Artifact elimination in time-gated anatomical imaging

• US 20040092816A1
• Filed: 11/08/2002
• Published: 05/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Gerard, Olivier, Poland, McKee Dunn, Ossmann, William J., Li, Xiang-Ning
• Granted Patent: US 7,103,400 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/428
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/352 Detecting R peaks, e.g. for synchronising diagnostic apparatus; Estimating R-R interval
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7207 of noise induced by motion artifacts
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7285 for synchronising or triggering a physiological measurement or image acquisition with a physiological event or waveform, e.g. an ECG signal A61B6/5205, A61B6/541, A61B8/5207, A61B8/543 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/5264 due to motion
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/541 involving acquisition triggered by a physiological signal
• 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 8/483 involving the acquisition of a 3D volume of data
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5276 due to motion

Abstract

A method for anatomical imaging includes acquiring image data representative of three-dimensional volume segments of an image volume of interest in a subject. The image data are acquired in synchronism with corresponding physiological cycles of the subject. Each volume segment contains image data distributed in three dimensions. Acquiring image data includes selecting a sequence of scan lines for each respective volume segment configured to minimize an occurrence of motion artifacts throughout the image volume. The image data representative of the volume segments is combined to produce a representation of a three-dimensional anatomical image of the image volume.

Claims

1. A method for anatomical imaging, comprising:

a) acquiring image data representative of three-dimensional volume segments of an image volume of interest in a subject, in synchronism with corresponding physiological cycles of the subject, each of the volume segments containing image data distributed in three dimensions, wherein acquiring image data includes selecting a sequence of scan lines for each respective volume segment configured to minimize an occurrence of motion artifacts throughout the image volume; and

b) combining the image data representative of the volume segments to produce a representation of a three-dimensional anatomical image of the image volume.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring image data further includes selecting the sequence of scan lines within each respective volume segment to minimize the occurrence of motion artifacts across adjacent volume segment boundaries.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the motion artifacts include one selected from the group consisting of color flow and angio artifacts.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the anatomical imaging includes one selected from the group consisting of ultrasound, magnetic resonance (MR), and CT imaging.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the anatomical imaging includes ultrasound imaging, said method further comprising:

completing the ultrasound imaging of a given volume size in less than ten (10) seconds.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

repeating said acquiring and said combining to generate a sequence of images; and

forming one of the following selected from the group consisting of a time history of images and a motion picture of images.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring image data further includes configuring the sequence of scan lines within each respective volume segment to minimize time discontinuities within each volume segment, in addition to minimizing time discontinuities across adjacent volume segment boundaries.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring image data further includes configuring individual scan lines of a sequence to reduce a local time gradient throughout the volume segment to less than ten percent (10%) of a total time for acquiring image data for each volume segment.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring image data representative of a first volume segment includes a first sequence of scan lines and acquiring image data representative of a second volume segment includes a second sequence of scan lines, wherein the first and second sequences of scan lines are selected from the group consisting of:

a) a reverse acquisition order between the first sequence and second sequence of scan lines configured to provide a cross-boundary time alignment between adjacent volume segments,

b) a boundary-to-center acquisition order configured to provide a cross-boundary time alignment between adjacent volume segments, and

c) a center-to-boundary acquisition order configured to provide a cross-boundary time alignment between adjacent volume segments.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring image data representative of a volume segment includes scanning the volume segment in a direction so that boundary sides of subvolumes of the volume segments are acquired at approximately the same exact phase of the physiological cycle when the anatomical feature is in the same position during a single physiological cycle of the subject.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring image data comprises synchronizing acquisition of the image data to a selected phase of the subject'"'"'s physiological cycle, and synchronizing acquisition of the image data includes one selected from the group consisting of cardiac gating and respiratory gating.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring image data comprises acquiring image data for interleaved volume segments in synchronism with successive physiological cycles of the subject;

further comprising displaying the three-dimensional anatomical image following completion of acquiring image data for the interleaved volume segments.

13. A system for anatomical imaging, comprising:

an acquisition unit for acquiring image data representative of three-dimensional volume segments of an image volume of interest in a subject, in synchronism with corresponding physiological cycles of the subject, each of the volume segments containing image data distributed in three dimensions, wherein acquiring image data includes selecting a sequence of scan lines for each respective volume segment configured to minimize an occurrence of motion artifacts throughout the image volume; and

a controller for combining the image data representative of the volume segments to produce a representation of a three-dimensional anatomical image of the image volume.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said acquisition unit is configured to select the sequence of scan lines within each respective volume segment to minimize the occurrence of motion artifacts across adjacent volume segment boundaries, wherein the motion artifacts include one selected from the group consisting of color flow and angio artifacts.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the anatomical imaging includes one selected from the group consisting of ultrasound, magnetic resonance (MR), and CT imaging.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the anatomical imaging includes ultrasound imaging, wherein said controller is further configured for completing the ultrasound imaging of a given volume size in less than ten (10) seconds.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein said acquisition unit and controller repeat the acquiring and the combining to generate a sequence of images;

and

wherein said controller is further for forming one of the following selected from the group consisting of a time history of images and a motion picture of images.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein acquiring image data further includes configuring the sequence of scan lines within each respective volume segment to minimize time discontinuities within each volume segment, in addition to minimizing time discontinuities across adjacent volume segment boundaries.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein acquiring image data further includes configuring individual scan lines of a sequence to reduce a local time gradient throughout the volume segment to less than ten percent (10%) of a total time for acquiring image data for each volume segment.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein acquiring image data representative of a first volume segment includes a first sequence of scan lines and acquiring image data representative of a second volume segment includes a second sequence of scan lines, wherein the first and second sequences of scan lines is selected from the group consisting of:

a) a reverse acquisition order between the first sequence and second sequence of scan lines configured to provide a cross-boundary time alignment between adjacent volume segments,

b) a boundary-to-center acquisition order configured to provide a cross-boundary time alignment between adjacent volume segments, and

c) a center-to-boundary acquisition order configured to provide a cross-boundary time alignment between adjacent volume segments.

21. The system of claim 13, wherein acquiring image data representative of a volume segment includes scanning the volume segment in a direction so that boundary sides of subvolumes of the volume segments are acquired at approximately the same exact phase of the physiological cycle when the anatomical feature is in the same position during a single physiological cycle of the subject.

22. The system of claim 13, wherein acquiring image data comprises acquiring image data for interleaved volume segments in synchronism with successive physiological cycles of the subject, further comprising a display for displaying the three-dimensional anatomical image following completion of acquiring image data for the interleaved volume segments.

23. Apparatus for medical ultrasound imaging, comprising:

a transducer comprising an array of transducer elements;

a transmitter for transmitting ultrasound energy with said transducer into an image volume of interest in a subject'"'"'s body as a plurality of transmit beams;

a receiver for receiving ultrasound echoes with said transducer from the image volume in response to the ultrasound energy and for generating received signals representative of the received ultrasound echoes;

a receive beamformer for processing the received signals to form at least one receive beam for each of the transmit beams and to generate image data representative of the ultrasound echos in the receive beam;

a device coupled to the subject for generating a signal representative of a physiological cycle of the subject;

a controller responsive to the physiological signal for controlling said transmitter and said receive beamformer to acquire image data representative of three-dimensional volume segments of the image volume in synchronism with corresponding physiological cycles of the subject, each of the volume segments containing image data distributed in three dimensions, wherein acquiring image data includes selecting a sequence of scan lines for each respective volume segment configured to minimize an occurrence of motion artifacts throughout the image volume; and

a circuit for combining the image data representative of the volume segments to produce a representation of a three-dimensional ultrasound image of the image volume.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein said transducer includes a two-dimensional array of transducer elements.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein said controller further includes means for synchronizing acquisition of the image data to a selected phase of the subject'"'"'s physiological cycle.

26. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein said controller further includes means for defining multiple physiological phases of the subject'"'"'s physiological cycle, means for acquiring image data for a three-dimensional volume segment during each of the physiological phases of a physiological cycle, and means for repeating the data acquisition for different ones of the three-dimensional volume segments during different physiological cycles.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein said combining circuit includes means for combining the volume segment image data for respective physiological phases to provide three-dimensional ultrasound images representative of each of the physiological phases.

28. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein said controller includes means for acquiring image data for abutting volume segments in synchronism with successive physiological cycles of the subject.

29. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein said controller includes means for acquiring image data for interleaved volume segments in synchronism with successive physiological cycles of the subject.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising means for displaying a low resolution image of the image volume during image data acquisition for the interleaved volume segments.