Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.V.

Marie Jacob

Olivier Gerard

Antoine Collet-Billon

Image processing system for displaying information relating to the amplitude of displacements of wall regions of a deformable 3-D object under study, comprising acquisition means to acquire an image sequence of the simplified 3D object wall; and processing means to process the image data for defining region(s) of interest on the simplified 3D object wall, and computing the maximal amplitudes of displacement of said region(s) of interest over a period of time; constructing two 2D simplified representations (bull's eye representations) of the 3D simplified object wall with projection of the region(s) of interest in respective segments of said 2D simplified representations, respectively denoted by 2D simplified amplitude and phase representations; and further comprising display means to display color coded indications of the maximal amplitudes of displacements of the region(s) of interest over a period of time in the respective segments of the 2D simplified amplitude representation; and the display of color coded indications of the instants of time at which the maximum of amplitudes of displacements occur(s) in the region(s) of interest, over said period of time, in the respective segments of the 2D simplified phase representation. The 2D simplified amplitude and phase representations are preferably displayed together in a same image. The object under study can be the heart left ventricle. The image sequence can be provided and processed by an ultrasound system.

Image processing method for displaying information relating to parietal motions of a deformable 3-D object

An image processing method for processing a sequence of images of a distortable 3-D Object, each image being registered at a corresponding image instant within the interval of time of the sequence having steps to construct and display an image of said 3-D Object represented with regions, each region showing a quantified indication relating to its maximal contraction or relaxation within said interval of time. Each region of the constructed and displayed image is attributed a respective color of a color coded scale that is function of the calculated quantified indication relating to the maximum of contraction or relaxation of said region. The quantified indications may be the instant when a face or region has had its maximum of contraction or relaxation; or the phase value corresponding to said maximum; or the delay to attain said maximum.

Method for processing an image sequence of a distortable 3-D object to yield indications of the object wall deformations

A medical ultrasound viewing system for processing a sequence of three-dimensional (3-D) ultrasound images far performing a quantitative estimation of a flow through a body organ comprising means for performing steps of acquiring a sequence of 3D color flow images, of said flow; assessing the flow velocity values in the 3D images, constructing isovelocity surfaces (6) by segmentation of the flow velocity values; computing the volume (Vol) delimited by the isovelocity surfaces; and using the flow velocity value (V) and the volume (Vol) computed from a segmented surface for computing the surface of an orifice (3) of the organ through which the flow propagates. The viewing system further comprises means for performing steps of measuring the peak velocity (V) of said flow through said orifice; computing the surface of the orifice (SOR) through which the flow propagates as a function of the flow velocity value (V) at an isovelocity surface upstream the flow propagation with respect to said orifice, the volume (Vol) computed from said segmented isovelocity surface, and the peak velocity of the flow through said orifice. The surface is given by the formula: SOR=Vol. V/V. The system can be applied to the assessment of the surface of regurgitation of the mitral jet.

Viewing system having means for processing a sequence of ultrasound images for performing a quantitative estimation of  flow in a body organ

Image processing method for displaying an image sequence of a deformable 3-D object with indications of the object wall motions comprising steps of acquiring image data of an image sequence, segmenting the 3-D object in the images of the sequence for locating the wall of the 3-D object, and coloring voxels or parts of the wall in function of their displacement with respect to the wall of the 3-D object in one image of the sequence chosen as a reference. Color images of the 3-D object with color coded voxels or parts of the wall are displayed in a sequence for the user to estimate the object wall motion. This method is used in medical examination apparatus for studying ultrasound images of organs whose walls have motion.

Growing community of inventors

Paris, France

Marie Jacob