Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, data analysis method, and data analysis program

A data analysis method to be used in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for supplying drive signals to plural ultrasonic transducers respectively to transmit ultrasonic waves and converting reception signals, which are respectively outputted from said plural ultrasonic transducers receiving ultrasonic echoes, into digital signals, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) performing reception focus processing and envelope detection processing on the digital signals to sequentially generate envelope data;
• (b) storing the envelope data for at least one frame generated at step (a) in a storage unit;
• (c) generating image data representing an ultrasonic image based on one of the envelope data generated at step (a) and the envelope data stored in said storage unit at step (b);
• (d) displaying the ultrasonic image on a display unit based on the image data generated at step (c);
• (e) setting a ROI (region of interest) in the ultrasonic image displayed on said display unit;
• (f) storing the envelope data for at least one frame in a memory, calculating a histogram, a probability density distribution, and a Rayleigh distribution on values of the envelope data corresponding to the ROI set at step (e) among the envelope data stored in said memory, calculating a mean value of P(A)/R(A) as a first parameter and a mean value of absolute values of (1-P(A)/R(A)) as a second parameter, where “A” represents a value of the envelope data, P(A) represents the probability density distribution, and R(A) represents the Rayleigh distribution, and comparing the first and second parameters with respective threshold values to judge whether a tissue appearing in the ROI is normal or not and judge whether a number of samples is sufficient or not;
• and
• (g) displaying the ultrasonic image and the corresponding speckle analysis result on said display unit based on the image data generated at step (c) and the speckle analysis result data generated at step (f).

A data analysis program embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium to be used in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus for supplying drive signals to plural ultrasonic transducers respectively to transmit ultrasonic waves and converting reception signals, which are respectively outputted from said plural ultrasonic transducers receiving ultrasonic echoes, into digital signals, said program actuating a CPU to execute the procedures of:

• (a) performing reception focus processing and envelope detection processing on the digital signals to sequentially generate envelope data;
• (b) storing the envelope data for at least one frame generated at procedure (a) in a storage unit;
• (c) generating image data representing an ultrasonic image based on one of the envelope data generated at procedure (a) and the envelope data stored in the storage unit at procedure (b);
• (d) displaying the ultrasonic image on a display unit based on the image data generated at procedure (c);
• (e) setting a ROI (region of interest) in the ultrasonic image displayed on said display unit in accordance with operation of an operator;
• (f) storing the envelope data for at least one frame in a memory, calculating a histogram, a probability density distribution, and a Rayleigh distribution on values of the envelope data corresponding to the ROI set at procedure (e) among the envelope data stored in said memory, calculating a mean value of P(A)/R(A) as a first parameter and a mean value of absolute values of (1-P(A)/R(A)) as a second parameter, where “A” represents a value of the envelope data, P(A) represents the probability density distribution, and R(A) represents the Rayleigh distribution, and comparing the first and second parameters with respective threshold values to judge whether a tissue appearing in the ROI is normal or not and judge whether a number of samples is sufficient or not;
• and
• (g) displaying the ultrasonic image and the corresponding speckle analysis result on said display unit based on the image data generated at procedure (c) and the speckle analysis result data generated at procedure (f).