Ultrasonic image processing method and system for displaying a composite image sequence of an artery segment

Abstract

The invention concerns an ultrasonic image processing method for displaying a composite sequence of images of an artery segment with indication of blood flow velocity and wall movements in function of the cardiac cycle, comprising steps of: forming, at a first rate, a first sequence (131) of blood flow velocity color-coded images and forming, at a second rate, a second sequence (231) of images with wall movement graphics; and constructing said composite image sequence (361) by determining a first set of temporal markers (n1,n2), related to the cardiac cycle, in the first image sequence as the minimum points of a curve (P(n)) of the number of the colored points per image in function of the image instants, determining a second set of temporal markers (k1,k2), related to the same cardiac cycle, in the second image sequence as the minimum points of a curve (D(k)) of the arterial mean dilation in function of the image instants, and by superposing the first and second image sequences by synchronizing the respective markers of said two sets, and displaying the composite image sequence. The invention also relates to an ultrasonic examination imaging system carrying out said method.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.