Method and apparatus for three-dimensional flow lumen imaging
First Claim
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1. A method for generating an ultrasound-based image of a flow lumen, said method comprising:
- based on a set of Doppler signals, determining that a first set of pixels represents an area of flow;
based on said set of Doppler signals, determining that a second set of pixels represents an area of non-flow;
isolating edge pixels substantially representing a border between said area of flow and said area of non-flow; and
deriving said image from said edge pixels.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for generating three-dimensional (3D) images of flow structures and their flow lumen using ultrasound techniques. According to one aspect of the invention, a border between a flow region and a non-flow region is used to render a three-dimensional image of the flow lumen of the flow structure. The images may be viewed in real-time and/or stored on a machine-readable medium. In one embodiment, the three-dimensional images may be manipulated in a number of viewing directions/angles/distances/positions/styles. In one embodiment, a flow lumen may be displayed using a virtual angioscopic view.
70 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A method for generating an ultrasound-based image of a flow lumen, said method comprising:
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based on a set of Doppler signals, determining that a first set of pixels represents an area of flow; based on said set of Doppler signals, determining that a second set of pixels represents an area of non-flow; isolating edge pixels substantially representing a border between said area of flow and said area of non-flow; and deriving said image from said edge pixels. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. An apparatus for use in a Doppler-based ultrasound imaging system, said apparatus comprising:
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a probe to exchange Doppler signals with a body; a processing unit, coupled to said probe, to identify, based on flow information provided by said Doppler signals, a region of flow and a region of non-flow, and to determine a boundary therebetween to generate image data of a flow lumen derived from said boundary between said area of flow and said area of non-flow. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for generating an image of a flow lumen, said method comprising:
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receiving a first set of Doppler echo signals from a body; determining that said first set of Doppler echo signals indicate a region of non-flow; receiving a second set of Doppler echo signals from a body; determining that said second set of Doppler echo signals indicate a region of flow; mapping said first and second regions into a plurality of pixels, wherein pixels of a first type correspond to said region of flow and pixels of a second type correspond to said region of non-flow; isolating a set of pixels from said plurality of pixels, wherein said set of pixels represents an edge between said first and second types of pixels; and generating said image from said set of pixels. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification