Ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system for low flow rate contrast agents

• US 6,620,103 B1
• Filed: 06/11/2002
• Issued: 09/16/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Bruce, Matthew, Simpson, David Hope
• Primary Examiner(s): Lateef, Marvin M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): PATEL, MAULIN M
• Application Number:
  US10/170,153
• Time in Patent Office: 462 Days
• Field of Search: 600/453, 600/443, 600/447, 600/448, 600/449, 600/455, 600/454, 600/456, 600/444
• US Class Current: 600/458
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/8963 using pulse inversion
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/8981 Discriminating between fixed and moving objects or between objects moving at different speeds, e.g. wall clutter filter
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52038 involving non-linear properties of the propagation medium or of the reflective target
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52039 exploiting the non-linear response of a contrast enhancer, e.g. a contrast agent diagnostic techniques involving the use of contrast agents A61B8/481
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52085 Details related to the ultrasound signal acquisition, e.g. scan sequences control of medical diagnostic ultrasound devices A61B8/54

Abstract

An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system and method are presented to determine low rates of blood flow using contrast agents. Pairs of differently modulated pulses are transmitted in several beam directions to acquire echoes which can be combined to separate harmonic frequencies by pulse inversion. The pulses of each pair are transmitted in rapid succession to minimize motional artifacts. The transmission in the different beam directions is time-interleaved, resulting in the sampling of each beam direction over a long ensemble time for the detection of low rates of flow.

Claims

1. A method for detecting low velocity motion of a substance which returns ultrasonic harmonic echo signals comprising:

transmitting a first fast time ensemble of a plurality of pulses in a first direction;

transmitting a third fast time ensemble of a plurality of pulses in the first direction; and

prior to transmitting the third fast time ensemble, transmitting a second fast time ensemble in a second direction,

wherein the first and third fast time ensembles comprise a slow time ensemble transmitted in the first direction.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting farther comprises receiving echoes in response to the transmission of each pulse in a given direction.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising separating harmonic echo components by pulse inversion processing of the echoes of each fast time ensemble.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the number of pulses of a fast time ensemble is two.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the number of pulses of a fast time ensemble is greater than two.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising Doppler processing the separated harmonic echo components of a slow time ensemble.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein separating harmonic echo components by pulse inversion processing comprises attenuating the contributions of fundamental frequency echoes;

and

wherein Doppler processing the separated harmonic echo components comprises detecting low rates of blood flow.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein Doppler processing the separated harmonic echo components further comprises attenuating the contributions of harmonic echo components from stationary objects.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting a fast time ensemble comprises transmitting at least two pulses which are differently modulated in at least one of phase, polarity, or amplitude.

10. A method for producing ultrasonic Doppler ensembles of harmonic signals comprising:

selecting a plurality of beam directions which are to be sampled in a time-interleaved group;

transmitting a first plurality of fast time pulses in the direction of a first one of the beams;

transmitting a first plurality of fast time pulses in the directions of all of the other beams in the group before transmitting again in the first beam direction;

transmitting a second plurality of fast time pulses in the direction of the first one of the beams; and

transmitting a second plurality of fast time pulses in the directions of all of the other beams in the group before transmitting again in the first beam direction.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein transmitting a plurality of fast time pulses further comprises receiving echoes in which harmonic components are to be identified by pulse inversion processing.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising Doppler processing an ensemble of harmonic echo components in each beam direction to detect low rates of flow.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein transmitting a plurality of fast time pulses comprises transmitting fast time pulses in each beam direction at regularly recurring intervals.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein transmitting a plurality of fast time pulses comprises transmitting fast time pulses in each beam direction at aperiodic intervals.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein transmitting a plurality of fast time pulses comprises transmitting at least two pulses which are differently modulated in at least one of phase, polarity, or amplitude.

16. An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system comprising:

an array transducer which acts to transmit and receive in selectable beam directions;

a beamformer, coupled to the array transducer, which acts to transmit groups of two or more pulses in each beam direction in rapid succession, the transmit groups being time-interleaved over a plurality of beam directions;

a Doppler processor, coupled to the beamformer, which processes harmonic components from low flow rate substances which have been separated by the pulse inversion process.

17. The ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system of claim 16, wherein the pulses of the transmitted groups of two or more pulses are differently modulated.

18. The ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system of claim 17, wherein the pulses of the transmitted groups of two or more pulses are differently modulated in at least one of phase, polarity, or amplitude.

19. A method for ultrasonically estimating the flow rate of slowly moving materials comprising:

a) selecting a plurality of beam directions which are to be sampled in a time-interleaved manner;

b) transmitting in rapid succession in a first beam direction two pulses of a given frequency which are differently modulated in at least one of phase, polarity, or amplitude, and receiving echoes following each pulse;

c) repeating step b) in at least a second beam direction;

d) following step c), repeating step b) at least one further time in the first beam direction;

e) following step d), repeating step c) at least one further time; and

f) processing the echoes received in each beam direction to detect flow at spatial locations in each beam direction.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein processing further comprises combining the echoes from each pulse pair to distinguish harmonic echo components.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein processing further comprises Doppler processing the echoes received in each beam direction as an ensemble of samples spanning the time intervals from step b) through step d) or from step c) through step e).

22. The method of claim 21, wherein Doppler processing comprises wall filtering an ensemble of samples in each beam direction.

23. A method for acquiring an ensemble of signal samples for Doppler processing comprising:

transmitting pulses sequentially in a plurality of beam directions in an interleaved manner and acquiring echoes along a beam direction following each pulse; and

acquiring an ensemble of echoes for each beam direction, wherein the intervals between the transmit pulses of an ensemble are not all identical.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein transmitting comprises transmitting pulses sequentially in a plurality of beam directions in a volumetric region in an interleaved manner and acquiring echoes along a beam direction following each pulse.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising Doppler processing the acquired echoes for each beam direction.