General Electric Company

Ge Medical Systems Global Technology Company, LLC

Kjell Kristofferson

Bjorn Olstad

Hans Garmann Torp

Andreas Heimdal

Steinar Bjaerum

Sevald Berg

A system for presenting multiple parallel slices comprises a display for displaying ultrasound data comprising 3D Doppler data over time. A user interface defines a proximal plane and a distal plane within the ultrasound data that are parallel to one another. The proximal and distal planes define a region of interest (ROI). A signal processor automatically extracts at least two slices based on the ultrasound data within the ROI. The at least two slices are parallel with respect to each other and are displayed on the display.

Method and system for measuring flow through a heart valve

An ultrasound machine is disclosed that displays a color representation of moving structure, such as a cardiac wall tissue, within a region of interest on a monitor. The color representation is generated by displaying at least one color characteristic corresponding to a movement parameter of the structure, such as velocity or strain rate. The movement parameter is mapped to the color characteristic by apparatus comprising a front-end that generates received signals in response to ultrasound waves. A Doppler processor generates a set of parameter signals representing values of the movement parameter within the structure. A control processor adaptively generates a mapping function based on the distribution of the parameter signals to map the parameter signals to a set of color characteristic signals. A display processor applies the mapped values of the color characteristic legend to the values of the movement parameter representing the moving structure, to display a color representation on the monitor in response to the mapping function.

Ultrasound color characteristic mapping

An ultrasound system and method for calculation and display of strain velocity in real time is disclosed. Strain velocity may be determined from tissue velocity. Tissue velocity determined by measuring the pulse-to-pulse Doppler shift at range positions along an ultrasound beam and calculating tissue velocity based on the Doppler shift. The strain velocity is then calculated as a gradient of tissue velocity. Alternatively, linear regression methods may be used to calculate strain velocity from tissue velocity. Alternatively, strain velocity may be determined directly from the difference in Doppler shift between range positions. The result of the strain velocity determination may be displayed in a number of manners such as M-mode, color-coded video images or time-variation curves, and may be displayed in combination, or as a mixture, with a B-mode image. A reliability index may be calculated and used to modify the display of strain velocity information.

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Oslo, Norway

Kjell Kristofferson