Continuous display of cardiac blood flow information
First Claim
1. Ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus for providing Doppler information concerning blood flow velocities within a body comprising:
- a transducer for acquiring Doppler signals from a site within the body;
an ultrasonic Doppler signal processing system coupled to receive Doppler signals from said transducer includingmeans for processing said Doppler signals to produce spectral line data for continuous display of a succession of spectral lines indicating blood flow velocities during Doppler signal acquisition;
means for producing a threshold level which is a function of operating characteristics of said system or of said system and said transducer;
means for utilizing said threshold level and said spectral line data to identify a peak velocity value of a spectral line prior to the display of the spectral line; and
means for displaying a sequence of said spectral lines and their identified peak velocity values substantially in real time.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A technique for continuously determining and displaying the peak velocities of spectral Doppler information is disclosed. A Doppler noise threshold level is determined from operating characteristics of the ultrasound system, probe, or both. Received spectral Doppler data for a spectral line is compared to this threshold to identify a valid peak velocity value. Spectral lines are examined in advance of their display to detect excursions due to artifacts such as valve clicks. Peak velocity values are interpolated and displayed in place of artifact peak values. Individual heart cycles over which quantified measures of cardiovascular performance are computed and displayed are selected by the R-wave intervals of an ECG trace. The interval of the concurrent spectral Doppler display corresponding to the heart cycle interval over which the quantified measures are computed or pertain is automatically highlighted for the user.
79 Citations
25 Claims
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1. Ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus for providing Doppler information concerning blood flow velocities within a body comprising:
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a transducer for acquiring Doppler signals from a site within the body; an ultrasonic Doppler signal processing system coupled to receive Doppler signals from said transducer including means for processing said Doppler signals to produce spectral line data for continuous display of a succession of spectral lines indicating blood flow velocities during Doppler signal acquisition; means for producing a threshold level which is a function of operating characteristics of said system or of said system and said transducer; means for utilizing said threshold level and said spectral line data to identify a peak velocity value of a spectral line prior to the display of the spectral line; and means for displaying a sequence of said spectral lines and their identified peak velocity values substantially in real time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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7. Ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus for providing Doppler information concerning blood flow velocities within a body comprising:
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a transducer for acquiring Doppler signals from a site within the body; an ultrasonic Doppler signal processing system coupled to receive Doppler signals from said transducer including a fast Fourier transform processor for processing said Doppler signals to produce spectral line data for continuous display of a succession of spectral lines indicating blood flow velocities during Doppler signal acquisition; a threshold level calculator which produces a threshold level that is a function of operating characteristics of said system or of said system and said transducer;
a detector responsive to said threshold level and said spectral line data which identifies a peak velocity value of a spectral line prior to the display of the spectral line; anda display which displays a sequence of said spectral lines and their identified peak velocity values substantially in real time. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9)
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14. Ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus for providing Doppler information concerning blood flow velocities within a body comprising:
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a transducer for acquiring Doppler signals from a site within the body; an ECG detector for detecting the R-wave signal of the heart and producing R-wave timing information; an ultrasonic Doppler signal processing system coupled to receive Doppler signals from said transducer and said R-wave timing information, including means for processing said Doppler signals to produce spectral line data for continuous display of a succession of spectral lines indicating blood flow velocities during Doppler signal acquisition; and means for utilizing said R-wave timing information and said spectral line data to determine a time interval of spectral line data from which a cardiovascular characteristic is to be determined. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. Ultrasonic diagnostic imaging apparatus for providing Doppler information concerning blood flow velocities within a body comprising:
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a transducer for acquiring Doppler signals from a site within the body; an ultrasonic Doppler signal processing system coupled to receive Doppler signals from said transducer and said R-wave timing information, including means for processing said Doppler signals to produce spectral line data; a video display responsive to said spectral line data for displaying a succession of spectral lines substantially in real time; means responsive to said spectral line data for producing one or more quantified measures of cardiovascular performance; and wherein said system further includes means for automatically visually designating the displayed spectral lines corresponding to said quantified measures. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. In an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system for diagnosing cardiovascular performance, a method for simultaneously displaying spectral Doppler data and quantified measures of cardiovascular performance comprising:
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receiving ultrasonic Doppler signals from the cardiovascular system of a person; processing said ultrasonic Doppler signals to produce a spectral Doppler display; processing said ultrasonic Doppler signals to produce quantified measures of cardiovascular performance for simultaneous display with said spectral Doppler display; and automatically visually designating a portion of said spectral Doppler display which corresponds to the ultrasonic Doppler signals from which said quantified measures were produced. - View Dependent Claims (25)
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Specification