METHOD AND APPARATUS TO PRODUCE ULTRASONIC IMAGES USING MULTIPLE APERTURES

摘要

A combination of an ultrasonic scanner and an omnidirectional receive transducer for producing a two-dimensional image from received echoes is described. Two-dimensional images with different noise components can be constructed from the echoes received by additional transducers. These can be combined to produce images with better signal to noise ratios and lateral resolution. Also disclosed is a method based on information content to compensate for the different delays for different paths through intervening tissue is described. The disclosed techniques have broad application in medical imaging but are ideally suited to multi-aperture cardiac imaging using two or more intercostal spaces. Since lateral resolution is determined primarily by the aperture defined by the end elements, it is not necessary to fill the entire aperture with equally spaced elements. Multiple slices using these methods can be combined to form three-dimensional images.

主权项

1. An ultrasound imaging method comprising:
transmitting first ultrasonic energy into a target object to be imaged from a first transducer array positioned in a first acoustic window; receiving first echoes of the first ultrasonic energy with a first single element of a second transducer array positioned in a second acoustic window; obtaining first position information describing a first position of the first single element relative to the first transducer array;constructing a first image of the target object from the first echoes and the first position information;
transmitting second ultrasonic energy into the target object to be imaged from the second transducer array positioned in the second acoustic window; receiving second echoes of the second ultrasonic energy with a second single element of the first transducer array; obtaining second position information describing a second position of the second single element relative to the second transducer array; constructing a second image of the target object from the second echoes and the second position information; and averaging the first image and the second image.