JP-7855744-B2 - Visualization of blood vessels in ultrasound images

JP7855744B2JP 7855744 B2JP7855744 B2JP 7855744B2JP-7855744-B2

Inventors

松本剛
竹本昂生
ダット、ダービンダーエス．
ホワイト、クリストファーアレクサンダー
ダフィー、トーマスマイケル
ペリー、アダムベンジャミン
ダンセット、ポールトモタロ
マンダヴィア、ディクプラナヴ

Assignees

フジフィルムソノサイトインコーポレイテッド
富士フイルム株式会社

Dates

Publication Date: 20260508
Application Date: 20250116
Priority Date: 20210423

Claims (20)

It is an ultrasonic system, Memory and Includes at least one processor coupled to the memory, The at least one processor is The steps include receiving an ultrasound image that includes blood vessels, A step of determining the diameter of the blood vessel in the ultrasound image using a neural network at least partially implemented in the hardware of the ultrasound system, wherein the diameter includes a first diameter of the blood vessel in a first ultrasound image and a second diameter of the blood vessel in a second ultrasound image, the first ultrasound image corresponds to a first probe pressure on the blood vessel, and the second ultrasound image corresponds to a second probe pressure on the blood vessel that is different from the first probe pressure; A step of determining the amount of movement of the ultrasound probe between generating the first ultrasound image and the second ultrasound image, The steps include comparing the amount of movement with a threshold movement value, A step of determining the current diameter of the blood vessel based on the first diameter and the second diameter, comprising applying one of the first function and the second function to the first diameter and the second diameter based on the comparison, The steps include selecting a color corresponding to a change in the shape of the blood vessel based on the current diameter of the blood vessel, The steps include: displaying the blood vessel with a colored label in one of the ultrasound images; An ultrasonic system configured to perform an action.
The first function is one of the mean, median, mode, maximum, or minimum values of the first and second diameters of the blood vessel. The ultrasonic system according to claim 1.
The second function is one of the mean, median, mode, maximum, or minimum values of the first and second diameters of the blood vessel. The ultrasonic system according to claim 1.
The at least one processor is The steps include selecting the first function as the maximum value of the first and second diameters of the blood vessel when the amount of displacement is less than the threshold displacement value, If the amount of displacement is greater than or equal to the threshold displacement value, the second function is selected as the average value of the first diameter and the second diameter of the blood vessel. The ultrasonic system according to claim 1, further configured to perform the following:
The at least one processor is configured to further perform the step of determining the catheter size based on the current diameter of the blood vessel, The step of selecting a color includes matching the color to a standard color corresponding to the catheter size. The ultrasonic system according to claim 1.
The at least one processor is configured to further perform the step of determining whether the blood vessel is a vein or an artery, The step of displaying is, To allow the display of the marker having a color similar to that of the blood vessel when the blood vessel is determined to be a vein, or to prohibit the display of the marker having the color when the blood vessel is determined to be an artery. The ultrasonic system according to claim 1, including the following:
The at least one processor is A step of determining whether the blood vessel is a vein or an artery, When the blood vessel is determined to be an artery, the step of indicating the blood vessel in one of the ultrasound images with further markings that distinguish between arteries and veins, The ultrasonic system according to claim 1, further configured to perform the following:
The at least one processor is The steps include determining the position of the blood vessel on the touchscreen of the ultrasound system, The steps include receiving a user selection via the touchscreen located near the aforementioned position, In response to the reception of the user selection, The steps include: disabling the display of the sign when the sign is currently displayed on the touchscreen, or enabling the display of the sign when the sign is not currently displayed on the touchscreen; The ultrasonic system according to claim 1, further configured to perform the following:
It is an ultrasonic system, Memory and Includes at least one processor coupled to the memory, The at least one processor is The steps include receiving an ultrasound image containing multiple blood vessels, The steps include determining the diameter and location of the plurality of blood vessels in a subset of the ultrasound images using a neural network at least partially implemented in the hardware of the ultrasound system, A step of determining a detection failure for a first blood vessel, which is one of the plurality of blood vessels, in a first ultrasound image, which is one of the ultrasound images not included in the subset, wherein the detection failure indicates the absence of a diameter or position determined by the neural network with respect to the first blood vessel in the first ultrasound image. In response to the determination of the detection failure, a step of displaying a label for the diameter and position of the first blood vessel in the first ultrasound image, wherein the label is based on the diameter and position determined by the neural network with respect to the subset of the ultrasound image, An ultrasonic system configured to perform an action.
The at least one processor is The steps include receiving a user selection via the touchscreen of the ultrasonic system located adjacent to the sign, In response to the reception of the user selection, the step of disabling the display of the indicator, The ultrasonic system according to claim 9, further configured to perform the following:
The at least one processor is The steps include receiving further user selections via the touchscreen located near the position indicated by the sign, In response to the reception of the further user selection, the step of enabling the display of the indicator, The ultrasonic system according to claim 10, configured to further perform the following.
The ultrasound system according to claim 9, wherein the display step includes displaying the label in the first vessel in a first format to indicate the detection failure, and displaying further labels in further vessels among the plurality of vessels in a second format.
The ultrasonic system according to claim 12, wherein the first format of the mark includes a dashed line container, and the second format of the further mark includes a solid line container.
The ultrasonic system according to claim 12, wherein the first format of the sign includes a first color, and the second format of the further sign includes a second color.
The ultrasound system according to claim 14, wherein the second color corresponds to a standard color representing a catheter size, and the first color does not indicate a standard catheter size.
It is an ultrasonic system, Memory and Includes at least one processor coupled to the memory, The at least one processor is A step of receiving an ultrasound image including blood vessels while an ultrasound probe is in motion, wherein the ultrasound image is based on ultrasound echo signals received by the ultrasound probe while it is in motion. A step of determining a first ultrasound image from among the ultrasound images based on the position of the ultrasound probe relative to the blood vessel when the ultrasound image is received, wherein the first ultrasound image includes marking of a first probe pressure of the blood vessel having a first diameter, The steps include determining the characteristics of the blood vessel within a further ultrasound image from the aforementioned ultrasound images, including the second diameter, A step of determining the amount of movement of the ultrasound probe between generating the first ultrasound image and the further ultrasound image, The steps include comparing the amount of movement with a threshold movement value, A step of determining the current diameter of the blood vessel based on the first diameter and the second diameter, and the comparison; The step of displaying the label of the features of the blood vessel in the further ultrasound image among the ultrasound images, It is configured to perform the following actions: The label in the further ultrasound image indicates a second probe pressure for the blood vessel that is different from the first probe pressure. Based on the change from the first probe pressure to the second probe pressure, the indicator changes. The label in the further ultrasound image includes a color indicating the current diameter of the blood vessel, The step of determining the current diameter of the blood vessel includes applying one of the first and second functions to the first and second diameters based on the comparison, An ultrasound system in which the aforementioned colors correspond to changes in the shape of the blood vessels.
The ultrasonic system according to claim 16, wherein the marker includes a boundary container.
The ultrasound system according to claim 16, wherein the aforementioned features include the location of the blood vessel in the further ultrasound image.
The ultrasound system according to claim 16, wherein the further ultrasound image is the most recent ultrasound image of the ultrasound image.
The ultrasound system according to claim 16, wherein at least one processor is configured to perform the step of displaying further markers in the further ultrasound image to guide the movement of the ultrasound probe to the position.

Description

Related Application This application claims priority to U.S. Nonprovisional Application No. 17/239,335, filed on 23 April 2021, entitled “Identifying Blood Vessels in Ultrasound Images,” the disclosure of which is incorporated in its entirety by reference. One or more typical embodiments relate to an ultrasound machine and a method of operating it, and more particularly to an ultrasound machine that identifies blood vessels in an ultrasound image and highlights them by including information about the blood vessels that is useful to the operator of the ultrasound machine. An ultrasound system emits ultrasound signals generated from an ultrasound probe onto an object, such as a patient, and receives echo signals reflected from within the object. Using these received echo signals, an image of the object's interior is generated. More specifically, an ultrasound diagnostic machine generates an ultrasound image using ultrasound image data acquired from the ultrasound probe, and displays the generated ultrasound image on a screen to provide the user with the ultrasound image. An ultrasound machine may include a control panel for controlling the machine and setting various functions such as gain or frequency. One procedure where ultrasound is frequently used is ultrasound-guided insertion of interventional devices, such as peripheral intravenous (PIV) catheterization. When performing ultrasound-guided PIV catheterization, clinicians can first use ultrasound to perform a body survey scan to locate a suitable vein for cannula insertion. A suitable vein has the following characteristics: generally larger than 0.3 mm in diameter; generally not located near an artery that could be accidentally damaged during cannula insertion; sufficiently large so that the catheter-to-vein diameter ratio is greater than 0.45 (although other rules of thumb exist, such as 0.33); the vein is relatively straight and not tortuous; and the vein does not contain valves that the catheter will strike. To determine the diameter and depth of a vein within a patient, a clinician might stare at the measurement (e.g., estimate), which is prone to error, or they might turn on a caliper to obtain more accurate diameter and depth measurements. In practice, clinicians rarely use a caliper because it is time-consuming and they do not want to touch the ultrasound machine while performing this procedure (for both sterility and workflow reasons). Therefore, clinicians need to be able to easily visualize and identify suitable vessels for inserting catheters, needles, etc. In some embodiments, an ultrasound system is provided, comprising a memory and at least one processor coupled to the memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform the following steps: receiving an ultrasound image including a blood vessel; determining the diameter of a blood vessel in the ultrasound image using a neural network at least partially implemented in the hardware of the ultrasound system, wherein the diameter includes a first diameter of the blood vessel in a first ultrasound image and a second diameter of the blood vessel in a second ultrasound image, where the first ultrasound image corresponds to a first probe pressure on the blood vessel and the second ultrasound image corresponds to a second probe pressure on a blood vessel different from the first probe pressure; determining the amount of movement of the ultrasound probe between generating the first and second ultrasound images; comparing the amount of movement with a threshold movement value; determining the current diameter of the blood vessel based on the first and second diameters, comprising applying one of a first function and a second function to the first and second diameters based on the comparison; selecting a color corresponding to a change in the shape of the blood vessel based on the current diameter of the blood vessel; and displaying the blood vessel with a colored marker in one of the ultrasound images. In some embodiments, an ultrasound system is provided, comprising a memory and at least one processor coupled to the memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform the following steps: receiving an ultrasound image containing a plurality of blood vessels; determining the diameter and location of the plurality of blood vessels in a subset of the ultrasound image using a neural network at least partially implemented in the hardware of the ultrasound system; determining a detection failure for a first blood vessel, which is one of the plurality of blood vessels, in a first ultrasound image, which is one of the ultrasound images not included in the subset, wherein the detection failure indicates the absence of a diameter or location for the first blood vessel in the first ultrasound image as determined by the neural network; and, in response to the determination of a detection failure, displaying a label for the diameter and location of the first blood vessel in the firs