
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/102 using transmission of pulses having some particular characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/8979 Combined Doppler and pulse-echo imaging systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52085 Details related to the ultrasound signal acquisition, e.g. scan sequences control of medical diagnostic ultrasound devices A61B8/54

Abstract

With respect to a scanning plane of a subject having been injected with a contrast agent, an ultrasound transmission section 6 transmits for a plurality of times an ultrasonic pulse of such an intensity capable of collapsing the contrast agent. An ultrasound reception section 5 receives an echo signal cluster from the subject based on the ultrasonic pulses, and generates a plurality of RF data items through addition of the echo signal cluster using an adder 5C. Based on the plurality of RF data items, a TIC/MTT measurement section 25 measures a time intensity curve (TIC), and then measures a mean transit time (MTT) of the blood flow based on the time intensity curve for display on a display section 21.

Claims

1. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising:

an ultrasonic probe for transmitting ultrasound to a subject having been injected with a contrast agent, and receiving ultrasonic echo from the subject;

a driving signal generator for generating a driving signal for driving the ultrasonic probe;

a control unit for performing scanning for a plurality of times with ultrasound of such a high intensity that the contrast agent is collapsed at a time-varying time interval after the contrast agent is injected, and controlling the driving signal generator based on a scan sequence in which the time interval after the scanning performed for an initial time is set to be 5 seconds or shorter; and

a processor for plotting a time-varying concentration graph of the contrast agent based on the ultrasonic echo.

2. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the measurement processor derives a mean transit time of a blood flow based on the time-varying graph.

3. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the control unit controls the driving signal generator in such a manner that the initial scanning is performed after a lapse of time in which the contrast agent is fully filled in a target part of the subject, and

based on a result of the initial scanning, the measurement processor standardizes a value of the scanning to be performed after the initial scanning to plot the graph.

4. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising:

an ultrasonic probe for transmitting ultrasound to a subject having been injected with a contrast agent, and receiving ultrasonic echo from the subject;

a driving signal generator for generating a driving signal for driving the ultrasonic probe;

a control unit for controlling the driving signal generator based on a scan sequence in which scanning is performed for a plurality of times with a constant time interval after the contrast agent is injected; and

a processor for plotting a time-varying concentration graph of the contrast agent based on a plurality of cumulative values or average values of the ultrasonic echo as a result of the scanning performed for the plurality of times.

5. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the measurement processor derives a mean transit time of a blood flow based on the time-varying graph.

6. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 4, wherein

the control unit controls the driving signal generator in such a manner that the initial scanning is performed after a lapse of time in which the contrast agent is fully filled in a target part of the subject, and

based on a result of the initial scanning, the measurement processor standardizes a value of the scanning performed after the initial scanning to plot the graph.

7. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising:

an ultrasonic probe for transmitting ultrasound to a subject having been injected with a contrast agent, and receiving ultrasonic echo from the subject;

a driving signal generator for generating a driving signal for driving the ultrasonic probe;

a control unit for controlling the driving signal generator based on a predetermined scan sequence for plotting a time-varying concentration graph of the contrast agent;

a signal processor for applying a detection process and a logarithmic transformation process to the ultrasonic echo;

an image generator for generating an ultrasonic image based on an output of the signal processor;

an antilogarithmic transformation unit for applying an antilogarithmic transformation process to an output signal coming from at least either of the signal processor or the image generator; and

a processor for plotting a time-varying graph based on the output signal coming from the antilogarithmic transformation unit.

8. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the measurement processor derives a mean transit time of a blood flow based on the time-varying graph.

9. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 7, wherein

the control unit controls the driving signal generator in such a manner that an initial scanning is performed after a lapse of time in which the contrast agent is fully filled in a target part of the subject, and

based on a result of the initial scanning, the measurement processor standardizes a value of the scanning performed after the initial scanning to plot the graph.

10. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising:

an ultrasonic probe for transmitting ultrasound to a subject having been injected with a contrast agent, and receiving ultrasonic echo from the subject;

a driving signal generator for generating a driving signal for driving the ultrasonic probe;

a control unit for controlling the driving signal generator based on a predetermined scan sequence for plotting a time-varying concentration graph of the contrast agent;

a signal generator for generating a first signal as a result of a detection process and a logarithmic transformation process applied with respect to the ultrasonic echo, and a second signal as a result of the detection process applied with respect to the ultrasonic echo;

an image generator for generating an ultrasonic image based on the first signal; and

a measurement processor for plotting the time-varying graph based on the second signal.

11. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the measurement processor derives a mean transit time of a blood flow based on the time-varying graph.

12. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 10, wherein

based on a result of the scanning performed for an initial time after a lapse of time in which the contrast agent is fully filled in a target part of the subject, the measurement processor standardizes a value of the scanning performed after the initial scanning to plot the graph.

13. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising:

an ultrasonic probe for transmitting ultrasound to a subject having been injected with a contrast agent, and receiving ultrasonic echo from the subject;

a driving signal generator for generating a driving signal for driving the ultrasonic probe;

a control unit for controlling the driving signal generator based on a predetermined scan sequence for deriving a time-varying concentration of the contrast agent;

an image generator for generating an ultrasonic image based on the ultrasonic echo; and

a measurement processor for plotting a time-varying concentration graph of the contrast agent based on the ultrasonic echo, and for compensating a mean transit time of a blood flow derived from the time-varying graph depending on a measurement position depth.

14. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 13, wherein

the control unit controls the driving signal generator in such a manner that an initial scanning is performed after a lapse of time in which the contrast agent is fully filled in a target part of the subject, and

based on a result of the initial scanning, the measurement processor standardizes a value of the scanning performed after the initial scanning to plot the graph.

15. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising:

an ultrasonic probe for transmitting ultrasound to a subject having been injected with a contrast agent, and receiving ultrasonic echo from the subject;

a driving signal generator for generating a driving signal for driving the ultrasonic probe;

a control unit for controlling the driving signal generator based on a predetermined scan sequence for plotting a time-varying concentration graph of the contrast agent;

an image generator for generating an ultrasonic image based on the ultrasonic echo; and

a measurement processor for plotting the time-varying concentration graph of the contrast agent based on the ultrasonic echo, and for compensating the time-varying graph depending on a measurement position depth.

16. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 15, wherein

the control unit controls the driving signal generator in such a manner that an initial scanning is performed after a lapse of time in which the contrast agent is fully filled in a target part of the subject, and

based on a result of the initial scanning, the measurement processor standardizes a value of the scanning performed after the initial scanning to plot the graph.