US 12,245,887 B2
Ultrasound system for detecting lung consolidation
Jingping Xu, Shanghai (CN); Balasundar Iyyavu Raju, North Andover, MA (US); and Anthony M. Gades, Snohomish, WA (US)
Assigned to KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V., Eindhoven (NL)
Appl. No. 16/960,647
Filed by KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V., Eindhoven (NL)
PCT Filed Dec. 28, 2018, PCT No. PCT/EP2018/097057
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jul. 8, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/137817, PCT Pub. Date Jul. 18, 2019.
Claims priority of application No. PCT/CN2018/072069 (WO), filed on Jan. 10, 2018; and application No. 18158739 (EP), filed on Feb. 27, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2020/0359991 A1, Nov. 19, 2020
Int. Cl. A61B 8/08 (2006.01); A61B 8/00 (2006.01); A61B 8/14 (2006.01); G06T 7/00 (2017.01); G16H 15/00 (2018.01); G16H 30/40 (2018.01); G16H 50/20 (2018.01); G16H 50/30 (2018.01)
CPC A61B 8/085 (2013.01) [A61B 8/14 (2013.01); A61B 8/463 (2013.01); A61B 8/469 (2013.01); A61B 8/5223 (2013.01); G06T 7/0012 (2013.01); G16H 15/00 (2018.01); G16H 30/40 (2018.01); G16H 50/20 (2018.01); G16H 50/30 (2018.01); G06T 2207/10132 (2013.01); G06T 2207/30061 (2013.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An ultrasound imaging system comprising:
an ultrasound transducer configured to acquire echoes responsive to ultrasound pulses transmitted toward a target region comprising a lung;
a processor in communication with the ultrasound transducer and configured to:
generate an image frame from the echoes, wherein each pixel in the image frame corresponds to a different spatial point in the target region and the image frame is a B-mode ultrasound image;
determine a uniformity characteristic of a region of interest below a pleural line in the image frame;
determine a presence or absence of a lung abnormality within the region of interest based on a value of the uniformity characteristic, wherein the uniformity characteristic comprises a standard deviation from an average image intensity;
generate and update an indicator, concurrently to the echoes being acquired, if the lung abnormality has been determined to be present in the image frame; and
display the indicator on a user interface in communication with the processor.