Ultrasonic imaging system and method for displaying tissue perfusion and other parameters varying with time

An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system for generating a parametric ultrasonic image of perfusion of blood in tissue in a region of interest, the system comprising:

• a scanhead having an array transducer for scanning a region of interest;
• a beamformer coupled to selectively apply transmit signals of high and low intensity to the transducer and to receive echo signals from the transducer and to generate output signals corresponding thereto;
• a contrast signal detector which acts to identify contrast echo signals;
• a processor coupled to the contrast signal detector and responsive to temporal sequences of contrast echo signals from discrete locations in the region of interest, the processor being operable to develop perfusion parameters relating to the discrete locations;
• and
• a video processor receiving the perfusion parameters and producing image data in which the perfusion parameters are spatially represented.