KR20130077410A - Method and apparatus for providing acoustic radiation force impulse imaging - Google Patents

Abstract

Obtaining strain information of the object due to the vibration force of the internal vibrating body; Correcting strain information of the object based on the magnitude of the vibration force of the internal vibrating body; Generating an elastic image of the object using the strain information of the corrected object; And displaying an elastic image of the generated object.

Description

Elastic image providing method and elastic image providing device {METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING ACOUSTIC RADIATION FORCE IMPULSE IMAGING}

The present invention relates to a method of providing an accurate elastic image (ARFI: ACOUSTIC RADIATION FORCE IMPULSE IMAGING) in consideration of the magnitude of the pressure of the internal vibrating body and an apparatus for providing an elastic image for the same.

Elastic imaging is an image of elasticity of an object. The elasticity of the subject is associated with the pathological phenomenon of the subject. Tumors are hard compared to normal tissue. That is, since the elasticity of the tumor is greater than that of the normal tissue, when the same pressure is applied to the normal tissue and the tumor, the strain (strain) of the normal tissue is larger than the strain (strain) of the tumor. Thus, elastic imaging may be used to diagnose tumors or cancers.

For example, an elasticity contrast index (ECI) obtained using elastic imaging may be used to diagnose nodules of tissues. The Elastic Difference Index (ECI) is a quantification of the difference in firmness between nodule in tissue and normal tissue around the nodule. The larger the ECI, the harder the nodule is, and the greater the probability that the nodule is malignant. In addition to the detection and classification of cancer or tumor, elastic imaging can be applied in various fields such as kidney transplant monitoring, skin and tissue engineering, cancer treatment monitoring.

The most widely used elastic imaging method is Free-hand Elastography. This method has the advantage of being easy to use as a user directly applying a force using a probe, but has a disadvantage in that the force cannot be applied uniformly.

Therefore, there is a need for an ultrasonic device that can compensate for the disadvantages of free-hand elastorapy and provide accurate elastic images.

An elastic image providing method according to an embodiment of the present invention, the method comprising: obtaining strain information of the object by the vibration force of the internal vibrating body; Correcting strain information of the object based on the magnitude of the vibration force of the internal vibrating body; Generating an elastic image of the object using the strain information of the corrected object; And displaying an elastic image of the generated object.

The method of providing an elastic image, according to an exemplary embodiment, may include correcting strain information of the object based on blood pressure information of the internal vibrating body.

An elastic image providing method according to an embodiment of the present invention may include correcting strain information of the object based on the magnitude of the vibration force of the internal vibrating body according to the distance between the internal vibrating body and the object.

The method of providing an elastic image, according to an exemplary embodiment, may further include correcting strain information of the object based on a distance between the object and the outer wall of the organ.

An elastic image providing method according to an embodiment of the present invention may include displaying the elastic image in the form of a color map.

An elastic image providing method according to an embodiment of the present invention, detecting the lesion of the object based on the strain information of the corrected object; Numerically calculating the positive and malignant potential of the subject for which the lesion was detected; And displaying the calculated numerical value.

An elastic image providing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, the obtaining unit for obtaining the strain information of the object by the vibration force of the internal vibrating body; A correction unit correcting the strain information of the object based on the magnitude of the vibration force of the internal vibrating body; An image processor configured to generate an elastic image of the object by using the strain information of the corrected object; A display unit configured to display an elastic image of the generated object; And a controller configured to control the acquirer, the corrector, the image processor, and the display.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an elastic image providing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing an elastic image according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a view showing an ultrasound image of an internal vibrator according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a magnitude of a vibration force of an internal vibrating body and a strain of an object according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagram for describing a method of correcting strain information of an object in consideration of a distance between an object and an internal vibrating body related to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
FIG. 6 is a diagram for describing a method of correcting strain information of an object in consideration of an influence of an organ outer wall according to an embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a diagram illustrating an elastic image related to an embodiment of the present invention.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Also, in certain cases, there may be a term selected arbitrarily by the applicant, in which case the meaning thereof will be described in detail in the description of the corresponding invention. Therefore, the terms used in the present invention should be defined based on the meanings of the terms and the contents throughout the present invention, rather than the names of the simple terms.

When an element is referred to as "including" an element throughout the specification, it is to be understood that the element may include other elements, without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. In addition, the terms "... unit", "module", etc. described in the specification mean a unit for processing at least one function or operation, which may be implemented in hardware or software or a combination of hardware and software. .

Throughout the specification "subject" may mean a part of the body. For example, the subject may include an organ such as the liver, the heart, the uterus, the brain, the breast, the abdomen, or the fetus. A subject according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a tissue of interest to be diagnosed pathologically. In addition, the subject according to an embodiment of the present invention may further include an adjacent artery adjacent to the tissue of interest and an adjacent tissue adjacent to the tissue of interest. For example, if the tissue of interest is a thyroid, the adjacent artery may be a carotid and the adjacent tissue may be a trachea.

Throughout the specification "strain (strain)" refers to the degree to which the object is deformed by the stress (Stress or Pressure) applied per unit area.

Throughout the specification, the term "user" may be, but is not limited to, a medical professional such as a doctor, nurse, clinician,

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily carry out the present invention. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. In the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted in order to clearly describe the present invention, and like reference numerals designate like parts throughout the specification.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an elastic image providing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The elastic image providing apparatus 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention refers to a device capable of acquiring an ultrasound image or an elastic image from an object using ultrasound and displaying the obtained ultrasound image or the elastic image to a user. .

The elastic image providing device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention may be implemented in various forms. For example, the elastic image providing apparatus 100 described herein may be implemented in the form of a mobile terminal as well as a fixed terminal. Examples of mobile terminals include laptop computers, PDAs, tablet PCs, and the like.

The elastic image providing apparatus 100 may include an acquirer 110, a corrector 120, an image processor 130, a display 140, and a controller 150. However, not all illustrated components are required. The elastic image providing apparatus 100 may be implemented by more components than the illustrated components, and the elastic image providing apparatus 100 may be implemented by fewer components.

The acquirer 110 may acquire strain information of the object. The strain of the object according to an embodiment of the present invention means the degree of deformation of the object by the vibration force of the internal vibrating body. The acquirer 110 may include a transducer and a data generator. That is, the acquirer 110 may acquire strain information of the object using a transducer (not shown) and a data generator (not shown).

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the acquirer 110 may transmit an ultrasound signal to the object using the transducer. The acquirer 110 may receive the ultrasonic echo signal reflected from the object by using the transducer. The acquirer 110 may acquire a plurality of ultrasound image frames by using the received ultrasound echo signal.

The acquirer 110 may generate strain information about the object through the data generator. That is, the data generation unit according to an embodiment of the present invention may compare the plurality of ultrasound image frames to extract displacement of an object, and generate strain information on the object by using the extracted displacement.

The obtaining unit 110 may obtain size information of the vibration force of the internal vibrating body. The internal vibrating body according to an embodiment of the present invention refers to a stress source existing inside the body. An example of the internal vibrating body may be a blood vessel such as a carotid artery. The magnitude of the vibration force according to an embodiment of the present invention means the strength of the force applied to the external tissue by the internal vibrating body. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the acquirer 110 compares a plurality of ultrasound image frames and extracts displacements of the internal vibrating bodies, and acquires magnitude information of the vibration force of the internal vibrating bodies using the extracted displacements. can do.

The corrector 120 may correct the strain information of the object acquired by the acquirer 110 based on the magnitude of the vibration force of the internal vibrator. The corrector 120 corrects the strain information of the object in consideration of the strength of the force applied to the object by the internal vibrator.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the correction unit 120 may correct the strain information of the object based on the blood pressure information of the internal vibrating body. When the internal vibrating body is a blood vessel (eg, a carotid artery), the magnitude of the vibration force of the internal vibrating body may vary according to the size of the blood pressure of the blood vessel. Therefore, the correction unit 120 reports the normal blood pressure as the reference blood pressure, compares the blood pressure information of the examinee with the reference blood pressure, and corrects the strain information of the object.

The magnitude of the vibration force of the internal vibrating body of the hypotension patient is smaller than that of the normal person, and the magnitude of the vibration force of the internal vibrating body of the high blood pressure patient is larger than that of the normal person. That is, the magnitude of the stress applied to the subject by the internal vibrator of the hypotension patient is smaller than the stress applied to the subject by the internal vibrator of the hypertensive patient, and the magnitude of the stress applied to the subject by the internal vibrator of the hypertension patient is applied to the subject. Greater than the magnitude of the stress.

Therefore, the correction unit 120 may calculate a weight for correcting the strain information of the object based on the blood pressure information of the internal vibrating body. The weight increases with lower blood pressure.

For example, when the blood pressure of the examinee is lower than the blood pressure of a normal person, the corrector 120 may calculate a weight greater than 1. The corrector 120 corrects the strain information of the object by applying the calculated weight.

In the case of hypotension patients, since the magnitude of the vibration force of the internal vibrating body is lower than that of the general person, even a normal tissue may have a low strain rate and may be suspected as a tumor. Therefore, the correction unit 120 needs to correct the strain information of the subject of the hypotension patient.

On the other hand, when the blood pressure of the subject is higher than the blood pressure of the normal person, the correction unit 120 may calculate a weight less than one. The corrector 120 may correct the strain information of the object by applying the calculated weight. In the case of hypertension patients, since the magnitude of the vibration force of the internal vibrating body is larger than that of the general person, even if the subject is tumor tissue, the deformation rate of the subject may be high. Therefore, the correction unit 120 needs to correct the strain information of the object of the hypertension patient.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the correction unit 120 may correct the strain information of the object in consideration of the distance between the internal vibrating body and the object. As the distance between the internal vibrating body and the object increases, the object is less affected by the internal vibrating body. This is because the magnitude of the vibration force of the internal vibrating body applied to the object depends on the distance between the object and the internal vibrating body.

Therefore, the correction unit 120 may calculate a higher weight as the distance between the internal vibrating body and the object increases. The corrector 120 corrects the strain information of the object by applying the calculated weight to the strain of the object.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the correction unit 120 may correct the strain information of the object based on the distance between the object and the outer wall. The organ outer wall according to an embodiment of the present invention refers to a part where the organ (or tissue) and the organ (or tissue) are in contact with each other. An example of the outer wall of the organ may be a part where the thyroid gland and the trachea contact each other.

The elastic image providing apparatus 100 may not acquire accurate strain information from an object close to the outer wall of the organ. This is because the closer the subject is to the outer wall of the organ, the more the subject is affected by not only the internal vibrating body but also other organs.

Therefore, the correction unit 120 may calculate a weight to correct the strain information of the object in consideration of the distance between the object and the outer wall of the organ. The weight increases as the subject approaches the organ outer wall.

The image processor 130 may generate an elastic image of the object using the corrected strain information of the object. That is, the image processor 130 may adjust pixel brightness and / or color of the elastic image based on the corrected strain information of the object.

The display 140 may display and output information processed by the elastic image providing apparatus 100. For example, the display 140 may display an elastic image of the object. In this case, the display 140 may display the elastic image by overlaying the elastic image on the ultrasound image of the object.

Ultrasound image according to an embodiment of the present invention is a B mode (brightness mode), C mode (color mode), M mode (Motion Mode), PW (Pulsed-wave) mode, CW (Continuous wave) mode, 2D (two The image may be generated through at least one of -dimensional mode and three-dimensional mode.

The display 140 may display the elastic image of the object in the form of a color map. In addition, the display unit 140 may display the positive and malignant potential values of the object where the lesion is detected. Lesion means a change of living body caused by the disease.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the numerical value may be displayed separately from the elastic image or may be displayed on the elastic image.

When the display unit 140 and the touch pad form a mutual layer structure to form a touch screen, the display unit 140 may be used as an input device in addition to the output device. The display unit 140 may be a liquid crystal display, a thin film transistor-liquid crystal display, an organic light-emitting diode, a flexible display, or a three-dimensional display. 3D display).

In addition, two or more display units 140 may exist according to the implementation form of the elastic image providing apparatus 100. The touch screen can be configured to detect the touch input position as well as the touch input area as well as the touch input pressure. In addition, the touch screen can be configured to detect not only the real-touch but also the proximity touch.

The controller 150 may detect the lesion of the object based on the corrected strain information of the object. In addition, the controller 150 may calculate the positive and malignant potential of the object in which the lesion is detected as a numerical value.

For example, when the deformation rate of the object exceeds a preset range, the controller 150 may determine that a lesion exists in the object. In this case, the controller 150 may calculate the positive and malignant potentials numerically according to the degree to which the deformation rate of the object exceeds a preset range.

The controller 150 may control the acquirer 110, the corrector 120, the image processor 130, and the display 140 as a whole.

Hereinafter, a method of providing an accurate elastic image of an object through each configuration of the elastic image providing apparatus 100 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 2.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing an elastic image according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the elastic image providing method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes steps that are processed in time series in the elastic image providing apparatus 100 illustrated in FIG. 1. Therefore, even if omitted below, the contents described above with respect to the elastic imaging apparatus 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 may be applied to the elastic image providing method of FIG. 2.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the elastic image providing apparatus 100 may obtain strain information of the object due to the vibration force of the internal vibrating body [S210]. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the elastic image providing apparatus 100 may receive the strain information of the object from the outside or may directly obtain it from the object by using an ultrasonic signal.

For example, the elastic image providing apparatus 100 may transmit a plurality of ultrasound signals to an object, receive an ultrasound response signal from the object, and generate a plurality of ultrasound image frames for the object. In this case, the elastic image providing apparatus 100 may measure a position change (displacement) of the object in a plurality of ultrasound image frames. The elastic image providing apparatus 100 obtains strain information of the object due to the vibration force of the internal vibrating body based on the measured position change of the object.

Referring to FIG. 3, the elastic image providing apparatus 100 uses the carotid artery 310 as an internal vibrator to acquire an elastic image of the thyroid gland, which is an object. The elastic image providing apparatus 100 detects the strain of the thyroid gland due to the vibration force that relaxes / contracts the carotid artery 310. If the thyroid strain is lower than the reference strain (normal thyroid strain), it can be seen that the thyroid gland is harder than general soft tissue. In other words, cancer or tumor tissue is likely to be present in the thyroid gland.

Referring back to FIG. 2, the elastic image providing apparatus 100 may correct strain information of the object based on the magnitude of the vibration force of the internal vibrating body [S220].

For example, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the elastic image providing apparatus 100 may correct the strain information of the object based on the blood pressure information of the internal vibrating body. When the internal vibrator is a blood vessel such as a carotid artery, the higher the blood pressure, the greater the force (vibration force) applied by the internal vibrator to the object. This is because the strain of the subject depends on the blood pressure of the internal vibrating body.

Therefore, the elastic image providing apparatus 100 compares the blood pressure of the internal vibrating body with the reference blood pressure of a normal person to correct strain information of the object. This will be described with reference to FIG. 4.

4 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a magnitude of a vibration force of an internal vibrating body and a strain of an object according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4, the blood pressure of a normal person A may be 80-120 (mmHg), and the blood pressure of a low blood pressure patient B may be 50-90 (mmHg). Strain is a when blood pressure is 50 (mmHg), strain is b when blood pressure is 80 (mmHg), strain is c when blood pressure is 90 (mmHg), strain is d when blood pressure is 120 (mmHg) Can be. That is, for the same subject, the strain due to the internal vibrating body having low blood pressure may be lower than the strain due to the internal vibrating body having normal blood pressure. Therefore, the elastic image providing apparatus 100 may display a more accurate elastic image by applying a weight to the strain of the object caused by the internal vibrating body having low blood pressure.

Since the elastic image providing apparatus 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention obtains strain information of an object using an internal vibrator and corrects strain information of the object in consideration of blood pressure characteristics of the internal vibrator, It is possible to increase the accuracy of the elastic image.

According to the second embodiment of the present invention, the elastic image providing apparatus 100 may correct the strain information of the object based on the magnitude of the vibration force of the internal vibrating body according to the distance between the internal vibrating body and the object. This will be described with reference to FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for describing a method of correcting strain information of an object in consideration of a distance between an object and an internal vibrating body related to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 5, the farther the tissue is from the internal vibrating carotid artery 510, the less affected by the carotid artery 510. The greater the distance between the internal vibrating body and the object, the weaker the force applied to the internal vibrating body. Therefore, even in a tissue having the same characteristics, the strain is larger as it is closer to the internal vibrating body, and smaller as it is farther from the internal vibrating body.

The elastic image providing apparatus 100 according to an exemplary embodiment corrects the strain information of the object in consideration of the distance between the internal vibrating body and the object, thereby providing a more accurate elastic image to the user.

According to the third embodiment of the present invention, the elastic image providing apparatus 100 may correct the strain information of the object based on the distance between the object and the outer wall of the organ. When the object is close to the outer wall of the organ, since the object is affected by other organs, the strain information of the object acquired by the elastic image providing apparatus 100 may have low accuracy. This will be described with reference to FIG. 6.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for describing a method of correcting strain information of an object in consideration of an influence of an organ outer wall according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 6, the internal vibrating body may be the carotid artery 620, the subject may be the thyroid gland 630, and another organ adjacent to the subject may be the trachea 610. The thyroid gland 630 may be affected by the vibration force of the carotid artery 620 and may also be affected by another organ, the airway 610. The tissue closer to the outer wall existing between the thyroid gland 630 and the airway 610 receives more of the airway 610.

In the elastic image providing apparatus 100 according to an exemplary embodiment, since the strain information of the object is corrected in consideration of the distance between the outer wall of the organ and the object, distortion of the object may be caused by the influence of other organs. It can be prevented.

Referring back to FIG. 2, the elastic image providing apparatus 100 may generate an elastic image of the object using the corrected strain information of the object [S230].

According to one embodiment of the present invention, since the strain information of the object is corrected in consideration of at least one of the blood pressure of the internal vibrating body, the distance between the internal vibrating body and the object, and other organs, the elastic image providing apparatus 100 May generate an accurate elastic image of the object.

The elastic image providing apparatus 100 may display an elastic image of the generated object [S240]. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the elastic image may be displayed on an ultrasound image of the object. In this case, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the elastic image may be displayed in the form of a color map.

7 is a diagram illustrating an elastic image related to an embodiment of the present invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, the elastic image providing apparatus 100 may display an elastic image 710 about an object on a B mode image. In this case, the elastic image providing apparatus 100 may express the strain of the object, that is, the degree of stiffness in color. For example, the elastic image providing apparatus 100 may express a blue color when the object is hard, and a red color when the object is soft.

Therefore, according to one embodiment of the present invention, the user can visually easily grasp the elasticity of the object.

The elastic image providing apparatus 100 may detect the lesion of the object based on the strain information of the corrected object. In addition, the elastic image providing apparatus 100 may calculate and display a positive and malignant probability of the object in which the lesion is detected. In general, malignant tumor (Malignant) is harder than the surrounding tissue, in the case of benign tumor (Benign) has a similar stiffness (stiffness).

Method according to an embodiment of the present invention is implemented in the form of program instructions that can be executed by various computer means may be recorded on a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, etc. alone or in combination. The program instructions recorded on the medium may be those specially designed and constructed for the present invention or may be available to those skilled in the art of computer software. Examples of computer-readable recording media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape, optical media such as CD-ROMs, DVDs, and magnetic disks, such as floppy disks. Magneto-optical media, and hardware devices specifically configured to store and execute program instructions, such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Examples of program instructions include not only machine code generated by a compiler, but also high-level language code that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the elastic image providing apparatus 100 may apply uniform stress to an object using an internal vibrating body.

In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the elastic image providing apparatus 100 may determine the object by considering at least one of the magnitude of the vibration force of the internal vibrating body, the distance between the internal vibrating body and the object, the distance between the object and the outer wall of the organ. By correcting the strain information, it is possible to provide a user with an accurate elastic image than the existing elastic image.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, It belongs to the scope of right.

100: elastic image providing device
110: acquisition unit
120: correction unit
130:
140:
150:
310, 510, 620: internal vibrating body

Claims (13)

Obtaining strain information of the object due to the vibration force of the internal vibrating body;
Correcting strain information of the object based on the magnitude of the vibration force of the internal vibrating body;
Generating an elastic image of the object by using the information on the strain of the corrected object; And
And displaying an elastic image of the generated object.
The method of claim 1, wherein the correcting strain information of the object comprises:
And correcting strain information of the object based on blood pressure information of the internal vibrating body.
The method of claim 1, wherein the correcting strain information of the object comprises:
And correcting strain information of the object based on the magnitude of the vibration force of the internal vibrator according to the distance between the internal vibrator and the object.
The method of claim 1, wherein the correcting strain information of the object comprises:
And correcting strain information of the object based on a distance between the object and the outer wall of the organ.
The method of claim 1, wherein displaying the elastic image comprises:
And displaying the elastic image in the form of a color map.
The method of claim 1, wherein the elastic image providing method comprises:
Detecting a lesion of the subject based on the strain information of the corrected subject;
Calculating the positive and malignant potential of the subject in which the lesion is detected; And
And displaying the calculated numerical value.
An acquisition unit for obtaining strain information of the object by the vibration force of the internal vibrating body;
A correction unit correcting the strain information of the object based on the magnitude of the vibration force of the internal vibrating body;
An image processor configured to generate an elastic image of the object using the corrected strain information of the object;
A display unit configured to display an elastic image of the generated object; And
And a controller for controlling the obtaining unit, the correcting unit, the image processing unit, and the display unit.
The method of claim 7, wherein
Wherein,
And a strain information of the object is corrected based on blood pressure information of the internal vibrating body.
The method of claim 7, wherein the correction unit,
And the strain information of the object is corrected based on the magnitude of the vibration force of the internal vibrator according to the distance between the internal vibrator and the object.
The method of claim 7, wherein the correction unit,
And a strain information of the object is corrected based on the distance between the object and the outer wall of the organ.
The method of claim 7, wherein the display unit,
An elastic image providing device, characterized in that for displaying the elastic image in the form of a color map.
8. The apparatus of claim 7,
Detecting the lesion of the subject based on the strain information of the corrected subject, calculating the positive and malignant potential of the subject in which the lesion was detected,
The display unit includes:
The elastic image providing device, characterized in that for displaying the calculated numerical value.
A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for implementing the method of providing an elastic image according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

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