Hitachi Medical Corporation

Other

Shinji Kishimoto

Yutaka Sato

Satoshi Tamano

Yukio Ito

Ken Ishihara

Toshio Ogawa

Akira Sasaki

Takashi Sugiyama

Hiroshi Kanda

Ryuichi Shinomura

Yuichi Miwa

Hiroshi Masuzawa

Jun Kubota

Shuzo Sano

Takaya Osawa

Akihiro Ueyama

Hiroya Kondo

Jun Tanouchi

Masa Harashima

Kenji Nosaka

Kozi Tanabe

Satoru Hanasaka

An ultrasonograph comprising a probe () for transmitting/receiving an ultrasonic wave to/from a subject, a transmitting section () for supplying a drive signal to the probe (), a receiving section () for receiving a reflection echo signal outputted from the probe (), image constructing sections () for reconstructing a diagnosis image from the received reflection echo signal, a displaying section () for displaying the reconstructed diagnosis image, and a control section for controlling the other sections, wherein the rise of temperature of the probe () is suppressed by adequately judging whether the probe () is left in the air or not. The ultrasonograph further comprises a judging section () for judging from diagnosis image information whether or not the probe () is left in the air. If the judging section () judges that the probe () is left in the air, the control section () controls the drive signal supplied from the transmitting section to the probe () so as to suppress the rise of temperature of the probe ().

Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus

An ultrasonic probe in which two-dimensional array transducer elements are arrayed convexly both in one direction of the two-dimensional array and in the direction perpendicular to the former direction relative to the direction where an ultrasonic wave is transmitted. By switching a transducer element selecting switch circuit provided near the transducer elements, the shape of the diameter of the probe for transmitting and receiving of ultrasound and the position of the diameter are arbitrarily determined. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in which a fresnel ring is formed as an diameter by a control signal to a transducer element selecting switch circuit, the number of cables for connection between the probe and the main body is decreased by bundling the transducer elements in one ring and effecting the connection, the fresnel ring is moved every ultrasonic transmission/reception cycle by the control signal to the transducer element selection switching circuit, and an object is three-dimensionally scanned with an ultrasonic beam.

Ultrasonic probe and ultrasonic diagnostic device comprising the same

A discrimination method of speckle noises in an ultrasonic tomography apparatus, includes a step of scanning a predetermined area of an object to be examined by an ultrasonic wave and receiving an ultrasonic echo signal from the object, a step of producing a digital echo signal on the basis of the ultrasonic echo signal to store it in a memory unit, a step of reading out the echo signals of a plurality of fields obtained by a plurality of continuous scanning operations from the memory unit, a step of statistically processing the echo signals at the same pixel position of the plurality of fields to obtain a judgment value and a step of comparing the judgment value with a predetermined reference value to decide in accordance with the compared result whether the echo signals of the statistically processed pixel contain speckle noises or not. An ultrasonic tomography apparatus in which a predetermined area of an object to be examined is scanned with an ultrasonic wave by means of a probe to receive an ultrasonic echo signal from the object so that a tomographic image of the object is produced from the received ultrasonic echo signal, includes a signal processing unit for producing a digital echo signal on the basis of the ultrasonic echo signal and storing the digital echo signal.

Method for discriminating speckle noises from signals in ultrasonic

A two-dimensional echogram or a tomogram (B-mode image) and a volume of an organ are displayed in real time while radiating an ultrasonic wave to the organ. The volume of the organ is obtained by first designating a plurality of line segments traversing the image of the organ on the two-dimensional echogram, by obtaining a pair of intersections between each line segment and the wall of the organ by using a signal intensity profile (A-mode image) of each line segment, by obtaining a length between the pair of intersections, and by calculating the volume by the Simpson method by using the obtained length. In order to improve the precision of volume calculation, the signal intensity profile is smoothed and the intensity is normalized. The intersections are displayed superposed upon the two-dimensional echogram to allow an operator to visually check easily whether the intersections are correctly aligned with the wall of the organ. If the B-mode image of a heart is displayed in slow motion, the signal intensity is also normalized to display the image brightly during a systole period which image otherwise is likely to become dark during the systole period.

Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and ultrasonic diagnosis method

The present invention includes an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for forming differential image data by performing differential operation among topographic image data obtained in time series, an apparatus for giving color codes which designate display colors to differential image data, an apparatus for cumulating a plurality of frames of differential image data, and an apparatus for displaying respective cumulated differential images in colors designated by the color codes in which motion of a moving portion of a patient's body is displayed in colors by superposing a plurality of differential images.

Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for displaying motion of moving portion

An image displaying method in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus obtains differential image data between first image data and second image data in image data sequentially obtained from an echo signal received by transmitting an ultrasonic wave to a body to be examined. A time difference between a point of time, where the first image data are measured, and another point of time, where the second image data are measured is determined. A synthesized image data capable of displaying simultaneously a differential image and the time difference by combining the differential image data and data representing the time difference is obtained and displayed.

Image displaying method and device for realizing same in an ultrasonic

An ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus comprises an ultrasonic probe for transmitting an ultrasonic pulse beam toward an internal moving member of a living body at a constant recurrence frequency, a converter for mixing the received high-frequency signal with a set of complex reference signals having a frequency n times as high as the recurrence frequency of the transmitted ultrasonic pulse beam and having a complex relation therebetween, thereby converting the high-frequency signal into complex signals, a speed operating circuit for computing the speed of the moving part on the basis of the complex signals, a speed deviation operating circuit for computing the deviation of the speed computed by the speed operator, and a display unit for displaying, by a color change, at least one of the speed, the speed dispersion, the speed and the speed deviation, and the correlation between the speed and the speed deviation. The display unit may display the reflected ultrasonic wave intensity by a luminance and may display the correlation between the reflected ultrasonic wave intensity and the speed and/or the speed deviation by a color change.

Ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus for displaying speed or correlation

An ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus comprises an ultrasonic probe for transmitting an ultrasonic pulse beam toward an internal moving medium of a living body at a constant recurrence frequency, a converter for mixing the received high-frequency signal with a set of complex reference signals having a frequency n times as high as the recurrence frequency of the transmitted ultrasonic pulse beam and having a complex relation therebetween, thereby converting the high-frequency signal into complex signals, a speed operating circuit for computing the moving speed of the internal moving medium on the basis of the complex signals, and a display unit for displaying the moving speed in real time. The apparatus may include a speed dispersion operating circuit for computing the dispersion of the moving speed computed by the speed operating circuit in order to display both the moving speed and the dispersion thereof on the display unit.

Ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus for measurement of speed of moving medium

An ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus comprises a probe means for transmitting an ultrasonic pulse beam toward an internal moving part of a living body and receiving the reflected wave therefrom, and a plurality of phasing circuits for simultaneously receiving and phasing the received signal in parallel in a plurality of channels. The received signals of plural channels are mixed with a set of complex reference signals having a complex relation therebetween, thereby converting the received signals into complex signals. A multiple-channel multiple-cancel complex signal canceller with feedback removes reflected signal components from a low-speed moving part and/or a stationary part of the living body. Speed and speed dispersion operating circuits compute the moving speed of the moving part on the basis of the complex signals and the dispersion thereof, respectively. The results of computation are subjected to image processing.

Ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus

An ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus comprises a probe means for transmitting an ultrasonic pulse beam toward an internal moving part of a living body and receiving the reflected wave therefrom, and a plurality of phasing circuits for simultaneously receiving and phasing the received signal in parallel in a plurality of channels. The received signals of plural channels are mixed with a set of complex reference signals having a complex relation therebetween, thereby converting the received signals into complex signals. Autocorrelators delay the complex signals computes the autocorrelation of the complex signals. Speed operators compute the speed of the internal moving part of the basis of the computed autocorrelation. The result of measurement of the distribution of the speed of the internal moving part is displayed on a display unit.

Growing community of inventors

Ibaraki, Japan

Shinji Kishimoto