U.S. patent number RE35,720 [Application Number 08/601,262] was granted by the patent office on 1998-02-03 for ultrasonic tissue imaging method and apparatus with doppler velocity and acceleraton processing.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Acuson Corporation. Invention is credited to James W. Arenson, Janna G. Clark, Ismavil M. Guracar, Marc D. Weinshenker.
United States Patent |
RE35,720 |
Arenson , et al. |
February 3, 1998 |
**Please see images for:
( Certificate of Correction ) ** |
Ultrasonic tissue imaging method and apparatus with doppler
velocity and acceleraton processing
Abstract
An ultrasound tissue imaging system having an acoustic
transducer, B-mode imaging means to produce with said transducer an
electronically scanned B-mode image of tissue under examination.
Doppler imaging means that accepts and processes large amplitude,
low frequency signals to produce with said transducer an
electronically scanned acoustic image of moving tissue, and color
display means for displaying the B-mode image as a two-dimensional
image with echo intensities encoded using a first mapping function
and for simultaneously displaying Doppler information from moving
tissue as a two-dimensional image using a second and distinct
mapping function that is spatially coordinated with and
superimposed upon said B-mode image to augment the B-mode
image.
Inventors: |
Arenson; James W. (Woodside,
CA), Guracar; Ismavil M. (Redwood City, CA), Clark; Janna
G. (Mountain View, CA), Weinshenker; Marc D. (Mountain
View, CA) |
Assignee: |
Acuson Corporation (Mountain
View, CA)
|
Family
ID: |
25505481 |
Appl.
No.: |
08/601,262 |
Filed: |
February 14, 1996 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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Reissue of: |
962145 |
Oct 16, 1992 |
05285788 |
Feb 15, 1994 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
600/441; 600/442;
600/453 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A61B
8/06 (20130101); A61B 8/13 (20130101); G01N
29/0609 (20130101); G01S 7/5206 (20130101); G01S
7/52071 (20130101); G01S 7/52074 (20130101); G01S
15/8979 (20130101); A61B 8/0883 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A61B
8/06 (20060101); G01S 15/89 (20060101); G01S
15/00 (20060101); G01S 7/52 (20060101); A61B
008/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;128/660.05,660.06,660.07,661.08,661.09,661.01,662.02,774,916 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
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2-193650 |
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Jan 1989 |
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JP |
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WO 86/03593 |
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Jun 1986 |
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WO |
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Other References
Federal Circuit Decision, O.I. Corp. v. Tekmar Co., (96-1427, May
22, 1997). .
Federal Circuit Decision, Serano v. Telular Corp., 996-1308, Apr.
25, 1997). .
"Colour Doppler Velocity Imaging of the Myocardium" by W. N.
McDicken, G. R. Sutherland, et al., in Ultrasound in Medicine and
Biology, vol. 18, Nos. 6/7, 1992. .
"Computer Based Pattern Recognition of Carotid Arterial Disease
Using Pulsed Doppler Ultrasound" by F. M. Greene, et al., in
Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, vol. 8, No. 2, 1982..
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Primary Examiner: Manuel; George
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione
Claims
We claim:
1. An ultrasound tissue imaging system having an acoustic
transducer and comprising
B-mode imaging means to produce with said transducer an
electronically scanned B-mode image of tissue under examination,
said B-mode image substantially representing the intensity of
echoes returned from said tissue along multiple B-mode scan
lines;
Doppler imagine means that accepts and processes large amplitude,
low frequency signals to produce with said transducer an
electronically scanned Doppler image of said moving tissue, the
Doppler image representing estimates of velocity including means,
standard deviation or energy derived from Doppler-shifted echoes
reflected from said moving tissue at multiple sample volumes along
multiple Doppler scan lines;
color display means for displaying the B-mode image as a
two-dimensional image with echo intensities encoded using a first
mapping function and for augmenting the B-mode image by
simultaneously displaying said estimates of velocity, as a
two-dimensional Doppler image using a second and distinct mapping
function that is spatially coordinated with and superimposed upon
said b-mode image.
2. The system of claim 1 further comprising means for estimating
acceleration from said estimates of velocity and means for
displaying estimates of that acceleration as the two-dimensional
Doppler image using said second mapping function.
3. The system of claim 1 wherein the B-mode image is gated to the
display by gate means only upon detection of said acquired and
processed Doppler information so as to remove stationary noise and
clutter.
4. The system of claim 1 wherein the second mapping function color
maps the magnitude of forward and reverse motion without
distinguishing direction of the motion.
5. The system of claim 1 wherein the second mapping function
grey-scale maps the Doppler information.
6. A method of forming a composite B-mode and color Doppler
acoustic image of moving tissue by transmitting acoustic pressure
waves and receiving returned echoes on acoustic lines scanned by a
transducer, said method comprising the steps of
deriving a B-mode image from echoes received along a first set of
image scan lines,
acquiring and processing color Doppler information at large
amplitude and low frequencies from said moving tissue at multiple
volumes along scan lines that are the same as or propagated
independently from the B-mode scan lines and
displaying said color Doppler information as a two-dimensional
color coded image of moving tissue that is spatially coordinated
with and superimposed upon said B-mode image.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of acquiring and
processing color Doppler information further includes deriving
estimates of acceleration for Doppler shifted echoes and displaying
those estimates as the two-dimensional color coded image of said
moving tissue.
8. The method of claim 6 wherein the display of said B-mode image
is gated by said color Doppler information.
9. An ultrasound tissue imaging system having an acoustic
transducer and comprising
B-mode imaging means to produce with said transducer an
electronically scanned B-mode image of tissue under examination,
said B-mode image substantially representing the intensity of
echoes returned from said tissue along multiple B-mode scan
lines;
imaging means that accepts and processes large amplitude, low
frequency signals to produce with said transducer an electronically
scanned Doppler image of said moving tissue, the image representing
estimates of velocity derived from echoes reflected from said
moving tissue at multiple sample volumes along multiple scan
lines;
color display means for displaying the B-mode image as a
two-dimensional image with echo intensities encoded using a first
mapping function and for augmenting the B-mode image by
simultaneously displaying said estimates of velocity as a
two-dimensional Doppler image using a second and distinct mapping
function that is spatially coordinated with and superimposed upon
said B-mode image.
10. The system of claim 9 further comprising means for estimating
acceleration from said estimates of velocity and means for
displaying estimates of that acceleration as the two-dimensional
image using said second mapping function.
11. The system of claim 10 wherein the second mapping function
color maps at a low non-zero value estimates of acceleration
derived from estimates of velocity when those velocities are the
same but also are non-zero.
12. The system of claim 9 wherein the blood pool/myocardium borders
are enhanced by gating the B-mode image to the display means only
in the presence of acquired and processed Doppler information.
13. A method of forming a color Doppler acoustic image of moving
tissue by transmitting acoustic pressure waves and receiving
returned echoes on acoustic lines scanned by a transducer, said
method comprising the steps of
acquiring and processing color Doppler information at large
amplitude and low frequencies from said moving tissue at multiple
volumes along a plurality of scan lines and
displaying said color Doppler information as a two-dimensional
color coded image of said moving tissue. .Iadd.
14. The method of claim 13 wherein said displaying step displays
said color Doppler information by assigning no color to color
Doppler information associated with a lowest
velocity..Iaddend..Iadd.15. The method of claim 14 further
comprising the step of varying a sampling rate of the color Doppler
information in the acquiring and processing step..Iaddend..Iadd.16.
The method of claim 13 wherein said acquiring and processing step
comprises the step of supplying an output signal of a Doppler
detector to a Doppler signal analyzer without filtering between the
Doppler detector and the Doppler signal analyzer..Iaddend..Iadd.17.
The method of claim 6 or 13 wherein the Doppler information
comprises Doppler energy information..Iaddend..Iadd.18. The method
of claim 6 or 13 wherein the Doppler information comprises Doppler
acceleration information..Iaddend..Iadd.19. The system of claim 1
or 9 wherein the second mapping function assigns no color to a
lowest estimate of velocity..Iaddend..Iadd.20. The method of claim
6 wherein said acquiring and processing step processes color
Doppler information indicative of velocity of said moving tissue,
and wherein said displaying step comprises the step of assigning no
color to portions of the image associated with moving tissue having
a lowest velocity..Iaddend..Iadd.21. The method of claim 20 further
comprising the step of varying a sampling rate of the color Doppler
information in the acquiring and processing step..Iaddend..Iadd.22.
An ultrasound tissue imaging system having an acoustic transducer
and comprising:
a receiver/beamformer coupled to the transducer;
a Doppler detector coupled to the receiver/beamformer;
a Doppler signal analyzer coupled to the Doppler detector without
filtering between the Doppler detector and the Doppler signal
analyzer, said Doppler signal analyzer processing color Doppler
information at large amplitude and low frequencies from moving
tissue at multiple volumes along a plurality of scan lines; and
a display system coupled to the Doppler signal analyzer, said
display system operative to display said color Doppler information
as a two-dimensional color coded image of said moving
tissue..Iaddend..Iadd.23. The system of claim 22 wherein the
display system comprises a color mapping function that assigns no
color to the volumes characterized by a lowest
velocity..Iaddend..Iadd.24. An ultrasound tissue imaging system
having an acoustic transducer and comprising:
means for acquiring and processing color Doppler information at
large amplitude and low frequencies from moving tissue at multiple
volumes along a plurality of scan lines; and
means for displaying said color Doppler information as a
two-dimensional color coded image of said moving
tissue..Iaddend..Iadd.25. The system of claim 24 wherein said means
for acquiring and processing comprises:
a receiver/beamformer coupled to the transducer;
a Doppler detector coupled to the receiver/beamformer; and
a Doppler signal analyzer coupled to the Doppler detector without
filtering between the Doppler detector and the Doppler signal
analyzer..Iaddend..Iadd.26. The system of claim 24 wherein the
display means comprises means for assigning no color to the volumes
characterized
by a lowest velocity..Iaddend..Iadd.27. A method for displaying a
B-mode image of moving tissue by transmitting acoustic pressure
waves and receiving returned echos on acoustic lines scanned by a
transducer, said method comprising the following steps:
deriving a B-mode image from echoes received along a first set of
image scan lines;
acquiring Doppler information from said moving tissue at multiple
volumes along scan lines that are the same as or propagated
independently from the B-mode scan lines; and
gating the B-mode image with the Doppler
information..Iaddend..Iadd.28. The method of claim 27 comprising
the further step of displaying the gated B-mode
image..Iaddend..Iadd.29. The method of claim 27 wherein the
acquiring step comprises the step of acquiring and processing
Doppler information at large amplitude and low frequencies from
said moving tissue..Iaddend..Iadd.30. An ultrasound tissue imaging
system having an acoustic transducer and comprising:
a receiver/beamformer coupled to the transducer;
a B-mode imaging system operative with the transducer to produce
electronically scanned B-mode image information of tissue under
examination;
a Doppler information acquiring system operative with the
transducer to acquire Doppler information from said tissue;
a B-mode gate responsive to the B-mode imaging system and to the
Doppler information acquiring system to produce a gated output
signal, wherein the gated output signal corresponds to the B-mode
image information gated by the Doppler
information..Iaddend..Iadd.31. The system of claim 30 further
comprising a display coupled to the B-mode gate to display the
gated
output signal..Iaddend..Iadd.32. The system of claim 30 wherein the
Doppler information acquiring system comprises a Doppler detector
and a Doppler signal analyzer coupled to the Doppler detector
without any substantial filtering therebetween, said Doppler signal
analyzer being responsive to large amplitude, low frequencies
signals from said
tissue..Iaddend..Iadd.33. The system of claim 22, 24 or 30 wherein
the Doppler information comprises Doppler energy
information..Iaddend..Iadd. The system of claim 22, 24 or 30
wherein the Doppler information comprises Doppler acceleration
information..Iaddend.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In B-mode medical ultrasound imaging, the scanner transmits
ultrasonic bursts into the body and detects the energy of
ultrasonic echoes backscattered from both stationary and moving
tissues in the body. Ultrasonic scanners may also offer two
dimensional Doppler flow detection (also referred to as color
Doppler imaging) to detect and image moving blood. Recently, some
investigators have proposed using color Doppler blood flow imaging
capabilities to image moving structures other than blood, for
example the moving heart structure.
In B-mode imaging, stationary and moving targets are both imaged.
Often these images are degraded by the presence of stationary noise
or clutter from both electrical sources and acoustic sources. In
cardiac ultrasound applications, the moving myocardium is of
principal interest, and can be obscured by stationary noise
detected with B-mode imaging. Color Doppler imaging methods will
remove this stationary clutter but cannot detect moving myocardium
with the required sensitivity and specificity, since Doppler
processing has been optimized for detecting blood velocities and
not slower moving myocardium. The characteristics of ultrasonic
signals returning from moving myocardium are different from those
signals returning from blood. For example, in blood flow detection,
the processor recognizes echoes from the strong, slow moving heart
tissue as clutter and removes them from the image by means of a
stationary target canceller or a high pass filter or both. Such a
high pass filter is illustrated in the system described in U.S.
Pat. No. 5,014,710 entitled "Steered Linear Color Doppler Imaging"
for the color Doppler path. It is precisely those strong, slow
moving targets that correspond to moving myocardium, but they, too,
are removed from the color Doppler image. Therefore, prior art
color Doppler imaging systems have had difficulty imaging slow
moving myocardium.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An ultrasound tissue imaging system having an acoustic transducer,
B-mode imaging means to produce with said transducer an
electronically scanned B-mode image of tissue under examination,
Doppler imaging means that accepts and processes large amplitude,
low frequency signals to produce with said transducer an
electronically scanned acoustic image of moving tissue and color
display means for displaying the B-mode image as a two-dimensional
image with echo intensities encoded using a first mapping function
and for simultaneously displaying Doppler information from moving
tissue as a two-dimensional image using a second and distinct
mapping function that is spatially coordinated with and
superimposed upon said B-mode image to augment the B-mode
image.
The present invention images moving tissue with color Doppler
imaging means that has the new features of removing or bypassing
the circuit that rejects stationary or slow moving targets and of
modifying the processing circuits so that they can detect large
amplitude, low frequency signals. The invention provides new color
maps that color both forward and reverse motion in the same way, as
well as Doppler grey-scale maps. In one mode, the invention
calculates acceleration from Doppler velocity information and
displays that color mapped acceleration of moving tissue. Combining
the detected Doppler signals from moving tissue with a B-mode
signal augments the B-mode image of moving tissue or,
alternatively, gating the B-mode signal with the detected Doppler
signals from moving tissue may be used to block stationary tissue
and clutter signals from the B-mode image.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is the block diagram of a typical color Doppler imaging
system useful for color blood flow display;
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the color Doppler tissue imaging
system of this invention;
FIG. 3 illustrates alternative color and other look-up tables
useful in the invention illustrated in FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 illustrates a B-mode image of the heart and other tissue
with superimposed clutter and noise;
FIG. 5 is a B-mode image of the heart with the moving myocardium
enhanced by the color Doppler means of this invention; and
FIG. 6 is a B-mode image of the heart with stationary tissue and
clutter removed by the Doppler gated system of this invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART COLOR DOPPLER IMAGING SYSTEMS
FIG. 1 is the block diagram of a color Doppler imaging system
similar to that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,710 entitled
"Steered Linear Color Doppler Imaging" issued May 14, 1991, which
by reference is a part of this description. The transmitter 1
excites the acoustic transducer 2 which propagates ultrasonic
energy bursts into the body on a scan plane 3. The transducer 2
usually comprises a phased array of acoustic transducer elements.
Returning ultrasonic echoes are transduced into electrical signals
that are amplified and focused by means of receiver/beamformer
4.
The received electrical signals are processed in one path by
Doppler imaging means including a multi-range gate Doppler detector
5, a processor that detects the Doppler shifted signals at multiple
positions along each of a plurality of ultrasound scan lines. These
signals are then passed through a circuit designated fixed target
canceller 6 that removes non-Doppler shifted signals corresponding
to stationary clutter. Filters and thresholds are then applied at 7
for conditioning the signal to remove artifactual and clutter
signals from the Doppler blood flow signals. Then the Doppler
frequencies are analyzed in a Doppler frequency analyzer 8 and a
number of parameters (including mean, standard deviation and
energy) are estimated for the multiple positions along the
ultrasound scan line as is more particularly described in U.S. Pat.
No. 5,014,710.
This analyzed Doppler information is stored for each line in color
Doppler scan converter 9 along with additional information from
other ultrasound scan lines, comprising a complete two-dimensional
color Doppler scan frame. The scan converter 9 also translates or
converts the Doppler information collected along the multiple
ultrasound scan lines to a rectangular raster required for
conventional video displays. A color is assigned to each position
in the scan frame, according to the frequency characteristics
detected at that position by reference to color map look-up table
10. The color mapping considers mean frequency, standard deviation
or energy, in combination or alone, as specified by the user.
The video mixer 11 combines the color Doppler information with
B-mode information acquired by B-mode imaging means in a second
path including the B-mode detector 12 and scan converter 13. The
video mixer presents a combined video signal for display to the
video monitor 14.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 2 is the block diagram of the color Doppler tissue imaging
system of this invention including the B-mode and color Doppler
imaging means of FIG. 1. But, here, the fixed target canceller 6
and filters and thresholds 7 are removed from the system of FIG. 1.
Alternate color look-up tables 20 are provided. An acceleration
estimator 21 estimates acceleration, for example, by subtracting
data in the current velocity scan frame from the previous velocity
scan frame in response to switch means 22. The color or grey-scale
assigned to each position in the scan frame in a first mode of
operation controlled by switch means 23 is mixed with B-mode
information from B-mode scan converter 12 and presented to the
display monitor 14.
The switch means 22 also controls a second mode of operation that
gates B-mode information to the display 14 only when a color
Doppler signal is detected. A gate function 24 is shown
schematically where the B-mode signal is gated from B-mode scan
converter 13 and allowed through to the video display 14 only when
a color Doppler signal is detected.
FIG. 3 shows alternate look-up tables. The first look-up table 30
shows a symmetric color distribution, thereby mapping colors based
on the magnitude of the Doppler shift, rather than direction
typically used in color flow mapping. The second look-up table 31
shows a gray scale distribution, which is useful when mixed with a
conventional B-mode gray scale image to enhance or augment the
myocardium as in FIG. 5. The third look-up table 32 is made up
entirely of black and is used along with the gate function 24. In
this option, the B-mode pixels are combined in the video mixer with
the corresponding black color Doppler pixels, thereby producing the
B-mode image with only the moving tissues displayed.
FIG. 4 shows a conventional B-mode echocardiogram where the
myocardium image 40 is surrounded by other tissue and superimposed
clutter and noise 41. FIG. 5 shows a B-mode echocardiogram with the
moving myocardium 40 enhanced by this invention. FIG. 6 shows a
B-mode echocardiogram where the stationary tissue and clutter has
been removed by the gate function 24 of this invention to display
only the myocardium image 40.
The clinician's scanning technique with this invention is similar
to conventional B-mode image acquisition. When the appropriate scan
plane has been achieved, the tissue motion detection mode can begin
by pressing the appropriate key on the front panel. Moving tissue
structures then will be superimposed on the video display, along
with the conventional B-mode image.
The user can select a number of different operating conditions. For
example, the user can choose to image either the velocities,
standard deviations, energies or accelerations of the moving tissue
by switch means 22. The user can select either conventional color
maps 10 to encode the direction as well as the magnitudes of the
velocities or accelerations, or use the symmetric, non-directional
color maps 20. The user can select a grey-scale "color" map 31 for
the motion information and combine this with the B-mode
information. Alternatively, the user can color the B-mode image and
combine it with either a gray or color coded motion image. The
clinician can also remove the underlying B-mode information (by
reducing the B-mode gain), and image only the color Doppler
information. Also, the user can select a "gated" B-mode operation
by switch means 23 where only the B-mode information from moving
tissue is imaged as in FIG. 6. In this case, the B-mode image is
displayed only if a Doppler signal is detected at the corresponding
location in the image. Alternatively, the B-mode could be gated by
the absence of a Doppler signal, thereby enhancing the boundary
between the myocardium and the surrounding tissue.
Stationary targets can be removed through the use of color maps,
where the lowest velocities are assigned no color. Further, the
range of velocities can be changed in the same way as with
conventional color Doppler imaging by adjusting the sampling rate
of the Doppler information.
In the strict sense, acceleration detection looks for differences
in the velocities from one time frame to the next. In the case
where same velocities are detected in the two adjacent time frames,
there will be no acceleration measured. For moving tissue imaging,
this loss of signal is distracting and counterintuitive. Therefore,
for these operating cases, the acceleration processor will assign a
low value of acceleration, instead of zero acceleration. The
resulting image, while not truly displaying acceleration, has more
diagnostic information. In the case where the velocities are zero
in adjacent time frames, the acceleration is also assigned to
zero.
Although this invention is described in the context of
two-dimensional Doppler processing methods, this processing is also
applicable to color M-mode operation. Tissue motion can be
displayed in conjunction with a conventional M-mode display in
similar ways as described for two-dimensional imaging.
Advantages of this invention over what has been done before
include:
1. Slow moving targets corresponding to moving myocardium can be
detected with better sensitivity. Clinically, this additional
information assists in determining cardiac wall motion
characteristics.
2. In some instances, acceleration mapping is more sensitive to
myocardial motion than velocity mapping. For example, at
end-diastole/onset-of-systole the myocardium stops and reverses
direction. At this time the velocities are either zero or very low.
However, the accelerations can be quite high at these times.
Acceleration mapping presents motion information throughout more of
the cardiac cycle, and generates images with greater clarity and
sensitivity than those available with velocity imaging.
3. With the gated B-mode operation, stationary noise and clutter
can be removed from the image.
4. The detection of endocardium is facilitated by a combination of
reducing the stationary clutter in the blood pools and enhancing
the moving myocardium.
5. This invention facilitates the detection of the pericardium in
those views where the tissue adjacent to the myocardium is
stationary.
6. This invention facilitates the detection of the myocardium wall
thickness.
7. In the context of moving myocardium, magnitude color Doppler
mapping is simpler to interpret than directional color Doppler
mapping.
8. As the myocardium is augmented with this invention, both manual
and automatic detection of blood pool/myocardium borders is
enhanced.
Although this method has been described on one type of color
Doppler imaging apparatus based on autocorrelation methods, it
could be done on other systems, including other types of
two-dimensional flow estimators. The symmetric color maps could be
replaced by using conventional color maps with non-directional
Doppler detection. The acceleration calculation can be done by
means other than subtraction of adjacent velocity frames, and still
provide the same information.
Other variations in the invention as defined in the following
claims will be apparent to those skilled in the ultrasound imaging
art.
* * * * *