Method and system for fetal visualization by computing and displaying an ultrasound measurement and graphical model

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10368833-B2
Application number	US-201414484503-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 12, 2014
Priority date	Sep 12, 2014
Publication date	Aug 6, 2019
Grant date	Aug 6, 2019

Abstract

Various embodiments include a system and method that provide fetal visualization. The method can include acquiring, by an ultrasound system, ultrasound data for a region of interest. The method may include computing, by a processor of the ultrasound system, a fetal measurement based on the acquired ultrasound data. The method can include generating, by the processor, a graphical model based on one or more of the fetal measurement and the acquired ultrasound data. The method may include displaying, at a display system, the computed fetal measurement and the generated graphical model.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for fetal visualization, the method comprising:
acquiring, by an ultrasound system, ultrasound data for a region of interest;
computing, by a processor of the ultrasound system, one or more fetal measurements based on the acquired ultrasound data, wherein the one or more fetal measurements comprise an angle of progression measurement;
generating, by the processor, a graphical model based at least in part on the angle of progression measurement; and
displaying, at a display system, the one or more computed fetal measurements and the generated graphical model.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the ultrasound data is acquired by transperineal ultrasound imaging.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the graphical model is a three-dimensional graphical model comprising a standard or generic fetus model positioned within a standard or generic womb model based on the angle of progression measurement.

4. The method according to claim 1 , comprising:
applying contrast enhancement to the acquired ultrasound data to generate a contrast enhanced image; and
generating a binary representation of image pixels corresponding to a pubic ramus and a fetal skull in the contrast enhanced image by:
applying a curvature mask to the contrast enhanced image to generate a curvature mask output image,
applying a vesselness mask to the contrast enhanced image to generate a vesselness mask output image, and
combining the curvature mask output image and the vesselness mask output image.

5. The method according to claim 1 , comprising automatically selecting a pubic ramus and a fetal skull contour in the acquired ultrasound data.

6. The method according to claim 5 , comprising detecting a tangent point where a line extending from an inferior apex of the pubic ramus intersects the fetal skull contour tangentially.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the angle of progression measurement is computed as the angle between a line drawn along the pubic ramus and the line extending from the inferior apex of the pubic ramus to the tangent point.

8. A system for fetal visualization, the system comprising:
an ultrasound device comprising:
a probe configured to acquire ultrasound data for a region of interest;
a processor configured to:
compute one or more fetal measurements based on the acquired ultrasound data, wherein the one or more fetal measurements comprise an angle of progression measurement, and
generate a graphical model based at least in part on the angle of progression measurement; and

a display system configured to display the one or more computed fetal measurements and the generated graphical model.

9. The system according to claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured to automatically select a pubic ramus and a fetal skull contour in the acquired ultrasound data.

10. The system according to claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to detect a tangent point where a line extending from an inferior apex of the pubic ramus intersects the fetal skull contour tangentially.

11. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to compute the angle of progression measurement as the angle between a line drawn along the pubic ramus and the line extending from the inferior apex of the pubic ramus to the tangent point.

12. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon, a computer program having at least one code section, the at least one code section being executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform steps comprising:
computing one or more fetal measurements based on acquired ultrasound data, wherein the one or more fetal measurements comprise an angle of progression measurement;
generating a graphical model based at least in part on the angle of progression measurement; and
displaying the computed one or more fetal measurements and the generated graphical model.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 12 , comprising automatically selecting a pubic ramus and a fetal skull contour in the acquired ultrasound data.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 13 , comprising detecting a tangent point where a line extending from an inferior apex of the pubic ramus intersects the fetal skull contour tangentially.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 14 , wherein the angle of progression measurement is computed as the angle between a line drawn along the pubic ramus and the line extending from the inferior apex of the pubic ramus to the tangent point.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 12 , wherein the graphical model is a three-dimensional graphical model comprising a standard or generic fetus model positioned within a standard or generic womb model based on the angle of progression measurement.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 12 , comprising:
applying contrast enhancement to the acquired ultrasound data to generate a contrast enhanced image; and
generating a binary representation of image pixels corresponding to a pubic ramus and a fetal skull in the contrast enhanced image by:
applying a curvature mask to the contrast enhanced image to generate a curvature mask output image,
applying a vesselness mask to the contrast enhanced image to generate a vesselness mask output image, and
combining the curvature mask output image and the vesselness mask output image.

18. The system according to claim 8 , wherein the ultrasound data is acquired by transperineal ultrasound imaging.

19. The system according to claim 8 , wherein the graphical model is a three-dimensional graphical model comprising a standard or generic fetus model positioned within a standard or generic womb model based on the angle of progression measurement.

20. The system according to claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured to:
apply contrast enhancement to the acquired ultrasound data to generate a contrast enhanced image; and
generate a binary representation of image pixels corresponding to a pubic ramus and a fetal skull in the contrast enhanced image by:
applying a curvature mask to the contrast enhanced image to generate a curvature mask output image,
applying a vesselness mask to the contrast enhanced image to generate a vesselness mask output image, and
combining the curvature mask output image and the vesselness mask output image.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Patruno Francesca
• Scharinger Simon
• Pintoffl Klaus
• Duda Jr Walter
• Lumpi Karl-Heinz
• Van Der Veen Lucienne

Classifications

• G06T2207/30101

  Blood vessel; Artery; Vein; Vascular · CPC title

• G06T2207/30044

  Fetus; Embryo · CPC title

• G06T2207/30008

  Bone · CPC title

• G06T2207/20016

  Hierarchical, coarse-to-fine, multiscale or multiresolution image processing; Pyramid transform · CPC title

• G06T2207/10132

  Ultrasound image · CPC title