A method for acquiring image data of a body part of a patient by means of a ultrasonography device comprising the following steps: providing a transducer of the ultrasonography device, said transducer comprising a first orientation sensor; attaching a second orientation sensor to the skin of the patient above the body part; detecting the orientation of the first orientation sensor relative to the second orientation sensor and verifying, whether the relative orientation corresponds to a target value; and acquiring image data of the body part, once the relative orientation corresponds to the target value.

Provided is an ultrasound imaging device and an operation method thereof. An embodiment of the present disclosure provides an ultrasound imaging device comprising: an ultrasound probe; a display unit; a memory for storing at least one instruction; and a processor for executing the at least one instruction stored in the memory, wherein the processor: image-processes an echo signal to acquire multiple ultrasound images; calculates suitability indicating, as a numerical value, whether the multiple acquired ultrasound images are suitable as input images for a diagnosis algorithm for diagnosing a lesion; displays the calculated suitability on the display unit; and determines an input ultrasound image, which is to be input into the diagnosis algorithm, among the multiple ultrasound images based on the suitability.

The invention provides an ultrasound processing unit. A controller (18) of the unit is adapted to receive ultrasound data of an anatomical region, for example of the heart. The controller processes the ultrasound data over a period of time to monitor and detect whether alignment of a particular anatomical feature (34) represented in the data relative to a field of view (36) of the transducer unit is changing over time. In the event that the alignment is changing, the controller generates an output signal for communicating this to a user, allowing a user to be alerted at an early stage to likelihood of misalignment and loss of imaging or measurement capability.

Methods and systems are provided for tracking anatomical features across multiple images. One example method includes outputting, for display on a display device, an annotation indicative of a first location of an identified anatomical feature of a first ultrasound image, the annotation generated based on a first output of a model and outputting, for display on the display device, an adjusted annotation based on a second output of the model, the second output of the model generated based on a second ultrasound image and further based on the first output of the model, the adjusted annotation indicative of a second location of the identified anatomical feature in the second ultrasound image.

Periodic displacement occurs in body tissue due to heartbeat. A peak level D of the movement distance of the body tissue is detected (Step 21), and a heartbeat cycle T is calculated from a frequency spectrum (Steps 22 and 23). By dividing twice the peak level D by the heartbeat cycle T, the moving velocity of the body tissue in a unit heartbeat cycle is calculated (Step 24). By dividing the moving velocity by a frame rate r, an average movement distance of the body tissue between frames is calculated (Step 25). In a case where the average movement distance is smaller than a predetermined threshold value, a time interval between the frames used for the calculation of the movement distance is extended (being Step 26 NO, Step 27).

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for ultrasound image acquisition optimization according to different respiration modes. A method for ultrasound image acquisition optimization according to different respiration modes includes acquiring by an ultrasound imaging device, an ultrasound image of a target organ. The method further includes comparing attributes of the acquired ultrasound image to association data in a data store of associations associating attributes of previously acquired ultrasound imagery of different images of the target organ with different modes of respiration. Finally, the method includes determining from the comparison, a mode of respiration evident from the acquired ultrasound image and presenting the determined mode in the ultrasound imaging device.

Functional ultrasound imaging (“fUS”) is used to facilitate the placement of electrodes for spinal cord stimulation and to optimize and update stimulation parameters for spinal cord stimulation devices.

A method includes emitting an ultrasound beam, having a predefined field of view (FOV), from an array of ultrasound transducers in a catheter in an organ of a patient. Echo signals are received in the array, in response to the ultrasound beam. A position of a target object is estimated within the FOV. When the estimated position of the target object violates a centering condition, the FOV of the ultrasound beam is automatically modified to re-meet the centering condition.

A method includes emitting an ultrasound beam from an array of ultrasound transducers in a catheter placed in a blood pool in an organ. Echo signals reflected in response to the ultrasound beam are received in the array. Distinction is made in the echo signals between (i) first spectral signal components having Doppler shifts characteristic of blood and (ii) second spectral signal components having Doppler shifts characteristic of tissue of the organ. The first spectral signal components are suppressed relative to the second spectral signal components in the echo signals. An ultrasound image of at least a portion of the organ is reconstructed from the echo signals having the suppressed first spectral signal components. The reconstructed image is displayed to a user.

A 3D ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system produces 3D display images at a 3D frame rate of display which is equal to the acquisition rate of a 3D image dataset. The volumetric region being imaged is sparsely sub-sampled by separated scanning beams. Spatial locations between the beams are filled in with interpolated values or interleaved with acquired data values from other 3D scanning intervals depending upon the existence of motion in the image field. A plurality of different beam scanning patterns are used, different ones of which have different spatial locations where beams are located and beams are omitted. In a preferred embodiment the determination of motion and the consequent decision to use interpolated or interleaved data for display is determined on a pixel-by-pixel basis.