US 11,883,237 B2
Systems, methods, and apparatuses for confidence mapping of shear wave imaging
Ji Cao, Bothell, WA (US); Lars Jonas Olsson, Woodinville, WA (US); Vijay Thakur Shamdasani, Kenmore, WA (US); David Wesley Clark, Derry, NH (US); Hua Xie, Cambridge, MA (US); Jean-Luc Francois-Marie Robert, Cambridge, MA (US); Alexey Viktorovich Cherepakhin, Lake Forest Park, WA (US); and Bruce Adrian Kincy, Snohomish, WA (US)
Assigned to KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V., Eindhoven (NL)
Filed by KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V., Eindhoven (NL)
Filed on Mar. 18, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/698,535.
Application 17/698,535 is a continuation of application No. 16/476,785, granted, now 11,304,678, previously published as PCT/EP2018/050405, filed on Jan. 9, 2018.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/475,962, filed on Mar. 24, 2017.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/444,403, filed on Jan. 10, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2022/0202396 A1, Jun. 30, 2022
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. A61B 8/00 (2006.01); A61B 8/08 (2006.01); A61B 8/14 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 8/463 (2013.01) [A61B 8/0858 (2013.01); A61B 8/14 (2013.01); A61B 8/483 (2013.01); A61B 8/485 (2013.01); A61B 8/5207 (2013.01); A61B 8/5253 (2013.01); A61B 8/5276 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An ultrasound imaging system comprising:
an ultrasound imaging device configured to generate shear wave signals responsive to shear wave tracking echoes received by an ultrasound probe communicatively coupled to the ultrasound imaging device; and
a processor integral with or communicatively coupled to the ultrasound imaging device, wherein the processor includes:
a shear wave processor configured to calculate tissue stiffness values based, at least in part, on the shear wave signals;
a confidence map generator configured to calculate confidence values based on at least one confidence factor; and
an image processor configured to generate an ultrasound image including a graphical overlay of tissue stiffness values for one or more pixels within a region of interest and a confidence map, wherein the confidence map is configured to provide, based on the calculated confidence values, an indication of reliability of the tissue stiffness values within the region of interest,
wherein the confidence map represents different confidence values with different colors.