Method and apparatus for volume determination
AssigneeSignostics Limited
InventorNicholas Betts
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A user interface element for a diagnostic ultrasound system including a user determined seed point, a perimeter defining a closed region of similar echoic intensity surrounding the seed point, here that region corresponds to a cross section through a physical feature within a body, a first calculated value being an area of said closed region, a second calculated value being a volume of said physical feature, calculated using preselected assumptions about the shape of the physical feature, wherein the perimeter is user adjustable.
Claims9
A user interface element for a diagnostic ultrasound system adapted to be applied to an ultrasound B-mode image displayed to a user, the interface element including:
- a seed point positioned by the user on the displayed image;
- a perimeter defining a closed region of similar echoic intensity surrounding the seed point, the position of said perimeter being automatically calculated in response to the user positioning the seed point, where said region corresponds to a cross section through a physical feature within a body;
- a first calculated value being an area of said closed region;
- a second calculated value being a volume of said physical feature calculated using preselected assumptions about the shape of the physical feature wherein the user is able to modify the perimeter placement by dragging a selected point on the perimeter to a different location, the perimeter remaining continuous.
The method of claim 8 wherein the user interface element is applied to two ultrasound scans taken approximately orthogonally.
A method of calculating the volume of a urinary bladder including the steps of acquiring a plurality of cross sectional scans of said bladder;
- for each of said scans positioning a seed point upon a displayed image of that scan;
- for each scan calculating the position of a perimeter defining a closed region of similar echoic intensity surrounding the seed point, the position of said perimeter being automatically calculated in response to the user positioning the seed point, where said region corresponds to a cross section through a physical feature within a body, wherein the user is able to modify the perimeter placement by dragging a selected point on the perimeter to a different location, the perimeter remaining continuous;
- for each scan calculating a first calculated value being an area of said closed region, to give a plurality of areas of cross section of said bladder;
- calculating the volume of said bladder using an algorithm which makes use of the plurality of areas of cross section of the bladder.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.