Synchronized combining for contrast agent enhanced medical diagnostic ultrasound imaging
First Claim
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1. A method for contrast agent enhanced medical diagnostic ultrasound imaging, the method comprising:
- generating a sequence of ultrasound frames of data representing, at least in part, information from contrast agents, the sequence being over a plurality of heart cycles;
selecting a first subset of the sequence, the first subset being ultrasound frames of data corresponding to a substantially same phase of the heart cycle;
correcting for motion between the ultrasound frames of data of the first subset corresponding to the substantially same phase of the heart cycle; and
forming an image as a function of the motion corrected ultrasound frames of data of the first subset, the image representing, at least in part, the information from contrast agents at the phase of the heart cycle.
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Abstract
Contrast agent enhanced medical diagnostic imaging is provided. Frames of data from common phase periods are grouped. Motion correction is performed within each common phase group. An image representing contrast agents is formed from a combination of the frames within each common phase, motion corrected group.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for contrast agent enhanced medical diagnostic ultrasound imaging, the method comprising:
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generating a sequence of ultrasound frames of data representing, at least in part, information from contrast agents, the sequence being over a plurality of heart cycles; selecting a first subset of the sequence, the first subset being ultrasound frames of data corresponding to a substantially same phase of the heart cycle; correcting for motion between the ultrasound frames of data of the first subset corresponding to the substantially same phase of the heart cycle; and forming an image as a function of the motion corrected ultrasound frames of data of the first subset, the image representing, at least in part, the information from contrast agents at the phase of the heart cycle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. In a computer readable storage medium having stored therein data representing instructions executable by a programmed processor for contrast agent enhanced medical diagnostic ultrasound imaging, the storage medium comprising instructions for:
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obtaining frames of contrast agent data and frames of B-mode data, the frames of contrast agent and B-mode data corresponding to a first phase of a cardiac cycle over a plurality of cardiac cycles; correcting for motion between the frames of contrast agent data as a function of the frames of B-mode data;
thencombining the contrast agent data corresponding to the first phase; and generating an image as a function of the combined contrast agent data. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A system for enhanced medical diagnostic ultrasound imaging of contrast agents, the system comprising:
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an ECG input operable to receive cardiac cycle information; a contrast agent detector; a B-mode detector; and a processor operable to spatially align frames of data output from the contrast agent detector as a function of frames of data output from the B-mode detector, the spatial alignment being for frames of data output from the contrast agent detector with cardiac cycle information indicating a substantially same time within a cardiac cycle, and the processor operable to combine the spatially aligned frames of data output from the contrast agent detector and having the cardiac cycle information indicating the substantially same time within the cardiac cycle. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification