CN116236224A - A kind of ultrasonic imaging method and ultrasonic imaging equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

The present application provides an ultrasonic imaging method and an ultrasonic imaging device, the method comprising: controlling a probe to transmit a first ultrasonic wave to a target object to obtain first ultrasonic data of at least one cardiac cycle, wherein the target object includes at least A part; determine the radial motion information of the target object in the blood vessel according to the first ultrasound data; determine the transmission parameters of the second ultrasound according to the motion information, the transmission parameters include transmission timing; control the probe to transmit the second ultrasound to the target object according to the transmission parameters; according to the first The echoes of the two ultrasound waves yield an elasticity image containing the target object and/or an elasticity value of the tissue containing the target object. The above-mentioned imaging method can effectively reduce motion interference without resorting to other additional modules, and improves clinical convenience.

Description

A kind of ultrasonic imaging method and ultrasonic imaging equipment

technical field

The invention relates to the field of ultrasound technology, in particular to an ultrasound imaging method and an ultrasound imaging device.

Background technique

Ultrasound elastography mainly reflects the softness and hardness of tissues by imaging the elasticity-related parameters in the region of interest. In the past two decades, many different elastography methods have been developed, such as quasi-static elastography or strain elastography based on the strain caused by the pressure of the probe on the tissue, shear wave elastography or elastic elastography based on the shear wave generated by the force of acoustic radiation. Measurement, based on transient elastography of shear waves generated by external vibrations, etc., the most common method is shear wave elastography.

However, in the shear wave elastography method, since the vibration amplitude of the shear wave generated in human tissue is usually small (such as a few um-hundred um), and attenuates quickly, the interference of motion during the imaging process Can cause artifacts, resulting in measurement failure or inaccurate measurements. For this reason, in the use of shear wave elastography, the user is required to pay special attention to exclude the interference of motion. However, in the actual clinical examination, especially in the examination of the elasticity of the blood vessel wall, since the heartbeat, vascular pulsation, and respiratory movement are difficult to completely stop, these interferences will lead to inaccurate capture of the shear wave signal, or cause the elasticity to be detected. The repeatability between the measurement results is poor, and the measurement reliability is low.

The existing technology attempts to output the ECG signal to the system by means of the ECG module connected to the human body through electrodes, and then the user chooses to set a fixed moment in the cardiac cycle (such as a period of time when the ECG signal is relatively stable) to trigger the elastography process And collect relevant elastic data, so as to calculate the elastic results. This method can reduce the influence of blood vessel pulsation and improve the stability of measurement. However, a system-specific ECG module needs to be configured, and the cost is relatively high. Moreover, electrodes need to be used to connect the ECG module with the human body, which makes the operation complicated, poor in operation convenience and long in operation time.

In addition to elastography, other imaging modalities involving vessels also need to be more or less motion-free, e.g. color ultrasound imaging field of arterial blood flow, vector flow imaging field of carotid arteries or color flow imaging of thyroid tissue in the neck imaging field, etc.

Contents of the invention

According to the first aspect, an ultrasonic imaging method is provided in an embodiment, comprising:

controlling the probe to transmit the first ultrasonic wave to the target object to obtain the first ultrasonic data of at least one cardiac cycle, wherein the target object includes at least a part of the vascular structure;

determining radial movement information of the target object in the blood vessel according to the first ultrasound data;

determining the transmission parameters of the second ultrasonic waves according to the motion information, the transmission parameters including transmission timing;

controlling the probe to emit a second ultrasonic wave to the target object according to the emission parameters;

An elasticity image containing the target object and/or an elasticity value of the tissue containing the target object is obtained according to the echo of the second ultrasonic wave.

According to a second aspect, an embodiment provides an ultrasonic imaging method, including:

controlling the probe to transmit the first ultrasonic wave to the target object to obtain the first ultrasonic data of at least one cardiac cycle, wherein the target object includes at least a part of the vascular structure;

determining motion information of the target object according to the first ultrasound data, where the motion information is used to characterize the motion of the target object in the radial direction of the blood vessel;

determining the transmission parameters of the second ultrasonic waves according to the motion information, the transmission parameters including transmission timing;

controlling the probe to emit a second ultrasonic wave to the target object according to the emission parameters;

A second ultrasonic image containing the target object and/or characteristic parameters of the tissue containing the target object are obtained according to the echo of the second ultrasonic wave.

According to a third aspect, an ultrasonic imaging method is provided in an embodiment, comprising:

controlling the probe to transmit a combined ultrasonic wave to a target object, wherein the combined ultrasonic wave includes a first ultrasonic wave and a second ultrasonic wave, and the target object is at least a part of a blood vessel structure;

Acquiring motion information of the target object according to the echo of the first ultrasonic wave, the motion information is used to reflect the motion of the target object in the radial direction of the blood vessel;

obtaining an ultrasonic measurement result according to the echo of the second ultrasonic wave;

A valid ultrasonic measurement result among the ultrasonic measurement results is determined according to the motion information of the target object.

According to a fourth aspect, an ultrasonic imaging device is provided in an embodiment, including:

a probe, the probe is used to transmit ultrasonic waves and receive echo data of ultrasonic waves;

memory for storing programs;

The processor is configured to implement the methods in the first aspect to the third aspect by executing the program stored in the memory.

According to a fifth aspect, an embodiment provides a computer-readable storage medium, where a program is stored on the medium, and the program can be executed by a processor to implement the methods in the above-mentioned first aspect to the third aspect.

The beneficial effect of this application is:

Before emitting the second ultrasonic wave, the motion information of the target object is obtained through the first ultrasonic wave. The motion information of the target object can reflect the movement of blood vessels. The transmission parameters of the second ultrasonic wave can be determined through the motion information, which can at least ensure that when the second ultrasonic wave is emitted, Motion interference is small or disappears, and this method does not require an additional ECG module, which improves the convenience of clinical operations, reduces hardware costs, and is conducive to obtaining more stable measurement results.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the composition of an ultrasonic imaging device of an embodiment;

Fig. 2 is a flow chart of the ultrasonic imaging method of an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a display interface for selecting a target object in an embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a display interface for selecting a target object in another embodiment;

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a motion curve of an embodiment;

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a display interface after ultrasonic imaging in an embodiment;

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a display interface after ultrasonic imaging in another embodiment;

Fig. 8 is a flowchart of an ultrasonic imaging method in another embodiment;

Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a display interface after ultrasound imaging according to another embodiment.

Detailed ways

The present invention will be further described in detail below through specific embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Wherein, similar elements in different implementations adopt associated similar element numbers. In the following implementation manners, many details are described for better understanding of the present application. However, those skilled in the art can readily recognize that some of the features can be omitted in different situations, or can be replaced by other elements, materials, and methods. In some cases, some operations related to the application are not shown or described in the description, this is to avoid the core part of the application being overwhelmed by too many descriptions, and for those skilled in the art, it is necessary to describe these operations in detail Relevant operations are not necessary, and they can fully understand the relevant operations according to the description in the specification and general technical knowledge in the field.

In addition, the characteristics, operations or characteristics described in the specification can be combined in any appropriate manner to form various embodiments. At the same time, the steps or actions in the method description can also be exchanged or adjusted in a manner obvious to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the various sequences in the specification and drawings are only for clearly describing a certain embodiment, and do not mean a necessary sequence, unless otherwise stated that a certain sequence must be followed.

The serial numbers assigned to components in this document, such as "first", "second", etc., are only used to distinguish the described objects, and do not have any sequence or technical meaning. The "connection" and "connection" mentioned in this application all include direct and indirect connection (connection) unless otherwise specified.

The most important idea of the present invention is to emit the first ultrasonic wave for detecting blood vessel movement before emitting the second ultrasonic wave for obtaining the ultrasonic measurement result, and then control the emission of the second ultrasonic wave according to the detection result of the blood vessel movement.

The following first introduces the hardware environment of the imaging method in this application. Please refer to FIG. 1. An ultrasonic imaging device 100 is provided in FIG. , a processor 104, and a human-computer interaction module 105. The transmitting and receiving sequence control module 102 is connected with the signal of the probe 101, and the signal of the probe 101 is connected with the echo processing module 103. The interaction module 105 is connected.

The probe 101 includes a transducer (not shown in the figure) composed of a plurality of array elements arranged in an array, and the plurality of array elements are arranged in a row to form a line array, or arranged in a two-dimensional matrix to form a surface array, and a plurality of array elements Array elements can also form a convex array. The array element is used to transmit ultrasonic waves according to the excitation electrical signal, or convert the received ultrasonic waves into electrical signals. Therefore, each array element can be used to realize mutual conversion between electric pulse signal and ultrasonic wave, so as to transmit ultrasonic wave to tissue (such as biological tissue in human body or animal body), and can also be used to receive ultrasonic echo reflected by tissue. When performing ultrasonic testing, it is possible to control which array elements are used to transmit ultrasonic waves and which array elements are used to receive ultrasonic waves through the transmitting sequence and receiving sequence, or control the array elements to transmit ultrasonic waves or receive ultrasonic echoes in time slots. The array elements participating in ultrasonic emission can be excited by electrical signals at the same time, so as to emit ultrasonic waves at the same time; or the array elements participating in ultrasonic beam emission can also be excited by several electrical signals with a certain time interval, so as to continuously emit ultrasonic waves with a certain time interval.

The transmitting and receiving sequence control module 102 is used to generate a transmitting sequence and a receiving sequence, and the transmitting sequence is used to provide the number of transducers used for transmitting in the probe 101 and the parameters (such as amplitude, frequency, number of times of waves, waves, etc.) Angle, waveform, etc.), the receiving sequence is used to provide the number of transducers used for receiving in the probe 101 and the parameters of the received echoes (such as receiving angle, depth, etc.). For different purposes, or different generated images, the transmitting sequence and receiving sequence are also different.

The echo processing module 103 is used for processing the ultrasonic echo, for example, filtering, amplifying, beam forming and other processing on the ultrasonic echo.

The human-computer interaction module 105 serves as an interactive interface between the user and the ultrasonic imaging device 100. In this embodiment, the human-computer interaction module 105 includes a display 105a. In some embodiments, the human-computer interaction module 105 also includes an input module 105b The input module 105b can be, for example, a keyboard, operation buttons (including switches), a mouse, a trackball, etc., or a touch screen integrated with the display 105a. When the input module 105b is a keyboard or an operation button, the user can directly input operation information or operation instructions through the input module 105b; The combination of soft keyboard, operation icons, tabs, menu options, etc. can complete the input of operation information or operation instructions, and can also complete the input of operation information by marking and framing on the display interface.

The processor 104 receives the echo signal processed by the output end of the echo processing module 103, and uses a correlation algorithm to obtain required parameters or images.

Based on the above hardware environment, an ultrasonic imaging method is provided in this application, please refer to Figure 2, including steps:

Step A100 , control the probe 101 to transmit a first ultrasonic wave to the target object 200 to acquire first ultrasonic data of at least one cardiac cycle.

The target object 200 includes at least a part of a blood vessel structure. For example, the target object 200 is a point or a line segment on the wall of a blood vessel. In some embodiments, before step A100, steps are also included:

Step A10 , controlling the probe 101 to emit a third ultrasonic wave to the first area, where the first area includes the area where the target object 200 is located. In this embodiment, the size of the first region is not limited. The third ultrasonic wave may be an ultrasonic wave transmitted in any one of multiple imaging modes, for example, the third ultrasonic wave may be an ultrasonic wave transmitted in a B mode.

Step A20, generating and displaying a third ultrasound image according to the echo of the third ultrasound. For example, as shown in FIG. 3 , when the third ultrasonic wave is the ultrasonic wave emitted in B mode, the third ultrasonic image is the B-ultrasound image 300 .

Step A30, determining the target object 200 in the third ultrasound image.

In some embodiments, the ultrasonic imaging device 100 can automatically select a small length or a specific point from the blood vessel wall displayed in the third ultrasonic image as the target object 200 through an existing or future image recognition segmentation algorithm. For ultrasonic transmission and reception, it is easy to understand that the longer the selected length is, the wider the range of the transmission sequence required for the subsequent ultrasonic transmission and reception of the target object 200 is, the longer the transmission and reception time is, and the greater the amount of calculation is.

In some other embodiments, the target object 200 can be selected by the user. For example, as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4 , the user can use the human-computer interaction module 105 to trace a line segment in the blood vessel wall as the target object 200 on the third ultrasound image.

In addition, the target object 200 may also be multiple line segments or multiple points in the blood vessel wall. For example, the user may trace on the upper wall and the lower wall of the blood vessel respectively, so as to use two line segments in the blood vessel as the target object 200 .

Step A200, determine the radial movement information of the target object 200 in the blood vessel according to the first ultrasound data.

Wherein, the motion information is used to reflect the radial motion cycle and motion range of the target object 200 in the blood vessel. When the target object 200 is a point on the blood vessel wall, the motion cycle and motion range of the target object 200 are the motion cycle and motion range of the point; when the target object 200 is a line segment in the blood vessel wall, the motion cycle of the target object 200 It may be the average or weighted value of the movement period of each point on the line segment, and the movement range of the target object 200 may be the average or weighted value of the motion range of each point on the line segment. When the target object 200 includes multiple points or multiple line segments, the motion cycle of the target object 200 can be the comprehensive result of multiple points or multiple line segment motion cycles, and the motion range of the target object 200 can be multiple points or multiple motions. The combined result of the magnitude.

In this embodiment, the motion amplitude can be represented by at least one of the displacement, velocity, acceleration and strain data of the target object 200 in the radial direction of the blood vessel, or the above data can be further smoothed, filtered and other signal processing can also be used to obtain The calculation result that characterizes the magnitude of motion. Specifically, at least one frame of the first ultrasonic data can be obtained according to the echo of the first ultrasonic wave, and at least one frame of the first ultrasonic image can be generated according to the at least one frame of the first ultrasonic data, wherein each frame of the first ultrasonic image can be based on a A frame or multiple frames of first ultrasound data are generated, and each frame of the first ultrasound image has a corresponding motion range of the target object 200 . For example, the motion range of the target object 200 is represented by the displacement of the target object 200. After acquiring a frame of the first ultrasonic image, the ultrasonic imaging device 100 can use the existing displacement calculation algorithm to obtain the target object in the frame of the first ultrasonic image. The position of the object 200 is compared with the position of the target object 200 in a frame of reference image, so as to obtain the displacement information of the target object 200. The frame of reference image may be obtained in advance when the patient's heartbeat or pulse is stable and contains the target object 200. The ultrasonic image may also be one frame of the multiple acquired first ultrasonic images, for example, the acquired first frame of the first ultrasonic image is used as a reference image.

After obtaining the range of motion of the target object 200, the cycle of motion of the target object 200 can be determined according to the range of motion. Specifically, the peak value of the maximum range of motion that occurs periodically for the target object 200 can be determined. In this example, the cycle of the target object 200 appears The peak moment is defined as the peak moment 11, and the time difference between two adjacent peak moments 11 is the motion cycle.

Step A300. Determine the transmission parameters of the second ultrasonic wave according to the motion information, where the transmission parameters include transmission timing.

That is to say, when to emit the second ultrasonic wave can be determined at least by the motion amplitude and motion cycle of the target object 200 . Step A300 may include:

Step A310, setting the reference transmission opportunity 12 according to the corresponding time when the motion amplitude is smaller than the preset amplitude threshold.

In some embodiments, the moment when the motion amplitude is the minimum value in a motion cycle can be used as the reference emission opportunity 12, for example, the acquired moment when the motion amplitude is the minimum value in the last complete motion cycle can be used as the reference emission opportunity 12 . That is to say, the moment when the range of motion is the minimum value represents the moment when the patient's heartbeat is the most gentle, and the movement at this moment is less disturbing. In some other embodiments, the magnitude threshold is also a preset default value or a threshold set by the user. For example, the user can set the magnitude threshold according to clinical experience. within an acceptable level. When there are multiple moments with a motion amplitude smaller than the amplitude threshold, the ultrasonic imaging device 100 can select the most suitable moment as the reference transmission opportunity 12 based on some preset rules, or the user can choose.

In order for the user to have a more intuitive understanding of the motion amplitude, or to select the reference transmission timing 12 more intuitively and conveniently, in some embodiments, the ultrasonic imaging device 100 also generates a motion curve 10 of the motion amplitude over time, such as in FIG. 5 , the range of motion is characterized by the displacement of the target object 200, and the change of the range of motion over time can be seen intuitively from the motion curve 10, which can be compared with the third ultrasound image and/or the first ultrasound image mentioned above. Images are displayed simultaneously.

After viewing the motion curve 10 , the user can select a reference launch opportunity 12 on the motion curve 10 through the human-computer interaction module 105 . In this embodiment, the peak moment 11 is also marked on the motion curve 10. For example, in FIG. 5, the peak moment 11 can be marked on the motion curve 10 in the form of a dot to remind the user to select the blood vessel movement after the peak moment 11. A certain gentle moment is used as a reference transmission opportunity 12. In other embodiments, the ultrasonic imaging device 100 further provides a more humanized auxiliary function. The ultrasonic imaging device 100 first obtains the distance between the motion amplitude and the preset amplitude threshold. Compare the results, and then determine the recommended selection time of the reference launch opportunity 12 according to the comparison results. It is easy to understand that the motion amplitudes within the recommended selection time are all smaller than the amplitude threshold, and the motion curve 10 can be distinguished. Select the moment, for example, the motion curve 10 at the suggested selection time can be represented in green, and the threshold value at the suggested non-selection time can be represented in red. For the user, the motion curve 10 not only characterizes the change of the motion range, but also provides a backup for the user. The selected reference transmission opportunity 12 enables the user to determine the reference transmission opportunity 12 from the suggested selection time. After the reference emission opportunity 12 is determined, the selected reference emission opportunity 12 can also be marked on the motion curve 10 .

Step A320, taking the time corresponding to the reference emission timing 12 in at least one motion cycle after the end of the first ultrasonic emission as the second ultrasonic emission timing.

Since the target object 200 is a part of the blood vessel structure, the movement of the target object 200 can also be used to reflect the movement of the blood vessel and even the heartbeat. Assuming that the cardiac cycle of the patient does not change significantly within a certain period of time, the first ultrasonic wave The movement of the blood vessel during the period is used to fit (predict) the movement of the blood vessel after the first ultrasonic emission. Therefore, after the end of the first ultrasonic emission, the range of motion of the target object 200 at the time corresponding to the reference emission timing 12 in a certain motion cycle can be approximately considered to be the same as the range of motion of the target object 200 at the reference emission timing 12, so The time corresponding to the reference emission opportunity 12 in a certain motion cycle after the first ultrasonic emission is finished can be used as a second ultrasonic emission opportunity. After the reference transmission opportunity 12 is selected, the method of determining the time corresponding to the reference transmission opportunity 12 after the first ultrasonic emission can be as follows:

In the motion cycle where the reference emission opportunity 12 is located, the time difference between the peak moment 11 and the reference emission opportunity 12 is calculated, for example, the reference emission opportunity 12 selected by the user is marked near 60s in the motion curve 10 shown in FIG. 5 , Then the ultrasonic imaging device 100 can calculate the time difference T1 between the peak moment 11 (marked with a dot in FIG. 5 ) and the reference emission opportunity 12 in the same motion cycle as the reference emission opportunity 12, and the first ultrasonic emission After the end, that is, after the motion curve 10 in FIG. 5 is terminated, it can be assumed that the target object 200 continues to move in the manner shown in the motion curve 10 for a period of time, and then the peak moment that occurs after the first ultrasonic emission ends can be obtained 11. The peak time 11 is delayed by a time difference T1, which is the time corresponding to the reference transmission opportunity 12. In addition, if the second ultrasonic wave needs to be transmitted multiple times, multiple peak times 11 after the first ultrasonic wave is transmitted and received can be determined, and the time after each peak time 11 is delayed by the time difference T1 can be used as an opportunity to transmit the second ultrasonic wave.

Step A400 , control the probe 101 to emit a second ultrasonic wave to the target object 200 according to the emission parameters.

Step A500, obtaining a second ultrasonic image containing the target object 200 and/or characteristic parameters of the tissue containing the target object 200 according to the echo of the second ultrasonic wave.

In some embodiments, the first ultrasonic wave and the second ultrasonic wave are set to be sent in the same imaging mode. Taking the imaging mode as an elastic imaging mode as an example, the user's operation steps and the processing process of the ultrasonic imaging device 100 will be described below. .

Please refer to FIG. 6 , the user can first perform B-mode imaging detection (that is, control the probe 101 to emit ultrasound in the B mode), thereby obtaining the B-ultrasonic image 300, and the user can observe the position and shape of the blood vessel in real time according to the B-mode ultrasonic image 300, and then Adjust the probe 101 to a suitable angle, and select the region of interest for elastic detection, and then control the ultrasonic imaging device 100 to start the elastic imaging mode, and automatically transmit the first wave to the region of interest when the ultrasonic imaging device 100 enters the elastic imaging mode Ultrasound, so as to obtain the motion information of the target object 200, and can also generate a motion curve 10 according to the motion information, and simultaneously display the B-ultrasound image 300 and the motion curve 10, and the position of the target object 200 on the blood vessel can also be marked. In this process, the ultrasonic imaging device 100 can automatically determine the reference emission timing 12 according to the motion information or determine the reference emission timing 12 based on the user's selection of the motion curve 10. After the reference emission timing 12 is determined, the ultrasonic imaging device 100 automatically calculates the reference emission timing. The time difference T1 between the timing 12 and the peak moment 11 in the same motion cycle, and the reference emission timing 12 can be marked on the motion curve 10, and the ultrasonic imaging device 100 can then acquire the first peak moment 11 that occurs after the first ultrasonic emission ends After delaying the time difference T1 on the basis of the first peak moment 11, the ultrasonic imaging device 100 starts to automatically emit the second ultrasonic wave, and then generates an elastic image 400 according to the second ultrasonic wave, and displays the elastic image 400 and the B-ultrasound image 300 simultaneously . Intuitively from the user's point of view, it is equivalent to controlling the ultrasound imaging device 100 to enter the elasticity imaging mode, after a short wait, the elasticity image 400 or the elasticity value of the target object 200 will be seen on the screen, and the user is waiting for the ultrasound imaging The device 100 completes steps such as acquisition of motion information, determination of a reference transmission opportunity 12, and the like.

In some other embodiments, the first ultrasonic wave corresponds to the first imaging mode, the second ultrasonic wave corresponds to the second imaging mode, and the ultrasonic imaging device 100 does not immediately transmit the second Ultrasound, but first determine the start time of the start command in the relative time of a motion cycle, then in the motion cycle after the start command, determine the transmission parameters of the second ultrasonic wave according to the relative time and with reference to the transmission timing 12, the transmission parameters are also at least Including launch timing. For example, assuming that the emission of the first ultrasonic wave lasts for three motion cycles, the time difference between the reference emission timing 12 and the peak moment 11 in the same motion cycle is T1, assuming that in the second motion cycle after the end of the first ultrasonic wave The user inputs a starting command, and the time difference between the input time of the starting command and the peak moment 11 of the same motion cycle (the second motion cycle) is T2. When T1 is less than T2, the ultrasonic imaging device 100 can start to emit the second ultrasonic wave after a time difference T1 from the peak moment 11 of the third motion cycle after the end of the first ultrasonic wave. The second ultrasonic wave is directly emitted at the time corresponding to the reference emission opportunity 12 in the second movement period after the end of an ultrasonic wave. Taking the first imaging mode as the B imaging mode and the second imaging mode as the elastic imaging mode as an example, the user's operation steps and the processing procedure of the ultrasonic imaging device 100 will be described below.

The user first controls the probe 101 to emit the first ultrasonic wave for detecting the motion information of the target object 200, and the first ultrasonic wave is also used for B-mode imaging detection, that is to say, the transmission sequence of the first ultrasonic wave can be shared with the B-mode transmission sequence ( It can also be multiplexed in other embodiments), according to the echo of the first ultrasonic wave, on the one hand, the motion information of the target object 200 can be obtained, and on the other hand, a B-ultrasound image 300 including blood vessels can be generated, as shown in FIG. 7 , where In a process, the generated B-ultrasound image 300, the position of the target object 200 in the B-ultrasound image 300, and the motion curve 10 of the target object 200 can also be displayed simultaneously, and the ultrasonic imaging device 100 can automatically select or determine the reference based on user input. For the firing opportunity 12 , calculate the time difference T1 between the reference firing timing 12 and the peak moment 11 in the same motion cycle, and mark the reference firing timing 12 on the motion curve 10 . The user can observe the position and shape of blood vessels in real time according to the B-ultrasound image 300, and adjust the probe 101 to a suitable angle to select the region of interest for elastic detection, and then control the ultrasonic imaging device 100 to enter the elastic imaging mode. The 100 determines when to emit the second ultrasonic wave according to the time when the command to start the elastography mode is received, so as to obtain the elasticity image 400 containing the target object 200 or the elasticity value of the tissue containing the target object 200 .

Please refer to Fig. 8, the embodiment shown in Fig. 8 provides another ultrasonic imaging method, including:

Step B100 , control the probe 101 to emit combined ultrasonic waves to the target object 200 . The combined ultrasonic waves include first ultrasonic waves and second ultrasonic waves.

In this step, the number of transmissions of the combined ultrasonic wave includes at least two times, and the first ultrasonic wave and the second ultrasonic wave are alternately transmitted, for example, the number of times of the combined ultrasonic wave is twice, which can be: the first ultrasonic wave, the second ultrasonic wave, the first The sequence of the ultrasonic wave and the second ultrasonic wave, or the sequence of the second ultrasonic wave, the first ultrasonic wave, the second ultrasonic wave and the first ultrasonic wave. In some embodiments, in a combination of ultrasonic waves, the first ultrasonic wave can be continuously transmitted multiple times, and the second ultrasonic wave can also be continuously transmitted multiple times.

The target object 200 is structurally at least a part of a blood vessel. For example, as shown in FIGS. 3 to 4 , the target object 200 is a point or a line segment on the wall of a blood vessel. In some embodiments, before step B100, steps are also included:

Step B10 , controlling the probe 101 to emit a third ultrasonic wave to the first area, where the first area includes the area where the target object 200 is located. In this embodiment, the size of the first region is not limited. The third ultrasonic wave may be an ultrasonic wave transmitted in any one of multiple imaging modes, for example, the third ultrasonic wave may be an ultrasonic wave transmitted in a B mode.

Step B20, generating and displaying a third ultrasound image according to the echo of the third ultrasound. For example, when the third ultrasonic wave is the ultrasonic wave emitted in the B mode, the third ultrasonic image is the B ultrasonic image 300 .

In some embodiments, the first ultrasound multiplexes or shares the transmission sequence of the third ultrasound, and the B-ultrasound image 300 containing the target object 200 can be acquired every time the first ultrasound is transmitted, so the acquired B-ultrasound image 300 can be displayed synchronously .

Step B30, determining the target object 200 in the third ultrasound image.

In some embodiments, the ultrasonic imaging device 100 can automatically select a small length or a specific point from the blood vessel wall displayed in the third ultrasonic image as the target object 200 through an existing or future image recognition segmentation algorithm. For ultrasonic transmission and reception, it is easy to understand that the longer the selected length is, the wider the range of the transmission sequence required for the subsequent ultrasonic transmission and reception of the target object 200 is, the longer the transmission and reception time is, and the greater the amount of calculation is.

In other embodiments, the target object 200 can be selected by the user, for example, the user can use the man-machine interaction module 105 to trace a line segment or a point in the blood vessel wall as the target object 200 on the third ultrasound image.

In addition, the target object 200 may also be multiple line segments or multiple points in the blood vessel wall. For example, the user may trace on the upper wall and the lower wall of the blood vessel respectively, so as to use two line segments in the blood vessel as the target object 200 .

Step B200, acquiring motion information of the target object 200 according to the echo of the first ultrasonic wave, the motion information is used to reflect the radial motion of the target object 200 in the blood vessel.

When the target object 200 is a point on the blood vessel wall, the motion cycle and motion range of the target object 200 are the motion cycle and motion range of the point; when the target object 200 is a line segment in the blood vessel wall, the motion cycle of the target object 200 It may be the average value of the movement period of each point on the line segment, and the motion range of the target object 200 may be the average value of the motion range of each point on the line segment. When the target object 200 includes multiple points or multiple line segments, the motion cycle of the target object 200 can be the comprehensive result of multiple points or multiple line segment motion cycles, and the motion range of the target object 200 can be multiple points or multiple motions. The combined result of the magnitude.

The range of motion can be represented by at least one of the displacement, velocity, acceleration and strain data of the target object 200 in the radial direction of the blood vessel, or further smoothing, filtering and other signal processing can be performed on the above data, and the calculation for characterizing the range of motion can also be obtained result.

In this embodiment, at least one frame of first ultrasonic data can be obtained according to each echo of the first ultrasonic wave, and at least one frame of first ultrasonic image can be generated according to at least one frame of first ultrasonic data, wherein each frame of first ultrasonic The image can be generated according to one or more frames of first ultrasound data, and each frame of the first ultrasound image has a corresponding motion range of the target object 200 . For example, the motion range of the target object 200 is represented by the displacement of the target object 200. After acquiring a frame of the first ultrasonic image, the ultrasonic imaging device 100 can use the existing displacement calculation algorithm to obtain the target object in the frame of the first ultrasonic image. The position of the object 200 is compared with the position of the target object 200 in a frame of reference image, so as to obtain the displacement information of the target object 200. The frame of reference image may be obtained in advance when the patient's heartbeat or pulse is stable and contains the target object 200. The ultrasonic image may also be one frame of multiple frames of the first ultrasonic image acquired according to the combination of ultrasonic waves, for example, the acquired first frame of the first ultrasonic image is used as a reference image.

After the motion range of the target object 200 is obtained, the motion period of the target object 200 can be determined according to the motion range. Specifically, if the first ultrasonic data of at least one cardiac cycle is obtained according to the first ultrasonic wave in a combination of ultrasonic waves, then the period of the motion amplitude corresponding to the cardiac cycle can also be obtained, and the occurrence of the target object 200 cycles can be determined first. For the peak with the largest motion amplitude, the time difference between two adjacent peak moments 11 is calculated as the motion cycle of the target object 200 .

Step B300, acquiring an ultrasonic measurement result according to the echo of the second ultrasonic wave. The ultrasound measurement results include the second ultrasound image containing the target object 200 and/or characteristic parameters of the tissue containing the target object 200 . The second ultrasonic image includes but not limited to the ultrasonic elasticity image 400 and the ultrasonic blood flow image, etc., and the characteristic parameters of the tissue include but not limited to elastic parameters or blood flow parameters.

In this example, after each emission of combined ultrasonic waves, only one ultrasonic measurement result is obtained according to the second ultrasonic wave in the combined ultrasonic waves. In other embodiments, after each emission of combined ultrasonic waves, according to the second ultrasonic wave in the combined ultrasonic waves, the Obtaining two or more ultrasonic measurement results, for example, determining at least two ultrasonic measurement results based on the same second ultrasonic emission, and for example, combining the ultrasonic waves with at least two consecutive second ultrasonic waves, wherein each At least one ultrasonic measurement result can be obtained by emitting the second ultrasonic waves.

Step B400 , determining valid ultrasonic measurement results among the ultrasonic measurement results according to the motion information of the target object 200 .

The purpose of this step is to obtain ultrasonic measurement results with good stability and less interference from motion from among the multiple acquired ultrasonic measurement results. In the following, descriptions will be made by taking the acquisition of one ultrasonic measurement result according to one combined ultrasonic wave and the acquisition of at least two ultrasonic measurement results according to one combined ultrasonic wave as examples.

When obtaining an ultrasonic measurement result according to a combined ultrasonic wave, the motion information corresponding to the first ultrasonic wave in the same combined ultrasonic wave is associated with the ultrasonic measurement result corresponding to the second ultrasonic wave, and the target object corresponding to the first ultrasonic wave in the same combined ultrasonic wave is used 200 motion information to estimate the degree of patient interference when the second ultrasound is emitted, so that effective ultrasound measurement results can be obtained from the ultrasound measurement results corresponding to multiple combined ultrasound waves, specifically, the target motion can be obtained from each motion information Information, the ultrasonic measurement result associated with the target motion information is determined as a valid ultrasonic measurement result, the target motion information refers to the motion information that meets the conditions, and the motion information corresponding to each first ultrasonic wave can be compared with the first preset condition Perform a comparison, and obtain target motion information according to the comparison result. For example, one frame of the first ultrasonic image can be acquired each time the combination of ultrasonic waves is emitted, and each movement information is the range of motion of the target object 200 in the first ultrasonic image of each frame. When it is less than the preset amplitude threshold, it means that when the first ultrasonic wave corresponding to the first ultrasonic image of the frame is emitted, the patient is in a state of less motion interference, and the motion information corresponding to the first ultrasonic wave this time is the target motion information. Further, it can be considered The sending timing of the first ultrasonic wave and the second ultrasonic wave in the same combined ultrasonic wave is close enough. When the second ultrasonic wave belonging to the same combined ultrasonic wave is emitted, the patient is still in a situation that is less disturbed by motion. Therefore, the second ultrasonic wave of this time can be The ultrasonic measurement result obtained by the second ultrasonic wave is regarded as the effective ultrasonic measurement result. In addition, it is also possible to generate a motion trend graph 20 showing motion information changing with time or the number of frames of the first ultrasonic image. The user can select target motion information on the motion trend graph 20. For example, in FIG. 9, the motion trend graph 20 includes five The velocity of the target object 200 in the first frame of ultrasound image, wherein the range of motion is represented by the velocity of the target object 200, each velocity of the target object 200 is associated with an ultrasound measurement result, if the user selects the second frame of the first ultrasound image The speed corresponding to the image is taken as the effective speed (effective motion information), and then the ultrasonic measurement result obtained by the combined ultrasonic wave transmitted for the second time is selected as the effective ultrasonic measurement result.

When at least two ultrasonic measurement results are obtained according to a combination of ultrasonic waves, according to the acquired motion amplitude and motion cycle of the target object 200, it can be estimated that the patient's heartbeat (pulse) is stable when each ultrasonic measurement result is obtained, so that at least two Identify a valid ultrasonic measurement result among the ultrasonic measurement results. Specifically, after transmitting a combined ultrasonic wave, according to the first ultrasonic wave in the combined ultrasonic wave, the first ultrasonic data of at least one cardiac cycle can be obtained, and the target can be obtained according to the first ultrasonic data of at least one cardiac cycle. The range of motion of the object 200 in at least one motion cycle. After the first ultrasonic emission is finished, the stability of the patient's heartbeat (pulse) when the ultrasonic measurement result is obtained can be estimated by determining the time point at which the ultrasonic measurement result is obtained. For example, FIG. 5 is a motion curve 10 of the target object 200 generated after emitting the first ultrasonic wave in a combination of ultrasonic waves. The timing of the second ultrasonic emission is relative to the time in the motion cycle, and the range of motion of the target object 200 can be inferred when the second ultrasonic wave is emitted, and then can be selected to meet the requirements (for example, the range of motion of the target object 200 is less than the amplitude threshold) The timing of the emission, so that the ultrasonic measurement result corresponding to the second ultrasonic emission emitted at this time is regarded as a valid ultrasonic measurement result.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, on the one hand, the timing of transmitting the second ultrasonic wave can be determined according to the motion information of the target object, thereby reducing motion interference; Screening out effective ultrasound measurement results does not require additional modules in the above two aspects, which reduces costs and improves clinical convenience.

Those skilled in the art can understand that all or part of the functions of the various methods in the foregoing implementation manners can be realized by means of hardware, or by means of computer programs. When all or part of the functions in the above embodiments are implemented by means of a computer program, the program can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and the storage medium can include: read-only memory, random access memory, magnetic disk, optical disk, hard disk, etc., through The computer executes the program to realize the above-mentioned functions. For example, the program is stored in the memory of the device, and when the processor executes the program in the memory, all or part of the above-mentioned functions can be realized. In addition, when all or part of the functions in the above embodiments are realized by means of a computer program, the program can also be stored in a storage medium such as a server, another computer, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a flash disk, or a mobile hard disk, and saved by downloading or copying. To the memory of the local device, or to update the version of the system of the local device, when the processor executes the program in the memory, all or part of the functions in the above embodiments can be realized.

The above uses specific examples to illustrate the present invention, which is only used to help understand the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention. For those skilled in the technical field to which the present invention belongs, some simple deduction, deformation or replacement can also be made according to the idea of the present invention.

Claims (31)

1. An ultrasound imaging method, further comprising:

controlling the probe to emit a first ultrasound wave to a target object to acquire first ultrasound data of at least one cardiac cycle, wherein the target object comprises at least a portion of a vascular structure;

determining radial motion information of the target object in the blood vessel according to first ultrasonic data;

determining a transmitting parameter of the second ultrasonic wave according to the motion information, wherein the transmitting parameter comprises transmitting time;

controlling the probe to emit second ultrasonic waves to the target object according to the emission parameters;

and obtaining an elasticity image containing the target object and/or an elasticity value of a tissue containing the target object according to the echo of the second ultrasonic wave.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the motion information includes a radial motion period and a motion amplitude reflecting the target object in the vessel;

The determining the emission parameter of the second ultrasonic wave according to the motion information comprises the following steps:

setting reference emission time according to the corresponding time when the motion amplitude is smaller than a preset amplitude threshold;

and determining the transmission parameters of the second ultrasonic wave according to the reference transmission time and the motion period.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining the transmission parameter of the second ultrasonic wave from the reference transmission opportunity and the motion period comprises:

and taking the time corresponding to the reference emission time in at least one movement period after the end of the emission of the first ultrasonic wave as the emission time of the second ultrasonic wave.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the motion information further comprises a peak time instant, the peak time instant being a time instant corresponding to a maximum value of the motion amplitude in one of the motion periods;

the transmitting means for taking, as the transmission timing of the second ultrasonic wave, a time corresponding to the reference transmission timing in at least one of the motion periods after the end of the transmission of the first ultrasonic wave, includes:

calculating a time difference between the peak time and the reference transmit opportunity in the same one of the motion cycles during the first ultrasonic transmission;

The transmission opportunity is calculated according to the peak time determined in at least one motion period after the end of the first ultrasonic wave transmission and the time difference.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining motion information of the target object from the first ultrasound data comprises:

determining the motion amplitude from the first ultrasound data;

determining a peak value according to the motion amplitude, and determining the peak value moment according to the moment corresponding to the peak value;

the movement period is determined from the time difference between two adjacent peak moments.

6. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 5, further comprising:

and generating and displaying a motion curve of the motion amplitude changing along with time.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the setting the reference transmit opportunity based on the corresponding time when the motion amplitude is less than a preset amplitude threshold comprises:

and receiving a moment selection instruction input by a user according to the motion curve, and determining the reference emission opportunity, wherein the motion amplitude corresponding to the reference emission opportunity is smaller than the preset amplitude threshold.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the generating and displaying the motion profile of the motion amplitude over time comprises:

generating a motion curve of the motion amplitude changing along with time;

obtaining a comparison result between the motion amplitude and the preset amplitude threshold;

determining a suggested selection moment of the reference emission moment according to the comparison result, wherein the pulse amplitude corresponding to the suggested selection moment is smaller than the preset amplitude threshold;

and displaying the motion curve, wherein the recommended selection moment and the recommended non-selection moment corresponding to the motion curve are displayed in a distinguishing mode.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the receiving the user selection instruction according to the moment input by the motion curve, after determining the reference transmission opportunity, further comprises:

marking the reference transmission opportunity on the motion curve.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the motion information comprises a peak time, the method further comprising:

the peak moment is marked on the motion curve.

11. The method according to any one of claims 2-6, wherein said setting a reference transmission occasion according to a corresponding time when the motion amplitude is smaller than a preset amplitude threshold value comprises:

And taking the moment that the motion amplitude is the minimum value in one motion period as the reference emission opportunity.

12. The method of claim 2, wherein the motion amplitude is characterized by at least one of displacement, velocity, acceleration and strain data of the target object in a radial direction of the vessel.

13. The method of any one of claims 1-12, wherein prior to the control probe transmitting the first ultrasonic wave to the target object, the method further comprises determining the target object;

the determining the target object includes:

controlling the probe to emit third ultrasonic waves to a first area, wherein the first area comprises an area where the target object is located;

generating and displaying a third ultrasonic image according to the echo of the third ultrasonic wave;

and determining the target object in the third ultrasonic image.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said determining the target object in the third ultrasound image comprises:

receiving a selection instruction of a user for a point or a line segment on the wall of a blood vessel in the third ultrasonic image, and taking the point or the line segment on the wall selected by the user as the target object; or (b)

And identifying a point or a line segment on the wall of the blood vessel in the third ultrasonic image, and taking the identified point or line segment on the wall of the blood vessel as the target object.

15. The method of any one of claims 2-12, wherein the first ultrasound corresponds to a first imaging mode and the second ultrasound corresponds to a second imaging mode;

the method further comprises the steps of:

receiving a starting instruction when a user starts a second imaging mode;

determining the relative time of the start instruction in one motion period;

the determining the transmission parameter of the second ultrasonic wave according to the reference transmission opportunity and the motion period comprises the following steps:

and in the motion period after the starting instruction, determining the transmission parameter of the second ultrasonic wave according to the relative time and the reference transmission time.

16. An ultrasound imaging method, comprising:

controlling the probe to emit a first ultrasound wave to a target object to acquire first ultrasound data of at least one cardiac cycle, wherein the target object comprises at least a portion of a vascular structure;

determining motion information of the target object according to the first ultrasonic data, wherein the motion information is used for representing the motion condition of the target object in the radial direction of a blood vessel;

Determining a transmitting parameter of the second ultrasonic wave according to the motion information, wherein the transmitting parameter comprises transmitting time;

controlling the probe to emit second ultrasonic waves to the target object according to the emission parameters;

and obtaining a second ultrasonic image containing the target object and/or characteristic parameters of tissues containing the target object according to the echo of the second ultrasonic wave.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the second ultrasound image is an elastographic image or a blood flow image containing the target object.

18. The method of claim 16 or 17, wherein the characteristic parameter of the tissue comprises an elasticity value or a blood flow parameter of the tissue.

19. An ultrasound imaging method, comprising:

controlling the probe to emit a combined ultrasonic wave to a target object, wherein the combined ultrasonic wave comprises a first ultrasonic wave and a second ultrasonic wave, and the target object is at least one part of a vascular structure;

acquiring motion information of the target object according to the echo of the first ultrasonic wave, wherein the motion information is used for reflecting the motion of the target object in the radial direction of the blood vessel;

acquiring an ultrasonic measurement result according to the echo of the second ultrasonic wave;

And determining effective ultrasonic measurement results in the ultrasonic measurement results according to the motion information of the target object.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the number of transmissions of the combined ultrasonic wave comprises at least two;

the acquiring the motion information of the target object according to the echo of the first ultrasonic wave comprises:

acquiring motion information of the target according to each echo of the first ultrasonic wave;

the determining the effective ultrasonic measurement result in the ultrasonic measurement results according to the motion information of the target object comprises the following steps:

correlating motion information corresponding to a first ultrasonic wave in the same combined ultrasonic wave with an ultrasonic measurement result corresponding to the second ultrasonic wave;

and acquiring target motion information from each piece of motion information, and determining an ultrasonic measurement result associated with the target motion information as the effective ultrasonic measurement result.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein at least two of said ultrasound measurements are determined based on said second ultrasound in said combined ultrasound at the same time;

the determining the effective ultrasonic measurement result in the ultrasonic measurement results according to the motion information of the target object comprises the following steps:

And determining the effective ultrasonic measurement result from the at least two ultrasonic measurement results according to the motion information of the target object.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein acquiring motion information of the target object from the echo of the first ultrasonic wave comprises:

obtaining at least one frame of first ultrasonic data according to the echo of the first ultrasonic wave;

generating at least one frame of first ultrasonic image according to the at least one frame of first ultrasonic data;

and acquiring motion information of the target object corresponding to the frame number of the first ultrasonic image.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the obtaining the target motion information from each motion information comprises:

obtaining at least one frame of first ultrasonic data according to each echo of the first ultrasonic wave;

generating at least one frame of first ultrasonic image according to the at least one frame of first ultrasonic data;

acquiring motion information of the target object corresponding to the frame number of the first ultrasonic image;

generating and displaying a motion trend graph of the motion information along with the frame number change of the first ultrasonic image;

and acquiring target motion information based on a motion information selection instruction input by a user aiming at the motion trend graph.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the obtaining the target motion information from each motion information comprises:

and comparing each piece of motion information with a first preset condition respectively, and acquiring the target motion information according to a comparison result.

25. The method of any of claims 20-24, wherein determining the target object comprises:

controlling the probe to emit third ultrasonic waves to the first area;

generating and displaying a third ultrasonic image according to the third ultrasonic wave;

the target object is determined on the third ultrasound image.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the determining the target object on the third ultrasound image comprises:

receiving a user selection instruction of a point or a line segment on the wall of the blood vessel in the third ultrasonic image, wherein the wall of the blood vessel is an upper wall or a lower wall, and taking the point or the line segment on the wall selected by the user as the target object, or

And identifying a point or a line segment on the wall of the blood vessel in the third ultrasonic image, and taking the identified point or line segment on the wall of the blood vessel as the target object.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the method further comprises:

obtaining at least one frame of first ultrasonic data according to the echo of each group of first ultrasonic waves;

generating and displaying a motion trend graph of the motion information along with the change of the first ultrasonic data frame number;

and displaying the first ultrasonic data and the motion trend graph simultaneously.

28. The method according to any one of claims 19 to 27, wherein the ultrasound measurement comprises a characteristic parameter of a second ultrasound image comprising the target object and/or of a tissue comprising the target object.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the second ultrasound image comprises an ultrasound elastography image or an ultrasound blood flow image, and the characteristic parameter comprises an elastography parameter or a blood flow parameter.

30. An ultrasonic imaging apparatus, comprising:

a probe for transmitting ultrasonic waves and receiving echo data of the ultrasonic waves;

a memory for storing a program;

a processor configured to implement the method of any one of claims 1-29 by executing a program stored in the memory.

31. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a program executable by a processor to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 29.

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