Abstract: There is provided a technique for obtaining a high-quality image by extracting only a nonlinear component with high accuracy in ultrasonic imaging using an amplitude modulation method of THI. By removing a fundamental wave component with high accuracy by making the influence of electrical distortion due to analog amplification on the echo signals of ultrasonic waves having different sound pressure levels approximately the same, only the nonlinear component is extracted with high accuracy. For example, the above influence is made to be the same by controlling the amplification factor of an amplification section. In addition, the above influence is made to be the same by restoring the digital data with a filter.

Abstract: The present invention obtains certainty of the blood-flow velocity information that is estimated in the blood-flow mapping display. The signal processor in the ultrasound imager is provided with a Doppler velocity operation part configured to calculate a Doppler velocity from echo signals by using the Doppler effect, and a first blood-flow velocity operation part configured to generate a tissue tomographic image from the echo signals and calculate a blood-flow velocity of a predetermined portion from a motion of the tissue, on the basis of the tissue tomographic image. It is further provided with a second blood-flow velocity operation part configured to calculate the blood-flow velocity of the predetermined portion by using the Doppler velocity calculated by the Doppler velocity operation part.

Abstract: There is provided an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of measuring hardness information of a subject with high time resolution and spatial resolution. The apparatus is provided with a ultrasonic probe 1 and a displacement generation unit 10 configured to displace an inside of a subject and is configured to transmit an ultrasonic beam for displacement detection to a plurality of detection positions of the subject from the ultrasonic probe 1, and to detect a shear wave velocity based on the displacement at the plurality of detection positions in a control unit 3 by using a reflection signal detected in a detection unit 20, thereby outputting hardness information of the subject. The ultrasonic beam for displacement detection is transmitted to one of the plurality of detection positions.

Abstract: Provided is a technique that implements harmonic imaging in an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus, being unaffected by the voltage-dependent distortion and nonlinear characteristics of the transmit system in the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus that incorporates the transmit amplifier, the ultrasound probe, and the like, facilitating adjustment of the transmit voltage, and achieving a frame rate substantially equivalent to that of the conventional PI method. In the amplitude modulation method that synthesizes the transmit acoustic fields, thereby eliminating a basic wave component of an acoustic wave and creating an image from nonlinear component echoes being extracted, one transmit and receive out of plural transmits and receptions to obtain one scanning line also serves as the transmit and receive for obtaining other scanning line. The echo signals obtained by the shared transmit and receive are used to form the receive beams respectively on both the scanning lines that share the transmit and receive.

Abstract: Even when electroacoustic conversion elements with high nonlinearity are employed, a nonlinear imaging is carried out with extracting more nonlinear components. An ultrasonic wave beam is transmitted twice from the transmitter to an identical position on the imaging target, and the signal processor performs computation on the reception signals obtained in every transmission performed twice, thereby extracting a nonlinear component included in the reception signals. In one transmission out of the transmission performed twice, the transmitter delivers the transmission signal to all of multiple electroacoustic conversion elements for driving the electroacoustic conversion elements, and in the other transmission, the transmission signal is delivered selectively only to a part of the multiple electroacoustic conversion elements for driving the electroacoustic conversion elements.

Abstract: In ultrasonic imaging, a physically consistent value of blood flow velocity is measured in the vicinity of body tissues. The ultrasound imaging apparatus comprises a shape extraction part for recognizing shape data of biological tissues by using echo signals reflected from a test subject irradiated with ultrasonic waves, a flow velocity distribution acquisition part for detecting blood flow velocities in the vicinity of the tissues from the echo signals, and a velocity determination part for extracting velocity information desired by a tester (objective velocity information). The velocity determination part sets a model of the objective blood flow, and determines a velocity of actually measured velocity distribution consistent with velocity distribution estimated from the model.

Abstract: When multiple tissues having differing speeds of sound are intermixed in the viewing field of a measured subject such as a living body, the invention measures hardness, such as modulus of elasticity or viscosity, with high precision.

Abstract: Disclosed is an ultrasound diagnosis device for creating an ultrasound image with a high contrast-to-tissue ratio. Said device sends a transmission pulse to the subject, uses an ultrasound probe to receive echoes reflected from an ultrasound contrast agent injected into the subject, and forms an image. The transmission pulse is sent such that nonlinear interactions between the constituent frequency components of said transmission pulse, as a result of the acoustic nonlinearity of the subject, do not produce sum and difference components in the frequency sensitivity range of the ultrasonic probe as the transmission pulse propagates across the subject.

Abstract: Provided is a technology which quantitatively measures blood flow in the vicinity of circulatory organs. An ultrasound image capture device according to the present invention removes an image portion corresponding to an organ shape by taking the difference of a multi-frame ultrasound image, and thereafter computes a measured value of a blood flow velocity vector on the basis of a plurality of images at different timings (as per FIG. 3).

Abstract: There is provided a technique for obtaining a high-quality image by extracting only a nonlinear component with high accuracy in ultrasonic imaging using an amplitude modulation method of THI. By removing a fundamental wave component with high accuracy by making the influence of electrical distortion due to analog amplification on the echo signals of ultrasonic waves having different sound pressure levels approximately the same, only the nonlinear component is extracted with high accuracy. For example, the above influence is made to be the same by controlling the amplification factor of an amplification section. In addition, the above influence is made to be the same by restoring the digital data with a filter.

Abstract: An objective is to enable calculation of a distribution of a physical property such as a density inside a measurement object, even when the distribution of the physical property value is non-uniform, within a feasible period of time without causing image deterioration due to phenomena such as refraction and multiple-reflections caused by the non-uniformity.

Abstract: There is provided an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus capable of measuring hardness information of a subject with high time resolution and spatial resolution. The apparatus is provided with a ultrasonic probe 1 and a displacement generation unit 10 configured to displace an inside of a subject and is configured to transmit an ultrasonic beam for displacement detection to a plurality of detection positions of the subject from the ultrasonic probe 1, and to detect a shear wave velocity based on the displacement at the plurality of detection positions in a control unit 3 by using a reflection signal detected in a detection unit 20, thereby outputting hardness information of the subject. The ultrasonic beam for displacement detection is transmitted to one of the plurality of detection positions.

Abstract: Provided is a technique that implements harmonic imaging in an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus, being unaffected by the voltage-dependent distortion and nonlinear characteristics of the transmit system in the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus that incorporates the transmit amplifier, the ultrasound probe, and the like, facilitating adjustment of the transmit voltage, and achieving a frame rate substantially equivalent to that of the conventional PI method. In the amplitude modulation method that synthesizes the transmit acoustic fields, thereby eliminating a basic wave component of an acoustic wave and creating an image from nonlinear component echoes being extracted, one transmit and receive out of plural transmits and receptions to obtain one scanning line also serves as the transmit and receive for obtaining other scanning line. The echo signals obtained by the shared transmit and receive are used to form the receive beams respectively on both the scanning lines that share the transmit and receive.

Abstract: The present invention obtains certainty of the blood-flow velocity information that is estimated in the blood-flow mapping display. The signal processor in the ultrasound imager is provided with a Doppler velocity operation part configured to calculate a Doppler velocity from echo signals by using the Doppler effect, and a first blood-flow velocity operation part configured to generate a tissue tomographic image from the echo signals and calculate a blood-flow velocity of a predetermined portion from a motion of the tissue, on the basis of the tissue tomographic image. It is further provided with a second blood-flow velocity operation part configured to calculate the blood-flow velocity of the predetermined portion by using the Doppler velocity calculated by the Doppler velocity operation part.

Abstract: Ultrasound imaging apparatus including a two-dimensional array of plural transducer elements distributed two-dimensionally and transmits and receives ultrasonic waves while scanning an area to be imaged to create an ultrasound three-dimensional image. Transducer elements are divided into plural element blocks including a first element block of which a size in a second direction of an arrangement surface of the two-dimensional array is larger than a size in a first direction of the surface, and a second element block of which a size in the first direction is larger than a size in the second direction. Each of the element blocks is divided into a predetermined number of groups to form a transmit beam and plural receive beams in the area to be imaged. Further included is a selecting means for making transmit/receive channels of the transducer elements grouped to be one channel in each of the groups.

Abstract: Ultrasonic imaging device noninvasively measures cardiac muscle stiffness or intracardiac pressure. The device includes: an ultrasonic probe (2) transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from the heart; a signal-processing section (15) processing reflected echo signals; a display section (14) displaying results of signal processing as an image; and an input section (10) setting a predetermined point on the image.

Abstract: According to a method of adaptive signal processing, compensation for deterioration of image quality caused by wavefront distortion is provided in an ultrasound imaging apparatus, with a low computing amount and with a precision. The elements 106 receive ultrasound signals from a test subject, and the delay circuit 204 delays each of the signals received by the plural elements in association with a predetermined position of a receive focus. The peripheral information operator 205 acquires from the post-delay received signals, information items as to plural points on the receive focus and in the peripheral region thereof, respectively. By way of example, the peripheral information operator obtains adaptive weights in association with plural steering angles. The peripheral information combiner 206 combines the plural information items (adaptive weights), and uses thus combined information to generate a beamforming output.

Abstract: An ultrasound imaging apparatus includes a transmitter which transmits an ultrasound pulse to a subject, a receiver which receives ultrasound coming from the subject, and a signal processor to process a received signal at the receiver and generate image data. The receiver has a predetermined reception band, and the ultrasound pulse transmitted by the transmitter has one frequency band with a frequency peak. Each of an upper limit frequency and a lower limit frequency of the one frequency band is set to be values which make a low frequency harmonic component and a high frequency harmonic component produced by the ultrasound pulse be within the reception band. The signal processor generates image data by using a nonlinear component of at least one of the low frequency and high frequency harmonic component received by the receiver.

Abstract: In ultrasonic imaging, a physically consistent value of blood flow velocity is measured in the vicinity of body tissues. The ultrasound imaging apparatus comprises a shape extraction part for recognizing shape data of biological tissues by using echo signals reflected from a test subject irradiated with ultrasonic waves, a flow velocity distribution acquisition part for detecting blood flow velocities in the vicinity of the tissues from the echo signals, and a velocity determination part for extracting velocity information desired by a tester (objective velocity information). The velocity determination part sets a model of the objective blood flow, and determines a velocity of actually measured velocity distribution consistent with velocity distribution estimated from the model.

Abstract: In a radiation-pressure elastography technique for transmitting a ultrasound focused beam into a test object body and diagnosing the hardness thereof, it is required to consider high sensitivity and safety. In the present invention, the focused beam is transmitted to two positions as a means for displacing a tissue and exciting a shear wave. In addition, time control is performed in such a manner that a transmit beam serves as a burst-chirp signal, and ultrasound waves are transmitted and received while sweeping a transmit frequency. On this occasion, when the distance between the two focused points and the transmit frequency become integral multiple of the wavelength, two waves interfere with each other, thereby obtaining a large amplitude. Furthermore, when the transmit frequency becomes equal to a resonance frequency peculiar to the tissue, the amplitude also becomes larger. Accordingly, a small intensity of transmit waveform enhances sensitivity.