Surgery – Diagnostic testing – Detecting nuclear – electromagnetic – or ultrasonic radiation
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-06
2001-06-05
Lateef, Marvin M. (Department: 3737)
Surgery
Diagnostic testing
Detecting nuclear, electromagnetic, or ultrasonic radiation
C600S455000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06241677
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates in general to ultrasound systems and in particular to quantification, display and other uses of various parameter data, including surface and time integral data, in ultrasound systems.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In traditional ultrasound imaging and display, color Doppler imaging (CDI), spectral Doppler imaging (SD), or B-mode imaging are available. CDI refers to color Doppler F-mode imaging techniques. CDI provides a qualitative evaluation of fluid dynamics and tissue motion in a body that is imaged. Thus, CDI techniques currently provide the user with limited quantitative information. B-mode imaging, with the associated gray-scale display, also provides a qualitative display with limited quantitative information. SD, on the other hand, provides the user with information about a single point or position in space. SD provides flow information as a display of the brightness of the spectrum and a velocity scale display.
Quantitative calculation of a surface integral or area average for a particular region of interest provides a measurement-based calculation—Doppler energy or power related to the amount of blood in a cross-sectional area or volume of tissue in the body. “Approximate Quantification Of Detected Fractional Blood Volume And Perfusion From 3-D Colorflow And Doppler Power Signal Imaging” by Carson et al., 1993 Ultrasonics Symposium, pp. 1023-26 discusses such a calculation. The article by Carson et al. discloses a signal power-weighted color pixel density calculated by summing the Doppler energy for the various pixels in the region of interest and dividing by the number of such pixels.
Limited use of linearization of B-mode data to aid in quantification is known. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,984 to D'Sa, a method for undoing the log compression and other processing to generate a linearized average of B-mode intensity in a region of interest is disclosed. D'Sa discloses averaging B-mode intensity for a region of interest and then linearizing the average B-mode intensity value. The quantified B-mode data is displayed. D'Sa also teaches a display of multiple B-mode intensity curves from sequential trace operations at one or more regions of interest.
Other techniques to aid quantification of Doppler velocity are known. One way to acquire Doppler velocity information and process the Doppler velocity information is by a one-dimensional histogram. The Doppler velocity histogram may then be displayed on an ultrasound display with the color display.
The color display of Doppler data is controlled by application of a threshold. Once color Doppler data of a particular parameter is obtained, the data is mapped to a color display. Before mapping, a threshold for the same particular parameter is applied to the data so that only data with a value above the threshold remains. Thus, the thresholded values are used for any calculations.
None of the ultrasound systems for obtaining and displaying ultrasound data is entirely satisfactory. As discussed above, only limited quantification is known. It is therefore desirable to provide an improved ultrasound system for obtaining and displaying ultrasound data.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The invention provides an efficient method for processing and displaying various ultrasound data. In one aspect, a method and apparatus for quantifying and displaying Doppler signals in an ultrasonic Doppler system are provided. A first Doppler signal value for each of at least one spatial location in a region of interest is acquired at a first time, and the Doppler signal values are summed to obtain a first surface integral value. A second Doppler signal value for each of said at least one spatial location in said region of interest is acquired at a second time, and the second Doppler signal values are summed to obtain a second surface integral value. The first surface integral value is summed with the second surface integral value to obtain a time based integral. The time based integral is displayed. In another aspect of the invention, the time based integral is normalized by the number of surface integrals summed.
In another aspect of the invention, a method and apparatus for displaying multiple quantities obtained at different times from data corresponding to a region of interest are provided. The region of interest is selected and includes at least one spatial location. First and second ultrasound signal values for each of said at least one spatial location are acquired at first and second times, respectively. Comparison data are created as a function of said first and second ultrasound signal values and displayed.
In yet another aspect of the invention, a method and apparatus for displaying multiple quantities obtained at the same or different times from data corresponding to multiple regions of interest are provided. First and second regions of interest are selected to include at least a first and second spatial location, respectively. First and second ultrasound signal values are acquired for each of the first and second spatial locations. The second ultrasound signal value is derived from the same type of ultrasound parameter as the first ultrasound signal value. Comparison data are created as a function of the first and second ultrasound signals and displayed.
In another aspect of the invention, a method and apparatus for displaying multiple quantities obtained from data corresponding to different regions of interest are provided. First and second regions of interest are selected. First and second ultrasound signal values are obtained for said first and second region of interests. The second ultrasound signal value is derived from a different type of ultrasound parameter than the first ultrasound signal value. Comparison data are created as a function of said first and second ultrasound signals.
In yet another aspect of the invention, a method and apparatus for displaying multiple quantities obtained from a region of interest are provided. A region of interest is selected, and a B-mode intensity associated with said region of interest is obtained. Further, an ultrasound signal value selected from the group of Doppler energy and Doppler velocity is also obtained. Comparison data are created as a function of said B-mode intensity and said ultrasound signal value.
In another aspect of the invention, a method and apparatus for displaying multiple results obtained from a region of interest are provided. A region of interest is selected, and a Doppler velocity and energy associated with the region of interest are obtained. Comparison data are created as a function of the Doppler velocity and Doppler energy and displayed.
In another aspect of the invention, a method and apparatus for providing flow quantities data by thresholding are provided. A Doppler energy and velocity for each of multiple spatial locations in a region of interest are acquired at a first time. A threshold is applied to the Doppler energies based on the Doppler velocities to obtain remaining Doppler energies. The remaining Doppler energies are summed to obtain a surface integral energy value.
In another aspect of the invention, a method and apparatus for deriving a quantity with a histogram are provided. An ultrasound signal value selected from the group of Doppler energy and Doppler variance is acquired for each of multiple spatial locations in a region of interest. The histogram includes multiple bins corresponding to bin ultrasound signal values. The counts in the appropriate bins are incremented based on the acquired ultrasound signal values, and a quantity is derived from the histogram. In yet another aspect of the invention, the histogram is displayed without deriving a quantity.
In another aspect of the invention, a method and apparatus for deriving a quantity based on a threshold are provided. Ultrasonic signal values for multiple spatial locations in a region of interest are acquired. A histogram is created based on the values. The threshold is applied to the histogram, and a quantity is derived from the histogram after appl
Allison John W.
Chandler Paul E.
Guracar Ismayil M.
Jackson John I.
Jain Arvind
Acuson Corporation
Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione
Lateef Marvin M.
Patel Maulin
Summerfield, Esq. Craig A.
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