US 8,540,636 B2Granted

Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and medical image processing apparatus

AssigneesKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation

InventorsTetsuya Kawagishi, Susumu Uchiyama, Shunsuke Satoh, Shinichi Hashimoto, Yasuhiko Abe, Hiroyuki Ohuchi

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Abstract

In general, according to one embodiment, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes an image generating unit configured to generate medical images from a multislice which covers an area including the heart of an object. Each slice is almost perpendicular to the long axis of the heart. Each medical image is a short-axis image of the heart. A series of medical images captured at different times correspond to each slice. The embodiment generates a polar map associated with myocardial motion indices from a plurality of medical images. A polar map is segmented into segments. The embodiment calculates the average value of motion indices for each segment. The utility of an average value depends on the range covered by each segment. This embodiment matches the boundary of a segment with the position of a vein. This prevents a deterioration in the utility of average values due to the influences of veins.

Claims17

Dependent claims

An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising:

an image generating unit configured to generate data of a plurality of ultrasonic images by repeatedly scanning a three-dimensional area including a heart of an object with ultrasonic waves;
a short-axis image generating unit configured to generate a plurality of short-axis images intersecting a long cardiac axis from the ultrasonic images;
an index calculating unit configured to calculate indices associated with a motor function of a cardiac wall from the short-axis image;
a polar coordinate distribution generating unit configured to generate a polar coordinate distribution of the indices;
an average calculation unit configured to calculate average values of the indices respectively corresponding to a plurality of segments in the polar coordinate distribution;
a display unit configured to display the polar coordinate distribution and the short-axis image;
an operation unit configured to designate a point of interest on a vein of the displayed short-axis image;
and
a segment setting unit configured to set a boundary of the segment at a position on the polar coordinate distribution which corresponds to a position of the designated point of interest.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.