Surgery – Diagnostic testing – Detecting nuclear – electromagnetic – or ultrasonic radiation
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-27
2001-08-14
Lateef, Marvin M. (Department: 3737)
Surgery
Diagnostic testing
Detecting nuclear, electromagnetic, or ultrasonic radiation
C600S449000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06273857
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates generally to ultrasound imaging and more particularly to a method and a system for measuring body structures using ultrasound imaging.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
Ultrasound imaging systems are commonly used to measure various anatomical features of a human fetus during fetal development. The measurements of the anatomical features may include the femur length, the humerus length, and the head circumference of the fetus. These measurements can be used to determine the gestational age of the fetus. The gestational age can then be used to assist in a diagnosis of the fetus with respect to abnormalities by comparing the different measurements with established values for that gestational age.
During an ultrasound examination using a conventional ultrasound imaging system, measurement values are computed by examining a “freeze frame” of a scanned ultrasound image displayed on a monitor of the system. The “freeze frame” includes the anatomical feature of the fetus that is to be measured. Typically, a line or an ellipse is drawn over the displayed anatomical feature to measure the length or the circumference of the anatomical feature. After the computation, the measurement value and the corresponding ultrasound image that was used to compute the measurement value can be independently stored in the system. Thus, storing both the measurement value and the corresponding ultrasound image requires two steps, one step to store the measurement value and another step to store the corresponding ultrasound image. If the ultrasound image is not stored at this time, that particular ultrasound image is generally discarded and cannot be stored at a later time. For a specific anatomical feature of a fetus, anywhere from three to six measurements are typically made.
Since the corresponding ultrasound image may not have been saved for each stored measurement value, it may not be possible to verify, at a later time, the measurement values that were selectively saved by a sonographer. Specifically, a review of an outlying measurement value for a particular anatomical feature of a fetus during an examination review may not be possible due to the absence of a corresponding ultrasound image. An outlying measurement value is a value that is extreme with respect to other measurement values of the same anatomical feature. Even if the ultrasound images were saved, the saved ultrasound images are not correlated with the measurement values. Without such correlation, a review of the saved measurement values can be difficult, since matching an ultrasound image to the corresponding measurement value can be tedious. For example, if a reviewer wants to examine an outlying measurement value, the invalidation or verification of the outlying measurement value can only be accomplished by an exhaustive review of all stored ultrasound images.
In light of these concerns, what is needed is a method and a system for storing and managing both the measurement values and their corresponding ultrasound images to facilitate an efficient ultrasound examination and an effective review of the saved measurement values and the ultrasound images.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A method and a system for storing and managing dimensional measurement values and the underlying ultrasound images utilize a report generator that operates to generate an examination report of an ultrasound examination having saved measurement values. The operations of the report generator allow an expedient access to the corresponding ultrasound images that were used to derive the measurement values. In addition, the report generator operates to automatically save the ultrasound image when a measurement value that was computed from that ultrasound image is saved. This feature ensures that for each saved measurement value,.the corresponding ultrasound image is also saved. The system utilizes ultrasound waves to image various anatomical features of a patient or a fetus. Examples of anatomical features that may be imaged by the system include the femur, the humerus, and the fetus head. These ultrasound images are used to compute measurements of the anatomical features.
The system includes an ultrasonic scanhead, a processing unit, an input device, and a display device. The scanhead includes an array of piezoelectric elements to transmit sound waves and to receive echoes of the transmitted ultrasound waves that are reflected from an anatomical feature of interest. The scanhead operates to convert the received echoes into electrical signals. The scanhead is electrically coupled to the processing unit, which generates an ultrasound image of the anatomical feature from the electrical signals. The input device functions as a user interface and may include a standard computer keyboard and a computer mouse. The display device may be a CRT or an LCD monitor.
The processing unit of the system includes a scanhead controller, memory, the report generator, a removable storage device, a network interface, and a processor. The scanhead controller is operatively connected to the ultrasonic scanhead to control the transmitting and receiving operations of the scanhead. The removable storage device may utilize one of a number of removable storage media that are currently available, such as a writeable CD, a DVD, or a magneto-optical storage medium.
The report generator of the processing unit is configured to operate with the processor to generate an examination report that can be displayed on the display device. The report generator performs many of the procedures that are necessary to generate the examination report. The report generator may be implemented in the processing unit as hardware and/or software. The report generator includes a measurement computer, an automatic ultrasound image saver, a measurement-to-image associator, and a data analyzer. The measurement computer operates to compute a dimensional measurement of an anatomical feature depicted in an ultrasound image. The automatic ultrasound image saver operates to automatically save an underlying ultrasound image when a measurement value that was derived from the underlying ultrasound image is saved during an ultrasound examination. The measurement-to-image associator operates to link each measurement value to its corresponding ultrasound image. The data analyzer operates to derive an analysis based on the saved measurement values. The analysis may indicate any abnormalities of the patient or the fetus that was examined. In the case of a fetal examination, the data analyzer may determine an estimated gestational age of the fetus.
The method in accordance with the present invention includes a step in which an ultrasound image of an anatomical feature is captured using a well known ultrasound imaging technique. Next, a dimensional aspect of the anatomical feature depicted in the ultrasound image is measured using the measurement computer to derive a measurement value. The measurement value is then saved by a sonographer. In response to this saving operation, the automatic ultrasound image saver of the report generator automatically saves the ultrasound image to ensure that for each saved measurement value, a corresponding ultrasound image is also saved. Additional measurement values for the same anatomical feature and/or other anatomical features of the patient or the fetus may then be derived and saved from additionally captured ultrasound images.
After all the measurement values of interest and the corresponding ultrasound images have been saved, an examination report is generated by the report generator of the system. The examination report can be electronically displayed on the display device of the system. The examination report includes the saved measurement values and their corresponding ultrasound images. In one embodiment, the examination report contains a number of virtual buttons. Each virtual button is designated with a specific measurement value. When a virtual button of a particular measurement value is activated, the examination report that is displayed on the display dev
Lateef Marvin M.
Patel Maulin
Siemens Medical Systems, Inc
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