Method and apparatus for ultrasound image quantification

• US 6,193,664 B1
• Filed: 02/04/1999
• Issued: 02/27/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Acuson Corporation (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Acuson Corporation (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Jain, Arvind, Allison, John W., McCabe, Laurence S., Guracar, Ismayil M., Chandler, Paul E., Jackson, John I., Maslak, Samuel H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lateef, Marvin M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): PATEL, MAULIN M
• Application Number:
  US09/245,421
• Time in Patent Office: 754 Days
• Field of Search: 600/441, 600/453, 600/438, 600/450, 600/437, 600/447, 600/440, 600/451, 600/455, 600/454
• US Class Current: 600/453
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/08 Detecting organic movements or changes, e.g. tumours, cysts, swellings A61B8/02 - A61B8/06 take precedence
• 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 15/8988 Colour Doppler imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52023 Details of receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52025 for pulse systems G01S7/52034 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52034 Data rate converters
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52038 involving non-linear properties of the propagation medium or of the reflective target
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52063 Sector scan display
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52071 Multicolour displays; using colour coding; Optimising colour or information content in displays, e.g. parametric imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52073 Production of cursor lines, markers or indicia by electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52074 Composite displays, e.g. split-screen displays; Combination of multiple images or of images and alphanumeric tabular information

Abstract

A method and apparatus for quantifying and displaying ultrasound signals in an ultrasonic system are provided. A first signal value for each of at least one spatial location in a region of interest is acquired at a first time, and the signal values are summed to obtain a first surface integral value. A second signal value for each of said at least one spatial location in said region of interest is acquired at a second time, and the second signal values are summed to obtain a second surface integral value. The first surface integral value is summed with the second surface integral value to obtain a time based integral. The time based integral is displayed. Other quantities based on any of various ultrasound parameters, such as Doppler energy, Doppler velocity and B-mode intensity, are calculated and displayed as quantities or as waveforms as a function of time. Furthermore, various comparisons of quantities and waveforms are provided. Image plane data or other ultrasound data are used in the calculations. Finally, a histogram data structure is provided to aid calculation of the various quantities.

Claims

1. A method of quantifying and displaying Doppler signal strength signals in an ultrasound system comprising:

mapping color values based on image plane data where different color values represent different Doppler signal strengths at multiple spatial locations;

creating a color Doppler signal strength display based on said color values;

selecting a first spatial location in said color Doppler signal strength display;

acquiring a Doppler signal strength value associated with said first spatial location from said image plane data; and

displaying a quantity derived from said Doppler signal strength value.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of creating a color Doppler signal strength display further comprises overlaying said color Doppler signal strength display on a B-mode intensity display.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of creating a color Doppler signal strength display comprises creating a color Doppler energy display.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said selecting step comprises placing a icon on said color Doppler signal strength display.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

repeating the step of acquiring to obtain at least a second Doppler signal strength value at an at least second time; and

displaying said quantity and at least a second quantity based on said second Doppler signal strength value as a waveform.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of displaying the quantity comprises displaying said Doppler signal strength value.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of converting said Doppler signal strength value to a linear scale.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of applying a threshold to said Doppler signal strength value.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

comparing said Doppler signal strength value with another Doppler signal strength value; and

altering processing of said ultrasound system based on said comparison.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising the steps of:

comparing said Doppler signal strength value with another Doppler signal strength value; and

providing a control signal based on said comparison.

11. An ultrasound apparatus for quantifying and displaying Doppler signal strength signals in an ultrasound system comprising:

a buffer for storing image plane data corresponding to different Doppler signal strengths;

a display of color values including a Doppler signal strength image derived from said image plane data;

a user interface for selecting a first spatial location in said display of color values;

a microprocessor for acquiring a Doppler signal strength value from said image plane data corresponding to said first spatial location; and

a quantity display derived from said Doppler signal strength value.

12. The ultrasound apparatus of claim 11 further comprising a gray scale display including a B-mode intensity image derived from said image plane data overlaid with said display of color values.

13. The ultrasound apparatus of claim 11 wherein said user interface comprises:

a trackball device; and

a icon on said display.

14. The ultrasound apparatus of claim 11 further comprising a waveform display derived from multiple of said Doppler signal strengths.

15. The ultrasound apparatus of claim 11 wherein said microprocessor comprises a histogram data structure.

16. The ultrasound apparatus of claim 11 further comprising a control signal generated based on a comparison of multiple of said quantities.

17. The ultrasound apparatus of claim 11 wherein said microprocessor comprises a look-up table.

18. A method of quantifying and displaying Doppler signal strength signals in an ultrasound system comprising:

mapping color values based on image plane data where different color values represent different Doppler signal strengths at multiple spatial locations;

creating a color Doppler signal strength display based on said color values;

selecting a first line on said color Doppler signal strength display;

acquiring at least a first and second Doppler signal strength value associated with said first line from said image plane data; and

displaying a profile derived from said first and second Doppler signal strength value.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the step of creating a color Doppler signal strength display further comprises overlaying said color Doppler signal strength display on a B-mode intensity display.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the step of creating a color Doppler signal strength display comprises creating a color Doppler energy display.

21. The method of claim 18 wherein said selecting step comprises placing a first and second icon on said color Doppler signal strength display.

22. The method of claim 18 further comprising the steps of:

repeating the step of acquiring to obtain at least third and fourth Doppler signal strength values at an at least second time; and

displaying a second profile based on said third and fourth Doppler signal strength values.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising creating a waveform derived from said profile and said second profile.

24. The method of claim 18 wherein the step of displaying the profile comprises displaying a graph of said Doppler signal strength value as a function of location along said line.

25. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of converting said first and second Doppler signal strength values to a linear scale.

26. The method of claim 18 further comprising the step of applying a threshold to said first and second Doppler signal strength values.

27. The method of claim 22 further comprising the steps of:

calculating a first quantity from said first and second Doppler signal values;

calculating a second quantity from said third and fourth Doppler signal values;

comparing said first and second quantities; and

altering processing of said ultrasound system based on said comparison.

28. The method of claim 27 further comprising the step of providing a control signal based on said comparison.

29. An ultrasound apparatus for quantifying and displaying Doppler signal strength signals in an ultrasound system comprising:

a buffer for storing image plane data corresponding to different Doppler signal strengths;

a display of color values including a Doppler signal strength image derived from said image plane data;

a user interface for selecting a line in said display of color values;

a microprocessor for acquiring Doppler signal strength values from said image plane data corresponding to said line; and

a profile display derived from said Doppler signal strength values.

30. The ultrasound apparatus of claim 29 further comprising a gray scale display including a B-mode intensity image derived from said image plane data overlaid with said display of color values.

31. The ultrasound apparatus of claim 29 wherein said user interface comprises:

a trackball device; and

first and second icons on said display.

32. The ultrasound apparatus of claim 29 further comprising a waveform display derived from Doppler signal strengths corresponding to multiple of said profiles.

33. The ultrasound apparatus of claim 29 wherein said microprocessor comprises a histogram data structure.

34. The ultrasound apparatus of claim 29 further comprising a control signal generated based on a comparison of said Doppler signal strengths corresponding to multiple of said profiles.

35. The ultrasound apparatus of claim 29 wherein said microprocessor comprises a look-up table.

36. A method of quantifying and displaying Doppler signal strength signals in an ultrasound system comprising:

mapping color values based on a first frame of image plane data where different color values represent different Doppler signal strengths at multiple spatial locations;

creating a color Doppler signal strength display based on said color values;

selecting an area on said color Doppler signal strength display;

acquiring Doppler signal strength values associated with said area from a second frame of image plane data prior to mapping color values based on said second frame of image plane data; and

displaying a first quantity derived from said Doppler signal strength values.

37. The method of claim 36 wherein the step of creating a color Doppler signal strength display further comprises overlaying said color Doppler signal strength display on a B-mode intensity display.

38. The method of claim 36 wherein the step of creating a color Doppler signal strength display comprises creating a color Doppler energy display.

39. The method of claim 36 wherein said selecting step comprises placing multiple icons on said color Doppler signal strength display.

40. The method of claim 36 further comprising the steps of:

repeating the step of acquiring to obtain a second set of Doppler signal strength values at an at least second time; and

displaying a second quantity based on said second set of Doppler signal strength values.

41. The method of claim 40 further comprising creating a waveform derived from said First quantity and said second quantity.

42. The method of claim 36 wherein the step of displaying the first quantity comprises displaying a numerical value.

43. The method of claim 36 further comprising the step of converting said Doppler signal strength values to a linear scale.

44. The method of claim 36 further comprising the step of applying a threshold to said Doppler signal strength values.

45. The method of claim 40 further comprising the steps of:

comparing said first and second quantities; and

altering processing of said ultrasound system based on said comparison.

46. The method of claim 36 wherein the step of selecting said area comprises selecting a volume and wherein the step of acquiring comprises acquiring said values associated with said volume.

47. The method of claim 45 further comprising the step of providing a control signal based on said comparison.

48. An ultrasound apparatus for quantifying and displaying Doppler signal strength signals in an ultrasound system comprising:

a buffer for storing a first frame of image plane data corresponding to different Doppler signal strengths;

a display of color values including a Doppler signal strength image derived from said first frame of image plane data;

a user interface for selecting a area in said display of color values;

a microprocessor for acquiring Doppler signal strength values from at least a second frame of image plane data corresponding to said area prior to color mapping said second frame of image plane data; and

a quantity display derived from said Doppler signal strength values.

49. The ultrasound apparatus of claim 48 further comprising a gray scale display including a B-mode intensity image derived from said image plane data overlaid with said display of color values.

50. The ultrasound apparatus of claim 48 wherein said user interface comprises:

a trackball device; and

at least a first icon on said display.

51. The ultrasound apparatus of claim 48 further comprising a waveform display derived from Doppler signal strengths corresponding to multiple of said quantities.

52. The ultrasound apparatus of claim 48 wherein said microprocessor comprises a histogram data structure.

53. The ultrasound apparatus of claim 48 further comprising a control signal generated based on a comparison of said Doppler signal strengths corresponding to multiple of said quantities.

54. The ultrasound apparatus of claim 48 wherein said microprocessor comprises a look-up table.

55. The ultrasound apparatus of claim 48 wherein said user interface is capable of selecting a volume and wherein said microprocessor is capable of acquiring values corresponding to said volume.