Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, IMT measurement method, and IMT measurement program
First Claim
1. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising:
- an ultrasonic probe for transmitting ultrasonic waves to an object to be inspected and receiving ultrasonic echoes generated by reflection of the ultrasonic waves in the object to output reception signals;
signal processing means for performing at least envelope detection processing on the reception signals outputted from said ultrasonic probe to generate envelope data;
boundary detecting means for detecting two boundaries representing intima media of a blood vessel; and
IMT (intima media thickness) calculating means for calculating an IMT of the blood vessel based on the two boundaries detected by said boundary detecting means;
wherein said boundary detecting means searches for rising regions, where a value of the envelope data increases along a measurement line, based on one of difference calculation and differential calculation of the envelope data, calculates amounts of change in the value of the envelope data between both ends of the rising regions, and compares the amounts of change in the value of the envelope data with a threshold value to detect the two boundaries.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus by which highly quantitative IMT (intima media thickness) measurement with little variations depending on examiners can be performed. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes: an ultrasonic probe for transmitting ultrasonic waves to an object to be inspected and receiving ultrasonic echoes generated by reflection of the ultrasonic waves in the object to output reception signals; a signal processing unit for performing at least envelope detection processing on the reception signals outputted from the ultrasonic probe to generate envelope data; a boundary detecting unit for detecting two boundaries representing intima media of a blood vessel based on difference or differential of values of the envelope data and amounts of change in the values of the envelope data; and an IMT calculating unit for calculating an IMT of the blood vessel based on the two boundaries detected by the boundary detecting unit.
14 Citations
20 Claims
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1. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising:
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an ultrasonic probe for transmitting ultrasonic waves to an object to be inspected and receiving ultrasonic echoes generated by reflection of the ultrasonic waves in the object to output reception signals; signal processing means for performing at least envelope detection processing on the reception signals outputted from said ultrasonic probe to generate envelope data; boundary detecting means for detecting two boundaries representing intima media of a blood vessel; and IMT (intima media thickness) calculating means for calculating an IMT of the blood vessel based on the two boundaries detected by said boundary detecting means; wherein said boundary detecting means searches for rising regions, where a value of the envelope data increases along a measurement line, based on one of difference calculation and differential calculation of the envelope data, calculates amounts of change in the value of the envelope data between both ends of the rising regions, and compares the amounts of change in the value of the envelope data with a threshold value to detect the two boundaries. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An IMT (intima media thickness) measurement method of measuring an IMT of a blood vessel based on envelope data in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for transmitting ultrasonic waves to an object to be inspected and receiving ultrasonic echoes generated by reflection of the ultrasonic waves in the object to obtain reception signals, and performing at least envelope detection processing on the reception signals to generate the envelope data, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) detecting two boundaries representing intima media of the blood vessel; and (b) calculating the IMT of the blood vessel based on the two boundaries detected at step (a); wherein step (a) includes searching for rising regions, where a value of the envelope data increases along a measurement line, based on one of difference calculation and differential calculation of the envelope data, calculating amounts of change in the value of the envelope data between both ends of the rising regions, and comparing the amounts of change in the value of the envelope data with a threshold value to detect the two boundaries. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An IMT (intima media thickness) measurement program embodied in non-transitory form on a computer readable medium, for measuring an IMT of a blood vessel based on envelope data in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for transmitting ultrasonic waves to an object to be inspected and receiving ultrasonic echoes generated by reflection of the ultrasonic waves in the object to obtain reception signals, and performing at least envelope detection processing on the reception signals to generate the envelope data, said program activating a CPU to execute the procedures of:
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(a) detecting two boundaries representing intima media of the blood vessel; and (b) calculating the IMT of the blood vessel based on the two boundaries detected at procedure (a); wherein procedure (a) includes searching for rising regions, where a value of the envelope data increases along a measurement line, based on one of difference calculation and differential calculation of the envelope data, calculating amounts of change in the value of the envelope data between both ends of the rising regions, and comparing the amounts of change in the value of the envelope data with a threshold value to detect the two boundaries. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification