JPH084593B2 - Ultrasonic image display device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic image forming apparatus for integrating echo data of a three-dimensional region in a living body and displaying it.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for displaying a tomographic image in a living body by transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from the living body is known.
Then, in recent years, an ultrasonic three-dimensional image display device capable of displaying a spatially recognizable image using echo data of a three-dimensional region in a living body has been proposed and put into practical use. For example, Japanese Patent Application No. 2-286824 previously proposed by the applicant.
In No. 3, the three-dimensional region is cut by three cutting planes orthogonal to each other, and the respective cutting planes are displayed side by side as tomographic images in association with each other.

By the way, the present applicant has filed a Japanese Patent Application No. 2-198.
No. 309 proposes an ultrasonic echo integration display device.
This apparatus sets a virtual viewpoint outside the three-dimensional region and displays an integrated image of the three-dimensional region viewed from the viewpoint. Explaining the concept concretely, a screen is provided on the side opposite to the viewpoint between the three-dimensional regions, and echo data is integrated along each line of sight from the viewpoint toward the three-dimensional region and the integration is performed. Values are drawn on the screen to form an integrated image.

According to this integrated image, since the tissue information spread in the three-dimensional area can be projected as a plane image, there is an advantage that the contour of the tissue can be clearly displayed.

[0005]

[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 2-198
In the proposed equipment in No. 309, evident from the above
In this way, the entire three-dimensional area was subject to integration.
Therefore, it is possible to obtain an integrated image centered on the desired organ.
could not. That is, the data of tissues before and after an organ
Also, I would like to observe only the organ concerned because it was also accumulated
Nevertheless, many other data were also synthesized
I was there.

Further, in the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, the viewpoint position can be freely set, but when the viewpoint position is set to a position other than the ultrasonic probe side, there is a problem that so-called shadow is generated and noise is conspicuous. This will be specifically described. As shown in FIG. 5, when a hard tissue (for example, a gallstone shown in the drawing) 12 exists in the three-dimensional region 10 in the living body, a shadow 14 is formed behind the hard tissue 12 along the beam direction. The shadow 14 is, so to speak, the shadow of the ultrasonic beam and is unavoidable noise. In such a case, when the viewpoint 16 is set at a position where the line of sight intersects the ultrasonic beam as shown in FIG. 5 and integrated image formation is performed, the shadow 14 is rather emphasized as shown in FIG. 6A. There is a problem that a virtual image appears even though there is nothing actually.

Further, as shown in FIG. 7, there is a case where a large difference occurs in the integration range (difference between ranges 18 and 20 in FIG. 7) depending on the position of the viewpoint, resulting in increased non-uniformity of density.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and a desired organ can be obtained under the fixed setting of the best viewpoint position.
It is possible to obtain an integrated image with as little data as possible other than
That an object to provide an ultrasound image display apparatus.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to and from the three-dimensional region in the living body to capture echo data to form an ultrasonic image. the ultrasound image display apparatus that displays, the
Integrating range designating means for designating an integrating range along the ultrasonic beam in the three-dimensional area on the ultrasonic image displayed on the display, and integrating the echo data along the ultrasonic beam within the integrating range. And integrating image forming means for forming an integrated image from the integrated echo data.

Further, the invention according to claim 2 is a position designating means for designating positions of two tomographic images intersecting the integrated image, and a tomographic image forming means for forming two tomographic images at the designated positions. And, the two tomographic images are displayed along with the integrated image.

[0011]

According to the structure described in claim 1, the integration range can be designated by the integration range designating means, and the echo data is integrated by the integration means to form an integrated image. Therefore, it is possible to extract only an arbitrary organ or tissue and form an integrated image. Here, the integration is performed along the ultrasonic beam, that is, the viewpoint is set on the ultrasonic beam, in other words, on the ultrasonic probe side that transmits ultrasonic waves. Therefore, as a general rule, the shadows described above are hidden by the hard tissue by integration, and noise is prevented from standing out.

According to the configuration of claim 2, since two tomographic images orthogonal to the integrated image are displayed, it becomes easy to spatially grasp the integrated organ and integrated range. In this case, if a cursor indicating the integration range is displayed on the two tomographic images, the image mutual relationship can be more easily understood.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of an ultrasonic image display device according to the present invention. The ultrasonic image display device 22 is connected to an ultrasonic diagnostic device 24. In addition,
It is of course possible to incorporate the present device 22 into the ultrasonic diagnostic device 24.

In the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus 24, echo data of a three-dimensional region in a living body is taken in using an ultrasonic probe for taking in three-dimensional data, and the echo data is A
After being digitized by the / D converter 26, it is stored in the three-dimensional data memory 28. That is, each echo data of the in-vivo three-dimensional area is written in the three-dimensional data memory 28.

The three-dimensional data memory 28 includes a bus 30
The bus 30 includes a central control unit 3
2, echo information integrating unit 34, frame buffer memory 3
6 is connected.

The echo information accumulating section 34 is for accumulating each echo data along the ultrasonic beam, and the accumulating range is freely set by the operator as described later.

The central control unit 32 performs integrated image formation using the integrated result of the echo information integration section 34, and
It controls the entire device.

The external input device 38 includes a plurality of dials A to.
D and a switch E, and are connected to the central control unit 32. A specific description of the dial will be described later.

Therefore, each echo data on the ultrasonic beam read from the three-dimensional data memory 28 is integrated by the echo information integration section 34, and then the central control unit 3 is operated.
2, and an integrated image is formed here. Then, the formed integrated image is temporarily stored in the frame buffer memory 36 via the bus 30 and then read out to be displayed on the CRT.
Displayed at 38.

The central control unit 32 also forms an integrated image and two tomographic images orthogonal to the integrated image, as will be described in detail below, and these tomographic images are also stored in the frame buffer memory 36. Once stored in
It is read and displayed on the CRT 38.

FIG. 2 shows the concept of the in-vivo three-dimensional region 40, in which the Z direction is the beam direction. That is, the ultrasonic probe is arranged above in FIG.

In this embodiment, when forming an integrated image,
The integration of each echo data is performed along the beam direction. That is, the viewpoint for integrated image formation is set on the ultrasonic probe side (upper side in the drawing), and the line of sight is set parallel to the ultrasonic beam.

Further, in this embodiment, it is possible to specify the integration range, and the start point and the end point of the integration are set by the dials A and B of the external input device 38 shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 shows the principle of forming an integrated image. Each echo data within the integration range is sequentially integrated along the line of sight 42 set parallel to the beam direction. Specifically, in the figure, the echo data d1 to the echo data dn are sequentially integrated, and the integrated value is represented as a brightness value at the corresponding point D on the projection surface (corresponding to the integrated image) 44. Although only one line of sight 42 is shown in FIG. 3, the above-described integration is executed for all the lines of sight in forming the integrated image.

Returning to FIG. 2, in this embodiment, two tomographic images orthogonal to the integrated image formed by the integration are formed. One of the tomographic images is a tomographic image viewed from the front, and the other is a tomographic image viewed from the side. In the figure, the surface corresponding to the tomographic image viewed from the front is indicated by 46, and the surface corresponding to the tomographic image viewed from the side is indicated by 48. Further, in the figure, reference numeral 50 denotes an upper surface showing a start surface of the integration range.

In FIG. 1, as described above, the start point and the end point of the integration range are designated by the dials A and B in the external input device 38. The dial C specifies the position of the tomographic image from the front, and the dial D specifies the position of the tomographic image from the side. And
The switch E is a switch for selecting whether the image viewed from above is a tomographic image or an integrated image.

A display example of the integrated image and the two tomographic images formed as described above is shown in FIG.

In FIG. 4, the integrated image 100 seen from the upper surface is shown in the upper left, the tomographic image 101 seen from the front is shown in the upper right, and the tomographic image 102 seen from the side is shown in the lower right. It is shown.

In this embodiment, the stereoscopic conceptual image 103 of the in-vivo three-dimensional region is schematically displayed at the lower left of the screen. In this conceptual image 103, wire-shaped cursors 60 and 62 indicating the integration range are displayed, and a wire-shaped cursor 64 indicating the position of the tomographic image viewed from the front and a wire-shaped cursor indicating the position of the tomographic image viewed from the side. Cursor 66
Is displayed.

Further, not only the conceptual image 103 but also the integrated image 100 and the tomographic images 101 and 102 are displayed with respective cursors so that the integrated range or the position of the cutting plane can be easily grasped.

Of course, these cursors 60-66
Is interlocked with the dials A to D of the external input device 38 described above, and when any one of the dials is moved, the cursor moves accordingly. By operating the switch E, the integrated image 100 can be switched to a tomographic image similar to the conventional one.

As described above, according to the ultrasonic image display apparatus of the present embodiment, the viewpoint for integration can be set on the ultrasonic beam to avoid so-called shadow noise (see FIG. 6B). (Shown), the integration range can be freely specified, and the integration image can be formed only at a necessary portion. Further, since the tomographic image orthogonal to the integrated image is displayed together with the integrated image, it is possible to easily understand at a glance which range is being integrated and to facilitate the in-vivo diagnosis.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention,
There is an effect that a viewpoint can be set at a position that is most unlikely to be affected by shadows to form an integrated image, and the integrated range can be arbitrarily set. Therefore, only the range including the desired organ can be formed in the integrated image with less noise.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of an ultrasonic image display device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing a positional relationship between an integrated range and two tomographic images.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a principle of forming an integrated image.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of an integrated image and two tomographic images.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing shadow generation due to hard tissue.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a comparison between a conventional image and an image having a shadow.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing two routes related to integration.

[Explanation of symbols]

 22 Ultrasonic Image Display Device 28 Three-Dimensional Data Memory 32 Central Control Unit (Integrated Image Forming Unit) 34 Echo Information Integration Unit 36 Frame Buffer Memory 38 External Input Device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A ultrasonic waves to a living body in a three-dimensional region by transmitting and receiving waves captures echo data, the ultrasound image display apparatus that displays forming an ultrasound image, the ultrasound beam in the three-dimensional region Integration range designating means for designating the integration range along the ultrasonic image displayed on the display, integrating means for integrating the echo data along the ultrasonic beam within the integration range, and An ultrasonic image display device comprising: an integrated image forming unit that forms an integrated image from echo data. 2. The ultrasonic image display device according to claim 1, wherein position specifying means for specifying positions of two tomographic images intersecting the integrated image, and two tomographic images at the specified positions are formed. An ultrasonic image display device comprising: a tomographic image forming means, wherein the two tomographic images are displayed along with the integrated image. 3. The ultrasonic image display device according to claim 2, further comprising means for displaying a cursor indicating the integration range on the two tomographic images.