Shenzhen Mindray Bio-medical Electronics Co., Ltd.

Acuson Corporation

Zonare Medical Systems, Inc.

Siemens Medical Solutions Usa, Inc.

Zonaire Medical Systems, Inc.

Robert W Steins

Glen W McLaughlin

David J Napolitano

Ting-Lan Ji

Ching-Hua Chou

Larry Y L Mo

Brian Derek DeBusschere

Albert Gee

Thilaka S Sumanaweera

Constantine Simopoulos

Müge M Bakircioglu

Ismayil M Guracar

Patrick J Phillips

Ann Shvarts

An ultrasonic imaging method includes activating a transmit aperture within a multi-element transducer array, transmitting one or more ultrasonic beams along scan direction(s) that span the region of interest, for each transmit event, receiving ultrasound echoes from each element of a receive aperture, grouping the receive channel echo data into two or more sets corresponding to different receive sub-apertures, combining each sub-aperture data set to generate partially focused echo-location data for one or more reconstruction lines, and storing all the sub-aperture echo data sets during a storage period in a format that can be retrieved for later analysis. A method includes, during a post-storage period, retrieving stored sub-aperture data, combining the sub-aperture data to form one or more selected reconstruction lines, processing echo data to extract motion information from one or more sample positions along the selected reconstruction lines, and displaying an image representative of the processed motion information.

System and method for providing variable ultrasound array processing in a post-storage mode

Embodiments of the present invention provide an ultrasound scanner equipped with an image data processing unit that can perform adaptive parameter optimization during image formation and processing. In one embodiment, an ultrasound system comprises a channel data memory to store channel data obtained by digitizing ultrasound image data produced by an image scan; an image data processor configured to process the stored channel data in the memory to reconstruct an ultrasound image for each of a plurality of trial values of at least one parameter to be optimized; and a parameter optimization unit configured to evaluate an image quality of the reconstructed ultrasound image for each trial value of the at least one parameter, and to determine the optimized value of the at least one parameter based on the evaluated image quality.

Aberration correction using channel data in ultrasound imaging system

An ultrasound imaging method comprises: providing a probe that includes one or more transducer elements for transmitting and receiving ultrasound waves; generating a sequence of spatially distinct transmit beams which differ in one or more of origin and angle; determining a transmit beam spacing substantially based upon a combination of actual and desired transmit beam characteristics, thereby achieving a faster echo acquisition rate compared to a transmit beam spacing based upon round-trip transmit-receive beam sampling requirements; storing coherent receive echo data, from two or more transmit beams of the spatially distinct transmit beams; combining coherent receive echo data from at least two or more transmit beams to achieve a substantially spatially invariant synthesized transmit focus at each echo location; and combining coherent receive echo data from each transmit firing to achieve dynamic receive focusing at each echo location.

Continuous transmit focusing method and apparatus for ultrasound imaging system

In one embodiment, an ultrasound imaging method comprises: providing a probe that includes one or more transducer elements for transmitting and receiving ultrasound waves; generating a sequence of spatially distinct transmit beams which differ in one or more of origin and angle; determining a transmit beam spacing substantially based upon a combination of actual and desired transmit beam characteristics, thereby achieving a faster echo acquisition rate compared to a transmit beam spacing based upon round-trip transmit-receive beam sampling requirements; storing coherent receive echo data, from two or more transmit beams of the spatially distinct transmit beams; combining coherent receive echo data from at least two or more transmit beams to achieve a substantially spatially invariant synthesized transmit focus at each echo location; and combining coherent receive echo data from each transmit firing to achieve dynamic receive focusing at each echo location.

Methods and systems are provided for automatic optimization for ultrasound medical imaging. In one approach, velocity values are unwrapped to avoid aliasing artifacts. Multi-dimensional phase unwrapping is applied to the velocity data. The unwrapped velocity information is used to optimize one or both of the velocity scale (e.g., pulse repetition frequency) and the imaging frequency. For optimizing the scale setting, the distribution of unwrapped velocities from a systolic time period of the heart cycle are used to identify the pulse repetition frequency. For optimizing the imaging frequency, a correlation as a function of depth shows the penetration depth for a given imaging frequency. In a dependent or independent approach, one or more thresholds for velocity or energy in flow imaging are adaptively selected as a function of an amount of clutter. Velocity or other energy information in addition to the clutter information may be used for selecting the thresholds. In yet another dependent or independent approach, displacement of an imaging plane or other change is detected and used to trigger an automatic update of an imaging parameter for a same or different mode.

Automatic optimization for ultrasound medical imaging

Automated determination and setting of an ultrasound system transmit power level is provided for contrast agent imaging. Low mechanical index imaging of contrast agents allows substantially continuous imaging of contrast agents without destruction. By comparing data associated with different transmit power levels, different delays between acquisition or different acquisition sequences, a contrast agent imaging transmit power generally minimizing destruction of contrast agents and maximizing signal-to-noise ratio is automatically determined.

Automated power level for contrast agent imaging

A diagnostic medical ultrasound system having an integrated invasive medical device guidance system is disclosed. The guidance system obtains image slice geometry and other imaging parameters from the ultrasound system to optimize the guidance computations and visual representations of the invasive medical device and the imaged portion of the subject. Further, the ultrasound system obtains guidance data indicating the relative location, i.e. position and/or orientation of the invasive medical device relative to the transducer and imaging plane to optimize the imaging plane and ultrasound beam characteristics to automatically optimally image both the imaged portion of the subject and the invasive medical device.

Diagnostic medical ultrasound systems and methods using image based freehand needle guidance

An ultrasound image is morphed for perfusion assessment. Various images within a sequence of images or movie clip are mapped to one frame of reference using local warping. Nonlinear local image transformations or other warping based on local estimates of motion are used to interpolate different images to the common reference. The elastic stretching and compression of local image data results in a sequence of images where the same spatial location in each image represents the substantially same spatial location of the imaged tissue. The organ, tissue or region of interest is stationary throughout the sequence of images.

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Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Robert W Steins