Wall filter for ultrasonic mitral regurgitation analysis
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
InventorsQifeng Wei, Karl Thiele
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system is described which quantifies regurgitant flow through a mitral valve. Echo signals received by an ultrasound probe (10) are used to produce an image of a regurgitant flow region, and are processed by a wall filter having a response characteristic which peaks at an intermediate sampling rate between zero and the Nyquist limits. This response characteristic is thus highly sensitive to lower flow rates which may be anticipated in a flow velocity field proximal a regurgitant orifice. Echo signals passed by the wall filter are Doppler processed and used to quantify the flow through the regurgitant orifice.
Claims12
A diagnostic ultrasound system for measuring regurgitant flow comprising:
- an ultrasound probe having a transducer array for transmitting ultrasonic energy to and receiving ultrasonic echoes from a location of regurgitant flow in a body;
- an image processor, responsive to received echoes, for producing an ultrasound image of the location of regurgitant flow;
- a wall filter, responsive to received echoes, having a response characteristic extending from zero to Nyquist s of ±1, the response characteristic peaking in the range of ½ to ⅔ of Nyquist;
- a Doppler processor responsive to echo signals passed by the wall filter for producing Doppler ultrasound measurements of blood flow velocity in the vicinity of the location of regurgitant flow;
- a flow quantification processor configured to produce a measurement of a flow velocity field in the vicinity of the location of regurgitant flow;
- and
- a display device, coupled to the image processor and the flow quantification processor, for displaying the ultrasound image of the location of regurgitant flow and a flow measurement derived from the flow quantification processor measurement.
(canceled)
(canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.