Ultrasound imaging preferable to ultrasound contrast echography

• US 5,724,976 A
• Filed: 12/27/1995
• Issued: 03/10/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Tsujino, Hiroyuki, Mine, Yoshitaka, Hirama, Makoto, Saitoh, Shiroh
• Primary Examiner(s): MANUEL, GEORGE C
• Application Number:
  US08/578,977
• Time in Patent Office: 804 Days
• Field of Search: 128/660.05, 128/660.07, 128/660.08, 128/661.01, 128/661.04, 128/661.08, 128/661.09, 128/662.02, 128/662.03, 73/625, 73/626, 310/365, 310/366
• US Class Current: 600/459
• CPC Class Codes: B06B 1/0614 for generating several frequencies
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/895 characterised by the transmitted frequency spectrum
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/8979 Combined Doppler and pulse-echo imaging systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52026 Extracting wanted echo signals Doppler systems G01S15/50; Doppler short range imaging systems G01S15/8979
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52038 involving non-linear properties of the propagation medium or of the reflective target
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52046 Techniques for image enhancement involving transmitter or receiver image enhancement by image data processing G06T5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52057 Cathode ray tube displays
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/5206 Two-dimensional coordinated display of distance and direction; B-scan display

Abstract

Provided is a diagnostic ultrasound system producing an image whose brightness is enhanced by a contrast medium by implementing contrast echography based on intravenous injection. A diagnostic ultrasound system comprises a probe for converting an electrical driving signal into a corresponding transmission ultrasound wave and converting an echoed ultrasound wave into a corresponding electrical echo signal. The system still comprises a unit for transmitting the transmission ultrasonic wave to a subject by providing the probe the electrical driving signal substantially consisting of a fundamental component of a given driving frequency. The non-fundamental component is typically a second harmonic. A non-fundamental component of the driving frequency is intentionally lowered in power relative to the fundamental component by a suppressing element in the transmitting unit. The system comprises a unit for receiving the echo signal from the probe and processing the echo signal into a display image data reflecting both the fundamental and non-fundamental components and a unit for displaying the display image data.

Claims

1. An ultrasound probe, comprising:

a transducer formed with a piezoelectric member for performing a conversion between an electric signal and an ultrasound signal bidirectionally; and

at least three electrodes including a ground electrode attached to the piezoelectric member so as to have a passband characteristic of at least two kinds of frequency components whose center frequencies retain a multiple relation with each other and represent a multi-humped frequency characteristic.

2. The probe of claim 1, wherein

the electrodes are three in number including the ground electrode used in common and two signal electrodes, and

the passband characteristic is two kinds in kind number.

3. The probe of claim 2, wherein

the piezoelectric member has a certain thickness in a certain direction and both sides in parallel with a thickness direction of the piezoelectric member, and

the signal electrodes consist of a first signal electrode at least partially attached to either one of both the sides and a second signal electrode attached to the other side, the second signal electrode coupling with an intermediate electrode extending toward the either one side partitioning the piezoelectric member in the thickness direction, and the first and second signal electrodes being connected to an individual lead member at connecting positions on the first and second electrodes respectively, each of the connecting positions residing in parallel with each of both the sides.

4. The probe of claim 3, wherein

the ultrasound probe has a probe head containing the transducer and each of the lead members interposed by a buffer amplifier of a high input impedance situated within the probe head.

5. The probe of claim 3, wherein said electrodes are formed such that the second signal electrode provides the two kinds of frequency components whose center frequencies retain the multiple relation with each other and represent a double-humped frequency characteristics.

6. The probe of claim 3, wherein said ground electrode is positioned on a side of the piezoelectric member from which the ultrasound signal is irradiated.

7. The probe of claim 2, wherein

a plurality of the transducers are arranged in an array direction defining a scanning direction of the ultrasound signal and are functionally divided into two transducer groups, and

lead members are connected to each set of the three electrodes associated with each transducer so that each transducer group has specified one of the two-kind passband characteristic.

8. The probe of claim 7, wherein

each transducer of each group of the two transducer groups are alternately arranged in the array direction group by group.

9. The probe of claim 2, wherein:

a plurality of the transducers are arranged in an array direction defining a scanning direction of the ultrasound signal and are functionally divided into two transducer groups,

the piezoelectric member has a certain thickness in a certain direction and both sides in parallel with a thickness direction of the piezoelectric member, and

the signal electrodes consist of a first signal electrode at least partially attached to either one of both the sides and a second signal electrode attached to the other side, the second signal electrode coupling with an intermediate electrode extending toward the either one side partitioning the piezoelectric member in the thickness direction, wherein

two lead members are respectively connected to the second and ground electrodes attached to each piezoelectric member of at least one of the two transducer groups, the first and the ground electrodes attached to each piezoelectric member of the at least one transducer group being short-circuited with each other through a short-circuit member.

10. The probe of claim 9, wherein said two lead wires are connected to the second and ground electrodes attached to each piezoelectric member of one of the two transducer groups,

wherein another two lead members are respectively connected to the first and ground electrodes attached to each piezoelectric member of the remaining transducer group.

11. The probe of claim 10, wherein each of the lead members connected to the signal electrodes is connected to each of the signal electrodes at a connecting position residing on either one of the sides.

12. The probe of claim 9, wherein said ground electrode is positioned on a side of the piezoelectric member from which the ultrasound signal is irradiated.

13. A diagnostic ultrasound system comprising:

an ultrasound probe comprising,

a plurality of transducers each formed with a piezoelectric member for performing a conversion between an electric signal and an ultrasound signal bidirectionally, and

at least three electrodes including a ground electrode attached to each of the transducers so as to have a passband characteristic of at least two kinds of frequency components whose center frequencies retain a multiple relation with each other and represent a multi-humped frequency characteristic; and

means for transmitting the ultrasound signal to a subject and receiving the ultrasound signal echoed from the subject through the ultrasound probe on the basis of a transmission/reception operation related to the at least two kinds of the frequency components.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein

the electrodes are three in number including the ground electrode used in common and two signal electrodes, and

the passband characteristic is two kinds in kind number.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein

the two-kind passbands are passbands passing both a fundamental frequency component of the electric signal and a non-fundamental frequency component of the electric signal, respectively, the electric signal being acquired under performing an ultrasound contrast echography with an ultrasound contrast medium resulting in generating the non-fundamental frequency component.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein

the non-fundamental frequency component is either one of a harmonic component and a subharmonic component of the fundamental frequency component.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein

the transmitting/receiving means comprises

means for permitting the probe to transmit the fundamental frequency component of the ultrasound signal to the subject through the ground electrode and specified one of the two signal electrodes,

means for permitting the probe to receive the harmonic component of the ultrasound signal echoed from the subject through the ground electrode and the other of the two signal electrodes, and

means for displaying a tomographic image of the subject based on the electric signal corresponding to the echoed ultrasound signal.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein

the transmitting/receiving means comprises

means for permitting the probe to transmit the fundamental frequency component of the ultrasound signal to the subject through the ground electrode and specified one of the two signal electrodes,

means for permitting the probe to receive the subharmonic component of the ultrasound signal echoed from the subject the ground electrode and the other of the two signal electrodes, and

means for displaying a tomographic image of the subject based on the electric signal corresponding to the echoed ultrasound signal.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein

the plurality of transducers are functionally divided into two transducer groups,

lead members are connected to each set of the three electrodes associated with each transducer so that each transducer group has specified one of the two-kind passband characteristics, and

the transmitting/receiving means comprises

means for permitting the probe to transmit the fundamental frequency component of the ultrasound signal to the subject through the transducers of specified one of the two transducer groups,

means for permitting the probe to receive the non-fundamental frequency component of the ultrasound signal echoed from the subject through the transducers of the other one of the two transducer groups, and

means for displaying a tomographic image of the subject based on the electric signal corresponding to the echoed ultrasound signal.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein

each transducer of each group of the two transducer groups are alternately arranged in the array direction group by group, the array direction defining a scanning direction of the ultrasound signal.

21. The system of claim 14, wherein

the transmitting/receiving means comprises

a first transmitting/receiving means for performing a Doppler-mode scan using the ultrasound signal, the Doppler-mode scan producing velocity information of a moving object within the subject and being performed through one pair of the three electrodes of each of the transducers in charge of a lower-frequency-side passband characteristic of the two-kind passband characteristics, and

a second transmitting/receiving means for performing a further scan and the Doppler-mode scan using the ultrasound signal, the further scan being performed through the other pair of the three electrodes of each of the transducers in charge of a higher-frequency-side passband characteristic of the two-kind passband characteristics.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein

the fundamental component consists of one fundamental frequency and the non-fundamental component includes at least one of a harmonic, subharmonic, and ultra-harmonic to the fundamental component.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein

the non-fundamental component is a second harmonic to the fundamental component.

49. The system of either one of claim 23 or 48, wherein

the receiving/processing means comprises

means for extracting the non-fundamental component from the echo signal, and

means for calculating two-dimensionally mapped data associated with motion velocities of an echo reflection source in the subject generating the non-fundamental component based on the extracted non-fundamental component, and

the displaying means comprises means for displaying the two-dimensionally mapped data of motion velocities.

50. The system of claim 49, wherein the velocity calculating means is a means that calculates the data of the motion velocities on the basis of a Doppler technique.

51. The system of claim 50, wherein the velocity calculating means has a filter passing the only Doppler-shifted echo signal within a frequency range corresponding to a velocity range known for a diagnostic portion of the subject.

52. The system of claim 49, wherein the velocity calculating means is a means that calculates the data of the motion velocities using a cross-correlation technique.

53. The system of either one of claim 23 or 48, wherein

the receiving/processing means comprises

means for extracting the fundamental and non-fundamental components from the echo signal respectively,

first means for calculating an image data set associated with morphologic information of a tissue based on the extracted fundamental component,

second means for calculating an image data set associated with motion information of the tissue based on the extracted fundamental component,

third means for calculating an image data set associated with blood distribution information in the tissue based on the extracted non-fundamental component,

fourth means for calculating an image data set associated with blood velocity information in the tissue based on the extracted fundamental component,

fifth means for calculating an image data set associated with blood velocity information in the tissue based on the extracted non-fundamental component, and

means for providing the displaying means at least one set of the five image sets.

54. The system of claim 53, wherein the image data providing means comprises a means for superimposing with each other at least the two image data sets selected from the three image data sets in accordance with a desired display mode.

55. The system of claim 54, wherein the image data providing means comprises a means for not only discriminating the motion information of the tissue with a given threshold but also supplying the discriminated motion information to the superimposing means.

22. A diagnostic ultrasound system, comprising:

a probe for converting an electrical driving signal into a corresponding transmission ultrasound wave and converting an echoed ultrasound wave into a corresponding electrical echo signal;

means for transmitting the transmission ultrasonic wave to a subject to be diagnosed by providing the probe the electrical driving signal substantially consisting of a fundamental component corresponding to a given driving frequency, a non-fundamental component of the driving signal being intentionally lowered in power relative to the fundamental component;

means for receiving the electrical echo signal from the probe and processing the electrical echo signal into a display image data; and

means for displaying the display image data.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein

the transmitting means comprises a suppressing means for intentionally suppressing the non-fundamental component.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein

the suppressing means is one of a transmission filter for passing the fundamental component of the driving signal alone, a transmission notch filter for cutting off the non-fundamental component of the driving signal, and a transmission resonant circuit for passing the fundamental component alone by producing a resonant state only in transmission of the driving signal.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the probe is a phased-array type probe in which a plurality of transducers is arranged in array.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein

all the transducers of the probe have a transmission/reception sensitivity to both the fundamental and non-fundamental components,

the suppressing means is connected to at least one transducer of all the transducers channel by channel, the at least one transducer being in charge of transmission, and

the receiving/processing means has a preamplifier circuit receiving the echo signal, a reception delay and adding circuit connecting to the preamplifier circuit, a first filter connecting to the reception delay and adding circuit and passing the fundamental component alone, and a second filter connecting to the reception delay and adding circuit and passing the non-fundamental component alone.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein

the suppressing means is interposed between a pulser circuit constituting a part of the transmitting means and the probe,

a switching circuit is provided for forming a reception path bypassing one of the transmission filter, transmission notch filter, and transmission resonant circuit during at least reception of the echo signal, and

the receiving/processing means includes a preamplifier circuit of which input is connected to a path connecting the suppressing means to the pulser circuit.

30. The system of claim 26, wherein the probe is a phased-array type probe in which a plurality of transducers is arranged in array, the plurality of transducers being divided into two transducer groups assigned to transmission of the transmission ultrasound wave and reception of the echoed ultrasound wave, respectively.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein

all the transducers of the probe have a transmission/reception sensitivity to both the fundamental and non-fundamental components,

the suppressing means is connected to the transducers of either one group of the two transducer groups, and

the receiving/processing means has a first preamplifier circuit receiving the echo signal from the transducers belonging to the one transducer group, a first reception delay and adding circuit connecting to the first preamplifier circuit, a first filter connecting to the first reception delay and adding circuit as well as passing the fundamental component alone, a second preamplifier circuit receiving the echo signal from the transducers belonging to the other transducer group, a second reception delay and adding circuit connecting to the second preamplifier circuit, and a second filter connecting to the second reception delay and adding circuit as well as passing the non-fundamental component alone.

32. The system of claim 30, wherein

all the transducers of the probe have a transmission/reception sensitivity to both the fundamental and non-fundamental components,

the suppressing means is connected to the transducers of either one group of the two transducer groups, and

the receiving/processing means has

a preamplifier circuit connecting to the transducers belonging to the other transducer group,

a reception delay and adding circuit connecting to the preamplifier circuit,

a first filter connecting to the reception delay and adding circuit as well as passing the fundamental component alone, and

a second filter connecting to the reception delay and adding circuit as well as passing the non-fundamental component alone.

33. The system of claim 30, wherein

all the transducers of the probe have a transmission/reception sensitivity to both the fundamental and non-fundamental components,

the suppressing means is connected to the transducers of either one group of the two transducer groups, and

the receiving/processing means has

a preamplifier circuit receiving the echo signal channel by channel from the transducers belonging to both the one transducer and other transducer groups, a first filter connecting to the reception delay and adding circuit as well as passing the fundamental component alone, and

a second filter connecting to the reception delay and adding circuit as well as passing the non-fundamental component alone.

34. The system of any one of claim 28, 31, 32, or 33, wherein the receiving/processing means comprises

a receiver for producing the fundamental and non-fundamental components passed through the first and second filters into an individual frame of B-mode image data, and

a converter for producing the display image data superimposing the B-mode image data associated with the fundamental component on the B-mode image data associated with the non-fundamental component.

35. The system of claim 30, wherein the transducers of the one transducer group have an operation sensitivity to the fundamental component alone and connected to the transmitting means.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein

the transducers of the other transducer group have an operation sensitivity to both the fundamental and non-fundamental components, and

the receiving/processing means comprises

a preamplifier circuit connecting to the transducers of the other transducer group, a reception delay and adding circuit connecting to the preamplifier circuit,

a first filter connecting to the reception delay and adding circuit as well as passing the fundamental component alone, and

a second filter connecting to the reception delay and adding circuit as well as passing the non-fundamental component alone.

37. The system of claim 30, wherein

the transducers of the other transducer group have an operation sensitivity to the non-fundamental component alone, and

the receiving/processing means has

a first preamplifier circuit connecting to the transducers of the one transducer group,

a first reception delay and adding circuit connecting to the first preamplifier circuit,

a second preamplifier circuit connecting to the transducers of the other transducer group, and

a second reception delay and adding circuit connecting to the second preamplifier circuit.

38. The system of either one of claim 31 or 37, wherein the receiving/processing means comprises means for setting a gain to the first and second preamplifier circuits, respectively.

39. The system of claim 26, wherein the transmitting means comprises a pulser circuit for providing the probe the driving signal and being used in common with the suppressing means, the pulser circuit comprising a circuitry for generating the driving signal in a duty ratio of 50%.

40. The system of claim 26, wherein the transmitting means comprises a pulser circuit for providing the probe the driving signal and being used in common with the suppressing means, the pulser circuit comprising a circuitry for generating the driving signal in a class-A operation of the circuitry.

41. The system of claim 22, wherein

the fundamental component consists of a plurality of different fundamental frequencies, and

the non-fundamental component consists of at least one of a summation of the fundamental frequencies, a difference among the fundamental frequencies, a summation of non-fundamental frequencies as to the fundamental frequencies, and a difference among non-fundamental frequencies as to the fundamental frequencies.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein

the plurality of different frequencies are two in frequency number, and

the non-fundamental component is either one of the summation of the non-fundamental frequencies and the difference between the fundamental frequencies.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein the transmitting means comprises a suppressing means for intentionally suppressing the non-fundamental component.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein the suppressing means is one of a transmission filter for passing the two fundamental components of the driving signal alone, a transmission notch filter for cutting off the non-fundamental component of the driving signal, and a transmission resonant circuit for passing the two fundamental components alone by producing a resonant state only in transmission of the driving signal.

45. The system of claim 44, wherein the probe is a phased-array type probe in which a plurality of transducers are arranged in array, the plurality of transducers having an operative sensitivity to both the fundamental and non-fundamental components and being divided into two transducer groups assigned to transmission of the transmission ultrasound wave and reception of the echoed ultrasound wave, respectively.

46. The system of claim 45, wherein the suppressing means is provided correspondingly to each group of the two transducer groups.

47. The system of claim 45, wherein

the receiving/processing means has a preamplifier circuit receiving echo signal from each of the transducers of the one and other transducer groups,

a reception delay and adding circuit connecting to the preamplifier circuit, and

first and second filters both connecting to the reception delay and adding circuit as well as passing the fundamental alone and the non-fundamental components alone, respectively.

48. The system of claim 42, wherein

the transmitting means comprises two pulser circuits each generating the driving signal having each of the two fundamental frequencies, and

the probe consists of two probes each connected to each of the two pulser circuits.

56. The system of claim 22, wherein an ultrasound contrast echography is carried out to acquire an ultrasound contrast image in a state that an ultrasound contrast medium has been given to the subject in a manner of intravenous injection, the system further comprising:

means for operating at least the transmitting and receiving/processing means when the contrast echography is carried out;

means for informing an injection time instant of the ultrasound contrast medium; and

means for combining elapsed time data measured after the intravenous injection with the display image data associated with at least the non-fundamental component.

57. The system of claim 22, wherein an ultrasound contrast echography is carried out to acquire an ultrasound contrast image in a state that an ultrasound contrast medium has been given to the subject in a manner of intravenous injection, the system further comprising:

means for distinguishing a tissue region from a region other than the tissue region on the basis of the display image data; and

further means for selectively displaying the tissue region.

58. The system of claim 57, wherein

the distinguishing means has

means for creating data of a reference image representing a cross section of the tissue on the basis of the display image data acquired prior to the intravenous injection of the contrast medium,

means for creating data of a masking image of the region other than the tissue region using the data of the reference image, and

means for masking the display image data with the data of the masking image, the display image data being acquired after the intravenous injection of the contrast medium.

59. The system of claim 57, wherein

the distinguishing means has

means for determining the region other than the tissue region using either one of a ratio and a difference between levels of the fundamental and non-fundamental components, and

means for masking the display image data correspondingly to the determined region other than the tissue region.

60. The system of claim 22, wherein

the receiving/processing means comprises

means for extracting the non-fundamental component from the echo signal,

means for producing image data based on the non-fundamental component,

means for storing the produced image data for a plurality of frames over a certain time period,

means for calculating time-series data associated with a brightness-change curve at a same portion in a tissue of the subject on the basis of the stored image data for the plurality of frames, and

means for calculating data of properties of the brightness-change curve based on the calculated time-series data, and

the displaying means includes a means for displaying the data of the properties together with the brightness-change curve.

61. The system of claim 60, further comprising means for determining a time instant for storing the image data into the storing means every certain time associated with cardiac phases on the basis of echocardiogram information derived from the subject.

62. The system of claim 61, wherein the time-series data calculating means includes a means for performing a curve fitting calculation to the time-series data of the brightness-change with a known function.

63. The system of claim 62, wherein the property calculating means is a means that calculates the properties including at least a physical index relating to a maximum brightness level in the fitted brightness-change curve.

64. The system of claim 22, wherein

means for setting ECG (echocardiogram) gating to the transmitting and receiving/processing means so as to acquire the echo signal on the ECG gating is provided.

65. The system of claim 22, wherein

means for setting ECG (echocardiogram) gating to the transmitting and receiving/processing means so as to acquire the echo signal on the ECG gating is provided, and

the receiving/processing means includes a means that produces the display image data by obtaining brightness change data among tomographic data set over a plurality of frames of the echo signal acquired on the ECG gating.

66. The system of claim 22, comprising

means for monitoring a biomedical signal of the subject varying with an elapsed time;

means for determining an acquiring time instant based on the biomedical signal; and

means for controlling the transmitting and receiving/processing means into an operation state of obtaining the display image data at the acquiring time instant.

67. The system of claim 22, comprising

means for monitoring a biomedical signal of the subject varying with an elapsed time;

means for determining an acquiring time instant based on the biomedical signal; and

means for controlling the transmitting and receiving/processing means into an operation state of obtaining the display image data at the acquiring time instant, wherein

the receiving/processing means comprises

means for storing tomographic image data derived from the echo signal acquired at every acquiring time instant, and

means for producing image data concerning a brightness change curve using the stored time-series tomographic image data.

68. The system of claim 62, wherein the producing means is a means that uses an echo level of either one of the fundamental and non-fundamental components in order to produce the image data concerning the brightness change curve, the fundamental and non-fundamental components being derived from a region of interest specified on an image of the tomographic image data.

69. The system of claim 22, wherein

the receiving/processing means comprises

means for storing a set of tomographic image data associated with the non-fundamental component under an ultrasound contrast echography which is carried out separately before and after loading of medication to the subject, and

means for producing the display image data by obtaining data in brightness change among the stored sets of the tomographic image data.

70. The system of claim 22, wherein at least one of the transmitting means and the receiving/processing means comprises means for adjusting an operative parameter associated with at least one of transmission/reception of the echo signal and production of the display image data independence on a scanning position of the transmission ultrasound wave carried out in a cross section of the subject.

71. The system of claim 70, wherein the adjusting means is included in the transmitting means and is a means that adjusts a voltage value of the driving signal dependently on a scanning depth defined by the scanning position along the cross section.

72. The system of claim 70, wherein

the adjusting means is included in the receiving/processing means and

the adjusting means comprises

means for previously memorizing correction data associated with ununiformity of an acquiring parameter depending on the scanning position, and

means for correcting a signal level of the non-fundamental component on the basis of the correction data.

73. A diagnostic ultrasound system, comprising:

a probe for converting an electrical driving signal into a corresponding transmission ultrasound wave and converting an echoed ultrasound wave into a corresponding electrical echo signal;

means for transmitting the transmission ultrasonic wave to a subject to be diagnosed by providing the probe the electrical driving signal substantially consisting of a fundamental component corresponding to a given driving frequency, a non-fundamental component of the driving signal being intentionally lowered in power relative to the fundamental component;

means for receiving the electrical echo signal from the probe and processing the electrical echo signal into a display image data reflecting both the fundamental and non-fundamental components; and

means for displaying the display image data.

74. A diagnostic ultrasound system by which an ultrasound contrast echography is carried out to acquire an ultrasound contrast image in a state that an ultrasound contrast medium has been given to a subject to be diagnosed in a manner of intravenous injection, the system comprising:

a probe for converting an electrical driving signal into a corresponding transmission ultrasound wave and converting an echoed ultrasound wave into a corresponding electrical echo signal;

means for transmitting the transmission ultrasonic wave to the subject by providing the probe the electrical driving signal substantially consisting of a fundamental component corresponding to a given driving frequency, a non-fundamental component of the driving signal being intentionally lowered in power relative to the fundamental component;

means for receiving the electrical echo signal from the probe and processing the electrical echo signal into a display image data reflecting at least the non-fundamental components; and

means for displaying the display image data.

75. The system of claim 74, wherein

the fundamental component consists of one fundamental frequency and the non-fundamental component includes at least one of a harmonic, subharmonic, and ultra-harmonic to the fundamental component.

76. The system of claim 75, wherein

the non-fundamental component is a second harmonic to the fundamental component.

77. The system of claim 74, wherein

the transmitting means comprises a suppressing means for intentionally suppressing the non-fundamental component.

78. A method of acquiring a diagnostic ultrasound image comprising the steps of:

preparing a probe for converting an electrical driving signal into a corresponding transmission ultrasound wave and converting an echoed ultrasound wave into a corresponding electrical echo signal;

transmitting the transmission ultrasonic wave to a subject to be diagnosed by providing the probe the electrical driving signal substantially consisting of a fundamental component corresponding to a given driving frequency, a non-fundamental component of the driving signal being intentionally lowered in power relative to the fundamental component; and

receiving the electrical echo signal from the probe and processing the electrical echo signal into a display image data; and

displaying the display image data.