Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.V.

Hewlett-packard Company

Agilent Technologies, Inc.

Other

David W Clark

Richard A Hager

Francois Guy Gerard Marie Vignon

Hua Xie

Vijay Thakur Shamdasani

Jean-Luc Francois-Marie Robert

Lars Jonas Olsson

Darwin Philip Adams

Ji Cao

Bruce Adrian Kincy

Alexey Viktorovich Cherepakhin

Roy Allan Sivley

Kirthi Radhakrishnan

Karl E Thiele

David Hope Simpson

Jerome F Witt

Anup Agarwal

Patrick G Rafter

David C Chu

David Prater

Keith M Ferguson

Elizabeth Brunelle

Alan Davis

William E Britz, Jr

Michale E Keeling

Aditya Periyapatna Nagendra

Systems, methods, and apparatuses for confidence mapping of shear wave measurements are disclosed. Confidence maps of shear wave image measurements may be generated from one or more confidence factors. Masking of graphical overlays of tissue stiffness values, based at least in part on the confidence map is disclosed. The confidence map and/or masked graphical overlays of tissue stiffness values may be superimposed on ultrasound images and provided on a display.

Systems, methods, and apparatuses for confidence mapping of shear wave imaging

An intraluminal imaging device is provided. In one embodiment, the imaging device includes a flexible elongate member having a distal portion and a proximal portion. The flexible elongate member can be positioned within a vessel. The imaging device has an imaging assembly that can be mounted within the distal portion. The imaging assembly includes a side-looking array of imaging elements and a micro-beamformer IC that is coupled to the side-looking array of imaging elements. The micro-beamformer IC can control the array of imaging elements, can determine a first angle and a second angle, and can perform beam forming for the array of imaging elements. The micro-beamformer IC can receive the first imaging signals associated with a first plane () at the first angle (+45°), and the second imaging signals associated with a second plane () at the second angle (−45°). In some embodiments, the first and second angles are selected to satisfy predetermined criteria.

X-plane and 3D imaging for asymmetric apertures

An ultrasound imaging system has an improved dynamic range control which enables a user to reduce image haze with substantially no effect on bright tissue in the image and without increasing speckle variance. A dynamic range processor processes an input image to produce an approximation image which is a spatially low pass filtered version of the input image. The dynamic range of the approximation image is compressed, and image detail, unaffected by the compression, is added back to produce a dynamically compressed image for display.

Ultrasound imaging system with improved dynamic range control

An ultrasound imaging system according to the present disclosure may include an ultrasound probe, a display unit, and a processor configured to receive source image data having a first dynamic range, wherein the source image data comprises log compressed echo intensity values based on the ultrasound echoes detected by the ultrasound probe, generate a histogram of at least a portion of source image data, generate a cumulative density function for the histogram, receive an indication of at least two points on the cumulative density function (CDF), and cause the display unit to display an ultrasound image representative of the source image data displayed in accordance with the second dynamic range.

System and method for adaptively configuring dynamic range for ultrasound image display

An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging for analyzing shear wave characteristics utilizes a background motion compensation subsystem which acts as a spatial filter of pulse-to-pulse autocorrelation phases over the ROI of tracking pulse vectors to compensate for background motion. The subsystem is configured to compute the sum of all lag-1 autocorrelations of tracking line ensemble data over the tracking ROI, for each PRI. The inventive technique does not significantly reduce sensitivity to shear waves, because the shear wave is spatially smaller than the ROI.

Ultrasonic shear wave imaging with background motion compensation

A spectral Doppler processor for an ultrasound system produces blood flow velocity estimates by processing a sequence of complex blood flow echo samples with an FFT algorithm. The FFT algorithm is executed with a long window of samples to produce velocity estimates with good velocity precision and is executed with a short window of samples to produce velocity estimates with good time precision. The long window algorithm is used when blood flow velocity is not changing rapidly, and the short window algorithm is used when blood flow velocity is changing rapidly.

Spectral doppler processing with adaptive sample window size

An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system produces audio Doppler from detected Doppler signals. The Doppler signals are detected in a band of frequencies which corresponds to the velocity of blood flow signals, and Doppler information is displayed based on the detected band of frequencies. The audio Doppler system produces Doppler audio in a frequency band which is shifted in pitch from the detected band of frequencies. The operator of the ultrasound system is provided with a user control by which the degree of pitch shifting can be controlled. The ultrasound system displays Doppler blood flow velocities referenced to a transmit Doppler frequency f, with the audio Doppler being shifted in pitch from the frequencies corresponding to the blood flow velocities.

Ultrasound blood flow Doppler audio with pitch shifting

The present invention relates to an ultrasound elastography system and method for providing a strain image of an anatomical site. The system comprises a signal processing unit () configured to receive a time-varying ultrasound signal from an ultrasound probe () having at least one transducer element, to determine axial motion data based on the time-varying ultrasound signal, the axial motion data indicating a relative axial motion between the ultrasound probe and the anatomical site in an axial direction (y), and to determine a lateral variation of the axial motion in a lateral direction (x) based on the axial motion data. The system further comprises a display unit () configured to display a strain image () of the anatomical site based on strain image data which is determined based on the axial motion data, and to display an indication of lateral variation of a quality of the strain image based on the lateral variation of the axial motion.

Ultrasound elastography system and method

Ultrasonic blood flow doppler audio with pitch shifting

A method for adaptive filtering of clutter from a sample stream having a blood signal component and a clutter signal component comprises the steps of (a) estimating a signal strength of the sample stream, and (b) determining an order of a filter based on a relationship between the signal strength estimate and a signal strength threshold. The filter receives the sample stream and provides an output stream having a reduced level of the clutter signal component relative to the blood signal component.

Ultrasound clutter filter

Quadrature demodulation apparatus and method for detecting a contrast agent in an ultrasonic echographic system, including an in phase/quadrature demodulator for determining the resolved complex real and imaginary in phase and quadrature components of return signals and a contrast agent detector determining the complex difference between first and second return signals. The detector is implemented as a magnitude of difference detector determining the magnitude of the complex difference of pairs of first and second return signals wherein the real and imaginary components of the return signals, including magnitude and phase information, are used to determine the magnitude of the complex difference between first and second return signals. The detector is also implemented as an asymmetrical weighting detector resolving the complex difference between first and second return signals into components in phase with and orthogonal to the second signal and weighting the magnitudes of in phase and orthogonal components of the complex difference and indicating a contrast agent present when the combination of differently weighted component exceeds the corresponding threshold value. The detector is also implemented as an extrapolation detector for receiving three successive return signals along each line wherein the second return signal and a third return signal are used to extrapolate what the first return signal would have been without the contrast agent component and to generate a decision threshold that is compared to the complex difference between the actual first return signal and the extrapolated first return signal.

Methods for the detection of contrast agents in ultrasonic imaging

An ultrasound transducer assembly includes an acoustic mirror, an ultrasound transducer positioned to direct a scanned ultrasound beam at the acoustic mirror, wherein the scanned ultrasound beam is reflected by the acoustic mirror to form a reflected ultrasound beam, and an actuating device for moving the acoustic mirror relative to the scanned ultrasound beam so that the reflected ultrasound beam scans a three-dimensional volume. An ultrasound matching fluid may be disposed between the ultrasound transducer and the acoustic mirror. The actuating device may be configured for rotating the acoustic mirror, translating the acoustic mirror or rotating and translating the acoustic mirror. The acoustic mirror may have a single acoustically-reflecting surface of may be a polygon having a plurality of acoustically-reflective surfaces.

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Windham, NH, United States of America

David W Clark