Ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus and ultrasonic image processing apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9877698-B2
Application number	US-97976210-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 28, 2010
Priority date	Jan 13, 2010
Publication date	Jan 30, 2018
Grant date	Jan 30, 2018

Abstract

According to one embodiment, there is provided an ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus which generates a plurality of volume data over a predetermined period, executes setting of a position of at least one MPR slice relative to volume data, of the plurality of volume data, which corresponds to a first time phase, and sets positions of MPR slices corresponding to the at least one set MPR slice with respect to remaining volume data, executes segmentations of at least part of the heart into a plurality of segments, executes three-dimensional tracking processing, and optimizes the position of the MPR slice which is set in a predetermined time phase, based on the positions of the plurality of segments, and optimizes positions of the MPR slices set for the remaining volume data in association with the optimization.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus comprising:
an ultrasonic transmitter/receiver configured to acquire echo signals associated with a three-dimensional region including at least part of a heart of an object over a predetermined period by executing ultrasonic scanning on the three-dimensional region over the predetermined period;
a computer:
configured to generate a plurality of volume data over the predetermined period by using the echo signals associated with the three-dimensional region;
configured to set a Multi-Planar Resolution (MPR) slice to each volume data;
configured to segment at least part of the heart included in each of the volume data into a plurality of segments;
configured to set a plurality of tracking points to a volume data which is one of the plurality of volume data and corresponds to a first time phase, and execute three-dimensional tracking processing concerning the plurality of tracking points by using the plurality of volume data; and
configured to automatically adjust each position of the MPR slice set in the plurality of volume data based on a temporal change of at least one segment position among the plurality of segment positions, to obtain the MPR slice set passing an apex point and corresponding segment of the plurality of segments among the plurality of volume data, the temporal change corresponding to temporal changes of some of the plurality of tracking points acquired by the three dimensional tracking processing.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said computer adjusts each position of the MPR slice set in the plurality of volume data, which corresponds to an end-systolic period.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said computer adjusts each position of the MPR slice set in the plurality of volume data, which is between an end-diastolic period and an end-systolic period.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the computer adjusts each position of the MPR slice set in the plurality of volume data, which is selected for each MPR slice when not less than two MPR slices are set in volume data corresponding to the first time phase.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein when each MPR is set in different volume data corresponding to different time phases, said computer adjusts each position of the MPR slice set in the plurality of volume data in accordance with the each set of MPR slice in different volume data.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said computer adjusts each position of the set MPR slice set in the plurality of volume data based on a position of a structural feature point of the heart.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 , which further comprises an input circuit configured to input a changed position of the MPR slice in the volume data by manual operation, and in which
the computer adjusts each position of the MPR slice based on the input changed position.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 , which further comprises an input circuit configured to input a changed position of the MPR slice in the volume data based on a ratio to the plurality of segments, and in which
the computer adjusts each position of the MPR slice based on the input changed position.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1 , which further comprises an input circuit configured to input vertical movement of the MPR slice relative to the plurality of segments in the volume data, in which
the computer adjusts each position of the MPR slice based on an input from the input circuit.

10. The ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the computer repeatedly exerts adjustment at a specific time phase of a cardiac cycle.

11. The ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of diagnosis regions includes at least two points set to a cardiac base and a point set to a cardiac apical position.

12. The ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the cardiac apical position is set based on a variance of cardiac apical positions at a plurality of time phase.

Assignees

• Hashimoto Shinichi
• Toshiba Medical Sys Corp

Inventors

• Hashimoto Shinichi

Classifications

• A61B8/483

  involving the acquisition of a 3D volume of data · CPC title

• A61B8/52

  Devices using data or image processing specially adapted for diagnosis using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves · CPC title

• A61B8/481

  involving the use of contrast agents, e.g. microbubbles introduced into the bloodstream · CPC title

• A61B8/469

  for selection of a region of interest · CPC title

• A61B8/06

  Measuring blood flow · CPC title