Patent Publication Number: US-2012046549-A1

Title: Ultrasound system and method of measuring fetal rib

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2009-0077096, filed on Aug. 20, 2009, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field 
     The present invention relates to an ultrasound system and method of measuring a number of ribs of a fetus, and more particularly, to an ultrasound system and method of setting a portion where the number of ribs is measured as a region of interest (ROI), measuring the number of ribs in the set ROI, and displaying the measured number of ribs. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Generally, an ultrasound system may transmit an ultrasound signal toward a predetermined portion inside a body from a surface of the body, and may obtain an image of a section of soft tissue or the bloodstream using information of the ultrasound signal reflected from tissue inside the body. 
     The ultrasound system has an advantage of being small, inexpensive, reliable, and not exposing a subject to an X-ray and the like, and thus, the ultrasound system is commonly used together with other image diagnostic devices, such as a computerized tomography (CT) scanner, a magnetic resonance image (MRI) device, a nuclear medicine device, and the like. Particularly, the ultrasound system may display an image of the inside of the body in real time, thereby being applicable for various uses. 
     As the field of use of the ultrasound system expands, the demand for quality and efficiency of the ultrasound system grows. For example, a lesion or tissue of a patient may need to be precisely observed when a procedure, such as a medical checkup, a biopsy, an operation, and the like, is performed. Accordingly, the ultrasound system may need to obtain a three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound image. 
     A healthy fetus generally has twelve ribs as illustrated in the 3D ultrasound image of  FIG. 1 . When the number of ribs is eleven, there is a higher probability that the fetus has Down syndrome. Accordingly, the number of ribs of the fetus is an important index for checking a probability of a disorder in the fetus. 
     A conventional system may have inconvenience in that a user calculates the number of ribs of the fetus by hand from a rendered 3D image as illustrated in  FIG. 1 . 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An aspect of the present invention provides an ultrasound system and method that accurately measures the number of ribs of a fetus in a three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound image. 
     Another aspect of the present invention provides an ultrasound system and method that displays a rib area and a number of ribs extracted from a 3D ultrasound image. 
     According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an ultrasound system for measuring a number ribs of a fetus, the ultrasound system including a setting unit to set, by a user, a portion where the number of ribs is measured as a region of interest (ROI) in an ultrasound image; a measuring unit to measure the number of ribs in the set ROI, by using an auto rib extracting algorithm; and a display unit to display the measured number of ribs. 
     The measuring unit may use an auto rib extracting algorithm which may enhance a rib image in the ROI, may generate a binary image by extracting an area having a brightness greater than or equal to a reference value from the enhanced rib image, may classify discrete areas from the binary image, may connect the classified discrete areas along a principle axis to generate rib areas, and may count a number of the rib areas to measure the number of ribs. 
     The measuring unit may enhance a picture quality or a definition of the rib image through a rib enhancement filtering process for segmentation of a ROI image. 
     The display unit may display the measured rib area and the number of ribs. 
     According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of measuring a number of ribs in an ultrasound system including a setting unit, a measuring unit, and a display unit. The method may include setting, by a user, an ROI to measure, through the setting unit, the number of ribs in an ultrasound area; measuring, by the measuring unit, the number of ribs in the ROI, based on an auto rib extracting algorithm; and displaying, by the display unit, information about the measured number of ribs. 
     Additional aspects and/or advantages will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the embodiments. 
     According to the present invention, there is no need for counting the number of ribs by hand, since the number of ribs is automatically counted from a 3D ultrasound image, and thus, a user&#39;s convenience increases. 
     According to the present invention, there is provided an effect of easily obtaining a rib area and a number of ribs extracted from a 3D ultrasound image. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and/or other aspects and advantages will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which: 
         FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating the number of ribs of a normal fetus in a three dimensional (3D) ultrasound image, according to a conventional art; 
         FIG. 2  is a diagram illustrating an ultrasound system for measuring a number of ribs of a fetus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating an example where a region of interest (ROI) is set to measure the number of ribs according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is a diagram illustrating an example of a result from each operation of an auto rib extracting algorithm according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is a diagram illustrating an example of displaying a measured rib area and the number of ribs according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a flowchart illustrating a method for measuring the number of ribs of a fetus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 7  is a flowchart illustrating a detailed procedure for measuring the number of ribs of a fetus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Reference will now be made in detail to example embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. An ultrasound diagnosis apparatus utilizing a touch interaction is described below to explain the present disclosure by referring to the figures. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates an ultrasound system  200  for measuring the number of ribs of a fetus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , the ultrasound system  200  may include a setting unit  210 , a measuring unit  220 , and a display unit  230 . A user sets, through the setting unit  210 , a portion where the number of ribs is measured in an ultrasound image, as a region of interest (ROI). 
       FIG. 3  illustrates an example where a ROI  310  is set to measure a number of ribs according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , a user may set a portion where the number of ribs is measured in a 3D ultrasound image  300  as an ROI  310 , through the setting unit  210 . 
     The measuring unit  220  may measure the number of ribs in the set ROI  310  based on an auto rib extracting algorithm. In other words, the measuring unit  220  may enhance a rib image in the ROI  310 , may generate a binary image by extracting an area having a brightness greater than or equal to a reference value from the enhanced rib image, may classify discrete areas from the binary image, may connect the classified discrete areas along a principle axis to generate rib areas, and may count a number of the rib areas to measure the number of ribs. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates an example of a result from each operation of an auto rib extracting algorithm according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , the measuring unit  220  may generate an enhanced image  420  by performing a rib enhancement filtering process for segmentation of an ROI image  410 , as a preprocessing with respect to the ROI image  410 . The enhanced image  420  is a 3D ultrasound image with enhanced picture quality and/or definition to make a rib easily observable in the ROI image  410 . That is, the measuring unit  220  may enhance the picture quality and/or definition of the rib image through the rib enhancement filtering process for segmentation of the ROI image  410 . As an example, the measuring unit  220  may perform the rib enhancement filtering process with respect to the ROI image  410  through an image enhancement process using various schemes, such as a smoothing scheme, a sharpening scheme, and the like. Also, the measuring unit  220  may generate a binary image by extracting an area having a brightness greater than or equal to a reference value from the enhanced rib image  420 . Further, the measuring unit  220  may generate a discrete image  430  by classifying discrete images from the binary image. Further still, the measuring unit  220  may generate a rib area image  440  by connecting the classified discrete areas along a principle axis and generating rib areas. Additionally, the measuring unit  220  may count a number of the rib areas, thereby generating a result image  450  indicating a result of the number of ribs. 
     The display unit  230  may display the measured number of ribs. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates an example of displaying a measured rib area and a number of ribs according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
     Referring to  FIG. 5 , the display unit  230  may display a measured rib area  510  and a number of ribs  520  in a 3D ultrasound image  500 . As an example, the measured rib area  510  may be classified into true ribs  511  and false ribs  521 . 
     As described above, the ultrasound system  200  may set a portion where a number of ribs is measured in a 3D ultrasound image, as an ROI, may measure a number ribs in the set ROI, and may display the measured number of ribs. 
     Accordingly, the ultrasound system  200  may display the extracted rib area and the number of ribs, and may alleviate the inconvenience of counting the number of ribs, which is one of the important indexes, by hand, thereby increasing a user&#39;s convenience. 
       FIG. 6  is a flowchart illustrating a method of measuring a number of ribs of a fetus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 to 6 , in operation S 610 , a user sets an ROI where a number of ribs of a fetus is measured in an ultrasound image, through the setting unit  210 . As an example, the user may set a portion where the number of ribs is measured in the 3D ultrasound image  300  as the ROI  310 . 
     In operation  5620 , the measuring unit  220  measures the number of ribs in the ROI based on an auto rib extracting algorithm. Hereinafter, referring to  FIG. 7 , the measuring of the number of ribs of the fetus based on the auto rib extracting algorithm, will be described in detail. 
       FIG. 7  illustrates a detailed procedure of measuring a number of ribs of a fetus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 
     Referring to  FIG. 7 , in operation S 710 , the measuring unit  220  performs preprocessing to enhance a rib image in the ROI. That is, in operation S 710 , the measuring unit  220  may enhance picture quality and/or definition of a 3D ultrasound image to clearly show a rib image included in the ROI through the rib enhancement filtering process for segmentation of the ROI image. As an example, in operation S 720 , the measuring unit  220  generates an enhanced image  420  that is a 3D ultrasound image with enhanced picture quality and/or definition, as a result of performing the preprocessing on the ROI image  410 , the preprocessing being the image enhancement process using various schemes, such as a smoothing scheme, a sharpening scheme, and the like. 
     In operation S 720 , the measuring unit  220  generates a binary image by extracting an area having a brightness greater than or equal to a reference value in the enhanced rib image. 
     In operation S 730 , the measuring unit  220  classifies discrete areas based on levels of areas in the binary images. That is, in operation S 730 , the measuring unit  220  generates the discrete area image  430  by classifying the discrete areas from the binary image. 
     In operation S 740 , the measuring unit  220  connects the classified discrete areas along a principle axis to generate rib areas. That is, in operation S 740 , the measuring unit  220  generates a rib area image  440  by linking discontinuous areas of the classified areas along the principle axis. 
     In operation S 750 , the measuring unit  220  measures information about the number of ribs by counting a number of the rib areas. As an example, in operation S 750 , the measuring unit  220  measures the number of ribs by counting the rib areas in the result image  450 . 
     Referring back to  FIG. 6 , in operation  5630 , the display unit  230  displays information about the measured number of ribs. As an example, in operation S 630 , the display unit  230  displays the extracted rib area  510  and the number of ribs  520  extracted from the 3D ultrasound image  300 , as the information about the measured number of ribs. 
     Accordingly, in the ultrasound system according to an embodiment of the present invention, a method of measuring a number of ribs may set a portion where the number of ribs is measured in a 3D ultrasound image as an ROI, may automatically measure the number of ribs in the set ROI, and may display the measured number of ribs, thereby removing the inconvenience of counting the number of ribs, which is one of the important indexes, by hand. Therefore, the exemplary ultrasound system increases user convenience. 
     A method of measuring a number of ribs of a fetus according to the above-described exemplary embodiments of the present invention may be recorded in computer-readable media including program instructions to implement various operations embodied by a computer. The media may also include, alone or in combination with the program instructions, data files, data structures, and the like. Examples of computer-readable media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD ROM disks and DVDs; magneto-optical media such as optical disks; and hardware devices that are specially configured to store and perform program instructions, such as read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), flash memory, and the like. Examples of program instructions include both machine code, such as produced by a compiler, and files containing higher level code that may be executed by the computer using an interpreter. The described hardware devices may be configured to act as one or more software modules in order to perform the operations of the above-described exemplary embodiments of the present invention, or vice versa. 
     Although a few example embodiments have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these example embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.