Spectral Doppler with multiple spatially distinct gates

• US 9,414,805 B2
• Filed: 07/28/2008
• Issued: 08/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Medical Solutions USA Incorporated (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Ustuner, Kutay F., Freiburger, Paul D., Srinivasan, Seshadri, Henderson, Steve
• Primary Examiner(s): FERNANDEZ, KATHERINE L
• Application Number:
  US12/180,775
• Publication Number:
  US 20100022884A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,941 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/06 Measuring blood flow measuring volume flow in general G01F, e.g. G01F1/66, G01F1/72; measuring speed of fluids in general G01P5/00
• 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 8/13 Tomography A61B8/10, A61B8/12 take precedence; tomography for radiation diagnosis A61B6/02
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/461 Displaying means of special interest
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/488 involving Doppler signals
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/8979 Combined Doppler and pulse-echo imaging systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/52066 Time-position or time-motion displays
• 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 7/52095 using multiline receive beamforming

Abstract

Spatially distinct Spectral Doppler information is displayed. A spectrum is determined for each of a plurality of spatial locations, such as associated with different receive beams. Given a plurality of spectra at different spatial locations, an image may be generated as a function of the spectra. For example, a two-dimensional image has display values for different pixels or locations derived from one or more characteristics of the spectra, such as the maximum velocity with energy above a threshold for each location. As another example, the spectrum from the set of spectra with the highest maximum velocity is selected for generating a spectral strip display.

Claims

1. A method for displaying spatially distinct Spectral Doppler information, the method comprising:

obtaining, with an ultrasound imaging system, spatial and temporal ultrasound samples for a plurality of spatially distinct locations in a patient, the obtaining being simultaneously for gates at the plurality of spatially distinct locations;

estimating, by spectral Doppler processor, a spectrum for each of the spatially distinct locations from the temporal ultrasound samples, the spectrum at each of the spatially distinct locations comprising energy as a function of frequency for the respective location; and

generating and displaying a image on a display, the image being a two or three dimensional representation and being a function of the spectra for the plurality of spatially distinct locations with different pixels of the image representing the respective distinct locations, wherein the displaying the image comprises representing the spatially distinct locations distributed in two or three-dimensions and the image not being spectral strips of the spectra, a display value for each pixel of the respective spatially distinct locations being a function of the respective spectrum.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the obtaining comprises obtaining the spatial ultrasound samples at a substantially same time in response to a plurality of receive beams responsive to a same transmit beam.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the obtaining comprises sampling along a plurality of scan lines and ranges.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the obtaining comprises obtaining a plurality of the spatial ultrasound samples for each of the plurality of spatially distinct locations, and wherein the estimating comprises applying a Fourier transform to the temporal ultrasound samples representing each of the spatially distinct locations.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying a first of the spectra as a function of a spectral characteristic; and

displaying a spectral strip representing the first of the spectra.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the identifying the first of the spectra comprises identifying the first of the spectra having a maximum frequency.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the display value for each pixel of the spatially distinct locations is a function of a maximum velocity of the respective spectrum.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising distinguishing between arterial and venous flow for each of the spatially distinct locations as a function of the respective spectrum, and wherein the display value for each of the spatially distinct locations is a function of the distinction between arterial and venous flow.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising color coding a spatially distinct location associated with a first of the spectra in a corresponding manner.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

adapting a region of interest as a function of estimated spectra including the spectrum, the region of interest being for estimating additional spectra.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining a velocity scale as a function of the spectrum at each of the spatially distinct locations.

12. In a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored therein data representing instructions executable by a programmed spectral processor for displaying spatially distinct Spectral Doppler information, the storage medium comprising instructions for:

calculating, with a spectral processor, a first spectrum for a first spatial location and a first period of time, the first spectrum comprising energy distribution over frequency for the first spatial location;

calculating, with the spectral processor, a second spectrum for a second spatial location and the first period of time, the second spatial location along a different line than the first spatial location, the second spectrum comprising energy distribution over frequency for the second spatial location; and

generating, on a display, a sequence of images including a first image that is a function of the first and second spectra and is a function of additional spectra from repetition of the calculations for additional spatially different spatial locations across a two or three-dimensional region for the first period of time, the images of the sequence other than the first image being from repetition of the calculations for other periods of time, wherein the generating the sequence of images comprises displaying a time varying two or three-dimensional spatially distributed representation of a Doppler frequency shift, the Doppler frequency shift in the first image at the first, second and additional spatial locations determined as a function of the first, second and additional spectra, respectively, for the first period of time, the time varying representation being the sequence of images displayed over the other periods of time, each pixel of a respective image in the sequence of images at a given period of time representing a different one of the spatial locations and corresponding Doppler frequency shift determined as a function of the spectra of the repetition of the calculations for the respective given period of time.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12 wherein the calculating of the first and second spectra comprises of applying a Fourier transform to ultrasound samples acquired during the first period from first and second scan lines, respectively, in response to a same transmit event, the first spatial location on the first scan line and the second spatial location on the second scan line.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 12 further comprising instructions for calculating at least one hundred additional spectra for the respective spatially different spatial locations, and wherein generating the sequence of images comprises generating each image of the sequence as a function of the respective first, second and additional spectra.

15. A system for displaying spatially distinct Spectral Doppler information, the system comprising:

a transmit beamformer configured to transmit a transmit beam;

a receive beamformer configured to form a plurality of spatially distinct receive beams sampling a two or three dimensional region in response to the transmit beam;

a processor configured to estimate a spectrum for each of the depths of each of the receive beams, each spectrum comprising energies as a function of frequency, and to generate display values as a function of the spectra, the display values representing information derived from the spectra and being for pixels distributed in two dimensions representing a two or three dimensional distribution of sample locations of the spectra; and

a display configured to display an image of the display values.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the processor is operable to generate the display values for the image representing the region sampled by the receive beams, the display values for each location of the image being a function of the respective spectrum.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the display values are a function of maximum velocities from the spectra.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein the processor is operable to generate the display values for the region sampled by the receive beams, the display values for each location of the image being a function of the respective spectrum.

19. The system of claim 15 wherein each of the receive beams are sampled at a plurality of depths.