CN110292395B

CN110292395B - Ultrasonic imaging method and apparatus

Info

Publication number: CN110292395B
Application number: CN201811582783.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李双双; 何绪金
Original assignee: Shenzhen Mindray Bio Medical Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Mindray Bio Medical Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-12-24
Filing date: 2018-12-24
Publication date: 2021-08-17
Anticipated expiration: 2038-12-24
Also published as: CN113229846B; CN113229846A; CN110292395A

Abstract

The application discloses ultrasonic imaging equipment and method, through using the same ultrasonic probe, the ultrasonic energy coverage range corresponding to the ultrasonic beam transmitted every time and the ultrasonic echo received every time comprises a target area of a target to be scanned, which is desired to be observed by a user, and echo signals used for calculating a two-dimensional image, a blood flow image and an instantaneous elasticity detection result all come from the same scanning sequence, so that an additional transmitting process is not required to be introduced, the obtained two-dimensional image and the blood flow image can be used as synchronous positioning reference for instantaneous elasticity detection, and the synchronous two-dimensional image and the blood flow image can be used for assisting in observing whether various change conditions such as displacement, motion interference and the like exist in the instantaneous elasticity acquisition process.

Description

Ultrasonic imaging method and apparatus

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of medical ultrasound imaging, and in particular, to an ultrasound imaging method and a corresponding ultrasound imaging apparatus.

Background

Ultrasound elastography is one of the hot spots concerned by clinical research in recent years, and is mainly used for imaging elasticity related parameters in a region of interest so as to reflect the elasticity and hardness of tissues, so that the ultrasound elastography is increasingly applied to the aspects of auxiliary detection of tissue cancer lesions, benign and malignant discrimination, prognosis recovery evaluation and the like. Many different elastography methods have emerged, such as quasi-static elastography based on strain caused by the probe pressing against the tissue, shear wave elastography or elastometry based on acoustic radiation force to generate shear waves, transient elastography based on external vibrations to generate shear waves, etc. The instantaneous elastography mainly generates vibration and simultaneously emits ultrasonic waves to detect the internal displacement of tissues by designing a special probe, so that the elasticity parameters of the tissues are obtained by calculation, and the instantaneous elastography is widely popular among doctors in clinical liver disease detection, especially in auxiliary diagnosis of liver fibrosis degree.

However, the conventional instantaneous imaging system has only one array element in its probe, and often can only provide one-dimensional information of a local tissue region, and cannot provide a two-dimensional image of the tissue, so that it cannot be guaranteed that the obtained information comes from the correct target tissue. Even though the partially improved transient elasticity system can provide a two-dimensional image of the tissue as a reference by a conventional ultrasonic imaging method before elasticity detection, the two-dimensional image is not acquired by the same ultrasonic probe as the transient elasticity result or acquired in a time close enough, so that the detection process of the transient elasticity cannot be really and accurately guided. If position movement or motion interference and the like occur in the instantaneous elastic detection process, the situations of detection target error or detection failure and the like caused by low detection quality can be caused.

Disclosure of Invention

According to a first aspect of the present application, there is provided an ultrasound imaging method comprising:

a transmitting step: transmitting ultrasonic beams at least once to a target to be scanned by using an ultrasonic probe with a vibrator, wherein the number of array elements of the ultrasonic probe is more than 1, and the coverage range of ultrasonic energy corresponding to the ultrasonic beams transmitted each time comprises a target area of the target to be scanned;

a receiving step: receiving ultrasonic echoes returned from the target to be scanned to form an electric signal, wherein the coverage range of ultrasonic energy corresponding to the ultrasonic echoes received each time comprises a target area of the target to be scanned;

a vibration step: controlling the vibrator to generate vibration to form a shear wave propagating from the body surface of the object to be scanned toward the inside thereof, wherein the vibration is generated at a start time leading or corresponding to or later than a start time of the emission of the ultrasonic beam, and the vibration is generated at an end time leading an end time of the emission of the ultrasonic beam or leading an end time of final reception of the ultrasonic beam;

a beam forming step: carrying out beam forming on the electric signals to obtain multi-channel echo signals subjected to beam forming;

a two-dimensional imaging step: performing ultrasonic two-dimensional image processing on part or all of the multiple echo signals in the beam-formed multiple echo signals to generate a two-dimensional image;

and (3) an elastography step: and selecting at least one echo signal obtained after vibration generation from the multi-path echo signals of beam forming, carrying out instantaneous elastography processing, calculating a physical quantity for generating an elastic image, and generating a corresponding elastic image according to the physical quantity.

According to a second aspect of the present application, there is provided an ultrasound imaging method comprising:

a beam forming step: performing first beam forming on the electric signal to obtain a first echo signal of the beam forming, wherein the first echo signal is a multi-channel echo signal; performing second beam forming on an electric signal formed based on the ultrasonic echo received after the vibration starts to obtain a second echo signal of the beam forming, wherein the second echo signal is at least one echo signal;

a two-dimensional imaging step: performing ultrasonic two-dimensional image processing on the first echo signal synthesized by the wave beam to generate a two-dimensional image;

and (3) an elastography step: and performing instantaneous elastography processing on the beam-synthesized second echo signal, and calculating a physical quantity for generating an elastic image so as to generate a corresponding elastic image according to the physical quantity.

According to a third aspect of the present application, there is provided an ultrasound imaging apparatus comprising:

the number of array elements of the ultrasonic probe is more than 1;

the transmitting circuit is used for exciting the ultrasonic probe to transmit ultrasonic beams at least once to a target to be scanned, wherein the coverage range of ultrasonic energy corresponding to the ultrasonic beams transmitted each time comprises a target area of the target to be scanned;

a vibrator provided in the ultrasonic probe and controlled to vibrate to form a shear wave propagating from a body surface of the target to be scanned toward an interior thereof;

the receiving circuit is used for receiving the ultrasonic echo returned by the target to be scanned to form an electric signal, and the coverage range of the ultrasonic energy corresponding to the ultrasonic echo received each time comprises a target area of the target to be scanned;

a controller for controlling the vibrator and the ultrasonic probe, wherein the controller controls a start time of the vibrator to generate vibration to be advanced or to be corresponding to or later than a start time of the ultrasonic probe to emit an ultrasonic beam, and controls an end time of the vibrator to end vibration to be advanced by an end time of the ultrasonic probe to emit the ultrasonic beam or by an end time of the ultrasonic probe to finally receive the ultrasonic beam;

the beam synthesis module is used for carrying out beam synthesis on the electric signals to obtain multi-channel echo signals of the beam synthesis;

the processor is used for carrying out ultrasonic two-dimensional image processing on part or all of the multiple echo signals in the beam-formed multiple echo signals to generate a two-dimensional image, selecting at least one echo signal obtained after vibration generation from the multiple echo signals in the beam-formed multiple echo signals, carrying out instantaneous elastography processing, and calculating a physical quantity for generating an elastic image so as to generate a corresponding elastic image according to the physical quantity; and

a display for outputting the two-dimensional image and/or the elasticity image for display.

According to a fourth aspect of the present application, there is provided an ultrasound imaging apparatus comprising:

the number of array elements of the ultrasonic probe is more than 1;

the beam synthesis module is used for performing first beam synthesis on the electric signals to obtain beam-synthesized first echo signals, wherein the first echo signals are multi-path echo signals, performing second beam synthesis on the electric signals formed based on the ultrasonic echoes received after the vibration starts to obtain beam-synthesized second echo signals, and the second echo signals are at least one path of echo signals;

the processor is used for carrying out ultrasonic two-dimensional image processing on the beam-formed first echo signal to generate a two-dimensional image, carrying out instantaneous elastography processing on the beam-formed second echo signal, and calculating a physical quantity for generating an elastic image so as to generate a corresponding elastic image according to the physical quantity; and

The invention has the beneficial effects that: by using the same ultrasonic probe, the coverage range of ultrasonic energy corresponding to each transmitted ultrasonic beam and each received ultrasonic echo is wide enough, and the ultrasonic probe can cover a target area of a target to be scanned, which is expected to be observed by a user, so that echo signals for calculating a two-dimensional image, a blood flow image and an instantaneous elasticity detection result are all from the same scanning sequence, no additional transmission process is required to be introduced, the obtained two-dimensional image and the blood flow image can be used as synchronous positioning reference for instantaneous elasticity detection, and the synchronous two-dimensional image and the blood flow image can be used for assisting in observing whether various change conditions such as displacement, motion interference and the like exist in the instantaneous elasticity acquisition process.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an ultrasound imaging apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an arrangement of the ultrasound probe according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of ultrasound transmission in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of ultra-wide beam transmission and reception in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating the matching of the vibration duration and the ultrasound transmission/reception duration according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 shows an example of transmission and reception in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic flow chart diagram of an ultrasound imaging method of an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating different locations of the centers of the transmission lines in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating different emission angles of emission lines in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic flow chart diagram of an ultrasound imaging method of another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of an ultrasound imaging apparatus according to another embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings. Wherein like elements in different embodiments are numbered with like associated elements. In the following description, numerous details are set forth in order to provide a better understanding of the present application. However, those skilled in the art will readily recognize that some of the features may be omitted or replaced with other elements, materials, methods in different instances. In some instances, certain operations related to the present application have not been shown or described in detail in order to avoid obscuring the core of the present application from excessive description, and it is not necessary for those skilled in the art to describe these operations in detail, so that they may be fully understood from the description in the specification and the general knowledge in the art.

Furthermore, the features, operations, or characteristics described in the specification may be combined in any suitable manner to form various embodiments. Also, the various steps or actions in the method descriptions may be transposed or transposed in order, as will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. Thus, the various sequences in the specification and drawings are for the purpose of describing certain embodiments only and are not intended to imply a required sequence unless otherwise indicated where such sequence must be followed.

The numbering of the components as such, e.g., "first", "second", etc., is used herein only to distinguish the objects as described, and does not have any sequential or technical meaning. The term "connected" and "coupled" when used in this application, unless otherwise indicated, includes both direct and indirect connections (couplings).

The ultrasonic imaging equipment and the ultrasonic imaging method in each embodiment of the application are based on using the same ultrasonic probe and adopting the ultra-high frame rate ultra-wide wave beam transmitting and receiving sequence, so that echo signals for calculating a two-dimensional image (and/or a blood flow image) and instantaneous elastic imaging all come from the same scanning sequence without introducing an additional transmitting process, and therefore, a two-dimensional image (and/or a blood flow image) and an instantaneous elastic result of a target to be scanned can be obtained simultaneously, the obtained two-dimensional image and blood flow information can be used for assisting in observing various changing conditions such as displacement, motion interference and the like in the instantaneous elastic acquisition process, and meanwhile, the scanning time required by the whole imaging is shortened.

The ultrasound imaging apparatus of the embodiments of the present application is described in detail below by referring to the drawings by way of a plurality of embodiments.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an ultrasound imaging apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the illustrative ultrasound imaging device 10 may include an ultrasound probe 101, a controller 1010, a transmit circuit 1011, a vibrator 1013, a receive circuit 1012, a beam-forming module 103, a processor 105, and a display 107. The vibrator 1013 may be provided integrally with the ultrasound probe 101, and in particular the vibrator 1013 may be provided within the ultrasound probe 101, both forming one integral structure. The vibrator 1013 and the ultrasound probe 101 may be two separate parts, and the vibrator 1013 is positioned on the ultrasound probe 101 and vibrates to the object to be inspected when the ultrasound probe 101 is in contact with the object to be inspected.

In the ultrasonic imaging apparatus 10 shown in fig. 1, the number of array elements of the ultrasonic probe 101 is greater than 1, and the sound head portion may be an array type sound head, which may be designed like a sound head design of a general ultrasonic probe, and is responsible for transmitting an ultrasonic beam and receiving an ultrasonic echo. The arrangement of the acoustic heads may be a linear arrangement as shown in fig. 2(a) or a fan arrangement as shown in fig. 2 (b).

A controller 1010 may be provided on the ultrasound probe 101 for controlling the transmission circuit 1011, the reception circuit 1012, and the vibrator 1013. The transmitting circuit 1011 is used for exciting the sound head of the ultrasonic probe 101 to transmit at least one ultrasonic beam to a target to be scanned; the receiving circuit 1012 is used for receiving the ultrasonic echo returned from the target to be scanned and forming an electric signal.

In the scanning sequence of this embodiment, an ultra-high frame rate and ultra-wide beam mode is adopted, so that the coverage range of the ultrasonic energy corresponding to the ultrasonic beam emitted each time is sufficiently wide, and the coverage range of the ultrasonic energy corresponding to the ultrasonic echo received each time is also sufficiently wide. In this embodiment, the term "sufficiently wide" means that the coverage range of the ultrasonic energy corresponding to the ultrasonic beam emitted each time can cover the corresponding region of the target to be scanned, which the user wants to observe, i.e. the target region; similarly, the coverage of the ultrasonic energy corresponding to the ultrasonic echo generated based on the transmitted ultrasonic beam may also cover the target region that the user wants to observe. And subsequently, receiving the ultrasonic echo covering the target area to obtain the tissue information of the target area, and generating a corresponding two-dimensional image to show the image information of the target area which is desired to be observed to a user. Because the width of the ultrasonic beam emitted once is enough to cover the target area which the user wants to observe, the corresponding two-dimensional image can be obtained after each emission and each reception, thereby not only ensuring the scanning mode of the ultrahigh frame rate, but also ensuring that the two-dimensional image (even blood flow image) of the target area is generated and the elasticity information of the target area tissue is obtained for elasticity imaging under the condition of not changing the scanning sequence. The target region may be, for example, a lesion region, a local tissue region of the target to be scanned, or the target itself to be scanned.

In some embodiments, the width of the coverage of ultrasonic energy for each transmitted ultrasonic beam and the width of the coverage of ultrasonic energy for each received ultrasonic echo may cover a larger portion of the width of the ultrasonic probe or even exceed the width of the ultrasonic probe. Correspondingly, the width of the coverage of the transmitted ultrasound beam and the received ultrasound echo is affected by the type, size of the ultrasound probe. In some embodiments, for a line scan mode, the width of the coverage of each transmitted ultrasound beam and each received ultrasound echo may be 0.5cm, 1cm, 2cm, 4cm, and so on; for the sector scanning mode, the width of the coverage of each transmitted ultrasonic beam and each received ultrasonic echo is an angular range, and may be, for example, at least 15 °, at least 30 °, at least 60 °, and the like. The above numerical values are merely illustrative and do not limit the present application in any way.

In some embodiments, the width of the coverage of each transmitted ultrasound beam and each received ultrasound echo may be determined according to the size of the target region that the user wants to observe. The size of the coverage area can be adjusted according to the imaging requirements of the user, so that the width of the coverage area is enough to cover the target area of the target to be scanned which is desired to be observed. For example, after receiving the width (width value or angle value) input by the user, the ultrasound probe correspondingly generates a corresponding scanning sequence to realize the ultrasound scanning with the required coverage width. The coverage range determined according to the requirements of the user does not exceed the maximum coverage range of the ultrasonic energy of the ultrasonic beam and the ultrasonic echo which can be supported by the ultrasonic imaging system.

Figure 3 shows a schematic ultrasound emission diagram of four large area range sound fields. As shown in fig. 3, each transmission can generate a larger area of ultrasonic coverage, and simultaneously obtain a larger area of effective ultrasonic echo. In order to generate a larger area of coverage of the ultrasonic wave, the ultrasonic imaging apparatus of this embodiment may adopt a wide focusing mode during transmission, may also focus at a position far from the surface of the ultrasonic probe, may also adopt a transmission mode of unfocused control, and may further adopt a transmission mode of a divergent wave. Regardless of the transmission method, the coverage of the obtained ultrasonic energy needs to be wide enough (i.e. can correspond to a large area of tissue information), for example, to cover the target area that the user wants to observe. If a large area is divided into a plurality of thin lines, as shown in fig. 4, the echo information corresponding to each thin line is called an ultrasound echo beam, and obviously, the number of echo receiving beams of this embodiment is greater than that of echo receiving beams of a conventional ultrasound imaging device, and the range is wider, so that it can be called ultra-wide beam reception. Finally, the ultrasonic imaging device receives all the ultrasonic echoes obtained in the corresponding range, so that large-area tissue information is obtained, and a two-dimensional tissue image is generated. Further, the transmission of the ultrasonic beam and the reception of the ultrasonic echo may be repeatedly alternated, and the time interval between the transmission and reception of the adjacent two repetitions may be set short, so that the acquisition frame rate of the resultant two-dimensional image is very high. For example, the collection frame rate of the two-dimensional image can be controlled to be more than or equal to 1KHz, or more than or equal to 5 KHz.

The vibrator 1013 is provided in the ultrasonic probe 101, and is configured to generate vibration of a specific waveform under the control of the controller 1010, and drive the acoustic head to vibrate accordingly, forming a shear wave propagating from the body surface of the object to be scanned toward the inside thereof. In this embodiment, vibration control needs to cooperate with scanning control, and at least, after vibration is guaranteed to take place to accomplish, there is a period of time of ultrasonic emission and reception, because the vibration takes place the back and produces shear wave and spread into the target of waiting to scan inside, need guarantee that the ultrasonic emission of a period of time receives this moment and just can record shear wave in the propagation process of the target of waiting to scan. That is, whether the start time of the vibration generation by the vibrator is advanced or corresponds to or later than the start time of the emission of the ultrasonic beam, it is only necessary to ensure that the end time of the vibration generation by the controller is controlled to advance by the end time of the emission of the ultrasonic beam or by the end time of the final reception of the ultrasonic beam. Fig. 5 shows the start time and duration of vibration generation, and the start time and reception end time of ultrasonic transmission, where fig. 5(a) shows that the start time of vibration generation by the vibrator coincides with the start time of ultrasonic transmission, fig. 5(b) and 5(d) show that the start time of vibration generation is earlier or earlier than the start time of ultrasonic transmission, fig. 5(c) shows that the start time of vibration generation is later than the start time of ultrasonic transmission, but the vibrator vibration end time in fig. 5(a) - (d) is always earlier than the final time of ultrasonic reception. In addition, the waveform of the vibration can be controlled by the controller, for example, a sine waveform, a cosine waveform, a square wave, etc. can be adopted, and in one specific implementation, the length of the vibration waveform is several milliseconds to tens milliseconds.

Each array element in the ultrasonic probe 101 receives an ultrasonic echo returned from a target to be scanned, forms an electric signal, and transmits the electric signal to the beam forming module 103.

In this embodiment, the beam synthesis module 103 performs beam synthesis on the electrical signals to obtain beamformed multi-channel echo signals. At this time, the processor 105 may perform conventional ultrasound two-dimensional image processing on part or all of the beamformed multi-path echo signals to generate a two-dimensional image, and the processor 105 may further select at least one path of echo signals from the beamformed multi-path echo signals to perform conventional instantaneous elastography processing, calculate a physical quantity for generating an elastography image, and generate a corresponding elastography image according to the physical quantity, where the at least one path of echo signals selected for instantaneous elastography is obtained based on the ultrasound echo received after the start of vibration, or the processor 105 may further perform conventional ultrasound blood flow imaging processing on part or all of the beamformed multi-path echo signals to generate a blood flow image, as needed. Here, the generation of the two-dimensional image, the elastic image, and the blood flow image can be realized by referring to the related art, and the application is not limited; the present application differs from the prior art at least in that the echo signals used to generate the two-dimensional image, the blood flow image, and the transient elastography all come from the same scan sequence.

For convenience of understanding, as shown in fig. 6, assuming that each frame of echo signal contains 9 beams of data (for example only, it may be tens or hundreds of beams), and the data is ordered from 1 to 9, the processing in the processor 105 may be as follows:

a. all the received beam data 1-9 (only partial beams can be used, but the corresponding image field of view is small) are taken for each emission, the amplitude information of ultrasonic echoes is obtained through the processing process of conventional ultrasonic B-type imaging (namely two-dimensional imaging), finally, a frame of B-type two-dimensional tissue image is generated, and a pair of B-type images (namely two-dimensional images) can be obtained for each emission;

b. the method comprises the steps of receiving beam data 5 (other beam data can be also selected) by centering each transmission, combining the received beam data 5 obtained by each transmission within a period of time after vibration, calculating the propagation position of shear wave at each moment through the conventional instantaneous elastography processing process, namely detecting the displacement state of the tissue at each moment, and finally calculating to obtain the elastic parameters of the tissue;

c. each time of transmission fixedly takes part of the received beam data or all the received beam data, for example, 3-7 beam data obtained by continuous M times of transmission in a period of time are combined, and a frame of blood flow motion information or image is obtained through the processing process of conventional color Doppler C-type imaging (namely blood flow imaging). A frame of a C-mode image (i.e., a blood flow image) may be acquired for each M transmission, typically M may be 8, 16, 32, 64, etc.

Obviously, after the obtained multi-frame ultrasonic echoes are subjected to beam synthesis, the processor respectively retrieves different beams in the wave signals for calculation, and a two-dimensional image, blood flow information and instantaneous elasticity results can be respectively obtained; of course, only two-dimensional images and instantaneous elasticity images can be obtained simultaneously.

The beam forming module 103 of this embodiment directly processes the electrical signal output by the receiving circuit to obtain a signal for subsequent use. In other embodiments, the beam forming module 103 may obtain echo signals used in various modes according to the imaging mode. Specifically, in the further embodiment, the beam synthesis module 103 performs a first beam synthesis on the electrical signal output by the receiving circuit to obtain a first echo signal of the beam synthesis, where the first echo signal is a multi-path echo signal, and the beam synthesis module 103 performs a second beam synthesis on the electrical signal formed based on the ultrasonic echo received after the start of the vibration to obtain a second echo signal of the beam synthesis, where the second echo signal is at least one path of echo signal; at this time, the processor 105 performs conventional ultrasound two-dimensional image processing on the beamformed first echo signal to generate a two-dimensional image, and the processor 105 may also perform color doppler C-type imaging processing on the beamformed first echo signal to acquire a blood flow image, perform conventional instantaneous elastography processing on the beamformed second echo signal, calculate a physical quantity for generating an elastography image, and generate a corresponding elastography image according to the physical quantity. In an embodiment in which the echo signals are obtained according to the imaging modes, the beam forming module 103 may include a first beam forming unit and a second beam forming unit. The first beam synthesis unit can perform first beam synthesis on the electric signal output by the receiving circuit to obtain a first echo signal of beam synthesis, wherein the first echo signal is a multi-channel echo signal; the second beam synthesis unit may perform second beam synthesis on an electrical signal formed based on the ultrasonic echo received after the start of vibration to obtain a beam-synthesized second echo signal, where the second echo signal is at least one echo signal.

Ultrasound images (e.g., two-dimensional images, blood flow images, transient elasticity images) obtained via processor 105 may be stored in a memory (not shown) and may be displayed on display 107. The display 107 is used to display an output two-dimensional image (and an output blood flow image if desired) and/or an elasticity image. In this embodiment, the display 107 of the ultrasonic imaging apparatus 10 may be a touch display screen, a liquid crystal display, or the like, or may be an independent display apparatus such as a liquid crystal display, a television, or the like, which is independent of the ultrasonic imaging apparatus 10, or may be a display screen on an electronic apparatus such as a mobile phone, a tablet computer, or the like, which is not limited in this application.

In this embodiment, the memory of the ultrasound imaging apparatus 10 may be a flash memory card, a solid-state memory, a hard disk, etc., which is not limited in this application.

Based on the ultrasound imaging apparatus 10 shown in fig. 1, an embodiment of the present application further provides an ultrasound imaging method, as shown in fig. 7, which includes the following steps.

A transmission step S101: transmitting at least one ultrasonic beam to a target to be scanned by using the ultrasonic probe 101, wherein the coverage range of ultrasonic energy corresponding to the ultrasonic beam transmitted each time is wide enough, and the coverage range can include a target area of the target to be scanned, which a user wants to observe;

a vibration step S103: controlling the vibrator 1013 to generate vibration that forms a shear wave propagating from the body surface of the object to be scanned toward the inside thereof, the vibration being generated at a start time leading or corresponding to or later than a start time of transmission of the ultrasonic beam, and an end time of the vibration may be advanced by an end time of transmission of the ultrasonic beam or may be advanced by an end time of final reception of the ultrasonic beam;

receiving step S105: receiving ultrasonic echoes returned from the target to be scanned to form an electric signal, wherein the coverage range of ultrasonic energy corresponding to the ultrasonic echoes received each time is wide enough, and the coverage range can also comprise a target area of the target to be scanned, which is desired to be observed by a user;

beam synthesis step S107: carrying out beam forming on the electric signals to obtain multi-channel echo signals subjected to beam forming;

two-dimensional imaging step S1091: performing ultrasonic two-dimensional image processing on part or all of the multiple echo signals in the beam-formed multiple echo signals to generate a two-dimensional image;

an elastography step S1093: selecting at least one echo signal from the multi-path echo signals of the beam synthesis, carrying out instantaneous elastography processing, calculating a physical quantity for generating an elastic image, and generating a corresponding elastic image according to the physical quantity.

According to actual needs, in the transmitting step S101, the ultrasonic beam is transmitted twice or more continuously, and in this case, the beam forming step S107 obtains a plurality of sets of multi-channel echo signals correspondingly, and the ultrasonic imaging method shown in fig. 7 may further include a blood flow imaging step S1095: and respectively selecting part or all of the echo signals from each group of multi-path echo signals of the multi-path echo signals, and carrying out ultrasonic blood flow imaging processing to generate a blood flow image.

In addition, in the ultrasonic imaging device and the corresponding method of the embodiment, the whole scanning process can be stopped immediately after being scanned, and the obtained two-dimensional image, the instantaneous elasticity result and the like are displayed; but may also be repeated multiple times to obtain the resulting two-dimensional image, instantaneous elasticity results, etc. multiple times. The time interval between repeated scans may be set manually (e.g., by writing the time interval via an input device and human-machine interface coupled to the ultrasound imaging apparatus) or predefined in the ultrasound imaging apparatus.

By adopting the ultrasonic imaging device and the ultrasonic imaging method of the embodiment, because the echo signals for calculating the two-dimensional image and the instantaneous elasticity result are from the same scanning sequence, the two-dimensional image can be used as accurate and synchronous positioning information for providing reference during instantaneous elasticity detection, and the scanning time of the whole imaging is shortened.

In another embodiment, in the beam synthesis module 103, when performing beam synthesis on the electrical signal output by the receiving circuit to obtain multiple echo signals, at least two echo signals are selected from the multiple echo signals, and weighted average is performed to obtain a weighted echo signal; when the processor 105 performs elastography, the processor 105 selects the path of weighted echo signal to perform instantaneous elastography processing. Still taking fig. 6 as an example, a new beam data 10 may be obtained by performing weighted average on all or part of the received beams transmitted each time, and then the new beam data 10 obtained by transmitting each time within a period of time after the vibration are combined, and the elastic parameters of the tissue are finally calculated through a conventional instantaneous elastic imaging process.

In another embodiment, more complicated transmission and reception schemes are designed for better imaging. Specifically, the transmission of the ultrasonic beam may be M consecutive times, the M times of transmission being divided into N groups (M and N are positive integers greater than 1), in each of which transmission parameters of the latter transmission are different from those of the former transmission, the transmission parameters including a center position of the transmission, a direction or a deflection angle of the transmission, a frequency of the transmission, a transmission voltage, a line density, a focal position, a number of focuses, and the like. At this time, in the beam forming module 103, the multiple echo signals corresponding to part or all of the transmissions of each group are weighted and superimposed to obtain new multiple echo signals for beam forming; the new beamformed multi-echo signals are correspondingly processed in the processor 105.

For example, a transmitting and receiving unit is formed by a group of specific transmitting and receiving units, and the transmitting and receiving units are repeated, wherein each transmitting and receiving unit comprises unit num times of different transmitting and receiving, and the quality of the obtained ultrasonic echo signal can be better than that of single ultrasonic transmitting and receiving. Here, the different transmission/reception in each transmission/reception unit means that the transmission parameters are different.

Fig. 8 shows an ultrasound transmitting and receiving unit, each unit includes unitNum =3 transmitting and receiving processes, the center position of each transmission inside the unit is different, and each frame of echo signal includes beam data 1-9. Finally, the receiving beams obtained by different transmitting and receiving in the unit are mutually weighted and superposed to obtain a group of new beam data 1'-9', and the signal-to-noise ratio of the new beam data can be generally superior to that of a single ultrasonic transmitting and receiving mode. Finally, the processor 105 of embodiment 1 is reused to obtain a two-dimensional image, an elasticity image, blood flow information, and the like, respectively.

Fig. 9 shows another ultrasound transmitting and receiving unit, each unit includes unit num =3 transmitting and receiving processes, the deflection angle of each transmission inside the unit is different, and each frame of echo signal includes beam data 1-9. Finally, the receiving beams obtained by different transmitting and receiving in the unit are mutually weighted and superposed to obtain a group of new beam data 1'-9', and the signal-to-noise ratio of the new beam data can be generally superior to that of a single ultrasonic transmitting and receiving mode. Finally, the processor 105 of embodiment 1 is reused to obtain a two-dimensional image, an elasticity image, blood flow information, and the like, respectively.

In another embodiment, before performing elastography, a two-dimensional image or blood flow information is acquired separately, a target region needing instantaneous elasticity detection is searched and determined according to the acquired image or information, and then the imaging method of any one of the above embodiments is performed, and a synchronous two-dimensional image, blood flow information and instantaneous elasticity result are acquired.

Based on the ultrasound imaging apparatus of the present embodiment, the present application also provides an ultrasound imaging method, as shown in fig. 10, the method includes a target determination step S100, a transmission step S101, a vibration step S103, a reception step S105, a beam synthesis step S107, a two-dimensional imaging step S1091, an elastography step S1093, and a blood flow imaging step S1095 (this step is added as necessary). Except for the target determining step S100, the remaining steps may refer to embodiment 1, which is not described herein again.

In the target determining step S100, an initial image of the object to be examined is obtained, which includes an initial two-dimensional image and/or an initial blood flow image, and a region that needs to be subjected to instantaneous elasticity detection is determined according to the initial two-dimensional image and/or the initial blood flow image, where the region is a target to be scanned. And then, performing processes such as elastography and the like through other steps.

In another embodiment, as shown in fig. 11, a sensor 1014 is further added to the ultrasound imaging apparatus 10 of the present embodiment. A sensor 1014 may be disposed at the ultrasound probe 101 for sensing the strength of the driving force of the vibrator 1013 or the force with which the sound head of the ultrasound probe 101 presses the object to be scanned, so that the controller 1010 adjusts the vibration of the vibrator 1013 according to the strength or force of the driving force fed back by the sensor 1014. Therefore, the stability of the driving waveform generated by the ultrasonic probe 101 can be ensured as much as possible by applying force in a proper range, so that the vibration waveform can be transmitted into the tissue of the target to be scanned with high quality, and the detection quality of instantaneous elasticity is finally improved.

In some embodiments, the process of emitting the ultrasonic beam by the ultrasonic probe 101 can be controlled based on the force of the sound head of the ultrasonic probe 101 pressing the target to be scanned, which is sensed by the sensor 1014. And if the force for pressing the target to be scanned is not in the proper range, controlling the ultrasonic probe 101 to stop transmitting ultrasonic beams for imaging scanning. For example, when the target to be scanned is deformed due to an excessively large pressing force, the subsequent two-dimensional image imaging may be distorted; for example, too small a pressing force may cause the ultrasonic probe to be unstably positioned on the surface of the target to be scanned during vibration and undesirably move; for example, excessive pressing force may cause the waveform of vibration of the vibrator to deviate from a preset waveform. The processor acquires the force of the ultrasonic probe pressing the target to be scanned, determines whether the force is within a force range suitable for ultrasonic imaging, and controls the ultrasonic probe 101 to stop transmitting ultrasonic beams or temporarily not start the ultrasonic probe 101 to transmit ultrasonic beams if the force exceeds the corresponding range. And if the strength requirement of the ultrasonic imaging is met, controlling the ultrasonic probe 101 to start to emit the ultrasonic beam or continue to emit the ultrasonic beam for scanning imaging.

Based on the ultrasound imaging apparatus of the present embodiment, the present application also provides an ultrasound imaging method, which includes a transmitting step, a vibrating step, a receiving step, a beam forming step, a two-dimensional imaging step, an elastography step, a blood flow imaging step (this step is added as needed), and an induction step. In addition to the sensing step, the other steps can refer to the foregoing embodiments, which are not repeated herein.

In the sensing step, the intensity of the driving force of the vibrator or the force of the ultrasonic probe pressing the target to be scanned is sensed by a sensor, so that the vibration of the vibrator is adjusted according to the intensity of the driving force or the force fed back by the sensor.

In summary, the embodiments of the present application can obtain two-dimensional images and instantaneous elasticity results at the same time by using the same ultrasound probe and by using the same scanning control and vibration control, and the two-dimensional images can be used as synchronous positioning references for the instantaneous elasticity results.

Based on the ultrasonic imaging method and apparatus of the foregoing embodiment, the quality of instantaneous elasticity imaging can be determined according to the generated two-dimensional image, for example, through the two-dimensional image generated synchronously, it can be assisted to observe whether there are various changing conditions such as displacement, motion interference, etc. in the instantaneous elasticity acquisition process, thereby determining whether there are situations such as detection target error or detection failure caused by low detection quality in the instantaneous elasticity detection process.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, where multiple program instructions are stored, and after the multiple program instructions are called and executed, some or all of the steps of the ultrasound imaging method in the embodiments of the present application, or any combination of the steps in the ultrasound imaging method may be performed. In one embodiment, the computer readable storage medium may be the aforementioned memory, which may be a non-volatile storage medium such as a flash memory card, a solid state memory, a hard disk, and the like.

In the embodiment of the present application, the beam combining module 103 and the processor 105 of the ultrasound imaging apparatus 10 may be integrated into one functional component, or may be implemented by separate functional components, which may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or a combination thereof, and may use a circuit, a single or multiple Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), a single or multiple general purpose integrated circuits, a single or multiple microprocessors, a single or multiple programmable logic devices, or a combination of the foregoing circuits or devices, or other suitable circuits or devices, so that these functional components may perform the corresponding steps of the ultrasound imaging method in the various embodiments of the present application.

Reference is made herein to various exemplary embodiments. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that changes and modifications may be made to the exemplary embodiments without departing from the scope hereof. For example, the various operational steps, as well as the components used to perform the operational steps, may be implemented in differing ways depending upon the particular application or consideration of any number of cost functions associated with operation of the system (e.g., one or more steps may be deleted, modified or incorporated into other steps).

Additionally, as will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the principles herein may be reflected in a computer program product on a computer readable storage medium, which is pre-loaded with computer readable program code. Any tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may be used, including magnetic storage devices (hard disks, floppy disks, etc.), optical storage devices (CD-ROMs, DVDs, Blu Ray disks, etc.), flash memory, and/or the like. These computer program instructions may be loaded onto a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus create means for implementing the functions specified. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including means for implementing the function specified. The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified.

While the principles herein have been illustrated in various embodiments, many modifications of structure, arrangement, proportions, elements, materials, and components particularly adapted to specific environments and operative requirements may be employed without departing from the principles and scope of the present disclosure. The above modifications and other changes or modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this document.

The foregoing detailed description has been described with reference to various examples. However, one skilled in the art will recognize that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the disclosure is to be considered in an illustrative and not a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope thereof. Also, advantages, other advantages, and solutions to problems have been described above with regard to various embodiments. However, the benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that may cause any element(s) to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essential feature or element of any or all the claims. As used herein, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, system, article, or apparatus. Furthermore, the term "coupled," and any other variation thereof, as used herein, refers to a physical connection, an electrical connection, a magnetic connection, an optical connection, a communicative connection, a functional connection, and/or any other connection.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that many changes may be made to the details of the above-described embodiments without departing from the underlying principles of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be determined from the following claims.

Claims

1. An ultrasound imaging method, comprising:

a receiving step: receiving ultrasonic echoes returned from the target to be scanned to form an electric signal, wherein the coverage range of ultrasonic energy corresponding to the ultrasonic echoes received each time comprises a target area of the target to be scanned so as to achieve the purpose of acquiring a two-dimensional image through one-time emission and one-time reception;

and (3) an elastography step: selecting at least one echo signal obtained after vibration generation from the multi-path echo signals of beam forming to perform instantaneous elastography processing, calculating a physical quantity for generating an elastic image, and generating a corresponding elastic image according to the physical quantity; wherein the scanning sequence of the two-dimensional image and the elastic image is the same scanning sequence.

2. An ultrasound imaging method, comprising:

and (3) an elastography step: performing instantaneous elastography processing on the beam-synthesized second echo signal, and calculating a physical quantity for generating an elastic image so as to generate a corresponding elastic image according to the physical quantity; wherein the scanning sequence of the two-dimensional image and the elastic image is the same scanning sequence.

3. The ultrasound imaging method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the method further comprises: and judging the quality of instantaneous elastic imaging according to the two-dimensional image.

4. The ultrasonic imaging method of claim 1,

in the transmitting step, the ultrasonic beam is transmitted for M times continuously, the M times of transmission are divided into N groups, in each group of transmission, the transmission parameter of the next transmission is different from the transmission parameter of the previous transmission, and M and N are positive integers more than 1;

in the beam forming step, the multi-channel echo signals corresponding to part or all of the emission of each group are weighted and superposed to obtain new beam-formed multi-channel echo signals.

5. The ultrasound imaging method of claim 4, wherein the transmit parameters comprise: the center position of the emission, the direction or deflection angle of the emission, the frequency of the emission, the emission voltage, the line density, the focal position, the number of focal points.

6. The ultrasound imaging method of claim 1, wherein the beamforming step further comprises: selecting at least two echo signals from the multiple echo signals, and carrying out weighted average to obtain a weighted echo signal; and in the step of elastography, selecting the path of weighted echo signals to perform instantaneous elastography processing.

7. The ultrasonic imaging method according to claim 1, wherein in the transmitting step, the transmission of the ultrasonic beam is performed two or more times in succession;

the beam forming step correspondingly obtains a plurality of groups of multi-channel echo signals;

the method further comprises the following steps:

a blood flow imaging step: and respectively selecting part or all of the echo signals from each group of multi-path echo signals of the multi-group of multi-path echo signals, and carrying out ultrasonic blood flow imaging processing to generate a blood flow image.

8. The ultrasonic imaging method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that in the transmission step, a transmission manner of wide focusing, unfocused control, divergent waves, or focusing on a surface away from the ultrasonic probe is adopted so that a coverage of ultrasonic energy corresponding to the ultrasonic beam transmitted each time includes a target region of the object to be scanned.

9. The ultrasound imaging method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the transmitting step is repeatedly alternated with the receiving step.

10. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein prior to the emitting step and the vibrating step, the method further comprises:

transmitting an ultrasonic beam to a target tissue of an object under examination using an ultrasonic probe having a vibrator;

receiving ultrasonic echoes returned from the target tissue to form initial echo signals;

beamforming some or all of the initial echo signals to generate an initial two-dimensional image and/or an initial blood flow image; and

and determining a region needing instantaneous elasticity detection according to the initial two-dimensional image and/or the initial blood flow image, wherein the region is the target to be scanned.

11. An ultrasound imaging method according to any of claims 1-10, wherein the ultrasound probe is further provided with a sensor; the method further comprises the following steps:

a sensing step: the driving force intensity of the vibrator or the force of the ultrasonic probe pressing the target to be scanned is sensed by the sensor, so that the vibration of the vibrator is adjusted according to the driving force intensity or the force fed back by the sensor, and/or the ultrasonic probe is controlled to emit ultrasonic beams according to the force fed back by the sensor.

12. An ultrasound imaging apparatus, comprising:

the number of array elements of the ultrasonic probe is more than 1;

the receiving circuit is used for receiving the ultrasonic echo returned by the target to be scanned to form an electric signal, and the coverage range of the ultrasonic energy corresponding to the ultrasonic echo received each time comprises the target area of the target to be scanned so as to achieve the purpose of acquiring a two-dimensional image through one-time emission and one-time reception;

the processor is used for carrying out ultrasonic two-dimensional image processing on part or all of the multiple echo signals in the beam-formed multiple echo signals to generate a two-dimensional image, selecting at least one echo signal obtained after vibration generation from the multiple echo signals in the beam-formed multiple echo signals, carrying out instantaneous elastography processing, and calculating a physical quantity for generating an elastic image so as to generate a corresponding elastic image according to the physical quantity;

wherein the scanning sequences of the two-dimensional image and the elastic image are the same scanning sequence; and

and the display is used for displaying and outputting the two-dimensional image and/or the elastic image.

13. An ultrasound imaging apparatus, comprising:

the number of array elements of the ultrasonic probe is more than 1;

the processor is used for carrying out ultrasonic two-dimensional image processing on the beam-formed first echo signal to generate a two-dimensional image, carrying out instantaneous elastography processing on the beam-formed second echo signal, and calculating a physical quantity for generating an elastic image so as to generate a corresponding elastic image according to the physical quantity;

14. The ultrasonic imaging apparatus according to claim 12 or 13, further comprising a sensor provided in the ultrasonic probe for sensing a driving force intensity of the vibrator or a force with which the ultrasonic probe presses the object to be scanned, so as to adjust vibration of the vibrator according to the driving force intensity or the force fed back by the sensor, and/or so as to control transmission of an ultrasonic beam by the ultrasonic probe according to the force fed back by the sensor.