Method for monitoring of medical treatment using pulse-echo ultrasound

• US 7,846,096 B2
• Filed: 11/24/2003
• Issued: 12/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. (Johnson & Johnson)
• Original Assignee: Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. (Johnson & Johnson)
• Inventors: Makin, Inder Raj S., Mast, T. Douglas, Faidi, Waseem, Slayton, Michael H., Barthe, Peter G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Casler; Brian
• Assistant Examiner(s): Roy; Baisakhi
• Application Number:
  US10/721,034
• Publication Number:
  US 20040106870A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,570 Days
• Field of Search: 600437-439, 600/443, 600/447, 600/407, 601 2- 4, 606/1, 604/22, 374/117
• US Class Current: 600/437
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 10/0233 Pointed or sharp biopsy instruments
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/22012 in direct contact with, or very close to, the obstruction or concrement for removing obstructions in blood vessels by laser A61B18/245
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/2202 the ultrasound transducer being inside patient's body at the distal end of the catheter
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/29 Forceps for use in minimally invasive surgery
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/378 using ultrasound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/3784 both receiver and transmitter being in the instrument or receiver being also transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/3929 Active markers
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/3975 active
• 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: A61B 8/12 in body cavities or body tracts, e.g. by using catheters catheters per se A61M25/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/14 Echo-tomography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4488 the transducer being a phased array
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5207 involving processing of raw data to produce diagnostic data, e.g. for generating an image reconstruction G06T11/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5238 for combining image data of patient, e.g. merging several images from different acquisition modes into one image for image registration algorithms G06T7/30
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5276 due to motion
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2007/0078 with multiple treatment transducers
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 7/022 intracavitary
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/899 Combination of imaging systems with ancillary equipment

Abstract

A method for ultrasound imaging of anatomical tissue. A first signal is received from a first imaging ultrasound wave which has been reflected from a location in the anatomical tissue during a first time period. A second signal is received from a second imaging ultrasound wave which has been reflected from the location in the anatomical tissue during a later second time period, following a discrete medical treatment. The second signal is subtracted from the first signal to form a difference signal. The difference signal may be scaled, spatially filtered, then used to generate an indication, the indication showing the effect of the medical treatment in the location in the anatomical tissue.

Claims

1. A method for ultrasound imaging of anatomical tissue using an ultrasound transducer, comprising the steps of:

a) positioning the ultrasound transducer relative to the anatomical tissue;

b) receiving a time-varying first signal of a first imaging ultrasound wave which has been reflected from a location in the anatomical tissue during a first time period, the first imaging ultrasound wave being generated by the ultrasound transducer;

c) receiving a time-varying second signal of a second imaging ultrasound wave which has been reflected from the location in the anatomical tissue at a later second time period following a discrete ultrasound medical treatment, the second imaging ultrasound wave being generated by the ultrasound transducer;

d) subtracting the second signal from the first signal to derive a time-varying difference signal; and

e) generating an indication from the difference signal, the indication showing the effect of the discrete ultrasound medical treatment in the location in the anatomical tissue.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second signals are received after the discrete ultrasound medical treatment has been completed.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first signal is received before the discrete ultrasound medical treatment, and the second signal is received after the discrete ultrasound medical treatment has been completed.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of processing the first and second signals.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising the step of multiplying at least one of the first and second signals by a phase compensation function to reduce motion artifacts.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of scaling the difference signal.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the difference signal is scaled by squaring the amplitude of the difference signal.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of spatially filtering the difference signal.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the ultrasound medical treatment includes tissue ablation.

10. The method of claim 1, also including the steps a) through d) for different locations to image the anatomical tissue, wherein the image includes medically-treated locations and medically-untreated locations of the anatomical tissue.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of combining the difference signal image with a second image of the location in the anatomical tissue.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the second image is generated using a B-Mode ultrasound scan.

13. A method for ultrasound imaging of anatomical tissue using an ultrasound transducer, comprising the steps of:

a) positioning the ultrasound transducer relative to the anatomical tissue;

b) receiving a time-varying first signal of a first imaging ultrasound wave which has been reflected from a location in the anatomical tissue during a first time period, the first imaging ultrasound wave being generated by the ultrasound transducer;

c) receiving a time-varying second signal of a second imaging ultrasound wave which has been reflected from the location in the anatomical tissue at a later second time period following a discrete ultrasound medical treatment, the second imaging ultrasound wave being generated by the ultrasound transducer;

d) processing the first and second signals;

e) subtracting the second signal from the first signal to derive a time-varying difference signal;

f) scaling the difference signal;

g) spatially filtering the difference signal; and

h) generating an indication from the difference signal, the indication showing the effect of the discrete ultrasound medical treatment in the location in the anatomical tissue.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the first and second signals are received after the discrete ultrasound medical treatment has been completed.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the first signal is received before the discrete ultrasound medical treatment and the second signal is received after the discrete ultrasound medical treatment.

16. A method for ultrasound imaging of anatomical tissue using an ultrasound transducer, comprising the steps of:

a) positioning the ultrasound transducer relative to the anatomical tissue;

b) receiving a first set of image frames comprising a plurality of time-varying imaging ultrasound wave signals which have been reflected from a location in the anatomical tissue during a first period of time;

c) receiving a second set of image frames comprising a plurality of time-varying imaging ultrasound wave signals which have been reflected from the location in the anatomical tissue during a later second period of time following a discrete ultrasound medical treatment;

d) subtracting the imaging ultrasound signals of the second set of image frames from the imaging ultrasound signals of the first set of image frames to derive a time-varying difference signal; and

e) generating an indication from the difference signal, the indication showing the effect of the discrete ultrasound medical treatment in the location in the anatomical tissue.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the first and second sets of image frames are received after the discrete ultrasound medical treatment has been completed.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the first set of image frames is received before the discrete ultrasound medical treatment, and the second set of image frames is received after the discrete ultrasound medical treatment.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of processing the first and second sets of signals.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of scaling the difference signal.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the difference signal is scaled by squaring the amplitude of the difference signal.

22. The method of claim 16, further comprising the step of spatially filtering

23. The method of claim 16, wherein the ultrasound medical treatment includes tissue ablation.

24. The method of claim 16, also including the steps a) through d) for different locations to image the anatomical tissue, wherein the image includes medically-treated locations and medically-untreated locations of the anatomical tissue.

25. A method for ultrasound imaging of anatomical tissue using an ultrasound transducer, comprising the steps of:

a) positioning the ultrasound transducer relative to the anatomical tissue

b) receiving a first set of image frames comprising a plurality of time-varying imaging ultrasound wave signals which have been reflected from a location in the anatomical tissue during a first period of time;

c) receiving a second set of image frames comprising a plurality of time-varying imaging ultrasound wave signals which have been reflected from the location in the anatomical tissue during a later second period of time following a discrete ultrasound medical treatment;

d) processing the first and second sets of signals;

e) subtracting the imaging ultrasound signals of the second set of image frames from the imaging ultrasound signals of the first set of image frames to derive a time-varying difference signal;

f) scaling the difference signal;

g) spatially filtering the difference signal; and

h) generating an indication from the difference signal, the indication showing the effect of the discrete ultrasound medical treatment in the location in the anatomical tissue.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the first and second sets of image frames are received after the discrete ultrasound medical treatment has been completed.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein the first set of image frames is received before the discrete ultrasound medical treatment, and the second set of image frames is received after the discrete ultrasound medical treatment.

28. The method of claim 25 wherein the ultrasound medical treatment includes tissue ablation.

29. The method of claim 25, also including the steps a) through g) for different locations to image the anatomical tissue, wherein the image includes medically-treated locations and medically-untreated locations of the anatomical tissue.

30. A method for ultrasound imaging of anatomical tissue using an ultrasound transducer, comprising the steps of:

a) positioning the ultrasound transducer relative to the anatomical tissue;

b) providing a discrete ultrasound medical treatment to the anatomical tissue;

c) receiving a set of image frames comprising a plurality of time-varying imaging ultrasound wave signals which have been reflected from a location in the anatomical tissue;

d) pairing together a plurality of image frames, each pair comprising a first image frame and a second image frame such that the second image frame has been reflected from a location in the anatomical tissue at a later time than the first image frame;

e) subtracting the signals of the second image frame from the signals of the first image frame, for each pair of image frames in the image frame set, to derive a set of time-varying difference signals;

f) using at least one difference signal to generate an indication showing the effect of the discrete ultrasound medical treatment in the location in the anatomical tissue; and

g) repeating steps a) through e) until medical treatment is completed.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising the steps of:

a) computing an average of the set of difference signals; and

b) using the average of the set of difference signals to generate an indication showing the effect of the discrete ultrasound medical treatment in the location in the anatomical tissue.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising the steps of:

a) cumulatively summing the averages of the set of difference signals; and

b) using the cumulative sum of averages of the set of difference signals to generate an indication showing the effect of the discrete ultrasound medical treatment in the location in the anatomical tissue.