According to one embodiment, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes an ultrasonic probe, transmission unit transmitting a first ultrasonic wave for generating a shear wave in an object to a first region and a second ultrasonic wave to a second region, reception unit generating a reception signal based on the second ultrasonic wave, displacement amount calculation unit calculating a displacement amount of a tissue accompanying propagation of the shear wave to the second region by using the reception signal, arrival time decision unit deciding an arrival time when the shear wave has arrived at each position in the second region, based on a temporal change in the displacement amount concerning the each position, and image generation unit generating based on the arrival time and predetermined pixel values corresponding to the arrival times, a shear wave arrival time image with the pixel values being assigned corresponding to the arrival times.

A system and method from improving the image quality achievable with an ultrasound transducer by using a composite aperture for receiving ultrasound echoes. By using two receive cycles per vector, twice as many transducers may be used for receiving ultrasound imaging data than there are physical channels available in the ultrasound probe. An ultrasound probe utilizing a composite aperture can achieve high image quality from a system have reduced power, size, cost and complexity.

Methods, systems and computer program products for determining a mechanical parameter for a sample having a target region using shear wave displacement are provided. The method includes a) generating at least one shear wave with an excitation pulse in the target region at an excitation position; b) transmitting tracking pulses in a tracking region, at least a portion of which is outside the target region; c) receiving corresponding echo signals for the tracking pulses in the tracking region; d) repeating steps A through C for one or more additional excitation positions within the target region, wherein at least two of the excitation pulses overlap and the tracking region associated with each excitation position overlaps with the tracking region associated with at least one other excitation position; and e) determining at least one mechanical parameter of the target region based on at least one parameter of a shear wave displacement.

A shear wave elasticity measurement method and a shear wave elasticity imaging system are disclosed. For each pair of corresponding shear waves, an echo signal within a continuous period of time can be obtained only at a third position, so that an elasticity parameter corresponding to the target area can be obtained according to the echo signal within the continuous period of time. Not only the position required for obtaining an echo signal is few, but also the total data volume required for obtaining the echo signal is few. The calculation method is also easy, which significantly reduces the system performance requirement.

Circuitry for an ultrasound device is described. The ultrasound device may include a symmetric switch positioned between a pulser and an ultrasound transducer. The pulser may produce bipolar pulses. The symmetric switch may selectively isolate a receiver from the pulser and the ultrasound transducer during a transmit mode of the device, when the bipolar pulses are provided by the pulser to the ultrasound transducer for transmission, and may selectively permit the receiver to receive signals from the ultrasound transducer during a receive mode. The symmetric switch may be provided with a well switch to remove well capacitances in a signal path of the device.

A Method for tissue characterization by ultrasounbd wave attenuation measurements comprising: a) transmitting at least an ultrasound pulse in a target body; b) receiving the ultrasound waves reflected by the said target body and transforming the said reflected ultrasound pulses in RF reception signals; c) extracting the envelope of the received RF signals; d) carrying out a logarithmic compression of the said extracted envelope and e) computing the propagation depth dependent attenuation coefficient of the tissues crossed by the ultrasound pulse in the target body as the slope of the line fitting the said logarithmic compressed envelope data along the penetration depth of the ultrasound pulse in the said target body.

The invention relates also to an ultrasound system for carrying out said method.

An ultrasound elastography method and system are provided. The method may include: exciting an ultrasound probe to transmit ultrasound waves to a body tissue under examination and receive ultrasound echoes to obtain a first ultrasound echo signal, wherein the ultrasound probe comprises an ultrasound transducer provided with multiple array elements; obtaining an ultrasound image of a body tissue under examination; displaying the ultrasound image; generating a shear waves within the body tissue under examination; exciting array elements of a ultrasound transducer to transmit the ultrasound waves to form an ultrasound beam covering a first area within the body tissue under examination; receiving the ultrasound echoes from the first area to obtain the second ultrasound echo signal; and obtaining the propagation path of the shear waves within the first area according to the second ultrasound echo signal.

Various approaches for calibrating the geometry of an ultrasound transducer having multiple transducer elements include providing an acoustic reflector spanning an area traversing by multiple beam paths of ultrasound waves transmitted from all (or at least some) transducer elements to a focal zone; causing the transducer elements to transmit the ultrasound waves to the focal zone; measuring reflections of the ultrasound waves off the acoustic reflector; and based at least in part on the measured reflections, determining optimal geometric parameters associated with the transducer elements.

This method, for determining the local intensity (I.sub.0) of an acoustic field propagating in a target region of a soft solid, at a position located within said target region, includes at least the following steps: determining (102) a value of an ultrasound attenuation coefficient () of the soft body in the target region; determining (104) a value of the shear modulus () of the soft body in the target region; determining (106) a value of the speed of sound (c) in the target region of the soft body; and building (110), with the values determined in steps a), b) and c), a viscoelastic model (M) of a steady-state displacement induced by an acoustic field having a time invariant shape or a viscoelastic model of a difference between two steady-state displacements induced by an acoustic field having a time invariant shape. Moreover, this method also includes the following steps: applying (112) to the target region the acoustic field emitted by an ultrasound source, for a duration such that the acoustic field induces a steady-state localized deformation (Formula (I)) of the soft body in the target region; measuring (114) at least one steady state displacement induced by the acoustic field at a given position in the target region; and computing (116) the amplitude of the intensity of the acoustic field at said given position by inverting the viscoelastic model (M) at said given position, for the displacement(s) measured at step f).

An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes: a hardware processor that determines a focal position of a push wave, and positions of observation points in a region of interest indicating an analysis target range within the subject, causes the ultrasonic probe to perform transmission of a push wave focusing on the focal position, and subsequent to the transmission, causes the ultrasonic probe to transmit a detection wave passing through the region of interest within the subject, and calculates amounts of displacement of tissue of the subject at the observation points on the basis of a reflected wave obtained by the ultrasonic probe in response to the transmission of the detection wave, calculates propagation speeds of the shear wave in the tissue of the subject with respect to the observation points on the basis of the amounts of displacement, and evaluates values of the propagation speeds calculated to create an evaluation result.