Method and apparatus for obtaining and/or analyzing anatomical images

• US 20080246724A1
• Filed: 04/03/2007
• Published: 10/09/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Pan, Lihong, LaConte, Kirstin Nora
• Granted Patent: US 8,816,959 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/157
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52073 Production of cursor lines, markers or indicia by electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52074 Composite displays, e.g. split-screen displays; Combination of multiple images or of images and alphanumeric tabular information
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 30/20 for handling medical images, e.g. DICOM, HL7 or PACS

Abstract

A method for monitoring a target in a medical display in a medical imaging apparatus includes receiving echo signals from an area of interest of a patient, extracting raw data from the received echo signals, processing the extracted raw data to display a dual mode image on the medical display, and setting a location and displaying a first marker/cursor in a first image of the dual mode image. In addition, the method further includes determining a corresponding location of the marker/cursor in a second image of the dual mode image, and displaying a second marker/cursor in the second image of the dual mode image at the corresponding location simultaneously with the displaying of the first marker/cursor in the first image.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring a target in a medical display in a medical imaging apparatus comprising a probe having transducers configured to transmit and receive a signal to and from a patient, a signal processor configured to process raw data resulting from signals received from the patient into a displayable image, a marker/cursor generator configured to place markers/cursors into the displayable image, and a display configured to display the displayable image,

said method comprising:

receiving echo signals from an area of interest of a patient;

extracting raw data from the received echo signals;

processing the extracted raw data to display a dual mode image on the medical display;

setting a location and displaying a first marker/cursor in a first image of the dual mode image;

determining a corresponding location of the marker/cursor in a second image of the dual mode image; and

displaying a second marker/cursor in the second image of the dual mode image at the corresponding location simultaneously with the displaying of the first marker/cursor in the first image.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the transducers are ultrasound transducers.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising selecting whether or not a marker/cursor is to be displayed, and conditioning at least said displaying of the first marker/cursor and said displaying of the second marker/cursor upon the selection of whether or not a marker/cursor is to be displayed.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing the extracted raw data in a raw data memory.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising at least one of storing the marker/cursor location to the stored raw data and storing the marker/cursor location to a separate file.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising selecting whether or not a marker/cursor is to be displayed in accordance with a preset, and conditioning at least said displaying of the first marker/cursor and said displaying of the second marker/cursor upon the selection of whether or not a marker/cursor is to be displayed.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the first image is a B mode image and the second image is a contrast image.

8. A method for analyzing raw data generated by a medical imaging apparatus, said apparatus comprising a probe having transducers configured to transmit and receive a signal to and from a patient, a signal processor configured to process raw data resulting from signals received from the patient into a displayable image, a marker/cursor generator configured to place markers/cursors into the displayable image, and a raw data memory configured to store the raw data and to store locations of the markers/cursors in the raw data memory,

said method comprising:

processing the stored raw data to generate a displayable dual mode image;

determining whether or not to display markers/cursors at a saved location; and

displaying the displayable dual mode image with or without the markers/cursors at the saved location, depending upon results of said determining whether or not to display markers/cursors at the saved location.

9. The method of claim 8 performed using the medical imaging apparatus.

10. The method of claim 8 performed on a computer or a workstation, and said method further comprising making contents of the raw data memory available for processing that uses the computer or workstation.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the dual mode display comprises a side-by-side B mode display and a contrast display.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising selectively enabling and disabling display of markers/cursors during said analyzing.

13. The method of claim 8 further comprising moving a marker/cursor to corresponding locations in each portion of the dual mode display during said analyzing.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising selectively enabling and disabling display of markers/cursors during said analyzing.

15. A medical imaging apparatus comprising:

a probe having transducers configured to transmit and receive a signal to and from a patient, a signal processor configured to process raw data resulting from signals received from the patient into a displayable image, a marker/cursor generator configured to place markers/cursors into the displayable image, and a display configured to display the displayable image,

said medical imaging apparatus configured to;

receive echo signals from an area of interest of a patient;

extract raw data from the received echo signals;

process the extracted raw data to display a dual mode image on the medical display;

set a location and displaying a first marker/cursor in a first image of the dual mode image;

determine a corresponding location of the marker/cursor in a second image of the dual mode image; and

display a second marker/cursor in the second image of the dual mode image at the corresponding location simultaneously with the displaying of the first marker/cursor in the first image.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the transducers are ultrasound transducers.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 further configured to accept a user'"'"'s selection of whether or not a marker/cursor is to be displayed, and to condition at least the display of the first marker/cursor and the display of the second marker/cursor upon the user'"'"'s selection of whether or not a marker/cursor is to be displayed.

18. The apparatus of claim 15 further having a raw data memory, and said apparatus configured to store the extracted raw data in the raw data memory.

19. The apparatus of claim 15 further configured to at least one of store the marker/cursor location to the stored raw data and store the marker/cursor location to a separate file.

20. The apparatus of claim 15 further configured to select whether or not a marker/cursor is to be displayed in accordance with a preset, and to condition at least the display of the first marker/cursor and the display of the second marker/cursor upon the selection of whether or not a marker/cursor is to be displayed.