Patent application number | Description | Published |
20120078103 | ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM, ULTRASOUND IMAGE GENERATION APPARATUS, AND ULTRASOUND IMAGE GENERATION METHOD - The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus, ultrasound image generation apparatus and method transmit ultrasound waves to a subject into which a puncture tool is inserted, receive reflected waves reflected from the subject and the puncture tool, and generate echo signals of time-sequential frames based on the received reflected waves, and generate an ultrasound image of the subject based on the generated echo signals. These apparatus and method generate a differential echo signal between time-sequential frames from the echo signals, perform a tip detection process based on the differential echo signal to thereby detect at least one tip candidate including a tip end of the puncture tool, highlight a tip candidate of the puncture tool detected to thereby generate a tip image, and display the tip image of the highlighted puncture tool so as to be superimposed on the generated ultrasound image. | 03-29-2012 |
20120116229 | ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS AND METHOD - An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus comprises: a detector for detecting a direction of radial expansion/contraction of a vascular wall associated with a heartbeat in a long-axis image of the vascular wall based on amplitude information of reception signals outputted from an ultrasound probe when a first ultrasonic beam is transmitted and received to and from a blood vessel of a subject through the ultrasound probe by a transmitter/receiver; a controller for controlling the transmitter/receiver so as to transmit and receive a second ultrasonic beam parallel to the detected vascular wall expansion/contraction direction through the ultrasound probe; a tracker for tracking a movement of the vascular wall using amplitude information and phase information of the reception signals outputted from the ultrasound probe when the second ultrasonic beam is transmitted and received; and a calculator for calculating elastic characteristics of the vascular wall based on the tracked vascular wall movement. | 05-10-2012 |
20120226164 | ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS, METHOD OF TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING ULTRASONIC WAVE, AND PROGRAM FOR TRANSMITTING AND RECEIVING ULTRASONIC WAVE - An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus includes plural ultrasound transducers which perform transmission and reception of ultrasonic waves toward a target site of a subject containing a puncture needle. A method of transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic wave uses the ultrasound transducers. The apparatus and the method form an ultrasonic beam to be transmitted from a transmit aperture set on the ultrasound transducers, acquire information relating to a specular-reflective component of the ultrasonic beam in the puncture needle, set a first receive aperture different from the transmit aperture set on the ultrasound transducers on the basis of the information relating to the specular-reflective component of the ultrasonic beam, and process an ultrasonic echo signal received by the ultrasound transducers using the first receive aperture. | 09-06-2012 |
20120232387 | ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS AND METHOD OF DETERMINING ELASTICITY INDEX RELIABILITY - An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus and a method of determining elasticity index reliability control transmission and reception of an ultrasonic beam, track displacements in a transmission direction of a plurality of points of a blood vessel in the transmission direction of the ultrasonic beam, calculate an elasticity index of the blood vessel based on the tracking result, acquire the direction of a displacement or the amount of displacement in the transmission direction of a specific point of the blood vessel, and determine reliability of the elasticity index based on the acquisition result. A program for determining elasticity index reliability causes a computer to execute the respective steps of the method. A computer readable storage medium stores the program. | 09-13-2012 |
20120238874 | ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS AND ULTRASOUND IMAGE PRODUCING METHOD - An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus includes a region-of-interest setting unit for setting a region of interest in the B mode image, an abdominal wall detector for detecting an abdominal wall of the subject in the B mode image, a controller for controlling a transmission circuit and a reception circuit to transmit a ultrasonic beam emitted from the transducer array and so steered as to enter the abdominal wall detected by the abdominal wall detector vertically with forming transmission focuses respectively at a plurality of points set in and near the region of interest to obtain reception data for measuring a sound speed, and a sound speed calculator for calculating local sound speeds in the region of interest based on the obtained reception data for measuring a sound speed. | 09-20-2012 |
20120245467 | ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS AND ULTRASOUND IMAGE PRODUCING METHOD - An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus includes a region-of-interest setting unit for setting a region of interest in a given region of a B mode image, a controller for controlling a transmission circuit and a reception circuit to transmit ultrasonic beams composed of fundamental waves having a first frequency with forming transmission focuses at a plurality of points set in and near the region of interest and receive ultrasonic echoes having a second frequency, which is a harmonic component of the fundamental waves, thereby to obtain reception data for measuring a sound speed, and a sound speed calculator for calculating ambient sound speeds at the points based on the obtained reception data for measuring a sound speed. | 09-27-2012 |
20120245468 | ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS AND METHOD OF PRODUCING ULTRASOUND IMAGE - An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus includes a region of interest setter which sets a region of interest on a B-mode image, a controller which performs transmission and reception of ultrasonic beams with forming transmission focuses at a plurality of points set on sound rays at a shallower position and a deeper position than the region of interest to acquire reception data for sound speed measurement, and a sound speed calculator which calculates an average local sound speed value in the region of interest on the basis of reception data for sound speed measurement. | 09-27-2012 |
20120310088 | ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS - An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus adapted to measure the elastic modulus of a vascular wall includes a heartbeat selector for selecting a heartbeat in an M-mode image during the B/M-mode display and, after a heartbeat is selected, displays a B-mode image of a predetermined position in the selected heartbeat. The predetermined position is set in advance during the period of a heartbeat plus two additional periods before and after the heartbeat, with the length of each additional period being 20% on the length of the heartbeat. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus as such allows the display of an appropriate B-mode image corresponding to the heartbeat to be analyzed. | 12-06-2012 |
20120310089 | ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS - An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus comprising: an ultrasound probe which has ultrasound transducers transmitting ultrasonic waves, receiving an ultrasonic echo reflected by a subject, and outputting a reception signal according to the received ultrasonic echo; an image producer which produces a B-mode image and an M-mode image from the reception signal output from the ultrasound transducers; and a boundary detector which detects a blood vessel anterior wall boundary in the B-mode image using a time phase of the M-mode image corresponding to the B-mode image. | 12-06-2012 |
20120310090 | ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS - An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus comprising: an ultrasound probe which has ultrasound transducers capable of outputting reception signals from fundamental waves and harmonics; an image producer which produces a B-mode image and an M-mode image from the reception signal output from the ultrasound transducers with reception of the fundamental waves, and produces a B-mode image from the reception signal output from the ultrasound transducers with reception of the harmonics; and an actuation controller for the ultrasound probe which switches the ultrasound transducers at a predetermined timing between the output of the reception signal from the fundamental waves and the output of the reception signal from the harmonics. | 12-06-2012 |
20120310094 | ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS - An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus adapted for vascular wall elastic modulus measurement comprises an ultrasound probe, an actuation controller, an image producer, a region-of-interest setter, and a storage unit. The apparatus sets a region of interest, incorporates ultrasonic wave transmission/reception for obtaining an ultrasound image including the region of interest into ultrasonic wave transmission/reception for obtaining an ultrasound image of the region of interest at a predetermined timing, and stores the obtained two ultrasound images in association with each other, which makes the region of interest easier to find in an ultrasound image for diagnosis, and allows a satisfactory follow-up. | 12-06-2012 |
20140088423 | ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS - Provided is an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus that measures the modulus of elasticity of a vascular wall, wherein only M-mode images for heartbeats necessary for the measurement are displayed. The problem is solved by, when freeze is implemented during a B/M-mode display, displaying an M-mode image after discarding a heartbeat at the time of freeze and possibly also a heartbeat immediately before freeze. | 03-27-2014 |
20140088424 | ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS - Provided is an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus that measures an elastic modulus of a vascular wall, the apparatus allowing selection of a heartbeat suitable for the measurement of the elastic modulus. The problem is solved by storing M-mode images at predetermined intervals in the azimuth direction in a B-mode image, selecting a position in the azimuth direction in the B-mode image, and displaying the M-mode image of the selected position together with the B-mode image. | 03-27-2014 |
20140187953 | ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS, ULTRASOUND IMAGE PRODUCING METHOD, AND RECORDING MEDIUM - In an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus, when a compound image is produced, delay correction is performed on all of ultrasound images (sub frames) to be combined based on sound velocities set for respective segment regions obtained by dividing the subject. Owing to this configuration, the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus can produce a high quality compound image by spatial compounding or frequency compounding without being affected by distortion in images. | 07-03-2014 |
20140343423 | ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSIS DEVICE AND ULTRASOUND IMAGE GENERATION METHOD - In an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus, a vascular wall tracker tracks pulsation-originated vascular wall movement based on reception signals obtained through transmission and reception of ultrasonic beams by an ultrasound probe to and from a subject, and a pulsating timing determiner determines pulsating timing by detecting pulsation-originated periodic changes in the vascular wall movement tracked by the vascular wall tracker in each of sound rays, obtaining a detection time point as a pulsating timing candidate in each of the sound rays, and statistically analyzing pulsating timing candidates in the respective sound rays within a single pulse duration. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus can accurately measure the state of a blood vessel merely using information obtained through ultrasound examination without electrocardiographic waveforms. | 11-20-2014 |
20150080729 | ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS AND METHOD OF PRODUCING ULTRASOUND IMAGE - An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus and a method of producing an ultrasound image capable of accurately determining the boundary of an intima-media complex in an ultrasound image and measuring an intima-media thickness with high precision are provided. A candidate vascular wall boundary point determiner determines one or more candidate vascular wall boundary points based on a sound ray signal extending in a scanning direction in an ultrasound image. A boundary determiner determines a vascular wall boundary point from among the candidate vascular wall boundary points based on a third evaluation value and determines a vascular wall boundary, the third evaluation value being calculated based on a first evaluation value representing accuracy of each of the determined candidate vascular wall boundary points as a vascular wall boundary point and a second evaluation value representing similarity between the sound ray signal and the adjacent sound ray signal. | 03-19-2015 |