JPH0146148B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and particularly to an improvement in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that performs manual compound scanning of a probe along a subject.

Ultrasonic diagnostic equipment that can emit an ultrasonic pulse beam into a subject and observe living tissues based on echoes reflected from the subject is well known, and it is possible to observe living tissues non-invasively. , used for various diagnoses. In normal ultrasound diagnostic equipment, it is preferable to move and scan an ultrasound pulse beam along a desired scanning plane, and display a tomographic image along the scanning plane from the continuously obtained reflected echoes. Several scanning methods have been put into practical use as the above-mentioned scanning methods. 1st
The manual composite scanning method is well-known as a scanning method in which the probe is manually scanned along the surface of the object, and the scanning speed is slow, making it possible to obtain clear images. The disadvantage is that it takes a lot of time to identify the target organ or affected area. In order to identify such diagnostic areas and accurately know where the currently detected diagnostic data is on the subject and make an accurate diagnosis, a specific area of the subject is set as a reference point, and this An inspection system has been proposed in which distances and angles from a reference point are recorded together with detection information as position data, thereby allowing rapid diagnosis. In such inspection systems, in order to obtain a large amount of diagnostic information with a small number of scans, parallel scans are well known, which perform parallel scans at regular intervals from a reference point, and are usually installed at multiple intervals. An apparatus is known that detects a parallel scan image signal by simultaneously performing manual composite scanning of the probe. However, such a conventional device requires a plurality of probes and has the disadvantage that it is difficult to process detection signals from each probe.

An electronic scanning method is well known as another suitable conventional scanning method, and it is possible to perform linear scanning or sector scanning by sequentially exciting a plurality of equally spaced vibrating elements at a predetermined delay time. It is possible to obtain tomographic images along a desired scanning plane at extremely high speed, and dynamic images can be observed in real time, especially for organs that move quickly.
Widely used. In particular, the electronic scanning method allows images to be observed at the same time as the probe is attached to the subject, which is extremely effective when searching for a desired diagnostic site. However, on the other hand, this electronic scanning method has the problem that the scanning range is limited by the width of the vibrating element of the probe, making it impossible to continuously observe a wide area of living tissue.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its purpose is to provide a tomographic image in the manual composite scanning direction obtained by combining the manual combined scanning method and the electronic scanning method, and a tomographic image obtained by using only the electronic scanning method. An object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that can arbitrarily utilize cross-sectional images in the element arrangement direction.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention performs manual compound scanning with a probe along a subject, and displays a tomographic image along a desired scanning plane on a display by the ultrasonic pulse beam transmission/reception action of the probe. In an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, a probe having a plurality of vibrating elements arranged in a direction substantially perpendicular to a manual compound scanning direction, and a predetermined number of vibrating elements of the probe are grouped together, and this vibrating element group is selected. a scanning control circuit that sequentially electronically scans every vibrating element of the number of vibrating elements, and a storage unit in which image signals obtained for each vibrating element group are written and stored;
a first sweep signal generation circuit for outputting a sweep signal for setting write control of a tomographic image signal in the manual composite scanning direction obtained when the manual composite scanning and the electronic scanning are used in combination to the storage unit; a sweep control circuit having a second sweep signal generation circuit that outputs a sweep signal for setting the write control of the image signal obtained during use; and from the first sweep signal generation circuit and the second sweep signal generation circuit. a sweep signal switching means for selectively supplying the output of the storage unit to the storage unit; and a synchronization signal generation circuit that supplies a television synchronization signal to the storage unit for displaying the stored contents of the storage unit as an image, It is characterized in that an image is displayed using a received signal obtained by a combination of electronic scanning and electronic scanning or only by electronic scanning.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention, in which a probe 10 is manually scanned along a subject 12 in the directions of arrows A and B. As shown in FIG. In the figure, the probe 10 and the subject 12 are located apart, but during actual diagnosis, the probe 10 is placed between the subject 12 and the subject 12.
2, and is scanned by a scanner (not shown).

The characteristic feature of the present invention is that the above-mentioned probe 10 has a plurality of vibrating elements 14-1 to 14-1 arranged in a direction substantially perpendicular to the manual composite scanning directions A and B, 32 in the embodiment. It is to include 32.
In the present invention, each of the vibrating elements 14 described above is divided into one or more arbitrary groups, and each group is sequentially electronically scanned to produce four ultrasonic pulse beams 100-1 to 100-1, as shown in FIG. 100-4 is subject 12
radiates inside. Therefore, when the probe 10 is manually scanned in the A and B directions, the object 12 is 200-
Image signals divided into four tomographic planes indicated by 1 to 200-4 can be detected separately.

FIG. 2 shows a suitable control circuit for controlling a combination of manual compound scanning and electronic scanning using the probe shown in FIG. The fixed positions of the probe 10 and the scanner 16 are set so that the manual composite scanning direction and the electronic scanning direction are substantially perpendicular to each other. The transducer 10 is controlled to transmit and receive by an electronic scanning control circuit, and for this purpose, each vibrating element 14 of the probe 10 is connected to a transceiver switching circuit 18, and each vibrating element 14 is divided into one or more groups and each Electronic scanning is performed sequentially for each group, and the group division and sequential electronic scanning for each group are selected by an address control signal and a selector signal supplied from an address control signal generator 20 and a transmission selector 22. A pulse signal from a B-mode pulse generator 24 is supplied to the transmission selector 22, and a clock pulse from a clock pulse generator 26 is supplied as a synchronization signal to the B-mode pulse generator 24 and the aforementioned address control signal generator 20. There is.

As described above, each vibrating element 1 of the probe 10
4 is divided into arbitrarily selected groups to control the radiation of the ultrasonic pulse beam, and at the same time, the reflected echo from the object is received by the probe 10 and then delayed and added from the transmitting/receiving switching circuit 18. is supplied to circuit 28. The image signal supplied to the delay adder circuit 28 is amplified by a B-mode video amplifier 30, and then supplied to a storage section 32 consisting of a scan conversion memory, where the image signal is written and stored. The write control signal at this time is controlled by a write control signal generator 34.

As described above, one or more image signals can be detected and stored from the probes divided into desired groups by the electronic scanning control circuit and the storage section, and writing control of the storage section 32 at this time can be controlled arbitrarily. A sweep control circuit is provided for setting. That is, a sweep signal for manual compound scanning is obtained from a compound sweep signal generator 36 as a first sweep signal generation circuit, and is generated from the compound sweep signal and a write control signal via a split screen display sweep signal generator 38. A sweep signal when manual composite scanning and electronic scanning are used together is supplied to terminal 40a of changeover switch 40. On the other hand, when manual composite scanning is stopped and only electronic scanning is used, a sweep signal is supplied to terminal 40b of changeover switch 40 via real-time sweep signal generator 42 as a second sweep signal generation circuit.
The signals from both sweep signal generators 38 or 42 are supplied via a changeover switch 40 to a storage section 32 consisting of a scan conversion memory, and the screen is divided into an arbitrary number of sections according to the supplied sweep signals.
The outputs of the mode video amplifiers 30 are written and stored in respective corresponding divided areas.

The stored contents of the storage section 32 are read out by the television synchronization signal from the clock pulse generator 26, and the contents are displayed on the television monitor 44.

As described above, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention has the following features:
Since manual composite scanning and electronic scanning can be used in any combination, it is possible to display images according to various diagnostic situations as described below.

The first preferred example of use of the present invention is to search for a diagnostic site in the early stages of diagnosis, and by using a single probe according to the present invention, conventional parallel scan can be performed extremely quickly. . That is, as is clear from FIG.
The 32 vibrating elements are divided into 4 groups, each group is sequentially electronically scanned, and the 4 image signals are written and stored in the 4 divided areas of the storage unit 32, and are simultaneously displayed on the TV. If read out to the monitor 44, the diagnostician can read 1
By performing multiple manual compound scans, it is possible to simultaneously observe parallel tomographic images at different positions almost perpendicular to the scanning direction, and as with conventional parallel scans, it is possible to search for diagnostic areas from a wide range of subjects. This makes it possible to quickly determine the appropriate diagnostic site.

FIG. 3 shows a method of dividing the vibrating elements 14 into groups, and in FIG. 3A, eight vibrating elements are used every second to form a group, and manual compound scanning and right-angle scanning are performed with a width of 3 mm intervals. An electronic scanned image divided in directions can be obtained. Similarly, in Fig. 3B, a group of vibrating elements is formed every four so that images with a spacing of 6 mm can be detected, and in Fig. 3C, a group of vibrating elements is formed every six so that images with a spacing of 9 mm can be detected. An image signal can be obtained.

In the embodiment, the stored contents of the storage section 32 are simultaneously displayed on the television monitor 44, but in the present invention, the stored contents in each divided area are displayed on the television monitor 44 one by one at a predetermined reading speed with time shifts. It is also possible to display it full screen,
A large display image can be obtained. In this way, according to the present invention, the search for a diagnostic site at the initial stage of diagnosis can be performed extremely quickly.

As is clear from FIG. 1, the second application example of the present invention is to detect a specific diagnostic site as parallel tomographic images, thereby understanding and observing the position or size of the diagnostic site as a three-dimensional shape. By displaying multiple images dividedly or continuously at predetermined time intervals using the same control as in the first usage example, it is possible to simultaneously obtain a large amount of information necessary for three-dimensional diagnosis. Become.

Furthermore, a third application example of the present invention is to simultaneously display a clear image obtained by manual composite scanning and a real-time image obtained by electronic scanning at a given moment on the same screen, and the image obtained by electronic scanning is compounded. It is also possible to perform manual composite scanning by the scanner in a stopped state. In this case, the image signal by manual composite scanning is performed using ultrasonic pulse beams from an arbitrarily selected group, and the image signal by electronic scanning at this time is generated by linear electronic scanning or sector electronic scanning. However, you can select any scanning method.

As explained above, according to the present invention, tomographic image information in the manual composite scanning direction can be obtained at arbitrary intervals by combining manual composite scanning and electronic scanning, and electronic scanning using only electronic scanning directional tomographic images can be obtained at any time. As a result, tomographic images, which were conventionally obtained using multiple probes and complex image processing, can be easily obtained with a single device, and ultrasound image diagnosis can be performed quickly and easily. Can be done.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram showing a diagnostic state using the ultrasonic diagnostic device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control circuit suitable for the device of FIG. 1, and FIG.
3B and 3C are explanatory diagrams each showing an example of a state in which the vibrating elements of the probe according to the present invention are divided into groups. 10... Probe, 12... Subject, 14-1~
14-32... Vibration element, 16... Compound scanner, 18... Transmission/reception switching circuit, 2
0... Address control signal generator, 22... Transmission selector, 24... B mode pulse generator, 26...
... Clock pulse generator, 28 ... Delay addition circuit, 30 ... B mode video amplifier, 32 ... Memory section, 34 ... Write control signal generator, 36 ... Compound sweep signal generator, 38 ... Split screen Display sweep signal generator, 40...Switch switch, 42
...Real-time sweep signal generator, 44...TV monitor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Ultrasonic diagnosis in which a probe is manually scanned along a subject and a tomographic image along a desired scanning plane is displayed on a display by the ultrasonic pulse beam transmission/reception action of the probe. In the apparatus, a probe having a plurality of vibrating elements arranged in a direction substantially perpendicular to the manual compound scanning direction, a predetermined number of vibrating elements of the probe are set as a group, and this group of vibrating elements is made up of a selected number of vibrating elements. A scan control circuit that sequentially electronically scans every vibrating element, a storage section in which image signals obtained for each vibrating element group are written and stored, and a manual composite scanning direction obtained when the manual composite scanning and electronic scanning are used together. a first sweep signal generation circuit for outputting a sweep signal for setting write control of the tomographic image signal of the tomographic image signal to the storage unit; and for setting the write control of the image signal obtained when only electronic scanning is used. a sweep control circuit having a second sweep signal generation circuit that outputs a sweep signal; and sweep signal switching means for selectively supplying outputs from the first sweep signal generation circuit and the second sweep signal generation circuit to the storage section. and a synchronization signal generation circuit for supplying a television synchronization signal to the storage unit for displaying the stored contents of the storage unit as an image, and the apparatus includes: An ultrasonic diagnostic device characterized by displaying images using wave signals. 2. In the device according to claim 1, the sweep control circuit includes a split screen display sweep signal generation circuit that outputs a signal for controlling writing so that the storage section writes and stores each image signal in the divided areas. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus characterized in that an image signal of each vibrating element group that is electronically scanned is divided and displayed on the same screen.