JP2815620B2 - Ultrasound diagnostic equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Overview] Regarding an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for displaying ultrasonic image data, an ultrasonic image is sequentially stored in an image memory over a plurality of heartbeats, and image data is sequentially read out in a predetermined time phase and sequentially read therefrom. For the purpose of displaying and displaying the maximum / minimum images of the contraction of the heart within the heartbeat easily, and for smooth display, etc., the ultrasonic image data is sequentially written to the image memory over a plurality of heartbeats and Time phases from the R wave of the electrocardiogram at the time of writing are respectively stored, and at the time of reading, image data is sequentially and continuously taken out from a predetermined time phase among these stored time phases, and is displayed in slow motion or in time phase order (and In the reverse direction), each image data is extracted and displayed as a still image.

[Industrial application field] The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that displays ultrasonic image data.

[Problems to be solved by conventional technology and invention]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus has a so-called cine loop function of sequentially storing a plurality of images and displaying, as a moving image or a still image, an image preceding the freeze phase when the image is frozen by an operator's instruction.
With this cine loop function, it is possible to easily select and observe an image obtained at an optimal timing from continuously stored images without synchronizing with a biological signal such as an electrocardiogram. In particular, in a color Doppler displaying blood flow information in two dimensions, this function is indispensable for observing an event in which the blood flow state changes instantaneously. In particular, when determining the size of the heart when the heart is contracted most, and the maximum reflux area by color Doppler,
Since comparisons are made in a plurality of heartbeat cycles, it is necessary to update many images, and there has been a problem that it is difficult to easily obtain the size of the heart and the maximum reflux area.

In addition, the color Doppler requires a lot of time to obtain one image, and a sufficient frame for measurement cannot be obtained because of a very rapid change in blood flow. For this reason, there is a problem in that the images stored in these states are sequentially reproduced and the image does not seem to change smoothly.

According to the present invention, an ultrasonic image is sequentially stored in an image memory over a plurality of heartbeats, image data is read out in a predetermined time phase and sequentially displayed, and the maximum / maximum contraction of the heart within the heartbeat is obtained.
The purpose is to make it easier to observe the smallest image or to display it smoothly.

[Means to solve the problem]

 Means for solving the problem will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 1, an image memory 2 is a memory for writing ultrasonic image data over a plurality of heartbeats.

The time phase difference detection circuit 4 detects a time phase difference from the R wave of the electrocardiogram to the image update signal (image write signal).
The detected time difference is stored in association with the image memory address (memory number).

 The display unit 7 displays an image.

[Action]

In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, the image data is sequentially written into the image memory 1, and the time phase difference detection circuit 4 detects and stores the time phase difference between the image update signal and the R wave of the electrocardiogram. Of the stored phases, image data is sequentially and sequentially taken out in a predetermined time phase order to display slow motion, or image data is taken out one by one in a time phase order (or in the reverse direction) and displayed as a still image. .

Therefore, the image data written into the image memory over a plurality of heartbeats is extracted in time sequence from the R wave of the electrocardiogram and displayed in slow motion or displayed as a still image so that the maximum / minimum contraction of the heart within the heartbeat can be obtained. It is possible to easily observe an image or to smoothly display an image.

〔Example〕

Next, the configuration and operation of one embodiment of the present invention will be sequentially described in detail with reference to FIGS.

In FIG. 1, an ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 1 transmits an ultrasonic pulse to a living body and outputs image data for a B-mode image or a color Doppler image from a received signal reflected and scattered by the living body and returned. It is.

The image memory 2 is an image memory for writing image data output from the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 1 in accordance with an image update signal, and is, for example, an image memory for writing about 64 images. During normal real-time display, the latest image data is sent to the display unit 7 in response to the image update signal, and the latest image is displayed on the CRT 7-1.

The electrocardiograph 3 detects an electric potential generated from the heart from the body surface and outputs an R wave as a trigger.

The time phase difference detection circuit 4 detects a time phase difference from the trigger of the R wave to the image update signal.

The time phase difference storage unit 5 stores the time phase difference detected by the time phase difference detection circuit 4 in association with the memory number of the image data written in the image memory 2 (FIG. 4,
(See FIG. 5, time difference).

The image reproduction sequencer 6 stores the image data in the image memory 2.
After giving a freeze instruction to stop writing to
Image memory address (memory number) that was last written
And performs slow motion display or still image display in response to the instruction (described later with reference to FIG. 3).

The display unit 7 displays image data on the CRT 71.

 FIG. 2 is a conceptual explanatory view of the present invention.

FIG. 2 (a) shows an ideal regurgitant blood flow expression,
This shows a blood flow expression to be displayed by the present embodiment. this is,
The blood flow expressions of a plurality of heartbeats are stored and sequentially displayed in the order of time from the R wave of the electrocardiogram waveform. The shaded area indicates the degree of contraction of the heart.

FIG. 2 (b) shows a blood flow expression obtained by ordinary color Doppler measurement. For example, at the heartbeat 1, a blood flow expression as indicated by hatching in the figure is measured. Similarly, a blood flow expression as shown in FIG. When the blood flow expressions obtained from these heartbeats 1 to 3 are rearranged and displayed in chronological order from the R wave of the electrocardiogram, an ideal blood flow current is displayed as a slow motion display as shown in FIG. Still images are displayed one by one (see FIG. 3).

Next, according to the order shown in the flowchart of FIG.
The operation of the configuration shown in the figure will be sequentially described in detail with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 3, measurement is performed. This is because the image data (B mode image, color Doppler image, etc.) output from the ultrasonic transmission / reception unit 1 in FIG. 1 is sequentially written into the image memory 2 and the time phase difference detection circuit 4 outputs the R wave output from the electrocardiograph. , The time phase difference up to the image update signal is detected, and the time phase difference storage unit 5 stores the time phase difference in association with the memory number (image memory address) written in the image memory 2 (see memory No. in FIG. 4). ).

Specifies freeze. This means that, in response to a freeze designation from the operator, the writing to the image memory 2 is stopped and the image data thus far written is stored, and the time phase storage unit 5 is, for example, as shown in FIG. Thus, the time phase difference is stored in association with the memory No. 1 to the memory No. 30.

Sorts in chronological order, calculates the time difference, and stores it in the table. For example, as shown in FIG. 4 (b), FIG. 4 (b) sorts in the order of the small time difference and shows the time difference between the next memory No. in each of the sorted memory Nos. And store it in the table. For example, the first memory No. “1” in FIG.
The automatic display interval ratio “10” of the second memory No. “17” is different from the time difference “20” of the second memory No. “17” to the time difference “10” of the first memory No. “1”.
Is obtained by subtracting

Displays the image data of the memory number sequentially with reference to the table in response to the slow motion instruction. This is because the image reproducing sequencer 6 refers to, for example, the table shown in FIG.
The image data is taken out from the image memory 2 in the order of, and sequentially displayed on the display unit 7 at intervals proportional to the automatic display interval ratio of the memory No., so-called slow motion display is performed as shown in FIG. To do. This makes it possible to observe changes within one heartbeat smoothly and minutely.

In response to the still image display instruction, the operator moves the table to +1 or -1 using the switch, for example, so that the operator moves the cursor to the R wave, and performs a so-called still image display. As a result, for example, the images at the respective phases shown in FIG. 2 (a) are sequentially displayed one by one as a still image, and the images at the desired phases (the blood flow expression at the time of maximum / minimum contraction) can be easily selected. And observe it.

FIG. 4 shows a sequence example according to the present invention. 4th
FIG. 7A shows a time phase difference (time phase difference from the R wave of the electrocardiogram) with respect to the memory No. at the time when image data is sequentially written into the image memory 2 and frozen.

FIG. 4 (b) sorts the memory numbers in ascending order of the time phase difference in FIG. 4 (a), calculates the time phase difference between each memory number and the next memory number, and automatically calculates the difference. This is a display interval ratio.

FIG. 5 shows an example of a sequence according to the present invention. This is when the change of one electrocardiogram is "-150 ms".

FIG. 5 (a) shows a time phase difference (time phase difference from the R wave of the electrocardiogram) with respect to the memory No. at the time when the image data is sequentially written into the image memory 2 and frozen. Where 1
Since the time at which the ECG is changed is set to "-150 ms", the memory No.
“8”, memory No. “16”, memory No. “23”, memory No. “24”
, The negative phase difference is stored. Otherwise, it is the same as FIG. 4 (a).

FIG. 5 (b) sorts the memory numbers in ascending order of the time phase difference in FIG. 4 (a), and calculates the time phase difference between each memory number and the next memory number and automatically displays this. It is an interval ratio. In this case, since the change time of one electrocardiogram is set to "-150 ms", the data is sorted as shown in the figure in ascending order based on the "150 ms". The base point is sequentially displayed as a slow motion display or a still image display, etc. It becomes possible.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the image data is written to the image memory over a plurality of heartbeats, and the time phase from the R wave of the electrocardiogram at the time of writing is stored. Because it employs a motion display or still image display, it is easy to observe the maximum / minimum images of the contraction of the heart within the heartbeat,
It is possible to easily observe an image in which the backflow has the maximum area, or to observe an image that changes smoothly.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a conceptual explanatory diagram of the present invention, FIG.
4 and 5 show an example of a sequence according to the present invention. In the figure, 1 is an ultrasonic transmission / reception unit, 2 is an image memory, 3 is an electrocardiograph, 4 is a time phase difference detection circuit, 5 is a time phase difference storage unit, 6 is an image reproduction sequencer, and 7 is a display unit.

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for displaying ultrasonic image data, ultrasonic image data is sequentially written into an image memory over a plurality of heartbeats, and time phases from the R wave of the electrocardiogram at the time of writing are stored. Means for reading out the image data sequentially from a predetermined time phase of the stored time phases at the time of reading, and displaying the slow motion display, or extracting the image data one by one in the time phase order (or the reverse direction). And a means for displaying a still image. 2. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for displaying at the time of said slow motion display at intervals proportional to a time phase difference between respective images.