EP-4734853-A1 - SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TUNING ULTRASOUND IMAGING

Abstract

A system and method are provided for tuning ultrasound imaging. The method includes displaying a first scan-converted ultrasound image, based on first scan lines of ultrasound imaging data, on a display (S411); receiving screen coordinates of a display point in the first scan-converted ultrasound image, where the display point has a corresponding depth (S412); transforming the screen coordinates of the display point to data coordinates of a corresponding data point in the first scan lines (S413); adjusting a parameter of the first scan lines at a scan depth of the data coordinates of the data point to provide second scan lines of the ultrasound imaging data, including the adjusted parameter (S414); performing scan conversion of the second scan lines to obtain a second scan-converted ultrasound image, where the second scan-converted ultrasound image is altered at the depth of the display point in response to the adjusted parameter (S415); and displaying the second scan-converted ultrasound image (S416).

Inventors

• ATTIA, Emmanuel Mocé Serge

Assignees

• Koninklijke Philips N.V.

Dates

Publication Date

20260506

Application Date

20240620

Claims (14)

1. Claim 1. A method of tuning ultrasound imaging, the method comprising: displaying (S411) a first scan-converted ultrasound image (20) on a display (140), wherein the first scan-converted ultrasound image is based on first scan lines of ultrasound imaging data (10); receiving (S412) screen coordinates of a display point (11) in the first scan-converted ultrasound image, wherein the display point has a corresponding depth in the first scan-converted ultrasound image; transforming (S413) the screen coordinates of the display point in the first scan-converted ultrasound image to data coordinates of a corresponding data point in the first scan lines of the ultrasound imaging data; adjusting (S414) at least one parameter of the first scan lines at a scan depth of the data coordinates of the data point to provide second scan lines of the ultrasound imaging data, wherein the second scan lines include the adjusted at least one parameter, wherein the scan depth of the data coordinates corresponds to the depth of the display point in the first scan-converted ultrasound image; performing (S415) scan conversion of the second scan lines of the ultrasound imaging data to obtain a second scan-converted ultrasound image, wherein the second scan-converted ultrasound image is altered at the depth of the display point in response to the adjusted at least one parameter; and displaying (S416) the second scan-converted ultrasound image on the display.
2. Claim 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the screen coordinates of the display point are received in response to a user input to display identifying the display point.
3. Claim 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the interaction by the user with the display includes at least one of a trackball operation, a trackpad touch, a mouse click or a touchscreen touch input.
4. Claim 4. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one parameter of the first scan lines comprises at least one of: filtering strength, enhancement, grain or contrast.
5. Claim 5. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one parameter is adjusted for all data coordinates at the scan depth in the first scan lines, including the data coordinates of the data point at the scan depth.
6. Claim 6. The method of any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the at least one parameter is adjusted for only the data coordinates of the data point at the scan depth in the first scan lines.
7. Claim 7. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein transforming the screen coordinates of the display point in the first scan-converted ultrasound image to the data coordinates of the corresponding data point in the first scan lines of the ultrasound imaging data comprises: transforming the screen coordinates of the display point from a Cartesian screen coordinate system to the data coordinates of the corresponding data point in a polar data coordinate system using a transformation algorithm.
8. Claim 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the transformation algorithm comprises: T: (x, y) => p (x, y) = Pscale * (/ (x 2 + y 2 ) - po) 0 (x, y) = Gscaie * (arctan2(x, y) - 0 O ) wherein (x, y) are the screen coordinates of the display point in the Cartesian screen coordinate system, (p, 0) are the data coordinates of the corresponding data point in the polar data coordinate system, p is radial distance of the corresponding data point from a fixed origin and 0 is polar angle.
9. Claim 9. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one parameter of the first scan lines at the scan depth of the data coordinates of the data point is adjusted as a function of a depth coordinate in a polar screen coordinate system.
10. Claim 10. The method of any of the preceding claims, wherein the first scan-converted ultrasound image and the second scan-converted ultrasound image are displayed side by side.
11. Claim 11. A system for tuning ultrasound imaging, the system comprising: a display (140); a user interface (150); and a processing unit (125) configured to perform the method according to any of claims 1 to
12. 12. The system of claim 11, further comprising: an ultrasound transducer probe configured to acquire the ultrasound imaging data during an ultrasound examination of a subject, wherein the first scan-converted ultrasound image is displayed in real-time or near real-time during the ultrasound examination based on the first scan lines of the ultrasound imaging data acquired by the ultrasound transducer probe.
13. Claim 13. The system of any of claims 11 or 12, further comprising: a database storing the ultrasound imaging data previously acquired by an ultrasound transducer probe during an ultrasound examination of a subject, wherein the first scan-converted ultrasound image based on the first scan lines of the ultrasound imaging data retrieved from the database.
14. Claim 14. A computer program product (130) having instructions that, when executed by a processing unit (125), cause the processing unit to perform the method according to any of claims 1 to 10.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TUNING ULTRASOUND IMAGING FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a system and method for tuning ultrasound imaging. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Ultrasound imaging has become indispensable for many medical imaging applications. An ultrasound imaging system typically includes an ultrasound transducer probe and a processing system. The ultrasound transducer probe may include an array of transducer elements configured to emit acoustic waves through a subject’s body and to receive echo signals as the acoustic waves are reflected from the tissues, organs and other structures. The timing and strength of the echo signals generally correspond to the size, shape and mass of the structures in the subject’s body, images of which are displayed to a user of the ultrasound imaging system, such as a sonographer or physician. Ultrasound imaging data is acquired by the ultrasound transducer probes as scan lines, which are scan-converted in accordance with a post-processing algorithm to provide corresponding ultrasound images reconstructed for display. Scan conversion of ultrasound images is known in the art. US5528302A “Real-time ultrasound scan conversion” to Basoglu et al. describes a known scan conversion technique and is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. As an illustration, Fig. 1A shows ultrasound imaging data 10 as scan lines output by the ultrasound transducer probe before scan conversion, where for example the image data scan lines are arranged in a generally Cartesian coordinate system, where each data point 12 (X) is located at a particular depth 14 from the transducer probe face. Fig. IB shows an exemplary scan-converted ultrasound image 20 corresponding to the ultrasound imaging data of Fig. 1A after scan conversion. FIG IB for example shows the corresponding scan lines arranged in a polar data coordinate system that may more accurately correspond to the ultrasound image in the underlying anatomy. The data point 12 becomes thus scan-converted data point 22 (X) at radial depth 24. Generally, due to the anisotropic nature of the reconstructed ultrasound images after scan conversion, it would be useful to alter the strength of the post-processing algorithm by depth prior to the scan conversion. Pre-processing typically may be fined- tuned by depth using Time Gain Control (TGC) with a fixed number of sliders. However, because of the scan conversion, there is no trivial mapping between the geometry of the scan lines of ultrasound imaging data that are acquired, and the corresponding post-processed ultrasound image displayed on the display screen. Also, the relationship between the scan lines and the displayed ultrasound image depends on acquisition parameters and geometry of the ultrasound transducer probe. Therefore, what is needed is a mechanism to adjust depth dependent parameters directly by interacting with the displayed ultrasound images and translating the adjustments to the scan lines to repeat processing. In ultrasound, image resolution is non-linearly dependent on depth particularly due to the curved geometry. Directly interacting with the displayed ultrasound images would enable the user to see results of the adjustments in real-time or near real-time to more quickly determine the accuracy of the settings, thereby improving accuracy of adjustments and quality of the final displayed ultrasound images. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention is defined by the independent claims. The dependent claims define advantageous embodiments. According to an embodiment, a method is provided for tuning ultrasound imaging. The method includes displaying a first scan-converted ultrasound image on a display, where the first scan- converted ultrasound image is based on first scan lines of ultrasound imaging data; receiving screen coordinates of a display point in the first scan-converted ultrasound image, where the display point has a corresponding depth in the first scan-converted ultrasound image; transforming the screen coordinates of the display point in the first scan-converted ultrasound image to data coordinates of a corresponding data point in the first scan lines of the ultrasound imaging data; adjusting at least one parameter of the first scan lines at a scan depth of the data coordinates of the data point to provide second scan lines of the ultrasound imaging data, where the second scan lines include the adjusted at least one parameter, where the scan depth of the data coordinates corresponds to the depth of the display point in the first scan- converted ultrasound image; performing scan conversion of the second scan lines of the ultrasound imaging data to obtain a second scan-converted ultrasound image, where the second scan-converted ultrasound image is altered at the depth of the display point in response to the adjusted at least one parameter; and displaying the second scan-converted ultrasound image on the display. According to another embodiment, a system is pr