CN112754526A

CN112754526A - Ultrasonic detection method and ultrasonic imaging device for uterine peristalsis

Info

Publication number: CN112754526A
Application number: CN201911072371.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李双双
Original assignee: Shenzhen Mindray Bio Medical Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Mindray Bio Medical Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-11-05
Filing date: 2019-11-05
Publication date: 2021-05-07

Abstract

An ultrasonic detection method and an ultrasonic imaging device for uterine peristalsis, which calculate and display the peristalsis parameters by introducing color peristalsis images, and visually display the peristaltic state of the endometrium.

Description

Ultrasonic detection method and ultrasonic imaging device for uterine peristalsis

Technical Field

The invention relates to an ultrasonic detection method and an ultrasonic imaging device for peristalsis.

Background

It is found clinically that the endometrium peristalsis occurs, and the peristalsis process changes along with the growth of the follicle and the ovulation process. Some clinical studies have shown that adequate motility can help transport sperm, provide nutrients and oxygen, and that too low or too aggressive motility can reduce success in conception. Thus, information on endometrial peristalsis, such as frequency, magnitude and direction, has some practical value.

The existing method for detecting the endometrial peristalsis by ultrasound mainly uses transvaginal ultrasound (TVUS), and a doctor continuously observes the change of a two-dimensional B-type image in real time for a period of time (such as 1 minute), or the doctor observes a stored B-type image video for a period of time, captures the motion information of the endometrium, and judges the information such as the amplitude, the frequency and the direction of the endometrial peristalsis. This method relies heavily on the subjective qualitative judgment of the physician and is often difficult to identify by the naked eye even with experienced physicians for complex or weak states of peristalsis.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve the problems, the application provides an ultrasonic detection method and an ultrasonic imaging device for uterine peristalsis.

According to a first aspect, there is provided in an embodiment a method of ultrasound detection of uterine peristalsis, comprising:

emitting ultrasound waves into a region of the uterus containing endometrial tissue;

receiving an ultrasonic echo to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal;

calculating the peristalsis parameter of endometrial tissue according to the ultrasonic echo signal;

displaying the peristaltic parameters of the endometrial tissue.

According to a second aspect, there is provided in an embodiment a method for ultrasonic detection of uterine peristalsis, comprising:

obtaining ultrasound image data obtained by emitting ultrasound waves to a uterine region including endometrial tissue using an ultrasound probe;

displaying an ultrasound image containing endometrial tissue based on at least a portion of the ultrasound image data;

determining a region of interest on the ultrasound image in response to a region of interest selection instruction; wherein the region of interest comprises at least part of endometrial tissue;

calculating at least a peristaltic parameter of endometrial tissue contained in the region of interest according to the ultrasound image data; and

displaying the peristaltic parameters of the endometrial tissue.

In an embodiment, the peristaltic parameters include one or more of displacement, velocity, acceleration, and strain.

In one embodiment, said displaying a peristaltic parameter of said endometrial tissue comprises:

generating a color peristalsis image of the endometrial tissue according to the peristalsis parameters of the endometrial tissue;

displaying at least the color peristaltic image.

In one embodiment, the color in the color peristalsis image is used for indicating the direction of the peristalsis parameter of the tissue, and the color or the brightness thereof is used for indicating the size of the peristalsis parameter of the tissue.

According to a third aspect, an embodiment provides an ultrasound imaging apparatus comprising:

an ultrasonic probe;

the transmitting/receiving control circuit is used for controlling the ultrasonic probe to transmit ultrasonic waves to a target area containing endometrial tissues and receive the ultrasonic waves to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal;

a processor to: processing the ultrasonic echo signal to obtain an ultrasonic image, and obtaining an interested area according to the ultrasonic image; calculating at least the peristaltic parameters of endometrial tissue in the region of interest according to the ultrasonic echo signals;

a display for displaying the ultrasound image and/or the peristaltic parameters of endometrial tissue.

In one embodiment, the display displays the color peristalsis image on the ultrasound image in an overlapping manner;

or the display displays the color peristalsis image on the ultrasonic image in an overlapped mode according to the adjustable transparency;

alternatively, the display displays the color peristalsis image in proximity to the ultrasound image;

or, the display displays the color peristalsis image near the region of interest;

or the display contrasts and displays the ultrasonic image and the ultrasonic image superposed with the color peristalsis image;

or, the display numerically displays the peristaltic parameter near the region of interest or near the ultrasound image;

or the display displays the ultrasonic image, the color peristalsis image and the peristalsis parameters in a numerical mode on the same screen;

or the display displays an ultrasonic image with an interesting area indicating frame and an ultrasonic image with the interesting area indicating frame and the colorful peristalsis image superposed in the indicating frame in a contrast mode.

According to a fifth aspect, an embodiment provides a computer readable storage medium comprising a program executable by a processor to implement a method as described in any of the embodiments herein

According to the ultrasonic detection method of uterine peristalsis, the ultrasonic imaging device and the computer readable storage medium of the embodiment, the uterine endometrial tissue peristalsis parameters are calculated and displayed, and the peristalsis condition of endometrium can be presented in an intuitive mode.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an ultrasonic imaging apparatus according to an embodiment;

fig. 2(a) is a schematic view of an ultrasound image of endometrium according to an embodiment, and fig. 2(b) is a schematic view showing a color peristalsis image superimposed on the ultrasound image of fig. 2 (a);

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of displaying a color peristalsis image superimposed within a region of interest of an ultrasound image;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a color peristalsis image displayed in isolation;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of displaying two identical ultrasound images in a contrast manner in an embodiment, where one ultrasound image displays a boundary of an area to be superimposed with a color peristalsis image, and the other ultrasound image displays the color peristalsis image in the area to be superimposed with the color peristalsis image;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating simultaneous display of a Y-direction color peristalsis image and an X-direction color peristalsis image in one embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method for ultrasonic detection of uterine peristalsis;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of an ultrasonic method of detecting uterine peristalsis according to another embodiment;

fig. 9 is a flowchart of an ultrasonic detection method of uterine peristalsis according to yet another embodiment.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings. Wherein like elements in different embodiments are numbered with like associated elements. In the following description, numerous details are set forth in order to provide a better understanding of the present application. However, those skilled in the art will readily recognize that some of the features may be omitted or replaced with other elements, materials, methods in different instances. In some instances, certain operations related to the present application have not been shown or described in detail in order to avoid obscuring the core of the present application from excessive description, and it is not necessary for those skilled in the art to describe these operations in detail, so that they may be fully understood from the description in the specification and the general knowledge in the art.

Furthermore, the features, operations, or characteristics described in the specification may be combined in any suitable manner to form various embodiments. Also, the various steps or actions in the method descriptions may be transposed or transposed in order, as will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. Thus, the various sequences in the specification and drawings are for the purpose of describing certain embodiments only and are not intended to imply a required sequence unless otherwise indicated where such sequence must be followed.

The numbering of the components as such, e.g., "first", "second", etc., is used herein only to distinguish the objects as described, and does not have any sequential or technical meaning. The term "connected" and "coupled" when used in this application, unless otherwise indicated, includes both direct and indirect connections (couplings).

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an ultrasound imaging apparatus according to an embodiment. The ultrasound imaging apparatus may include an ultrasound probe 10, a transmission/reception control circuit 20, an echo processing unit 30, a processor 40, and a display 50, which are described in detail below.

The ultrasound probe 10 includes a plurality of array elements for performing interconversion between electrical pulse signals and ultrasound waves, so as to transmit ultrasound waves to a biological tissue 60 to be detected (e.g. a biological tissue in a human or animal body, in this case, a uterine region of a human or animal body, for example) and receive ultrasound echoes reflected by the tissue. The plurality of array elements included in the ultrasonic probe 10 may be arranged in a row to form a linear array, or arranged in a two-dimensional matrix to form an area array, and the plurality of array elements may also form a convex array. The array elements can transmit ultrasonic waves according to the excitation electric signals or convert the received ultrasonic waves into electric signals. Each array element is thus operable to transmit ultrasound waves into biological tissue in the target region and also to receive ultrasound echoes returned through the tissue. When ultrasonic detection is carried out, which array elements are used for transmitting ultrasonic waves and which array elements are used for receiving ultrasonic echoes can be controlled through a transmitting sequence and a receiving sequence, or the time slots of the array elements are controlled to be used for transmitting the ultrasonic waves or receiving the ultrasonic echoes. All array elements participating in ultrasonic wave transmission can be simultaneously excited by the electric signals, so that the ultrasonic waves are transmitted simultaneously; or the array elements participating in the ultrasonic wave transmission can be excited by a plurality of electric signals with certain time intervals, so that the ultrasonic waves with certain time intervals are continuously transmitted.

The transmission/reception control circuit 20 is used to control the ultrasonic probe 10 to transmit ultrasonic waves to the biological tissue 60 on the one hand, and to control the ultrasonic probe 10 to receive ultrasonic echoes of the ultrasonic waves reflected by the tissue on the other hand. In a specific embodiment, the transmission/reception control circuit 20 is configured to generate a transmission sequence and a reception sequence, and output them to the ultrasound probe. The transmit sequence is used to control some or all of the plurality of array elements in the ultrasound probe 10 to transmit ultrasound waves to the target of interest in the biological tissue 60, and the parameters of the transmit sequence include the number of array elements used for transmission and ultrasound wave transmission parameters (e.g., amplitude, frequency, number of times of wave transmission, transmission interval, transmission angle, wave pattern and/or focusing position, etc.). The reception sequence is used to control a part or all of the plurality of array elements to receive echoes of the ultrasonic waves after being organized, and the parameters of the reception sequence include the number of array elements for reception and reception parameters (for example, reception angle, depth, and the like) of the echoes. The ultrasound parameters in the transmit sequence and the echo parameters in the receive sequence differ depending on the application of the ultrasound echoes or the images generated from the ultrasound echoes.

The echo processing unit 30 is used for processing the ultrasonic echo signals received by the ultrasonic probe 10, for example, filtering, amplifying, and beam-forming the ultrasonic echo signals. In a specific embodiment, the echo processing unit 30 may output the processed ultrasonic echo signal to the processor 40, or may store the processed ultrasonic echo signal in a memory, and when further operation is needed, the processor 40 reads the processed ultrasonic echo signal from the memory. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that in some embodiments, the echo processing unit 30 may be omitted when it is not necessary to filter, amplify, beamform, etc. the ultrasound echo signals.

The processor 40 is used for acquiring the ultrasonic echo signals and obtaining the required parameters or images by adopting a correlation algorithm. The transmission/reception control circuit 20 controls the ultrasonic probe 10 to transmit ultrasonic waves to a target region containing endometrial tissue (i.e., a uterine region) and receive ultrasonic echoes to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal in one embodiment; the processor 40 calculates the peristaltic parameters of the endometrial tissue according to the ultrasonic echo signals. In an embodiment, the peristaltic parameters include one or more of displacement, velocity, acceleration, and strain. The peristalsis of the endometrium is not a unidirectional motion, but is usually a complex, complex motion in multiple directions. Correspondingly, the creep parameter in this document may be a total creep parameter obtained by synthesizing the components in the respective directions, or may be a creep parameter of a component in any one direction. For example, the peristaltic parameter may be a synthesis velocity or a decomposition velocity in either direction.

There are various ways for the processor 40 to calculate the peristaltic parameters of the endometrial tissue, for example, based on the block-matching (block-matching) idea, the echo signal at a certain position at a certain time is searched for at a different position of the signal at another time, and the position with the largest cross-correlation is found out, and the difference between the position and the original position is used as the displacement at the two times; and for example, based on the idea of ultrasonic doppler effect, the moving speed of the tissue at a certain position at each moment is detected by the principle similar to the conventional blood flow imaging. Thus, in one embodiment, the processor 40 calculates the peristaltic parameter of the endometrial tissue based on the ultrasound echo signals by: for the ultrasonic echo signals at any two moments, the processor 40 searches the tissue at any position in the ultrasonic echo signal at the previous moment and the position of the ultrasonic echo signal at the later moment; the processor 40 calculates the difference of the positions of the same tissue in the ultrasonic echo signals at the previous moment and the next moment as the displacement of the tissue; in this way, the processor 40 can calculate the displacement of tissue at any location on the endometrium and based on the displacement, calculate other peristaltic parameters such as velocity, acceleration and strain. In another embodiment, the processor 40 calculates the peristaltic parameter of the endometrial tissue according to the ultrasound echo signals, which can also be implemented as: the processor 40 analyzes the doppler information of the ultrasound echo signals to calculate the velocity of the tissue at one or more locations in the endometrium; other peristaltic parameters such as displacement, acceleration, and strain may then be calculated based on the velocity of the tissue. It should be noted that the acceleration result can be obtained by further obtaining the gradient of the speed in the time direction; the strain results can be obtained by graduating the displacement in the direction of the spatial transverse position.

The display 50 may be used to display information, such as parameters and images calculated by the processor 40. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that in some embodiments, the ultrasound imaging apparatus itself may not be integrated with the display, but rather, a computer device (e.g., a computer) is connected to display information through a display (e.g., a display screen) of the computer device.

In one embodiment, the display 50 displays the peristaltic parameters of endometrial tissue.

In order to allow a user, such as a physician, to more intuitively and conveniently view the peristaltic parameters, processor 40 in some embodiments generates a color peristaltic image of endometrial tissue based on the peristaltic parameters of endometrial tissue; and the display 50 displays a color peristalsis image. As described above, the creep parameter herein may be the total creep parameter, or may be the creep parameter of a component in any direction thereof, and thus the color creep image herein may be a color creep image regarding the total creep parameter, or may be a creep parameter and a color creep image regarding a component in a certain direction.

In order to enable the user to more intuitively and conveniently determine the peristaltic parameters of each tissue, in some embodiments the processor 40 further generates an ultrasound image containing endometrial tissue based on the ultrasound echo signals; the display 50 displays a color peristalsis image superimposed on the ultrasound image, for example, fig. 2 is an example, fig. 2(a) is a schematic diagram of a B-mode ultrasound image of endometrium, fig. 2(B) is a schematic diagram of a color peristalsis image superimposed on the ultrasound image, wherein different filling patterns represent different colors, the same filling pattern represents the same color, and different filling patterns represent different tissue peristalsis conditions; it should be noted that fig. 2 is only illustrative and not limiting.

The working process and principle aspects of the ultrasonic imaging device are used for explaining how to calculate and display the peristaltic parameters of the endometrial tissue, and the invention can also be understood by combining the operation flow of the ultrasonic imaging device.

The transmission/reception control circuit 20 in some embodiments is used to control the ultrasonic probe to transmit ultrasonic waves to a target region containing endometrial tissue and receive ultrasonic echoes, obtain ultrasonic echo signals, for example, receive parameters of a transmission sequence and parameters of a reception sequence of the transmission/reception control circuit 20 set on the ultrasonic imaging device by a user, and then the ultrasonic probe 10 is controlled to start the operations of transmitting ultrasonic waves and receiving ultrasonic echo signals; a processor 40 processes the ultrasound echo signals to obtain ultrasound image data, and generates an ultrasound image containing endometrial tissue based on at least a portion of the ultrasound image data; the display 50 is used to display the ultrasound image. Next, the processor 40 determines a region of interest on the ultrasound image in response to a region of interest selection instruction, wherein the region of interest at least contains a portion of endometrial tissue — for example, the user selects the region of interest on the ultrasound image displayed on the display 50 by an input means such as a mouse, in which case the region of interest selection instruction is issued by the user by an input means such as a mouse, or the ultrasound imaging apparatus automatically identifies and selects a region of the endometrium on the ultrasound image as the region of interest — in which case the region of interest selection instruction may be generated and responded to by the processor 40 itself; then controlling the ultrasonic probe to emit ultrasonic waves to the region of interest again, obtaining an ultrasonic echo signal according to the received ultrasonic echo, and calculating at least the peristaltic parameters of the endometrial tissue contained in the region of interest by the processor 40 according to the ultrasonic echo signal; the display 50 then displays the creep parameter. Specifically, processor 40 may generate a color peristaltic image of endometrial tissue based on the peristaltic parameters of endometrial tissue; the display 50 displays a color peristalsis image, for example, by superimposing the color peristalsis image on the ultrasound image. Fig. 3 is an example, in which a rectangle is a determined region of interest on the basis of the ultrasound image shown in fig. 2(a), and a color peristalsis image is displayed in an overlapping manner in the region of interest, wherein different filling patterns represent different colors, the same filling pattern represents the same color, and the same different filling pattern represents different tissue peristalsis conditions.

The following explains the color creep image.

The color in the color peristalsis image is used for indicating the direction of the peristalsis parameter of the tissue, and the type or the brightness of the color is used for indicating the size of the peristalsis parameter of the tissue. The following describes color peristalsis images with the peristalsis parameters as velocity and displacement, respectively.

First, the peristaltic parameter is taken as an example.

In some embodiments, the color peristalsis image comprises a color velocity image for characterizing the speed of tissue peristalsis in the endometrium, wherein colors in the color velocity image are used for representing the speed direction of the tissue peristalsis, and the brightness of the colors is used for representing the speed magnitude of the tissue peristalsis. For example, a first color in the color velocity image indicates that the velocity direction of tissue peristalsis is a direction toward the ultrasound probe that transmits ultrasound waves, and a second color indicates that the velocity direction of tissue peristalsis is a direction away from the ultrasound probe that transmits ultrasound waves; alternatively, the first color in the color velocity image indicates that the direction of the velocity of tissue peristalsis is from the uterine fundus towards the cervix, and the second color indicates that the direction of the velocity of tissue peristalsis is from the cervix towards the uterine fundus. A first color and a second color that differ more than necessary may be used so that the contrast appears more visible, for example, the first color is red and the second color is blue. It can be seen that in this example, the same color indicates the same speed direction of the peristalsis, and different brightness of the same color indicates different speed values of the peristalsis, or represents different speed values.

In some embodiments, the color peristalsis image comprises a color velocity image for characterizing the speed of tissue peristalsis in the endometrium, wherein a first color type and a second color type in the color velocity image are used to represent two velocity directions of tissue peristalsis, respectively, and each of the first color type and the second color type is also used to represent a velocity magnitude of tissue peristalsis. For example, a first color in the color velocity image indicates that the velocity direction of tissue peristalsis is a direction toward the ultrasound probe that transmits ultrasound waves, and a second color indicates that the velocity direction of tissue peristalsis is a direction away from the ultrasound probe that transmits ultrasound waves; alternatively, the first type of color in the color velocity image indicates that the direction of the velocity of tissue peristalsis is from the uterine fundus towards the cervix, and the second type of color indicates that the direction of the velocity of tissue peristalsis is from the cervix towards the uterine fundus. The first type of color may be a warm color family of colors and the second type of color may be a cold color family of colors. For example, red, orange and yellow are warm colors that indicate the same direction of peristalsis, while red, orange and yellow are different colors that indicate different magnitudes of peristalsis, or represent different speed values.

Again, the peristaltic parameter is displacement.

In one embodiment, the color peristalsis image comprises a color displacement image for representing the peristalsis displacement of the tissue in the endometrium, wherein colors in the color displacement image are used for representing the displacement direction of the tissue peristalsis, and the brightness of the colors is used for representing the displacement size of the tissue peristalsis. For example, a first color in the color displacement image indicates that the displacement direction of the tissue creep is a direction toward the ultrasonic probe that transmits the ultrasonic wave, and a second color indicates that the displacement direction of the tissue creep is a direction away from the ultrasonic probe that transmits the ultrasonic wave; alternatively, the first color in the color displacement image indicates that the displacement direction of the tissue creep is a direction from the uterine fundus toward the cervix, and the second color indicates that the displacement direction of the tissue creep is a direction from the cervix toward the uterine fundus. A first color and a second color that differ more than necessary may be used so that the contrast appears more visible, for example, the first color is red and the second color is blue. It can be seen that in this example, the same color indicates the same displacement direction of the peristalsis, and different intensities of the same color indicate different displacement magnitudes of the peristalsis, or represent different displacement values.

In one embodiment, the color peristalsis image comprises a color displacement image for characterizing tissue peristalsis displacement in the endometrium, wherein a first color type and a second color type in the color displacement image are respectively used for representing two displacement directions of the tissue peristalsis, and each color in the first color type and the second color type is also used for representing the displacement magnitude of the tissue peristalsis. For example, a first color in the color displacement image indicates that the direction of displacement of tissue peristalsis is a direction toward the ultrasound probe that transmits ultrasound waves, and a second color indicates that the direction of displacement of tissue peristalsis is a direction away from the ultrasound probe that transmits ultrasound waves; alternatively, the first type of color in the color displacement image represents a direction of displacement of tissue peristalsis from the uterine fundus towards the cervix, and the second type of color represents a direction of displacement of tissue peristalsis from the cervix towards the uterine fundus. The first type of color may be a warm color family of colors and the second type of color may be a cold color family of colors. For example, red, orange and yellow are warm colors that indicate displacement of peristalsis in the same direction, while red, orange and yellow are different colors that indicate displacement of peristalsis in different magnitudes or represent different displacement values.

Likewise, the color peristalsis images may also include color strain images for characterizing tissue strain in the endometrium, and color acceleration images for characterizing tissue motion acceleration in the endometrium. In the color strain image and the color acceleration image, the color velocity image and the color displacement image described in detail above may be referred to, and different strain directions and acceleration directions may be represented by different colors, and further, the strain value and the acceleration magnitude in the direction may be represented by the brightness/shade of the color, or different strain directions and acceleration directions may be represented by two or more different types of colors, and the strain value and the acceleration magnitude in the corresponding direction may be represented by different colors in the type of color. And will not be expanded or described in detail herein.

In addition to the above examples in which different colors are used to distinguish the movement directions, different patterns can be used to distinguish the directions of different peristalsis parameters, and further the sizes of the peristalsis parameters can be expressed by combining the colors. For example, in the example of fig. 3, the endometrial portion is identified with two patterns, diagonal stripes representing a first direction of the peristaltic parameter, e.g., a velocity direction towards the ultrasound probe emitting the ultrasound waves, and grid stripes representing a second direction of the peristaltic parameter, e.g., a velocity direction away from the ultrasound probe emitting the ultrasound waves. Further, the diagonal stripes and the lines of the grid lines may be provided in whole or in part in different colors, or the diagonal stripes and the grid line overlay areas may be filled to different colors, thereby indicating the magnitude of their corresponding endometrial tissue's peristaltic parameters, such as velocity magnitude. In this manner, the display 50 may further provide a speed scale to more intuitively indicate to the user the size of the peristaltic parameter for each color.

In combination with the above example, the color peristalsis image of the present application may represent the direction of the peristalsis parameter of the tissue by color or pattern, and represent the size of the peristalsis parameter of the tissue by the type, brightness or shade of color, so as to present the peristalsis condition of different tissue parts of the endometrium to the user in a manner as intuitive and clear as possible. The colors and patterns that can be used for the characterization of the peristalsis parameters are not limited to the specific examples, and those skilled in the art can select the appropriate types of patterns and colors to construct the color peristalsis image according to the actual needs and with different brightness, shade and the like of the colors.

It should be noted that the display 50 displays the creep parameter by means of a color creep image, and in some cases, only the color creep image is displayed — for example, fig. 4 is an example, in which different filling patterns represent different colors and the same filling pattern represents the same color; in some examples, the ultrasound image and the color peristalsis image may be displayed on the same screen, the color peristalsis image may be displayed near the ultrasound image, for example, on the left side, the right side or the lower side of the ultrasound image, and the color peristalsis image may be displayed near the region of interest of the ultrasound image, for example, on the left horizontal position, the right horizontal position of the region of interest indication box in fig. 5; in some cases, a color peristalsis image may be displayed superimposed on the ultrasound image. The peristalsis parameters of the endometrial tissue are displayed through the color peristalsis image, and the peristalsis state of the endometrium can be objectively and visually presented. When the display 50 displays a color peristalsis image on the ultrasound image in an overlapping manner, the color peristalsis image may be displayed in an overlapping manner in the entire area of the ultrasound image in some examples; in some examples, the color peristalsis image can be displayed only in the region of interest of the user in the ultrasonic image in an overlapping mode; in some instances it is also possible to display the color peristalsis image superimposed only in the endometrial region after the endometrial region has been identified in the ultrasound image.

In order to help the user better identify the anatomical position corresponding to the peristaltic movement from the image, in some embodiments, the display 50 displays the color peristaltic image on the ultrasound image in a semi-transparent manner, and the transparency of the color peristaltic image can be adjusted, so that the user can flexibly adjust the transparency of the color peristaltic image according to actual needs, namely the visualization degree of the tissue information on the ultrasound image.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, the display 50 may display two images in a contrasting manner, where one of the two images is an ultrasound image with a boundary of a region to be overlaid with a color peristalsis image, that is, an ultrasound image with a region of interest indication box, and the other image is an ultrasound image with a color peristalsis image overlaid in the region to be overlaid with the color peristalsis image, that is, an ultrasound image with a color peristalsis image overlaid in the region of interest indication box — for example, fig. 5 is an example, the left image is an ultrasound image with a region of interest indication box (rectangular box), the right image is an ultrasound image overlaid with a color peristalsis image, and different filling patterns of the color peristalsis image represent directions of different peristalsis.

As described above, the peristaltic parameters may include one or more of various types of parameters, such as velocity, acceleration, displacement, strain, and the like. The display may display the type of the creep parameter together with the color creep image. In some embodiments, the display may also provide a switching entry for the user to select which peristaltic parameter corresponds to the color peristaltic image to display. In some embodiments, the display may also provide a multi-screen display access, and the ultrasound imaging apparatus may control to simultaneously display color peristalsis images based on different peristalsis parameters on the display in response to an instruction to trigger the multi-screen display, so as to facilitate a user to more fully understand the peristalsis condition of endometrial tissue. In some examples, the ultrasound image, the color peristalsis image, and the numerically displayed peristalsis parameter may be displayed on the same screen, and the numerically displayed peristalsis parameter may correspond to the same type of peristalsis parameter as the color peristalsis image, such as both peristalsis speeds, or may represent different types of peristalsis parameters, respectively, such as the color peristalsis image representing the peristalsis speed, and the numerically displayed peristalsis parameter representing the acceleration of peristalsis.

In addition, in some examples, a first threshold value may be set for the size of the peristalsis parameter, and when the value of the peristalsis parameter is smaller than the first threshold value, the position is not displayed in color; and/or, a second threshold may also be set, and when the value of the peristalsis parameter is greater than the second threshold, the position is not displayed with color — so-called, not displayed with color, that is, the position is not color-mapped, but only the original ultrasound image is kept; this may be done to circumvent some image noise or interference.

In addition, different detection methods are adopted, the peristalsis parameters detected at various positions in the tissue region may have multiple directions, so that a color peristalsis image which is only displayed in the application and a color peristalsis image which is displayed on an ultrasound image in an overlapping manner in the application are referred to, and as mentioned above, the peristalsis parameters can be total peristalsis parameters or peristalsis parameters of components in any direction; for example, to better represent the creep parameters as vectors, in some embodiments, the creep parameters of two components in the X and Y directions in space are calculated respectively, and then the creep parameters in the X component and the creep parameters in the Y direction are represented respectively by two color creep images displayed on the same screen or switched; wherein the X direction may refer to a direction from the uterine fundus to the cervix or a direction from the cervix to the uterine fundus (one is an X-axis positive direction and one is an X-axis negative direction), and the Y direction may refer to a direction toward or away from the ultrasound probe that emits the ultrasound waves (one is a Y-axis positive direction and one is a Y-axis negative direction); then, the two pure color peristalsis images in the X direction and the Y direction are displayed simultaneously, or the color peristalsis images in the two directions are respectively displayed in an overlapping manner on two identical ultrasound images — for example, fig. 6 is an example, the color peristalsis image in the Y direction is displayed on the left, and the color peristalsis image in the X direction is displayed on the right, wherein different filling patterns represent different colors, and the same filling images represent the same color.

The above is a description of an ultrasound imaging apparatus according to some embodiments of the present invention. The invention also discloses an ultrasonic detection method for uterine peristalsis in some embodiments, which is specifically described below.

Referring to fig. 7 and 8, the ultrasonic detection method of uterine peristalsis of some embodiments may include steps 100 to 130.

Step 100: ultrasound is emitted to a region of the uterus containing endometrial tissue.

Step 110: and receiving the ultrasonic echo to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal.

Step 120: from the ultrasound echo signals, an ultrasound image containing endometrial tissue is generated. It should be noted that step 120 is an optional step, that is, in some embodiments, step 120 may be included, and in some embodiments, step 120 may not be included.

Step 122: and calculating the peristalsis parameters of the endometrial tissue according to the ultrasonic echo signals. In an embodiment, the peristaltic parameters include one or more of displacement, velocity, acceleration, and strain.

There are various ways to calculate the peristalsis parameter of the endometrial tissue in step 122, for example, based on the block-matching (block-matching) idea, the echo signal at a certain position at a certain time is searched at a different position of the signal at another time, and the position with the maximum cross-correlation is found out, and the difference between the position and the original position is used as the displacement at the two times; and for example, based on the idea of ultrasonic doppler effect, the moving speed of the tissue at a certain position at each moment is detected by the principle similar to the conventional blood flow imaging. Thus in one embodiment step 122 of calculating a peristaltic parameter of endometrial tissue based on the ultrasound echo signals may be accomplished by: for the ultrasonic echo signals at any two moments, step 122 searches the tissue at any position in the ultrasonic echo signal at the previous moment and the position of the ultrasonic echo signal at the next moment; step 122, calculating the difference of the positions of the ultrasonic echo signals of the same tissue at the previous moment and the next moment as the displacement of the tissue; in this way, step 122 may calculate the displacement of tissue at any location on the endometrium, and based on the displacement, calculate other peristaltic parameters such as velocity, acceleration, and strain. In another embodiment, step 122 calculates the peristaltic parameters of endometrial tissue according to the ultrasound echo signals, which can also be implemented as follows: step 122 analyzes the doppler information of the ultrasound echo signals to calculate the velocity of the tissue at one or more locations in the endometrium; other peristaltic parameters such as displacement, acceleration, and strain may then be calculated based on the velocity of the tissue. It should be noted that the acceleration result can be obtained by further obtaining the gradient of the speed in the time direction; the strain results can be obtained by graduating the displacement in the direction of the spatial transverse position.

Step 130: showing the peristaltic parameters of endometrial tissue. In some embodiments, step 130 displays the peristalsis parameters of the endometrial tissue, which may be displayed by a color peristalsis image. For example, step 130 generates and displays a color peristalsis image of endometrial tissue based on the peristalsis parameters of endometrial tissue.

In some embodiments including step 122 described above, step 130 displaying the peristaltic parameters of the endometrial tissue may include step 132: and displaying the color peristalsis image on the ultrasonic image in an overlapping mode.

Referring to fig. 9, the ultrasonic detection method of uterine peristalsis of some embodiments may include steps 200 to 240, which are described in detail below.

Step 200: ultrasound image data is obtained by emitting ultrasound waves to a target region containing endometrial tissue using an ultrasound probe.

Step 210: an ultrasound image containing endometrial tissue is displayed based on at least a portion of the ultrasound image data.

Step 220: in response to the region of interest selection instruction, determining a region of interest on the ultrasound image; wherein the region of interest comprises at least part of endometrial tissue. The region of interest may be a region of interest selected by the user on the displayed ultrasound image by means of an input means such as a mouse, at which time a region of interest selection instruction is issued by the user via the input means such as a mouse, or the ultrasound imaging apparatus automatically identifies and selects a region of the endometrium on the ultrasound image as the region of interest-in which case the region of interest selection instruction may be generated by a component, such as a processor, in the sample analysis apparatus that calculates and processes the image.

Step 230: and transmitting ultrasonic waves to the region of interest, and obtaining ultrasonic echo signals according to the received ultrasonic echoes.

Step 240: from the ultrasound echo signals, at least a peristaltic parameter of endometrial tissue comprised by the region of interest is calculated. In one embodiment the peristaltic parameters comprise one or more of displacement, velocity, acceleration and strain. In addition, the method for calculating the peristaltic parameter of endometrial tissue in step 240 can be referred to the description of step 122, and is not repeated herein.

Step 250: showing the peristaltic parameters of endometrial tissue. Step 250 in one embodiment may comprise: the peristaltic parameters of the endometrial tissue are displayed superimposed on the ultrasound image, for example a color peristaltic image is displayed superimposed on the ultrasound image.

For the description of the color peristalsis image, reference may be made to the description of the ultrasound imaging apparatus related to the color peristalsis image, and the description thereof is omitted here.

It should be noted that, as described above, the step 130 and the step 250 display the peristalsis parameter, in some embodiments, the peristalsis parameter may be displayed by means of a color peristalsis image, specifically, only the color peristalsis image may be displayed in some examples, and the color peristalsis image may also be displayed in an overlapping manner on the ultrasound image. The color peristalsis image is used for displaying the peristalsis parameters of the endometrial tissue, and objective and visual presentation can be given to the peristalsis state of the endometrium. When the color peristalsis image is displayed in an overlapping manner on the ultrasonic image, the color peristalsis image can be displayed in an overlapping manner in the whole area of the ultrasonic image in some examples; in some examples, the color peristalsis image can be displayed only in the region of interest of the user in the ultrasonic image in an overlapping mode; in some instances it is also possible to display the color peristalsis image superimposed only in the endometrial region after the endometrial region has been identified in the ultrasound image.

To help the user better identify the anatomical location corresponding to the peristaltic motion from the image, some embodiments display a colored peristaltic image semi-transparently superimposed on the ultrasound image with an adjustable transparency; alternatively, in some embodiments, two images are displayed in a contrast manner, where one image is an ultrasound image on which a boundary of a region to be superimposed with the color peristalsis image is displayed, and the other image is an ultrasound image on which the color peristalsis image is superimposed and displayed in the region to be superimposed with the color peristalsis image.

In addition, in some examples, a first threshold value may be set for the size of the peristalsis parameter, and when the value of the peristalsis parameter is smaller than the first threshold value, the position is not displayed in color; and/or, a second threshold value can be set, when the value of the peristalsis parameter is larger than the second threshold value, the position is not displayed by using color, namely, the position is not displayed by using color, and the color peristalsis image is not displayed in a superposition mode, but the original ultrasonic image is just kept; this may be done to circumvent some image noise or interference.

In addition, different detection methods are adopted, the peristalsis parameters detected at various positions in the tissue region may have multiple directions, so that a color peristalsis image which is only displayed in the application and a color peristalsis image which is displayed in the application are superposed on the ultrasound image, wherein the relevant peristalsis parameters can be the total peristalsis parameters or the peristalsis parameters of components in any direction; for example, to better represent the creep parameters as vectors, in some embodiments, the creep parameters of two components in the X and Y directions in space are calculated respectively, and then the creep parameters in the X component and the creep parameters in the Y direction are represented respectively by two color creep images; wherein the X direction may refer to a direction from the uterine fundus to the cervix or a direction from the cervix to the uterine fundus (one is an X-axis positive direction and one is an X-axis negative direction), and the Y direction may refer to a direction toward or away from the ultrasound probe that emits the ultrasound waves (one is a Y-axis positive direction and one is a Y-axis negative direction); and then, the two pure color peristalsis images in the X direction and the Y direction are displayed simultaneously, or the color peristalsis images in the two directions are respectively displayed on the two same ultrasonic images in an overlapped mode.

Reference is made herein to various exemplary embodiments. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that changes and modifications may be made to the exemplary embodiments without departing from the scope hereof. For example, the various operational steps, as well as the components used to perform the operational steps, may be implemented in differing ways depending upon the particular application or consideration of any number of cost functions associated with operation of the system (e.g., one or more steps may be deleted, modified or incorporated into other steps).

In the above embodiments, the implementation may be wholly or partially realized by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. Additionally, as will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, the principles herein may be reflected in a computer program product on a computer readable storage medium, which is pre-loaded with computer readable program code. Any tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may be used, including magnetic storage devices (hard disks, floppy disks, etc.), optical storage devices (CD-to-ROM, DVD, Blu-Ray discs, etc.), flash memory, and/or the like. These computer program instructions may be loaded onto a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus create means for implementing the functions specified. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including means for implementing the function specified. The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified.

While the principles herein have been illustrated in various embodiments, many modifications of structure, arrangement, proportions, elements, materials, and components particularly adapted to specific environments and operative requirements may be employed without departing from the principles and scope of the present disclosure. The above modifications and other changes or modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this document.

The foregoing detailed description has been described with reference to various embodiments. However, one skilled in the art will recognize that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the disclosure is to be considered in an illustrative and not a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope thereof. Also, advantages, other advantages, and solutions to problems have been described above with regard to various embodiments. However, the benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that may cause any element(s) to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essential feature or element of any or all the claims. As used herein, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, system, article, or apparatus. Furthermore, the term "coupled," and any other variation thereof, as used herein, refers to a physical connection, an electrical connection, a magnetic connection, an optical connection, a communicative connection, a functional connection, and/or any other connection.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that many changes may be made to the details of the above-described embodiments without departing from the underlying principles of the invention.

Claims

1. An ultrasonic detection method for uterine peristalsis is characterized by comprising the following steps:

transmitting ultrasonic waves to the region of interest, and obtaining ultrasonic echo signals according to the received ultrasonic echoes;

calculating at least a peristaltic parameter of endometrial tissue contained in the region of interest according to the ultrasonic echo signals; and

displaying the peristaltic parameters of the endometrial tissue.

2. An ultrasonic detection method for uterine peristalsis is characterized by comprising the following steps:

receiving an ultrasonic echo to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal;

displaying the peristaltic parameters of the endometrial tissue.

3. A method of detection as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the creep parameters include one or more of displacement, velocity, acceleration and strain.

4. The test method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said displaying a peristaltic parameter of said endometrial tissue comprises:

displaying at least the color peristaltic image.

5. The detection method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the color or pattern in the color peristalsis image is used for indicating the direction of the peristalsis parameter of the tissue, and the color or color brightness is used for indicating the size of the peristalsis parameter of the tissue.

6. The detection method according to claim 4, wherein the color peristalsis image comprises a color speed image for representing the peristalsis speed of the tissue in the endometrium, wherein colors in the color speed image are used for representing the speed direction of the tissue peristalsis, and the brightness of the colors is used for representing the speed magnitude of the tissue peristalsis; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

the color peristalsis image comprises a color displacement image used for representing the peristalsis displacement of the tissue in the endometrium, wherein colors in the color displacement image are used for representing the displacement direction of the tissue peristalsis, and the brightness of the colors is used for representing the displacement size of the tissue peristalsis.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein a first color in said color velocity image indicates a velocity direction of tissue creep toward an ultrasound probe emitting said ultrasound waves, and a second color indicates a velocity direction of tissue creep away from an ultrasound probe emitting said ultrasound waves; or the first color in the color speed image represents that the speed direction of the tissue peristalsis is the direction from the uterine fundus to the cervix, and the second color represents that the speed direction of the tissue peristalsis is the direction from the cervix to the uterine fundus; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

the displacement direction of the first color representing the tissue wriggling in the color displacement image is a direction towards the ultrasonic probe emitting the ultrasonic wave, and the displacement direction of the second color representing the tissue wriggling is a direction away from the ultrasonic probe emitting the ultrasonic wave; or the first color in the color displacement image represents that the displacement direction of the tissue peristalsis is the direction from the uterine fundus to the cervix uteri, and the second color represents that the displacement direction of the tissue peristalsis is the direction from the cervix uteri to the uterine fundus.

8. The detection method according to claim 4, wherein the color peristalsis image comprises a color speed image for characterizing the speed of tissue peristalsis in the endometrium, wherein a first color class and a second color class in the color speed image are respectively used for representing two speed directions of tissue peristalsis, and each color in the first color class and the second color class is also used for representing the speed magnitude of tissue peristalsis; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

the color peristalsis image comprises a color displacement image used for representing the peristalsis displacement of the tissue in the endometrium, wherein a first color and a second color in the color displacement image are respectively used for representing two displacement directions of the tissue peristalsis, and each color in the first color and the second color is also used for representing the displacement size of the tissue peristalsis.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein a first type of color in said color velocity image indicates a velocity direction of tissue creep toward an ultrasound probe emitting said ultrasound waves, and a second type of color indicates a velocity direction of tissue creep away from an ultrasound probe emitting said ultrasound waves; or the first color in the color speed image represents that the speed direction of the tissue peristalsis is the direction from the uterine fundus to the cervix, and the second color represents that the speed direction of the tissue peristalsis is the direction from the cervix to the uterine fundus; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

the displacement direction of the first color representing the tissue wriggling in the color displacement image is a direction towards the ultrasonic probe emitting the ultrasonic wave, and the displacement direction of the second color representing the tissue wriggling is a direction away from the ultrasonic probe emitting the ultrasonic wave; or, the first color in the color displacement image represents that the speed direction of the tissue peristalsis is the direction from the uterine fundus to the cervix uteri, and the second color represents that the displacement direction of the tissue peristalsis is the direction from the cervix uteri to the uterine fundus.

10. The method for detecting according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said displaying the peristaltic parameters of the endometrial tissue further comprises: displaying the peristaltic parameter numerically.

11. The detection method of claim 4, wherein said displaying the color peristalsis image comprises displaying the color peristalsis image superimposed on an ultrasound image obtained from at least a portion of the ultrasound image data or the ultrasound image obtained from the ultrasound echo signal.

12. The detection method according to claim 11, wherein said displaying the color peristalsis image on the ultrasound image in an overlapping manner comprises:

identifying an endometrial region on the ultrasound image;

displaying the color peristaltic image superimposed within the identified region of the endometrium.

13. The detection method according to claim 11 or 12,

the color peristalsis image is displayed on the ultrasonic image in an overlapped mode according to the adjustable transparency;

or, displaying the color peristalsis image near the region of interest;

or, displaying the color peristalsis image in the vicinity of the ultrasound image;

or, the ultrasonic image and the ultrasonic image superposed with the color peristalsis image are displayed in a contrast mode;

or, comparing and displaying the two ultrasonic images, wherein one ultrasonic image displays the boundary of the area to be superposed with the color peristalsis image, and the other ultrasonic image superposes and displays the color peristalsis image in the area to be superposed with the color peristalsis image.

14. The method for detecting according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said calculating of the peristaltic parameters of endometrial tissue comprises:

for the ultrasonic echo signals at any two moments, searching the tissue at any position in the ultrasonic echo signal at the previous moment and the position of the ultrasonic echo signal at the next moment;

and calculating the difference of the positions of the same tissue in the ultrasonic echo signals at the previous moment and the next moment as the displacement of the tissue.

15. The method for detecting according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said calculating of the peristaltic parameters of endometrial tissue comprises: analyzing the Doppler information of the ultrasonic echo signals to calculate the velocity of the tissue at one or more locations in the endometrium.

16. An ultrasound imaging apparatus, comprising:

an ultrasonic probe;

a processor to:

processing the ultrasonic echo signal to obtain an ultrasonic image, and obtaining an interested area according to the ultrasonic image;

calculating at least the peristaltic parameters of endometrial tissue in the region of interest according to the ultrasonic echo signals;

a display for displaying the ultrasound image and/or the peristaltic parameters of the endometrial tissue.

17. The ultrasound imaging apparatus of claim 16, wherein the peristaltic parameters comprise one or more of displacement, velocity, acceleration, and strain.

18. Ultrasound imaging apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein the display is adapted to dynamically display peristaltic parameters of the ultrasound images and/or the endometrial tissue.

19. The ultrasonic imaging device according to claim 16 or 17, wherein the processor generates a color peristalsis image of endometrial tissue based on the peristalsis parameters of endometrial tissue; the display displays at least the color peristaltic image.

20. The ultrasound imaging apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the color or pattern in the color peristalsis image is used to represent the direction of the peristalsis parameter of the tissue; color or color intensity is used to indicate the magnitude of the peristaltic parameter of the tissue.

21. The ultrasound imaging apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the first color or the first pattern in the color peristalsis image indicates that the direction of the peristalsis parameter of the tissue is a direction toward the ultrasound probe emitting the ultrasound waves, and the second color or the second pattern indicates that the direction of the peristalsis parameter of the tissue is a direction away from the ultrasound probe emitting the ultrasound waves; or the first color or the first pattern in the color peristalsis image represents that the direction of the peristalsis parameter of the tissue is the direction from the uterine fundus towards the cervix, and the second color or the second pattern represents that the direction of the peristalsis parameter of the tissue is the direction from the cervix towards the uterine fundus.

22. The ultrasonic imaging apparatus of claim 19, wherein the color peristalsis images comprise a color velocity image for characterizing tissue velocity in the endometrium, a color displacement image for characterizing tissue displacement in the endometrium, a color strain image for characterizing tissue strain in the endometrium, and/or a color acceleration image for characterizing tissue motion acceleration in the endometrium; wherein the speed direction, displacement direction, strain direction and acceleration direction of the tissue are distinguished by color, pattern or arrow, and the speed magnitude, displacement magnitude, strain magnitude and acceleration magnitude of the tissue are distinguished by the type or brightness of color.

23. The ultrasonic imaging apparatus of claim 19,

the display displays the color peristalsis image on the ultrasonic image in an overlapping mode;

or the display displays the ultrasonic image and the color peristalsis image on the same screen;

24. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized by comprising a program executable by a processor to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 15.