Method and apparatus for obtaining elastic feature of object

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10768285-B2
Application number	US-201414913715-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 6, 2014
Priority date	Oct 7, 2013
Publication date	Sep 8, 2020
Grant date	Sep 8, 2020

Abstract

A method for obtaining an elastic feature of an object includes inducing a first shear wave in the object by transmitting a first push ultrasound signal which is generated by a probe of an ultrasound apparatus and a first grating lobe signal which relates to the first push ultrasound signal toward the object, transmitting a tracking ultrasound signal to an area of the object where the first shear wave has propagated, receiving, from the object, a reflection signal which relates to the tracking ultrasound signal, measuring a first shear wave parameter which indicates a shear wave characteristic of the first shear wave based on the reflection signal, and obtaining an elastic feature of the object by using the first shear wave parameter.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for obtaining an elastic feature of an object, the method comprising:
inducing a first shear wave in the object by transmitting a first push ultrasound signal which is generated by a probe of an ultrasound apparatus and a first grating lobe signal which relates to the first push ultrasound signal toward the object;
transmitting a first tracking ultrasound signal to an area of the object where the first shear wave has propagated, and receiving, from the object, a first reflection signal which relates to the first tracking ultrasound signal;
measuring a first shear wave parameter which indicates a shear wave characteristic of the first shear wave based on the first reflection signal; and
obtaining an elastic feature of the object by using the measured first shear wave parameter,
wherein the first push ultrasound signal induces a first sub-shear wave propagating in a first direction and the first grating lobe signal induces a second sub-shear wave propagating in a second direction different from the first direction, and
wherein the first shear wave is a synthesis of the first sub-shear wave and the second sub-shear wave.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first push ultrasound signal comprises an unfocused ultrasound signal.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first shear wave is induced in the object by transmitting a plurality of first push ultrasound signals and a plurality of first grating lobe signals which respectively relate to the plurality of first push ultrasound signals, both pluralities having a same steering angle, toward the object by using a plurality of elements which are included in the probe, and
wherein the plurality of first push ultrasound signals comprises the first path ultrasound signal and the plurality of first grating lobe signals comprises the first grating lobe signal.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the inducing the first shear wave comprises transmitting the first push ultrasound signal toward the object by steering the first push ultrasound signal at a first steering angle.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
inducing a second shear wave in the object by transmitting a second push ultrasound signal which is steered at a second steering angle that is different from the first steering angle and a second grating lobe signal which relates to the second push ultrasound signal toward the object;
transmitting a second tracking ultrasound signal to an area of the object where the second shear wave has propagated and receiving, from the object, a second reflection signal which relates to the second tracking ultrasound signal; and
measuring a second shear wave parameter which indicates a shear wave characteristic of the second shear wave based on the second reflection signal,
wherein the obtaining the elastic feature of the object comprises using the measured first shear wave parameter and the measured second shear wave parameter to determine an average parameter value and obtaining the elastic feature of the object by using the determined average parameter value.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving the first reflection signal comprises transmitting the first tracking ultrasound signal a plurality of times to an area where the first shear wave has propagated and receiving, from the object, a plurality of first reflection signals which relate to the plurality of transmissions of the first tracking ultrasound signal, and
the measuring the first shear wave parameter comprises measuring the first shear wave parameter by applying a cross-correlation to the received plurality of first reflection signals.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the obtaining the elastic feature of the object further comprises generating an image of an elasticity of the object by mapping the elastic feature to at least one from among a black and white scale and a color scale.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting the first tracking ultrasound signal comprises:
transmitting the first tracking ultrasound signal to a first position where the first shear wave has propagated and transmitting a second tracking ultrasound signal to a second position where the first shear wave has propagated,
wherein the receiving the first reflection signal comprises:
receiving the first reflection signal which relates to the first tracking ultrasound signal from the first position and receiving a second reflection signal which relates to the second tracking ultrasound signal from the second position, and

wherein the measuring the first shear wave parameter comprises:
measuring a first phase of the first shear wave from the first reflection signal and measuring a second phase of the first shear wave from the second reflection signal; and
measuring a propagation velocity of the first shear wave by using a phase difference between the measured first phase and the measured second phase and by using a distance between the first position and the second position.

9. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a program which, when executed by a computer, causes the computer and the probe of the ultrasound apparatus to perform the method of claim 1 .

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein a component of the first sub-shear wave that is perpendicular to a vertical axis of the probe offsets a component of the second sub-shear wave that is perpendicular to the vertical axis of the probe.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first shear wave propagates in a direction parallel to a vertical axis of the probe.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first shear wave propagates in a direction parallel to a vertical axis of the probe.

13. An ultrasound apparatus comprising:
a shear wave inducer configured to induce a first shear wave in an object by transmitting a first push ultrasound signal which is generated by a probe of the ultrasound apparatus and a first grating lobe signal which relates to the first push ultrasound signal toward the object;
a shear wave detector configured to transmit a first tracking ultrasound signal to an area of the object where the first shear wave has propagated and to receive a first reflection signal which relates to the first tracking ultrasound signal from the object; and
a controller configured to measure a first shear wave parameter which indicates a shear wave characteristic of the first shear wave based on the received first reflection signal and to obtain an elastic feature of the object by using the measured first shear wave parameter,
wherein the first push ultrasound signal induces a first sub-shear wave propagating in a first direction and the first grating lobe signal induces a second sub-shear wave propagating in a second direction different from the first direction, and
wherein the first shear wave is a synthesis of the first sub-shear wave and the second sub-shear wave.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Shim Hwan
• Kim Young-Tae
• Lim Hyung-Joon
• Jung Yun-Sub
• Cheon Byeong-Geun
• Lee Min-Gu

Classifications

• A61B8/14 Primary

  Echo-tomography · CPC title

• G01S7/52042 Primary

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

• G01S7/52022

  using a sequence of pulses, at least one pulse manipulating the transmissivity or reflexivity of the medium · CPC title

• A61B8/485

  involving measuring strain or elastic properties · CPC title

• A61B8/5215

  involving processing of medical diagnostic data · CPC title