US-12616450-B2 - Panoramic imaging in 2D and 3D ultrasound images

US12616450B2US 12616450 B2US12616450 B2US 12616450B2US-12616450-B2

Abstract

Systems and methods for panoramic imaging in 2D and 3D ultrasound imaging are disclosed. The techniques disclosed herein use image registration to combine the 2D images into a 3D volume. Ultrasound images collected in different locations are combined using image tracking. When the transducer moves along a lateral direction (in line with a longitudinal axis of the transducer), a portion of the image is overlapped between frames and the overlapping frames can be patched. When the transducer moves along an elevational direction (non-parallel to the longitudinal axis of the transducer), there is no overlap between frames and the non-overlapping frames are not patched together but are stored side-by-side to create a volume. The storage and patching processes can be adaptive (e.g., the images are not stored or patched if there is minimal difference between neighboring frames).

Inventors

Bo Zhuang
Yong Zhou
Jean Tsou

Assignees

FUJIFILM SONOSITE, INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20240509

Claims (20)

1 . An ultrasound system comprising: an ultrasound scanner configured to generate ultrasound data based on reflections of ultrasound signals transmitted by the ultrasound scanner at an anatomy of a patient, the ultrasound scanner including a transducer having a width and a length, the length being greater than the width, the transducer having a first axis along the length, a second axis along the width, and a third axis in an axial direction of the transducer; a guidance controller configured to provide guidance instructions for manual movement of the transducer, the guidance instructions indicating a sweep pattern over a surface area of the patient, the sweep pattern including lateral movement and elevational movement of the transducer, the lateral movement being defined as movement of the transducer in a lateral direction that is substantially parallel to the first axis of the transducer, the elevational movement being defined as movement of the transducer in an elevational direction that is substantially parallel to the second axis, the guidance controller configured to: during the lateral movement of the transducer in the sweep pattern, generate a first notification responsive to a determination that ultrasound images generated from the ultrasound data being generated are being patched together and that patched ultrasound images are being generated; and during the elevational movement of the transducer in the sweep pattern, generate a second notification responsive to a determination that ultrasound images generated from the ultrasound data being generated are not being patched together and that unpatched ultrasound images are being generated; one or more processors; and one or more computer-readable storage media having instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: generate a plurality of two-dimensional (2D) ultrasound images based on the ultrasound data generated over the sweep pattern, the plurality of 2D ultrasound images including the patched ultrasound images and the unpatched ultrasound images; and combine the plurality of 2D ultrasound images into a 3D volume using image registration.
2 . The ultrasound system of claim 1 , further comprising a light-emitting diode (LED) coupled to the ultrasound scanner, wherein the guidance instructions are provided via the LED.
3 . The ultrasound system of claim 1 , further comprising a speaker, wherein the guidance instructions are provided as one or more audio signals output via the speaker.
4 . The ultrasound system of claim 1 , further comprising a display device, wherein the guidance instructions include one or more visual objects rendered via a user interface displayed via the display device.
5 . The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the guidance instructions include: one or more guidance indicators configured to verify to a user that the transducer is moving at a speed that is within a threshold range of movement speed for patching ultrasound images; and one or more additional guidance indicators configured to notify the user that the transducer is moving at a speed that is outside the threshold range of movement speed for patching ultrasound images.
6 . The ultrasound system of claim 1 , further comprising a user interface, the user interface including a guidance panel for displaying a diagram of the sweep pattern, the diagram of the sweep pattern including a plurality of locations and directions for the manual movement of the transducer to cover the surface area of the patient.
7 . The ultrasound system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further comprising cause the one or more processors to: generate tracking information for each ultrasound image of the plurality of 2D ultrasound images, the tracking information including one or more parameters of the transducer when generating a respective 2D ultrasound image of the plurality of 2D ultrasound images, wherein: the image registration includes the tracking information; and the patched ultrasound images include 2D panoramic images.
8 . The ultrasound system of claim 2 , wherein the guidance instructions correspond to at least one of color, brightness level, flash pattern, or size of the LED.
9 . The ultrasound system of claim 6 , wherein the guidance panel includes a representation of a position of the transducer relative to the sweep pattern in real time.
10 . The ultrasound system of claim 6 , wherein the user interface includes an image panel configured to display one or more of the 2D ultrasound images.
11 . The ultrasound system of claim 10 , wherein the one or more ultrasound images include a panoramic ultrasound image generated by patching ultrasound frames generated during the lateral movement of the transducer.
12 . The ultrasound system of claim 7 , further comprising a sensor coupled to the ultrasound scanner, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to generate the tracking information based on sensor information provided by the sensor.
13 . The ultrasound system of claim 7 , wherein the one or more parameters of the transducer include at least one of a position, an acceleration, an angle, or an elevation of the transducer.
14 . The ultrasound system of claim 7 , wherein: the sweep pattern is a first sweep pattern; the surface area is a first surface area of the patient; the plurality of 2D ultrasound images includes first ultrasound images generated during the first sweep pattern; the instructions further cause the one or more processors to use the image registration to patch the first ultrasound images generated during the first sweep pattern with second ultrasound images generated during a second sweep pattern to create the 3D volume with high resolution; the first sweep pattern includes first lateral movements and first elevational movements of the transducer that together cover the first surface area of the patient; the second sweep pattern includes second lateral movements and second elevational movements of the transducer that together cover a second surface area of the patient that overlaps the first surface area; and the transducer is rotated about the third axis in the second sweep pattern relative to the first sweep pattern.
15 . The ultrasound system of claim 14 , wherein: the first ultrasound images include first high-resolution images generated along the first lateral movements in the first sweep pattern and first low-resolution images generated along the first elevational movements in the first sweep pattern; the second ultrasound images include second high-resolution images generated along the second lateral movements in the second sweep pattern and second low-resolution images generated along the second elevational movements in the second sweep pattern; and the instructions further cause the one or more processors to use the image registration to patch the first high-resolution images with the second low-resolution images and patch the first low-resolution images with the second high-resolution images to create the 3D volume with high resolution.
16 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media having instructions stored thereon, that, responsive to execution by one or more processors of an ultrasound system, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: generating ultrasound data based on reflections of ultrasound signals transmitted by an ultrasound scanner at an anatomy of a patient, the ultrasound scanner including a transducer having a width and a length, the length being greater than the width, the transducer having a first axis along the length, a second axis along the width, and a third axis in an axial direction of the transducer; providing guidance instructions for manual movement of the transducer, the guidance instructions indicating a sweep pattern over a surface area of the patient, the sweep pattern including lateral movement and elevational movement of the transducer, the lateral movement being defined as movement of the transducer in a lateral direction that is substantially parallel to the first axis of the transducer, the elevational movement being defined as movement of the transducer in an elevational direction that is substantially parallel to the second axis; during the lateral movement of the transducer in the sweep pattern, generating a first notification responsive to determining that ultrasound images generated from the ultrasound data being generated are being patched together and that patched ultrasound images are being generated; during the elevational movement of the transducer in the sweep pattern, generating a second notification responsive to determining that ultrasound images generated from the ultrasound data being generated are not being patched together and that unpatched ultrasound images are being generated; generating a plurality of two-dimensional (2D) ultrasound images based on the ultrasound data generated over the sweep pattern, the plurality of 2D ultrasound images including the patched ultrasound images and the unpatched ultrasound images; and combining the plurality of 2D ultrasound images into a 3D volume using image registration.
17 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16 , wherein providing the guidance instructions includes providing: illumination via a light-emitting diode (LED) coupled to the ultrasound scanner; one or more audio signals output via a speaker coupled to the ultrasound scanner; or one or more visual objects rendered via a user interface displayed via a display device coupled to the ultrasound scanner.
18 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1 , wherein: the operations further include generating tracking information for each ultrasound image of the plurality of 2D ultrasound images, the tracking information including one or more parameters of the transducer when generating a respective 2D ultrasound image of the plurality of 2D ultrasound images; the image registration includes the tracking information; and the patched ultrasound images include 2D panoramic images.
19 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16 , the sweep pattern is a first sweep pattern; the surface area is a first surface area of the patient; the plurality of 2D ultrasound images are first ultrasound images generated during the first sweep pattern; the operations further include using the image registration to patch the first ultrasound images generated during the first sweep pattern with second ultrasound images generated during a second sweep pattern to create the 3D volume with high resolution; the first sweep pattern includes first lateral movements and first elevational movements of the transducer that together cover the first surface area of the patient; the second sweep pattern includes second lateral movements and second elevational movements of the transducer that together cover a second surface area of the patient that overlaps the first surface area; and the transducer is rotated about the third axis in the second sweep pattern relative to the first sweep pattern.
20 . The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 18 , wherein the tracking information is generated based on sensor information provided by a sensor coupled to the ultrasound scanner.

Description

BACKGROUND Anatomical structures are three dimensional, whereas ultrasound imaging generally produces two-dimensional images. In some cases, it may be desirable to acquire ultrasound volume for three-dimensional (3D) imaging; however, it is challenging to acquire ultrasound volume in 3D based on a collection of two-dimensional (2D) images. Generally, 3D-ultrasound devices are expensive to manufacture or have undesirable resolution and/or signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). One-dimensional (1D)-array transducers are common in ultrasound systems and can produce high-resolution 2D images. However, such 1D-array transducers must be mechanically or manually operated and moved to acquire 3D-volume data. Mechanically moved 1D-array transducers are generally expensive and have a limited field of view (FOV). Manually moved 1D-array transducers generally result in poor quality of acquired volume due to inconsistent and/or unsteady movement by the user. In addition, the existence of bone structures and their specular-reflector behavior can limit the performance of the transducer in acquiring ultrasound data under bone surfaces. Using a 2D-array transducer can be cost prohibitive for many users and have a limited FOV compared with a moving 1D-array transducer. The limitations in these conventional techniques can lead to a poor user experience and sub-optimal imaging results. SUMMARY Systems and methods for panoramic imaging in 2D and 3D ultrasound imaging are disclosed. The techniques disclosed herein use image registration to combine 2D ultrasound images into a 3D volume. Ultrasound images collected in different locations are combined using image tracking. When the transducer moves along a lateral direction (aligned with a longitudinal axis of the transducer), a portion of the anatomy is overlapped between frames and the overlapping frames can be patched together. When the transducer moves along an elevational direction (non-parallel to the longitudinal axis of the transducer), there is no overlap between frames and the non-overlapping frames are not patched together but are stored side-by-side to create a volume. The storage and patching processes can be adaptive (e.g., the images are not stored or patched if there is minimal difference between neighboring frames). In one implementation of the 3D-volume data acquisition disclosed herein, the transducer moves along the elevational direction first and then the lateral direction. A first indicator (e.g., visual message, audio signal) can be provided to the user to notify the user of a low correlation between 2D images being generated (e.g., neighboring frames cannot be patched). A second indicator (e.g., green icon) can be provided to notify the user of a high correlation between 2D images being generated (e.g., neighboring frames can be patched together). This procedure can be repeated for multiple sweeps of the transducer. In aspects, an ultrasound system is disclosed. The ultrasound system includes an ultrasound scanner, a guidance controller, one or more processors, and one or more computer-readable storage media. The ultrasound scanner is configured to generate ultrasound data based on reflections of ultrasound signals transmitted by the ultrasound scanner at an anatomy of a patient. In implementations, the ultrasound scanner includes a transducer having a width and a length, where the length is greater than the width. The transducer has a first axis along the length, a second axis along the width, and a third axis in an axial direction of the transducer. The guidance controller is configured to provide guidance instructions to guide a user to manually move the ultrasound scanner in a sweep pattern over a surface area of the patient. The sweep pattern includes lateral movement and elevational movement of the ultrasound scanner. The lateral movement is defined as movement of the ultrasound scanner in a lateral direction that is in substantially parallel to the first axis of the transducer. The elevational movement is defined as movement of the ultrasound scanner in an elevational direction that is substantially parallel to the second axis. The one or more computer-readable storage media include instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to generate a plurality of two-dimensional (2D) ultrasound images based on the ultrasound data generated over the sweep pattern and combine the plurality of 2D ultrasound images into a 3D volume using image registration. In aspects, a method is disclosed. The method includes receiving ultrasound data generated by an ultrasound scanner based on reflections of ultrasound signals transmitted by the ultrasound scanner at an anatomy of a patient. The method also includes receiving tracking information corresponding to one or more parameters associated with the ultrasound scanner, the one or more parameters defined when the ultrasound signals are transmitted by the ult