Method and medical imaging apparatus for generating elastic image by using curved array probe

An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus comprising:

• a curved array probe including a continuously curved surface and transducers arranged on the continuously curved surface;
• an ultrasound transceiver configured to:
• induce a shear wave that propagates in a second direction by transmitting a first ultrasound signal comprising a push signal to an object in a first direction via the curved array probe,
• transmit a second ultrasound signal to the object for tracking the shear wave, the second ultrasound signal being a plane wave having a wavefront as a straight line parallel to the second direction and including scan lines, all of the scan lines being disposed in parallel and equidistantly from one another and in parallel to the first direction of the first ultrasound signal,
• receive an echo signal reflected by the object in response to the second ultrasound signal via the curved array probe, and
• beamform the received echo signal based on a rectangular scan format in which all of the scan lines are disposed in parallel and equidistantly from one another so that distances between each two received adjacent scan lines are uniform;
• and
• a display configured to display an elastic image of the object in a rectangular form by using the beamformed echo signal.

An ultrasound medical imaging apparatus comprising:

• a probe including a continuously curved surface and transducers arranged on the continuously curved surface in an N×M array;
• and
• a processor configured to perform:
• controlling the transducers to transmit a first ultrasound signal to an object in a first direction, the first ultrasound signal comprising a push signal configured to induce a shear wave in the object, the shear wave propagating in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction;
• controlling the transducers to transmit a second ultrasound signal to the object for tracking the shear wave, and receive an echo signal reflected by the object in response to the second ultrasound signal, the second ultrasound signal including a plane wave having a wavefront as a straight line parallel to the second direction and including scan lines, all of the scan lines being disposed in parallel and equidistantly from one another and in parallel to the first direction of the first ultrasound signal;
• beamforming the received echo signal based on a rectangular scan format in which all of the scan lines are disposed in parallel and equidistantly from one another so that distances between each two received adjacent scan lines are uniform;
• and
• controlling an image processor to generate an elastic image of the object based on the received echo signal.