Ultrasonic diagnostic scanning for three dimensional display
AssigneeAdvanced Technology Laboratories, Inc.
InventorsGary A. Schwartz, Patrick R. Pesque, Jens U. Quistgaard
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Abstract
An ultrasonic diagnostic system and scanning technique are described for producing three dimensional ultrasonic image displays utilizing power Doppler signal information. In a preferred embodiment the power Doppler signal information is displayed in the absence of structural (B mode) information to reduce image clutter and provide three dimensional image segmentation. An ultrasonic scanning technique is presented for acquiring diagnostic three dimensional ultrasonic images of power Doppler intensity through manual hand scanning of a patient, without the need for specially fabricated scanning mechanisms or devices.
Claims18
A method for producing three dimensional ultrasonic images of the interior of a body comprising the steps of:
- transmitting ultrasonic waves over a volumetric region of the interior of the body;
- receiving ultrasonic Doppler information signals from spatial locations within said region;
- processing said ultrasonic Doppler information signals to determine the Doppler power intensity received from said locations within said region;
- and
- displaying said Doppler power intensity on a spatial basis in a three dimensional presentation.
An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system which is capable of providing three dimensional presentations of the interior of a body comprising:
- an ultrasonic transducer probe for transmitting ultrasonic waves over a volumetric region of the interior of the body and for receiving ultrasonic Doppler information signals returned from spatial locations within said region;
- a power Doppler processor responsive to said ultrasonic Doppler information signals for producing Doppler power intensity signals corresponding to said locations within said region;
- an image processor for processing said Doppler power intensity signals for display in a three dimensional image presentation;
- and
- a display coupled to said image processor which displays said three dimensional image presentation.
An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system which is capable of providing three dimensional presentations of a region of a body comprising:
- an ultrasonic transducer probe for transmitting ultrasonic waves over a sequence of image planes of said region of the body and for receiving ultrasonic Doppler information signals returned from spatial locations within said image planes while said probe is manually incremented positionally in relation to said region;
- a power Doppler processor responsive to said ultrasonic Doppler information signals for estimating the Doppler power corresponding to said locations within said image planes;
- an image processor for processing said Doppler power estimates to produce a maximum Doppler power image for display in a three dimensional image presentation in the absence of non Doppler signal information;
- and
- a display responsive to the production of maximum Doppler power images which displays a sequence of said maximum Doppler power images in a three dimensional image presentation in the absence of a structural display of tissue.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.