System and methods for automatic lesion characterization

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a request to determine an A/B ratio of a region of interest (ROI) of an elastography image displayed to a user on a display device, the elastography image including an underlying B-mode image displayed to the user on the display device and an elastography overlay displayed on the underlying B-mode image, the elastography overlay including elastography information of tissue imaged in the underlying B-mode image and measured by an ultrasound probe of an ultrasound system;

in response to receiving the request, adjusting a gain of the elastography overlay of the elastography image to generate a processed elastography image that includes the underlying B-mode image and the adjusted-gain elastography overlay on the underlying B-mode image, the adjusted-gain elastography overlay having a different gain than the elastography overlay that is displayed to the user;

entering the processed elastography image and a selected B-mode image of the ROI as inputs to an A/B ratio model that is trained to output the A/B ratio using the selected B-mode image of the ROI and the processed elastography image of the ROI as inputs, wherein the selected B-mode image is the underlying B-mode image or a different B-mode image that includes the ROI, and wherein the A/B ratio comprises a width and/or an area of the ROI in the elastography overlay relative to a width and/or an area of the ROI in the selected B-mode image; and

displaying the A/B ratio on the display device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the elastography image is a shear-wave elastography image or a strain elastography image.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the elastography overlay includes elastography information indicating measured stiffness of tissue imaged in the underlying B-mode image.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing the A/B ratio in memory as part of a patient exam.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the A/B ratio is a ratio of a first area of the ROI in the adjusted-gain elastography overlay to a second area of the ROI in the selected B-mode image.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the A/B ratio of the ROI is determined via the A/B ratio model by:

identifying a first border of the ROI in the adjusted-gain elastography overlay via the A/B ratio model and determining the first area of the ROI in the adjusted-gain elastography overlay based on the identified first border;

identifying a second border of the ROI in the selected B-mode image via the A/B ratio model and determining the second area of the ROI in the selected B-mode image based on the identified second border; and

determining the A/B ratio from the first area and the second area.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein adjusting the gain of the elastography overlay of the elastography image to generate the processed elastography image further comprises adjusting a transparency and the gain of the elastography overlay to generate the processed elastography image.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein adjusting the transparency and the gain of the elastography overlay comprises adjusting the transparency to a minimum transparency and adjusting the gain to a maximum gain.

9. A system, comprising:

a display device;

an ultrasound probe;

a memory storing instructions; and

a processor communicatively coupled to the memory and when executing the instructions, configured to:

acquire, via the ultrasound probe, a B-mode image of a region of interest (ROI) of a patient;

acquire, via the ultrasound probe, an elastography image of the ROI of the patient, the elastography image including an elastography overlay on the B-mode image, the elastography overlay including elastography information of tissue imaged in the underlying B-mode image and measured by the ultrasound probe;

display the elastography image to a user on the display device;

receive a request to determine an A/B ratio of the ROI;

in response to the request, generate a processed elastography image that includes the B-mode image and an adjusted-gain elastography overlay on the B-mode image, wherein the adjusted-gain elastography overlay of the processed elastography image has a different gain than the elastography overlay of the elastography image that is displayed to the user;

enter the B-mode image and the processed elastography image as inputs to an A/B ratio model that is trained to output the A/B ratio of the ROI based on the B-mode image and the processed elastography image; and

output the A/B ratio for display on the display device, wherein the A/B ratio comprises a width and/or an area of the ROI in the elastography overlay relative to a width and/or an area of the ROI in the B-mode image.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the elastography image is a shear-wave elastography image or a strain elastography image.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the adjusted-gain elastography overlay is adjusted to have a maximum gain.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the elastography overlay indicates measured stiffness of tissue of the patient.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the A/B ratio model includes a first image segmentation model trained to identify a first border of the ROI in the processed elastography image and a second image segmentation model trained to identify a second border of the ROI in the B-mode image.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the A/B ratio model determines a first area of the ROI in the processed elastography image based on the identified first border and determines a second area of the ROI in the B-mode image based on the identified second border, and determines the A/B ratio as a ratio of the first area to the second area.

15. A method for an ultrasound system, comprising:

displaying an elastography image to a user on a display device, the elastography image including an underlying B-mode image and an overlay on the B-mode image, the overlay including elastography information of tissue imaged in the B-mode image and measured by an ultrasound probe of the ultrasound system, the overlay displayed at a first transparency;

receiving a request to adjust a transparency of the overlay to a second transparency, and in response, adjusting the transparency of the overlay displayed on the display device to the second transparency;

receiving a request to determine an A/B ratio of a region of interest (ROI) of the elastography image displayed to the user on the display device, wherein the A/B ratio is a ratio of a first area of the ROI in the elastography image to a second area of the ROI in the B-mode image;

responsive to receiving the request, further adjusting the transparency of the overlay of the elastography image to a third transparency to generate a processed elastography image, wherein the processed elastography image includes the adjusted-transparency overlay with the third transparency on the underlying B-mode image, and wherein the third transparency is different than the first transparency;

entering the processed elastography image and the underlying B-mode image as inputs to a model trained to output the A/B ratio based on the processed elastography image and the underlying B-mode image; and

outputting the A/B ratio for display on a display device.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the third transparency is a minimum transparency.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein third transparency is based on a brightness of the underlying B-mode image and the third transparency increases as the brightness decreases.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the model is trained to identify and segment the ROI in the processed elastography image to determine the first area and identify and segment the ROI in the B-mode image to determine the second area.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein receiving the request to determine the A/B ratio of the ROI comprises receiving a request to determine an A/B ratio of a lesion, the lesion imaged in the elastography image and the B-mode image.