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WO2010147055A1 - Imageur ultrasonore et procédé d'imagerie ultrasonore - Google Patents

Imageur ultrasonore et procédé d'imagerie ultrasonore Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2010147055A1
WO2010147055A1 PCT/JP2010/059912 JP2010059912W WO2010147055A1 WO 2010147055 A1 WO2010147055 A1 WO 2010147055A1 JP 2010059912 W JP2010059912 W JP 2010059912W WO 2010147055 A1 WO2010147055 A1 WO 2010147055A1
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
pressure
ultrasonic
frequency distribution
frequency
contrast agent
Prior art date
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PCT/JP2010/059912
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English (en)
Japanese (ja)
Inventor
真理子 山本
晋一郎 梅村
修 森
英世 鎌田
隆 東
Original Assignee
株式会社日立メディコ
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Application filed by 株式会社日立メディコ filed Critical 株式会社日立メディコ
Priority to JP2011519749A priority Critical patent/JP5341995B2/ja
Publication of WO2010147055A1 publication Critical patent/WO2010147055A1/fr

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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/52—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00
    • G01S7/52017—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00 particularly adapted to short-range imaging
    • G01S7/52023—Details of receivers
    • G01S7/52036—Details of receivers using analysis of echo signal for target characterisation
    • G01S7/52038—Details of receivers using analysis of echo signal for target characterisation involving non-linear properties of the propagation medium or of the reflective target
    • G01S7/52039—Details of receivers using analysis of echo signal for target characterisation involving non-linear properties of the propagation medium or of the reflective target exploiting the non-linear response of a contrast enhancer, e.g. a contrast agent
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
    • A61B—DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION
    • A61B8/00—Diagnosis using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves
    • A61B8/48—Diagnostic techniques
    • A61B8/481—Diagnostic techniques involving the use of contrast agents, e.g. microbubbles introduced into the bloodstream
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01S—RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES
    • G01S7/00—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00
    • G01S7/52—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00
    • G01S7/52017—Details of systems according to groups G01S13/00, G01S15/00, G01S17/00 of systems according to group G01S15/00 particularly adapted to short-range imaging
    • G01S7/52023—Details of receivers
    • G01S7/52036—Details of receivers using analysis of echo signal for target characterisation
    • G01S7/52038—Details of receivers using analysis of echo signal for target characterisation involving non-linear properties of the propagation medium or of the reflective target

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a medical ultrasonic imaging apparatus and method, and more particularly to an ultrasonic imaging apparatus and method for measuring intracardiac pressure with non-invasive, high accuracy, and high time resolution.
  • Heart disease is a disease that affects all people in the sense of dysfunction associated with aging, and is one of the three leading causes of death in many developed countries.
  • Heart disease In such a long-term medical treatment of a disease with many patients, there are wide phases from preventive medical care to advanced medical care.
  • Blood pressure measurement is the basis of heart disease testing.
  • the main blood pressure measurement methods currently used are compression tests that measure the compression pressure at which the upper arm and other parts are compressed stepwise with a cuff in the preventive medicine, and the pulsating sound disappears.
  • Patent Document 1 a method for non-invasively measuring blood pressure with an ultrasonic imaging device.
  • This method is a method in which a contrast agent irradiated with ultrasonic waves in a liquid discovers a phenomenon that a subharmonic wave having a signal intensity that linearly reflects the pressure of the liquid is discovered and used.
  • the heart is imaged by an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, the signal intensity (dB) of the subharmonic wave is detected, and the signal intensity and pressure of the subharmonic wave that have been examined in advance.
  • the received signal is converted into blood pressure using the relationship.
  • the above-described prior art cannot achieve both noninvasiveness, measurement accuracy, and time resolution. Specifically, since the measurement value of the compression test is not the intracardiac pressure, the accuracy is insufficient to be regarded as the intracardiac pressure, and it cannot be used as a definitive cardiac test. Catheter examination is invasive and burdensome to the patient.
  • Patent Document 1 is a noninvasive method for measuring intracardiac pressure, but has a problem in accuracy and time resolution. Specifically, first, the time resolution and the blood pressure accuracy are not compatible. In this method, the pressure is calculated from the subharmonic wave, but generally the subharmonic wave cannot be obtained at a high S / N ratio. Therefore, the SN ratio is increased by measuring multiple heartbeats and taking the average value of the received signals having the same time phase, or by setting the time interval and taking the average value of the received signals within the time interval. . In other words, instead of improving accuracy, time resolution is sacrificed.
  • the low pressure range (20 to 60 mmHg) is the range of left ventricular end-diastolic pressure that plays an important role in the diagnosis of heart disease, and requires an accuracy of ⁇ 5 mmHg or more.
  • the method disclosed in Patent Document 1 is insufficient as a medical device because the accuracy required in a value range important for diagnosis cannot be obtained.
  • the present invention provides a medical imaging apparatus that measures intracardiac pressure with noninvasive, high accuracy, and high time resolution.
  • the ultrasonic imaging apparatus includes an ultrasonic probe that transmits / receives ultrasonic waves to / from an imaging target injected with an ultrasonic contrast agent, and an ultrasonic signal from the imaging target received by the ultrasonic probe.
  • a signal processing unit for processing, and display means for displaying a processing result of the signal processing unit.
  • the signal processing unit calculates the frequency distribution of the received ultrasonic signal, and is calculated by the frequency analysis unit.
  • a frequency distribution that is one or more of a value at one or more specified frequencies, a frequency indicating a maximum value, a maximum value, and a half-value width of the frequency dependence of the attenuation rate of the received ultrasonic signal from the frequency distribution.
  • a frequency distribution feature quantity detection unit for detecting the feature quantity; and a frequency distribution feature quantity-pressure conversion section for converting the frequency distribution feature quantity to pressure.
  • the display means is calculated by the frequency distribution feature quantity-pressure conversion section. Displays the pressure value.
  • the ultrasonic imaging method of the present invention includes a contrast agent injection step for injecting an ultrasonic contrast agent into an imaging target, an ultrasonic transmission step for transmitting an ultrasonic signal to the imaging target, and a reflection from the imaging target.
  • a frequency analysis step for receiving an ultrasonic signal and calculating a frequency distribution of the received ultrasonic signal, and one or more specified frequencies of the frequency dependence of the attenuation rate of the received ultrasonic signal from the calculated frequency distribution
  • a frequency distribution feature quantity step for detecting a frequency distribution feature quantity that is at least one of a value at, a frequency indicating a maximum value, a maximum value, and a half width, and a frequency distribution for converting the detected frequency distribution feature quantity into pressure And a feature amount-pressure conversion step.
  • the ultrasonic contrast agent is a multi-component droplet type contrast agent containing a plurality of liquid components, and the temperature of a part where pressure is detected is T c , the upper limit of the pressure to be detected is P u , and the lower limit is P l .
  • at least one liquid component vapor pressure at temperature T c is greater than or equal to P u, the other at least one is not more than the vapor pressure P l at the temperature T c, a plurality of liquid components P l or more, which is preferably mixed in a molar fraction of vapor-liquid equilibrium is established at pressures P u.
  • the ultrasonic wave transmission is a two-stage transmission in which an ultrasonic wave for vaporization for vaporizing the multi-component liquid droplet type contrast agent is performed and then an ultrasonic wave for pressure detection is transmitted. .
  • the pressure in the body can be measured with non-invasiveness, high accuracy, and high time resolution. More specifically, while the conventional technique has signal strength at one specified frequency, the present invention uses physical quantities at a plurality of frequencies and uses a large number of sample points, so that high accuracy can be obtained. In addition, in order to extract the subharmonic which is a non-linear component in the conventional example, it is necessary to transmit twice for each reception. However, the present invention does not need that, and even simple calculation is twice as high as the conventional example. Time resolution is obtained.
  • a multi-component droplet type contrast agent containing two or more liquid components is injected into the body, and the temperature is increased by irradiating the focused site with ultrasonic waves.
  • the liquid contained in the agent is vaporized to establish a vapor-liquid equilibrium state.
  • the volume of the gas phase changes depending on the pressure, but this volume change appears as a change in the bubble diameter.As a result, the behavior of the bubbles contained in the received signal is enhanced by the influence of pressure and with high accuracy.
  • the pressure can be detected.
  • FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an ultrasonic imaging apparatus according to the present invention.
  • the flowchart showing the process of the ultrasonic imaging method by this invention.
  • the flowchart showing the detail of the process which calculates a pressure from a received signal.
  • the flowchart showing the detail of the process which calculates the frequency distribution of attenuation amount.
  • 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an ultrasonic imaging apparatus according to the present invention.
  • FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an ultrasonic imaging apparatus according to the present invention.
  • the ultrasonic probe 1 is composed of a plurality of elements.
  • the apparatus main body 2 includes a transmission beamformer 3, an amplification unit 4, a reception beamformer 5, a signal processing unit 6, a memory 7, a display unit 8, an input unit 9, and a control unit 10.
  • the signal processing unit 6 includes a frequency analysis unit 61 that calculates the frequency distribution of the received signal, a frequency distribution feature amount detection unit 62 that detects a frequency distribution feature amount from the frequency distribution calculated by the frequency analysis unit 61, and a frequency distribution feature amount.
  • a frequency distribution feature value-pressure conversion unit 63 that converts pressure is provided.
  • the frequency distribution feature quantity detected by the frequency distribution feature quantity detection unit 62 is one of a value at one or more specified frequencies, a frequency indicating a maximum value, a maximum value, and a half-value width of the frequency dependency of the attenuation rate. That's it.
  • the frequency distribution feature quantity-pressure conversion section 63 includes a frequency distribution feature quantity-pressure conversion knowledge storage section 631 for storing frequency distribution feature quantity-pressure conversion knowledge, which is knowledge for converting the frequency distribution feature quantity into pressure. It should be noted that configurations such as normal B-mode display and Doppler display are not shown for simplicity.
  • An ultrasonic contrast agent is injected by a user into a living body part to be imaged, and an ultrasonic pulse generated by the transmission beamformer 3 is transmitted from the ultrasonic probe 1 to the living body, from the living body part including the ultrasonic contrast agent.
  • the ultrasonic probe 1 receives the reflected ultrasonic waves.
  • the received signal is input to the amplifying means 4 and amplified, and the receiving beamformer 5 performs phasing addition.
  • the signal processing unit 6 receives the reception signal output from the reception beamformer 5 and performs imaging and pressure calculation.
  • the created image and the calculated pressure are stored in the memory 7, read out and interpolated, and displayed on the display unit 8. These processes are controlled by the control means 10.
  • the frequency distribution feature quantity detection unit 62 detects the frequency distribution feature quantity from this frequency distribution, and the frequency distribution feature quantity-pressure conversion knowledge is obtained.
  • the frequency distribution feature value-pressure conversion unit 63 converts the frequency distribution feature value into pressure.
  • FIG. 2 to 4 are process flow diagrams showing an example of the process of the ultrasonic imaging method of the present invention.
  • the user first injects an ultrasound contrast agent into the imaging target (S11). Thereafter, an ultrasonic signal is transmitted from the ultrasonic probe 1 to the object to be imaged (S12), the amplifying means receives the ultrasonic signal from the object to be imaged, and performs phasing addition with a reception beamformer.
  • the processing unit 6 performs processing to calculate the pressure (S13). The calculated pressure is displayed on the display means (S14).
  • the ultrasonic contrast agent used in the present invention is a microbubble having a diameter of several tens of ⁇ m or less called a microbubble or nanobubble, and may have a shell composed of a biodegradable polymer.
  • FIG. 3 shows details of processing of the signal processing unit 6 in step 13 of FIG.
  • the signal processing unit 6 calculates the frequency distribution of the attenuation amount based on the received signals having different reception depths (S21), and detects the frequency distribution feature quantity from the frequency distribution (S22). After that, the frequency distribution feature value is converted to the pressure p 0 using the frequency distribution feature value-pressure conversion knowledge shown in the following equation (1), which is an ideal attenuation frequency distribution without pressure measurement noise. (S23).
  • a conversion method for example, a frequency distribution feature amount is input, and a pressure which is a parameter is obtained by a least square method using frequency distribution feature amount-pressure conversion knowledge as a regression curve.
  • ⁇ e is a scattering cross section
  • ⁇ is a frequency which is a variable of the formula (1), normalized by the resonance frequency ⁇ 0 , and expressed as ⁇ .
  • a e is the equilibrium value of the bubble diameter
  • ⁇ L is the density of the surrounding fluid
  • ⁇ is the polytropic index
  • G S is the rigidity of the bubble shell
  • d Se is the shell thickness defined by equation (3)
  • ⁇ S Represents the shear viscosity of the bubble shell and is determined by the physical properties of the contrast agent and fluid such as blood.
  • FIG. 4 is a diagram showing details of the process of calculating the frequency distribution of the attenuation amount in step 21 of FIG.
  • of the received signal ⁇ (f)
  • F [•] represents a Fourier transform.
  • FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the ultrasonic probe transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to a living body.
  • the signals 75 and 76 reflected from the ultrasonic contrast agent 74 included in the organ 73 are received.
  • the reception depth of the signal 75 is z 1 and the reception depth of the signal 76 is z 2 .
  • the organ 73 may be an organ containing a fluid whose reflection luminance is significantly lower than that of an ultrasound contrast agent, such as a blood vessel or a heart chamber of the heart, or may be an organ composed of a soft tissue having a reflection luminance of a level that can be visually recognized, such as a liver.
  • the signal processing unit receives signals similar to the reception signals 75 and 76 when there is no ultrasonic contrast agent so that the frequency analysis unit can process only attenuation by the ultrasonic contrast agent, What is necessary is just to perform the process which subtracts the attenuation amount resulting from other than an ultrasonic contrast agent.
  • the attenuation caused by other than the ultrasonic contrast agent is generally an amount proportional to the frequency, and can be obtained by, for example, transmitting / receiving / analyzing ultrasonic waves before injection of the ultrasonic contrast agent.
  • FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the processing of step 21 in FIG. 3 for calculating the frequency distribution of the attenuation amount.
  • step 32 of FIG. 4 such frequency distributions 81 and 82 are calculated at a plurality of reception depths.
  • c is a constant representing the speed of sound
  • dt is a time including the number of samples necessary for frequency calculation
  • the distribution shown in FIG. 6B is the frequency distribution ⁇ (f) of attenuation expressed by the following equation, which is obtained by taking the ratio of the frequency distributions 81 and 82 of the signal intensity.
  • the frequency distribution ⁇ (f) of this attenuation is calculated.
  • An ultrasound contrast agent is a microbubble around several ⁇ m that is injected into the body, and when irradiated with ultrasound, the outside of the bubble is a liquid and the inside is a gas, and the density difference is large. Reflects ultrasound signals. Usually, the signal intensity of the fundamental wave component and the high frequency component of the signal reflected from the ultrasound contrast agent is imaged. In this way, in normal usage, the presence of bubbles is used to visualize the boundaries of blood vessel walls and liver tumors.
  • the objective is to extract information beyond the presence of bubbles from the mechanical behavior of the bubbles, and an overview of the properties of the equations describing the bubble motion.
  • Bubble motion is described by the following Church equation, which is the equation of motion for bubble radius a (t).
  • a 1 is the inner diameter of the bubble
  • a 2 is the outer diameter of the bubble
  • a 1e is the equilibrium value of the inner diameter
  • a 2e is the equilibrium value of the outer diameter
  • ⁇ L is the density of the surrounding fluid
  • ⁇ S is the bubble shell Density
  • ⁇ L is the shear viscosity of the surrounding fluid
  • ⁇ S is the shear viscosity of the bubble shell
  • V S is the volume of the bubble core
  • p ⁇ (t) is the pressure at a location sufficiently away from the bubble
  • p 0 is the hydrostatic pressure The pressure to be detected.
  • Equation (6) is obtained as a solution.
  • p i (t) is a pressure change due to irradiation of an ultrasonic pulse.
  • the frequency distribution of the attenuation rate can be obtained from Expression (7) to Expression (8) of the scattering cross section.
  • N (a) in equation (8) is the distribution of bubble diameters.
  • the bubble diameter has a distribution as shown in FIG. 7, but in the above description relating to step 33 in FIG. 4, the distribution width is 0, that is, the bubbles inside the imaging target are all assumed to have the same value. did. Actually, it is necessary to reflect n (a). For example, the distribution of the bubble diameter before injection into the body may be measured and used.
  • the shape of the resonance curve (6) is substantially determined by the resonance frequency ⁇ 0 and the dispersion magnitude ⁇ .
  • the shapes of the attenuation curves (7) and (8) are also substantially determined by ⁇ 0 and ⁇ and the frequency distribution p i ( ⁇ ) of the ultrasonic pulse.
  • values other than p 0 are fixed by the structure (physical property constant) of the ultrasound contrast agent. Only the shell stiffness G s and the bubble equilibrium diameter a e are substantially variable.
  • the shape of the resonance curve (6) and the attenuation curve (7) (8), that is, the sensing power of the pressure p 0 can be adjusted by these two values, the bubble shell rigidity G s is small, and the bubble equilibrium diameter a e is It can be seen that a small ultrasonic contrast agent is suitable for pressure detection.
  • Table 1 shows physical property constants of commercially available ultrasonic contrast agents.
  • FIG. 8 shows an example of a frequency distribution feature amount and an example of an attenuation curve when the bubble has an equilibrium diameter a e constant and the pressure is changed to three values.
  • the decay curve is significantly deformed by pressure.
  • the resonance frequency ⁇ 0 the dispersion ⁇ ⁇ 1 , the attenuation intensity at the specified frequency ⁇ 1, and the attenuation intensity at the two specified frequencies ⁇ 1 and ⁇ 2 are shown. The inclination was shown.
  • 2 ] 0
  • the value of p 0 that satisfies the above is obtained numerically and used as the pressure detection value.
  • the regression problem when only the resonance frequency ⁇ 0 is obtained, the regression problem is reduced to the equation (7′-2), and ⁇ 0 may be converted to p 0 by the equation (7′-2).
  • the regression problem when only the variance ⁇ is obtained, the regression problem is reduced to the equation (7'-2) and the equation (7'-3), and the equation (7'-2) and the equation (7'-3) ⁇ can be converted to p 0 .
  • the above configuration it is possible to provide a medical imaging apparatus that measures the pressure in the body with non-invasiveness, high accuracy, and high time resolution.
  • the S / N ratio is increased and high accuracy is obtained.
  • accuracy can be improved by detecting one or more physical quantities and converting them into blood pressure.
  • the method of the second embodiment is an example in which the resonance curve shown in the equation (10) is used as the frequency distribution feature amount-pressure conversion knowledge in the processing of step 13 in FIG.
  • FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a process in which the ultrasonic probe transmits and receives ultrasonic waves to the living body in the present embodiment.
  • the organ 73 may be an organ containing a fluid whose reflection luminance is significantly lower than that of an ultrasound contrast agent, such as a blood vessel or a heart chamber of the heart, or may be an organ composed of a soft tissue having a reflection luminance that can be visually recognized, such as a liver. . In the latter case, it is only necessary to perform the process described with reference to FIG. 5 and extract only the attenuation due to the ultrasound contrast agent.
  • FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining the process of calculating the pressure from the received signal by the signal processing unit 6 executed in step 13 of FIG. 2 in this embodiment.
  • a received signal at a certain receiving depth is inputted and its frequency distribution is calculated (S41).
  • a frequency distribution feature quantity that is one or more of the frequency distribution of the intensity of the fundamental wave, the harmonic wave, the subharmonic wave, the difference frequency, the sum frequency, and the value branch is detected ( After that, the frequency distribution feature value is converted into pressure using the following frequency distribution feature value-pressure conversion knowledge which is an ideal resonance curve without measurement noise using the pressure as a parameter (S43).
  • x B ( ⁇ ) when the frequency distribution x B ( ⁇ ) of the intensity of the fundamental wave is measured, x B ( ⁇ ) should be a resonance curve x ( ⁇ ). Therefore, if the least square method is performed with the measured value x B ( ⁇ ) as the input value and (10) as the regression equation, p 0 is obtained.
  • Pn is calculated by the regression equation (10) as the frequency distribution of the intensity of 1 / m subharmonic, difference frequency, and sum frequency. For example, when one or more frequency feature quantities such as a fundamental wave and a harmonic wave are obtained, the number of regression problem inputs is increased as in the first embodiment, and p 0 is obtained more accurately. It is done.
  • the pressure can be obtained from the signal of the ultrasound contrast agent in the capillary or the organ where the region having a uniform structure is small and the attenuation cannot be detected with good S / N.
  • the signal of the ultrasonic contrast agent reflects the pressure p 0 and the equilibrium diameter a e of the bubble. Bubbles with shells that have been used to increase the remaining time in the body since 1980.
  • equation (9) if the stiffness G s of the bubble shell is large, the behavior of the bubbles, and thus the resonance curve The decay curve more strongly reflects the bubble equilibrium diameter a e than the external pressure p 0 . Therefore, an example in which the pressure detection accuracy is improved by using an ultrasonic contrast agent containing a plurality of components in the liquid state to make the bubble equilibrium diameter a e agile function of the external pressure p 0 will be described below.
  • FIG. 11 is a conceptual diagram showing the structure of a typical ultrasonic contrast agent.
  • FIG. 11A shows an ultrasound contrast agent that contains a gas inside, does not have a shell, and has a bubble diameter d of 1 ⁇ m or more. Such an ultrasound contrast agent has already been commercialized and is called a first generation contrast agent, and has a short remaining time in a living body.
  • FIG. 11B shows an ultrasound contrast agent that contains a gas inside, has a shell 141, and has a bubble diameter d of 1 ⁇ m or more. Such an ultrasound contrast agent has already been commercialized and is called a second generation contrast agent, and has a long remaining time in a living body.
  • FIG. 11C shows an ultrasound contrast agent that contains a liquid inside, has a shell 144, and a bubble diameter d of 1 ⁇ m or less.
  • Such an ultrasound contrast agent has not yet been commercialized and is in the research stage. It is called a phase change droplet type contrast agent.
  • the penetrable region such as the tip of the capillary is wide, and is vaporized at an intended site by ultrasonic irradiation and used for imaging.
  • the third embodiment is an example using a phase change droplet type contrast agent containing a plurality of types of liquids.
  • phase change droplet type contrast agent studied by Kawabata et al. Of Hitachi, Ltd., and physical properties are as follows.
  • a gas-liquid phase change type multi-component contrast agent is injected into the imaging target in step 11 of FIG. Further, in the process of transmitting the ultrasonic signal to the imaging target in step 12, first, the ultrasonic wave for vaporization is transmitted to the imaging target to vaporize the liquid inside the contrast agent, and then the ultrasonic wave for pressure detection is supplied. Transmit to the imaging target. However, when the vapor pressure of the component contained in the contrast agent is lower than the pressure value range to be measured, this step of transmitting the ultrasonic wave for vaporization to the imaging target may be omitted.
  • the spatial position where the ultrasonic wave for vaporization is transmitted is the same as the spatial position where the ultrasonic wave for pressure detection is transmitted or received, or the position where the blood flow is upstream.
  • an ultrasonic wave for vaporization may be transmitted into the left ventricle or the left atrium.
  • an ultrasonic wave for vaporization may be transmitted to the hepatic artery.
  • FIG. 12A is a one-component isothermal curve, that is, Van der Waals equation of state
  • FIG. 12B is a conceptual diagram of a vapor-liquid equilibrium curve at a constant temperature of the two-component system.
  • Fig. 12 (a) the vertical axis represents pressure, and the horizontal axis represents volume.
  • the change according to the van der Waals equation of state shown at the bottom of the figure is shown by a dotted line.
  • the solid line in the figure is the volume-pressure change followed by the actual fluid. However, the temperature is assumed to be constant.
  • the actual fluid volume-pressure occurs monotonically, unlike Van der Worth's equation of state.
  • the difference from the equation of state is a straight line drawn so that the areas S1 and S2 in the figure are equal. This straight line where the volume changes but the pressure is constant is the gas-liquid two-phase coexistence in the gas-liquid phase change. In this state, the pressure at this time is called a vapor pressure Pc.
  • the pressure change can be quantified by the volume change.
  • FIG. 12B shows the volume change in the multi-component gas-liquid phase change.
  • a two-component system is assumed.
  • the vertical axis represents pressure
  • the horizontal axis represents the molar fraction of the first component.
  • Pc1 is the vapor pressure of component 1
  • Pc2 is the vapor pressure of component 2
  • thick solid lines mean liquid phase lines
  • thin solid lines mean gas phase lines. In the region where the pressure is higher than the liquid phase line, it is in the liquid state, in the region where the pressure is lower than the thin solid line, it is in the gas state, and in the middle, the pressure corresponding to the hatched portion is in the gas-liquid two phase coexistence state.
  • FIG. 12B shows the volume change in the multi-component gas-liquid phase change.
  • the pressure in the gas-liquid two-phase coexistence state is determined to be one value Pc, whereas in the two-component system, the hatched portion has a width with respect to the vertical axis P.
  • the pressure in the liquid two-phase coexistence state has a width from the vapor pressure Pc1 of component 1 to the vapor pressure Pc2 of component 2.
  • the change in the ultrasonic imaging apparatus and method of the present invention can be regarded as a change like a practice arrow.
  • the volume V is converted into a bubble diameter a e by / 4). It is assumed that the value obtained by experiments is used for the relationship in the gas-liquid two-phase coexistence state (shaded portion).
  • Quantitative accuracy of pressure change increases as the thickness 18 in the pressure direction of the two-component gas-liquid mixed phase increases.
  • the thickness in the pressure direction of the two-component gas-liquid mixed phase is determined by the physical property values of the components, specifically, the activity coefficient and the vapor pressure. Of course, the closer the molar fraction is to 0.5, the thicker the thickness. That is, utilizing the pressure-volume change in the multi-component gas-liquid equilibrium has the effect of enhancing the pressure dependence in the pressure range intended for measurement.
  • the activity coefficient that affects the size of the thickness 18 is a physical property value that represents the degree of interaction of each component in a two-component mixed solution, and it is desirable that two components having a value of 1 or more be elements of the contrast agent.
  • a specific example (methanol-water system) of FIG. 12 (b) in the case of 1 or more is shown in FIG. 13 (a), and an example of 1 or less (tert butanol-sec butanol system) is shown in FIG. 13 (b).
  • FIG. 13A the thickness of the two-component gas-liquid mixed phase in the pressure direction is larger.
  • FIGS. 13 (a) and 13 (b) are examples in which the temperature is 25 degrees, but in FIG. 13 (a), highly accurate pressure measurement is possible in the range of 40 mmHg to 80 mmHg.
  • the bubble equilibrium diameter a e can be made into an agile function (11) of the external pressure p 0 .
  • p 0 is obtained by using a formula obtained by substituting (11) for (1) or (10), respectively. According to the above configuration, the pressure in the body can be detected with high accuracy.
  • This embodiment includes the processing of the first to third embodiments, detects the amount of movement in addition to the pressure at the spatial position where ultrasound is transmitted and received, and the hardness at the spatial position where ultrasound is transmitted and received from the pressure and motion. Is an example of calculating.
  • FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing an apparatus configuration of the present embodiment.
  • the signal processing unit 6 of this embodiment includes a motion amount detection unit 64 and a motion amount / pressure-hardness conversion unit 65.
  • FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing of the present embodiment.
  • the pressure of the imaging target is calculated by the method described in the first to third embodiments (S51).
  • the amount of motion of the imaging target is also detected (S52).
  • Any existing method may be used as the method for detecting the amount of motion.
  • a tissue tracking method may be used in which the speckle pattern of the B image is tracked to obtain a movement amount.
  • the hardness is calculated from the pressure and movement (S53), and the hardness is displayed (S54). Hardness is defined as an amount proportional to the pressure and inversely proportional to the amount of movement.
  • FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a method for detecting the amount of motion, taking as an example the case of calculating the hardness of a blood vessel wall in a blood vessel.
  • FIG. 16A is an overall view of a blood vessel.
  • the method of the present invention first images the blood vessel 101.
  • the imaging section may be either the radial section 102 or the axial section 103.
  • FIGS. 16B and 16C show the imaging results when the radial section 102 is taken
  • FIGS. 16D and 16E show the imaging results when the axial section 103 is taken.
  • FIG. 16B and FIG. 16C, FIG. 16D and FIG. 16E show imaging results at adjacent times.
  • FIG. 16B shows the imaging result at time t
  • FIG. 16C shows the imaging result at time t + dt. It is assumed that the pressure at the position 104 at time t and the position 104 'at time t + dt is calculated.
  • the center of gravity of the micro areas 105 and 105 ′ is moved. Let the amount 106 be a movement.
  • a motion vector may be used in which a half of the difference between the blood vessel diameters d1 and d2 is large and the normal direction of the blood vessel wall is a direction.
  • the movement amount 106 can be calculated in the axial section 103 shown in FIGS. 16D and 16E.
  • the hardness of the living body can be detected non-invasively with high accuracy.
  • FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a process in which the ultrasound probe transmits and receives ultrasound to the heart. Ultrasound is transmitted from the ultrasound probe 1 to the living body 72, and signals 751 and 752 reflected from the ultrasound contrast agent 74 included in the heart 73 are received.
  • the overall flow of processing is shown in FIG. First, the shape of the heart is picked up by an ultrasonic image (S61), and a part for measuring pressure is detected (S62). Next, the pressure of the measurement site is detected by the method of Example 1 to Example 4 (S63), and the shape and pressure of the measurement site are displayed (S64).
  • FIG. 19A shows an example in which the blood pressure inside the heart is detected for each location and displayed superimposed on the morphological image.
  • FIG. 19B shows an example in which the result of analyzing the heart morphological image and the detected blood pressure is displayed.
  • 19 (a) and 19 (b) 91 is a display screen, 92 is an imaging region, 93 is a morphological image to be imaged, and in FIG. 19 (a), 94 is a pressure detection result, and different detection values are displayed in different colors. It is a displayed example.
  • reference numeral 95 denotes an analysis result display area, in which the horizontal axis indicates the volume V LV of the left ventricle extracted by morphological image processing, and the vertical axis indicates the left detected by the imaging method of the present invention.
  • An example is shown in which the spatial representative value P LV of the ventricular pressure is used.
  • Reference numeral 96 shown in the graph represents the time change of (V LV, P LV ). Multiple loops are drawn due to differences in measurement conditions.
  • 97 is E MAX which is one of the indices of the heart function by the inclination of the tangent of the plurality of loops, and 98 is V 0 which is one of the indices of the heart function by the intercept of the tangent.
  • FIG. 19 illustrates an example in which the imaging target is the heart, the imaging target is not limited to the heart. Note that FIG. 19 may be a still image or a moving image.
  • the blood pressure inside the imaging target such as the heart can be detected noninvasively with high accuracy, and a clinically meaningful amount can be presented to the user together with the morphological information. .
  • Ultrasonic probe 2 Device main body 3: Transmission beam former 4: Amplifying means 5: Reception beam former 6: Signal processing unit 61: Frequency analysis unit 62: Frequency distribution feature quantity detection unit 63: Frequency distribution feature quantity- Pressure conversion unit 7: memory 8: display means.

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Abstract

La pression intracardiaque peut être mesurée de façon non invasive, avec une grande précision et une grande résolution temporelle. La pression est calculée à partir de la courbe d'atténuation et de la courbe de résonance des signaux réfléchis par un milieu de contraste ultrasonore. Un milieu de contraste à base de gouttelettes liquides multicomposants est perfusé dans un organisme et sa composition est ajustée de façon à ce que l'intervalle de pression à détecter se trouve à l'équilibre vapeur-liquide. Le diamètre des bulles dépend de la pression, tandis que la pression est fortement reflétée par la courbe d'atténuation et la courbe de résonance. C'est ainsi que l'on peut aboutir à une mesure de la pression très précise.
PCT/JP2010/059912 2009-06-18 2010-06-11 Imageur ultrasonore et procédé d'imagerie ultrasonore WO2010147055A1 (fr)

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Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JP2015150391A (ja) * 2014-02-19 2015-08-24 キヤノン株式会社 被検体情報取得装置、被検体情報取得方法、及びプログラム
JP2019530557A (ja) * 2016-10-11 2019-10-24 トーマス・ジェファーソン・ユニバーシティ 圧力測定のための非侵襲法
US20210259666A1 (en) * 2020-02-21 2021-08-26 Alexander Brenner System and method for non-invasive real time assessment of cardiovascular blood pressure

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JPS59164035A (ja) * 1983-03-09 1984-09-17 三菱電機株式会社 生体組織内圧計測装置
JP2001508344A (ja) * 1997-01-22 2001-06-26 アキューサン、コーポーレーション 超音波コントラスト画像形成
JP2004529697A (ja) * 2001-04-06 2004-09-30 ブラッコ・リサーチ・ソシエテ・アノニム 流体で充填された空洞内の局所物理パラメータの改善された測定方法
JP2006230504A (ja) * 2005-02-22 2006-09-07 Micro-Star Internatl Co Ltd 頭蓋内圧の測定方法及びシステム
JP3143459U (ja) * 2008-05-12 2008-07-24 微星科技股▲分▼有限公司 頭蓋内圧の測定システム

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Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JPS59164035A (ja) * 1983-03-09 1984-09-17 三菱電機株式会社 生体組織内圧計測装置
JP2001508344A (ja) * 1997-01-22 2001-06-26 アキューサン、コーポーレーション 超音波コントラスト画像形成
JP2004529697A (ja) * 2001-04-06 2004-09-30 ブラッコ・リサーチ・ソシエテ・アノニム 流体で充填された空洞内の局所物理パラメータの改善された測定方法
JP2006230504A (ja) * 2005-02-22 2006-09-07 Micro-Star Internatl Co Ltd 頭蓋内圧の測定方法及びシステム
JP3143459U (ja) * 2008-05-12 2008-07-24 微星科技股▲分▼有限公司 頭蓋内圧の測定システム

Cited By (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JP2015150391A (ja) * 2014-02-19 2015-08-24 キヤノン株式会社 被検体情報取得装置、被検体情報取得方法、及びプログラム
JP2019530557A (ja) * 2016-10-11 2019-10-24 トーマス・ジェファーソン・ユニバーシティ 圧力測定のための非侵襲法
JP7104709B2 (ja) 2016-10-11 2022-07-21 トーマス・ジェファーソン・ユニバーシティ 圧力測定のための非侵襲法
US20210259666A1 (en) * 2020-02-21 2021-08-26 Alexander Brenner System and method for non-invasive real time assessment of cardiovascular blood pressure
US20240122578A1 (en) * 2020-02-21 2024-04-18 Pi-Harvest Holding Ag Method for non-invasive real time assessment of cardiovascular blood pressure
US12245894B2 (en) * 2020-02-21 2025-03-11 Pi-Harvest Holding Ag System and method for non-invasive real time assessment of cardiovascular blood pressure

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