Patent ID: 6132373
Filing Date: 2000-10-17
Classification: A61B,G06T

Abstract:
An apparatus for measuring an intima-media thickness of a blood vessel, comprising:an ultrasound device for outputting digital image data representing an image of the blood vessel produced by scanning the blood vessel with an ultrasound, the digital image data including a plurality of luminance values each corresponding to respective one of a plurality of pixels of the image; anda data analyzing device for receiving the output digital image data and calculating the intima-media thickness of the blood vessel according to the received digital image data,wherein the data analyzing device comprises:a setting device for setting a base position between a center of the blood vessel and a position in a vicinity of an inner intima wall of the blood vessel on the image, on the basis of a moving average of the luminance values; anda calculation device for detecting a maximum value and a minimum value from among the luminance values respectively corresponding to a predetermined number of the pixels arranged from the base position toward a position of an outer adventitial wall on the image, and calculating the intima-media thickness on the basis of the maximum value and the minimum value.