Ultrasound diagnostic apparatus and ultrasound image processing program

1. An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus which acquires an ultrasound image by ultrasound-scanning a breast, comprising:

an ultrasound probe and a transmission/reception circuit configured to transmit ultrasound waves to the breast, receive the ultrasound waves from the breast and generate echo signals corresponding to a plurality of frames of substantially a same region at different times on the basis of the received ultrasound waves in a same scan sequence;

an image processor configured to (1) generate first images corresponding to the plurality of frames by performing signal processing, the signal processing reducing a speckle pattern component included in each of the echo signals corresponding to the plurality of frames, wherein the signal processing of reducing the speckle pattern components is CFAR (Contrast False Alarm Rate) processing, and the signal processing of reducing the speckle pattern components uses a kernel pattern having an arrangement to acquire more echo signals in a plurality of positions in a horizontal direction than echo signals in a plurality of positions in a vertical direction, wherein the vertical direction corresponds to a direction of transmitting the ultrasound waves, (2) extract a component due to micro calcification occurring in breast tissue as a symptom of breast cancer, and (3) generate second images by performing maximum value projection processing or maximum value holding processing among values of the echo signals at spatially corresponding positions of the first images, which correspond to the different times; and

a display which displays the generated second images.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the signal processing of reducing the speckle pattern component is processing using a spatial high-pass filter.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the display simultaneously displays at least two images selected from a group consisting of a third image generated on the basis of the echo signals of the plurality of frames, the first images, and the second images.

4. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the display simultaneously displays a superimposed image obtained by superimposing the first images on a third image generated on the basis of the echo signals of the plurality of frames and the second images.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the image processor is further configured to change a form of a filter when the filter is used in the signal processing of reducing a speckle pattern component.

6. An apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a sensor configured to detect a change in a magnetic field, the change being used to determine a moving range of the ultrasound probe,

wherein the image processor is further configured to calculate an ultrasound-scanned region of the breast on the basis of the determined moving range of the ultrasound probe, wherein

the display displays the calculated ultrasound-scanned region in a predetermined form.

7. An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the display displays an ultrasound-scanned region calculated by using a body mark.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the image processor is further configured to perform Maximum Intensity Projection (MIP) processing for images on the same coordinates in a plurality of frames on the images.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the image processor is further configured to perform the MIP processing using a plurality of frames that are time continuous.

10. An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus which acquires an ultrasound image by ultrasound-scanning a breast, comprising:

an ultrasound probe and a transmission/reception circuit configured to transmit ultrasound waves to the breast, receive the ultrasound waves from the breast and generates echo signals corresponding to a plurality of frames of substantially a same region at different times on the basis of the received ultrasound waves in a same scan sequence;

an image processor configured to (1) generate first images corresponding to the plurality of frames by performing maximum value projection processing or maximum value holding processing among values of the echo signals at spatially corresponding positions of said plurality of frames, which correspond to the different times, (2) generates second images by performing signal processing, the signal processing reducing a speckle pattern component included in the second images, wherein the signal processing of reducing the speckle pattern components is CFAR (Contrast False Alarm Rate) processing, and the signal processing of reducing the speckle pattern components uses a kernel pattern having an arrangement to acquire more echo signals in a plurality of positions in a horizontal direction than echo signals in a plurality of positions in a vertical direction, wherein the vertical direction corresponds to a direction of transmitting the ultrasound waves, and (3) extract a component due to micro calcification occurring in breast tissue as a symptom of breast cancer; and

a display which displays the generated second images.

11. An apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the signal processing of reducing the speckle pattern component is processing using a spatial high-pass filter.

12. An apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the display simultaneously displays at least two images selected from a group consisting of a third image generated on the basis of the echo signals of the plurality of frames, the first images, and the second images.

13. An apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the display simultaneously displays a superimposed image obtained by superimposing the first images on a third image generated on the basis of the echo signals of the plurality of frames and the second images.

14. An apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the image processor is further configured to change a form of a filter when the filter is used in the signal processing of reducing a speckle pattern component.

15. An apparatus according to claim 10 , further comprising a sensor configured to detect a change in a magnetic field, the change being used to determine a moving range of the ultrasound probe,

wherein the display displays the calculated ultrasound-scanned region in a predetermined form.

16. An apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the display unit displays the ultrasound-scanned region calculated by using a body mark.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium including computer executable instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform an ultrasound diagnostic method comprising:

generating, by performing signal processing, first images corresponding to a plurality of frames of substantially a same region at different times of a breast, the plurality of frames acquired in a same scan sequence, the signal processing reducing a speckle pattern component included in echo signals corresponding to the plurality of frames, and extracting a component due to micro calcification occurring in breast tissue as a symptom of breast cancer, wherein the signal processing of reducing the speckle pattern components is CFAR (Contrast False Alarm Rate) processing, and the signal processing of reducing the speckle pattern components uses a kernel pattern having an arrangement to acquire more echo signals in a plurality of positions in a horizontal direction than echo signals in a plurality of positions in a vertical direction, wherein the vertical direction corresponds to a direction of transmitting the ultrasound waves;

generating second images by performing maximum value projection processing or maximum value holding processing among values of the echo signals at spatially corresponding positions of the first images, which correspond to the different times; and

displaying the generated second images.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium including computer executable instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform an ultrasound diagnostic method comprising:

generating first images corresponding to a plurality of frames, acquired in a same scan sequence, of substantially a same region at different times of a breast by performing maximum value projection processing or maximum value holding processing among values of the echo signals at spatially corresponding positions of said plurality of frames, which correspond to the different times;

generating second images by performing signal processing, the signal processing reducing a speckle pattern component included in the second images, wherein the signal processing of reducing the speckle pattern components is CFAR (Contrast False Alarm Rate) processing, and the signal processing of reducing the speckle pattern components uses a kernel pattern having an arrangement to acquire more echo signals in a plurality of positions in a horizontal direction than echo signals in a plurality of positions in a vertical direction, wherein the vertical direction corresponds to a direction of transmitting the ultrasound waves;

extracting a component due to micro calcification occurring in breast tissue as a symptom of breast cancer; and

displaying the generated second images.

19. A control method of an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus which acquires an ultrasound image by ultrasound-scanning a breast, comprising:

transmitting ultrasound waves to the breast;

receiving the ultrasound waves from the breast;

generating echo signals corresponding to a plurality of frames of substantially a same region at different times on the basis of the received ultrasound waves in a same scan sequence;

generating first images corresponding to the plurality of frames by performing signal processing, the signal processing reducing a speckle pattern component included in each of the echo signals corresponding to the plurality of frames, and extracting a component due to micro calcification occurring in breast tissue as a symptom of breast cancer, wherein the signal processing of reducing the speckle pattern components is CFAR (Contrast False Alarm Rate) processing, and the signal processing of reducing the speckle pattern components uses a kernel pattern having an arrangement to acquire more echo signals in a plurality of positions in a horizontal direction than echo signals in a plurality of positions in a vertical direction, wherein the vertical direction corresponds to a direction of transmitting the ultrasound waves;

generating second images by performing maximum value projection processing or maximum value holding processing among values of the echo signals at spatially corresponding positions of the first images, which correspond to the different times; and

displaying the generated second images.

20. A control method of an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus which acquires an ultrasound image by ultrasound-scanning a breast, comprising:

transmitting ultrasound waves to the breast;

receiving the ultrasound waves from the breast;

generating echo signals corresponding to a plurality of frames of substantially a same region at different times on the basis of the received ultrasound waves in a same scan sequence;

generating first images corresponding to the plurality of frames by performing maximum value projection processing or maximum value holding processing among values of the echo signals at spatially corresponding positions of said plurality of frames, which correspond to the different times;

generating second images by performing signal processing, the signal processing reducing a speckle pattern component included in the second images, wherein the signal processing of reducing the speckle pattern components is CFAR (Contrast False Alarm Rate) processing, and the signal processing of reducing the speckle pattern components uses a kernel pattern having an arrangement to acquire more echo signals in a plurality of positions in a horizontal direction than echo signals in a plurality of positions in a vertical direction, wherein the vertical direction corresponds to a direction of transmitting the ultrasound waves;

extracting a component due to micro calcification occurring in breast tissue as a symptom of breast cancer; and

displaying the generated second images.