Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.v.

Atl Ultrasound, Inc.

Advanced Technology Laboratories, Inc.

Philips Ultrasound, Inc.

David N Roundhill

Michalakis Averkiou

Jeffry E Powers

David W Rust

Brent Stephen Robinson

John Douglas Fraser

Pallavi Vajinepalli

Celine Firtion

Clifford R Cooley

Gary Allen Schwartz

Robert Randall Entrekin

Karthik Krishnan

Matthew Bruce

Subhendu Seth

Cedric Chenal

Pascal Roncalez

Danny M Skyba

Michael A Wood

Cristian Lorenz

James Robertson Jago

Juin-Jet Hwang

Earl M Canfield

Laurence Rouet

Roy B Peterson

Benoit Jean-Dominique Bertrand Maurice Mory

Cybèle Ciofolo-Veit

Joseph L Ungari

Caroline Denise Francoise Raynaud

Richard Davidsen

Matthew Rielly

Aline Criton

Peter N Burns

Giridhar Narasapura Rajagopalaiah

Jeremy D Wiggins

Patrick Ren&eacute; Pesque

Mikhail Starosta

Ian Dewar

Kenneth Dickerson

Tobias Klinder

Andrew Lee Robinson

Jens Ulrich Quistgaard

Jean-Michel Rouet

Paul Ross Detmer

James L Moore

Alexander Schmidt-Richberg

Thanasis Loupas

Jeffrey Scott Hart

Matthias Lenga

Robert H Pedersen

Robert Gustav Trahms

Alasdair Dow

Emmanuel Mocé Serge Attia

Aline Laure Criton

Thierry Lefevre

Earl M Canfield, Ii

Derek Henderson

Saunak Chatterjee

Eliza Teodora Orasanu

Soumabha Bhowmick

Karthik Raj Katipally

Patrick Rene' Pesque

Emmanuel Mocé Serge Attia-Gani

Loriann R Davidsen

Michael Vion

David Lauder

Kymberly Van Dlac

Jeffrey E Powers

There is proposed a mechanism for determining whether or not an imaging probe, such as an ultrasound imaging probe, is at a desired orientation and/or position with respect to an anatomical structure. Image data of the imaging probe is processed to generate a 3D landmark model that contains anatomical landmarks of the anatomical structure. The 3D landmark model is then processed to determine whether or not the imaging probe is at the desired orientation and/or position.

Guided acquisition of a 3D representation of an anatomical structure

A mechanism for automatically generating and ranking M-mode lines for generating or defining M-mode data usable to assess fetal heart activity, e.g. determine a fetal heart rate. A region of interest, containing a fetal heart, in a sequence of ultrasound images is identified. The region of interest is used to define the position of each of a plurality of M-mode lines, e.g. anatomical M-mode lines. A quality measure of each M-mode line is determined based on M-mode data generated for each M-mode line, and the quality measures are then used to rank the M-mode lines.

Generation of M-mode data for detecting fetal cardiac activity

An ultrasound imaging system includes a processor circuit in communication with an ultrasound transducer configured to receive three-dimensional ultrasound data of an anatomy, and generate a target image corresponding to a target image plane of the anatomy, and a plurality of adjacent images corresponding to image planes adjacent to the target image plane along a simulated motion path. The processor circuit is further configured to display the target image, receive a user input representative of a direction of motion along the simulated motion path, and display an adjacent image of the plurality of adjacent images corresponding to the direction of motion. Accordingly, the user can observe the target image in its spatial context by scanning through the target image and one or more adjacent images on the display as if the ultrasound transducer were being scanned along the simulated motion path.

Contextual multiplanar reconstruction of three-dimensional ultrasound imaging data and associated devices, systems, and methods

A computer-implemented method for visualization of an elongated anatomical structure (), for example of a fetal spine using ultrasound is provided. The method comprising the steps of: receiving a plurality of 3D ultrasound image volumes, each image volume depicting at least a portion of an elongated anatomical structure (); on each 3D ultrasound image volume, automatically or semi-automatically fitting a parametric curve () to the depicted portion of the elongated anatomical structure, the parametric curve being defined by curve parameters; reformatting each 3D ultrasound image volume by applying a transformation which straightens the parametric curve along at least one axis, so as to generate a plurality of reformatted image volumes and reformatted parametric curves (); registering the reformatted image volumes with one another by determining the joining point of their respective parametric curves; and fusing the reformatted image volumes with one another to yield a fused image depicting the whole elongated anatomical structure or a larger portion thereof than the 3D ultrasound image volumes.

Computer-implemented method for visualization of an elongated anatomical structure

The invention provides for a method of obtaining a composite 3D ultrasound image of a region of interest. The method includes obtaining preliminary ultrasound data from a region of interest of a subject and identifying an anatomical feature within the region of interest based on the preliminary ultrasound data. A first imaging position and one or more additional imaging positions are then determined based on the anatomical feature. A first 3D ultrasound image is obtained from the first imaging position and one or more additional 3D ultrasound images are obtained from the one or more additional imaging positions, wherein a portion of the first 3D ultrasound image overlaps a portion of the one or more additional 3D ultrasound images, thereby forming an overlapping portion comprising the anatomical feature. Spatial registration is performed between the first 3D ultrasound image and the one or more additional 3D ultrasound images based on the anatomical feature the 3D ultrasound images are then blended based on the spatial registration, thereby generating a composite 3D ultrasound image.

Methods and systems for acquiring composite 3D ultrasound images

A medical imaging system configured to analyze an acquired image to determine the imaging plane and orientation of the image. The medical imaging system may be further configured to determine a location of an aperture to acquire a key anatomical view and transmit instructions to a controller to move the aperture to the location. A sonographer may not need to move the ultrasound probe for the medical imaging system to move the aperture to the location. An ultrasound probe may include a transducer array that may have one or more degrees of freedom of movement within the probe. The transducer array may be translated by one or more motors that receive instructions from the controller to position the aperture.

Translation of ultrasound array responsive to anatomical orientation

An ultrasound image processing apparatus () is disclosed comprising a processor arrangement () adapted to receive a temporal sequence () of ultrasound images () of at least a chest region () of a fetal entity () from an ultrasound probe (), said chest region including the fetal heart (), said temporal sequence capturing at least part of a cardiac cycle of the fetal heart; identify the chest region of the fetal entity in one or more of the ultrasound images of said temporal sequence; identify a portion of the spine in the identified chest region; calculate an orientation axis () of the fetal chest from the identified chest region and the identified spine portion; identify the septum of the fetal heart as a linear structure which is temporally more stable than its surrounding structures in said temporal sequence of ultrasound images and which defines a region of convergence of the movements of the fetal heart during said cardiac cycle; calculate an orientation axis () of the fetal heart from the identified septum; and calculate an angle (&#x3b8;) between the orientation axis of the fetal chest and the orientation axis of the fetal heart. Also disclosed are an ultrasound imaging system comprising such an ultrasound image processing apparatus, a computer-implemented method of visualizing an orientation of the heart of a fetal entity within said entity and a computer program product for implementing such a method.

Fetal development monitoring

A computer implemented method is provided for processing a 3D fetal ultrasound image. A 3D fetal ultrasound image is obtained (either acquired or received from memory), and the spine is detected within the image. This enables a first reference axis to be defined. A second reference axis is defined perpendicular to the first reference axis, and the 3D fetal ultrasound image is updated (e.g. rotated in 3D space) using the first and second reference axes and an up/down (elevation) orientation detection. This provides a normalization of the orientation of the image, so that a machine learning approach is better able to identify landmarks within new images.

Fetal ultrasound image processing

An ultrasound image processing apparatus () is disclosed for obtaining a biometric measurement of an anatomical feature of interest from a 3D ultrasound image. The apparatus comprises a display apparatus () communicatively coupled to a processor arrangement () adapted to render a volumetric ultrasound image () from the 3-D ultrasound image and control the display apparatus to display said rendered image; receive a plurality of user inputs () highlighting the anatomical feature of interest, each input corresponding to a pixel of the displayed volumetric ultrasound image; estimate a depth of each of said pixels in the volumetric ultrasound image (); define a 3-D path () in the volumetric ultrasound image based on the received user inputs along said estimated depths; perform a processing operation based on the defined 3-D path; and control the display apparatus to display the processing operation result, wherein the processing operation based on the defined 3-D path comprises at least one of a measurement of a length of the 3-D path (); a reorientation of the rendered volumetric ultrasound image (); and a generation of a 2-D image slice () of the 3-D ultrasound image based on the defined 3-D path. Also disclosed are an ultrasound imaging system including such an ultrasound image processing apparatus, a computer-implemented method and a computer program product for implementing this method on a computer.

Volume rendered ultrasound imaging

Methods and systems are provided for displaying a 3D ultrasound image volume in a desired view orientation. A 3D ultrasound image can be acquired of an anatomical feature in a patient. The actual orientation of the anatomical feature can be determined in space. The 3D ultrasound image including the anatomical feature can be displayed such that the anatomical feature is positioned in a selected orientation that is different than the actual orientation, and in relation to a lighting model for generating lighting and shadowing on the anatomical feature.

Imaging systems and methods for positioning a 3D ultrasound volume in a desired orientation

The present disclosure describes a medical imaging and visualization system that provides a user interface enabling a user to visualize a volume rendering of a three dimensional (3D) data set and to manipulate the volume rendering to dynamically select a MPR plane of the 3D data set for generating a B-mode image at the dynamically selected MPR plane. In some examples, the 3D data set is rendered as a 2D projection of the volume and a user control enables the user to dynamically move the location of the MPR plane while the display updates the rendering of the volume to indicate the current location of the MPR plane and/or corresponding B-mode image.

Systems and methods for generating B-mode images from 3D ultrasound data

An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system and method are described which produce tissue harmonic images containing both fundamental and harmonic frequency components. Such a blended image takes advantage of the performance possible with the two types of ultrasonic echo information and can advantageously reduce near field clutter while improving signal to noise performance in the far field of the image.

Ultrasonic diagnostic imaging with blended tissue harmonic signals

An ultrasonic transducer assembly () for diagnostic imaging is provided. The ultrasonic transducer includes an elongated housing () that is configured and dimensioned to accommodate applicable anatomical constraints. The assembly includes a sensor assembly () that includes a two-dimensional matrix array of transducer elements () and a translation mechanism () to physically translate the two-dimensional matrix array of transducer elements () through a field of view of approximately 140 degrees by 80 degrees. An articulation control mechanism () allows a clinician to move the tip () of the ultrasonic transducer () into a desired imaging position, e.g., for fetal imaging.

Systems and methods for mechanical translation of full matrix array

System and method for three dimensional harmonic ultrasound imaging

Growing community of inventors

Bothell, WA, United States of America

David N Roundhill