Region setting for intima media thickness measurement in an ultrasound system

Abstract

The present invention relates to an ultrasound system and a method of setting an intima-media thickness (IMT) measuring region. The ultrasound system comprises an ultrasound diagnosis unit configured to transmit ultrasound signals to a target object, receive ultrasound echo signals reflected from the target object and form an ultrasound image including a plurality of pixels based on the ultrasound echo signals, each pixel having an intensity of gray level. The ultrasound system further comprises a processor configured to compute intensities of the pixels at each row in the ultrasound image to form a first graph, compute first moving averages of the intensities for first subsets of rows in the ultrasound image by dividing the intensities by a thickness of a blood vessel to form a second graph, compute second moving averages of the intensities for second subsets of rows in the ultrasound image by dividing the intensities by a thickness of a vascular wall to form a third graph, and set an intima-media thickness (IMT) measuring region by using inflection points from the second and third graphs.