Ultrasonic doppler imaging with analog feedback signal canceller

Abstract

Abstract An ultrasonic blood flow measuring and imaging system comprises a transmit-receive transducer for transmitting ultrasonic waves toward and into the human body and for receiving reflected echo signals which are then processed for use in a Doppler blood flow imaging and display system. Multiple ultrasonic pulse beams are transmitted into the body at each of a number of locations in an area under diagnosis. For each location a plurality of reflected echo signals are received during successive predetermined time intervals. Each received echo signal has a stationary component reflected from essentially stationary tissue and a Doppler component reflected from areas where movement is sensed, such as blood flow. The reflected echo signals are processed in a canceller having stationary signal acquisition and Doppler signal acquisition modes, in that order, for each flow measuring sequence. In the stationary acquisition mode, an ultrasound basis line is first transmitted, its echo detected, amplified, converted to digital, and then stored in a line buffer. The system then switches to the Doppler acquisition mode, and on each of the succeeding pulses the stored line samples are recalled from the line buffer, converted to analog form, and subtracted from the succeeding reflected echo signals. The difference is amplified, converted to digital, and processed by an MTI filter to thereby produce Doppler flow image data for use in imaging, including color imaging, of blood flow in the area under diagnosis.

Inventors

• 👤 Paul M. Jaeger
• 👤 Michael R. Sturgill

Bibliographic Details