System and method for tissue characterization using ultrasound imaging

• US 20080281196A1
• Filed: 05/09/2007
• Published: 11/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Sornes, Anders Rasmus
• Granted Patent: US 9,125,589 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/437
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02007 Evaluating blood vessel condition, e.g. elasticity, compliance
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/08 Detecting organic movements or changes, e.g. tumours, cysts, swellings A61B8/02 - A61B8/06 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/485 involving measuring strain or elastic properties

Abstract

An ultrasound system comprises an ultrasound probe for transmitting transmit beams and receiving receive beams. A processor controls the ultrasound probe to direct the transmit beams in a first direction to acquire a first incidence frame of data and a second direction to acquire an second incidence frame of data, wherein the first and second directions are different with respect to each other. A tissue characterization module compares the normal and oblique incidence frames of data to determine at least one property parameter of a scanned medium based on amplitude differences between the receive beams.

Claims

1. An ultrasound system, comprising:

an ultrasound probe for transmitting transmit beams and receiving receive beams;

a processor for controlling the ultrasound probe to direct the transmit beams in a first direction to acquire a first incidence frame of data and a second direction to acquire a second incidence frame of data, wherein the first and second directions are different with respect to each other; and

a tissue characterization module for comparing the first and second incidence frames of data to determine at least one property parameter of a scanned medium based on amplitude differences between the receive beams.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the ultrasound probe comprises a probe face, wherein the first direction forms an approximately 90 degree angle with respect to the probe face and the second direction forms an oblique angle with respect to the probe face.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a tissue characterization display module for forming a representation of the amplitude differences; and

a display for displaying the representation.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a display for displaying an image based at least on the first incidence frame of data; and

a tissue characterization display module for displaying a parametric overlay on the image based on the amplitude differences.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the tissue characterization module further comprises subtracting the first and second incident frames of data based on weighted subtraction to determine the at least one property parameter.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor acquires the first and second frames of data in an interleaved scanning mode.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is one of a cart-based system and a portable system.

8. A method for detecting differences in tissue, the method comprising:

acquiring a normal incidence frame of data by transmitting transmit beams in a first direction that is approximately 90 degrees with respect to a probe face;

acquiring an oblique incidence frame of data by transmitting transmit beams in a second direction that is different than the first direction, the second direction forming an oblique angle with respect to the probe face;

determining amplitude magnitude differences between receive beams for the normal and oblique incidence frames of data; and

displaying a representation based on the amplitude magnitude differences.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein acquiring the oblique incident frame of data further comprises:

transmitting the transmit beams at a first angle with respect to the probe face; and

receiving the receive beams at a second angle with respect to the probe face, the first and second angles being approximately the same in magnitude and opposite in direction with respect to each other.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the oblique angle is based at least on a size of the probe face.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the amplitude magnitude differences are associated with reflection points within each of the normal incidence frame of data and oblique incidence frame of data.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

displaying an image based on at least the normal incidence frame of data;

determining a general direction of an object boundary within the image based on one of automatic image analysis and an operator input; and

determining transmit and receive angles with respect to the probe face that are based at least on the general direction, the transmit and receive angles being associated with the transmit and receive beams, respectively, and forming incidence and reflection angles, respectively, with the object boundary that are opposite with respect to each other.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the oblique incident frame of data further comprises:

transmitting the transmit beams from a transmit origin associated with the probe face to interface with reflection points that are at different depths from the probe face;

dynamically shifting a receive origin associated with the probe face with respect to the transmit origin to form a plurality of receive origins; and

receiving the receive beams reflected from the reflection points with the plurality of receive origins, the transmit and receive beams forming a nonzero angle at the reflection points.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the amplitude magnitude differences comprise a range of differences, the representation displaying the range of differences with a range of indicators.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the representation displays the amplitude magnitude differences using at least one of a parametric overlay, a color overlay, a chart, and a graphical indicator responsive to an operator controlled pointer.

16. The method of claim 8, wherein each of the amplitude magnitude differences indicates a stiffness parameter associated with at least one reflection point in the normal and oblique incidence frames of data.

17. A method for detecting differences in tissue, the method comprising:

acquiring a normal incidence frame of data by transmitting transmit beams in a first direction that is approximately 90 degrees with respect to a probe face;

acquiring an oblique incidence frame of data by transmitting transmit beams in a second direction that is different than the first direction, the second direction forming an oblique angle with respect to the probe face;

displaying an image based on at least the normal incidence frame; and

displaying a parametric overlay on the image, the parametric overlay being based on amplitude differences between the normal and oblique incidence frames of data.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the amplitude differences represent a range of amplitude differences, the parametric overlay further displaying greater amplitude differences in a first color and smaller amplitude differences in a second color.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the amplitude differences represent a range of amplitude differences, the parametric overlay further displaying the amplitude differences with a range of indicators.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising determining the amplitude differences between the normal and oblique incidence frames of data based on weighted subtraction.