Abstract: An ultrasound imaging system (10) is disclosed for creating simultaneous needle and vascular blood flow color Doppler imaging. A B mode image of an anatomical area of interest is created. A first set of Doppler image data optimized for the visualization of vascular blood flow is created along one Doppler image processing path. A second set of Doppler image data optimized for the visualization of a needle or other invasive device is created along another, parallel Doppler image processing path. A color Doppler image is created, and then displayed, by combining some or all of the B mode image, the first Doppler image data and the second Doppler image data based on a plurality of user selectable modes.

Abstract: The invention concerns a medical imaging system comprising means (4) of segmenting a region of interest around an object of interest within a volume of 3D data (3DV). The system according to the invention comprises means (5) of calculating a sub-regions map (CSR) within the segmented region (RS) and correction means (6) intended to exclude sub-regions of the segmented region by means of said sub-regions map (CSR). The correction can be made automatically or manually by means of control means (7) enabling a user to select the sub-regions to be excluded. Display means (3) make it possible to display a 2D representation (2DR) of the volume of 3D data (3DV) and the segmented region (RS, RS?) at various stages of the processing.

Abstract: The invention relates to an ultrasonic medical imaging apparatus intended for analyzing an organic medium potentially including defects within a noisy structure. Ultrasound signals focused at a given depth according to M distinct successive excitations arc emitted and an image formation module makes it possible to obtain an image of said depth after reception of responses from the medium. The invention is such that the apparatus includes a module for using said responses for constructing a rectangular response matrix of dimension N*M, a coefficient Knm of which represents the response from the medium received by the transducer n following an excitation m, decomposing said response matrix into singular values, using the singular vectors corresponding to said singular values for locating singular zones corresponding to defects in the medium. Application: Ultrasonic apparatus particularly in the medical field.

Abstract: The invention concerns a medical imaging system comprising means (2) of acquiring at least one volume of 3D data (3DV), means (3) of detecting at least one object of interest in said volume of data, display means (4) able to supply a 2D representation (2DR) of said volume of data and signaling means (5) intended to signal a location of said object of interest by means of a signal (SIG) superimposed on said 2D representation.

Abstract: The invention relates to an ultrasound imaging system for forming an echographic image of a medium, which system includes a set [REC] of transducer elements [EL] which are operative in a transmission mode and in a reception mode for ultra-sound waves, construction means [REB] for constructing echographic signals on the basis of signals [S[1] . . . S[N]] received on said transducer elements [EL], display means [DIS] which are coupled to said construction means [REB] in order to display an image of the medium formed by means of the echographic signals. Said construction means [REB] are such that in so-called exclusion zones, in which a coherent reflector is detected and which are determined by determination means [DET], the reception delays [D] are estimated in a manner [INT] other than that [CORR] used for the other zones. The calculation [CAL] of echographic s is then carried out on the basis of said estimated delays [D[Z],Di[Z]].

Abstract: The invention relates to an ultrasonic imaging apparatus using a method for combining CMB images of the same object including a step of seeking representative contours CNT of an interface on the images to be combined IM[I], IM[J], said step being intended to define interest areas IA[I], IA[J] in the vicinity of said representative contours, a step ANA of analyzing the interest areas IA[I], IA[J], said analysis step ANA being intended to allocate weights W[I], W[J] to the points on said interest areas IA[I], A[J] and to the points corresponding to said interest areas IA[I], IA[J] on the various images, a step CC of constructing a combination image IMC, a point on the combination image IMC corresponding to a point on at least one interest area IA being obtained from a weighting of the corresponding points on the images to be combined IM[I], IM[J] according to the weights W[I], W[J] allocated in said analysis step ANA.