Abstract: An ultrasound imaging system includes an a processor circuit that stores, in a memory in communication with the processor circuit, a target parameter representative of a target anatomical scan window. The processor circuit receives a first ultrasound image acquired by a first ultrasound probe with a first anatomical scan window during a first acquisition period. The processor circuit determines a first parameter representative of the first anatomical scan window. The processor circuit retrieves the target parameter from the memory. The processor circuit compares the target parameter and the first parameter. The processor circuit outputs a visual representation of the comparison to a display in communication with the processor circuit.

Abstract: The present disclosure describes ultrasound imaging systems and methods that may be used to image, for example, breast tissue. An ultrasound imaging system according to one embodiment may include a probe, a sensor attached to the probe and operatively associated with a position tracking system, a processor configured to receive probe position data from the position tracking system. The user interface may be configured to provide instructions for placement of the probe at a plurality of anatomical landmarks of a selected breast of the subject and receive user input to record the spatial location of the probe at each of the plurality of anatomical landmarks. The processor may be configured to determine a scan area based on the spatial location of the probe at each of the plurality of anatomical landmarks and generate a scan pattern for the selected breast. The processor may be further configured to monitor movement of the probe.

Abstract: A method and processing system for providing a three-dimensional, 3D, ultrasound image along with an additional ultrasound acquisition. A location of the additional ultrasound acquisition with respect to the three-dimensional ultrasound image is determined or obtained. After obtaining the 3D ultrasound image and the additional ultrasound acquisition, initial display data is for display of only the 3D ultrasound image. In response to a user input, second display data is generated for displaying both the 3D ultrasound image and the additional ultrasound acquisition. The display of the additional ultrasound acquisition is based on the location of the additional ultrasound acquisition with respect to the three-dimensional ultrasound image.

Abstract: The present disclosure describes ultrasound imaging systems and methods that may be used to assist clinicians in locating lesions during an ultrasound exam that were previously located from images acquired by another imaging system, for example, a magnetic resonance imaging system. A lesion location interface is disclosed that provides visual indications of predicted lesion locations on a display. The predicted lesion locations may be determined by a deformation model included in an ultrasound imaging system as disclosed herein.

Abstract: A system for obtaining medical ultrasound images of a subject comprises a probe comprising an ultrasound transducer for capturing an ultrasound image, a memory comprising instruction data representing a set of instructions, and a processor configured to communicate with the memory and to execute the set of instructions. The set of instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to receive an ultrasound image taken by the probe, provide the image as input to a trained model, receive from the model an indication of whether the image comprises an image relevant to a medical diagnostic process, and determine whether to bookmark the image, based on the received indication.

Abstract: A fusion imaging system co-registers and fuses real time ultrasound images with reference images such as those produced by MRI or CT imaging. In an illustrated implementation, previously acquired CT or MRI or ultrasound images are loaded into the system. An ultrasound system is operated in conjunction with a tracking system so that the ultrasound probe and images can be spatially tracked. A computerized image processor registers the probe position with a reference image of the anatomy being scanned by the probe and determines whether the probe appears to be inside the skin line of the subject. If that is the case it is due to probe compression of the subject, and the reference image is modified to locate the skin line in the reference image in front of the ultrasound probe. The modified reference images can then be readily co-registered and fused with the ultrasound images produced by the probe.

Abstract: A fusion imaging system co-registers and fuses real time ultrasound images with reference images such as those produced by MRI or CT imaging. In an illustrated implementation, previously acquired CT or MRI or ultrasound images are loaded into the system. An ultrasound system is operated in conjunction with a tracking system so that the ultrasound probe and images can be spatially tracked. A computerized image processor registers the probe position with a reference image of the anatomy being scanned by the probe and determines whether the probe appears to be inside the skin line of the subject. If that is the case it is due to probe compression of the subject, and the reference image is modified to locate the skin line in the reference image in front of the ultrasound probe. The modified reference images can then be readily co-registered and fused with the ultrasound images produced by the probe.

Abstract: The present disclosure describes ultrasound imaging systems and methods, which may enable the automatic identification of an image plane in a pre-operative volume corresponding to a real-time image of a moving region of interest. An example method includes receiving real-time ultrasound image data from a probe associated with a position-tracking sensor, generating real-time images based on the real-time ultrasound data and deriving a motion model from the real-time ultrasound image data. The method may further include automatically identifying an image plane in a pre-operative data set to correspond to the real-time ultrasound image by correcting for motion-induced misalignment between the real-time data and the pre-operative data.

Abstract: The present disclosure describes ultrasound imaging systems and methods that may be used to image, for example, breast tissue. An ultrasound imaging system according to one embodiment may include a probe, a sensor attached to the probe and operatively associated with a position tracking system, a processor configured to receive probe position data from the position tracking system. The user interface may be configured to provide instructions for placement of the probe at a plurality of anatomical landmarks of a selected breast of the subject and receive user input to record the spatial location of the probe at each of the plurality of anatomical landmarks. The processor may be configured to determine a scan area based on the spatial location of the probe at each of the plurality of anatomical landmarks and generate a scan pattern for the selected breast. The processor may be further configured to monitor movement of the probe.

Abstract: A fusion imaging system co-registers and fuses real time ultrasound images with reference images such as those produced by MRI or CT imaging. In an illustrated implementation, previously acquired CT or MRI or ultrasound images are loaded into the system. An ultrasound system is operated in conjunction with a tracking system so that the ultrasound probe and images can be spatially tracked. A computerized image processor registers the probe position with a reference image of the anatomy being scanned by the probe and determines whether the probe appears to be inside the skin line of the subject. If that is the case it is due to probe compression of the subject, and the reference image is modified to locate the skin line in the reference image in front of the ultrasound probe. The modified reference images can then be readily co-registered and fused with the ultrasound images produced by the probe.

Abstract: The present disclosure describes ultrasound imaging systems and methods that may be used to image, for example, breast tissue. An ultrasound imaging system according to one embodiment may include a probe, a sensor attached to the probe and operatively associated with a position tracking system, a processor configured to receive probe position data from the position tracking system. The user interface may be configured to provide instructions for placement of the probe at a plurality of anatomical landmarks of a selected breast of the subject and receive user input to record the spatial location of the probe at each of the plurality of anatomical landmarks. The processor may be configured to determine a scan area based on the spatial location of the probe at each of the plurality of anatomical landmarks and generate a scan pattern for the selected breast. The processor may be further configured to monitor movement of the probe.

Abstract: The invention provides a method for monitoring a location of a tool in an ultrasound image. The method includes acquiring a plurality of 2D ultrasound images by way of an ultrasound transducer, wherein at least one of the plurality of 2D ultrasound images comprises a part of the tool and generating a 3D ultrasound image from said plurality of 2D ultrasound images. A first location of the tool is then identified within the 3D ultrasound image. An additional 2D ultrasound image, and location information relating to the location of the ultrasound transducer during capture of the additional 2D ultrasound image, is then acquired and the 3D ultrasound image updated based on the additional 2D ultrasound image and the location information. A location of the tool with respect to the additional 2D ultrasound image is then identified within the updated 3D ultrasound image based only on imaging data of the updated 3D ultrasound image.

Abstract: The present disclosure describes ultrasound imaging systems and methods that may be used to image breast tissue. An ultrasound imaging system according to one embodiment may include a user interface comprising a display, a processor operatively connected to the user interface, and memory comprising processor-executable instructions, which when executed by the processor cause the user interface to display a first ultrasound image of a breast on the display and receive an indication of a first region of interest (ROI) in the first ultrasound image. The memory may include instructions to further cause the user interface to display a second ultrasound image of the breast on the display and receive an indication of a second region of interest in the second ultrasound image.

Abstract: The present disclosure includes ultrasound systems and methods for imaging anisotropic tissue with shear wave elastography at a variety of angles with respect to the tissue. An example ultrasound imaging system includes a probe coupled to a position tracking system for tracking a position of the probe with respect to a subject, and a processor in communication with the probe. The processor may receive position tracking data from the position tracking system. The processor may define at least one target plane in anisotropic tissue, determine a difference between a current position of the probe and the position of the target plane, and provide a visual indicator of the difference, wherein the processor dynamically updates the visual indicator responsive to a change in the position of the imaging plane with respect to the target plane.

Abstract: A medical imaging apparatus (10) for inspecting a volume of a subject (12) is disclosed. The medical imaging apparatus comprises an ultrasound acquisition unit (14) including an ultrasound probe for acquiring ultrasound image data of the subject, an image interface (20) for receiving medical image data of the subject, a position determining unit (30) for determining a position of the ultrasound probe. An alignment unit is provided for aligning the ultrasound image data and the medical image data based on anatomical features (32) of the subject and the detected position of the ultrasound probe and for adapting the alignment of the ultrasound image data and the medical image data based on a motion model. An image processing unit (18) is provided for processing the ultrasound image data and the medical image data to fuse the ultrasound image data and the medical image data based on the alignment to combined image data.

Abstract: An ultrasound imaging apparatus (16) is disclosed for providing two-dimensional ultrasound images of a patient. The ultrasound imaging apparatus comprises an input interface (18) for receiving three-dimensional ultrasound data of a volume of the patient from an ultrasound acquisition unit as a continuous data stream and a motion detection unit (22) for determining a motion of an object in the three-dimensional ultrasound data and a direction of the motion in the three-dimensional ultrasound data. An image processing unit (20) determines a spatial rotation angle (46) of an image plane (32, 34) within the volume on the basis of the determined direction of the motion and determines two-dimensional ultrasound image data on the basis of the three-dimensional ultrasound data in the image plane within the volume. The two-dimensional image data is provided via an output interface to a display unit (26).

Abstract: An ultrasound system includes a 3D imaging probe and a needle guide which attaches to the probe for guidance of needle insertion into a volumetric region which can be scanned by the 3D imaging probe. The needle guide responds to the insertion of a needle through the guide by identifying a plane for scanning by the probe which is the insertion plane through which the needle will pass during insertion. The orientation of the insertion plane is communicated to the probe to cause the probe to scan the identified plane and produce images of the needle as it travels through the insertion plane.

Abstract: An ultrasound imaging system transmits two beams in succession in the same beam direction, the waveform of the second beam being a phase inverted form of the first waveform, and each waveform containing first and second major frequency components. Echoes are received from along the beam direction in response to each beam transmission, and are processed by additively and subtractively combining the two echo sequences on a common depth basis. The echo components resulting from this processing extend from high frequencies for good near field resolution to low frequencies for good depth penetration, and include fundamental, harmonic, and sum or difference frequency components. The linear and nonlinear echo signal components may be frequency compounded for speckle reduction.

Abstract: The present disclosure describes ultrasound imaging systems and methods, which may enable the automatic identification of an image plane in a pre-operative volume corresponding to a real-time image of a moving region of interest. An example method includes receiving real-time ultrasound image data from a probe associated with a position-tracking sensor, generating real-time images based on the real-time ultrasound data and deriving a motion model from the real-time ultrasound image data. The method may further include automatically identifying an image plane in a pre-operative data set to correspond to the real-time ultrasound image by correcting for motion-induced misalignment between the real-time data and the pre-operative data.

Abstract: A system for image alignment includes an alignment mechanism (132) configured to permit user alignment of images. A first imaging modality (110) is configured to concurrently provide images in two imaging planes using an imaging mechanism (134) associated with the alignment mechanism (132). An image processing module (126) is configured to display first images collected with the first imaging modality and second images collected with a second imaging modality (130) to permit user alignment using the alignment mechanism between the first images and the second images in multiple planes. A registration module (115) is stored in memory and configured to register the first images with corresponding second images in the multiple planes when alignment in the multiple planes has been achieved.