Ultrasound system and method for detection of kidney stones using twinkling artifact

An ultrasound imaging system configured to perform color Doppler imaging, the system comprising:

• a probe configured to transmit ultrasound pulses to a region of interest in a subject and receive ultrasound echoes responsive to the pulses;
• a user interface configured to receive user input for selecting one of a plurality of color Doppler imaging modes;
• a non-transitory memory which stores a plurality of pulse configuration parameters including a first set of pulse configuration parameters associated with a colorflow imaging mode and a second set of pulse configuration parameters associated with a color power angio imaging mode;
• a transmit controller configured to cause the probe to transmit first pulses in accordance with the first set of pulse configuration parameters responsive to a selection of the colorflow imaging mode and second pulses in accordance with the second set of pulse configuration parameters responsive to a selection of the color power angio imaging mode, wherein the first pulses are longer than the second pulses;
• a signal processor configured to generate echo signals based on ultrasound echoes received by the probe;
• a B-mode processor configured to generate B-mode image data based on the echo signals;
• a Doppler processor configured to generate Doppler signals based on the echo signals, wherein the Doppler processor is further configured, responsive to the selection of the colorflow imaging mode to apply a first filter to the Doppler signals and responsive to the selection of the color power angio imaging mode, to apply a second filter to the color Doppler signals to filter out the Doppler signals below a threshold amplitude, retain the Doppler signals above the threshold amplitude, and generate color data for only the retained Doppler signals;
• and
• a display configured to display an overlay of the B-mode image data and the color data.