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EP-4529854-B1 - ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS AND CONTROL METHOD OF ULTRASOUND DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS

EP4529854B1EP 4529854 B1EP4529854 B1EP 4529854B1EP-4529854-B1

Inventors

  • EBATA, Tetsurou

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20240927

Claims (16)

  1. An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus comprising: an ultrasound probe (1); a position and posture sensor (13) that acquires position and posture information of the ultrasound probe (1); an image acquisition unit (32) that acquires an ultrasound image of a subject by transmitting and receiving ultrasound beams by using the ultrasound probe (1); a contour detection unit (25) that detects a contour of an organ imaged in the ultrasound image, on the basis of the ultrasound image; a region detection unit (27) that detects a region of the organ imaged in the ultrasound image, on the basis of the ultrasound image; a contour data generation unit (26) that generates three-dimensional image data of the contour of the organ on the basis of the contour detected by the contour detection unit (25) and the position and posture information acquired by the position and posture sensor (13); a region data generation unit (28) that generates three-dimensional image data of the region of the organ on the basis of the region detected by the region detection unit (27) and the position and posture information acquired by the position and posture sensor (13); and a monitor (23) that sequentially displays an image representing the contour and an image representing the region on the basis of the three-dimensional image data of the contour and the three-dimensional image data of the region; wherein the contour detection unit (25) detects the contour by using a contour detection model in which the contour of the organ in the ultrasound image in which the organ is imaged is trained by learning a relationship between a large number of ultrasound images in which the organ is imaged and a contour of the organ in the ultrasound images in advance, and wherein the contour detection model outputs the contour of the organ in the ultrasound image in response to the input of the ultrasound image in which the organ is imaged, and the region detection unit (27) detects the region by using a region detection model in which the region of the organ in the ultrasound image in which the organ is imaged is trained by learning a relationship between a large number of ultrasound images in which an organ is imaged and a region of the organ in the ultrasound images in advance, and wherein the region detection model outputs the region of the organ in the ultrasound image for each pixel in response to the input of the ultrasound image in which the organ is imaged.
  2. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a non-depiction determination unit (51) that determines a portion of which the contour is not detected by the contour detection unit (25) or a portion of which the region is not detected by the region detection unit (27), as a non-depicted portion; and a notification unit (52) that notifies a user in a case where the non-depiction determination unit (51) determines that the non-depicted portion is present.
  3. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to claim 2, wherein in a case where the contour detected by the contour detection unit (52) or the region detected by the region detection unit (27) has a discontinuous portion having an interval equal to or greater than a predetermined interval, the non-depiction determination unit (51) determines the discontinuous portion as the non-depicted portion.
  4. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: a noncontact detection unit (53) that detects a noncontact state in which the ultrasound probe (1) is separated from a body surface of the subject, wherein the non-depiction determination unit (51) determines that the non-depicted portion is present in a case where the noncontact state is detected by the noncontact detection unit (53).
  5. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the non-depiction determination unit (51) determines that the non-depicted portion is present in a case where a predetermined period of time has elapsed from a start of scanning by the ultrasound probe (1).
  6. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the non-depiction determination unit (51) determines that the non-depicted portion is present in a case where the user gives an instruction to complete an examination.
  7. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the non-depiction determination unit (51) determines that the non-depicted portion of which the region is not detected by the region detection unit (27) is present in a case where the contour detected by the contour detection unit (25) is closed.
  8. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 7, wherein in a case where the contour detected by the contour detection unit (25) is closed and the region that is not detected by the region detection unit (27) is not present in a range inside the contour, the notification unit (52) notifies the user that scanning is completed.
  9. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the monitor (23) displays a three-dimensional schema image, and the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus further comprises an emphasized display unit (56) that displays the contour detected by the contour detection unit (25) and the region detected by the region detection unit (27) in an emphasized manner on the three-dimensional schema image.
  10. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 7, further comprising: a reference contour memory (54) that stores a reference contour that is able to be depicted, wherein in a case where a contour corresponding to the reference contour stored in the reference contour memory (54) is not detected by the contour detection unit (25), the notification unit (52) notifies the user to move the ultrasound probe (1).
  11. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the monitor (23) sequentially displays a three-dimensional image of the contour and a three-dimensional image of the region, as the image representing the contour and the image representing the region.
  12. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 11, further comprising: a tomographic image extraction unit (57) that extracts a two-dimensional tomographic image of the contour and a two-dimensional tomographic image of the region on a same cut section, from the three-dimensional image data of the contour generated by the contour data generation unit (26) and the three-dimensional image data of the region generated by the region data generation unit (28), respectively, wherein the monitor (23) sequentially displays the two-dimensional tomographic image of the contour and the two-dimensional tomographic image of the region extracted by the tomographic image extraction unit (57), as the image representing the contour and the image representing the region.
  13. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the monitor (23) displays the image representing the contour and the image representing the region in a superimposed manner.
  14. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the monitor (23) displays the image representing the contour and the image representing the region side by side.
  15. The ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein the position and posture sensor includes an inertial sensor, a magnetic sensor, or an optical sensor.
  16. A control method of an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus, the control method comprising: acquiring position and posture information of an ultrasound probe (1); acquiring an ultrasound image of a subject by transmitting and receiving ultrasound beams by using the ultrasound probe (1); detecting a contour of an organ imaged in the ultrasound image, on the basis of the ultrasound image; detecting a region of the organ imaged in the ultrasound image, on the basis of the ultrasound image; generating three-dimensional image data of the contour of the organ on the basis of the detected contour and the acquired position and posture information; generating three-dimensional image data of the region of the organ on the basis of the detected region and the acquired position and posture information; and sequentially displaying an image representing the contour and an image representing the region on a monitor (23) on the basis of the three-dimensional image data of the contour and the three-dimensional image data of the region; wherein detecting the contour of an organ imaged in the ultrasound image includes using a contour detection model in which the contour of the organ in the ultrasound image in which the organ is imaged is trained by learning a relationship between a large number of ultrasound images in which the organ is imaged and a contour of the organ in the ultrasound images in advance, and wherein the contour detection model outputs the contour of the organ in the ultrasound image in response to the input of the ultrasound image in which the organ is imaged; and detecting the region of the organ imaged in the ultrasound image includes using a region detection model in which the region of the organ in the ultrasound image in which the organ is imaged is trained by learning a relationship between a large number of ultrasound images in which an organ is imaged and a region of the organ in the ultrasound images in advance, and wherein the region detection model outputs the region of the organ in the ultrasound image for each pixel in response to the input of the ultrasound image in which the organ is imaged.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus, and a control method of the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus which comprehensively scan an inside of a subject. 2. Description of the Related Art In the related art, an examination is performed by capturing an ultrasound image representing a tomographic image of a subject by using a so-called ultrasound diagnostic apparatus. In such an examination, a user such as a doctor usually captures the ultrasound image while changing a posture of a so-called ultrasound probe and moving the ultrasound probe in a state where the ultrasound probe is in contact with a body surface of the subject. In this case, the user usually sequentially captures ultrasound images while determining a scanned part of the subject by checking the captured ultrasound image, but a user having a low skill level in the examination using the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus may have difficulty in determining whether or not a site of an examination target in the subject has been comprehensively scanned. Therefore, for example, as disclosed in JP2012-104137A, a technique has been developed in which a contour of an organ as the examination target is extracted from ultrasound images of a plurality of frames captured while the ultrasound probe is moved, and a region in which an interval between the extracted contours is equal to or greater than a certain value is displayed as a region that has not yet been scanned. US2015/359517 A1 relates to an ultrasound system including a processing unit which is configured to generate a three-dimensional model from ultrasouond images and the position and orientation of the ultrasound probe, using an image reconstruction algorithm. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION However, in a case of determining whether or not comprehensive scanning has been performed by extracting the contour of the organ as disclosed in JP2012-104137A, for example, even in a case where there is a region that has not yet been scanned in a region inside the contour, it may be determined that the comprehensive scanning is completed. In this case, there is a concern that the user having a low skill level may complete the examination even though the organ has not yet been comprehensively scanned. The present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem in the related art, and an object thereof is to provide an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus and a control method of the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to independent claims 1 and 16. Optional features are defined in the dependent claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.Fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a transmission and reception circuit in the first embodiment of the present invention.Fig. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image generation unit in the first embodiment of the present invention.Fig. 4 is a schematic view of an ultrasound probe on a body surface of a subject and an organ being scanned.Fig. 5 is a display example of a contour and a region of an organ in the first embodiment.Fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.Fig. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a three-dimensional grid set in three-dimensional image data of an organ.Fig. 9 is a diagram in which a three-dimensional grid is partially enlarged.Fig. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.Fig. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.Fig. 12 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.Fig. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a three-dimensional schema image in the fifth embodiment of the present invention.Fig. 14 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention.Fig. 15 is another display example of a contour and a region of an organ in the sixth embodiment. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The description of configuration requirements described below is given on the basis of a representative embodiment of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. Note that, in the present speci