Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and ultrasonic image display method
View Patent ↗An image showing the spatial distribution of the hardness of a tissue of an object to be examined from which the influence of the pressure amount is eliminated is displayed. From ultrasonic tomography data measured by pressing the tissue, a physical quantity relating to the distortion of the tissue at measurement points of the tissue is determined. An elasticity image of the tissue is created according to the physical quantity. The physical quantities at the measurement points are indexed by using the physical quantity in a reference region determined in the elasticity image as a reference, and an indexed elasticity image showing the distribution of the index value is created.
1. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus comprising:
an ultrasonic probe configured to transmit/receive ultrasonic waves/echo signals to/from tissue of an object to be examined; and
an ultrasonic diagnostic system constructed at least in part of circuitry, memory and a display, to perform operations to:
provide driving ultrasonic pulses to the ultrasonic probe for the transmission of the ultrasonic waves;
amplify received echo signals from the ultrasonic probe;
generate tomographic data based on the amplified received echo signals;
convert the tomographic data to a displaying tomographic image based on a gray-scale;
obtain an RF signal group corresponding to a scanning area of ultrasonic beams for a portion of a plurality of frames of the amplified received echo signals;
perform correlation processes on a selected pair of frames of different compression quantity, and generate displacement frame data by measuring the displacement of respective measurement points in the scanned area;
calculate strain/elasticity modulus using the displacement frame data;
generate elastic image data based on the strain or elasticity modulus;
convert the generated elastic image data to a displaying elastic image based on a color-scale;
switch at least one of the displaying tomographic image or the displaying elastic image;
display the at least one of the displaying tomographic image or the displaying elastic image from the switch; and
control data transmission from a transmitting circuit to the display by an interface;
select a reference region on the at least one of the displaying tomographic image or the displaying elastic image, and
calculate an indexed elastic image frame data based on formed gradation of ratio between the strain of the respective measurement points and the strain of the reference region, so as to eliminate the influence of compression quantity of the indexed elastic image frame data,
wherein the display displays an indexed elastic image based on the indexed elastic image frame data.