Systems and methods for mapping a region of interest within breast tissue utilize multiple layers of information to produce a unique digital fingerprint of breast tissue. X-ray and ultrasound imaging is combined with elastography and Doppler to create an architectural map of a breast including coordinates to mark one or more regions of interest. The architectural map can be utilized during future imaging procedures and surgeries to automatically and virtually indicate the location of previously biopsied lesions. The architectural map can be displayed on a user interface of a computing device to guide a user to the region of interest during imaging.

Provided are a medical image displaying apparatus and a medical image displaying method for registering an ultrasound image with a previously obtained medical image and outputting a result of the registration, the medical image displaying method including: transmitting ultrasound signals to an object and receiving ultrasound echo signals from the object via an ultrasound probe of the medical image displaying apparatus; obtaining a first ultrasound image based on the ultrasound echo signals; performing image registration between the first ultrasound image and a first medical image that is previously obtained; obtaining a second ultrasound image of the object via the ultrasound probe; obtaining a second medical image by transforming the first medical image to correspond to the second ultrasound image; and displaying the second medical image together with the second ultrasound image.

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.

Ultrasound imaging methods for identifying an anatomical feature of a spine are described. In an embodiment, the method comprises: receiving a transverse ultrasound image of a portion of the spine; extracting features of the portion of the spine from the image based on a distinct pattern associated with the anatomical feature of the spine; identifying a midline of the portion of the spine in the image; extracting midline features using pixel intensity values of the image; and identifying, based on a combination of the extracted features of the portion of the spine and the extracted midline features, the anatomical feature in the image. In another embodiment, the method comprises: receiving a paramedian sagittal ultrasound image of a portion of the spine; identifying morphological features of the image; and determining if the portion of the spine includes a sacrum using a Support Vector Machine classifier.

A method for tissue characterization by ultrasound wave attenuation measurements is provided that comprises: a) transmitting at least an ultrasound pulse in a target body; b) receiving ultrasound pulses reflected by the target body and transforming the reflected ultrasound pulses into RF reception signals; c) extracting an envelope of the received RF signals; d) carrying out a logarithmic compression of the extracted envelope and e) computing a 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 logarithmic compressed envelope data along the penetration depth of the ultrasound pulse in the target body. The disclosure relates also to an ultrasound system for carrying out the method.

An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus includes an ultrasound probe, a reference image holding unit that holds an ultrasound image acquired by fixing a position of the ultrasound probe as a reference image, a movement vector calculation unit that calculates a movement vector between two ultrasound images, a movement vector integration unit that integrates the movement vector from a time when the reference image is held to a current time, a deformed image generation unit that generates a deformed image in which the current ultrasound image is moved and changed to a time when the reference image is held based on an integration result, a tomographic plane determination unit that compares the deformed image with the reference image to determine whether tomographic planes of the current ultrasound image and the reference image are the same as each other, and a determination result notification unit that notifies a user of a determination result.

A distributed patient monitoring system comprises at least one standalone portable ultrasound imaging unit configured to be fixed to a stable position against the skin on a patient's body and capable of prolonged ultrasound data acquisition, including an ultrasound imaging array, transmit-receive circuitry, a beamformer, backend signal and image processing subsystem, power and communication subsystems, and a monitoring workstation connected to each standalone portable ultrasound imaging unit configured to request and receive ultrasound imaging information from each standalone portable ultrasound imaging unit, and configured to analyze and display acquired ultrasound information.

A system for visualization and quantification of ultrasound imaging data according to embodiments of the present disclosure may include a display unit, and a processor communicatively coupled to the display unit and to an ultrasound imaging apparatus for generating an image from ultrasound data representative of a bodily structure and fluid flowing within the bodily structure. The processor may be configured to estimate axial and lateral velocity components of the fluid flowing within the bodily structure, determine a plurality of flow directions within the image based on the axial and lateral velocity components, differentially encode the flow directions based on flow direction angle to generate a flow direction map, and cause the display unit to concurrently display the image including the bodily structure overlaid with the flow direction map.

The present disclosure relates to the technical field of image processing, in particular to an ultrasound imaging device and system and a breast ultrasound apparatus. The ultrasound imaging device includes: a memory and a processor, the memory storing at least one program instruction, and the processor loading and executing the at least one program instruction to implement the following steps: transmitting ultrasound pulses and receiving n echo signals in an interleaved transmission and reception manner, wherein n is an integer greater than 1; acquiring a differential signal d(t) of the n echo signals; performing amplitude detection on the n echo signals to obtain an envelope of each echo signal, and acquiring a sum B(t) of the envelopes of the echo signals; calculating image gray intensity of the blood flow imaging mode according to the d(t) and B(t); acquiring B-mode ultrasound echo data; and performing scan conversion on the B-mode ultrasound echo data and the calculated image gray intensity of the blood flow imaging mode, and displaying an ultrasound image according to a conversion result. In this way, the problem of artifacts in the ultrasound image in the prior art is solved. The present disclosure can be used to scan the breast and other organs and tissues.

An ultrasound-based scanning apparatus and system using a dual-array probe and slot for guidance and insertion of a needle to assist with needle injection procedures.