Method and apparatus for ultrasonic diagnosis

• US 9,610,094 B2
• Filed: 05/02/2011
• Issued: 04/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (Canon Inc.), Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Yoshida, Tetsuya, Okamura, Yoko
• Primary Examiner(s): Park, Patricia
• Application Number:
  US13/098,598
• Publication Number:
  US 20110270087A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,164 Days
• Field of Search: 600443
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/3403 Needle locating or guiding means guides for suture needles A61B17/0482; guiding or tracking by nuclear magnetic resonance G01R33/285
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/12 by passing a current through the tissue to be heated, e.g. high-frequency current
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/3413 guided by ultrasound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/365 augmented reality, i.e. correlating a live optical image with another image
• 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 8/0841 for locating instruments
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/13 Tomography A61B8/10, A61B8/12 take precedence; tomography for radiation diagnosis A61B6/02
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4245 involving determining the position of the probe, e.g. with respect to an external reference frame or to the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4444 related to the probe
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/461 Displaying means of special interest
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/463 characterised by displaying multiple images or images and diagnostic data on one display composite display in devices for short-range imaging with acoustic waves G01S7/52074
• 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

Abstract

An apparatus for ultrasonic diagnosis including a probe configured to transmit ultrasonic waves and to receive reflected ultrasonic waves, an image generator configured to generate an ultrasonic image based on the reflected waves, an image synthesizing unit configured to generate a synthetic image in which a puncture guideline, which indicates a passing line of a puncture needle inserted from a puncture adapter attached to the probe, is superposed on the ultrasonic image, a display area adjusting unit configured to adjust a display area of the synthetic image based on the passing line of the puncture needle, and a display controller configured to display the synthetic image on a monitor based on the display area adjusted by the display area adjusting unit.

Claims

1. An apparatus for ultrasonic diagnosis, comprising:

input circuitry configured to receive, from an operator, a change request for changing a display mode from a single-view mode to a twin-view mode;

a probe configured to transmit ultrasonic waves to an object and to receive reflected ultrasonic waves from the object along a plurality of scan lines on a cross-section;

processing circuitry configured to

generate a two-dimensional ultrasonic image corresponding to the cross-section from reflected wave data based on the reflected waves,

generate a first synthetic image in which a first puncture guideline, which indicates a passing line of a puncture needle inserted from outside of the object, is superposed on the two-dimensional ultrasonic image,

cause a monitor to display the first synthetic image in the single-view mode; and

a memory configured to store a two-dimensional medical image corresponding to the cross-section,

wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to

determine a display area to use in the twin-view mode so that an end of the display area includes a shallowest one of intersections of the passing line with the plurality of scan lines, a width of the display area being smaller than a width of the two-dimensional ultrasonic image,

generate a second synthetic image in which a second puncture guideline indicating the passing line is superposed on a part of the two-dimensional ultrasonic image corresponding to the display area,

generate a third synthetic image in which a third puncture guideline indicating the passing line is superpose on a part of the two-dimensional medical image corresponding to the display area

cause the monitor to display the second synthetic image and the third synthetic image side by side in the twin-view mode, the display mode being changed from the single-view mode to the twin-view mode in response to the change request.

3. The apparatus for ultrasonic diagnosis of claim 1, wherein

the plurality of scan lines are arranged in parallel toward an oblique direction,

the display area is a rectangular area, and

the end of the display area intersects with a right end or a left end scan line at the shallowest one of the intersections.

2. A method for ultrasonic diagnosis, comprising:

receiving, from an operator, a change request for changing a display mode from a single-view mode to a twin-view mode;

transmitting ultrasonic waves to an object and receiving reflected ultrasonic waves from the object along a plurality of scan lines on a cross-section using an ultrasonic probe;

generating a two-dimensional ultrasonic image corresponding to the cross-section from reflected wave data based on the reflected waves;

generating a first synthetic image in which a first puncture guideline, which indicates a passing line of a puncture needle inserted from outside the object, is superposed on the ultrasonic two-dimensional image;

causing a monitor to display the first synthetic image in the single-view mode;

storing a two-dimensional medical image corresponding to the cross-section;

determining a display area to use in the twin-view mode so that an end of the display area includes a shallowest one of intersections of the passing line with the plurality of scan lines, a width of the display area being smaller than a width of the two-dimensional ultrasonic image;

generating a second synthetic image in which a second puncture guideline indicating the passing line is superposed on a part of the two-dimensional ultrasonic image corresponding to the display area;

generating a third synthetic image in which a third puncture guideline indicating the passing line is superpose on a part of the two-dimensional medical image corresponding to the display area and

causing the monitor to display the second synthetic image and the third synthetic image side by side in the twin-view mode, the display mode being changed from the single-view mode to the twin-view mode in response to the change request.