Pulse inversion doppler ultrasonic diagnostic imaging
First Claim
1. A method for ultrasonically analyzing linear or nonlinear ultrasonic echo signal components comprising the steps of:
- transmitting a sequence of phase-varying ultrasonic waves into the body;
receiving a sequence of ultrasonic echo signals in response to said phase-varying ultrasonic waves;
analyzing the phase shifts between successive echoes to separate the phase shifts of odd and even harmonic signal components; and
utilizing at least one of said separate odd and even harmonic signal components.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging method and apparatus are presented which separates broadband linear and nonlinear echo signal components while simultaneously distinguishing the effects of motion. The inventive method maps ultrasonic echo signals in the r.f. (time) domain to Doppler shift frequencies in the Doppler domain in a way that depends upon the linearity of the echoes. The inventive method does this by analyzing the phase shifts between successive echoes. Apparatus is described in which a Doppler echo ensemble is acquired by a transmit sequence of cyclically phase-varying waveforms. When the echoes of the ensemble are combined during Doppler processing, the resulting Doppler spectrum is divided into separate regions, with odd harmonics (e.g., linear signal components) residing in one region and even harmonics (e.g., second harmonic signal components) residing in another region. In a preferred embodiment a Doppler wall filter is used to delineate a particular type of signal information for processing, such as tissue motion, harmonic contrast agent, or tissue harmonic imaging information.
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Citations
76 Claims
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1. A method for ultrasonically analyzing linear or nonlinear ultrasonic echo signal components comprising the steps of:
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transmitting a sequence of phase-varying ultrasonic waves into the body; receiving a sequence of ultrasonic echo signals in response to said phase-varying ultrasonic waves; analyzing the phase shifts between successive echoes to separate the phase shifts of odd and even harmonic signal components; and utilizing at least one of said separate odd and even harmonic signal components. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method for mapping r.f. ultrasonic echo signal information to the Doppler domain in a manner which separates linear and nonlinear signal information comprising the steps of:
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transmitting a sequence of phase-varying ultrasonic waves into the body; receiving an ensemble of ultrasonic echo signals in response to said phase-varying ultrasonic waves; and Doppler processing said ensemble of echo signals to produce Doppler phase shift information separated in accordance with the linearity of the echo signals. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for differentiating linear and nonlinear ultrasonic echo signal components comprising the steps of:
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transmitting a modulated sequence of three or more ultrasonic waves into the body to generate phase distinctions in resulting ultrasonic echoes; receiving an ensemble of three or more ultrasonic echo signals in response to said transmitted sequence; and analyzing said ensemble of echo signals to separate phase shift information of linear and nonlinear echo signal components in the presence of motion. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method for differentially phase modulating linear and nonlinear ultrasonic echo signal components comprising the steps of:
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transmitting a modulated sequence of ultrasonic waves into the body to generate phase distinctions in resulting ultrasonic echoes; receiving an ensemble of ultrasonic echo signals in response to said transmitted sequence; and analyzing said ensemble to separate phase shift information of linear and nonlinear signal components, wherein said step of transmitting comprises transmitting ultrasonic waves which are modulated from pulse to pulse, wherein said modulation comprises a 180°
phase variation from pulse to pulse, an amplitude modulation from pulse to pulse, or a combination of phase and amplitude modulation from pulse to pulse, andwherein said step of analyzing comprises Doppler processing said ensemble of echo signals to produce Doppler phase shift information separated in accordance with the linearity of the echo signals. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29)
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30. A method of separating linear and nonlinear ultrasonic signal components comprising the steps of:
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transmitting a sequence of ultrasonic waves into the body which are differently amplitude or phase modulated from one wave to another; receiving an ensemble of ultrasonic echo signals in response to said modulated ultrasonic waves, each of which contains both linear and nonlinear echo signal components; and processing said received ensemble of echoes to produce separated nonlinear phase shift components in the presence of motion. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system which separates odd and even harmonic ultrasonic echo information comprising:
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an ultrasonic wave transmitter which transmits a sequence of phase-varying ultrasonic waves into a subject; an ultrasonic wave receiver which receives a sequence of ultrasonic echo signals in response to said phase-varying ultrasonic waves; and a phase shift processor which processes said sequence of echo signals on the basis of relative phase characteristics to separate received echo information into odd and even harmonic signal components. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system which separates linear and nonlinear ultrasonic signal information comprising:
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an ultrasonic wave transmitter which transmits a sequence of phase-varying ultrasonic waves into a subject; a receiver which receives an ensemble of ultrasonic echo signals in response to said phase-varying ultrasonic waves; and a Doppler processor which processes said ensemble of echo signals to produce Doppler phase shift information delineated in accordance with the linearity of said ultrasonic echo signals. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
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53. An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system which distinguishes linear and nonlinear ultrasonic echo signal components comprising:
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an ultrasonic wave transmitter which transmits a modulated sequence of ultrasonic waves into a subject; a receiver which receives an ensemble of ultrasonic echo signals in response to said modulated transmit sequence of ultrasonic waves; and a processor responsive to said ensemble which separates linear echo signal components including those resulting from motion and nonlinear echo signal components. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59)
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60. An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system which distinguishes linear and nonlinear ultrasonic echo signal components comprising:
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an ultrasonic wave transmitter which transmits a modulated sequence of ultrasonic waves into a subject; a receiver which receives an ensemble of ultrasonic echo signals in response to said modulated transmit sequence of ultrasonic waves; and a processor which separates phase shift information of said echoes into linear and nonlinear signal components, wherein said processor comprises a differential processor which differentially detects linear and nonlinear signal components, and wherein said processor comprises a power Doppler processor.
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61. An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system which distinguishes linear and nonlinear ultrasonic echo signal components comprising:
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an ultrasonic wave transmitter which transmits a modulated sequence of ultrasonic waves into a subject; a receiver which receives an ensemble of ultrasonic echo signals in response to said modulated transmit sequence of ultrasonic waves; and a processor which separates phase shift information of said echoes into linear and nonlinear signal components, wherein said processor comprises a differential processor which differentially detects linear and nonlinear signal components, and wherein said processor comprises a colorflow processor.
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62. An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system which distinguishes the harmonic signal effects of moving tissue comprising:
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a transmitter which transmits a sequence of phase-varying ultrasonic waves into a subject; a receiver which receives an ensemble of echoes in response to said ultrasonic waves; and a tissue Doppler processor which processes said ensemble to distinguish a spectrum of the odd or even harmonic signal effects of moving tissue. - View Dependent Claims (63, 64, 65)
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66. An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system which distinguishes the harmonic signal effects of moving tissue or harmonic contrast agents comprising:
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a transmitter which transmits a sequence of phase-varying ultrasonic waves into a subject; a receiver which receives an ensemble of echoes in response to said ultrasonic waves; and a power Doppler processor which processes said ensemble to distinguish a spectrum of the odd or even harmonic signal effects of moving tissue or of a harmonic contrast agent. - View Dependent Claims (67, 68, 69, 70)
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71. An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system which separates odd and even harmonic ultrasonic signal information comprising:
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an ultrasonic wave transmitter which transmits a sequence of phase-varying ultrasonic waves into a subject; a receiver which receives an ensemble of ultrasonic echo signals in response to said phase-varying ultrasonic waves; and a Doppler processor which processes said ensemble of echo signals to produce Doppler phase shift information; and first and second filters which pass odd harmonic Doppler phase shift information and even harmonic Doppler phase shift information, respectively. - View Dependent Claims (72, 73, 74, 75, 76)
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Specification