Apparatus for multimodal plane wave ultrasound imaging

• US 20030181801A1
• Filed: 03/07/2003
• Published: 09/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Imperium Partners Group LLC
• Original Assignee: Imperium Partners Group LLC
• Inventors: Gurney, John W., Lasser, Marvin E., Lasser, Robert S.
• Granted Patent: US 6,971,991 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/407
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/0414 with compression means
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/4417 related to combined acquisition of different diagnostic modalities
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/502 for diagnosis of breast, i.e. mammography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/508 for non-human patients
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/5247 combining images from an ionising-radiation diagnostic technique and a non-ionising radiation diagnostic technique, e.g. X-ray and ultrasound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/0825 for diagnosis of the breast, e.g. mammography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4416 related to combined acquisition of different diagnostic modalities, e.g. combination of ultrasound and X-ray acquisitions
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 15/899 Combination of imaging systems with ancillary equipment
• CPC Class Codes: G01T 1/161 Applications in the field of nuclear medicine, e.g. in vivo counting apparatus for radiation diagnosis A61B6/00

Abstract

An ultrasonic imaging apparatus combined with an x-ray imaging apparatus and/or an additional ultrasonic imaging apparatus performs ultrasonic sonography and/or x-ray imaging or multiple ultrasonic sonography to produce imagery that are spatially correlated. A holding means holds an object to be imaged in compression in an examination area. The x-ray source and the ultrasonic source are each relocatable from an inactive imaging position to an inactive non-imaging position. The x-ray image and ultrasonic sonography image are both taken in transmission and the resulting images contain a registry object to assist a user in spatially correlating the images. The speckle contained in the sonography image is reduced allowing for higher resolution of abnormalities in the tissue and improved concurrent biopsy procedures.

Claims

1. An apparatus for multimode imaging of an object, comprising:

means for holding an object to be imaged in compression in an examination area;

a first ultrasonic source located on a first side of the examination area; and

a first ultrasonic detector located on a second side of the examination area for receiving a first ultrasonic energy transmitted from the first ultrasonic source through the object.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the means for holding is a pair of ultrasonic transmissive plates.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second side of the examination area is opposite the first side of the examination area.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first ultrasonic source is movable from a first active position to a second inactive position, and the apparatus comprises a first x-ray source relocatable to the first active position and a first x-ray detector on the second side of the examination area.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the second side of the examination area is a side that receives a first x-ray energy generated by the first x-ray source and propagated transmissively through the object to the first x-ray detector.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first ultrasonic detector captures an image from a plane within the object which is perpendicular to a beam axis extending from the first ultrasonic source to the first ultrasonic detector.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first ultrasonic detector is an ultrasonic camera and the means for holding includes a feature that is transmissive to ultrasound.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the holding means comprises a transducer and a lens of the ultrasonic camera.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising at least a second ultrasonic source and a second ultrasonic detector, the second ultrasonic source located to received a second ultrasonic energy transmitted from the second ultrasonic source through the object, wherein a second beam axis between the second ultrasonic source and the second ultrasonic detector is angularly separated from a first beam axis between the first ultrasonic source and the first ultrasonic detector.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first ultrasonic source and the first ultrasonic detector are rotated about the examination area and a first beam axis between the first ultrasonic source and the first ultrasonic detector intersects at least a portion of the examination area.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising:

at least a second ultrasonic source operating in a pulse echo mode; and

a beam splitter located in a first beam axis between the first ultrasonic source operating in a transmission mode and the first ultrasonic detector,

wherein the second ultrasonic source transmits a second ultrasonic energy to the beam splitter in a direction orthogonal to the first beam axis and the second ultrasonic energy is split by the beam splitter and directed into the examination area.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first ultrasonic detector simultaneously receives a transmitted signal from the first ultrasonic source and a reflected signal from the second ultrasonic source.

13. An apparatus for multi-mode imaging of an object, comprising:

means for holding the object in an examination area;

an ultrasonic source;

an x-ray source;

means for mounting the ultrasonic source and the x-ray source, and for relocatably positioning either one of the ultrasonic source and the x-ray source at an imaging position on a first side of the examination area;

an ultrasonic detector located on a second side of the examination area for receiving ultrasonic energy transmitted from the ultrasonic source at the imaging position through the object; and

an x-ray detector located on the second side of the examination area for receiving x-ray energy transmitted from the x-ray source at the imaging position through the object.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the means for holding the object comprises a material that is transmissive to an ultrasonic energy generated by the ultrasonic source and to an x-ray energy generated by the x-ray source.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the means for holding the object is a pair of ultrasonic and x-ray transmissive plates.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the means for holding comprises a compressive means.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the second side of the examination area is opposite the first side of the examination area.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the ultrasonic detector captures an image from a plane within the object which is perpendicular to a path extending from the ultrasonic source to the ultrasonic detector.

19. The apparatus of claim 13, comprising a registry object in a field of view of the ultrasonic source and the x-ray source when each source is at the imaging position.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the registry object is a grid, at least one mark, at least one crosshair, or at least one aligning element.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the registry object is non-transmissive to both the ultrasonic energy and the x-ray energy.

22. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the ultrasonic detector is an ultrasonic camera and the means for holding includes a camera including a feature that is transmissive to ultrasound.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the holding means comprises a transducer and a lens of the camera.

24. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein at least one of the ultrasonic source and the ultrasonic detector is moveable.

25. A method of multimode imaging an object with an apparatus to obtain images in at least two imaging modes, the method comprising:

holding an object to be imaged in an examination position;

moving an x-ray source to an imaging position on a first side of the object such that x-ray energy transmits through at least a portion of the object to an x-ray detector;

capturing an x-ray image of the portion of the object with the x-ray detector;

moving the x-ray source to a non-imaging position;

moving an ultrasonic source to the imaging position such that ultrasonic energy transmits through the portion of the object to an ultrasonic detector;

capturing an ultrasonic image of the portion of the object with the ultrasonic detector; and

spatially correlating the portion of the object in the x-ray image with the portion of the object in the ultrasonic image.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein, in the examination position, the object is compressed between opposing surface of a first plate and a second plate.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein, in the examination position, the object is ultrasonically coupled to the ultrasonic source and the ultrasonic detector.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the object is held stationary in the examination position throughout the capturing of the x-ray image and the ultrasonic image.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the x-ray image and the ultrasonic image each contain at least one registry object used in spatially correlating the ultrasonic image and the x-ray image.

30. The method of claim 25, comprising evaluating the spatially correlated images and diagnosing a medical condition.

31. The method of claim 25, comprising calibrating a field of view of the x-ray source and a field of view of the ultrasonic source to result in the spatially correlated images.

32. The method of claim 25, wherein the object to be imaged is a female breast, an arm, a portion of or the entire torso, or an animal.

33. The method of claim 25, wherein the object to be imaged is a female breast.

34. An apparatus for multimode imaging an object to obtain images in at least two ultrasonic imaging modes, the apparatus comprising:

a first ultrasonic imaging transducer;

a second ultrasonic imaging transducer; and

an ultrasonic detector;

wherein the first ultrasonic imaging transducer, the second ultrasonic imaging transducer, and the ultrasonic detector are arranged about an imaging area,

wherein the first ultrasonic imaging transducer is colinear with the imaging area and the ultrasonic detector along a first beam axis to transmit a first ultrasonic energy from the first ultrasonic imaging transducer through the imaging area to the ultrasonic detector, and

wherein the second ultrasonic imaging transducer transmits a second ultrasonic energy from the second ultrasonic imaging transducer into the imaging area along a second beam axis, the first beam axis orthogonal to the second beam axis.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, including a beam splitter, wherein the second ultrasonic energy interacts with the beam splitter to propagate at least a portion of the second ultrasonic energy coaxially to the first ultrasonic energy into the imaging area and the second ultrasonic energy reflects to the ultrasonic detector.

36. The apparatus of claim 34, including a beam splitter, wherein the second ultrasonic energy is split by the beam splitter and directed into the imaging area and reflected to the ultrasonic detector.

37. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the second ultrasonic imaging transducer is directly ultrasonically coupled to the imaging area.

38. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the ultrasonic detector is an ultrasonic camera.

39. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the ultrasonic detector simultaneously receives a transmitted signal from the first ultrasonic imaging transducer and a reflected signal from the second ultrasonic imaging transducer.

40. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the ultrasonic detector includes a first ultrasonic detector located along the first beam axis and a second ultrasonic detector located along the second beam axis.

41. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the second ultrasonic imaging transducer is an ultrasonic transceiver and operates in a B-scan mode to send and receive the second ultrasonic energy along the second beam axis.

42. An apparatus for multimode imaging an object to obtain images in at least two ultrasonic imaging modes, the apparatus comprising:

a first ultrasonic imaging transducer operating in a transmission mode;

a second ultrasonic imaging transducer operating in a pulse echo mode; and

an ultrasonic detector;

wherein the first ultrasonic imaging transducer, the second ultrasonic imaging transducer, and the ultrasonic detector are arranged about an imaging area,

wherein the first ultrasonic imaging transducer is colinear with the imaging area and the ultrasonic detector along a first beam axis to transmit a first ultrasonic energy from the first ultrasonic imaging transducer through the imaging area to the ultrasonic detector, and

wherein the second ultrasonic imaging transducer is colinear with the imaging area and the ultrasonic detector along the first beam axis to transmit a second ultrasonic energy from the second ultrasonic imaging transducer into the imaging area, the second ultrasonic energy reflected to the ultrasonic detector.

43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the second ultrasonic imaging apparatus includes an annular transducer.

44. An apparatus for multimode imaging an object from a plurality of imaging positions, the apparatus comprising:

means for positioning an object in an examination area;

an ultrasonic source for providing a plurality of imaging positions;

an ultrasonic detector for providing a plurality of detector positions; and

an acoustic coupling between the examination area, the ultrasonic source and the ultrasonic detector,

wherein each imaging position is colinear with the examination area and one of the plurality of detector positions along a beam axis.

45. The apparatus of claim 44, wherein the ultrasonic source is a single ultrasonic source, the single ultrasonic detector repositioned to each of the plurality of imaging positions.

46. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the single ultrasonic source is repositioned sequentially to each of the plurality of imaging positions.

47. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the ultrasonic detector is a single ultrasonic detector, the single ultrasonic detector repositioned concurrent with the repositioning of the single ultrasonic source to one of the detector positions such that the single ultrasonic source, the examination area, and the one detector position are colinear along the beam axis of the ultrasonic source.

48. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the ultrasonic source is a plurality of ultrasonic sources, each ultrasonic source located at a different one of the plurality of imaging positions.

49. The apparatus of claim 48, wherein the ultrasonic detector is a plurality of ultrasonic detectors, each of the plurality of ultrasonic detectors positioned at a different one of the detector positions.

50. The apparatus of claim 44, wherein the apparatus produces an enhanced image.

51. The apparatus of claim 50, wherein the enhanced image is a stereo image or an orthogonal image.