Method and apparatus for composition and display of three-dimensional image from two-dimensional ultrasound scan data
First Claim
1. A methods executed by a machine, of displaying a 3D image of a human tissue volume, said method comprising:
- (a) receiving a plurality of data sets, referred to as data slices, each said data slice representing a respective 2D slice of said tissue volume, said plurality of data slices having been generated by ultrasound scanning of said tissue volume;
(b) defining (1) one or more regions within one of said data slices, referred to as regions 1a, 1b, and so on, within data slice 1, and (2) one or more regions within another of said data slices, referred to as regions 2a, 2b, and so on, within data slice 2;
(c) performing a process of speckle decorrelation measurement to determine respective amounts of correlation between regions 1a and 2a, regions 1b and 2b, and so on;
(d) utilizing said respective amounts of correlation to compute a relative positional difference vector representative of a relative positional difference between data slice 1 and data slice 2;
(e) storing in a memory device (1) a representation of at least a portion of said data slice 1, (2) a representation of at least a portion of said data slice 2, and (3) said relative positional difference vector;
(f) computing, from said relative positional difference vector, a relative position of each of said data slice 1 and said data slice 2 within a 3D image of the material; and
(g) displaying said 3D image on a visual display.
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Abstract
A 3D image data set representing a volume of material such as human tissue is created using speckle decorrelation techniques to process successive 2D data slices from a moving, standard 1D or 1.5D ultrasound transducer. This permits the use of standard ultrasound machinery, without the use of additional slice-position hardware, to create 3D images without having to modify the machinery or its operation. Similar techniques can be used for special data processing within the imaging system as well to expedite the image acquisition process. Optionally, the image quality of 2D images can be enhanced through the use of multiple 3D data sets derived using the method.
195 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A methods executed by a machine, of displaying a 3D image of a human tissue volume, said method comprising:
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(a) receiving a plurality of data sets, referred to as data slices, each said data slice representing a respective 2D slice of said tissue volume, said plurality of data slices having been generated by ultrasound scanning of said tissue volume; (b) defining (1) one or more regions within one of said data slices, referred to as regions 1a, 1b, and so on, within data slice 1, and (2) one or more regions within another of said data slices, referred to as regions 2a, 2b, and so on, within data slice 2; (c) performing a process of speckle decorrelation measurement to determine respective amounts of correlation between regions 1a and 2a, regions 1b and 2b, and so on; (d) utilizing said respective amounts of correlation to compute a relative positional difference vector representative of a relative positional difference between data slice 1 and data slice 2; (e) storing in a memory device (1) a representation of at least a portion of said data slice 1, (2) a representation of at least a portion of said data slice 2, and (3) said relative positional difference vector; (f) computing, from said relative positional difference vector, a relative position of each of said data slice 1 and said data slice 2 within a 3D image of the material; and (g) displaying said 3D image on a visual display. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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2. A method, executed by a machine, of creating a memory containing a data structure encoding a series of two-dimensional representations of a material, said method comprising:
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(a) receiving a plurality of data sets, referred to as data slices, each said data slice representing a respective slice of said material; (b) defining (1) one or more regions within one of said data slices, referred to as one or more regions within data slice 1, and (2) one or more regions within another of said data slices, referred to as one or more regions within data slice 2; (c) measuring respective amounts of correlation between said one or more regions within data slice 1 and said one or more regions within data slice 2; (d) utilizing said respective amounts of correlation to compute a relative positional difference vector representative of a relative positional difference between data slice 1 and data slice 2; and (e) writing to said memory (1) a representation of at least a portion of said data slice 1, (2) a representation of at least a portion of said data slice 2, and (3) said relative positional difference vector. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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13. A method, executed by a machine, of displaying a 3D image of a human tissue volume, said method comprising:
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(a) receiving a plurality of data sets, referred to as data slices, each said data slice representing a respective 2D slice of said tissue volume; (b) defining (1) one or more regions within one of said data slices, referred to as one or more regions within data slice 1, and (2) one or more regions within another of said data slices, referred to as one or more regions within data slice 2; (c) performing a process of speckle decorrelation measurement to determine respective amounts of correlation between said one or more regions in data slice 1 and said one or more regions in data slice 2; (d) utilizing said respective amounts of correlation to compute a relative positional difference vector representative of a relative positional difference between data slice 1 and data slice 2.
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23. A method of generating image views of imaged material, which views reveal specific characteristics of said material, comprising:
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(a) receiving a plurality of data sets, referred to as data slices, each data slice representing a respective 2-D image of said material; (b) image processing said data slices to identify regions of coherent speckle therein; (c) generating said image views using slices having regions of coherent speckle therein.
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24. A method of generating image views of imaged material, which views reveal specific characteristics of said material, comprising:
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(a) receiving a plurality of data sets, referred to as data slices, each data slice representing a respective 2-D image of said material; (b) image processing said data slices to extract data which do not represent coherent speckle; (c) generating said image views using said processed data slices. - View Dependent Claims (26, 29, 30)
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25. A method of generating image views of imaged material, which views reveal specific characteristics of said material, comprising:
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(a) receiving a plurality of data sets, referred to as data slices, each data slice representing a respective 2-D image of said material; (b) image processing said data slices to assess decorrelation rates in 3-D; (c) selecting data slices for said image views based on said assessed decorrelation rates. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28)
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Specification