METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ULTRASONIC DIAGNOSIS

• US 20110270087A1
• Filed: 05/02/2011
• Published: 11/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (Canon Inc.), Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Yoshida, Tetsuya, Okamura, Yoko
• Granted Patent: US 9,610,094 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/443
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/3403 Needle locating or guiding means guides for suture needles A61B17/0482; guiding or tracking by nuclear magnetic resonance G01R33/285
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/12 by passing a current through the tissue to be heated, e.g. high-frequency current
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/3413 guided by ultrasound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/365 augmented reality, i.e. correlating a live optical image with another image
• 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 8/0841 for locating instruments
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/13 Tomography A61B8/10, A61B8/12 take precedence; tomography for radiation diagnosis A61B6/02
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4245 involving determining the position of the probe, e.g. with respect to an external reference frame or to the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4444 related to the probe
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/461 Displaying means of special interest
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/463 characterised by displaying multiple images or images and diagnostic data on one display composite display in devices for short-range imaging with acoustic waves G01S7/52074
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5238 for combining image data of patient, e.g. merging several images from different acquisition modes into one image for image registration algorithms G06T7/30

Abstract

An apparatus for ultrasonic diagnosis including a probe configured to transmit ultrasonic waves and to receive reflected ultrasonic waves, an image generator configured to generate an ultrasonic image based on the reflected waves, an image synthesizing unit configured to generate a synthetic image in which a puncture guideline, which indicates a passing line of a puncture needle inserted from a puncture adapter attached to the probe, is superposed on the ultrasonic image, a display area adjusting unit configured to adjust a display area of the synthetic image based on the passing line of the puncture needle, and a display controller configured to display the synthetic image on a monitor based on the display area adjusted by the display area adjusting unit.

Claims

1. An apparatus for ultrasonic diagnosis, comprising:

a probe configured to transmit ultrasonic waves and to receive reflected ultrasonic waves;

an image generator configured to generate an ultrasonic image based on the reflected waves;

an image synthesizing unit configured to generate a synthetic image in which a puncture guideline, which indicates a passing line of a puncture needle inserted from a puncture adapter attached to the probe, is superposed on the ultrasonic image;

a display area adjusting unit configured to adjust a display area of the synthetic image based on the passing line of the puncture needle; and

a display controller configured to display the synthetic image on a monitor based on the display area adjusted by the display area adjusting unit.

2. The apparatus for ultrasonic diagnosis of claim 1, wherein the display area adjusting unit is further configured to adjust left and right directions of the display area so that a shallowest part of the passing line on the synthetic image is included in the display area.

3. The apparatus for ultrasonic diagnosis of claim 1, further comprising:

an input unit configured to receive a change request for parallel display from an operator,

wherein the display controller is further configured to display two images, at least one of which is the synthetic image, in parallel based on the display area.

4. The apparatus for ultrasonic diagnosis of claim 1, wherein

the image generator is further configured to generate two ultrasonic images in respective modes;

the image synthesizing unit is further configured to generate two synthetic images based on the two ultrasonic images;

the display area adjusting unit is further configured to adjust display areas of the two synthetic images; and

the display controller is further configured to display the two synthetic images on the monitor based on the display areas adjusted by the display area adjusting unit.

5. The apparatus for ultrasonic diagnosis of claim 1, further comprising:

an input unit configured to receive a request for enlargement of the display area from an operator,

wherein the display controller is further configured to display the synthetic image in accordance with the request for enlargement.

6. The apparatus for ultrasonic diagnosis of claim 1, wherein

the probe is a convex probe or a sector probe;

the image generator is configured to generate the ultrasonic image having a fan shape; and

the display area adjusting unit is configured to adjust the display area having a rectangular shape for the synthetic image having the fan shape.

7. The apparatus for ultrasonic diagnosis of claim 1, wherein

the probe is configured to transmit and receive the ultrasonic waves towards a direction that is not perpendicular to a surface of an object;

the image generator is configured to generate the ultrasonic image having a trapezoidal shape or a parallelogram shape; and

the display area adjusting unit is further configured to adjust the display area having a rectangular shape for the synthetic image having the trapezoidal shape or the parallelogram shape.

12. The method for ultrasonic diagnosis of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for enlargement of the display area from an operator,

wherein the displaying step includes displaying the synthetic image in accordance with the request for enlargement.

13. The method for ultrasonic diagnosis of claim 1, wherein

the ultrasonic probe is a convex probe or a sector probe;

the step of generating the ultrasonic image includes generating the ultrasonic image having a fan shape; and

the adjusting step includes adjusting the display area having a rectangular shape for the synthetic image having the fan shape.

14. The method for ultrasonic diagnosis of claim 1, wherein

the transmitting and receiving steps include transmitting and receiving the ultrasonic waves towards a direction that is not perpendicular to a surface of an object;

the step of generating the ultrasonic image includes generating the ultrasonic image having a trapezoidal shape or a parallelogram shape; and

the adjusting step includes adjusting the display area having a rectangular shape for the synthetic image having the trapezoidal shape or the parallelogram shape.

8. A method for ultrasonic diagnosis, comprising:

transmitting ultrasonic waves and receiving reflected ultrasonic waves using an ultrasonic probe;

generating an ultrasonic image based on the reflected waves;

generating a synthetic image in which a puncture guideline, which indicates a passing line of a puncture needle inserted from a puncture adapter attached to the ultrasonic probe, is superposed on the ultrasonic image;

adjusting a display area of the synthetic image based on the passing line of the puncture needle; and

displaying the synthetic image on a monitor based on the display area.

9. The method for ultrasonic diagnosis of claim 8, further comprising adjusting left and right directions of the display area so that a shallowest part of the passing line on the synthetic image is included in the display area.

10. The method for ultrasonic diagnosis of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving a change request for parallel display from an operator,

wherein the displaying step includes displaying two images, at least one of which is the synthetic image, in parallel based on the display area.

11. The method for ultrasonic diagnosis of claim 8, wherein

the step of generating the ultrasonic image includes generating two ultrasonic images in respective modes;

the step of generating the synthetic image includes generating two synthetic images based on the two ultrasonic images;

the adjusting step includes adjusting display areas of the two synthetic images; and

the displaying step includes displaying the two synthetic images on a monitor based on the display areas.