Apparatus and method for ultrasound imaging with contrast agents

1. An apparatus for generating ultrasound images of a body part under examination, the apparatus comprising:

a first ultrasound emitting unit comprising one or more electroacoustic transducers and a first ultrasound receiving unit comprising one or more electroacoustic transducers, said first ultrasound emitting unit and said first ultrasound receiving unit facing each other and being spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance such that they are arranged at opposite sides of a cavity for housing the body part under examination, wherein ultrasound pulses emitted from said first ultrasound emitting unit are received by said first ultrasound receiving unit after passing through the body part under examination and are transformed into transmission signals;

a control unit for controlling said first ultrasound emitting unit, a processing unit for processing the received signals from said first ultrasound receiving unit, an image generator, and a display for displaying images from said image generator;

wherein said processing unit comprises an evaluating unit that evaluates the attenuation of ultrasound pulses and/or the propagation speed of ultrasound pulses;

wherein said processing unit comprises a comparing unit that compares values of the propagation speed of ultrasound pulses and/or of the attenuation of ultrasound pulses with predetermined threshold values, wherein attenuation and/or propagation speed values under or over said predetermined threshold values indicate the presence of contrast agents within the body part under examination; and

a second ultrasound receiving unit for receiving ultrasound pulses, comprising one or more electroacoustic transducers, for receiving echoes generated by the body part under examination and for transforming them into reflection signals, said processing unit comprising a extracting unit for extracting harmonic components of said reflection signals and said harmonic components of the reflected signals resulting from a reflection due to contrast agents when the comparison of said attenuation of ultrasound pulses and/or of said propagation speed of ultrasound pulses is under or over said threshold values;

wherein said image generator generates a transmission image from signals received by said first ultrasound receiving unit and a reflection image from signals received by said second ultrasound receiving unit, wherein said evaluating unit evaluates the attenuation of ultrasound pulses and/or the propagation speed of ultrasound pulses by calculating for each pixel or voxel of the transmission image the attenuation of ultrasound pulses and/or the propagation speed of ultrasound pulses, wherein said extracting unit extracts the harmonic components of the reflection signals and calculates for each pixel or voxel of the reflection image the intensity of the harmonic components, wherein said comparing unit compares for each corresponding pixel or voxel of the transmission image and of the reflection image the values of the attenuation of ultrasound pulses and/or of the propagation speed of ultrasound pulses and the intensity of the second harmonic component with specific threshold values so as to detect the presence of contrast agents for each pixel or voxel.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , comprising a second emitting unit having one or more electroacoustic transducers, and a control unit for said second emitting unit, wherein echoes received by the second ultrasound receiving unit result from pulses emitted from said second emitting unit.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein said second emitting unit and said second ultrasound receiving unit comprise the same one or more electroacoustic transducers.

4. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein said second emitting unit and/or said second ultrasound receiving unit are movable from a location near said first ultrasound emitting unit to a location near said first ultrasound receiving unit.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , comprising an image subtraction unit such that a first reflection image is acquired from harmonic components of reflection reception signals received by said second ultrasound receiving unit with no contrast agents, then a second reflection image is acquired from harmonic components of reflection reception signals received by said second ultrasound receiving unit with contrast agents, a subtraction is performed between said first reflection image and said second reflection image by said subtraction unit, generating an image wherein for each pixel or voxel a determination is made whether the signal results from the presence of a contrast agent by means of said comparing unit which compares for each pixel or voxel the intensity value of the harmonic components of the reflection reception signal and the value of the attenuation of ultrasound pulses and/or of the propagation speed of ultrasound pulses of the transmission reception signal acquired at the same time as said second reflection image with specific threshold values.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein said display displays said reflection image, highlighting in a manner pixels or voxels wherein the presence of said contrast agents is detected.

7. The apparatus according claim 1 , comprising a contrast agent injector including an injection needle, an inner tank intended to hold said contrast agents connected to said injection needle, an injection releasing unit for releasing the injection of a specific dose of said contrast agents and a movement member for moving said injection needle, said movement member and said injection releasing unit being controllable by a controller.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein said injector comprises a reading unit for reading an RFID apparatus associated to said inner tank holding said contrast agents and/or to an outer tank intended to fill said inner tank, which RFID apparatus has information about the type of contrast agent and about injection protocols relevant to that type of contrast agent stored therein.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein said controller controls said movement member and said injection releasing unit so that the injection protocol detected by said reading unit can be applied.

10. A method comprising using the apparatus according to claim 1 to generate 3D images of the body part under examination.

11. A method comprising using the apparatus according to claim 1 to generate ultrasound images of a breast of a patient.

12. The apparatus of claim 2 , comprising a substantially horizontal table, said table defining said cavity for housing the body part under examination, said first ultrasound emitting unit, said first ultrasound receiving unit, said second emitting unit and said second ultrasound receiving unit being housed within said cavity, such that the body part under examination can be subjected to imaging in an uncompressed condition.