To implement a single-chip ultrasonic imaging solution, on-chip signal processing may be employed in the receive signal path to reduce data bandwidth and an output data module may be used to move data for all received channels off-chip as a digital data stream. The digitization of received signals on-chip allows advanced digital signal processing to be performed on-chip, and thus permits the full integration of an entire ultrasonic imaging system on a single semiconductor substrate. The on-chip digitization of received signals also enables the on-chip integration of ultrasound processing and/or pre-processing to reduce the burden on off-chip computing. Data compression architectures are disclosed to facilitate the transfer of data off-chip as a digital data stream in accordance with the bandwidth requirements of standard commercially-available output interfaces.

Color Doppler imaging with line artifact reduction is provided in multi-beam scanning. Doppler estimates representing the same spatial location but calculated from spatially distinctive transmit beam groups are combined through weighted linear interpolation. Methods of calculating the linear interpolation weights are provided based on geometric relationships and optimization functions. Complete overlapping and superposition among receive beams in the interpolation region are not required. Partial interpolation among the receive beams, where only the estimates of the outer receive scan lines may overlap and be interpolated while estimates for scan lines closer to the transmit scan line are not interpolated, allowing for more rapid frame rate.

For parametric ultrasound imaging with an ultrasound scanner, the values for multiple parameters are determined for tissue of a patient using ultrasound. The determination may be in response to a single activation, avoiding the user having to reconfigure and activate separately for each parameter. To assist in diagnosis, one or more indicators of quality of the measurements of the parameters are calculated and displayed to the user. To further assist in diagnosis, the measurement values for the patient are displayed relative to published or population values.

For parametric ultrasound imaging with an ultrasound scanner, the values for multiple parameters are determined for tissue of a patient using ultrasound. The determination may be in response to a single activation, avoiding the user having to reconfigure and activate separately for each parameter. To assist in diagnosis, one or more indicators of quality of the measurements of the parameters are calculated and displayed to the user. To further assist in diagnosis, the measurement values for the patient are displayed relative to published or population values.

Image analysis method for quantitative assessment of a degree of coordination of uterine motion, comprising: obtaining a recording of a uterus; tracking, in the recording, at least two propagation waves of uterine motion in at least two different regions of the uterus and/or on at least two different times; and determining the degree of coordination of the uterine motion based on a similarity measure of at least two characteristics of the at least two propagation waves.

Image analysis method for quantitative assessment of a degree of coordination of uterine motion, comprising: obtaining a recording of a uterus; tracking, in the recording, at least two propagation waves of uterine motion in at least two different regions of the uterus and/or on at least two different times; and determining the degree of coordination of the uterine motion based on a similarity measure of at least two characteristics of the at least two propagation waves.

Systems and methods for multi-level vascular imaging for construction and display of vasculature from large to small vessels and micro-vessels using a combination of varying resolution contrast enhanced ultrasound flow imaging modalities are disclosed. While one or more resolution flow imaging modes may be employed for imaging large to small vessels of a vascular tree within a large region of interest, a high resolution mode, such as super resolution imaging, constructed for delineation of the microvascular morphology and directional microcirculation is provided within one or more small ROIs placed in selected locations within the larger ROI.

A living tissue sampling method includes inserting an endoscope inserted into a guide sheath into a body cavity of a subject, checking three-dimensional image information of a body cavity path against distal end position data of the endoscope, bringing distal ends of the endoscope and the guide sheath close to a focused region, removing the endoscope from the guide sheath while keeping the guide sheath stationed inside the body cavity, inserting a biopsy instrument into the guide sheath, and sampling living tissue of the focused region by the biopsy instrument.

Various approaches for computationally characterizing tissue in an anatomic target region include generating multiple sonications to transient acoustic reflectors at or proximate to the target region; measuring reflection signals of the sonications off the transient acoustic reflectors; based on the measurements, identifying the reflection signals originating from single transient acoustic reflectors; and based at least in part on the identified reflection signals, generating a digital map including a tissue characteristic.

An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus (1) includes an ultrasound probe (2) and a diagnostic apparatus body (3) connected to the ultrasound probe (2), in which the diagnostic apparatus body (3) includes a monitor (15) on which an ultrasound diagnosis image and a plurality of diagnostic finding icons corresponding to a plurality of determined diagnostic findings are displayed, a similarity determination unit (18) that determines similarity between the ultrasound diagnosis image and each of a plurality of image patterns corresponding to the plurality of diagnostic findings, and a display position changing unit (19) that changes display positions of the plurality of diagnostic finding icons on the monitor in accordance with the similarity determined by the similarity determination unit (18).