JPS6313701B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improvement in an ultrasonic transceiver device, particularly an ultrasonic transceiver device suitable for diagnosing mammary glands and the like.

For early detection of breast cancer, etc., ultrasound diagnostic equipment that can non-invasively display images of the state of the mammary glands is well known.Usually, a linear electronic scanning probe is used to scan the breast in a circular section. Alternatively, the mammary gland tissue is observed while the probe is rotated around the breast.
However, this conventional device has a problem in that it is not necessarily possible to obtain high-resolution images.

Therefore, in recent years, a method using scattered waves of an ultrasound beam, which is different from the above-mentioned pulse echo method, has been studied, and good diagnostic results have been obtained.

FIG. 1 shows this type of conventional wave transmitting/receiving device, in which the ultrasonic beam transmitted from the wave transmitter 10 is focused by driving the gutter-type wave transmitter 10 to form a focal line. The speed is collected at 100. In the conventional pulse-echo method, the transmitter is used as a receiver, and the reflected echo is received in the direction opposite to the direction in which the ultrasonic beam travels. However, in this improved conventional method, the focal line 100 A receiver 12 is provided on the extension of the focal line 100 to receive the reflected echoes scattered in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the ultrasonic beam. Therefore, a reflected echo corresponding to the degree of scattering of the ultrasound beam on the focal line 100 can be obtained. Therefore, by transmitting and receiving waves once, it is possible to obtain an image signal on the focal line 100, and by mechanically scanning this transmitting and receiving device, it is possible to obtain ultrasound image information of a desired cross section. , and has the advantage that high-resolution images can be obtained by focusing the ultrasound beam.

However, even with this improved conventional device,
In order to obtain a desired tomographic image, it is necessary to mechanically scan the wave transmitting/receiving device, which results in a long diagnosis time, making it unsuitable for mass examinations, especially for mammary glands.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its purpose is to improve the above-mentioned wave transmission/reception method using scattered waves to obtain high-quality tomographic images with a short diagnosis time, and is particularly suitable for mammary gland diagnosis. The object of the present invention is to provide a wave transmitting/receiving device.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a plurality of narrow rectangular ultrasonic transducers arranged in a plane, and transmits an ultrasonic beam focused on a focal line a predetermined distance from the transducer surface. a planar ultrasonic wave transmitter that is electronically scan-controlled so as to transmit the waves in a plurality of consecutive scans in which the focal line moves substantially parallel to the transducer surface; and an extension of one of the focal lines. A linear electronic scanning ultrasonic wave receiver is provided on a line and has a scanning plane that coincides with a movement plane of a focal line.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows a preferred embodiment of the ultrasonic transceiver according to the present invention, which consists of a combination of a planar ultrasonic transmitter 14 and a linear electronic scanning ultrasonic receiver 16.

The planar ultrasonic transmitter 14 includes a plurality of narrow rectangular ultrasonic transducers 20 arranged on a support plate 18 made of an acoustic backing material. A focused ultrasound beam is transmitted.

FIG. 3 shows the scanning of the focal line 100 by the planar ultrasonic transmitter 14, and as in normal electronic scanning, the amount of delay is A desired excitation effect is achieved by connecting delay lines 22 with different values using a changeover switch 24, and in the embodiment, by increasing the delay amount on the center side of the vibrator to be excited, the transmission from the vibrator 20 is controlled. The wave front of the wave-formed sound wave becomes concave as shown in the figure, and as a result, the combined ultrasonic beam is focused at a position indicated by reference numeral 100.
The transmitter 14 performs the scanning shown in FIG. 3 several times in succession.
An ultrasonic beam that moves approximately parallel to the transducer plane is obtained.

On the other hand, the receiver 16 is formed of a large-diameter linear electronic scanning type ultrasonic receiver provided on one extension of the focal line 100 and having a scanning plane coinciding with the plane of movement of the focal line 100. This receiver has a configuration in which an acoustic backing material is provided on the back side of the ultrasonic transducer, and an acoustic lens and an acoustic matching layer are provided on the front side, that is, the receiving surface side of the ultrasonic beam. The scanning plane of the receiver 16 is indicated by reference numeral 200, and this scanning plane is set corresponding to the moving plane of the focal line 100.
If the linear electronic scanning of the receiver 16 is controlled in synchronization with the electronic scanning of the transmitter 14 described above, the receiving transducer located on the extension of the focal line 100 of the ultrasonic beam will always be in the receiving state. It becomes possible to reliably receive the scattered waves of the focal line 100 and to electronically receive the scattered waves at high speed without requiring mechanical scanning. Therefore, the time required to obtain one tomographic image can be extremely shortened, and real-time images can be obtained.

As described above, it is possible to perform one electronic scan along the vibration plane of the transmitter and obtain a high-speed, high-resolution image. The receiver 14 and the receiver 16 are fixed to a fixed arm 26 in order to maintain their relative positions, and the fixed arm 26 is mechanically scanned in a direction orthogonal to the electronic scanning direction to obtain a desired two-dimensional image. This makes it possible to perform a three-dimensional scan of mammary glands and other areas. That is, the fixed arm 26
A slider 28 is fixed to one end, and the slider 28 is held by a support 32 mounted on a substrate 30 so as to be slidable in the vertical direction, and a fixed arm 26
By engaging the nut portion 34 provided in the moving screw 36, the transmitter 14 and the receiver 1 can be moved.
6 can be used as a pair of transducers and can be moved simultaneously in the vertical direction of the figure. The moving screw 36 is rotationally driven by a motor 38 fixed to the board 30, and the rotation of the moving screw 36 causes both the transducers fixed to the fixed arm 26 to move vertically at a desired speed. .

Therefore, in the apparatus of FIG. 4, the focal line 100
can be moved to any position on the subject, and from this position the transducer can be moved up and down to perform the desired mechanical scanning, cooperating with the electronic scanning of the focal line 100 described above. It becomes possible to perform three-dimensional scanning of a desired ultrasonic beam.

Note that by forming an acoustic matching layer on the vibrator surface of the above-mentioned wave transmitter, it is possible to further improve the wave transmission sensitivity and distance resolution.

As explained above, according to the present invention, there is no need to use a conventional gutter-type probe, and a planar ultrasonic transmitter is electronically scanned, and a scanning surface is provided on the extension of the focal line. By combining it with a linear electronic scanning type ultrasound receiver, it is possible to obtain high-resolution ultrasound diagnostic images using scattered waves perpendicular to the focal line, and the scanning speed can be increased by electronic scanning of the transducer. It has the advantage of being significantly shortened and high quality images can be obtained in real time. In particular, the present invention is extremely effective when continuously examining mammary glands and the like.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an ultrasonic wave transmitting/receiving device using a conventional gutter-type probe, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view of essential parts showing a preferred embodiment of the ultrasonic wave transmitting/receiving device according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing the ultrasonic beam transmitting action of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the overall configuration of the wave transmitting/receiving device according to the present invention. 14... Planar ultrasound transmitter, 16... Linear electronic scanning type ultrasound receiver, 20... Ultrasonic transducer,
100... Caustic line.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An ultrasonic beam that has a plurality of narrow rectangular ultrasonic transducers arranged in a plane and is focused on a focal line a predetermined distance from the transducer surface, and that a planar ultrasonic transmitter that is electronically scan-controlled so that the focal line transmits a plurality of consecutive scans in which the focal line moves approximately parallel to the transducer surface; An ultrasonic transmitting and receiving device comprising: a linear electronic scanning ultrasonic receiver having a scanning plane that coincides with a plane of movement of a focal line. 2. An ultrasonic wave transmitting/receiving device according to claim 1, characterized in that an acoustic matching layer is provided on the planar ultrasonic wave transmitter.