阅读说明：本技术 超声成像方法以及超声设备 (Ultrasonic imaging method and ultrasonic apparatus ) 是由 李雷 沈莹莹 宋孝果 于 2018-12-29 设计创作，主要内容包括：本申请公开了一种超声成像方法及超声设备,用于确定超声波的速度标尺,使得通过确定后的速度标尺进行超声扫描工作,可以得到效果更佳的血流成像。该方法包括：在第一检查模式下向所述目标对象发射非聚焦超声波；接收从所述目标对象返回的所述非聚焦超声波的超声回波,获得超声回波数据；根据所述超声回波数据获得所述目标对象的超声血流图像；根据所述第一检查模式确定所述超声血流图像中的目标血流；获取不同发射脉冲重复频率PRF对应的速度标尺与所述目标血流的脉冲多普勒结果和/或彩色多普勒结果的关联结果；从所述关联结果中确定目标速度标尺；按照所述目标速度标尺对应的PRF对所述目标对象进行超声扫描工作。(The application discloses an ultrasonic imaging method and ultrasonic equipment, which are used for determining a velocity scale of ultrasonic waves, so that ultrasonic scanning work can be carried out through the determined velocity scale, and blood flow imaging with better effect can be obtained. The method comprises the following steps: transmitting unfocused ultrasound waves to the target object in a first inspection mode; receiving an ultrasonic echo of the unfocused ultrasonic wave returned from the target object, and obtaining ultrasonic echo data; obtaining an ultrasonic blood flow image of the target object according to the ultrasonic echo data; determining a target blood flow in the ultrasound blood flow image according to the first examination mode; acquiring correlation results of velocity scales corresponding to different transmission Pulse Repetition Frequencies (PRF) and pulse Doppler results and/or color Doppler results of the target blood flow; determining a target velocity scale from the correlation result; and carrying out ultrasonic scanning on the target object according to the PRF corresponding to the target velocity scale.)

1. An ultrasound imaging method, comprising:

transmitting unfocused ultrasound waves to a target object in a first inspection mode;

receiving an ultrasonic echo of the unfocused ultrasonic wave returned from the target object, and obtaining ultrasonic echo data;

obtaining an ultrasonic blood flow image of the target object according to the ultrasonic echo data;

determining a target blood flow in the ultrasound blood flow image according to the first examination mode;

acquiring correlation results of velocity scales corresponding to different transmission Pulse Repetition Frequencies (PRF) and pulse Doppler results and/or color Doppler results of the target blood flow;

determining a target velocity scale from the correlation result;

and carrying out ultrasonic scanning on the target object according to the PRF corresponding to the target velocity scale.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said transmitting unfocused ultrasound waves to a target object in a first inspection mode comprises:

transmitting unfocused ultrasound waves to the target object at a first PRF in the first inspection mode;

the obtaining of the correlation result between the velocity scales corresponding to the different transmit pulse repetition frequencies PRF and the pulse doppler result and/or the color doppler result of the target blood flow includes:

performing down-sampling processing on the first PRF to obtain ultrasonic echo data corresponding to different PRFs;

acquiring a pulse Doppler result and/or a color Doppler result of the target blood flow according to the ultrasonic echo data corresponding to the different PRFs;

and correlating the velocity scales corresponding to the different PRFs with the pulse Doppler result and/or the color Doppler result of the target blood flow to obtain the correlation result.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said transmitting unfocused ultrasound waves to a target object in a first inspection mode comprises:

emitting unfocused ultrasound waves to the target object at different PRFs in the first inspection mode;

the obtaining different correlation results of velocity scales corresponding to different transmit Pulse Repetition Frequencies (PRFs) and the pulse Doppler results and/or the color Doppler results comprises:

acquiring a pulse Doppler result and/or a color Doppler result of the target blood flow according to the ultrasonic echo data corresponding to the different PRFs;

and correlating the velocity scales corresponding to the different PRFs with the pulse Doppler result and/or the color Doppler result of the target blood flow to obtain the correlation result.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the target blood flow in the ultrasound blood flow image according to the first examination mode comprises:

performing Doppler data analysis on the ultrasonic blood flow image to obtain an analysis result, wherein the analysis result comprises at least one blood flow type;

determining a target blood flow in the ultrasound blood flow image based on the analysis results and the first examination mode.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining a target velocity scale from the correlation result comprises:

and determining the velocity scale corresponding to the correlation result in which the difference between the amplitude of the pulse Doppler result of the target blood flow and the absolute value of the extreme value of the velocity scale is smaller than a first preset threshold as the target velocity scale.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining a target velocity scale from the correlation result comprises:

and determining the velocity scale corresponding to the correlation result in which the difference between the maximum blood flow velocity value of the color Doppler result of the target blood flow in the correlation result and the extreme absolute value of the velocity scale is smaller than a second preset threshold as the target velocity scale.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the performing an ultrasonic scanning job on the target object at the PRF corresponding to the target velocity scale comprises:

emitting non-focused ultrasonic waves to the target object according to the PRF corresponding to the target velocity scale so as to obtain a target correlation result of the target velocity scale and the pulse Doppler result and/or the color Doppler result of the target blood flow;

and displaying the target association result.

8. The method of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the unfocused ultrasound waves comprise plane waves or diverging waves.

9. An ultrasound imaging method, comprising:

transmitting ultrasonic waves to a target object in a first inspection mode;

receiving an ultrasonic echo of the ultrasonic wave returned from the target object, and obtaining ultrasonic echo data;

obtaining an ultrasonic blood flow image of the target object according to the ultrasonic echo data;

determining a target blood flow in the ultrasound blood flow image according to the first examination mode;

acquiring correlation results of velocity scales corresponding to different transmission Pulse Repetition Frequencies (PRF) and pulse Doppler results and/or color Doppler results of the target blood flow;

determining a target velocity scale from the correlation result;

and carrying out ultrasonic scanning on the target object according to the PRF corresponding to the target velocity scale.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said transmitting ultrasound waves to a target object in a first inspection mode comprises:

transmitting ultrasound to the target object at a first PRF in the first examination mode;

the obtaining of the correlation result between the velocity scales corresponding to the different transmit pulse repetition frequencies PRF and the pulse doppler result and/or the color doppler result of the target blood flow includes:

performing down-sampling processing on the first PRF to obtain ultrasonic echo data corresponding to different PRFs;

acquiring a pulse Doppler result and/or a color Doppler result of the target blood flow according to the ultrasonic echo data corresponding to the different PRFs;

and correlating the velocity scales corresponding to the different PRFs with the pulse Doppler result and/or the color Doppler result of the target blood flow to obtain the correlation result.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein said transmitting ultrasound waves to a target object in a first inspection mode comprises:

transmitting ultrasound waves to the target object at different PRFs in the first examination mode;

the obtaining different correlation results of velocity scales corresponding to different transmit Pulse Repetition Frequencies (PRFs) and the pulse Doppler results and/or the color Doppler results comprises:

acquiring a pulse Doppler result and/or a color Doppler result of the target blood flow according to the ultrasonic echo data corresponding to the different PRFs;

and correlating the velocity scales corresponding to the different PRFs with the pulse Doppler result and/or the color Doppler result of the target blood flow to obtain the correlation result.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining the target blood flow in the ultrasound blood flow image according to the first examination mode comprises:

performing Doppler data analysis on the ultrasonic blood flow image to obtain an analysis result, wherein the analysis result comprises at least one blood flow type;

determining a target blood flow in the ultrasound blood flow image based on the analysis results and the first examination mode.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining a target velocity scale from the correlation result comprises:

and determining the velocity scale corresponding to the correlation result in which the difference between the amplitude of the pulse Doppler result of the target blood flow and the absolute value of the extreme value of the velocity scale is smaller than a first preset threshold as the target velocity scale.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining a target velocity scale from the correlation result comprises:

and determining the velocity scale corresponding to the correlation result in which the difference between the maximum blood flow velocity value of the color Doppler result of the target blood flow in the correlation result and the extreme absolute value of the velocity scale is smaller than a second preset threshold as the target velocity scale.

15. The method of any one of claims 9 to 14, wherein the ultrasonic waves comprise plane waves, diverging waves, or focused waves.

16. An ultrasound device, comprising:

a probe;

the transmitting circuit excites the probe to transmit ultrasonic waves to a target object;

a receiving circuit that receives an ultrasonic echo returned from the target object through the probe to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal;

a processor that processes the ultrasound echo signal to obtain first state information of the target object;

a display that displays the first status information;

wherein the processor further performs the steps of:

transmitting unfocused ultrasound waves to the target object in a first inspection mode;

receiving an ultrasonic echo of the unfocused ultrasonic wave returned from the target object, and obtaining ultrasonic echo data;

obtaining an ultrasonic blood flow image of the target object according to the ultrasonic echo data;

determining a target blood flow in the ultrasound blood flow image according to the first examination mode;

acquiring correlation results of velocity scales corresponding to different transmission Pulse Repetition Frequencies (PRF) and pulse Doppler results and/or color Doppler results of the target blood flow;

determining a target velocity scale from the correlation result;

and carrying out ultrasonic scanning on the target object according to the PRF corresponding to the target velocity scale.

17. The ultrasound device of claim 16, wherein the processor transmits unfocused ultrasound waves to the target object in a first inspection mode comprises:

transmitting unfocused ultrasound waves to the target object at a first PRF in the first inspection mode;

the processor acquiring the correlation result of the velocity scales corresponding to different transmission pulse repetition frequencies PRF and the pulse Doppler result and/or the color Doppler result of the target blood flow comprises the following steps:

performing down-sampling processing on the first PRF to obtain ultrasonic echo data corresponding to different PRFs;

acquiring a pulse Doppler result and/or a color Doppler result of the target blood flow according to the ultrasonic echo data corresponding to the different PRFs;

and correlating the velocity scales corresponding to the different PRFs with the pulse Doppler result and/or the color Doppler result of the target blood flow to obtain the correlation result.

18. The ultrasound device of claim 16, wherein the processor transmits unfocused ultrasound waves to the target object in a first inspection mode comprises:

emitting unfocused ultrasound waves to the target object at different PRFs in the first inspection mode;

the processor acquiring different correlation results of velocity scales corresponding to different transmit Pulse Repetition Frequencies (PRFs) and the pulse Doppler results and/or the color Doppler results comprises:

acquiring a pulse Doppler result and/or a color Doppler result of the target blood flow according to the ultrasonic echo data corresponding to the different PRFs;

and correlating the velocity scales corresponding to the different PRFs with the pulse Doppler result and/or the color Doppler result of the target blood flow to obtain the correlation result.

19. The ultrasound device of claim 16, wherein the processor determining the target blood flow in the ultrasound blood flow image according to the first examination mode comprises:

performing Doppler data analysis on the ultrasonic blood flow image to obtain an analysis result, wherein the analysis result comprises at least one blood flow type;

determining a target blood flow in the ultrasound blood flow image based on the analysis results and the first examination mode.

20. The ultrasound device of claim 16, wherein the processor determines a target velocity scale from the correlation results comprises:

and determining the velocity scale corresponding to the correlation result in which the difference between the amplitude of the pulse Doppler result of the target blood flow and the absolute value of the extreme value of the velocity scale is smaller than a first preset threshold as the target velocity scale.

21. The ultrasound device of claim 16, wherein the processor determines a target velocity scale from the correlation results comprises:

and determining the velocity scale corresponding to the correlation result in which the difference between the maximum blood flow velocity value of the color Doppler result of the target blood flow in the correlation result and the extreme absolute value of the velocity scale is smaller than a second preset threshold as the target velocity scale.

22. The ultrasound apparatus according to any one of claims 16 to 21, wherein the processor performs an ultrasound scanning operation on the target object according to the PRF corresponding to the target velocity scale comprises:

emitting non-focused ultrasonic waves to the target object according to the PRF corresponding to the target velocity scale so as to obtain a target correlation result of the target velocity scale and the pulse Doppler result and/or the color Doppler result of the target blood flow;

and displaying the target association result.

23. The ultrasound device according to any of claims 16 to 21, wherein the unfocused ultrasound waves comprise plane waves or diverging waves.

24. An ultrasound device, comprising:

a probe;

the transmitting circuit excites the probe to transmit ultrasonic waves to a target object;

a receiving circuit that receives an ultrasonic echo returned from the target object through the probe to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal;

a processor that processes the ultrasound echo signal to obtain first state information of the target object;

a display that displays the first status information;

wherein the processor further performs the steps of:

transmitting ultrasonic waves to the target object in a first inspection mode;

receiving an ultrasonic echo of the ultrasonic wave returned from the target object, and obtaining ultrasonic echo data;

obtaining an ultrasonic blood flow image of the target object according to the ultrasonic echo data;

determining a target blood flow in the ultrasound blood flow image according to the first examination mode;

acquiring correlation results of velocity scales corresponding to different transmission Pulse Repetition Frequencies (PRF) and pulse Doppler results and/or color Doppler results of the target blood flow;

determining a target velocity scale from the correlation result;

and carrying out ultrasonic scanning on the target object according to the PRF corresponding to the target velocity scale.

25. The ultrasound device of claim 24, wherein the processor transmits ultrasound waves to the target object in a first inspection mode comprises:

transmitting ultrasound to the target object at a first PRF in the first examination mode;

the processor acquiring the correlation result of the velocity scales corresponding to different transmission pulse repetition frequencies PRF and the pulse Doppler result and/or the color Doppler result of the target blood flow comprises the following steps:

performing down-sampling processing on the first PRF to obtain ultrasonic echo data corresponding to different PRFs;

acquiring a pulse Doppler result and/or a color Doppler result of the target blood flow according to the ultrasonic echo data corresponding to the different PRFs;

and correlating the velocity scales corresponding to the different PRFs with the pulse Doppler result and/or the color Doppler result of the target blood flow to obtain the correlation result.

26. The ultrasound device of claim 24, wherein the processor transmits ultrasound waves to the target object in a first inspection mode comprises:

transmitting ultrasound waves to the target object at different PRFs in the first examination mode;

the processor acquiring different correlation results of velocity scales corresponding to different transmit Pulse Repetition Frequencies (PRFs) and the pulse Doppler results and/or the color Doppler results comprises:

acquiring a pulse Doppler result and/or a color Doppler result of the target blood flow according to the ultrasonic echo data corresponding to the different PRFs;

and correlating the velocity scales corresponding to the different PRFs with the pulse Doppler result and/or the color Doppler result of the target blood flow to obtain the correlation result.

27. The ultrasound device of claim 24, wherein the processor determining the target blood flow in the ultrasound blood flow image according to the first examination mode comprises:

performing Doppler data analysis on the ultrasonic blood flow image to obtain an analysis result, wherein the analysis result comprises at least one blood flow type;

determining a target blood flow in the ultrasound blood flow image based on the analysis results and the first examination mode.

28. The ultrasound device of claim 24, wherein the processor determines a target velocity scale from the correlation results comprises:

and determining the velocity scale corresponding to the correlation result in which the difference between the amplitude of the pulse Doppler result of the target blood flow and the absolute value of the extreme value of the velocity scale is smaller than a first preset threshold as the target velocity scale.

29. The ultrasound device of claim 24, wherein the processor determines a target velocity scale from the correlation results comprises:

and determining the velocity scale corresponding to the correlation result in which the difference between the maximum blood flow velocity value of the color Doppler result of the target blood flow in the correlation result and the extreme absolute value of the velocity scale is smaller than a second preset threshold as the target velocity scale.

30. The ultrasound device according to any of claims 24 to 29, wherein the ultrasound waves comprise plane waves, diverging waves or focused waves.

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of medical devices, and in particular, to an ultrasound imaging method and ultrasound apparatus.

Background

Medical ultrasonic imaging technology has become an auxiliary diagnostic tool widely used in clinic. The ultrasonic wave utilizes Doppler effect to detect the motion information of blood flow or tissue in human body in real time, and is an irreplaceable examination means.

Doppler is an essential element in the application of ultrasound imaging technology. According to the Doppler principle, the Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF) of the ultrasonic transmission determines the maximum measurable Doppler velocity. In practice, the user manually adjusts the PRF according to the high and low velocity blood flow characteristics of different parts so that the obtained signal is spread over the entire velocity scale.

However, such manual adjustment of the PRF is time-consuming and labor-consuming, and the accuracy of the adjustment is not high, so that the blood flow imaging effect cannot be optimized.

Disclosure of Invention

Based on the above disadvantages of the existing solutions, the present application provides an ultrasonic imaging method and an ultrasonic apparatus, which are used to determine an ultrasonic velocity scale, and perform ultrasonic scanning work through the adjusted velocity scale, so as to obtain blood flow imaging with better effect.

A first aspect of the present application provides an ultrasound imaging method comprising:

transmitting unfocused ultrasound waves to the target object in a first inspection mode;

receiving an ultrasonic echo of the unfocused ultrasonic wave returned from the target object, and obtaining ultrasonic echo data;

obtaining an ultrasonic blood flow image of the target object according to the ultrasonic echo data;

determining a target blood flow in the ultrasound blood flow image according to the first examination mode;

acquiring correlation results of velocity scales corresponding to different transmission Pulse Repetition Frequencies (PRF) and pulse Doppler results and/or color Doppler results of the target blood flow;

determining a target velocity scale from the correlation result;

and carrying out ultrasonic scanning on the target object according to the PRF corresponding to the target velocity scale.

A second aspect of the present application provides an ultrasound imaging method comprising:

transmitting ultrasonic waves to the target object in a first inspection mode;

receiving an ultrasonic echo of the ultrasonic wave returned from the target object, and obtaining ultrasonic echo data;

obtaining an ultrasonic blood flow image of the target object according to the ultrasonic echo data;

determining a target blood flow in the ultrasound blood flow image according to the first examination mode;

acquiring correlation results of velocity scales corresponding to different transmission Pulse Repetition Frequencies (PRF) and pulse Doppler results and/or color Doppler results of the target blood flow;

determining a target velocity scale from the correlation result;

and carrying out ultrasonic scanning on the target object according to the PRF corresponding to the target velocity scale.

A third aspect of the present application provides an ultrasound apparatus comprising:

a probe;

the transmitting circuit excites the probe to transmit ultrasonic waves to a target object;

a receiving circuit that receives an ultrasonic echo returned from the target object through the probe to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal;

a processor that processes the ultrasound echo signal to obtain first state information of the target object;

a display that displays the first status information;

wherein the processor further performs the steps of:

transmitting unfocused ultrasound waves to the target object in a first inspection mode;

receiving an ultrasonic echo of the unfocused ultrasonic wave returned from the target object, and obtaining ultrasonic echo data;

obtaining an ultrasonic blood flow image of the target object according to the ultrasonic echo data;

determining a target blood flow in the ultrasound blood flow image according to the first examination mode;

acquiring correlation results of velocity scales corresponding to different transmission Pulse Repetition Frequencies (PRF) and pulse Doppler results and/or color Doppler results of the target blood flow;

determining a target velocity scale from the correlation result;

and carrying out ultrasonic scanning on the target object according to the PRF corresponding to the target velocity scale.

A fourth aspect of the present application provides an ultrasound apparatus comprising:

a probe;

the transmitting circuit excites the probe to transmit ultrasonic waves to a target object;

a receiving circuit that receives an ultrasonic echo returned from the target object through the probe to obtain an ultrasonic echo signal;

a processor that processes the ultrasound echo signal to obtain first state information of the target object;

a display that displays the first status information;

wherein the processor further performs the steps of:

transmitting ultrasonic waves to the target object in a first inspection mode;

receiving an ultrasonic echo of the ultrasonic wave returned from the target object, and obtaining ultrasonic echo data;

obtaining an ultrasonic blood flow image of the target object according to the ultrasonic echo data;

determining a target blood flow in the ultrasound blood flow image according to the first examination mode;

acquiring correlation results of velocity scales corresponding to different transmission Pulse Repetition Frequencies (PRF) and pulse Doppler results and/or color Doppler results of the target blood flow;

determining a target velocity scale from the correlation result;

and carrying out ultrasonic scanning on the target object according to the PRF corresponding to the target velocity scale.

A fifth aspect of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when being executed by a processor, carries out the steps of the above-mentioned ultrasound imaging method.

In summary, it can be seen that, in the embodiment provided by the present application, the ultrasonic blood flow image of the target object is analyzed to obtain the correlation result between the velocity scales of different PRFs and the pulse doppler result and/or the color doppler result of the target blood flow, and the velocity scale most suitable for the target object is determined from the correlation result, and then the target object is scanned according to the PRF corresponding to the velocity scale.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural block diagram of a possible ultrasound apparatus provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of one possible ultrasound imaging method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a possible Doppler data analysis performed on an ultrasound blood flow image according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the correlation result between the possible velocity scales and the pulse doppler result provided by the embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The embodiment of the application provides an ultrasonic imaging method and ultrasonic equipment, which are used for determining an ultrasonic velocity scale and carrying out ultrasonic scanning work through the adjusted velocity scale, so that blood flow imaging with better effect can be obtained.

The terms "first," "second," "third," "fourth," and the like in the description and in the claims of the present application and in the drawings described above, if any, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It will be appreciated that the data so used may be interchanged under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments described herein may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated or described herein. Furthermore, the terms "comprises," "comprising," and "having," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not necessarily limited to those steps or elements expressly listed, but may include other steps or elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural block diagram of an ultrasound apparatus 10 in an embodiment of the present application. The ultrasound device 10 may include a probe 100, transmit circuitry 101, a transmit/receive selection switch 102, receive circuitry 103, beam forming circuitry 104, a processor 105, and a display 106. The transmit circuit 101 may excite the probe 100 to transmit ultrasound waves to the target object. The receiving circuit 103 may receive an ultrasonic echo returned from the target object through the probe 100, thereby obtaining an ultrasonic echo signal/data. The ultrasonic echo signals/data are subjected to beamforming processing by the beamforming circuit 104, and then sent to the processor 105. The processor 105 processes the ultrasound echo signals/data to obtain an ultrasound image of the target object or an ultrasound image of the interventional object. The ultrasound images obtained by the processor 105 may be stored in the memory 107. These ultrasound images may be displayed on the display 106. The processor 105 is further configured to perform the following steps:

transmitting unfocused ultrasound waves to the target object in a first inspection mode;

receiving an ultrasonic echo of the unfocused ultrasonic wave returned from the target object, and obtaining ultrasonic echo data;

obtaining an ultrasonic blood flow image of the target object according to the ultrasonic echo data;

determining a target blood flow in the ultrasound blood flow image according to the first examination mode;

acquiring correlation results of velocity scales corresponding to different transmission Pulse Repetition Frequencies (PRF) and pulse Doppler results and/or color Doppler results of the target blood flow;

determining a target velocity scale from the correlation result;

and carrying out ultrasonic scanning on the target object according to the PRF corresponding to the target velocity scale.

The processor 105 is further configured to perform the following steps:

transmitting ultrasonic waves to the target object in a first inspection mode;

receiving an ultrasonic echo of the ultrasonic wave returned from the target object, and obtaining ultrasonic echo data;

obtaining an ultrasonic blood flow image of the target object according to the ultrasonic echo data;

determining a target blood flow in the ultrasound blood flow image according to the first examination mode;

acquiring correlation results of velocity scales corresponding to different transmission Pulse Repetition Frequencies (PRF) and pulse Doppler results and/or color Doppler results of the target blood flow;

determining a target velocity scale from the correlation result;

and carrying out ultrasonic scanning on the target object according to the PRF corresponding to the target velocity scale. In an embodiment of the present application, the display 106 of the ultrasound apparatus 10 may be a touch display screen, a liquid crystal display, or the like, or may be an independent display apparatus such as a liquid crystal display, a television, or the like, which is independent from the ultrasound apparatus 10, or may be a display screen on an electronic apparatus such as a mobile phone, a tablet computer, or the like.

In one embodiment of the present application, the memory 107 of the ultrasound device 10 can be a flash memory card, a solid state memory, a hard disk, or the like.

In an embodiment of the present application, a computer-readable storage medium is further provided, where a plurality of program instructions are stored, and when the plurality of program instructions are called by the processor 105 to be executed, some or all of the steps of the ultrasound imaging method in the embodiments of the present application, or any combination of the steps thereof, may be executed.

In one embodiment, the computer readable storage medium may be the memory 107, which may be a non-volatile storage medium such as a flash memory card, solid state memory, hard disk, or the like.

In an embodiment of the present application, the processor 105 of the ultrasound apparatus 10 may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware or a combination thereof, and may use a circuit, a single or multiple Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), a single or multiple general purpose integrated circuits, a single or multiple microprocessors, a single or multiple programmable logic devices, or a combination of the foregoing circuits or devices, or other suitable circuits or devices, so that the processor 105 may perform the corresponding steps of the ultrasound imaging method in the various embodiments of the present application.

Referring to fig. 2, an ultrasound imaging method provided in an embodiment of the present application is applied to an ultrasound apparatus 10, and the ultrasound imaging method includes:

201. unfocused ultrasound waves are emitted toward a target object in a first examination mode.

In this embodiment, the processor 105 may first determine the current first inspection mode, and then transmit unfocused ultrasound waves to the target object in the first inspection mode. The first inspection mode includes at least one of the following inspection modes: a thyroid examination mode, a carotid examination mode, a breast examination mode, a neurological examination mode, an adult abdominal examination mode, an obstetrical OB examination mode, a renal examination mode, a fetal cardiac examination mode, an adult abdominal examination mode, and a transcranial doppler TCI examination mode. Specifically, the ultrasound may be transmitted to the target object at the first transmission pulse repetition frequency PRF in the first inspection mode, or may be transmitted to the target object at a different PRF in the first inspection mode, which is not limited specifically.

In one embodiment, the ultrasonic wave may be a plane wave or a divergent wave, that is, a plane wave may be emitted to the target object in the first inspection mode, or a focused wave may be emitted to the target object in the first inspection mode.

In one embodiment, the target object may be a face, a spine, a heart, a uterus, a pelvic floor, or the like, or may be other parts of human tissue, such as a brain, a bone, a liver, or a kidney, and is not limited herein.

202. And receiving the ultrasonic echo of the unfocused ultrasonic wave returned from the target object to obtain ultrasonic echo data.

In this embodiment, the processor 105 may receive an ultrasound echo of an unfocused ultrasound wave returned from a target object, and obtain ultrasound echo data. That is, after transmitting the unfocused ultrasound waves to the target object, the target object may return ultrasound echoes corresponding to the unfocused ultrasound waves, and then the processor 105 may process the ultrasound echoes to obtain ultrasound echo data.

It should be noted that when the unfocused ultrasound is transmitted to the target object according to the first PRF in the first inspection mode, the ultrasound echo data corresponding to the first PRF is obtained, and when the unfocused ultrasound is transmitted to the target object according to different PRFs in the first inspection mode, the ultrasound echo data corresponding to different PRFs is obtained, that is, each PRF in different PRFs corresponds to one set of ultrasound echo data.

203. And obtaining an ultrasonic blood flow image of the target object according to the ultrasonic echo data.

In this embodiment, the ultrasound blood flow image of the target object may be obtained according to the ultrasound echo data, and it is understood that data processing such as amplification, digital-to-analog conversion, beam forming, and the like may be performed when the ultrasound blood flow image is generated, and the ultrasound blood flow image of the target object may include a B-mode image, a doppler image, a color blood flow image, or a combined display image of the above images, which are formed through signal processing.

After the ultrasonic blood flow image is obtained, since the blood flow velocity changes from low velocity to high velocity in the blood vessel actually detected from the blood vessel wall to the center of the blood vessel, the blood flow is represented by two colors, i.e., reddish and bluish, in the actual image, in which the blood flow is different in the moving direction with respect to the ultrasonic probe (toward the ultrasonic probe and away from the ultrasonic probe). If the pulse repetition frequency is insufficient, the high velocity blood flow data in the blood vessel will undergo a color reversal from reddish to bluish or bluish to reddish. By correcting a portion where the abrupt change in color exceeds the threshold value by the color inversion correction function, the color in which the portion is inverted can be corrected back to the correct direction. For a plurality of pieces of cocurrent blood flow data, in some frames with too much data, a problem that a plurality of pieces of blood flow data are connected together and cannot be distinguished occurs. By setting higher threshold value data, blood flow data with lower threshold values are deleted, data with higher flow speed are reserved, and a plurality of homodromous blood flows can be effectively distinguished.

204. A target blood flow in the ultrasound blood flow image is determined according to the first examination mode.

In this embodiment, the processor 105 may determine the target blood flow in the ultrasound blood flow image according to the first examination mode. Specifically, the processor 105 performs doppler data analysis on the ultrasound blood flow image to obtain an analysis result, where the analysis result includes at least one blood flow type (e.g., small blood flow, arterial blood flow, venous blood flow, etc.); a target blood flow in the ultrasound blood flow image is determined based on the analysis results and the first examination mode. That is, the processor 105 may perform doppler data analysis on the ultrasound blood flow image to obtain at least one blood flow type corresponding to the target object, and at the same time, the examination portion corresponding to different examination modes or the types of the examined blood flows are different, for example, the first examination mode is a thyroid examination mode, and the thyroid gland only needs to pay attention to small blood flows for examination of the thyroid gland. Since the analysis result is obtained by performing doppler data analysis on the ultrasound echo data, the target blood flow in the ultrasound blood flow image can be determined from the first examination mode and the analysis result. The following is described in connection with the doppler data analysis of the ultrasound flow image of fig. 3:

referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a doppler data analysis performed on an ultrasound blood flow image according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, where a region 300 is an ultrasound blood flow image corresponding to a target object, and the ultrasound blood flow image is subjected to doppler data analysis to distinguish color blood flow data characteristics, such as blood flow types of arterial blood flow, venous blood flow, or small blood flow, as shown in fig. 3, data of a non-blood flow region 304 is 0, and a greater flow velocity of a blood flow signal region increases a absolute value. If the morphologically data area is small, it is classified as small blood flow information, such as region 301 in fig. 3; if the numerical values in the continuous multiframes are relatively stable and the morphological data area is relatively large, the vein information can be judged, for example, 303 in fig. 3 is the vein blood flow, and 306 is the display of the vein blood flow on the flow rate frame spectrum; if the values in consecutive frames keep fluctuating with the heart rate and the morphological data area is relatively large, it can be determined as the arterial information, as shown in fig. 3, 302 is the arterial blood flow, and 305 is the display of the arterial blood flow on the flow rate spectrum (there are positive and negative values because of distinguishing the flow direction of the blood flow relative to the probe).

205. And acquiring the correlation result of velocity scales corresponding to different transmission pulse repetition frequencies PRF and the pulse Doppler result and/or the color Doppler result of the target blood flow.

In this embodiment, since the ultrasonic waves can be transmitted to the target object in two different ways, the two different ways of obtaining the correlation result between the velocity scale corresponding to different PRFs and the pulse doppler result and/or the color doppler result of the target blood flow are also different, and the following description is made respectively:

1. emitting unfocused ultrasonic waves to a target object by using a first Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF), and acquiring a correlation result of velocity scales corresponding to different PRFs and a pulse Doppler result and/or a color Doppler result of target blood flow comprises the following steps:

carrying out down-sampling processing on the first PRF to obtain ultrasonic echo data corresponding to different PRFs;

acquiring a pulse Doppler result and/or a color Doppler result of target blood flow according to ultrasonic echo data corresponding to different PRFs;

and correlating the velocity scales corresponding to different PRFs with the pulse Doppler result and/or the color Doppler result of the target blood flow to obtain a correlation result.

That is to say, the first PRF may be down-sampled first to obtain the ultrasonic echo data corresponding to different PRFs, for example, if the first PRF is 20 times/S, the first PRF may be down-sampled to obtain 10 times/S, and certainly, the down-sampling may also be performed according to other multiples, which is not limited specifically; after the first PRF is subjected to down-sampling processing to obtain ultrasonic echo data corresponding to different PRFs, a pulse Doppler result and/or a color Doppler result of target blood flow is obtained according to the ultrasonic echo data corresponding to the different PRFs, velocity scales corresponding to the different PRFs are calculated according to the different PRFs (a specific calculation mode is not limited here), and finally, the velocity scales corresponding to the different PRFs are correlated with the pulse Doppler result and/or the color Doppler result of the target blood flow to obtain a correlation result.

2. When unfocused ultrasonic waves are transmitted to a target object according to different PRFs in a first inspection mode, acquiring different association results of velocity scales corresponding to the different transmission pulse repetition frequencies PRFs and pulse Doppler results and/or color Doppler results comprises the following steps:

acquiring a pulse Doppler result and/or a color Doppler result of target blood flow according to ultrasonic echo data corresponding to different PRFs;

and correlating the velocity scales corresponding to different PRFs with the pulse Doppler result and/or the color Doppler result of the target blood flow to obtain the correlation result.

That is, since the unfocused ultrasound is transmitted to the target object through different PRFs, the ultrasound blood flow image corresponding to each PRF in different PRFs can be acquired, velocity scales corresponding to different PFRs can be respectively calculated, meanwhile, the ultrasound blood flow image corresponding to each PRF in different PRFs is calculated to obtain a pulse doppler result and/or a color doppler result of the target blood flow under each PRF in different PRFs, and then, the velocity scales corresponding to different PRFs are associated with the pulse doppler result and/or the color doppler result of the target blood flow under each PRF in different PRFs to obtain an associated result.

206. A target velocity scale is determined from the correlation results.

In this embodiment, the processor 105 may determine a target velocity scale from the correlation result, specifically, the processor 105 may determine a velocity scale corresponding to a correlation result in which a difference between an amplitude of a pulse doppler result of the target blood flow and an extreme absolute value of the velocity scale is smaller than a first preset threshold as the target velocity scale, and the processor 105 may further determine a velocity scale corresponding to a correlation result in which a difference between a maximum blood flow velocity value of a color doppler result of the target blood flow and an extreme absolute value of the velocity scale is smaller than a second preset threshold as the target velocity scale. The following description is made with reference to fig. 4:

referring to fig. 4, taking the correlation results of the velocity scales corresponding to 3 different PRFs and the pulse doppler results as an example for explanation, 401, 402, and 403 are ultrasonic echo data corresponding to different PRFs, the velocity scale 407 (the extreme value of the velocity scale is illustrated by (-100, 100) as an example) and the pulse doppler results 404 correspond to the ultrasonic echo data of the PRF of 401; velocity scale 408 (illustrated in FIG. 4 with the extreme (-50, 50) of the velocity scale as an example) and pulse Doppler results 405 correspond to the ultrasound echo data of the PRF of 402; velocity scale 409 (illustrated in FIG. 4 by way of example as the extremum of the velocity scale (-25, 25)) and pulse Doppler results 406 correspond to the ultrasound echo data of the PRF of 403. As is apparent from the figure, the correlation result of the pulse doppler result of 405 and the velocity scale 408 among the three correlation display results is the most coincident correlation result among the three correlation results, that is, the difference between the amplitude of the pulse doppler result of 405 and the absolute value of the extremum of the velocity scale of 408 is smaller than the preset threshold.

It should be noted that, the above description takes the correlation result between the pulse doppler result and the velocity scale as an example, and the correlation result between the color doppler result and the velocity scale is similar to this, and details are not repeated.

207. And carrying out ultrasonic scanning on the target object according to the PRF corresponding to the target velocity scale.

In this embodiment, after obtaining the target velocity scale, the processor 105 may perform ultrasonic scanning on the target object according to the PRF corresponding to the target velocity scale, and specifically, may transmit unfocused ultrasonic waves to the target object according to the PRF corresponding to the target velocity scale to obtain a target association result of the target velocity scale and the pulse doppler result and/or the color doppler result of the target blood flow, and display the target association result for the user to view.

It should be noted that, obtaining the target correlation result of the pulse doppler result and/or the color doppler result of the target blood flow and the velocity scale corresponding to the different PRFs is similar to obtaining the correlation result by correlating the velocity scale corresponding to the different PRFs with the pulse doppler result and/or the color doppler result of the target blood flow in step 206, which has already been described in detail above, and details are not repeated here.

In summary, it can be seen that, in the embodiment provided by the present application, the ultrasonic blood flow image of the target object is analyzed to obtain the correlation result between the velocity scales of different PRFs and the pulse doppler result and/or the color doppler result of the target blood flow, and the velocity scale most suitable for the target object is determined from the correlation result, and then the target object is scanned according to the PRF corresponding to the velocity scale.

It should be noted that the above description has been made by taking the unfocused ultrasonic wave as an example, but it is needless to say that the ultrasonic wave may be another type of ultrasonic wave, for example, the ultrasonic wave includes a plane wave, a divergent wave, or a focused wave. It can be understood that the manner of ultrasonic imaging corresponding to plane waves, divergent waves or focused waves is similar to that of ultrasonic imaging corresponding to unfocused waves in fig. 2, and the above description has been given in detail, and details are not repeated.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other manners. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit.

The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be substantially implemented or contributed to by the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution may be embodied in a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and shall be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.