Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for generating three dimensional cardiac motion image by setting line segmented strain gauges

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9186125-B2
Application number	US-48739909-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 18, 2009
Priority date	Jun 19, 2008
Publication date	Nov 17, 2015
Grant date	Nov 17, 2015

Abstract

A plurality of strain gauges defined by gauge endpoints are set in each time phase using motion vector information of tissue, and a three-dimensional strain gauge image in which each strain gauge is disposed at a three-dimensional position corresponding to, for example, an ultrasonic image in each time phase is generated and displayed. Moreover, an MPR image is set on volume data and is displayed in a predetermined form in a state where gauge coordinates are projected thereon.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising:
an ultrasonic scanner that collects volume data over one or more periods of movement of tissue of a subject body, which moves periodically, by ultrasonically scanning the tissue of the subject body;
interest region setting circuitry configured to set a three-dimensional region of interest of the tissue of the subject body for the volume data at a predetermined time;
motion vector information generating circuitry configured to generate three-dimensional motion vector information on the region of interest at times other than the predetermined time by processing using pattern matching;
gauge setting circuitry configured to set a reference surface in a three-dimensional space at the predetermined time, set at least one three-dimensional position of a strain gauge on the reference surface, and set the at least one three-dimensional position of the strain gauge at times other than the predetermined time, using the three-dimensional motion vector information on the region of interest, the strain gauge being a line segment on the tissue of the subject body and extending in a wall thickness direction of heart tissue;
image generating circuitry configured to generate a three-dimensional strain gauge image depicting the at least one three-dimensional position of the strain gauge and the position of the reference surface in the three-dimensional space in a three-dimensional manner; and
a display that displays the three-dimensional strain gauge image.

2. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the gauge setting circuitry sets the strain gauge as a plurality of line segments connecting two endpoints and one or more middle points, which exist between the endpoints, with each other.

3. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
setting circuitry configured to set a short-axis position of the heart and a rotation center when the short-axis position is set as a reference position on volume data in a plurality of time phases including the predetermined time phase,
calculation circuitry configured to calculate rotation angles of positions of endomyocardial and epimyocardial layers from a reference time when the rotation center is set as a reference, and
rotation difference information circuitry configured to generate first rotation difference information indicating a difference between the rotation angle of the endomyocardial layer position and the rotation angle of the epimyocardial layer position, and
the display displays the first rotation difference information.

4. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 3 ,
wherein the calculation circuitry calculates a rotation angle of a midmyocardial layer position, which exists between the endomyocardial layer position and the epimyocardial layer position, from the reference time,
the rotation difference information generating circuitry generates second rotation difference information indicating a difference between the rotation angle of the endomyocardial layer position and the rotation angle of the midmyocardial layer position and third rotation difference information indicating a difference between the rotation angle of the epimyocardial layer position and the rotation angle of the midmyocardial layer position, and
the display displays the second rotation difference information and the third rotation difference information.

5. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 4 ,
wherein the image generating circuitry generates the three-dimensional strain gauge image obtained by converting at least one of the first rotation difference information, the second rotation difference information, and the third rotation difference information into color information and mapping the converted color information to a corresponding position.

6. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 3 ,
wherein the rotation difference information generating circuitry generates the rotation difference information for every anatomical segment regarding a myocardial portion of the heart, and
the display displays the rotation difference information for every anatomical segment as a temporal change curve.

7. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 3 ,
wherein the rotation difference information generating circuitry generates information on a temporal change of the rotation difference information by performing subtraction of the rotation difference information corresponding to volume data collected at a different time, and
the display displays the information on the temporal change of the rotation difference information.

8. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the display simultaneously displays the plurality of three-dimensional strain gauge images corresponding to volume data collected at a different time.

9. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the display is configured to display a strain gauge set in a predetermined cross section from among a plurality of strain gauges set in a region of interest of a myocardium.

10. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the predetermined cross section is a cross section orthogonal to a long-axis.

11. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the image generating circuitry is configured to calculate a regression plane on an MPR image and to generate the three-dimensional strain gauge image by projecting the strain gauge to the regression plane.

12. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a processor configured to perform, using the volume data, segmentation on a myocardial region.

13. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising:
an ultrasonic scanner that collects volume data over one or more periods of movement of tissue of a subject body, which moves periodically, by ultrasonically scanning the tissue of the subject body;
interest region setting circuitry configured to set a three-dimensional region of interest of the tissue of the subject body for the volume data at a predetermined time;
motion vector information generating circuitry configured to generate three-dimensional motion vector information on the region of interest at times other than the predetermined time by processing using pattern matching;
gauge setting circuitry configured to set a reference surface in a three-dimensional space at the predetermined time, set at least one three-dimensional position of a strain gauge on the reference surface, and set the at least one three-dimensional position of the strain gauge at times other than the predetermined time, using the three-dimensional motion vector information on the region of interest, the strain gauge being a line segment on the tissue of the subject body and extending in a wall thickness direction of heart tissue;
section circuitry configured to set at least one arbitrary section for volume data at each time;
image generating circuitry configured to generate a three-dimensional strain gauge image obtained by projection of the strain gauge disposed in the three-dimensional space onto at least the one arbitrary section, the three-dimensional strain gauge image depicting the at least one three-dimensional position of the strain gauge and the position of the reference surface; and
a display that displays the three-dimensional strain gauge image.

14. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 13 , further comprising:
a processor configured to set an multi-planar reconstruction (MPR) image dynamically on at least the one

Assignees

• Abe Yasuhiko
• Kawagishi Tetsuya
• Toshiba Kk
• Toshiba Medical Sys Corp

Inventors

• Abe Yasuhiko
• Kawagishi Tetsuya

Classifications

• A61B8/0883

  for diagnosis of the heart · CPC title

• A61B6/503

  for diagnosis of the heart · CPC title

• A61B8/08 Primary

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