Method and apparatus for real-time calculation and display of strain in ultrasound imaging
First Claim
1. A method for providing real-time strain velocity images of a spatial region comprising:
- firing ultrasound pulses into an area of interest of the spatial region;
acquiring echo signals for a plurality of range positions along ultrasonic beams in an area of interest using a beam interleaving technique to acquire echo information along different beam directions during a time interval between two consecutive ultrasound pulse firings in a common direction;
estimating, in real-time, strain velocities from said acquired echo signals for said range positions inside said spatial region; and
displaying estimated strain velocities for each range position at spatial coordinates on a display unit associated with said spatial region to provide a real-time image of said strain velocities for said spatial region.
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Abstract
An ultrasound system and method for calculation and display of strain velocity in real time is disclosed. Strain velocity may be determined from tissue velocity. Tissue velocity determined by measuring the pulse-to-pulse Doppler shift at range positions along an ultrasound beam and calculating tissue velocity based on the Doppler shift. The strain velocity is then calculated as a gradient of tissue velocity. Alternatively, linear regression methods may be used to calculate strain velocity from tissue velocity. Alternatively, strain velocity may be determined directly from the difference in Doppler shift between range positions. The result of the strain velocity determination may be displayed in a number of manners such as M-mode, color-coded video images or time-variation curves, and may be displayed in combination, or as a mixture, with a B-mode image. A reliability index may be calculated and used to modify the display of strain velocity information.
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Citations
44 Claims
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1. A method for providing real-time strain velocity images of a spatial region comprising:
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firing ultrasound pulses into an area of interest of the spatial region; acquiring echo signals for a plurality of range positions along ultrasonic beams in an area of interest using a beam interleaving technique to acquire echo information along different beam directions during a time interval between two consecutive ultrasound pulse firings in a common direction; estimating, in real-time, strain velocities from said acquired echo signals for said range positions inside said spatial region; and displaying estimated strain velocities for each range position at spatial coordinates on a display unit associated with said spatial region to provide a real-time image of said strain velocities for said spatial region. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method for generating real-time strain velocity images comprising:
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acquiring harmonic signals for echo signals received from a plurality of range positions along an ultrasonic beam in an area of interest to cover a spatial region; estimating in real-time strain velocities for said range positions inside said spatial region based on the harmonic signals for the acquired echo signals; and displaying estimated strain velocities for each range position at spatial coordinates on a display unit associated with said spatial region to provide a real-time image of said strain velocities for said spatial region. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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Specification