Lesion detection and localization in heterogeneous media

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12106470-B2
Application number	US-201917299676-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 3, 2019
Priority date	Dec 3, 2018
Publication date	Oct 1, 2024
Grant date	Oct 1, 2024

Abstract

An ultrasound system and method are provided for detecting lesions and/or abnormalities in a heterogeneous medium. An array of ultrasound transducer elements configured to emit ultrasound signals and to receive backscattered ultrasound signals. A processor performs a lesion detection algorithm that processes the backscattered ultrasound signals to obtain an Inter-element Response Matrix (IRM), splits the IRM into a plurality of sub-IRMs corresponding to subsets of the ultrasound transducer elements, and then performs additional processing that includes performing a depression detection algorithm to identify one or more lesions and/or abnormalities.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An ultrasound system for detecting lesions or abnormalities in a heterogeneous medium, the system comprising:
an array of ultrasound transducer elements configured to emit ultrasound signals and to receive backscattered ultrasound signals;
a processor configured to perform a lesion detection algorithm, the processor comprising:
first processing logic configured to process the received backscattered ultrasound signals to obtain an Inter-element Response Matrix (IRM);
second processing logic configured to split the IRM into a plurality of sub-IRMs corresponding to subsets of the array of ultrasound transducer elements;
third processing logic configured to process the plurality of sub-IRMs to separate a coherent intensity contribution from an incoherent intensity contribution;
fourth processing logic configured to process the coherent intensity contribution to obtain a diffusion constant; and
fifth processing logic configured to perform a depression detection algorithm that processes the diffusion constant to identify one or more lesions.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the array of ultrasound transducer elements is a one-dimensional (1-D) array.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the array of ultrasound transducer elements is a two-dimensional (2-D) array.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the array of ultrasound transducer elements is a linear array.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the array of ultrasound transducer elements is a curved array.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the depression detection algorithm performed by the fifth processing logic identifies a plurality of potential lesions and detects a depression depth of each identified lesion, and wherein the processor further comprises:
sixth processing logic configured to perform a thresholding operation that only treats the identified lesion having a greatest depression depth as a real lesion.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the processor further comprises:
seventh processing logic configured to perform a Gaussian filter operation on the identified lesion that has the greatest depth to approximate a location and a size of the identified lesion that has the greatest depth.

8. An ultrasound system for detecting lesions or abnormalities in a heterogeneous medium, the system comprising:
an array of ultrasound transducer elements configured to emit ultrasound signals and to receive backscattered ultrasound signals;
a processor configured to perform a lesion detection algorithm, the processor comprising:
first processing logic configured to process the received backscattered ultrasound signals to obtain an Inter-element Response Matrix (IRM);
second processing logic configured to split the IRM into a plurality of sub-IRMs corresponding to subsets of the array of ultrasound transducer elements;
third processing logic configured to process the plurality of sub-IRMs to separate single scattering contributions from multiple scattering contributions; and
fourth processing logic configured to process information obtained from at least one of the single scattering contribution and the multiple scattering contribution to identify one or more lesions.

9. The ultrasound system of claim 8 , wherein said information obtained from at least one of the single scattering contribution and the multiple scattering contribution consists of a ratio of the single scattering contribution to the multiple scattering contribution, and wherein the fourth processing logic performs a depression detection algorithm that processes the ratio to identify the one or more lesions.

10. The ultrasound system of claim 8 , wherein said information obtained from at least one of the single scattering contribution and the multiple scattering contribution consists of the single scattering contribution, and wherein the fourth processing logic performs a depression detection algorithm that processes the single scattering contribution to identify the one or more lesions.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the array of ultrasound transducer elements is a one-dimensional (1-D) array.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the array of ultrasound transducer elements is a two-dimensional (2-D) array.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the array of ultrasound transducer elements is a linear array.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the array of ultrasound transducer elements is a curved array.

15. An ultrasound evaluation method for detecting lesions or abnormalities in a heterogeneous medium, the method comprising:
with an array of ultrasound transducer elements, emitting ultrasound signals toward a region of biological tissue and receiving backscattered ultrasound signals;
with a processor configured to perform a lesion detection algorithm:
processing the received backscattered ultrasound signals to obtain an Inter-element Response Matrix (IRM);
splitting the IRM into a plurality of sub-IRMs corresponding to subsets of the ultrasound transducer elements;
processing the plurality of sub-IRMs to separate a coherent intensity contribution from an incoherent intensity contribution;
processing the coherent intensity contribution to obtain a diffusion constant; and
performing a depression detection algorithm that processes the diffusion constant to identify one or more lesions.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the depression detection algorithm identifies a plurality of potential lesions and detects a depression depth of each identified lesion, and wherein the method further comprises:
performing a thresholding operation that that only treats the identified lesion having a greatest depression depth as a real lesion.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
performing a Gaussian filter operation on the identified lesion that has the greatest depth to approximate a location and a size of the identified lesion that has the greatest depth.

18. An ultrasound evaluation method for detecting lesions or abnormalities in a heterogeneous medium, the method comprising:
with an array of ultrasound transducer elements, emitting ultrasound signals toward a region of a biological tissue and receiving backscattered ultrasound signals;
with a processor configured to perform a lesion detection algorithm:
processing the received backscattered ultrasound signals to obtain an Inter-element Response Matrix (IRM);
splitting the IRM into a plurality of sub-IRMs corresponding to subsets of the array of ultrasound transducer elements;
processing the plurality of sub-IRMs to separate single scattering contributions from multiple scattering contributions; and
processing information obtained from at least one of the single scattering contribution and the multiple scattering contribution to identify one or more lesions.

19. The ultrasound method of claim 18 , wherein said information obtained from at least one of the single scattering contribution and the multiple scattering contribution comprises a ratio of the single scattering contribution to the multiple scattering contribution, and wherein the ratio is processed with a depression detection algorithm to identify the one or more lesions.

20. The ultrasound method of claim 18 , wherein said information obtained from at least one of the single scattering contribution and the multiple scattering contribution consists of the single scattering contribution, and wherein the single scattering contribution is processed with a depression detection algorithm to identify the one or more lesions.

Assignees

• Univ North Carolina State

Inventors

• Muller Marie
• Egan Thomas
• Mohanty Kaustav

Classifications

• G06T2207/30096

  Tumor; Lesion · CPC title

• G06T2207/20024

  Filtering details · CPC title

• G06T2207/10132

  Ultrasound image · CPC title

• A61B8/4488

  the transducer being a phased array · CPC title

• A61B8/08

  Clinical applications (A61B8/02, A61B8/04, A61B8/06 take precedence) · CPC title