The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 06, 2003
Filed:
Nov. 20, 2001
Patrick L. Von Behren, Bellevue, WA (US);
Dong-Cyuan Liu, Mercer Island, WA (US);
Jian-Feng Chen, Issaquah, WA (US);
Siemens Medical Solutions, Inc., USA, Malvern, PA (US);
Abstract
A region of interest (ROI) of a patient's body is repeatedly scanned using an ultrasound transducer array. Data sets representing an image property, such as intensity, from portions of the ROI are used to calculate a representation of the displacement profile within the ROI at different stress levels. From the displacement profile, a function of strain is also preferably calculated. According to one aspect of the invention, a data set representing an estimate of the elasticity profile within the ROI is color-coded and is displayed along with a B-mode display in a single, overlaid display. According to another aspect of the preferred embodiment of the invention, the display of elasticity is adaptively persisted as a function of, for example, a measure of image quality. The invention also provides an on-screen guide that indicates to a user a measure of quality of each of a series of estimated displacement data sets.