Ultrasound imaging apparatus and method of processing ultrasound image thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10327738-B2
Application number	US-201615002018-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 20, 2016
Priority date	Mar 31, 2015
Publication date	Jun 25, 2019
Grant date	Jun 25, 2019

Abstract

An ultrasound imaging apparatus and a method for operating the ultrasound imaging apparatus are provided. When providing an elasticity value to a user, the reliability of the elasticity value is provided to the user to enable the user to easily determine whether the elasticity value is an appropriate value.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for processing an ultrasound image, the method comprising:
inducing a shear wave inside an object;
obtaining an ultrasound image of the object after inducing the shear wave;
obtaining an elasticity value of the object based on the obtained ultrasound image;
obtaining a residual value of a wave equation based on the obtained elasticity value and at least one of a particle velocity and a particle displacement;
determining a reliability value based on a magnitude of the induced shear wave and the obtained residual value; and
displaying, on a display, a respective representation of each of the obtained elasticity value and the determined reliability value.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the displaying comprises:
displaying at least one from among an image, a letter, an icon, and a symbol that corresponds to a magnitude of the determined reliability value.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the displaying comprises:
displaying a screen which comprises an elasticity image generated based on the induced shear wave, the obtained elasticity value, and the determined reliability value.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
setting a region of interest (ROI) with respect to the object,
wherein the obtaining the elasticity value comprises:
obtaining an elasticity value that relates to the object inside the region of interest based on an observation of the induced shear wave with respect to an inside of the ROI.

5. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program that is executable for performing the method of claim 1 .

6. An ultrasound imaging apparatus comprising:
a controller configured to obtain an elasticity value of an object based on an ultrasound image which is obtained after inducing a shear wave inside the object, to obtain a residual value of a wave equation based on the obtained elasticity value and at least one of a particle velocity and a particle displacement, and to determine a reliability value based on a magnitude of the induced shear wave and the obtained residual value; and
a display configured to display a respective representation of each of the obtained elasticity value and the determined reliability value.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the controller is further configured to determine the reliability value based on a result of a comparison between the obtained elasticity value and the reference value.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the controller is further configured to obtain the residual value that corresponds to a difference between the obtained elasticity value and a reference value, and to determine the reliability value based on a magnitude of the induced shear wave and the obtained residual value,
wherein the reference value is determined by applying at least one from among the particle displacement value and the particle velocity value of the induced shear to a predetermined equation.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the controller is further configured to obtain the residual value that corresponds to an error of the shear wave with respect to the predetermined wave equation when the at least one from among the particle displacement value and the particle velocity value of the shear wave is applied to the predetermined wave equation, and to determine the reliability value based on a magnitude of the induced shear wave and the obtained residual value.

10. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the controller is further configured to determine a magnitude of the induced shear wave that corresponds to the elasticity value, to calculate a first numerical value based on the determined magnitude of the shear wave, to calculate a second numerical value based on a result of a comparison between the obtained elasticity value and the reference value, and to determine the reliability value based on the calculated first numerical value and the calculated second numerical value.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the controller is further configured to calculate the second numerical value based on the residual value that corresponds to a difference between the obtained elasticity value and the reference value.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the reliability value is equal to or greater than zero and equal to or less than one.

13. The apparatus of claim 6 , further comprising:
an ultrasound transceiver configured to induce the shear wave inside the object, and to observe the induced shear wave.

14. The apparatus of claim 6 , further comprising:
a communication module configured to receive the induced shear wave from a wireless probe.

15. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the display is further configured to display the representation of the determined reliability value by using a numerical value.

16. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the display is further configured to display a graph which indicates a magnitude of the determined reliability value.

17. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the display is further configured to display the representation of the obtained elasticity value by using a color that corresponds to a magnitude of the determined reliability value.

18. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the display is further configured to display at least one from among an image, a letter, an icon, and a symbol that corresponds to a magnitude of the determined reliability value.

19. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the controller is further configured to determine a quality of the induced shear wave based on a displacement characteristic of the shear wave.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the display is further configured to display a user interface screen which includes a respective representation of each of the obtained elasticity value, the determined reliability value, and the determined quality.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
• Samsung Medison Co Ltd

Inventors

• Choi Ki-Wan
• Lee Hyoung-Ki
• Park Jun-Ho

Classifications

• G01S15/8915

  using a transducer array · CPC title

• G01S7/52042

  determining elastic properties of the propagation medium or of the reflective target (diagnostic techniques involving the measurement of strain A61B8/485) · CPC title

• A61B8/56

  Details of data transmission or power supply · CPC title

• A61B8/5261

  combining images from different diagnostic modalities, e.g. ultrasound and X-ray · CPC title

• A61B8/5223

  for extracting a diagnostic or physiological parameter from medical diagnostic data (for algorithms to analyse biomedical images G06T7/0012) · CPC title