CN113633312A

CN113633312A - Ultrasound elastography method and system

Info

Publication number: CN113633312A
Application number: CN202010394186.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李双双; 兰帮鑫
Original assignee: Shenzhen Mindray Bio Medical Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Shenzhen Mindray Bio Medical Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-05-11
Filing date: 2020-05-11
Publication date: 2021-11-12

Abstract

The invention provides an ultrasonic elastography method and a system, comprising the following steps: transmitting a first ultrasonic wave to a target muscle fiber to be detected through a probe, and acquiring an ultrasonic image of the target muscle fiber to be detected based on an echo of the first ultrasonic wave; marking a direction mark on the ultrasonic image, wherein the direction mark is used for indicating the extending direction of the target muscle fiber; determining an included angle between the direction identifier and the reference direction according to the direction of the direction identifier; displaying a direction identifier and an included angle on a display interface to prompt a user to use the same included angle when repeatedly measuring the same target muscle fiber for multiple times; generating a shear wave propagating along a direction of the muscle fiber within the target muscle fiber according to at least one of the direction indicator and the included angle; acquiring the propagation parameters of the shear waves in target muscle fibers; and determining the elasticity parameters of the target muscle fibers according to the propagation parameters and generating an elasticity image. By the method and the system, the repeatability of a user in measurement can be improved, and the accuracy and the stability of a final measurement result are improved.

Description

Ultrasound elastography method and system

Technical Field

The present invention relates generally to the field of ultrasound imaging technology, and more particularly to an ultrasound elastography method and system.

Background

Ultrasound elastography has become more widely used in clinical research and diagnosis in recent years. It can qualitatively reflect the hardness degree of the focus relative to the surrounding tissues or quantitatively reflect the hardness degree of the focus and the surrounding tissues. At present, the traditional Chinese medicine composition is generally applied to clinical treatment of thyroid, mammary gland, musculoskeletal, liver, vascular elasticity and the like. The judgment of the hardness of the tissue can effectively assist the diagnosis and evaluation of cancer lesion, tumor malignancy and postoperative recovery and the like.

Conventional elastography (push-type elastography) presses tissues through a probe, and calculates displacement and strain of the tissues in real time to reflect elasticity related parameters of the tissues in an ROI (region of interest) region and image, and indirectly reflects the hardness and hardness degrees of different tissues. However, each operation of pressing the tissue is performed by a human, and it is difficult to maintain the probe pressure in a consistent manner. The degree of compression and the frequency of compression will also vary from operator to operator, and thus repeatability and stability of conventional elastography is difficult to ensure.

Shear wave elastography is performed using shear waves generated by ultrasound waves, which excite focused ultrasound waves by a conventional ultrasound probe to create acoustic radiation forces, create a shear wave source within the tissue and generate shear waves that propagate laterally. The elasticity related parameters of the tissue are obtained by measuring the related parameters of the shear wave and imaged, so that the hardness difference of the tissue is obtained quantitatively and visually. Since the excitation of shear waves is from the acoustic radiation force generated by the focused ultrasound waves and is no longer dependent on the pressure applied by the operator, the mode of shear wave elastography is improved in terms of stability and repeatability compared to conventional elastography. Moreover, the quantitative measurement result of the shear wave also enables the diagnosis of doctors to be more objective, and is an elastography method which is used by many doctors at present. In the clinical application of the shear wave elasticity musculoskeletal, when the muscle tissue of multiple measurements is parallel to the surface of the probe, the sound beam is perpendicular to the muscle fiber, the propagation direction of the shear wave is parallel to the direction of the muscle fiber, and the measurement result is stable and accurate. However, not all muscles can be parallel to the probe surface, and the angle between the muscle fiber and the probe surface is different for each measurement by the doctor during the examination, and due to the strong anisotropy of the muscle tissue, the velocity of the shear wave propagating along the longitudinal direction of the muscle fiber is significantly different from the velocity of the shear wave propagating perpendicular to the muscle fiber along the transverse direction of the muscle fiber, so that the stability and accuracy of the measured value of the shear wave of the muscle are poor.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides an ultrasonic elastography method, which comprises the following steps:

transmitting a first ultrasonic wave to a target muscle fiber to be detected through a probe, and acquiring an ultrasonic image of the target muscle fiber to be detected based on an echo of the first ultrasonic wave;

marking a direction identifier on the ultrasonic image, wherein the direction identifier is used for indicating the extending direction of a target muscle fiber on the ultrasonic image;

displaying the direction identification and the included angle between the direction identification and the reference direction on a display interface to prompt a user to use the same included angle when the same target muscle fiber is subjected to repeated shear wave measurement for multiple times;

generating shear waves within the target muscle fibers;

acquiring a propagation parameter of the shear wave in the target muscle fiber;

determining an elasticity parameter of the target muscle fiber according to the propagation parameter; and

and acquiring an elastic image of the target muscle fiber according to the elastic parameters.

In another aspect, the present invention provides an ultrasound elastography method, including:

acquiring the extension direction of target muscle fibers to be detected;

determining a predetermined propagation direction of a second ultrasonic wave for generating a shear wave according to the extending direction of the target muscle fiber, wherein the predetermined propagation direction is perpendicular to the extending direction of the target muscle fiber;

transmitting a second ultrasonic wave propagating along the predetermined propagation direction to the target muscle fiber through a probe to generate a shear wave propagating along an extension direction of the target muscle fiber;

acquiring a propagation parameter of the shear wave in the target muscle fiber;

In still another aspect, the present invention provides an ultrasound elastography method, including:

acquiring an ultrasonic image of target muscle fibers to be detected;

marking a direction identifier on the ultrasonic image, wherein the direction identifier is used for indicating the extending direction of the target muscle fiber;

determining a predetermined propagation direction of a second ultrasonic wave for generating shear waves according to the direction indicator, wherein the predetermined propagation direction is perpendicular to the direction indicator;

acquiring a propagation parameter of the shear wave in the target muscle fiber;

An aspect of an embodiment of the present invention provides an ultrasound elastography system, including:

the probe is used for transmitting first ultrasonic waves to target muscle fibers to be detected to carry out ultrasonic scanning;

the transmitting control circuit and the receiving control circuit are used for outputting a transmitting/receiving sequence to the probe so as to control the probe to carry out ultrasonic scanning;

a memory having stored thereon a computer program for execution by the processor, and a processor for:

acquiring an ultrasonic image of the target muscle fiber to be detected based on the echo of the first ultrasonic wave;

the display device is used for: displaying the direction identification and the included angle between the direction identification and the reference direction on a display interface to prompt a user to use the same included angle when the same target muscle fiber is subjected to repeated shear wave measurement for multiple times;

the probe is further configured to: generating shear waves in the target muscle fibers according to at least one of the direction markers and the included angle;

the processor is further configured to:

acquiring a propagation parameter of the shear wave in the target muscle fiber;

In another aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an ultrasound elastography system, including:

determining an included angle between the direction identifier and a reference direction according to the pointing direction of the direction identifier;

the display device is used for: displaying the direction identification and the included angle on a display interface to prompt a user to use the same included angle when repeatedly measuring the same target muscle fiber for multiple times;

the probe is further configured to: generating shear waves within the target muscle fibers;

the processor is further configured to:

acquiring a propagation parameter of the shear wave in the target muscle fiber;

Another aspect of an embodiment of the present invention provides an ultrasound elastography system, including:

the probe is used for transmitting ultrasonic waves to target muscle fibers to be detected to carry out ultrasonic scanning;

acquiring the extension direction of target muscle fibers to be detected;

a probe for emitting a second ultrasonic wave propagating along the predetermined propagation direction to the target muscle fiber to generate a shear wave propagating along an extension direction of the target muscle fiber;

the processor is further configured to:

acquiring a propagation parameter of the shear wave in the target muscle fiber;

acquiring an ultrasonic image of target muscle fibers to be detected;

the probe is also used for emitting second ultrasonic waves propagating along the preset propagation direction to the target muscle fiber so as to generate shear waves propagating along the extending direction of the target muscle fiber;

the processor is further configured to:

acquiring a propagation parameter of the shear wave in the target muscle fiber;

According to the method and the system provided by the embodiment of the invention, a user can be prompted to use the same included angle as a measurement angle when repeatedly measuring the same target muscle fiber for multiple times, so that the repeatability of the user in measurement is improved, the difference between measurement results of different times of measurement is reduced, and the accuracy and the stability of a final measurement result are improved. In addition, the extension direction of the target muscle fiber is determined, and the propagation direction of the ultrasonic wave for generating the shear wave is further determined, so that the shear wave along the extension direction of the target muscle fiber is generated, the difference between the measurement results of different times of measurement is reduced, and the accuracy and the stability of the final measurement result are improved.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings based on these drawings without inventive labor.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of an ultrasound elastography system of one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a flow chart of an ultrasound elastography method of an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a direction indicator of one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4A shows a schematic diagram of a conventional focused ultrasound wave to generate shear waves;

FIG. 4B shows a schematic view of a shear wave produced by focused ultrasound waves in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 shows a schematic view of a direction indicator of another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 shows a flow chart of an ultrasound elastography method of a further embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 shows a flow chart of an ultrasound elastography method of a further embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, exemplary embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that the described embodiments are merely a subset of embodiments of the invention and not all embodiments of the invention, with the understanding that the invention is not limited to the example embodiments described herein. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments of the invention described herein without inventive step, shall fall within the scope of protection of the invention.

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, that the present invention may be practiced without one or more of these specific details. In other instances, well-known features have not been described in order to avoid obscuring the invention.

It is to be understood that the present invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of the associated listed items.

In order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention, detailed methods and structures will be set forth in the following description in order to explain the present invention. Alternative embodiments of the invention are described in detail below, however, the invention may be practiced in other embodiments that depart from these specific details.

In particular, the ultrasound elastography method and system of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The features of the following examples and embodiments may be combined with each other without conflict.

First, fig. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of an ultrasound elastography system in an embodiment of the invention. As shown in fig. 1, the structure of the ultrasonic imaging system includes: a probe 101, a transmission circuit 102, a reception circuit 103, a transmission control circuit 104 and a reception control circuit 105, a beam synthesis unit 106, a signal processing unit 107, a processor 108, a memory 109, a display device 110, and the like.

The transmission control circuit 104 is in signal connection with the probe 101 through the transmission circuit 102, the probe 101 is in signal connection with the beam forming unit 106 through the receiving circuit 103, the beam forming unit 106 is connected with the signal processing unit 107, the output end of the signal processing unit 107 is connected with the processor 108, and the output end of the processor 108 is connected with the display device 110. The memory 109 is connected to the processor 108.

The probe 101 includes a plurality of array elements, which are also called transducers, for converting electrical pulse signals and ultrasonic waves into each other, so as to transmit ultrasonic waves to a scanning target (for example, organs, tissues, such as (muscle fibers), blood vessels, etc. in a human or animal body) and receive ultrasonic echoes reflected by the tissues. The array elements can be arranged in a row to form a linear array or a two-dimensional matrix to form an area array, and the array elements can also form a convex array. The array elements can transmit ultrasonic waves according to the excitation electric signals or convert the received ultrasonic waves into electric signals. Each array element is thus operable to transmit ultrasound waves to biological tissue of the scan target and also to receive ultrasound echoes returned through the tissue.

At each time of transmitting the ultrasound wave, all or a part of all the elements of the probe 101 participate in the transmission of the ultrasound wave. At this time, each array element or each part of array elements participating in ultrasonic wave transmission is excited by the transmission pulse and respectively transmits ultrasonic waves, the ultrasonic waves respectively transmitted by the array elements are superposed in the transmission process to form a synthesized ultrasonic wave beam transmitted to a scanning target, and the direction of the synthesized ultrasonic wave beam is the ultrasonic transmission direction.

The array elements participating in ultrasonic wave transmission can be simultaneously excited by the transmission pulse; alternatively, there may be a delay between the times at which the elements participating in the ultrasound transmission are excited by the transmit pulse. The propagation direction of the composite ultrasound beam can be changed by controlling the time delay between the times at which the elements participating in the transmission of the ultrasound wave are excited by the transmit pulse.

By controlling the time delay between the times at which the array elements participating in the transmission of the ultrasound wave are excited by the transmit pulse, the ultrasound waves transmitted by the respective array elements can be superimposed at a predetermined position such that the intensity of the ultrasound wave is maximized at the predetermined position, i.e. the ultrasound waves transmitted by the respective array elements are "focused" at the predetermined position, which is referred to as a "focal point", such that the resulting composite ultrasound wave is a beam focused at the focal point, referred to herein as a "focused ultrasound wave".

The transmission circuit 102 transmits a delay-focused transmission pulse having a certain amplitude and polarity to the probe 101. The probe 101 is excited by the transmission pulse, transmits an ultrasonic wave to a scanning target (for example, an organ, a tissue (muscle fiber), a blood vessel, etc. in a human body or an animal body, not shown in the figure), receives an ultrasonic echo with information of the scanning target, which is reflected and/or scattered from a target region, after a certain time delay, and converts the ultrasonic echo back into an electric signal. The receiving circuit 103 receives the electric signals generated by the conversion of the probe 101, obtains ultrasonic echo signals, and sends the ultrasonic echo signals to the beam forming unit 106. The beam synthesis unit 106 performs processing such as focusing delay, weighting, channel summation and the like on the ultrasonic echo signal, and then sends the ultrasonic echo signal to the signal processing unit 107 to perform related signal processing to obtain ultrasonic echo data. In a specific embodiment, the signal processing unit 107 may output the ultrasound echo data to the processor 108, or may store the ultrasound echo data in the memory 109, and when an operation needs to be performed based on the ultrasound echo data, the processor 108 reads the ultrasound echo data from the memory 109.

The memory 109 is used to store data and executable instructions, such as for storing a system program for the ultrasound device, various application programs, or algorithms for implementing various specific functions. May include one or more computer program products that may include various forms of computer-readable storage media, such as volatile memory and/or non-volatile memory. The volatile memory may include, for example, Random Access Memory (RAM), cache memory (cache), and/or the like. The non-volatile memory may include, for example, Read Only Memory (ROM), hard disk, flash memory, etc.

The processor 108 may be configured to acquire the ultrasound echo data and obtain the required parameters or images using a correlation algorithm, for example, an ultrasound image may be generated according to the ultrasound echo data, or an elastic parameter of a scanned target may be obtained according to the ultrasound echo data to generate a shear wave elastic image. The processor 108 may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), image processing unit (GPU), Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), or other form of processing unit having data processing capabilities and/or instruction execution capabilities, and may control other components in the ultrasound elastography system to perform desired functions. For example, a processor can include one or more embedded processors, processor cores, microprocessors, logic circuits, hardware Finite State Machines (FSMs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), image processing units (GPUs), or a combination thereof.

To generate shear waves in the tissue of the scan target, in one embodiment, the probe 101 moves the tissue by emitting ultrasound waves, exploiting the adhesion between tissues, thereby generating shear waves that propagate in the tissue.

The inventors of the present application have found through research that shear wave elastography is performed using shear waves generated by ultrasonic waves, which excite focused ultrasonic waves by a conventional ultrasonic probe to form acoustic radiation force, form a shear wave source in tissue and generate shear waves propagating laterally. The difference in stiffness of the tissue is quantified and visualized by identifying and detecting the shear waves generated inside the tissue and its propagation parameters (e.g., propagation velocity, young's modulus-which can be calculated from the propagation velocity and density) and imaging these parameters. Since the excitation of shear waves is from the acoustic radiation force generated by the focused ultrasound waves and is no longer dependent on the pressure applied by the operator, the mode of shear wave elastography is improved in terms of stability and repeatability compared to conventional elastography. Moreover, the quantitative measurement result of the shear wave also enables the diagnosis of doctors to be more objective, and is an elastography method which is used by many doctors at present. In the clinical application of the shear wave elasticity musculoskeletal, when the muscle tissue of multiple measurements is parallel to the surface of the probe, the sound beam is perpendicular to the muscle fiber, the propagation direction of the shear wave is parallel to the direction of the muscle fiber, and the measurement result is stable and accurate. However, not all muscles can be parallel to the probe surface, and if the angle between the muscle fiber and the probe surface is different when the doctor performs measurement during the examination, the shear wave measurement value of the muscle has poor stability and accuracy due to the strong anisotropy of the muscle tissue, and the difference between the speed of the shear wave propagating along the longitudinal direction of the muscle fiber and the speed of the shear wave propagating perpendicular to the muscle fiber along the transverse direction of the muscle fiber is significant. The shear wave results of multiple measurements are stable only when the angle between the sound beam of the ultrasonic wave and the muscle fiber is fixed in clinic; the measurement of the shear wave is accurate only when the direction of propagation of the shear wave is parallel to the direction of the muscle fibers in the clinic. Can better assist the physician in determining the strength and health of the muscle tissue.

Therefore, in view of the above problems, one embodiment of the present invention provides a method of ultrasound elastography, as shown in fig. 2, the method comprising the steps of: in step S201, a probe emits a first ultrasonic wave to a target muscle fiber to be detected, and an ultrasonic image of the target muscle fiber to be detected is obtained based on an echo of the first ultrasonic wave; in step S202, marking a direction indicator on the ultrasound image, wherein the direction indicator is used for indicating the extending direction of the target muscle fiber; in step S203, determining an included angle between the direction identifier and a reference direction according to the pointing direction of the direction identifier; in step S204, the direction identifier and the included angle are displayed on a display interface to prompt a user to use the same included angle when performing multiple repeated shear wave measurements on the same target muscle fiber; in step S205, a shear wave is generated in the target muscle fiber; in step S206, acquiring propagation parameters of the shear wave in the target muscle fiber; in step S207, determining an elasticity parameter of the myofiber tissue according to the propagation parameter; and in step S208, acquiring an elasticity image of the target muscle fiber according to the elasticity parameter.

According to the method provided by the embodiment of the invention, the direction mark used for indicating the extending direction of the target muscle fiber is marked on the ultrasonic image, and the included angle between the direction mark and the reference direction is determined according to the direction mark, so that a user is prompted to use the same included angle as a measurement angle when the same target muscle fiber is subjected to repeated shear wave measurement for multiple times, the repeatability of the user in measurement is further improved, the difference between the measurement results of different times of measurement is reduced, and the accuracy and the stability of the final measurement result are improved.

The method of ultrasound elastography of an embodiment of the invention is explained and illustrated in detail below with continued reference to the drawings.

By way of example, a method of ultrasound elastography of an embodiment of the invention comprises the steps of:

first, as shown in fig. 2, in step S201, a probe emits a first ultrasonic wave to a target muscle fiber to be detected, and an ultrasonic image of the target muscle fiber to be detected is acquired based on an echo of the first ultrasonic wave.

Specifically, the transmitting circuit can transmit a first ultrasonic wave to the target muscle fiber to be detected through the probe, and after a certain time delay, the probe can receive an echo reflected from the target muscle fiber to be detected and convert the echo into an electric signal. The receiving circuit receives the electric signals generated by the conversion of the probe, obtains ultrasonic echo signals and sends the ultrasonic echo signals to the beam synthesis unit. The beam synthesis unit carries out focusing time delay, weighting, channel summation and other processing on the ultrasonic echo signals, and then sends the ultrasonic echo signals to the signal processing unit for carrying out related signal processing to obtain ultrasonic echo data. The ultrasonic echo data processed by the signal processing unit is sent to a processor, the processor performs different processing on the signals according to different imaging modes required by a user to obtain tissue image data in different modes, and then ultrasonic images in different modes are formed through processing such as logarithmic compression, dynamic range adjustment, digital scanning transformation and the like and are used for being displayed on a display interface of a display device, wherein the ultrasonic images in different modes can comprise B images, C images and the like, or other types of two-dimensional ultrasonic images or three-dimensional ultrasonic images.

With continued reference to fig. 2, in step S202, a direction indicator is marked on the ultrasound image, and the direction indicator is used to indicate the extending direction of the target muscle fiber.

The direction indicator includes at least one of a straight line, a broken line, and an arrowed line. The shape and type of the direction indicator can be reasonably selected according to actual needs, for example, a direction indicator in a zigzag shape can be selected when the extending direction of the target muscle fiber does not extend along a single direction (for example, the extending direction is in a curve), or a straight line or an arrow line can be selected when the extending direction of the target muscle fiber is in a single direction. When the direction is indicated by a straight line, a broken line or an arrowed line, a solid line may be used, and a dotted line may be used.

In one embodiment, the direction indicator is composed of at least one straight line, for example, as shown in the right drawing of fig. 3, the direction indicator is composed of one straight line indicating the extending direction of the target muscle fiber. Alternatively, the direction indicator may further include a plurality of straight lines respectively indicating the extending directions of the target muscle fibers of different segments.

In another embodiment, the extending direction of the target muscle fiber does not extend along the same direction, and the direction marks comprise at least a first direction mark and a second direction mark with different directions; the first direction indicator and the second direction indicator are respectively consistent with the extending directions of different segments of the target muscle fiber, for example, as shown in fig. 5, the target muscle fiber includes the first direction indicator and the second direction indicator, the first direction indicator and the second direction indicator are respectively consistent with the extending directions of different segments of the target muscle fiber, each segment of the direction indicator is composed of a straight line, or may be composed of an arrow line or other suitable lines. The different sections of the same target muscle fiber in the extension directions are respectively marked with the direction identifiers, so that different included angles can be adopted when the shear wave measurement is carried out on the target muscle fibers in different sections, at least one shear wave source can be generated on each section of the direction identifiers, the shear wave propagation direction generated by each shear wave source is parallel to the corresponding direction identifier, namely the shear wave propagation direction generated by each shear wave source propagates along the target muscle fiber of the corresponding section, and the stability and the accuracy of the shear wave are improved.

The direction mark can be marked on the ultrasonic image based on an instruction input by a user, or the target muscle fiber can be identified based on an image processing method automatically operated by the system, so as to mark.

In one embodiment, the marking a direction identifier on the ultrasound image specifically includes: displaying a first annotation line, such as a black line segment shown in fig. 3, on a display interface of the display device, where the first annotation line may be any annotation line capable of indicating the extending direction of the target muscle fiber, such as a straight line segment, an arrow line, or another annotation line; adjusting the position of the first marking line according to an instruction input by a user to enable the first marking line to be consistent with the extending direction of the target muscle fiber on the ultrasonic image, marking the first marking line as the direction identifier, wherein, the user can determine the position of the target muscle fiber according to the ultrasonic image displayed by the display device, and inputs instructions through the human-computer interaction equipment, the system receives the instruction for adjusting the position of the first marking line, which is input by a user through the human-computer interaction equipment, and adjusts the position of the first marking line according to the instruction, for example, the left-hand diagram of fig. 3 shows the first annotation line when no adjustment is made, the right-hand diagram of fig. 3 shows the first annotation line after adjustment, it can be seen that the first annotation line before adjustment does not extend along the extension direction of the target muscle fiber, whereas the first annotation line after adjustment coincides with the extension direction of the target muscle fiber.

In one example, the image processing method based on automatic operation of the system identifies a target muscle fiber, and then performs labeling, specifically including: identifying fibrous image features of the target muscle fiber in an ultrasound image to determine a location of the target muscle fiber; determining the extending direction of the target muscle fiber according to the position of the target muscle fiber; marking the direction mark along the identified extending direction of the target muscle fiber. By the method for automatically identifying the target muscle fiber and further marking the direction identification through the system, the extending direction of the target muscle fiber can be marked more quickly, the accuracy is high, the speed is high, and the efficiency of detection and diagnosis can be improved.

With continuing reference to fig. 2, in step S203, an included angle between the direction identifier and the reference direction is determined according to the pointing direction of the direction identifier.

The reference direction may be any direction capable of identifying the position of the probe plane, for example, the reference direction may be a normal direction of the array element arrangement plane of the probe, or may also be an extending direction of the array element arrangement plane of the probe. The system may calculate the angle between the direction identifier and the reference direction by a suitable algorithm, for example, a second marking line is displayed on the display interface, and the second marking line is used for marking the reference direction; the angle between the direction indicator and the reference direction is determined according to the angle between the first and second indicator lines labeled as the direction indicator, for example, as shown in fig. 3, where a black line segment is a first indicator line, a white line segment is a second indicator line, and the second indicator line identifies the normal direction of the array element arrangement plane of the probe, when the left diagram in fig. 3 does not adjust the position of the first indicator line, the angle between the white line segment and the first indicator line is substantially 90 °, and the right diagram in fig. 3 adjusts the position of the first indicator line to be consistent with the extending direction of the target muscle fiber and is labeled as the direction indicator, when the angle between the first indicator line and the second indicator line is substantially 70 degrees, and it is worth mentioning that this value is merely an example, and in practical applications, this value will be adaptively adjusted according to the pointing direction of the direction indicator.

The included angle is used for prompting a user when the user carries out shear wave measurement on the same target muscle fiber, so that the same included angle is generally kept when the user carries out measurement every time, the position of the probe is basically the same, and the stability and the accuracy of measurement every time are ensured. When the target muscle fiber is measured for the first time, the included angle between the direction indicator and the reference direction needs to be determined as described in step S203. When the target muscle fiber is repeatedly measured for a plurality of times, the included angle between the direction identifier and the reference direction can be determined in a mode of obtaining from the memory.

With continued reference to fig. 2, in step S204, the direction indicator and the included angle are displayed on a display interface to prompt a user to use the same included angle when performing multiple repeated shear wave measurements on the same target muscle fiber. The user can keep the same included angle during each measurement when the user performs shear wave measurement on the same target muscle fiber, so that the position of the probe is basically the same, and the stability and the accuracy of each measurement are ensured.

Specifically, after the system confirms direction sign and contained angle, show this direction sign and contained angle through display device's display interface, more audio-visual suggestion to the user makes the user be same when carrying out multiple repetition shear wave measurement to target muscle fibre use the same contained angle, for example, when the user is measured same target muscle fibre, at the contained angle that the confirmed every time measurement that the display interface shows used, show the current contained angle between direction sign and the reference direction simultaneously, the user can make current contained angle keep unanimous with the contained angle when measuring before through the position and the direction of adjustment probe.

In one example, to prompt a user to use the same angle when making multiple repeated shear wave measurements of the same target muscle fiber, the method further comprises: generating guidance for instructing the user to adjust the angle when the user performs multiple repeated shear wave measurements on the same target muscle fiber, wherein the guidance is used for instructing the user to adjust the current angle between the direction identifier and the reference direction to be the same as the angle used in the previous measurement, for example, the guidance may be voice information or image information output by an output device of the system, in one example, the guidance may be voice information or image information of the current angle output by the output device, the user may adjust the probe according to the information to make the current angle between the direction identifier and the reference direction to be the same as the angle used in the previous measurement, in another example, the guidance may be voice or image information output by the output device, which prompts the user how to adjust the position of the probe, for example, prompts the user to adjust the position of the probe to the right or to the left or to the front or to the back, so that the angle between the current direction identifier and the reference direction is the same as the angle used in the previous measurement, in other examples, the guidance may also prompt the user that the angle has been adjusted to a predetermined position when the user has adjusted the current angle to the angle used in the previous measurement.

The display positions of the direction marks and the included angles can be reasonably selected according to actual user needs, for example, the direction marks and the included angles are displayed on an ultrasonic image, or the direction marks and the included angles are displayed on an elastic image.

It should be noted that the system may perform the aforementioned actions from step S201 to step S203 when performing the initial measurement on the target muscle fiber according to the actual situation, so as to determine the direction identifier and the included angle, and when performing the repeated measurement on the same target muscle fiber after the initial measurement again, only the current included angle between the current direction identifier and the reference direction needs to be determined, and the user is prompted or guided, so that the user can adjust the current included angle to be the same as the included angle used by the previous measurement.

With continued reference to fig. 2, in step S205, a shear wave is generated within the target muscle fiber. After the angle between the direction identifier and the reference direction is determined in the initial measurement, in the subsequent measurement process, the shear wave propagated in the target muscle fiber can be generated according to at least one of the direction identifier and the angle, so that the angle between the reference direction and the direction identifier in the current measurement is basically the same as the angle determined in the initial measurement.

In one embodiment, generating a shear wave propagating within a target muscle fiber based on at least one of the direction indicator and the included angle comprises: when it is determined that the probe is adjusted to the predetermined measurement position, and the reference direction and the direction mark are the same as the angle measured in the previous time, the generation of the shear wave propagating in the target muscle fiber may be started to measure the elastic parameter of the target muscle fiber, so as to generate the elastic image, wherein the shear wave in the tissue may be generated by transmitting the ultrasonic wave into the tissue through the probe, generating the acoustic radiation force by the ultrasonic wave transmitted into the tissue, and the like, which is not limited by the present invention. Because the same included angle is used for each measurement, the shear wave generated by each measurement also propagates in the target muscle fiber along the same direction, and the propagation speed is basically consistent, so that the stability of each measurement is ensured.

In one embodiment, generating a shear wave propagating within a target muscle fiber based on at least one of the direction indicator and the included angle comprises: determining the extending direction of the target muscle fiber according to the direction identifier and at least one of the included angles; determining a predetermined propagation direction of a second ultrasonic wave for generating a shear wave according to an extending direction of the target muscle fiber, wherein the predetermined propagation direction and the extending direction are perpendicular; and transmitting a second ultrasonic wave which is transmitted along the preset transmission direction to the target muscle fiber through the probe so as to generate a shear wave which is transmitted along the extension direction of the target muscle fiber in the target muscle fiber, so that the measurement result is stable and accurate, and a doctor can be better assisted to judge the strength and the health state of muscle tissues.

In one example, emitting a second ultrasonic wave propagating along the predetermined propagation direction to the target muscle fiber through a probe to generate a shear wave propagating along the extending direction of the target muscle fiber includes the following steps S1 to S3:

in step S1, the emission aperture of the second ultrasonic wave is determined based on the extending direction and the focusing depth of the target muscle fiber, wherein the focusing depth may be the depth of the focal point located on a straight line parallel to the extending direction, or may also be the depth of the focal point located on the aforementioned direction mark, the focal point may or may not be located on the target muscle fiber, the focusing depth may be related to the position located on the target muscle fiber, may also be related to the position of the region of interest, or the focusing depth may also be a fixed value set according to the user' S needs, or optionally, may also have a plurality of focusing depths. The transmitting aperture is determined according to the extending direction and the focusing depth, namely, which array elements on the probe should be used for transmitting.

In step S2, determining a time delay of each array element of each of the transmit apertures, for example, the time delay of each array element may be determined according to a distance between a focusing depth and each array element of the transmit apertures, so as to control the focusing of the ultrasound wave at the focusing depth by the time delay, including: determining an included angle between the extending direction of the target muscle fiber and the reference direction according to the extending direction of the target muscle fiber, wherein the reference direction is the normal direction of the array element arrangement plane of the probe; determining the distance between the focal depth and each array element of the transmit aperture based on the extending direction and the included angle of the target muscle fiber and the focal depth, where different focal depths may correspond to different transmit apertures, for example, a focal point corresponding to the focal depth is located in the extending direction of the target muscle fiber, or may be located at other positions besides the extending direction of the target muscle fiber, where the focal depth refers to the depth of the focal point corresponding to the transmit aperture; and determining the time delay of each array element of the transmitting aperture based on the distance so as to control the focusing of the ultrasonic waves at the focusing depth through the time delay.

In step S3, the transmitting circuit is controlled based on the time delay to excite the probe to transmit the second ultrasonic wave, so that the propagation direction of the second ultrasonic wave is perpendicular to the extending direction of the target muscle fiber, so as to generate a shear wave propagating along the extending direction of the target muscle fiber, for example, as shown in fig. 4A, when the transmission direction of the second ultrasonic wave is not adjusted, the focus of the second ultrasonic wave 401, such as the focused ultrasonic wave, transmitted by the probe 101 is focused at a predetermined focusing depth, so as to generate a shear wave 402 perpendicular to the propagation direction of the second ultrasonic wave 401, such as the propagation direction of the shear wave 402 is perpendicular to the normal direction of the array element arrangement plane of the probe, and if the extending direction of the target muscle fiber to be detected is not perpendicular to the normal direction of the array element arrangement plane of the probe, the generated shear wave has a propagation speed along the extending direction (also referred to as the longitudinal direction herein) of the target muscle fiber and the shear wave is perpendicular to the muscle fiber along the transverse direction of the muscle fiber The propagation speed in the direction of the muscle is obviously different, so that the stability and the accuracy of the measured value of the shear wave of the muscle are poor. As shown in fig. 4B, the transmission delay of each array element in the transmission aperture is controlled through the above steps, so as to change the propagation direction of the second ultrasonic wave 401 to be perpendicular to the extending direction 403 of the target muscle fiber, and the generated shear wave 404 propagates along the extending direction of the target muscle fiber, for example, towards two sides of the focal point along the extending direction of the target muscle fiber, so that the shear wave has a substantially uniform propagation speed, thereby ensuring the stability and accuracy of each measurement.

With continued reference to fig. 2, in step S206, propagation parameters of the shear wave in the target muscle fiber are acquired.

The propagation parameters of the shear wave in the target muscle fiber may be obtained by any suitable method, wherein the propagation parameters include propagation velocity, or other parameters.

In one specific example, the method for acquiring the propagation speed of the shear wave in the target muscle fiber comprises the following steps: transmitting a detection sound beam for detecting the shear wave transmission to the same target muscle fiber through a probe; acquiring an echo signal of the detection sound beam; obtaining the displacement of each position of the target muscle fiber along with the change of time according to the echo signal; for example, the processor acquires echo signals of the probe beam within a period of time for detecting the shear wave, compares differences between echo signals at different times at the same part to obtain displacements of each particle in different times on a shear wave traveling path, and determines which position the shear wave has propagated to in a certain period of time according to the displacements, thereby determining the propagation velocity of the shear wave.

With continued reference to fig. 2, in step S207, an elasticity parameter of the myofibrous tissue is determined from the propagation parameter.

The elasticity parameter of the target muscle fiber may be further determined by the propagation parameter, e.g. by determining the elasticity parameter of the target muscle fiber from the propagation parameter and the density of the target muscle fiber. Specifically, the shear wave propagation velocity has the following approximate relationship with young's modulus and shear modulus:

E＝3ρc²formula (1) of 3G ═ 3G

Where c represents the shear wave velocity, ρ represents the tissue density, E represents the young's modulus value of the target muscle fiber, and G represents the shear modulus of the target muscle fiber. In general, ρ is the density value of water, so that after the propagation velocity of the shear wave is obtained, other elasticity-related parameters, such as young's modulus, shear modulus, etc., can be further calculated.

The elasticity parameter is used to evaluate the degree of elasticity of the tissue, and may be young's modulus, where a larger young's modulus indicates a larger elasticity of the target muscle fiber. After calculating the average value of the propagation velocity of the shear wave traveling through the target muscle fiber, the young's modulus can be calculated by substituting the propagation velocity into equation (1). In one embodiment, the young's modulus may be calculated separately from the propagation velocity obtained for each measurement.

With continued reference to fig. 2, in step S208, an elasticity image of the target muscle fiber is acquired according to the elasticity parameter.

An elastic image of the target muscle fiber may be formed from an elastic parameter, such as young's modulus or shear modulus, at each mass point, or may also be formed from the propagation velocity of the shear wave at each mass point, such as a shear wave velocity distribution image of the target muscle fiber. The greater the propagation velocity of the shear wave through the target muscle fiber, the greater the elasticity of the target muscle fiber. An elastic image of the target muscle fiber may be displayed superimposed on the ultrasound image.

In one embodiment, when the elastic image is a velocity profile image, the elastic image has a color value associated with a magnitude of the velocity value. In another embodiment, when the elastic image is an elastic image formed from elastic parameters, then the elastic image has a color value associated with the magnitude of the elastic parameter value. Through the color correlation, the user can visually judge the elastic distribution degree of the target muscle fiber when seeing the elastic image, and the diagnosis of the health degree is facilitated.

It should be noted that the order of steps of the method shown in fig. 2 may also be interchanged under reasonable circumstances, and at least a portion of the steps in fig. 2 may include multiple sub-steps or multiple stages, which are not necessarily performed at the same time, but may be performed at different times, which are not necessarily performed sequentially, but may be performed alternately or alternatively with other steps or at least a portion of the sub-steps or stages of other steps.

The steps in fig. 2 may also be reasonably adjusted according to actual needs, for example, when the shear wave measurement is performed on the same target muscle fiber for the first time, step S203 is executed, and when the same target muscle fiber is measured again in the subsequent time, step S203 may be omitted and the included angle determined in the first time may be directly used, for example, the ultrasound elastography method may further include: transmitting a first ultrasonic wave to a target muscle fiber to be detected through a probe, and acquiring an ultrasonic image of the target muscle fiber to be detected based on an echo of the first ultrasonic wave; marking a direction identifier on the ultrasonic image, wherein the direction identifier is used for indicating the extending direction of a target muscle fiber on the ultrasonic image; displaying the direction identification and the included angle between the direction identification and the reference direction on a display interface to prompt a user to use the same included angle when the same target muscle fiber is subjected to repeated shear wave measurement for multiple times; generating shear waves in the target muscle fibers according to at least one of the direction markers and the included angle; acquiring a propagation parameter of the shear wave in the target muscle fiber; determining an elasticity parameter of the target muscle fiber according to the propagation parameter; and acquiring an elasticity image of the target muscle fiber according to the elasticity parameter.

In summary, according to the method of the embodiment of the present invention, the direction identifier for indicating the extending direction of the target muscle fiber is marked on the ultrasound image, and the included angle between the direction identifier and the reference direction is determined according to the direction identifier, so as to prompt the user to use the same included angle as the measurement angle when performing multiple repeated shear wave measurements on the same target muscle fiber, thereby improving the repeatability of the user in the measurement, reducing the difference between the measurement results of different measurements, improving the accuracy and stability of the final measurement result, and facilitating the doctor to make a more accurate diagnosis according to the result.

In the following, with continued reference to fig. 6, a detailed explanation and explanation of the method of ultrasound elastography according to another embodiment of the present invention will be given, and it should be noted that, in order to avoid repetition, the steps of this embodiment that are different from the previous embodiment will be mainly described in this embodiment.

As an example, the method of ultrasound elastography of the present embodiment comprises the steps of:

first, referring to fig. 6, in step S601, the extending direction of the target muscle fiber to be detected is acquired.

The extending direction of the target muscle fiber to be detected can be determined by acquiring an ultrasonic image of the target muscle fiber and receiving information of the extending direction of the target muscle fiber input by a user, or the extending direction of the target muscle fiber of the ultrasonic image can be identified based on an image processing method (such as an automatic segmentation processing method) automatically operated by the system, so that the extending direction of the target muscle fiber is determined.

In one specific example, acquiring the extending direction of the target muscle fiber to be detected comprises the following steps: firstly, a probe emits a first ultrasonic wave to a target muscle fiber to be detected, and an ultrasonic image of the target muscle fiber to be detected is obtained based on an echo of the first ultrasonic wave. Specifically, the transmitting circuit can transmit a first ultrasonic wave to the target muscle fiber to be detected through the probe, and after a certain time delay, the probe can receive an echo reflected from the target muscle fiber to be detected and convert the echo into an electric signal. The receiving circuit receives the electric signals generated by the conversion of the probe, obtains ultrasonic echo signals and sends the ultrasonic echo signals to the beam synthesis unit. The beam synthesis unit carries out focusing time delay, weighting, channel summation and other processing on the ultrasonic echo signals, and then sends the ultrasonic echo signals to the signal processing unit for carrying out related signal processing to obtain ultrasonic echo data. The ultrasonic echo data processed by the signal processing unit is sent to a processor, the processor performs different processing on the signals according to different imaging modes required by a user to obtain tissue image data in different modes, and then ultrasonic images in different modes are formed through processing such as logarithmic compression, dynamic range adjustment, digital scanning transformation and the like and are used for being displayed on a display interface of a display device, wherein the ultrasonic images in different modes can comprise B images, C images and the like, or other types of two-dimensional ultrasonic images or three-dimensional ultrasonic images. Fibrous image features of the target muscle fiber in the ultrasound image are then identified to determine a location of the target muscle fiber. Then, the extending direction of the target muscle fiber is determined according to the position of the target muscle fiber. The method for automatically identifying the target muscle fiber to determine the extending direction through the system can determine the extending direction of the target muscle fiber more quickly, has high accuracy and high speed, and can improve the detection efficiency.

Next, with continued reference to fig. 6, in step S602, a predetermined propagation direction of a second ultrasonic wave for generating a shear wave is determined according to the extending direction of the target muscle fiber, wherein the predetermined propagation direction is perpendicular to the extending direction of the target muscle fiber.

Since the propagation direction of the shear wave generated by the special ultrasonic wave is generally perpendicular to the propagation direction of the special ultrasonic wave, the propagation direction of the second ultrasonic wave for generating the shear wave can be determined after the extension direction of the target muscle fiber is determined.

Next, with continued reference to fig. 6, in step S603, a second ultrasonic wave propagating along the predetermined propagation direction is emitted to the target muscle fiber through the probe to generate a shear wave propagating along the extending direction of the target muscle fiber.

in step S1, the transmit aperture of the second ultrasound is determined based on the extension direction and the depth of focus of the target muscle fiber, where the depth of focus may be the depth of a focal point located on a straight line parallel to the extension direction, and the transmit aperture is determined according to the extension direction and the depth of focus, that is, which array elements on the probe should be used for transmitting.

In step S2, determining a time delay of each array element of each of the transmit apertures, for example, the time delay of each array element may be determined according to the focusing depth and the distance between each array element of the transmit apertures, so as to control the focusing of the ultrasonic wave at the focusing depth by the time delay, including: determining an included angle between the extending direction of the target muscle fiber and the normal direction of the array element arrangement plane of the probe according to the extending direction of the target muscle fiber; determining the distance between the focal depth and each array element of the transmitting aperture based on the extending direction and the included angle of the target muscle fiber and the focal depth, wherein different focal depths may correspond to different transmitting apertures, wherein, for example, the focal point corresponding to the focal depth is located in the extending direction of the target muscle fiber, or the focal point may also be located at other positions besides the target muscle fiber, and the focal depth refers to the depth of the focal point corresponding to the transmitting aperture; and determining the time delay of each array element of the transmitting aperture based on the distance so as to control the focusing of the ultrasonic waves at the focusing depth through the time delay.

In step S3, the transmitting circuit is controlled based on the time delay to excite the probe to transmit the second ultrasonic wave, so that the propagation direction of the second ultrasonic wave is perpendicular to the extending direction of the target muscle fiber, so as to generate a shear wave which propagates along the extending direction of the target muscle fiber, and the transmitting time delay of each array element in the transmitting aperture is controlled through the above steps, so that the propagation direction of the second ultrasonic wave is changed to be perpendicular to the extending direction of the target muscle fiber, so that the generated shear wave propagates along the extending direction of the target muscle fiber, and the stability and accuracy of each measurement are ensured.

In practical application, the same target muscle fiber may be measured for multiple times, where the position and the extending direction of the target muscle fiber relative to the array element arrangement plane of the probe are different, so that steps S601 to S603 may be performed when each shear wave measurement is performed on the same target muscle fiber, thereby ensuring that the shear wave during each measurement can propagate along the extending direction of the target muscle fiber, and ensuring the stability and accuracy of each measurement.

Next, in step S604, acquiring propagation parameters of the shear wave in the target muscle fiber; in step S605, determining an elastic parameter of the target muscle fiber according to the propagation parameter; and in step S606, acquiring an elasticity image of the target muscle fiber according to the elasticity parameters. Specifically, reference may be made to the descriptions in step S206 to step S208, which are not described herein again.

In summary, according to the method of the embodiment, the extending direction of the target muscle fiber to be detected is obtained; determining a predetermined propagation direction of a second ultrasonic wave for generating a shear wave according to an extending direction of a target muscle fiber, wherein the predetermined propagation direction is perpendicular to the extending direction of the target muscle fiber; the probe transmits second ultrasonic waves propagating along the preset propagation direction to the target muscle fiber to generate shear waves propagating along the extension direction of the target muscle fiber, so that the shear waves propagating along the extension direction of the target muscle fiber are generated when the same target muscle fiber is subjected to shear wave measurement, the stability and the accuracy of each measurement are ensured, and a doctor can make more accurate diagnosis according to the result.

In the following, the method of ultrasound elastography according to still another embodiment of the present invention is explained and illustrated in detail with reference to fig. 7, it should be noted that, in order to avoid repetition, the steps of this embodiment different from the previous embodiments are mainly described in this embodiment, and for the specific description of the same steps, reference may be made to the previous embodiments.

first, referring to fig. 7, in step S701, an ultrasound image of a target muscle fiber to be detected is acquired. Next, with continuing reference to fig. 7, in step S702, marking a direction indicator on the ultrasound image, the direction indicator being used for indicating the extending direction of the target muscle fiber; the extension direction of the target muscle fiber can be rapidly determined by the system through the direction identification, so that the determination of the propagation direction of the second ultrasonic wave for generating the shear wave is facilitated, and the propagation direction of the second ultrasonic wave is perpendicular to the extension direction of the target muscle fiber through control, so that the shear wave propagating along the extension direction of the target muscle fiber is generated. In step S703, determining a predetermined propagation direction of a second ultrasonic wave for generating a shear wave according to the direction indicator, wherein the predetermined propagation direction is perpendicular to the direction indicator; emitting a second ultrasonic wave propagating along the predetermined propagation direction to the target muscle fiber through a probe to generate a shear wave propagating along an extending direction of the target muscle fiber in step S704; in step S705, acquiring propagation parameters of the shear wave in the target muscle fiber; in step S706, determining an elasticity parameter of the target muscle fiber according to the propagation parameter; and in step S707, acquiring an elasticity image of the target muscle fiber according to the elasticity parameters.

In the embodiment, the extending direction of the target muscle fiber is determined, a direction mark is marked, and a preset propagation direction of the second ultrasonic wave for generating the shear wave is determined according to the direction mark, wherein the preset propagation direction is perpendicular to the direction mark; and transmitting second ultrasonic waves transmitted along the preset transmission direction to the target muscle fiber through the probe so as to generate shear waves transmitted along the extension direction of the target muscle fiber, so that the shear waves transmitted along the extension direction of the target muscle fiber are generated when the same target muscle fiber is subjected to shear wave measurement, and therefore, the stability and the accuracy of each measurement are ensured, and a doctor can make more accurate diagnosis according to the result.

Based on the foregoing ultrasound imaging method, an ultrasound elastography system is also provided in the embodiments of the present invention, and the ultrasound elastography system can be used to implement the relevant steps of the foregoing elastography method, such as shown in fig. 2, specifically, as shown in fig. 1.

In one example, the probe 101 is used to transmit a first ultrasonic wave to a target muscle fiber to be examined for an ultrasound scan. A transmission control circuit 104 and a reception control circuit 105 for outputting a transmission/reception sequence to the probe 101 to control the probe 101 to perform an ultrasound scanning.

In one example, the memory 109 has stored thereon a computer program for execution by the processor 108, the processor being configured to: acquiring an ultrasonic image of the target muscle fiber to be detected based on the echo of the first ultrasonic wave; marking a direction identifier on the ultrasonic image, wherein the direction identifier is used for indicating the extending direction of the target muscle fiber; and determining an included angle between the direction identifier and the reference direction according to the pointing direction of the direction identifier. In other examples, the processor 108 may not determine the included angle between the direction identifier and the reference direction every time of measurement, for example, it may determine the included angle between the direction identifier and the reference direction according to the pointing direction of the direction identifier when the same target muscle fiber is measured for the first time, and only use the included angle when the same target muscle fiber is measured subsequently.

In one example, the display device 110 is configured to display the direction indicator and the included angle on a display interface to prompt a user to use the same included angle when performing multiple repeated shear wave measurements on the same target muscle fiber, and optionally display the direction indicator and the included angle on the ultrasound image, or display the direction indicator and the included angle on the elastic image.

Illustratively, the probe 101 is further configured to generate shear waves in the target muscle fiber, or, more specifically, the probe 101 is further configured to generate shear waves in the target muscle fiber according to at least one of the direction indicator and the included angle.

In one example, the processor is further configured to: acquiring a propagation parameter of the shear wave in the target muscle fiber; determining an elasticity parameter of the target muscle fiber according to the propagation parameter; and acquiring an elasticity image of the target muscle fiber according to the elasticity parameter.

Further, the processor 108 is further configured to: determining the extending direction of the target muscle fiber according to the direction identifier and at least one of the included angles; determining a predetermined propagation direction of a second ultrasonic wave for generating a shear wave according to an extending direction of the target muscle fiber, wherein the predetermined propagation direction and the extending direction are perpendicular;

in one example, the probe 101 is further configured to emit a second ultrasonic wave propagating along the predetermined propagation direction to the target muscle fiber to generate a shear wave propagating within the target muscle fiber along the extension direction of the target muscle fiber.

In one example, the processor 108 is further configured to: when the user is same the target muscle fiber is measured with repeated shear wave many times, generate and be used for instructing the user to adjust the guide of contained angle, the guide is used for instructing the user to adjust currently the direction sign with the contained angle of reference direction for current contained angle is the same with the previous measurement use the contained angle. Illustratively, the processor can output the guidance to an output device, and a user can learn the guidance through the output device and perform corresponding operation according to the guidance, so that the included angle can be adjusted more easily, the same included angle is ensured to be used for each measurement, and the stability and accuracy of the measurement are improved.

The guidance may be, for example, voice information or image information output by an output device of the system, which, in one example, the guidance may be voice information or image information of the current included angle output by the output device, and the user may adjust the probe according to the information so that the included angle between the current direction identifier and the reference direction is the same as the included angle used in the previous measurement, and in yet another example, the guidance may also be voice or image information output via an output device that prompts the user how to adjust the position of the probe, e.g., prompts the user to adjust the position of the probe to the right or to the left or forward or backward, so that the angle between the current direction indicator and the reference direction is the same as the angle used in the previous measurement, in other examples, the guidance may also prompt the user that the current angle has been adjusted to a predetermined position when the user adjusts the angle to the angle used in the previous measurement.

In another embodiment of the present invention, an ultrasound elastography system is also provided, which may be used to implement the relevant steps of the previously described elastography method, as shown for example in fig. 6, and in particular as shown in fig. 1.

In one example, the probe 101 is used to transmit ultrasonic waves to target muscle fibers to be detected for an ultrasonic scan; a transmission control circuit 104 and a reception control circuit 105 for outputting a transmission/reception sequence to the probe to control the probe to perform an ultrasonic scanning.

In one example, the memory 108 has stored thereon a computer program for execution by the processor 108, the processor being configured to: acquiring the extension direction of target muscle fibers to be detected; determining a predetermined propagation direction of a second ultrasonic wave for generating a shear wave according to the extending direction of the target muscle fiber, wherein the predetermined propagation direction is perpendicular to the extending direction of the target muscle fiber.

In one example, the probe 101 is also used to emit a first ultrasonic wave to a target muscle fiber to be detected. The processor is used for acquiring the extending direction of the target muscle fiber to be detected, and comprises the following components: acquiring an ultrasonic image of the target muscle fiber to be detected based on the echo of the first ultrasonic wave; identifying fibrous image features of the target muscle fiber in the ultrasound image to determine a location of the target muscle fiber; and determining the extending direction of the target muscle fiber according to the position of the target muscle fiber.

In one example, the probe 101 is further configured to emit a second ultrasonic wave propagating along the predetermined propagation direction toward the target muscle fiber to generate a shear wave propagating along the extension direction of the target muscle fiber.

In one example, the processor 108 is further configured to: acquiring a propagation parameter of the shear wave in the target muscle fiber; determining an elasticity parameter of the target muscle fiber according to the propagation parameter; and acquiring an elasticity image of the target muscle fiber according to the elasticity parameter.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, an ultrasound elastography system is also provided, which may be used to implement the relevant steps of the previously described elastography method, as shown for example in fig. 7, and in particular as shown in fig. 1.

In one example, the memory 109 has stored thereon a computer program for execution by the processor 108, the processor 108 being configured to: acquiring an ultrasonic image of target muscle fibers to be detected;

marking a direction identifier on the ultrasonic image, wherein the direction identifier is used for indicating the extending direction of the target muscle fiber; and determining a preset propagation direction of the second ultrasonic wave for generating the shear wave according to the direction indicator, wherein the preset propagation direction is perpendicular to the direction indicator.

In one example, the probe is further configured to emit a second ultrasonic wave propagating along the predetermined propagation direction toward the target muscle fiber to generate a shear wave propagating along an extension direction of the target muscle fiber;

Optionally, in the ultrasound elastic system herein, the processor 108 is further configured to: determining a transmit aperture of the second ultrasound based on a direction of extension and a depth of focus of the target muscle fiber; determining the time delay of each array element of each transmitting aperture; and controlling a transmitting circuit to excite a probe to transmit the second ultrasonic wave based on time delay, so that the propagation direction of the second ultrasonic wave is perpendicular to the extending direction of the target muscle fiber.

Optionally, in the ultrasound elastic system herein, the display device 110 is further configured to display the first annotation line on the display interface; the processor 108 is configured to mark a direction identifier on the ultrasound image, and includes: and adjusting the position of the first marking line according to an instruction input by a user to enable the first marking line to be consistent with the extending direction of the target muscle fiber on the ultrasonic image, and marking the first marking line as the direction identifier.

Optionally, in the ultrasound elastic system herein, the display device 110 is further configured to: displaying a second marking line on a display interface, wherein the second marking line is used for marking the reference direction;

the processor 108 is further configured to: and determining the included angle between the direction identifier and the reference direction according to the adjusted included angle between the first marking line and the second marking line.

Optionally, in the ultrasound elastic system herein, the processor 108 is further configured to: identifying fibrous image features of the target muscle fiber in the ultrasound image to determine a location of the target muscle fiber;

determining the extending direction of the target muscle fiber according to the position of the target muscle fiber;

marking the direction mark along the identified extending direction of the target muscle fiber.

Optionally, in an embodiment of the ultrasound elastic system described above, the direction indicator comprises at least one of a straight line, a broken line, and an arrowed line. For example, the direction indicator is composed of at least one straight line.

Optionally, in the ultrasound elastic system herein, the direction indicator may further be composed of at least a first direction indicator and a second direction indicator which include different directions; the first direction mark and the second direction mark are respectively consistent with the extending directions of different sections of the target muscle fiber.

Optionally, in the ultrasound elastic system herein, the propagation parameter comprises a propagation velocity of the shear wave.

Optionally, in the ultrasound elastography system herein, the reference direction is a normal direction of an array element arrangement plane of the probe.

Optionally, in the ultrasound elastic system herein, the processor is further configured to: determining an elasticity parameter of the target muscle fiber according to the propagation parameter and the density of the target muscle fiber.

The ultrasound imaging system of the embodiment of the present invention further includes an output device that can output various information (e.g., images or sounds) to the outside (e.g., a user), and may include one or more of a display device, a speaker, and the like.

In this embodiment, the ultrasound imaging system includes a Display device 110 for displaying information input by a user or information provided to the user and various graphical user interfaces of the ultrasound elastography device, where the graphical user interfaces may be formed by graphics, text, icons, videos and any combination thereof, in this embodiment, the Display device may Display various visual data output by the processor, such as ultrasound images and/or elasticity images, and Display direction marks, angles, and the like, and the Display device may include a Display panel, and optionally, the Display panel may be configured in the form of a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), an Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED), and the like.

In one example, the ultrasound imaging system further includes a storage device (not shown), which may include one or more computer program products, which may include various forms of computer-readable storage media, such as volatile memory and/or non-volatile memory. The volatile memory may include, for example, Random Access Memory (RAM), cache memory (cache), and/or the like. The non-volatile memory may include, for example, Read Only Memory (ROM), hard disk, flash memory, etc. On which one or more computer program instructions may be stored that may be executed by processor 108 to implement the functions of the embodiments of the invention described herein (as implemented by the processor) and/or other desired functions. Various applications and various data, such as various data used and/or generated by the applications, may also be stored in the computer-readable storage medium.

In one example, the ultrasound elastography system further comprises an input device (not shown) which may be a device used by a user to input instructions and may include one or more of a keyboard, a trackball, a mouse, a microphone, a touch screen, and the like. For example, the user may input an instruction to adjust the position and direction of the first mark line through the input device, for example, as shown in the left diagram of fig. 3, when the system turns on the muscle bone shear wave detection mode according to the mode switching instruction input by the user, the first mark line (black line) and the second mark line (white line) are displayed on the display interface of the display device. The black line is used to mark the direction of the target muscle fiber, the white line represents the propagation direction of the ultrasonic wave or the normal direction of the array element arrangement plane of the probe, and the center of the black line moves with the instruction input by the user by moving the input device such as the trackball. The trackball is moved so that the center of the black line is at the position of the target muscle fiber tissue, and the black line is rotated so that the black line coincides with the extending direction of the target muscle fiber, as shown in the right diagram of fig. 3.

The ultrasound elastography system of the embodiment of the invention further comprises a communication interface (not shown) for communication between devices of the ultrasound elastography system or between each device of the ultrasound elastography system and other devices outside the system, including communication in a wired or wireless manner. The video transmission device 800 may access a wireless network based on a communication standard, such as WiFi, 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, or a combination thereof. In one exemplary embodiment, the communication interface receives a broadcast signal or broadcast associated information from an external broadcast management system via a broadcast channel. In one exemplary embodiment, the communication interface further comprises a Near Field Communication (NFC) module to facilitate short-range communication. For example, the NFC module may be implemented based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology, infrared data association (IrDA) technology, Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology, Bluetooth (BT) technology, and other technologies.

In addition, the embodiment of the invention also provides a computer storage medium, and the computer storage medium is stored with the computer program. One or more computer program instructions may be stored on the computer-readable storage medium, which may be executed by a processor to implement the program instructions stored by the storage device to implement the functions of the embodiments of the invention (implemented by the processor) described herein and/or other desired functions, such as performing the corresponding steps of the ultrasound elastography method according to the embodiments of the invention, and various applications and various data, such as various data used and/or generated by the applications, etc., may also be stored in the computer-readable storage medium.

For example, the computer storage medium may include, for example, a memory card of a smart phone, a storage component of a tablet computer, a hard disk of a personal computer, a Read Only Memory (ROM), an Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM), a portable compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM), a USB memory, or any combination of the above storage media.

In summary, the method and the system of the embodiment of the invention can prompt the user to use the same included angle as the measurement angle when the same target muscle fiber is repeatedly measured by shear waves for multiple times, thereby improving the repeatability of the user in the measurement, reducing the difference between the measurement results of different times of measurement, and improving the accuracy and the stability of the final measurement result. In addition, the extension direction of the target muscle fiber is determined, and the propagation direction of the ultrasonic wave for generating the shear wave is further determined, so that the shear wave along the extension direction of the target muscle fiber is generated, the difference between the measurement results of different times of measurement is reduced, and the accuracy and the stability of the final measurement result are improved.

Although the illustrative embodiments have been described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the foregoing illustrative embodiments are merely exemplary and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention thereto. Various changes and modifications may be effected therein by one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art without departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention. All such changes and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present invention.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described device embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical functional division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another device, or some features may be omitted, or not executed.

In the description provided herein, numerous specific details are set forth. It is understood, however, that embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known methods, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure an understanding of this description.

Similarly, it should be appreciated that in the description of exemplary embodiments of the invention, various features of the invention are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the invention and aiding in the understanding of one or more of the various inventive aspects. However, the method of the present invention should not be construed to reflect the intent: that the invention as claimed requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus, the claims following the detailed description are hereby expressly incorporated into this detailed description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment of this invention.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings), and all of the processes or elements of any method or apparatus so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where such features are mutually exclusive. Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise.

Furthermore, those skilled in the art will appreciate that while some embodiments described herein include some features included in other embodiments, rather than other features, combinations of features of different embodiments are meant to be within the scope of the invention and form different embodiments. For example, in the claims, any of the claimed embodiments may be used in any combination.

The various component embodiments of the invention may be implemented in hardware, or in software modules running on one or more processors, or in a combination thereof. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that a microprocessor or Digital Signal Processor (DSP) may be used in practice to implement some or all of the functionality of some of the modules according to embodiments of the present invention. The present invention may also be embodied as apparatus programs (e.g., computer programs and computer program products) for performing a portion or all of the methods described herein. Such programs implementing the present invention may be stored on computer-readable media or may be in the form of one or more signals. Such a signal may be downloaded from an internet website or provided on a carrier signal or in any other form.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned embodiments illustrate rather than limit the invention, and that those skilled in the art will be able to design alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims. In the claims, any reference signs placed between parentheses shall not be construed as limiting the claim. The invention may be implemented by means of hardware comprising several distinct elements, and by means of a suitably programmed computer. In the unit claims enumerating several means, several of these means may be embodied by one and the same item of hardware. The usage of the words first, second and third, etcetera do not indicate any ordering. These words may be interpreted as names.

Claims

1. An ultrasonic elastography method, characterized in that it comprises:

displaying the direction mark and an included angle between the direction mark and a reference direction on a display interface to prompt a user to use the same included angle when the same target muscle fiber is subjected to repeated shear wave measurement for multiple times;

generating shear waves within the target muscle fibers;

acquiring a propagation parameter of the shear wave in the target muscle fiber;

2. The ultrasound elastography method of claim 1, further comprising:

and determining an included angle between the direction identifier and the reference direction according to the pointing direction of the direction identifier.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating shear waves in the target muscle fiber comprises: and generating shear waves in the target muscle fibers according to the direction identifier and at least one of the included angles.

4. The method of ultrasonic elastography of claim 3, wherein said generating shear waves in said target muscle fiber according to at least one of said orientation indicator and said included angle comprises:

determining the extending direction of the target muscle fiber according to the direction identifier and at least one of the included angles;

transmitting, by the probe, a second ultrasonic wave propagating along the predetermined propagation direction to the target muscle fiber to generate a shear wave propagating within the target muscle fiber along an extension direction of the target muscle fiber.

5. The ultrasonic elastography method of claim 1 or 3, wherein the direction indicator and the angle are displayed on the ultrasound image or the direction indicator and the angle are displayed on the elastography image.

6. The ultrasound elastography method of claim 1 or 3, further comprising:

when the user carries out repeated shear wave measurement for multiple times on the same target muscle fiber, guidance used for instructing the user to adjust the included angle is generated, and the guidance is used for instructing the user to adjust the included angle between the direction identifier and the reference direction to be the same as the included angle used in the previous measurement.

7. An ultrasonic elastography method, characterized in that it comprises:

acquiring the extension direction of target muscle fibers to be detected;

acquiring a propagation parameter of the shear wave in the target muscle fiber;

8. The ultrasonic elastography method of claim 7, wherein acquiring the extension direction of the target muscle fiber to be detected comprises:

identifying fibrous image features of the target muscle fiber in the ultrasound image to determine a location of the target muscle fiber;

and determining the extending direction of the target muscle fiber according to the position of the target muscle fiber.

9. An ultrasonic elastography method, characterized in that it comprises:

acquiring an ultrasonic image of target muscle fibers to be detected;

acquiring a propagation parameter of the shear wave in the target muscle fiber;

10. The sono-elastographic imaging method according to claim 4, 7 or 9, wherein said emitting, by a probe, a second ultrasonic wave propagating along said predetermined propagation direction towards said target muscle fiber for generating a shear wave propagating along the extension direction of said target muscle fiber, comprises in particular:

determining a transmit aperture of the second ultrasound based on a direction of extension and a depth of focus of the target muscle fiber;

determining the time delay of each array element of each transmitting aperture;

and controlling a transmitting circuit to excite a probe to transmit the second ultrasonic wave based on the time delay, so that the propagation direction of the second ultrasonic wave is perpendicular to the extending direction of the target muscle fiber.

11. The method of ultrasound elastography of claim 10, wherein determining the time delay of each array element of each of said transmit apertures comprises:

determining an included angle between the extending direction of the target muscle fiber and the reference direction according to the extending direction of the target muscle fiber, wherein the reference direction is the normal direction of the array element arrangement plane of the probe;

determining the distance between the focal depth and each array element of the transmitting aperture based on the extending direction and the included angle of the target muscle fiber and the focal depth;

determining a time delay for each array element of the transmit aperture based on the distance.

12. The method according to claim 1, 3 or 9, wherein the marking of the ultrasound image with a direction indicator comprises:

displaying a first marking line on a display interface;

and adjusting the position of the first marking line according to an instruction input by a user to enable the first marking line to be consistent with the extending direction of the target muscle fiber on the ultrasonic image, and marking the first marking line as the direction identifier.

13. The ultrasonic elastography method of claim 12, further comprising:

displaying a second marking line on a display interface, wherein the second marking line is used for marking the reference direction;

and determining the included angle between the direction identifier and the reference direction according to the adjusted included angle between the first marking line and the second marking line.

14. The method according to claim 1, 3 or 9, wherein the labeling of the ultrasound image with a direction marker specifically comprises:

15. The method of ultrasonic elastography imaging of claim 1, or 3 or 9, wherein the directional indicia comprises at least one of a straight line, a polyline, and an arrowed line.

16. Method of ultrasonic elastography according to claim 1 or 3 or 9, wherein the orientation marker consists of at least one straight line.

17. The method of ultrasonic elastography as claimed in claim 1, 3 or 9, wherein said orientation indicia comprise at least a first orientation indicia and a second orientation indicia which differ in orientation; the first direction mark and the second direction mark are respectively consistent with the extending directions of different sections of the target muscle fiber.

18. A method of ultrasonic elastography as claimed in claim 1, 3, 7 or 9, wherein said propagation parameter comprises a propagation velocity of said shear wave.

19. The method of ultrasonic elastography as claimed in claim 18, wherein the method of obtaining the velocity of propagation of said shear wave in said target muscle fiber comprises:

transmitting a detection sound beam for detecting the shear wave transmission to the same target muscle fiber through a probe;

acquiring an echo signal of the detection sound beam;

obtaining the displacement of each position of the target muscle fiber along with the change of time according to the echo signal;

and determining the propagation speed of the shear wave according to the displacement.

20. A method of ultrasonic elastography according to claim 1, 3 or 9, wherein the reference direction is the normal direction of the plane of the array elements of the probe.

21. The method of ultrasonic elastography as claimed in claim 1, 7 or 9, wherein determining elasticity parameters of the target muscle fiber from said propagation parameters further comprises:

determining an elasticity parameter of the target muscle fiber according to the propagation parameter and the density of the target muscle fiber.

22. An ultrasound elastography system, characterized in that the ultrasound elastography system comprises:

the processor is further configured to:

acquiring a propagation parameter of the shear wave in the target muscle fiber;

23. The ultrasound elastography system of claim 22, wherein the processor is further configured to:

24. The ultrasound elastography system of claim 22,

the processor is further configured to: determining the extending direction of the target muscle fiber according to the direction identifier and at least one of the included angles;

determining a predetermined propagation direction of a second ultrasonic wave for generating a shear wave according to an extending direction of the target muscle fiber, wherein the predetermined propagation direction and the extending direction are perpendicular;

the probe is used for: emitting a second ultrasonic wave propagating along the predetermined propagation direction to the target muscle fiber to generate a shear wave propagating within the target muscle fiber along an extension direction of the target muscle fiber.

25. The ultrasound elastography system of claim 22 or 23, wherein the direction indicator and the included angle are displayed on the ultrasound image or displayed on the elastography image.

26. An ultrasound elastography system, characterized in that the ultrasound elastography system comprises:

acquiring the extension direction of target muscle fibers to be detected;

the processor is further configured to:

acquiring a propagation parameter of the shear wave in the target muscle fiber;

27. The ultrasonic elastography imaging system of claim 26,

the probe is further configured to: transmitting a first ultrasonic wave to a target muscle fiber to be detected;

the processor is further configured to:

28. An ultrasound elastography system, characterized in that the ultrasound elastography system comprises:

acquiring an ultrasonic image of target muscle fibers to be detected;

the processor is further configured to:

acquiring a propagation parameter of the shear wave in the target muscle fiber;

29. The ultrasound elastography system of claim 22, 26 or 28, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determining the time delay of each array element of each transmitting aperture;

and controlling a transmitting circuit to excite a probe to transmit the second ultrasonic wave based on time delay, so that the propagation direction of the second ultrasonic wave is perpendicular to the extending direction of the target muscle fiber.

30. The ultrasound elastography system of claim 22 or 28, further comprising a display device for: displaying a first marking line on a display interface;

the processor is further configured to: and adjusting the position of the first marking line according to an instruction input by a user to enable the first marking line to be consistent with the extending direction of the target muscle fiber on the ultrasonic image, and marking the first marking line as the direction identifier.

31. The ultrasound elastography system of claim 30,

the display device is further configured to: displaying a second marking line on a display interface, wherein the second marking line is used for marking the reference direction;

the processor is further configured to: and determining the included angle between the direction identifier and the reference direction according to the adjusted included angle between the first marking line and the second marking line.

32. The ultrasound elastography system of claim 22 or 28, wherein the processor is further configured to:

33. The ultrasonic elastography imaging system of claim 22 or 28, wherein the directional indicia comprises at least one of a straight line, a polyline, and an arrowed line.

34. The ultrasonic elastography system of claim 22 or 28, wherein the direction marker consists of at least one straight line.

35. The ultrasound elastography system of claim 22 or 28, wherein the direction indicator is comprised of at least a first direction indicator and a second direction indicator comprising different directions; the first direction mark and the second direction mark are respectively consistent with the extending directions of different sections of the target muscle fiber.

36. An ultrasound elastography system according to claim 22 or 28, wherein the reference direction is a normal direction to the plane of the array elements of the probe.

37. The ultrasound elastography system of claim 22, 26 or 28, wherein the processor is further configured to: