阅读说明：本技术 超声波诊断装置及超声波诊断装置的控制方法 (Ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and method for controlling ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus ) 是由 松本刚 井上知己 江畑徹郎 于 2018-11-19 设计创作，主要内容包括：超声波诊断装置(1)具备：超声波探头(15)；图像获取部(8),其从超声波探头(15)朝向受检体进行超声波束的发送而获取超声波图像；部位识别部(9),其对通过图像获取部获取的超声波图像进行图像分析而识别受检体的成像部位；周边部位存储器(11),其存储有效检测目标部位的至少一个周边部位；以及操作引导部(10),其在检测目标部位时,引导用户操作超声波探头(15)对存储在周边部位存储器(11)中的至少一个周边部位进行检测,并基于部位识别部(9)得到的识别结果,引导用户操作超声波探头(15)对目标部位进行检测。(An ultrasonic diagnostic device (1) is provided with: an ultrasonic probe (15); an image acquisition unit (8) that acquires an ultrasound image by transmitting an ultrasound beam from an ultrasound probe (15) to a subject; a part recognition unit (9) that recognizes an imaging part of the subject by performing image analysis on the ultrasound image acquired by the image acquisition unit; a peripheral portion memory (11) that stores at least one peripheral portion of the effective detection target portion; and an operation guide unit (10) which, when detecting a target region, guides a user to operate the ultrasonic probe (15) to detect at least one peripheral region stored in the peripheral region memory (11), and guides the user to operate the ultrasonic probe (15) to detect the target region based on a recognition result obtained by the region recognition unit (9).)

1. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is provided with:

an ultrasonic probe;

an image acquisition unit that acquires an ultrasound image by transmitting an ultrasound beam from the ultrasound probe to a subject;

a part recognition unit that recognizes an imaging part of the subject by performing image analysis on the ultrasonic image acquired by the image acquisition unit;

a peripheral portion memory that stores at least one peripheral portion effective for detecting a target portion; and

an operation guide unit that guides a user to operate the ultrasonic probe so as to detect the at least one peripheral part stored in the peripheral part memory when the target part is detected, and guides the user to operate the ultrasonic probe so as to detect the target part based on a recognition result obtained by the part recognition unit.

2. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1,

the peripheral portion memory stores a plurality of peripheral portions effective for detecting the target portion and a detection order defined for the plurality of peripheral portions,

the operation guide unit guides the user to operate the ultrasonic probe so as to sequentially detect the plurality of peripheral parts in the predetermined detection order.

3. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 2,

the operation guide unit guides the user to operate the ultrasonic probe so as to skip detection of a part of the plurality of peripheral portions and detect a next peripheral portion, or guides the user to operate the ultrasonic probe so as to change the predetermined detection order and detect the plurality of peripheral portions, based on the recognition result obtained by the portion recognition unit.

4. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 2,

the device further includes an input unit for a user to perform an input operation.

5. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 4,

the operation guide unit guides the user to operate the ultrasonic probe so as to skip detection of a part of the plurality of peripheral portions and detect a next peripheral portion, or guides the user to operate the ultrasonic probe so as to change the predetermined detection order and detect the plurality of peripheral portions, based on revision information input by the user via the input unit.

6. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 4,

the operation guide unit guides the user to operate the ultrasonic probe so as to skip detection of a part of peripheral parts among a plurality of peripheral parts and detect a next peripheral part, or guides the user to operate the ultrasonic probe so as to change the predetermined detection order and detect the plurality of peripheral parts, based on subject information related to the state of the subject input by the user via the input unit.

7. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 4,

when a predetermined time has elapsed after a user has guided the operation of the ultrasonic probe to detect one of the peripheral portions until the one peripheral portion is detected, the operation guide guides the user to detect the next peripheral portion by skipping the detection of the one peripheral portion or guides the user to detect the peripheral portions by changing the predetermined detection order.

8. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 4 to 7,

the part recognition unit recognizes an imaging part of the subject based on subject information related to a state of the subject input by a user via the input unit.

9. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 8,

the peripheral portion memory stores the plurality of peripheral portions effective for detecting the target portion and the predetermined detection order for each subject,

the operation guide unit guides the user to operate the ultrasonic probe so as to sequentially detect the plurality of peripheral sites stored for each subject in accordance with the predetermined detection order stored for each subject.

10. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9,

the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus further comprises a display unit,

the operation guide unit displays, on the display unit, a guide for an operation of the ultrasonic probe by the user.

11. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 10,

the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus further includes a contour generating unit that generates a contour of the at least one peripheral portion recognized by the portion recognizing unit,

the display unit displays the ultrasonic image acquired by the image acquisition unit,

the contour of the at least one peripheral portion generated by the contour generating unit is superimposed and displayed on the ultrasonic image displayed on the display unit.

12. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9,

the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus further comprises a sound generating unit,

the operation guide unit guides an operation of the ultrasonic probe with respect to the user by a sound emitted from the sound generation unit.

13. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 12,

the target site is the common bile duct,

the at least one peripheral site is the portal vein and gallbladder.

14. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 12,

the target site is the appendix,

the at least one peripheral region is the ascending colon, cecum and ileum.

15. The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 12,

the target sites are the nerve root of the fifth cervical vertebra and the nerve root of the seventh cervical vertebra,

the peripheral part is the nerve root of the sixth cervical vertebra.

16. A method for controlling an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, wherein,

acquiring an ultrasound image based on a reception signal generated by transmitting and receiving an ultrasound beam from an ultrasound probe toward a subject,

image-analyzing the acquired ultrasonic image to identify an imaging portion of the subject,

when detecting a target region, the operation of the ultrasonic probe is guided to a user so as to detect at least one peripheral region effective for detecting the target region, and the operation of the ultrasonic probe is guided to the user so as to detect the target region based on a recognition result of the region recognizing unit.

17. A processor for an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, wherein,

the method includes acquiring an ultrasound image based on a reception signal generated by transmitting and receiving an ultrasound beam from an ultrasound probe to and from a subject, performing image analysis on the acquired ultrasound image to identify an imaging region of the subject, guiding an operation of the ultrasound probe for detecting at least one peripheral region effective for detecting the target region to a user when detecting the target region, and guiding the operation of the ultrasound probe for detecting the target region to the user based on a result of identification by the region identification unit.

18. The processor for an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to claim 17,

which is connected to the ultrasonic probe via a network.

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and a method of controlling the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, and more particularly to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus that guides a user to operate an ultrasonic probe and a method of controlling the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.

Background

Conventionally, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is known as an apparatus for obtaining an image of the inside of a subject. Generally, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes an ultrasonic probe including a transducer array in which a plurality of elements are arranged. In a state where the ultrasonic probe is brought into contact with the body surface of the subject, an ultrasonic beam is transmitted from the transducer array into the subject, and an ultrasonic echo from the subject is received in the transducer array to acquire element data. Further, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus performs electrical processing on the obtained element data to generate an ultrasonic image of the corresponding portion of the subject.

By using such an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, a user can observe a site in a subject. In this case, the user usually determines whether or not the region to be observed is included in the ultrasonic image by visually observing the ultrasonic image, but such determination requires skill. Therefore, various proposals have been made for an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus to easily detect a target region.

For example, in a medical image processing apparatus disclosed in patent document 1, a target region is automatically detected by inputting a plurality of ultrasound images acquired in advance and performing image analysis on each of the plurality of ultrasound images.

Disclosure of Invention

Technical problem to be solved by the invention

However, there are sites in the subject that have similar structures to each other, such as common bile ducts and blood vessels. In order to observe a site such as a common bile duct having a structure similar to that of another site such as a blood vessel using an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, a workflow defining an operation program of an ultrasonic probe is generally known. However, since the target region has a structure similar to that of other regions, there is a problem that it is difficult for even a skilled user to specify the target region by visually observing the ultrasonic image obtained by such a workflow.

In the technique disclosed in patent document 1, since a target region is detected by performing image analysis on a large number of acquired ultrasonic images, although a region having a structure similar to that of other regions can be detected, the calculation load required to detect the target region is large, and a device having high calculation capability is required to quickly detect the target region. Such devices are often large devices. Therefore, the medical image processing apparatus of patent document 1 may be inappropriate in an environment such as an emergency rescue site where a user is required to take prompt action, for example, because it may prevent the user from taking prompt action.

The present invention has been made to solve the above conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus and a control method of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, which can easily and quickly detect a target site.

Means for solving the technical problem

In order to achieve the above object, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention includes: an ultrasonic probe; an image acquisition unit that acquires an ultrasound image by transmitting an ultrasound beam from an ultrasound probe to a subject; a site recognition unit that recognizes an imaging site of the subject by performing image analysis on the ultrasound image acquired by the image acquisition unit; a peripheral portion memory that stores at least one peripheral portion of the effective detection target portion; and an operation guide unit which, when detecting the target region, guides the user to operate the ultrasonic probe to detect at least one peripheral region stored in the peripheral region memory, and guides the user to operate the ultrasonic probe to detect the target region based on the recognition result obtained by the region recognition unit.

The peripheral part memory may store a plurality of peripheral parts effective to detect the target part and a detection order prescribed for the plurality of peripheral parts, and the operation guide may guide the user to operate the ultrasonic probe to sequentially detect the plurality of peripheral parts according to the prescribed detection order.

Further, the operation guide unit may guide the user to operate the ultrasonic probe to skip detection of a part of the peripheral portions and detect the next peripheral portion, or guide the user to operate the ultrasonic probe to change a predetermined detection order and detect the plurality of peripheral portions, based on the recognition result obtained by the portion recognition unit.

Alternatively, the portable terminal may further include an input unit for a user to perform an input operation.

The operation guide unit may guide the user to operate the ultrasonic probe to skip detection of a part of the peripheral portions and detect a next peripheral portion, or guide the user to operate the ultrasonic probe to change a predetermined detection order and detect the plurality of peripheral portions, based on the modification information input by the user via the input unit.

Alternatively, the operation guide unit may guide the user to operate the ultrasonic probe to skip detection of a part of the peripheral regions and detect the next peripheral region, or guide the user to operate the ultrasonic probe to change a predetermined detection procedure and detect the plurality of peripheral regions, based on the subject information on the state of the subject input by the user via the input unit.

Alternatively, when a predetermined time has elapsed after guiding the user to operate the ultrasonic probe to detect one peripheral part among the plurality of peripheral parts until the one peripheral part is detected, the operation guide may guide the user to operate the ultrasonic probe to skip detecting the one peripheral part and detect the next peripheral part, or may guide the user to operate the ultrasonic probe to change a predetermined detection order and detect the plurality of peripheral parts.

In addition, the site recognizing section may recognize the imaging site of the subject based on subject information related to the state of the subject input by the user via the input section.

The peripheral region memory may store a plurality of peripheral regions effective to detect the target region and a predetermined detection order for each subject, and the operation guide may guide the user to operate the ultrasonic probe to sequentially detect the plurality of peripheral regions stored for each subject according to the predetermined detection order stored for each subject.

The ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus may further include a display unit, and the operation guidance unit may display, on the display unit, guidance for operating the ultrasonic probe by the user.

In this case, it is preferable that the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus further includes a contour generating unit that generates a contour of the at least one peripheral region recognized by the region recognizing unit, wherein the display unit displays the ultrasound image acquired by the image acquiring unit, and the contour of the at least one peripheral region generated by the contour generating unit is superimposed on the ultrasound image displayed on the display unit and displayed.

Alternatively, the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus may further include a sound generation unit, and the operation guide unit may guide the operation of the ultrasonic probe by the user by the sound emitted from the sound generation unit.

Further, it is preferred that the target site is the common bile duct and the at least one peripheral site is the portal vein and the gallbladder.

Alternatively, it is preferred that the target site is the appendix and at least one peripheral site is the ascending colon, caecum and ileum.

Alternatively, the target site is preferably a nerve root of the fifth cervical vertebra and a nerve root of the seventh cervical vertebra, and the peripheral site is preferably a nerve root of the sixth cervical vertebra.

The control method of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention is characterized in that an ultrasonic image is acquired based on a reception signal generated by transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic beam from an ultrasonic probe to and from a subject, the acquired ultrasonic image is subjected to image analysis to identify an imaging region of the subject, when a target region is detected, a user is guided to operate the ultrasonic probe to detect at least one peripheral region where the target region is effectively detected, and the user is guided to operate the ultrasonic probe to detect the target region based on a result of the identification by the region identification unit.

The processor for an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to the present invention is characterized in that an ultrasonic image is acquired based on a reception signal generated by transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic beam from an ultrasonic probe to and from a subject, the acquired ultrasonic image is subjected to image analysis to identify an imaging region of the subject, when detecting a target region, a user is guided to operate the ultrasonic probe to detect at least one peripheral region where the target region is effectively detected, and the user is guided to operate the ultrasonic probe to detect the target region based on a result of the identification by the region identifying unit.

The processor for the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus may be connected to the ultrasonic probe via a network.

Effects of the invention

According to the present invention, since the peripheral region memory for storing at least one peripheral region effective to detect the target region and the operation guide for guiding the user to operate the ultrasonic probe to detect the at least one peripheral region stored in the peripheral region memory when detecting the target region are provided, and guiding the user to operate the ultrasonic probe to detect the target region based on the recognition result obtained by the region recognition unit, the target region can be detected easily and quickly.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a receiver in embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of an image generating unit in embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing a specific example of the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a diagram showing an example of guidance display in embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 7 is a diagram showing another example of guidance display in embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 8 is a diagram showing another example of the guidance display in embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 9 is a diagram showing still another example of guidance display in embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Fig. 10 is a diagram showing an example of guidance display in embodiment 2 of the present invention.

Fig. 11 is a diagram showing another example of guidance display in embodiment 2 of the present invention.

Fig. 12 is a diagram showing another example of the guidance display in embodiment 2 of the present invention.

Fig. 13 is a diagram showing still another example of guidance display in embodiment 2 of the present invention.

Fig. 14 is a diagram schematically showing the fifth, sixth, and seventh cervical vertebrae in which nerve roots detected in embodiment 3 of the present invention are located.

Fig. 15 is a diagram schematically showing nerve roots of the fifth cervical vertebra detected in embodiment 3 of the present invention.

Fig. 16 is a flowchart showing the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to embodiment 3 of the present invention.

Fig. 17 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to embodiment 4 of the present invention.

Fig. 18 is a diagram showing an example of contour lines in embodiment 4 of the present invention.

Fig. 19 is a diagram showing another example of the outline in embodiment 4 of the present invention.

Fig. 20 is a diagram showing another example of the outline in embodiment 4 of the present invention.

Fig. 21 is a diagram showing still another example of the contour line in embodiment 4 of the present invention.

Fig. 22 is a flowchart showing the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to embodiment 5 of the present invention.

Fig. 23 is a flowchart showing the operation of the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to embodiment 6 of the present invention.

Fig. 24 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to embodiment 7 of the present invention.

Fig. 25 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus according to embodiment 8 of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.