Surgery – Truss – Pad
Patent
1988-05-12
1989-11-14
Jaworski, Francis
Surgery
Truss
Pad
73625, A61B 800
Patent
active
048800104
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of and apparatus for ultrasonic imaging.
Ultrasonic imaging is a technique used in non-destructive testing and examination and in medical diagnostics.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Existing apparatus for forming images using ultrasonic acoustic waves uses either the so-called B-scan method which involves imaging a plane containing the axis of an ultrasonic beam or the so-called C-scan method in which a plane normal to the ultrasonic beam is imaged.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention there is provided a method of ultrasonic imaging comprising the steps of transmitting a line focused acoustic wave pulse signal into a body; detecting returns from any target encountered in the body by the transmitted signal using a line focused receiver having a focal line crossing the focal line of the transmitter at a crossing point; controlling the transmitter and receiver to cause said crossing point to scan a surface within the body; and producing an image from the signals received by the receiver.
The method of the invention, hereinafter referred to as the U-scan method, will produce highly focused images of either the B-scan or C-scan plane, or any intermediate plane, with high resolution.
Also according to the invention there is provided apparatus for ultrasonic imaging comprising a line focused acoustic wave pulse transmitter; a line focused acoustic wave pulse receiver arranged with its focal line crossing the focal line of the transmitter at a crossing point; control means controlling the transmitter and receiver such that said crossing point scans a surface to be imaged, and displaying means controlled by the receiver to produce an image.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
This invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 shows an acoustic wave transmitter,
FIG. 2 shows an acoustic wave receiver;
FIG. 3 shows part of a combined acoustic wave transmitter and receiver;
FIG. 4 illustrates operation of an apparatus according to this invention utilizing an acoustic lens for focusing;
FIGS. 5 to 9 illustrate use of the method of this invention for examination of the whole volume of a test object;
FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an apparatus according to this invention; and
FIG. 11 is a block diagram of another apparatus according to this invention .
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows an ultrasonic wave pulse signal transmitter 1 comprising a plurality of elements 2 arranged to be operated using phase delay techniques to focus the outputs of the elements 2 to a line f.sub.T. Such focusing can be effected using known techniques which will not be described in detail herein. FIG. 2 shows an ultrasonic wave receiver 3 comprising a plurality of elements 4 arranged to receive acoustic waves from a line object f.sub.R. For use in scanning a target to be imaged, the transmitter 1 and receiver 3 are arranged either side-by-side, or superimposed one on the other, and with their focal lines f.sub.T and f.sub.R crossing, preferably at right angles, to define a crossing point P (see FIG. 4). During operation each transmitted pulse from the transmitter 1 produces a return to the receiver 3 if a target is present at the crossing point P, returns received by the receiver 3 being used to produce an image of the target on a visual display (see FIGS. 10 and 11). To produce an image of the complete target, focusing of the transmitter 1 and receiver 3 is controlled such that either the line f.sub.T or the line f.sub.R is initially held stationary while the other line is scanned therealong thereby producing a series of crossing points P to constitute one line of the visual display. The initially stationary line is then stopped by a predetermined amount to a new position and the scanning by the other line repeated to produce a second line for the visual display. This procedure is repeated until a complete matrix of cross
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G. Gunarathne and J. Szilard, "A Real Time High Frame Rate Ultrasonic Imaging System", Ultrasonics International, (London 1985).
J. Fraser et al., "A Two-Dimensional Electronically Focused Imaging System", 1974, IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium Proceedings, (Stanford, Calif.).
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