JPH09135830A - Ultrasonic diagnosing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display a variation in a blood flow condition with the use of an image of a blood flow in tomographic images by detecting a point in a biological signal corresponding to one cycle operation of a heart, in the form of a reference signal, and by changing a color phase and a degree of brightness of the image of the blood flow in accordance with a speed and a power value of the blood flow at every time point corresponding an elapse time from the time of the detection. SOLUTION: In such a case of a direction in which a blood flow approach a probe 10, a red (R) phase color having a degree of brightness which is different in dependence upon a difference among flow rate values is applied to an image of the blood flow in tomographic images by a phase color and brightness converting means 18 which is controlled in accordance with a flow rate value to which a positive mark in a conversion table is attached. Meanwhile, in the case of a direction in which the blood flow goes away, a blue (B) phase color having a degree of brightness which is different in dependence upon a flow rate value to which a negative mark in the conversion table is attached, is applied to the image of the blood flow. The phase color and brightness converting means 18 is controlled by a display converting means 3 so that the color phase applied to any of images of blood flows is change from a red or blue monocolor into a green monocolor, irrespective of a direction of a blood flow, as the time elapses from the time of detection of an R-wave.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and more particularly, to a blood flow image in a tomographic image, which is superposed on the blood flow direction and the blood flow velocity and power values after being converted into hue and luminance. The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having a function of displaying.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, among ultrasonic diagnostic apparatuses,
It has a function of assigning and displaying a hue and brightness based on the direction of blood flow and the blood flow velocity and power value obtained by the Doppler method on a tomographic image created by using the B-mode pulse reflection method or the like. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of this type generally has a configuration as shown in the block diagram of FIG. That is, in this ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, the reflected echo signal obtained through the probe 10 is sent from the beam transmitting / receiving circuit 11 to the signal processing circuit 12 to create tomographic image data, and then the tomographic image data memory 13 is created. It will be remembered. Further, after the blood flow velocity and power value are calculated by the parameter calculation means 15 by using the signal related to blood flow extracted from the reflected echo signal by the Doppler detection circuit 14, data of the calculated velocity and power value Are stored in the speed data memory 16 and the power value data memory 17.

Further, the speed and power value data whose hue and brightness have been converted by the hue / brightness conversion processing means 18, together with the tomographic image data in the tomographic image data memory 13, are processed by a DSC (digital scan converter) processing circuit 19.
And the tomographic image synthesized by the DSC processing circuit 19, that is, the blood flow image displayed by superimposing the blood flow direction and the blood flow velocity and power values on the hue and the brightness. The tomographic image including is to be displayed on the screen of the display monitor 20. At this time, red (R) is applied to the blood flow in the direction approaching the probe 10, and blue (B) is applied to the blood flow in the direction away from the probe 10.
Is given the hue of.

[0004]

By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, only the hue and the brightness are changed based on the direction of the blood flow and the velocity or power value of the blood flow. Therefore, it has not been performed to display whether or not the blood flow has a large temporal variation in speed and power value. In other words, blood flow with large fluctuations in velocity and power value is often the arterial blood flow system, and blood flow with small changes in these is often the venous flow system. It may be important to display whether or not there are large fluctuations in the speed and power values, but it is not possible to display until the blood flow that shows large fluctuations in the speed and power values is displayed. It was the current situation that I was not told.

The present invention was devised in view of such inconveniences, and an object thereof is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of displaying the fluctuation state of blood flow by a blood flow image in a tomographic image. I am trying.

[0006]

An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention converts the direction of blood flow, the velocity and power value of blood flow into hue and luminance on a blood flow image in a tomographic image. And a reference signal detecting means for detecting one point in a biological signal corresponding to one cycle operation of the heart as a reference signal, and an elapsed time from the detection of the reference signal. And a display conversion control means for switching the hue and brightness of the blood flow image based on the velocity or power value of the blood flow at each time point corresponding to the elapsed time. The biological signal of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 2 is an electrocardiographic signal, and one point in the biological signal is an R wave in the electrocardiographic signal.

The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 3 is
The display conversion control means is provided with heart rate detecting means for detecting the heart rate from the time when the reference signal is detected, and the display conversion control means is for correcting the elapsed time for switching the hue and brightness of the blood flow image based on the heart rate. On the other hand, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 4,
The display conversion control means is provided with a time setting means for setting an elapsed time for switching the hue and brightness of the blood flow image, and the display conversion control means switches the hue and brightness of the blood flow image based on the elapsed time set by the time setting means. It is to correct the elapsed time. Further, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 5 displays the tomographic image for each frame obtained by the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 after performing superimposition processing or frame correlation processing. Is characterized by.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to this embodiment, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a hue and luminance conversion table built in a display conversion control means. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing two different blood flow fluctuation states, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram schematically showing a blood flow image in a B-mode tomographic image. Since this ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus has the same configuration as that of the conventional example shown in FIG. 5, parts and portions which are the same as or correspond to those in FIG. 5 are given the same reference numerals in FIG. The detailed description of is omitted.

The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present embodiment is a conventional example in which a blood flow direction, a blood flow velocity and a power value are converted into hues and luminances and superimposed on a blood flow image in a tomographic image. As shown in FIG. 1, this ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus has a similar function, and this ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus uses one point in a biological signal corresponding to one cycle operation of the heart, for example, an R wave in an electrocardiographic signal as a reference. A reference signal detecting means 1 for detecting as a signal, a time measuring means 2 for measuring an elapsed time from the time when the reference signal is detected, and a blood flow image based on a blood flow velocity and power value at each time point corresponding to the elapsed time. Display conversion control means 3 for switching the hue and the brightness given to the display. The biomedical signal here may be a heart sound or a pulse wave instead of the electrocardiographic signal, and one point in the biomedical signal may be an arbitrary one other than the R wave.

Then, at this time, the time measuring means 2
Is activated based on the trigger signal output from the reference signal detecting means 1 that has detected the R wave in the electrocardiographic signal, and detects the time required for one cycle operation of the heart, that is, two R waves. The time required for every predetermined time, for example, 200ms
It is to be measured separately for each ec. Further, the display conversion control means 3 indicates the conversion tables shown in FIGS. 2A to 2D, that is, the direction of blood flow immediately after the R wave is detected and at each time when 200 msec has elapsed from the time when the R wave was detected. A conversion table in which the conditions of hue and brightness are predetermined by the flow velocity value (or power value) is built in. Depending on the display conversion control means 3, the speed and Hue / luminance conversion processing means 1 for imparting hue and luminance to a blood flow image based on speed and power value data output from the power value data memories 16 and 17.
The processing operation of No. 8 is controlled based on the conversion table. The conversion table shown in FIG. 2 is merely an example, and it goes without saying that the quantity and contents of the conversion table are not limited to those in FIG.

That is, in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to this embodiment, when the direction of blood flow approaches the probe 10, a + symbol in the conversion table built in the display conversion control means 3 is added. By the hue / luminance conversion processing means 18 controlled based on the flow velocity value, a red (R) hue having different luminance is given to the blood flow image in the tomographic image due to the difference in the flow velocity value, while the blood flow When the direction moves away from the probe 10, a blue (B) hue having a different brightness is added to the blood flow image based on the flow velocity value with a-sign in the conversion table. . Then, from the time of detecting the R wave, 20
As time goes by 0 msec, as shown in FIG.
As shown in sequence (d), regardless of the direction of blood flow, the hue imparted to any blood flow image changes from a single color of red or blue to a hue in which green (G) is mixed. Then, the display conversion control means 3 controls the hue / luminance conversion processing means 18 so that a green single color is obtained immediately before the next R wave is detected.

Therefore, as schematically shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, two blood flows A and B are in the same direction, that is, in the direction approaching the probe 10, but the fluctuation states are greatly different. As an example, a case where the flow velocity values of the blood flow A are close to each other on the image and the flow velocity value of the blood flow A largely changes from +3 to 0, while the flow velocity value of the blood flow B is +1 and is substantially constant is taken as an example. If you think about these blood flow A,
The blood flow images C and D in the tomographic image represented by B have the following display states. Note that FIG. 4 at this time is an example of a B-mode image assuming a uterine part of a pregnant woman, and symbols C and D in FIG.
Although F represents a fetus and G represents amniotic fluid, it goes without saying that the tomographic image is not limited to the B-mode image only, and the same applies to a three-dimensional component image, for example.

First, on the blood flow image C in the tomographic image corresponding to the blood flow A, red with high brightness (R = 192, G = 0) immediately after detection of the R wave having a large flow velocity value of +3. Is added, and as the flow velocity value decreases from +2 to +1 with the passage of time, red is mixed from red with low brightness (R = 84, G = 42) in which green is mixed. After the green (R = 21, G = 42) hue with lower brightness is applied, when the flow velocity value immediately before the detection of the next R wave becomes almost 0, it is colorless (R = 0, G). = 0) is given. On the other hand, on the blood flow image D in the tomographic image corresponding to the blood flow B, since the flow velocity value of the blood flow B remains +1 and there is little fluctuation, from red with low brightness (R = 64, G = 0) After a hue that has been switched to red with a mixture of green and low brightness (R = 42, G = 21) is added, green with a low brightness of red is mixed (R = 42, G = 21).
= 21, G = 42) to low green (R = 0, G = 6)
The hue changed to 4) is imparted.

At this time, the hue of the blood flow image C corresponding to the blood flow A with large fluctuation is displayed by switching from high brightness red to colorless in one frame of the tomographic image. As a result of displaying the hue of the blood flow image D corresponding to the blood flow B with little fluctuation while switching from red to green with low brightness, it is determined whether or not the blood flow has a large fluctuation state in the tomographic image. It is displayed with the hue given to the flow images C and D. In the present embodiment, since the R wave in the electrocardiographic signal is used as the reference signal, the blood flow image C corresponding to the blood flow A with large fluctuation is displayed in a reddish state. When the midpoint between the two R waves is used as the reference signal, the blood flow image C corresponding to the blood flow A with large fluctuation is displayed in a state of being biased to green.

By the way, in the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present embodiment, the time required for one cycle operation of the heart is measured by the time measuring means 2, but when the heart rate is high, the blood flow Since the time period in which the speed and the power value change becomes short, it is necessary to control the hue and the luminance to be switched by a fast time change. In order to perform such control, as shown in FIG. 1, a heart rate detecting means 4 for detecting the heart rate from the time when the reference signal is detected is provided in place of the time measuring means 2, and the reference signal is also provided. Based on the heart rate detected by the heart rate detecting means 4 connected to the detecting means 1, the display conversion control means 3 corrects the elapsed time when the hue and the brightness of the blood flow image are switched. .

Further, a time setting means 5 for manually setting the elapsed time when the hue and the brightness of the blood flow image are switched is additionally provided, and the elapsed time arbitrarily set by the time setting means 5. The display conversion control means 3 may correct the elapsed time for switching the hue and brightness of the blood flow image based on the above. Furthermore, in the present embodiment, whether or not blood flow with large fluctuations in velocity or power value is displayed is displayed in a tomographic image in one frame. However, for example, a plurality of images created for each frame are displayed. It is also conceivable to display the tomographic image of (1) by superimposing processing or frame correlation processing.

That is, when the maximum value of each of RGB is held and displayed by the superimposing process or the frame correlation process, the blood flow velocity value at each elapsed time after the R wave is detected remains constant at +3. If so, R = 19
Since 2, G = 192, B = 0, a high-luminance hue obtained by mixing red and green is added to the blood flow image in the tomographic image, while +3 is obtained only immediately after R wave detection. The blood flow image in the tomographic image corresponding to the blood flow having the following flow velocity value of 0 becomes R = 192, G = 0, B = 0.
Highly bright red will be imparted. As a result, it becomes easy to determine whether each blood flow in the tomographic image displayed on the screen of the display monitor 20 is an arterial blood flow system or a venous blood flow system, and each blood flow in the internal organs. The advantage is that it helps to recognize the driving pattern of the vehicle.

[0019]

As described above, according to the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of the present invention, it becomes possible to display the temporal fluctuation state of blood flow with the blood flow image in the tomographic image. It is possible to obtain an effect that it can be displayed after distinguishing between a blood flow image having a large fluctuation in blood flow and a blood flow image having a small fluctuation in blood flow.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a conversion table of hue and brightness built in the display conversion control means.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view schematically showing the fluctuation states of two different blood flows.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view schematically showing a blood flow image in a tomographic image.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 reference signal detecting means 2 time measuring means 3 display conversion controlling means

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus having a function of displaying the direction of blood flow and the velocity and power value of blood flow on a tomographic image after the hue and the brightness thereof are converted and superposed on the tomographic image. Reference signal detecting means for detecting one point in the biological signal corresponding to the reference signal as a reference signal, time measuring means for measuring an elapsed time from the detection of the reference signal, and blood flow velocity at each time point corresponding to the elapsed time. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus further comprising display conversion control means for switching the hue and brightness of the blood flow image based on the power value. 2. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the biomedical signal is an electrocardiographic signal, and one point in the biomedical signal is an R wave in the electrocardiographic signal. Diagnostic device. 3. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising heart rate detecting means for detecting a heart rate from when the reference signal is detected, wherein the display conversion control means is a heartbeat. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for correcting the elapsed time for switching the hue and brightness of a blood flow image based on the number. 4. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: time setting means for setting an elapsed time for switching the hue and brightness of the blood flow image, and the display conversion control means. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for correcting the elapsed time for switching the hue and brightness of a blood flow image based on the elapsed time set by the time setting means. 5. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, wherein a tomographic image for each frame obtained by the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 is displayed after being subjected to superimposition processing or frame correlation processing. .