Ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system for analysis of left ventricular function
AssigneeAdvanced Technology Laboratories, Inc.
InventorGary Allen Schwartz
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system is provided for measuring the volume of a chamber of the heart or other organ or vessel. An ultrasonic transducer probe is used to scan the chamber with a plurality of spatially distinct scan planes. The pixels of the chamber volume of each scan plane are aggregated to provide a measure of the volume. In a preferred embodiment the chamber volume pixels are developed from Doppler signals from the fluid within the chamber, and are related to voxels within the chamber by weighting pixels in the scan planes in accordance with the voxel sampling afforded by the inter-plane separation.
Claims24
A method for using an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system for measuring the volume of a fluid filled vessel or organ of the body such as a chamber of the heart, comprising the steps of:
- scanning a chamber of the heart, vessel or organ in three dimensions by an ultrasonic technique which produces preferentially segmented samples of the blood pool of the chamber;
- storing ultrasonic samples of a plurality of spatially distinct scan planes containing ultrasonic data of the blood pool of the chamber;
- combining said ultrasonic data of said blood pool by summation or integration to develop a measure of the volume of said chamber;
- and
- displaying cardiac diagnostic information derived from said measure.
An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system for measuring the volume of a chamber of the heart, comprising:
- an ultrasonic transducer probe for acquiring ultrasonic data of the heart in three dimensions at different scan plane orientations;
- means for storing a plurality of spatially distinct scan planes containing ultrasonic data of a chamber of the heart;
- means for delineating endocardial border data of said chamber in said scan planes;
- means for weighting said delineated endocardial border data in accordance with the sampling density of the endocardium afforded by said scan planes;
- and
- means for combining said weighted endocardial border data to develop a measure of the volume of said chamber.
An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system for measuring the volume of a vessel or organ of the body, comprising:
- an ultrasonic transducer probe for acquiring ultrasonic data of the vessel or organ in three dimensions at different scan plane orientations;
- a device for storing a plurality of spatially distinct scan planes containing ultrasonic data of said vessel or organ;
- a circuit for weighting the ultrasonic data of a scan plane in accordance with the sampling density of the interior of said vessel or organ afforded by said scan planes;
- and
- a processor for combining said weighted ultrasonic data from said scan planes to develop a measure of the volume of said vessel or organ.
A method for measuring the volume of a chamber of a heart containing an ultrasonic contrast agent comprising the steps of:
- acquiring ultrasonic data from the heart chamber in three dimensions at different scan plane orientations;
- storing a plurality of spatially distinct scan planes containing ultrasonic data derived from ultrasonic signals received from contrast agent in said chamber of the heart;
- and
- combining said ultrasonic data from said scan planes to develop a measure of the volume of said chamber of the heart.
An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system for measuring the volume of a chamber of the heart, comprising:
- an ultrasonic transducer probe for acquiring ultrasonic data of the heart at different scan plane orientations which are parallel to one another;
- means for storing a plurality of spatially distinct scan planes containing ultrasonic data of a chamber of the heart;
- and
- means for combining said ultrasonic data from said scan planes to develop a measure of the volume of said chamber of the heart;
- further comprising
- means for weighting said ultrasonic data of said scan planes in accordance with the separation of adjacent scan planes;
- and
- wherein said means for combining comprises means for combining said weighted ultrasonic data.
An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system for measuring the volume of a chamber of the heart, comprising:
- an ultrasonic transducer probe for acquiring ultrasonic data of the heart at different scan plane orientations which share a common scanline orientation;
- means for storing a Plurality of spatially distinct scan planes containing ultrasonic data of a chamber of the heart;
- and
- a processor for combining said ultrasonic data from said scan planes to develop a measure of the volume of said chamber of the heart;
- further comprising
- a weighting circuit for weighting said ultrasonic data of said scan planes in accordance with the separation of adjacent scan planes;
- and
- wherein said processor comprises means for combining said weighted ultrasonic data.
An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system for measuring the volume of a chamber of the heart, comprising:
- an ultrasonic transducer probe for acquiring ultrasonic data of the heart at different scan plane orientations which are angularly inclined with respect to one another;
- means for storing a plurality of spatially distinct scan planes containing ultrasonic data of the interior volume of a chamber of the heart;
- and
- a processor for combining said ultrasonic data of the interior volume of said chamber from said scan planes to develop a measure of the volume of said chamber of the heart;
- further comprising
- a weighting circuit for weighting said ultrasonic data of said scan planes in accordance with the separation of adjacent scan planes;
- and
- wherein said processor comprises means for combining said weighted ultrasonic data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.