Ultrasound diagnostic apparatus and method for diagnosing ultrasound probe

1. An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus connectable with an ultrasound probe which comprises a plurality of elements configured to transmit an ultrasound signal and to receive a reflected wave signal from a subject or from air, wherein the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus comprises:

processing circuitry configured to:

generate an ultrasound image based on an output of the plurality of elements of the ultrasound probe;

diagnose states of the plurality of elements of the ultrasound probe based on a feature value of the reflected wave signal received by the ultrasound probe;

generate, based on the diagnosed states of the plurality of elements, a plurality of types of deterioration degree information indicative of deterioration degrees of the plurality of elements, for respective groups of elements that constitute the plurality of elements; and

superimpose the plurality of types of deterioration degree information onto the ultrasound image of the subject in such a manner that each of the plurality of types of deterioration degree information is recognizable;

superimpose a second image, which is an image corresponding to one of the plurality of types of deterioration degree information and involving a deterioration degree larger than a threshold, onto the ultrasound image of the subject in such a manner that the second image covers a region that is based on an output of elements with the deterioration degree larger than the threshold; and

in response to scan conditions for the ultrasound image being changed according to an operation by an operator, add a correction to the second image based on the changed scan conditions and a number of elements that form a display target image among the ultrasound image, to superimpose the corrected second image onto the display target image,

wherein a ratio rA of a number of elements forming the second image after the correction to a number of elements forming the second image before the correction is smaller than a ratio rB of a number of elements forming the ultrasound image after the correction to a number of elements forming the ultrasound image before the correction (rA<rB); and

to cause a display to display a resultant image.

2. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to prepare the plurality of types of deterioration degree information in a form of a probe diagnosis report comprising a first image and identification information of the ultrasound probe, the first image being prepared by associating positions of the elements in the ultrasound probe with the deterioration degrees of the plurality of elements.

3. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to correct the plurality of types of deterioration degree information based on scan conditions for the ultrasound image of the subject and also on a number of the plurality of elements that form an image of a display target among the ultrasound image of the subject, to superimpose the corrected plurality of types of deterioration degree information onto the image of the display target, and to cause the display to display the resultant image.

4. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to prepare the plurality of types of deterioration degree information by grouping the elements into a number of groups fewer than a number of the plurality of elements, based on positions of the plurality of elements, and associating the plurality of types of deterioration degrees with the groups, respectively.

5. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to prepare the plurality of types of deterioration degree information by individually associating positions of the plurality of elements with a plurality of colors according to the plurality of types of deterioration degrees of the plurality of elements.

6. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to prepare the plurality of types of deterioration degree information by further associating the positions of the plurality of elements with symbols according to the plurality of types of deterioration degrees of the elements.

7. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to set, in response to an operation by an operator, a trigger for performing a process including the diagnosing, the preparing, and the superimposing.

8. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to set, as the trigger, in response to the operation by the operator, one of (1) a first trigger, which triggers performance of the process every time the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus is activated, (2) a second trigger, which triggers performance of the process for an ultrasound inspection of the subject, and (3) a third trigger, which triggers performance of the process at preset intervals.

9. An ultrasound probe diagnosing method performed by an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus connectable with an ultrasound probe, which comprises a plurality of elements configured to transmit an ultrasound signal and to receive a reflected wave signal from a subject or from air, the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus configured to generate an ultrasound image based on an output of the plurality of elements, wherein the ultrasound probe diagnosing method comprises:

diagnosing states of the plurality of elements of the ultrasound probe based on a feature value of the reflected wave signal received by the ultrasound probe;

generating, based on the diagnosed states of the plurality of elements, a plurality of types of deterioration degree information indicative of deterioration degrees of the plurality of elements, for respective groups of elements that constitute the plurality of elements; and

superimposing the plurality of types of deterioration degree information onto the ultrasound image of the subject in such a manner that each of the plurality of types of deterioration degree information is recognizable;

superimposing a second image, which is an image corresponding to one of the plurality of types of deterioration degree information and involving a deterioration degree larger than a threshold, onto the ultrasound image of the subject in such a manner that the second image covers a region that is based on an output of elements with the deterioration degree larger than the threshold; and

in response to scan conditions for the ultrasound image being changed according to an operation by an operator, correcting the second image based on the changed scan conditions and a number of elements that form a display target image among the ultrasound image, and superimposing the corrected second image onto the display target image,

wherein a ratio rA of a number of elements forming the second image after the correction to a number of elements forming the second image before the correction is smaller than a ratio rB of a number of elements forming the ultrasound image after the correction to a number of elements forming the ultrasound image before the correction (rA<rB); and

causing a display to display a resultant image.

10. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a memory storing predetermined feature data, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to diagnose the states of the plurality of elements by reading the predetermined feature data from the memory and comparing the predetermined feature data to the feature value of the reflected wave signal.

11. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to cause the display to use a plurality of colors for displaying the plurality of types of deterioration degree information, respectively.

12. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the deterioration degree information comprises a deterioration degree of the grouped elements and information on an expected influence on image diagnosis.

13. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the deterioration degree information comprises a deterioration degree of the grouped elements and availability for image diagnosis.

14. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the second image is semitransparent so that the ultrasound image is seen in pale colors through the second image, transparency of the second image being set according to the deterioration degrees.

15. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to generate a second image for covering a region that is based on an output of elements with a deterioration degree larger than a threshold, to superimpose the probe diagnosis report or the second image onto the ultrasound image according to an operation by an operator, and to cause the display to display the resultant image.