30 results about "Contrast enhance ultrasound" patented technology

Embodiments of the present invention describe methods of determining the occlusion of body lumens and apparatuses for doing so. In one particular embodiment, the occlusion of the fallopian tubes by an intrafallopian contraceptive device may be confirmed by contrast enhanced ultrasonography (also known as stimulated acoustic emission hysterosalpingo-contrast sonography). In these embodiments a contrast agent containing microbubbles is used.

Methods and apparatus are provided for controlling fluid flow or perfusion, wherein gas-filled microbubbles are used as ultrasound contrast-enhancing agents, and wherein the method comprises separating the removal of the contrast agent due to flow from the removal of the contrast agent due to bubble destruction for enhanced imaging processes. By varying exposure of the microbubbles to ultrasound, the method and apparatus apply the changes observed in the images to measure flow and vascularity, to improve visualization of blood flow and blood vessels, and to guide delivery of drugs locally to the site of imaging.

Systems and methods using contrast enhanced ultrasound imaging for quantitative assessment of neovascularization, such as within a tumor or a plaque. The contrast agent moves in small blotches rather than in continuous flow, but image processing methods enable the detection and quantification of the blood flow, even in the tiny blood vessels of the vasculature tree. The image processing includes compensation for motion of the tissue arising from body movement. The position and extent of the discrete positions of contrast material may be accumulating during a complete heart cycle onto a single 2D image, to enable an indication of a vascular tree based on this local accumulated image. Dynamic processing (DP) of the discrete positions of contrast material enables a complete vascular tree to be obtained. The neovascularization is quantified by the ratio of its total area to that of the plaque in which the neovascularization has grown.

The present invention relates to an ultrasound imaging system (10) for inspecting an object (97) in a volume (40). The ultrasound imaging system comprises an image processor (36) configured to conduct a segmentation (80) of the object (97) simultaneously out of three-dimensional ultrasound mage data (62) and contrast-enhanced three-dimensional ultrasound image data (60). In particular, this may be done by minimizing an energy tem taking into account both the normal three-dimensional ultrasound image data and the contrast-enhanced three-dimensional image data. By this, the normal three-dimensional ultrasound image data and the contrast-enhanced three-dimensional image data may even be registered during segmentation. Hence, this invention allows a more precise quantification of one organ in two different modalities as well as the registration of two images for simultaneous visualization.

A contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method and a method for regional detection and development of a contrasted image. The method for regional detection of a contrasted image comprises: acquiring a tissue signal and a contrast signal in a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging process (S201); preprocessing respectively the tissue signal and the contrast signal (S202); comparison processing the preprocessed tissue signal and the contrast signal (S203); by means of a threshold segmentation approach, segmenting an image formed when comparison processed into a contrast agent effect region, a tissue residue effect region, and a noise effect region (S204); and, respectively marking corresponding positions on the contrasted image as a contrast agent region, the tissue residue effect region, and the noise effect region (S205). The regional detection method greatly increases the CTR of a contrast-enhanced ultrasound image, facilitates clinical observation, and enhances the contrast agent signal, thus allowing for a reduced contrast agent dosage injected during contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging and effectively reduced examination costs.

The invention relates to a theranostic agent and a preparation method thereof. The prepared theranostic agent consists of internal liquid fluorocarbon nanoparticles and an external gold nanoshell. With the functions of ultrasonic contrast imaging diagnosis and photothermal treatment at the same time, the theranostic agent successfully integrates real-time, efficient, low-cost and radiationless contrast-enhanced ultrasound diagnosis with high selectivity, high efficacy near-infrared photothermal treatment. By means of only one composite agent, the diagnosis and treatment functions can be realized simultanesouly. Due to integration of diagnosis and treatment, intermediate links are reduced, diagnosis and treatment efficiency can be enhanced, and toxic and side effects are lowered at the same time. Thus, the theranostic agent has very good clinical application potential.

Provided are an ultrasound contrast imaging method and apparatus. The method comprises: an initial step (S101), acquiring N frames of original contrast images; a projection imaging step (S103), projecting on the N frames of original contrast images to obtain a projection result image of the N frames of original contrast images, wherein for an nth frame of original contrast image, any frame of an nth group of original contrast images is used as a projection template for projecting on the nth group of original contrast images to acquire a projection result image of the nth frame of original contrast image, the nth group of original contrast images is within a projection period and comprises several frames of original contrast images of the nth frame of original contrast image, and the projection period is smaller than an imaging period; and a showing and storing step (S105), showing or storing the projection result image of the N frames of original contrast images. In the method, the projection period is a fixed value, accumulated errors caused by a projection process are only related to the projection period, and cannot increase as the imaging period increases, so that images continuously projected onto a template can better reflect spatial information, such as a filling and regression state of a micro vessel, of test subject in a current projection period.

A method for assessing a liver includes acquiring image information including contrast-enhanced ultrasound images of the liver. A location of the main hepatic artery (MHA) and a location of the main portal vein (MPV) of the liver are identified in at least one of the contrast-enhanced ultrasound images of the liver. Time-intensity information corresponding to perfusion of a contrast agent in the MHA and the MPV is obtained. A biomarker index value (BIV) which is a function of the time-intensity information corresponding to the perfusion of contrast agent in the MHA and the time-intensity information corresponding to the perfusion of contrast agent in the MPV is determined.

The invention provides a precision puncture and injection apparatus for surgery. Since the injection apparatus is provided with ultrasound developer injection therein, ordinary users not having medical background can also inject a developer to the vein near the abdominal cavity of a patient for contrast-enhanced ultrasound in events such as car accidents or falls, the bleeding site of the patientin need of first aid can be observed on a display screen by ultrasound development, reuse of the injection apparatus and emergency input of a therapeutic drug solution are realized through a detachable tubular injection body and an injection tube, a control module can control precision puncture injection of hemostatic coagulation factors, emergency hemostatic treatment of the first-aid patient iscarried out before waiting for coming of a medical vehicle, the integral cavity setting of the tubular injection body and the injection tube can facilitate the injection and configuration of the drugsolution, and one tube for multiple purposes is achieved conveniently without changing the injection body during first aid; meanwhile, ultrasonic mixing cavities of the injection apparatus can respectively store some first aid hemostatic drugs that cannot be mixed before use, and the first aid hemostatic drugs can be fully mixed in use.

The present invention provides a validated method for motion correction with great potential for mitigating motion artifacts in 3D DCE-US. The method is described as a method for motion correction of three-dimensional contrast enhanced ultrasound without the availability of Bmode data. Four-dimensional cine data including three-dimensional contrast enhanced ultrasound image frames are acquired. The acquired three-dimensional contrast enhanced ultrasound image frames are subdivided into groups of similar images referred to as windows. A first pass registration is performed for each of the images in the window to a window representative image. A second pass is performed for each of the registered images from the first pass to a master reference image.

A method and computer readable storage medium for contrast enhanced ultrasound quantization imaging. One of the methods comprises: for each position in a region of interest, acquiring a time-varying ultrasonic signal associated with the region of interest within a time period; for each location, a processed time-varying ultrasound signal is determined based at least on the acquired time-varying ultrasound signal, where: a portion where a local increase exceeds a threshold is mapped, and a portion where a local increase does not exceed the threshold is flattened; an image sequence of the region of interest is generated based at least on the processed time-varying ultrasound signals at each location, where the generated image sequence displays signal variations of the processed time-varying ultrasound signals in one or more structures in the region of interest to represent the one or more structures.

The invention discloses an automatic analysis system and method of contrast-enhanced echocardiography ventricular wall thickness based on deep learning. The system comprises a data acquisition and uploading module, a data identification and quality control module and a data measurement and presentation module; the data acquisition and uploading module acquires enhanced echocardiography examination image videos and electrocardiogram examination images, and uploads the images to the data identification and quality control module; the data identification and quality control module preprocesses the uploaded images and videos through a deep learning algorithm module, marks different tissue structures, and performs image quality analysis and feasibility evaluation; and the data measurement and presentation module is used for measuring ventricular wall thickness data of the marked images, and automatically outputting and presenting a measured result to an ultrasonic image workstation. The automatic analysis system combines the advantage of the deep learning algorithm, automation and standardization of data analysis are achieved, differences in individuals and among individuals of ventricular wall thickness measurement are reduced, and repeatability and consistency of ventricular wall thickness measurement are remarkably improved.

An ultrasound system acquires and displays contrast enhanced ultrasound images as contrast agent clusters wash in and out of a region of interest in a body. During wash-in, wash-out cycles, operation of the ultrasound system is varied to optimize system performance of different portions of the contrast cycle. Ultrasound transmission, received signal processing, and image processing are one of the operations of an ultrasound system that can be altered. During wash-in, wash-out cycles, a change in system operation is automatically invoked at a predetermined time or at the occurrence of an event.

Systems and methods, and computer readable storage media, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for contrast enhanced ultrasound quantization imaging are provided. One of the methods includes: for each location in a region of interest, acquiring a time-varying ultrasound signal relative to the region of interest over a time period; for each location, setting a global threshold for the obtained ultrasound signal that varies over time; for each location, determining a relative moment at which the time-varying ultrasonic signal reaches the global threshold; and generating a structural image of the region of interest based at least on the relative time of each determined position, where the generated structural image displays different times at which the ultrasound signals corresponding to different positions in the region of interest reach the global threshold.

Noninvasive imaging biomarkers to predict cancer treatment response based on early measurements, which would spare non-responding patients from unnecessary side effects and costs of ineffective treatment. Tissue characterization, classification and / or discrimination method is provided to capture different patterns of tissue perfusions. Two or three-dimensional dynamic contrast enhanced ultrasound (DCE US) data of a contrast bolus perfused tissue are acquired or available. Parametric perfusion maps of contrast bolus tissue perfusion parameters representing the DCE US data are generated. For each of the generated parametric perfusion maps statistical parameters are extracted. These statistical parameters, which are based on underlying perfusion characteristics, are first order statistical parameters, second order statistical parameters, or a combination thereof. The method then further classifies and / or discriminates the perfusion maps of the tissue using the extracted statistical parameters.

The present invention relates to a method for quantifying drug delivery with the characteristic of measuring the signal intensity of peripheral vessels with a contrast-enhanced ultrasound to quantify the drug delivery at a target site. The present invention can be used for quantifying UTMD (ultrasound triggered microbubble destruction) targeted drug delivery, also for qualifying the unreleased amount of the long-acting drug in the tested object, and for helping setting the treatment schedule for ultrasound disruption of blood-brain barrier.

The invention discloses a method for extracting a blood vessel perfusion region from contrast-enhanced ultrasound images based on a brox optical flow method. The method comprises the steps of (1) obtaining image frames and forming a contrast-enhanced ultrasound image sequence, (2) conducting image preprocessing to reduce speckle noise of each contrast-enhanced ultrasound image, (3) estimating a motion field of every two frames of adjacent contrast-enhanced ultrasound images based on the brox optical flow method, and correcting the two frames of adjacent contrast-enhanced ultrasound images according to an estimated deviation value, and (4) extracting points of the blood vessel perfusion region through a threshold segmentation method. The method has the advantages that the brox optical flow method which is insensitive to noise and high in robustness is adopted to estimate motion displacement of the adjacent image frames and correct the motion displacement; based on the corrected contrast-enhanced ultrasound image sequence, the perfusion region is extracted different from signal features of other tissue backgrounds according to highlight and flashing expressed by radiography microbubbles in blood; experiment results show that the method is small in calculated quantity, easy to realize and good in extraction effect when applied to clinical data.

The present invention relates to a method for quantifying drug delivery with the characteristic of measuring the signal intensity of peripheral vessels with a contrast-enhanced ultrasound to quantify the drug delivery at a target site. The present invention can be used for quantifying UTMD (ultrasound triggered microbubble destruction) targeted drug delivery, also for qualifying the unreleased amount of the long-acting drug in the tested object, and for helping setting the treatment schedule for ultrasound disruption of blood-brain barrier.

An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system and method acquire a sequence of image data as a bolus of contrast agent washes into and out of the liver. The image data of contrast intensity is used to compute time-intensity curves of contrast flow for points in an ultrasound image. Time-dependent data is calculated from the data of the time-intensity curves which, in a described implementation, comprise first and second derivatives of the time-intensity curves. A color map is formed of the time-dependent data or the polarities of the data and displayed in a parametric image as a color overlay of a contrast image of the liver.

The invention discloses a contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging method and system, the method comprises: setting a plurality of contrast agent types and a corresponding imaging mode, the imaging mode comprises parameters, algorithms and / or programs adapted to the contrast agent types; acquiring external input information, determining a contrast agent type and matching a target imaging mode; contrast ultrasound imaging is performed according to the target imaging mode. Since the imaging mode corresponding to each contrast agent is adopted, the imaging of the contrast agent is more accurate, andthe ultrasound apparatus can be applied to different contrast agents in different countries, so that the application range is wider.

An ultrasound system and method are described for acquiring a sequence of ultrasound images of a carotid artery during delivery of a contrast agent. Plaques in the image shown are identified and time-intensity curves are calculated for pixels in the image. Intensity values ​​before and after arrival of the contrast agent are compared to identify pixels or groups of pixels with perfusion. An anatomical image can be created showing the intensity of perfusion and the area of ​​the image of the plaque present, or the perfusion can be quantified by determining the percentage of pixels in the plaque exhibiting perfusion. The extent and degree of perfusion is an indicator of the risk of plaque particles in the bloodstream that may cause stroke-related symptoms.

Guidance and visualization for three-dimensional dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging is provided. Anatomical B-mode images and live three-dimensional dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound images (3D-DCE-US) of an anatomical region of interest are acquired. An ultrasound imaging probe tracker tracks six degrees of freedom position and orientation data of the ultrasound imaging probe. With reference to the common three-dimensional coordinate frame, and for each of the acquired images, the anatomical B-mode images, the live 3D-DCE-US images, and a three-dimensional computer-generated model are visualized and overlaid with each other. The visualization provides guidance and feedback to a user of the ultrasound imaging probe during three-dimensional dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging.