Patent Document

TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present invention relates to an ultrasound diagnosis device, and specifically, to an ultrasound diagnosis device that images an ultrasound contrast agent injected into a biological body. 
     BACKGROUND ART 
     An ultrasound diagnosis device is a device that transmits an ultrasound pulse from an ultrasound probe into a biological body and receives an ultrasound echo scattered or reflected from the biological body using the ultrasound probe to perform various signal processings on the received ultrasound echo to obtain a body tissue B-mode image or a blood flow image and is widely used for medical diagnosis. 
     One of imaging methods of the ultrasound diagnosis device is an ultrasound contrast imaging using an ultrasound contrast agent. The ultrasound contrast imaging is a method that intravenously injects an drug formulation, which is obtained by stabilizing microbubbles having a micron size order using some method, as an ultrasound contrast agent into the biological body in advance to perform the ultrasound imaging. This method has been widely used to diagnose a disease of blood vascular system such as malignant tumor or infarction. 
     As for ultrasound wave of several MHz which is mainly used for ultrasound diagnosis, the ultrasound contrast agent in forms of microbubbles shows significantly high nonlinear response. Therefore, a nonlinear component of the ultrasound echo in the ultrasound contrast imaging includes lots of ultrasound echoes from the ultrasound contrast agent. There is an attempt that the ultrasound echo of the nonlinear component is extracted to form an image to visualize a vascular structure. The related art will be described in detail with reference to  FIGS. 2 and 3 . 
       FIG. 2  is a frequency spectrum illustrating both a frequency band of a transmit pulse and a received echo of an ultrasound wave and a sensitivity frequency band of an ultrasound probe in the related art. 
     If the transmit pulse  200  is transmitted from the ultrasound probe of the probe sensitivity band  10  to perform the imaging by the ultrasound contrast imaging, a linear tissue echo component  300 , nonlinear tissue echo components  400  and  500 , and an contrast echo component  600  are received so as to be included in the received echo. Here, the linear tissue echo component  300  is an echo received from a tissue by a fundamental component of the transmit pulse  200 . Further, the nonlinear tissue echo component  400  is a received echo from a tissue by a second harmonic wave component (sum frequency component of a frequency component of the fundamental wave included in the transmit pulse  200 ) which is produced during the process of propagating the transmit pulse  200  in the biological body. Like the nonlinear tissue echo components  400 , the nonlinear tissue echo component  500  is a received echo from a tissue by a nonlinear component which is produced during the process of propagating the transmit pulse  200  in the biological body and generated by a difference-frequency component of the frequency components of the fundamental wave included in the transmit pulse  200 . 
     The contrast echo component  600  is widely distributed with a high acoustic intensity in a frequency range of the probe sensitivity band  10  by a strong nonlinear response of the contrast agent. However, the nonlinear tissue echo components  400  and  500  are generated by a nonlinear acoustic effect (waveform distortion or accumulation thereof) of the biological tissue. Therefore, a ratio of the intensities of the nonlinear tissue echo components  400  and  500  to the linear tissue echo component  300  is low. Therefore, by processing a frequency band where the nonlinear tissue echo components  400  are distributed using a filter represented by a pass band  40 , a frequency component in which only an intensity of the contrast echo component  600  is comparatively strong may be extracted so that the imaging is performed with a signal of the extracted frequency component. By doing this, it is possible to visualize a vascular image which is not comparatively buried in the signal from the tissue. In this related art, it is required to sufficiently separate the frequency band in which the linear tissue echo components  300  are distributed and the frequency band in which the nonlinear tissue echo components  400  are distributed and a lower frequency band of the probe sensitivity band  10  is not necessarily used for imaging. 
     Next, another related art will be described with reference to  FIG. 3 . 
       FIG. 3  illustrates a method that adds a received echo R 1  obtained by a first transmit pulse  210  and a received echo R 2  obtained by a second transmit pulse  211  produced by positive-to-negative inversing the first transmit pulse  210  and transmitted on the same scanning line as the first transmit pulse  210  to remove an echo reflected from the tissue by a fundamental component of the transmit pulse and is referred to as pulse inversion technique. 
     The received echo R 1  from the first transmit pulse  210  includes a linear tissue echo component  310  from a tissue by a fundamental component of the transmit pulse  210 , nonlinear tissue echo components  410  and  510  from a tissue by a nonlinear component of sum frequency component and difference-frequency component generated in the process of propagation of the first transmit pulse  210  in a biological body, and a contrast echo component  610 . Further, the received echo R 2  from the second transmit pulse  211  includes a linear tissue echo component  311  from a tissue by a fundamental component of the transmit pulse  211 , nonlinear tissue echo components  411  and  511  from a tissue by a nonlinear component of sum frequency component and difference-frequency component generated in the process of propagation of the second transmit pulse  211  in a biological body, and a contrast echo component  611 . 
     By adding the received echo R 1  and the received echo R 2 , the linear tissue echo components  310  and  311  are removed because of the linear process. Finally, the contrast echo component  612  obtained by adding the contrast echo components  610  and  611 , a sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component  412  obtained by adding the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo components  410  and  411  and a difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo component  512  obtained by adding the difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo components  510  and  511  are extracted. 
     According to this pulse inversion technique, intensities of the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component  412  and the difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo component  512  are smaller than the intensities of the removed linear tissue echo components  310  and  311  for the fundamental wave and a signal component of the contrast echo component  612  widely included in the probe sensitivity band  10  is used to form an image. Therefore, it is possible to construct a vascular image with the contrast echo which is not comparatively buried in a wide band signal from the tissue. 
     As described above, in the ultrasound contrast imaging, it is important to increase an intensity ratio of the echo from the ultrasound contrast agent and the echo from the body tissue (referred to as a contrast-to-tissue ratio or CTR). Therefore, in addition to the above-mentioned related art, a method of increasing a CTR is disclosed as follows. 
     For example, in Patent Literature 1, a method that performs a transmit and receive sequence in which an amplitude and a phase are controlled for the same scanning line three times or more at the time of transmission and reception, respectively to suppress a tissue echo component is disclosed. According to the related art, as an example of three transmit and receive sequences, first transmission and reception is performed by a transmit pulse P 1  having an amplitude of 1 and a phase of 0 degree, second transmission and reception is performed by a transmit pulse P 2  having an amplitude of 2 and a phase of 180 degrees, and third transmission and reception is performed by a transmit pulse P 3  having an amplitude of 1 and a phase of 0 degree and the three received echoes are added with a weight of 1:1:1. As a result, a linear component of a tissue echo is suppressed, but an echo from a contrast agent shows a nonlinear response with respect to the amplitude or the phase of the transmit pulse, and thus is not suppressed by the addition. Therefore, the contrast echo and the tissue echo are intended to be separated. The main difference from the related art described with reference to  FIGS. 2 and 3  is that the CTR is increased by aggressively using the contrast echo component with respect to the fundamental component of the transmit pulse. 
     As another example of a method of increasing a CTR, in Patent Literature 2, a method that increases the CTR by transmitting and receiving two times or more a transmit pulse in which a frequency band of a sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component is generated out of a probe sensitivity band on the same scanning line and aggressively using the contrast echo component for the fundamental component of the transmit pulse is disclosed. The two or more transmit pulses are differently modulated in at least one of an amplitude, a phase, and a polarity and the linear tissue echo component and the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component are suppressed to increase the CTR. 
     CITATION LIST 
     Patent Literature 
     Patent Literature 1: U.S. Pat. No. 6,494,841 
     Patent Literature 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-504911 
     SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
     Technical Problem 
     In the above-mentioned related art, the method of increasing a CTR is largely divided into two methods mainly depending on a frequency component of the contrast echo used for the imaging. One method uses a response in the second harmonic band of the contrast agent as described with reference to  FIGS. 2 and 3 . The other method uses a response in the fundamental frequency band of the contrast agent as disclosed in Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2. 
     According to the former method, a sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component is present in a region of the contrast echo component to be used. Further, if a wide band transmit pulse is used, the difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo component is also included in the probe sensitivity band. Therefore, from the viewpoint of the CTR, a T component is larger than a C component. 
     The latter method mainly uses a response of the fundamental frequency band of the contrast agent. However, in the technology disclosed in Patent Literature 1, the nonlinear tissue echo component is also included in the probe sensitivity band. From the viewpoint of the CTR, the C component is improved to increase the CTR. However, if an acoustic pressure of the transmit pulse is large, a comparatively large amount of T component may be generated. 
     Further, in the technology disclosed in Patent Literature 2, among the nonlinear tissue echo components, the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component is generated out of the probe sensitivity band and the difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo component is generated in the probe sensitivity band. If a comparatively wide band transmit pulse having a large acoustic pressure is used, the difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo component is too large to be ignored, which may lower the CTR. 
     Solution to Problem 
     The present invention has been made in an effort to provide an ultrasound diagnosis device that visualizes a high CTR ultrasound contrast image by substantially suppressing or excluding both a sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component and a difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo component. 
     The ultrasound diagnosis device according to the invention transmits a transmit pulse to a subject and receives an echo reflected from an ultrasound contrast agent injected into the subject by an ultrasound probe to form an image. By the acoustic nonlinearity of the subject, in the process of propagation of the transmit pulse in the subject, the transmit pulse is transmitted so as to exclude one or both of the sum frequency component and the difference-frequency component generated by the nonlinear interaction of frequency components of the transmit pulse from the sensitivity frequency band of the ultrasound probe. In this case, the sensitivity frequency band of the probe refers to a frequency band of an ultrasound wave which may be transmitted or received by the probe. 
     Further, the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the invention that transmits a transmit pulse to a subject and receives an echo reflected from an ultrasound contrast agent injected into the subject by an ultrasound probe to form an image includes a unit that, by the acoustic nonlinearity of the subject, in the process of propagation of the transmit pulse in the subject, transmits the transmit pulse, so as to exclude one or both of the sum frequency component and the difference-frequency component generated by the nonlinear interaction of frequency components of the transmit pulse from frequency band of the transmit pulse and extracts a band component corresponding to the frequency band of the transmit pulse of an echo received by the ultrasound probe. 
     The contrast echo used to form an image is transmitted and received two times on the same scanning line in order to suppress the tissue echo for the fundamental component mainly using a response for the region of the fundamental component of the transmit pulse like the pulse inversion technique. As for the two times transmission and reception, an amplitude modulation and phase inversion is performed and a transmit-and-receive sequence processing is performed so as to suppress the tissue echo for the fundamental component. 
     According to a first aspect of the present invention, the following ultrasound diagnosis device is provided. Specifically, a receive echo R on a scanning line is obtained from a first receive echo R 1  that transmits and receives a first transmit pulse P 1  from an ultrasound probe having a sensitivity frequency band of a center frequency f pc  and a fractional bandwidth Bp and a second receive echo R 2  that transmits and receives a second transmit pulse P 2  from the ultrasound probe on the same scanning line as the first transmit pulse P 1 . In this case, the first transmit pulse P 1  is set as a pulse having a center frequency which is substantially equal to the center frequency f pc  and a fractional bandwidth of (2−B p )/2 or less, and the second transmit pulse P 2  is set as a pulse obtained by multiplying 1/n (n&gt;0) to an amplitude of the first transmit pulse P 1 . Further, the receive echo R is obtained by subtracting the first receive echo R 1  and a receive echo R 2 ′ obtained by multiplying n to the second receive echo R 2  so that a received signal in which a tissue echo component is suppressed may be obtained. 
     According to a second aspect of the present invention, the following ultrasound diagnosis device is provided. Specifically, a receive echo R on a scanning line is obtained from a first receive echo R 1  that transmits and receives a first transmit pulse P 1  from the ultrasound probe having a sensitivity frequency band of a center frequency f pc  and a fractional bandwidth B p  and a second receive echo R 2  that transmits and receives a second transmit pulse P 2  from the ultrasound probe on the same scanning line as the first transmit pulse P 1 . In this case, the first transmit pulse P 1  is set as a pulse having a center frequency which is substantially equal to the center frequency and a fractional bandwidth of (2−B p )/2 or less, and the second transmit pulse P 2  is set as a pulse obtained by multiplying 1/n (n&gt;0) to an amplitude of the first transmit pulse P 1  and having an inversion phase. Further, the receive echo R is obtained by adding the first receive echo R 1  and a receive echo R 2 ′ obtained by multiplying n to the second receive echo R 2  so that a received signal in which a tissue echo component is suppressed may be obtained. 
     According to a third aspect of the present invention, the following ultrasound diagnosis device is provided. Specifically, a receive echo R on a scanning line is obtained from a first receive echo R 1  that transmits and receives a first transmit pulse P 1  from an ultrasound probe having a sensitivity frequency band of a fractional bandwidth of ⅔ or higher and a second receive echo R 2  that transmits and receives a second transmit pulse P 2  from the ultrasound probe on the same scanning line as the first transmit pulse P 1 . In this case, the first transmit pulse P 1  is set as a pulse having a frequency band of a fractional bandwidth of ⅔ or lower, and the second transmit pulse P 2  is set as a pulse obtained by multiplying 1/n (n&gt;0) to an amplitude of the first ultrasound pulse P 1 . Further, a receive echo which is obtained by subtracting the first receive echo R 1  and a receive echo R 2 ′ obtained by multiplying n to the second receive echo R 2  passes a band limiting filter having a frequency band which is substantially equal to the first or second transmit pulse P 1  or P 2  to obtain a receive echo R. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a received signal in which a tissue echo component is suppressed. 
     According to a fourth aspect of the invention, the following ultrasound device is provided. Specifically, a receive echo R on a scanning line is obtained from a first receive echo R 1  that transmits and receives a first transmit pulse P 1  from an ultrasound probe having a frequency sensitivity band having a ⅔ or higher fractional band and a second receive echo R 2  that transmits and receives a second transmit pulse P 2  on the same scanning line as the first transmit pulse P 1  from the ultrasound probe. In this case, the first transmit pulse P 1  is a pulse having a frequency band whose fractional bandwidth is ⅔ or lower and the second transmit pulse P 2  is set to a pulse having an amplitude obtained by multiplying 1/n to an amplitude of the first transmit pulse P 1  and phase inversion. Further, the receive echo obtained by adding the first receive echo R 1  and a receive echo R 2 ′ obtained by multiplying n to the second receive echo R 2  passes a band limiting filter having a frequency band which is substantially equal to the first or second transmit pulse P 1  or P 2  to obtain a receive echo R so that a received signal in which a tissue echo component is suppressed may be obtained. 
     According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the following ultrasound diagnosis device is provided. Specifically, in the third and fourth aspects, a lower limit frequency of the sensitivity frequency band of the ultrasound probe may be substantially equal to a lower limit frequency of the frequency band of the first transmit pulse P 1 . Therefore, it is possible to improve a sensitivity of a contrast echo in a deep part of the subject. 
     According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the following ultrasound diagnosis device is provided. Specifically, in the third and fourth aspects, an upper limit frequency of the sensitivity frequency band of the ultrasound probe may be substantially equal to an upper limit frequency of the frequency band of the first transmit pulse P 1 . Therefore, it is possible to obtain a high resolution contrast image. 
     n which indicates a ratio of an amplitude of the first ultrasound pulse P 1  and an amplitude of the second ultrasound pulse P 2  is represented by m-th power of 2 when m is an integer. By doing this, it is possible to reduce a calculation cost. 
     Further, the n may be set to 2 (the m is 1). By doing this, it is possible to efficiently suppress the tissue echo and extract the contrast echo. 
     The ultrasound diagnosis device according to the invention may include a receiving unit that receives an instruction from a user to correct or adjust at least one parameters of the amplitude, the center frequency, and the fractional bandwidth of the transmit pulse P 1 , the amplitude, the center frequency, and the fractional bandwidth of the transmit pulse P 2 , the amplitude and the phase of the receive echo R 1 , the amplitude and the phase of the receive echo R 2 , and n or m parameters. In this case, the ultrasound diagnosis device may include a correcting unit or an adjusting unit that increases or decreases a corresponding parameter depending on the increased or decreased amount of the parameter received by the receiving unit. In the meantime, the ultrasound probe has an array structure including a plurality of channels and the correcting unit or the adjusting unit may be provided for every channel. 
     An ultrasound diagnosis device may include: a transmitter that includes a waveform generator and an amplifier and generates a transmit signal; an ultrasound probe that converts the transmit signal generated from the transmitter into an acoustic signal to transmit an ultrasound transmit pulse to a subject and receive a reflected echo from the subject; and a receiver that performs a signal processing of the received reflected echo. The ultrasound probe receives a first receive echo R 1  that transmits and receives a first transmit pulse P 1  which is a pulse having a sensitivity frequency band having ⅔ or higher of a fractional bandwidth and a frequency band having ⅔ or lower of a fractional bandwidth and a second receive echo R 2  that transmits and receives a second transmit pulse P 2  which is a pulse having an amplitude which is 1/n (n&gt;0) of the amplitude of the first ultrasound pulse P 1  on the same scanning line as the first transmit pulse P 1  and the receiver includes a signal processor that passes the receive echo obtained by subtracting the first receive echo R 1  and a receive echo R 2 ′ obtained by multiplying n to the second receive echo R 2  through a band limiting filter having a substantially same frequency band as the first or second transmit pulse P 1  or P 2  to obtain a receive echo R. 
     An ultrasound diagnosis device may include: a transmitter that includes a waveform generator and an amplifier and generates a transmit signal; an ultrasound probe that converts the transmit signal generated from the transmitter into an acoustic signal to transmit an ultrasound transmit pulse to a subject and receive a reflected echo from the subject; and a receiver that performs a signal processing of the received reflected echo. The ultrasound probe receives a first received echo R 1  that transmits and receives a first transmit pulse P 1  which is a pulse having a sensitivity frequency band having ⅔ or higher of a fractional bandwidth and a frequency band having ⅔ or lower of a fractional bandwidth and a second receive echo R 2  that transmits and receives a second transmit pulse P 2  which is a pulse having an amplitude of 1/n (n&gt;0) of the amplitude of the first ultrasound pulse P 1  on the same scanning line as the first transmit pulse P 1  and inversion phase and the receiver includes a signal processor that passes the receive echo obtained by adding the first receive echo R 1  and a receive echo R 2 ′ obtained by multiplying n to the second receive echo R 2  through a band limiting filter having a substantially same frequency band as the first or second transmit pulse P 1  or P 2  to obtain a receive echo R. 
     Advantageous Effect of Invention 
     According to the aspects of the present invention, a transmitting signal is generated so as not to receive a sum frequency component or a difference-frequency component from an ultrasound probe so that the imaging is achieved using a receiving signal in which a tissue echo component for the fundamental component and a nonlinear tissue echo component for a sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component and a difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo component which are noise components in the ultrasound contrast image are almost removed. Therefore, it is possible to achieve a high CTR and obtain a high quality ultrasound contrast image. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a device configuration illustrating an embodiment of an ultrasound diagnosis device of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a frequency spectrum illustrating a relationship of a transmit and receive pulse band and an ultrasound probe sensitivity band at the time of ultrasound contrasting of an ultrasound diagnosis device of the related art. 
         FIG. 3  is a frequency spectrum illustrating a relationship of a transmit and receive pulse band and an ultrasound probe sensitivity band at the time of ultrasound contrasting of an ultrasound diagnosis device of another related art. 
         FIG. 4  is a frequency spectrum illustrating a relationship of a transmit and receive pulse band and an ultrasound probe sensitivity band at the time of ultrasound contrasting of an ultrasound diagnosis device according to first and second aspects of the invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a signal processing flowchart illustrating a transmit and receive sequence at the time of ultrasound contrasting of the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the first aspect of the invention. 
         FIG. 6  is a signal processing flowchart illustrating a transmit and receive sequence at the time of ultrasound contrasting of the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the second aspect of the invention. 
         FIG. 7  is a frequency spectrum illustrating a relationship of a transmit and receive pulse band and an ultrasound probe sensitivity band at the time of ultrasound contrasting of an ultrasound diagnosis device according to third and fourth aspects of the invention. 
         FIG. 8  is a frequency spectrum illustrating a relationship of a transmit and receive pulse band and an ultrasound probe sensitivity range at the time of ultrasound contrasting of the ultrasound diagnosis device according to a fifth aspect of the invention. 
         FIG. 9  is a frequency spectrum illustrating a relationship of a transmit and receive pulse band and an ultrasound probe sensitivity range at the time of ultrasound contrasting of the ultrasound diagnosis device according to a sixth aspect of the invention. 
         FIG. 10  is a schematic view illustrating an array aperture amplitude apodization when the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the invention transmits an ultrasound wave. 
         FIG. 11  is a schematic view illustrating another array aperture amplitude apodization when the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the invention transmits an ultrasound wave. 
         FIG. 12  is a conceptual view of an operation illustrating an embodiment of the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the invention. 
         FIG. 13  is a frequency dependence view illustrating a contrast echo component by simulation. 
         FIG. 14  is a frequency dependence view illustrating a nonlinear tissue echo component by simulation. 
         FIG. 15  is a CTR comparison table for a simulation result. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
     Hereinafter, embodiments of the invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. 
     An embodiment relates to an ultrasound diagnosis device that transmits a transmit pulse to a subject and receives a reflected echo from an ultrasound contrast agent injected into the subject by an ultrasound probe to form an image. The device has a configuration that efficiently excludes a linear tissue echo component for a fundamental component of the transmit pulse and a sum frequency component and a difference-frequency component generated by the nonlinear interaction between frequency components of the transmit pulse during the process of propagating the transmit pulse in the subject due to the acoustic nonlinearity of the subject, that is, a nonlinear tissue echo component. By doing this, it is possible to significantly improve an intensity ratio of an echo from the ultrasound contrast agent and an echo from a body tissue (referred to as contrast-to-tissue ratio or CTR) which is an important index indicating an image quality of an ultrasound contrast image. 
     First, referring to  FIG. 1 , an ultrasound diagnosis device according to an embodiment will be described. 
     The ultrasound diagnosis device  1  includes a probe  20 , a main body  100  of the device, an external interface  2 , and an image display  3 . 
     The probe  20  converts a transmit signal from the main body  100  into a transmit acoustic signal at the time of transmission and then transmits an ultrasound wave to a subject  30 . Thereafter, the probe  20  converts a reflected echo signal from the subject  30  into a received electric signal and transmits the signal to the main body  100 . In a blood vessel  31  inside the subject  30 , an ultrasound contrast agent  32  is intravenously injected in advance. The probe  20  generally has a one or two dimensional array structure and may focus or steer a transmit beam and a receive beam. 
     The main body  100  includes a waveform generator  112  that generates a transmit waveform transmitted from the probe  20 , a transmit amplifier  111  that amplifies the transmit waveform from the waveform generator  112 , a receive amplifier  114  that amplifies a received signal from the probe  20 , a transmit and receive (T/R) switch  113  that electrically connects the transmit amplifier  111  and the probe  20  at the time of transmission and electrically connects the receive amplifier  114  and the probe  20  at the time of reception, an A/D converter  115  that converts an analog signal amplified by the receive amplifier  114  into a digital signal, a receive delay circuit  116  that applies a predetermined time delay to the received signal to form a receiving beam, a signal processor  117  that performs a signal processing which will be described in detail below on the receiving beam, an image processor  118  that constructs image data from an output from the signal processor  117 , and a controller  120  that controls a transmit and receive timing, the transmit waveform, a receive amplifier gain, the time delay, and the signal processing for the above-mentioned components  110  of the main body. 
     The output from the image processor  118  is displayed as a video image such as a two dimensional tomographic image or a three dimensional image on the image display  3 . An operator allows the controller  120  to control the components on the main body  100  or the image display  3  using the external interface  2 . Further, even though the external interface  2  is not provided, the imaging may be performed under a predetermined control condition. 
     Next, a transmitting and receiving operation of a pulse and a processing sequence in the signal processor  117  in the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the invention will be described with reference to  FIGS. 5 and 6 . 
     In the ultrasound diagnosis device of the present invention, as illustrated in  FIGS. 5 and 6 , one receive data is obtained by transmission and reception at least two pulse sequences.  FIG. 5  illustrates a transmit and receive sequence at the time of ultrasound contrasting of the ultrasound diagnosis device according to a first aspect of the invention and  FIG. 6  illustrates a transmit and receive sequence at the time of ultrasound contrast imaging of the ultrasound diagnosis device according to a second aspect of the invention. Further, a frequency band of a transmit pulse which is a feature of the invention will be described in detail below. 
     First, in the waveform generator  112 , a predetermined transmit pulse waveform is formed by the controller  120  and a first transmit pulse P 1  is irradiated onto the subject  30  from the probe  20  through the transmit amplifier  111  and the transmit and receive switch  113 . The first transmit pulse P 1  causes a waveform distortion by a nonlinear acoustic effect of a tissue inside the subject  30  and is propagated in portions having different acoustic impedances while repeating the reflection and the transmission. Further, due to the presence of the ultrasound contrast agent  32  inside the blood vessel  31 , the first transmit pulse P 1  is reflected or scattered by the ultrasound contrast agent  32 . Further, in the ultrasound contrast agent  32 , nonlinear vibration is excited by the first transmit pulse P 1 . 
     If the first transmit pulse P 1  is irradiated from the probe  20 , the transmit and receive switch  113  electrically connects the receive amplifier  114  and the probe  20  in accordance with the instruction from the controller  120 . An echo reflected from the subject  30  continuously reaches the probe  20  as a first received echo R 1  in the order of positions closer to the probe  20  and the transmission and reception of a first pulse sequence is completed after a time when the first receive echo R 1  is considered to return from the deepest portion of a capturing area elapses. The first receive echo R 1  is transmitted to the signal processor  117  through the transmit and receive switch  113 , the receive amplifier  114 , the A/D converter  115 , and the receive delay circuit  116  and temporarily stored in a temporary memory provided in the signal processor  117  which is not illustrated. 
     After completing transmission and reception of the first pulse sequence, the transmit amplifier  111  and the probe  20  are electrically connected again by the transmit and receive switch  113 . Next, the waveform generator  112  forms another transmit pulse waveform and transmits the transmit pulse waveform to the probe  20  through the transmit amplifier  111  and the transmit and receive switch  113  and a second transmit pulse P 2  is irradiated onto the subject  30  from the probe  20 . 
     In the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the first aspect of the present invention, as illustrated in  FIG. 5 , the second transmit pulse P 2  is a waveform which has a size equal to 1/n (n&gt;0) of an amplitude of a waveform of the first transmit pulse P 1 . Further, in the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the second aspect of the present invention, as illustrated in  FIG. 6 , the second transmit pulse P 2  is a waveform which is obtained by substantial inversion phase of the waveform of the first transmit pulse P 1  and has a size equal to 1/n (n&gt;0) of the amplitude of a waveform of the first transmit pulse P 1 . The waveform generator  112 , for example, may include a unit that removes electrical distortion generated in the transmit amplifier  111  or influence of a phase rotation depending on the frequency characteristic of the probe  20  and adjusts at least one of the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2 . 
     The second transmit pulse P 2  is propagated in portions having different specific acoustic impedances by repeating reflection and the transmission while generating a waveform distortion by a nonlinear acoustic effect of a tissue inside the subject  30 . Further, due to the presence of the ultrasound contrast agent  32  inside the blood vessel  31 , the second transmit pulse P 2  is reflected or scattered by the ultrasound contrast agent  32 . Further, in the ultrasound contrast agent  32 , nonlinear vibration is excited by the second transmit pulse P 2 . 
     If the second transmit pulse P 2  is transmitted from the probe  20 , the transmit and receive switch  113  electrically connects the receive amplifier  114  and the probe  20  in accordance with the instruction from the controller  120 . The echo reflected from the subject  30  continuously reaches the probe  20  as a second received echo R 2  in the order of positions closer to the probe  20  and the transmission and reception of a second pulse sequence is completed after a time when the second receive echo R 2  is considered to return from the deepest portion of a capturing area elapses. The second receive echo R 2  is transmitted to the signal processor  117  through the transmit and receive switch  113 , the receive amplifier  114 , the A/D converter  115 , and the receive delay circuit  116  and temporarily stored in a temporary memory provided in the signal processor  117  which is not illustrated. 
     In the signal processor  117 , the following signal processing is performed using the first receive echo R 1  and the second receive echo R 2  stored in the temporary memory. Specifically, in the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the first aspect of the present invention, as illustrated in  FIG. 5 , a receive echo R is obtained by subtraction of the first receive echo R 1  and a second receive echo R 2 ′ obtained by multiplying n to the second receive echo R 2 . Further, in the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the second aspect of the present invention, as illustrated in  FIG. 6 , the receive echo R is obtained by addition of the first receive echo R 1  and a second receive echo R 2 ′ obtained by multiplying n to the second receive echo R 2 . 
     The above-mentioned first receive echo R 1  is a reflected echo of the first transmit pulse P 1  from the subject  30  and the reflected echo component is formed of a linear tissue echo component of the first transmit pulse P 1  from a body tissue or blood vessel that forms the subject  30 , a nonlinear tissue echo component generated during the process of propagating the first transmit pulse P 1  in the subject  30 , and a contrast echo component generated by nonlinear vibration of the ultrasound contrast agent  32  excited by the first transmit pulse P 1  or reflection and scattering of the first transmit pulse P 1  by the ultrasound contrast agent  32 . The second receive echo R 2  is a reflected echo of the second transmit pulse P 2  from the subject  30 . The reflected echo component is formed of a linear tissue echo component of the second transmit pulse P 2  from a body tissue or blood vessel that forms the subject  30 , a nonlinear tissue echo component generated during the process of propagating the second transmit pulse P 2  in the subject, and a contrast echo component generated by nonlinear vibration of the ultrasound contrast agent  32  excited by the second transmit pulse P 2  or reflection and scattering of the second transmit pulse P 2  by the ultrasound contrast agent  32 . Among these, the linear tissue echo component exhibits linear behavior caused by inversion of the waveform or n times of the waveform amplitude. Therefore, by the processing sequence illustrated in  FIG. 5 or 6 , the linear tissue echo component is removed from the receive echo R. 
     In the meantime, if n is m-th power of 2 (m is an integer), digital processing of the multiplication of n may be performed by a bit shift, which lowers an operation cost and improves the processing speed. Further, n is multiplied to the second receive echo R 2  in order to remove the linear tissue echo component by subtraction or addition of the first receive echo R 1  and the second receive echo R 2 ′. Since n is multiplied to the second receive echo R 2  after passing through the A/D converter  115 , n which is multiplied to the second receive echo R 2  may be optimally adjusted so as to fully remove the linear tissue echo component including a quantization error. 
     Next, a frequency band of the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  which are the feature of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to  FIG. 4 . 
     This embodiment has frequency bands of the frequency component  220  and the frequency component  221  as fundamental components of the first transmit pulse P 1  at the first pulse sequence and the second transmit pulse P 2  at the second pulse sequence, respectively. A frequency component of the receive echo of the first transmit pulse P 1  immediately before being received by the probe  20  is configured by a linear tissue echo component  320  for the fundamental component, a sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component  420  generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components  220  in the subject  30  that form the first transmit pulse P 1 , a difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo component  520  generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components  220  in the subject  30  that form the first transmit pulse P 1 , and a contrast echo component  620  generated by nonlinear vibration of the ultrasound contrast agent  32  excited by the first transmit pulse P 1  or reflection and scattering of the first transmit pulse P 1  by the ultrasound contrast agent  32 . Further, a frequency component of the receive echo of the second transmit pulse P 2  immediately before being received by the probe  20  is configured by a linear tissue echo component  321  for the fundamental component, a sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component  421  generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components  221  in the subject  30  that form the second transmit pulse P 2 , a difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo component  521  generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components  221  in the subject  30  that form the second transmit pulse P 2 , and a contrast echo component  621  generated by nonlinear vibration of the ultrasound contrast agent  32  excited by the second transmit pulse P 2  or reflection and scattering of the second transmit pulse P 2  by the ultrasound contrast agent  32 . 
     In order to obtain a high CTR ultrasound contrast image, it is considered to efficiently capture the contrast echo components  620  and  621  and efficiently suppress or exclude the linear tissue echo components  220  and  221  or nonlinear tissue echo components  420 ,  520 ,  421 , and  521 . The best feature of the present invention is to suppress the nonlinear tissue echo components  420 ,  520 ,  421 , and  521 , which cannot be removed using a linear operation such as the pulse inversion technique, by the probe sensitivity band  10  of the probe  20 . Specifically, the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  are transmitted so as to exclude the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo components  420  and  421  from the high frequency band of the probe sensitivity band  10  and remove the predetermined difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo components  520  and  521  out of the low frequency band of the probe sensitivity band  10 . 
     The linear tissue echoes  320  and  321  for the fundamental components of the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  show a linear behavior caused by the inversion of the waveform or the n times of the amplitude of the waveform. Therefore, as described above, the linear tissue echoes  320  and  321  may be removed by the linear operation of the first receive echo R 1  and the second receive echo R 2 . In contrast, the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo components  420  and  421  or the difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo components  520  or  521  are not removed by the multiplication of n, subtraction, or addition. If there is no band limitation by the probe sensitivity band  10  of the probe  20 , the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo components  420  and  421  or the difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo components  520  or  521  may remain even when using the subtraction or addition of the first receive echo R 1  and n times of the second receive echo R 2  as a sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component  422  and a difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo component  522 . However, in the present invention, the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  are formed so as to exclude any of the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo components and the difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo components out of the frequency band of the probe sensitivity band  10 . Therefore, these nonlinear tissue echo components are removed by being received by the probe  20 . 
     As described above, in addition to the band limitation in the probe sensitivity band  10 , in order to suppress the nonlinear tissue echo component, the relationship of the amplitudes or the phases of the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  may be set to be further equal to each other. The nonlinear tissue echo is represented by the waveform distortion accompanied with the nonlinear acoustic propagation in the tissue in the subject  30  and the sum frequency component and the difference-frequency component are generated based on the phase relationship of the fundamental transmit pulse. For example, a second harmonic component which is represented as the sum frequency component is generated with the same phase as the fundamental transmit pulse and the waveform distortion is accumulated during the propagation. The distortion amount of the waveform distortion specifically depends on an acoustic pressure. Therefore, an energy conversion to a nonlinear component is significant as the acoustic pressure is increased so that an amount of the waveform distortion is increased. Therefore, in the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2 , the phases or amplitudes of the nonlinear tissue echoes to be generated become equal to each other as the phases are equal and a ratio n of the amplitudes of both pulses is close to 1. In this case, since the phases of the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  become equal to each other by the subtraction of the first receive echo R 1  and the second receive echo R 2 ′, the processing sequence after reception performs the subtraction illustrated in  FIG. 5 . By the transmit and receive sequence, the nonlinear tissue echo is suppressed by the subtraction after reception in addition to the probe sensitivity band  10  so as to increase the CTR. 
     Further, as described above, in order to reduce the operation cost or improve the processing speed, n may be m-th power of 2 (m is an integer). With this consideration, as n which is closest to 1, n=2 may be used. Specifically, if an amplitude of the first transmit pulse P 1  is P 0 , an amplitude of the second transmit pulse P 2  may be P 0 /2. The probe  20 , which is generally used for the ultrasound diagnosis device, has an array structure in which electro-acoustic conversion elements such as piezoelectric elements are arranged in a plurality of channels. Therefore, ultrasound beam is focused in a desired scanning direction at the time of transmission and reception to improve an S/N ratio of a transmit and receive signal. In this case, the condition that the amplitude of the first transmit pulse P 1  is P 0  and the amplitude of the second transmit pulse P 2  is P 0 /2 is satisfied when a ratio of the amplitudes of the acoustic pressure to the ultrasound beam by the transmit focused first transmit pulse P 1  and the ultrasound beam by the second transmit pulse P 2  is 2. A method that forms the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  from the probe  20  with this array structure will be described with reference to  FIGS. 10 and 11 . 
       FIG. 10  is a schematic view illustrating an array aperture amplitude apodization when the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the invention transmits an ultrasound wave. In the probe  20 , electro-acoustic conversion elements  21   a  to  21   z  such as piezoelectric elements are, for example, one-dimensionally arranged as illustrated in  FIG. 10 . The waveform generator  112  has a function that selectively changes an applied voltage or delay time of each channel of the electro-acoustic conversion elements  21   a  to  21   z  and an applied voltage is applied to each channel through the transmit amplifier  111  and the transmit and receive switch  113 . As illustrated in  FIG. 10 , first, at the first pulse sequence, the first transmit pulse P 1  having a sound pressure amplitude P 0  is transmitted from the electro-acoustic conversion elements  21   a  to  21   z  used to focus the transmit beam. Next, at the second pulse sequence, the second transmit pulse P 2  having a sound pressure amplitude P 0 /2 is transmitted from the electro-acoustic conversion elements  21   a  to  21   z  used to focus the transmit beam. By these transmit sequences, the amplitude ratio of the sound pressure to the ultrasound beam by the first transmit pulse P 1  and the ultrasound beam by the second transmit pulse P 2  may be 2. Further, the waveform generator  112  may include a unit that corrects or adjusts an irregularity of the transmit sensitivity of the electro-acoustic conversion elements  21   a  to  21   z  or a pulse shape (center frequency or fractional bandwidth of the transmit pulse). Further, as a result of the subtraction of the first receive echo R 1  and the second receive echo R 2 ′, the linear tissue echo may be corrected or adjusted so as to be mostly suppressed. The sensitivity, the center frequency, or the fractional bandwidth may be corrected or adjusted at a level of the first receive echo R 1  or the second receive echo R 2 . For example, the receive delay circuit  116  that forms the receive beam may have a correcting or adjusting function. 
       FIG. 11  is a schematic view illustrating another array aperture amplitude apodization when the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the invention transmits an ultrasound wave. In  FIG. 11 , in order to set the amplitude ratio of the sound pressure to the ultrasound beam by the first transmit pulse P 1  and the ultrasound beam by the second transmit pulse P 2  to be 2, the transmit areas at the first pulse sequence and the second pulse sequence are changed. Specifically, the first transmit pulse P 1  at the first pulse sequence is transmitted from all electro-acoustic conversion elements  21   a  to  21   z  with a sound pressure amplitude P 0  and the second transmit pulse P 2  at the second pulse sequence is transmitted such that the sound pressure amplitude for every channel is repeated between P 0  and 0. By such a transmit sequence, a transmit area of the ultrasound beam by the second transmit pulse P 2  is half the transmit area at the first pulse sequence. Therefore, the amplitude ratio of the transmit sound pressure may be 2 at a level of the ultrasound beam. Also in this case, the waveform generator  112  has a function that selectively changes an applied voltage or delay time of each channel of the electro-acoustic conversion elements  21   a  to  21   z  and may have a configuration in which an applied voltage is applied to each channel through the transmit amplifier  111  and the transmit and receive switch  113 . By this transmit sequence, the same conditional voltage is applied to the electro-acoustic conversion element which transmits a sound wave at the first pulse sequence and the second pulse sequence so that the influence of the voltage dependent waveform distortion on the electro-acoustic conversion elements  21   a  to  21   z  or the transmit amplifier  111  may be removed. Further, the waveform generator  112  may include a unit that corrects an irregularity of a transmit and receive sensitivity of the electro-acoustic conversion elements  21   a  to  21   z . As a result of the subtraction of the first receive echo R 1  and the second receive echo R 2 ′, the irregularity of the transmit and receive sensitivity may be corrected so as to mostly suppress the linear tissue echo. The sensitivity, the center frequency, or the fractional bandwidth may be corrected or adjusted at a level of the first receive echo R 1  or the second receive echo R 2 . For example, the receive delay circuit  116  that forms the receive beam may have a correcting or adjusting function. 
     In the meantime, the ultrasound contrast agent  32  has a configuration similar to a microcapsule that includes a cavity therein and shows a nonlinear response (expansion and contraction) with respect to the ultrasound excitation from the surroundings. The nonlinearity means that the sound pressure or the phase of the surrounding ultrasound wave is nonlinear. The contrast echo components  620  and  621  for the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  basically have different amplitude or phase relationship. Further, even though the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  are perfectly same transmit pulse, the transmit and receive timings are temporally deviated at the first pulse sequence and the second pulse sequence. Therefore, aggregative shapes of the ultrasound contrast agent  32  may be varied at the time of transmitting and receiving the first transmit pulse P 1  and at the time of transmitting and receiving the second transmit pulse P 2 . Therefore, the contrast echo component by the reflected wave or scattered wave from the aggregate of the ultrasound contrast agent  32  may be also varied at the time of transmitting and receiving the first transmit pulse P 1  and at the time of transmitting and receiving the second transmit pulse P 2 . Accordingly, even though the contrast echo component  620  and n times of the contrast echo component  621  are subtracted or added, the contrast echo component  622  remains as a signal. Therefore, even though a band is limited by the probe sensitivity band  10 , specifically the response for the fundamental component of the transmit pulse is captured as a main contrast echo component. 
     As described above, according to the ultrasound diagnosis device of the present invention, a contrast signal is obtained from the contrast echo component  622  through the probe sensitivity band  10  and the linear tissue echo component for the fundamental wave is suppressed by the linear operation processing of the linear tissue echo component  320  obtained at the first pulse sequence and the linear tissue echo component  321  obtained at the second pulse sequence and is removed by the band limitation by the probe sensitivity band  10  mainly using the difference or sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a high CTR ultrasound contrast image. 
     Next, a transmit pulse condition that generates the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo components  420  and  421  and the difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo components  520  and  521  out of the frequency band of the probe sensitivity band  10  will be described in detail. 
     First, it is assumed that the frequency band of the probe sensitivity band  10  is f p1  to f p2  and the frequency band of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  is f t1  to f t2 . Here, the frequency band is generally defined as −6 dB bandwidth. However, in the present invention, the frequency band is a frequency bandwidth having sensitivity or intensity which may affect the final ultrasound contrast image but is not limited to −6 dB bandwidth. 
     The frequency band of a transmit sum frequency component generated by the nonlinear acoustic propagation of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  whose frequency band is f t1  to f t2  is determined as a sum frequency component of all frequency components which forms the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  to be 2f t1  to 2f t2 . Further, the frequency band of a transmit difference-frequency component generated by the nonlinear acoustic propagation of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  whose frequency band is f t1  to f t2  is determined as a difference-frequency component of all frequency components which forms the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  to be DC to f t2 -f t1 . The sum and difference frequency tissue harmonic echo components  420  and  520  for the first transmit pulse P 1  or the sum and difference frequency tissue harmonic echo components  421  and  521  for the second transmit pulse P 2  are the reflected echo components for the transmit sum frequency component and the transmit difference-frequency component. Therefore, the frequency bands of the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo components  420  and  421  are 2f t1  to 2f t2  and the frequency bands of the difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo components  520  and  521  are DC to f t2 -f t1 . Therefore, a condition that generates the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo components  420  and  421  and the difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo components  520  and  521  out of the frequency band of the probe sensitivity band  10  is as follows:
 
 f   p1   ≧f   t2   −f   t1   f   p2 ≦2 f   t1  
 
     Therefore, as a condition that obtains a high resolution image, in order to obtain the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  having a maximum frequency band, the frequency band of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  becomes f p2 /2 to f p1 +f p2 /2. 
     Here, if the frequency band condition f p1  to f p2  of the probe sensitivity band  10  is represented by the center frequency and the fractional bandwidth and the center frequency is f pc  and the fractional bandwidth is B p , the following relational expressions are established.
 
 f   p1 =((2 −B   p )/2) f   pc  
 
 f   p2 =((2 +B   p )/2) f   pc  
 
     If the frequency band condition f p2 /2 to f p1 +f p2 /2 of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  is rewritten using these relational expressions,
 
( f   p2 /2 to  f   p1   +f   p2 /2)→((2 +B   p ) f   pc /4 to (6 −B   p ) f   pc /4).
 
     Further, if the frequency band condition f t1  to f t2  of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  is rewritten with the center frequency f tc  (=(f t1 +f t2 )/2) and the fractional bandwidth B t  (=(f t2 −f t1 )/f tc ), the following relational expression for the center frequency f tc  is obtained: 
     
       
         
           
             
               
                 
                   
                     f 
                     tc 
                   
                   = 
                     
                   ⁢ 
                   
                     
                       ( 
                       
                         
                           f 
                           
                             t 
                             ⁢ 
                             
                                 
                             
                             ⁢ 
                             1 
                           
                         
                         + 
                         
                           f 
                           
                             t 
                             ⁢ 
                             
                                 
                             
                             ⁢ 
                             2 
                           
                         
                       
                       ) 
                     
                     / 
                     2 
                   
                 
               
             
             
               
                 
                   = 
                     
                   ⁢ 
                   
                     
                       ( 
                       
                         
                           
                             ( 
                             
                               2 
                               + 
                               
                                 B 
                                 p 
                               
                             
                             ) 
                           
                           ⁢ 
                           
                             
                               f 
                               pc 
                             
                             / 
                             4 
                           
                         
                         + 
                         
                           
                             ( 
                             
                               6 
                               - 
                               
                                 B 
                                 p 
                               
                             
                             ) 
                           
                           ⁢ 
                           
                             
                               f 
                               pc 
                             
                             / 
                             4 
                           
                         
                       
                       ) 
                     
                     / 
                     2 
                   
                 
               
             
             
               
                 
                   = 
                     
                   ⁢ 
                   
                     f 
                     pc 
                   
                 
               
             
           
         
       
     
     In other words, the center frequency f tc  of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  becomes to be equal to the center frequency of the probe sensitivity band  10 . Next, the following relational expression for the fractional bandwidth B t  is obtained: 
     
       
         
           
             
               
                 
                   
                     B 
                     t 
                   
                   = 
                     
                   ⁢ 
                   
                     
                       ( 
                       
                         
                           f 
                           
                             t 
                             ⁢ 
                             
                                 
                             
                             ⁢ 
                             2 
                           
                         
                         - 
                         
                           f 
                           
                             t 
                             ⁢ 
                             
                                 
                             
                             ⁢ 
                             1 
                           
                         
                       
                       ) 
                     
                     / 
                     
                       f 
                       tc 
                     
                   
                 
               
             
             
               
                 
                   = 
                     
                   ⁢ 
                   
                     
                       ( 
                       
                         
                           
                             ( 
                             
                               6 
                               - 
                               
                                 B 
                                 p 
                               
                             
                             ) 
                           
                           ⁢ 
                           
                             
                               f 
                               pc 
                             
                             / 
                             4 
                           
                         
                         - 
                         
                           
                             ( 
                             
                               2 
                               + 
                               
                                 B 
                                 p 
                               
                             
                             ) 
                           
                           ⁢ 
                           
                             
                               f 
                               pc 
                             
                             / 
                             4 
                           
                         
                       
                       ) 
                     
                     / 
                     
                       f 
                       pc 
                     
                   
                 
               
             
             
               
                 
                   = 
                     
                   ⁢ 
                   
                     
                       ( 
                       
                         2 
                         - 
                         
                           B 
                           p 
                         
                       
                       ) 
                     
                     / 
                     2 
                   
                 
               
             
           
         
       
     
     From the above expressions, for example, if the fractional bandwidth B p  of the probe  20  is 80%, the fractional bandwidth of the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  becomes 60%. Further, if the fractional bandwidth B p  of the probe  20  is 100%, the fractional bandwidths of the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  become 50%. Generally, since the fractional bandwidth B p  and the fractional bandwidth B t  has a relationship of B p ≧B t , Bp≧⅔ from the relationship with the above expression and the probe sensitivity band  10  may have a fractional bandwidth of 67% or more. As the transmit pulse P described above, for example, the following 100% amplitude modulated wave may be considered.
 
 P=P′ (1+cos(2 πf   s   t ))sin(2 πf   pc   t )
 
     In the above expression, P′ indicates an amplitude of the transmit pulse P, f s  indicates a modulated frequency of the transmit pulse P and f s =(2−B p )f pc /4. 
     If the probe  20  to be used is determined, the probe sensitivity band  10  of the probe  20  is determined and the center frequency f pc  and the fractional bandwidth B p  are determined. Therefore, the condition of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  in the ultrasound diagnosis device of the present invention is determined. The waveform generator  112  performs waveform shaping so that a pulse transmitted from the probe  20  through the transmit amplifier  111  and the transmit and receive switch  113  becomes a transmit pulse having a center frequency of f pc  and a fractional bandwidth of (2−B p )/2. By the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  transmitted as described above, it is possible to generate the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo components  420  and  421  and the difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo components  520  and  521  out of the frequency band of the probe sensitivity band  10 . 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 5 , in the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the first aspect of the present invention, a ratio of the amplitude P 1 ′ of the first transmit pulse P 1  and the amplitude P 2 ′ of the second transmit pulse P 2  is n (=P 1 ′/P 2 ′&gt;0) and the waveform shaping is performed by the waveform generator  112  so as to transmit the transmit pulses from the probe  20  to receive the first receive echo R 1  for the first transmit pulse P 1  at the first pulse sequence and the second receive echo R 2  for the second transmit pulse P 2  at the second pulse sequence. The first receive echo R 1  and the second receive echo R 2  are stored in a temporary memory provided in the signal processor  117  which is not illustrated and after completing the transmission and the reception at the first pulse sequence and the second pulse sequence, the subtraction of the first receive echo R 1  and a second receive echo R 2 ′ obtained by multiplying n to the second receive echo R 2  is performed to obtain the receive echo R. 
     Further, as illustrated in  FIG. 6 , in the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the second aspect of the present invention, a ratio of the amplitude P 1 ′ of the first transmit pulse P 1  and the amplitude P 2 ′ of the second transmit pulse P 2  is n (=P 1 ′/P 2 ′&gt;0) and the second transmit pulse P 2  is an inversion waveform of the first transmit pulse P 1 . The waveform shaping is performed by the waveform generator  112  so as to transmit the transmit pulses from the probe  20  to receive the first receive echo R 1  for the first transmit pulse P 1  at the first pulse sequence and the second receive echo R 2  for the second transmit pulse P 2  at the second pulse sequence. The first receive echo R 1  and the second receive echo R 2  are stored in a temporary memory provided in the signal processor  117  which is not illustrated and after completing the transmission and the reception at the first pulse sequence and the second pulse sequence, the addition of the first receive echo R 1  and a second receive echo R 2 ′ obtained by multiplying n to the second receive echo R 2  is performed to obtain the receive echo R. 
     Further, in the ultrasound diagnosis device of the first aspect and the second aspect, even though the second receive echo R 2  is multiplied by n, an object of this operation is to suppress the linear tissue echo component for the fundamental wave with a ratio of intensities of the response for the first transmit pulse P 1  and the response for the second transmit pulse P 2  of 1:1. For example, if the operation allows the intensity ratio to be 1:1 similar to 1/n times of the first receive echo R 1 , is 1/n times, the operation is not limited to the examples of the above-described aspects. 
     In the ultrasound diagnosis device of the first aspect and the second aspect of the invention, the receive echo R obtained as described above is detected by the signal processor  117  and the output thereof is transmitted to the image processor  118 . The image processor  118  constructs image data from output from the signal processor  117  and the output from the image processor  118  is displayed on the image display  3  as a video image such as a two dimensional tomographic image or a three dimensional image. 
     Since the tissue echo component is substantially suppressed, the video image obtained as described above may be a high CTR image in the ultrasound contrast image and sharply visualizes the vascular structure so that it is possible to provide an ultrasonic diagnosis image having a high clinical value. 
     In the above embodiment, the sum and difference frequency tissue harmonic echo components are removed by the probe sensitivity band  10 . However, as illustrated in  FIGS. 7 to 9 , the sum and difference frequency tissue harmonic echo components may be removed by the combination with a filter in accordance with the frequency bandwidth of the transmit pulse. Specifically, the sum and difference frequency tissue harmonic echo components) are generated so as to be removed from the frequency bandwidth of the transmit pulse rather than the probe sensitivity band. Further, the receive echo R may be filtered by a filter of a pass band which is equal to the frequency bandwidth of the transmit pulse which is provided in the signal processor  117  but is not illustrated. Hereinafter, a transmit pulse condition that generates the sum and difference frequency tissue harmonic echo components so as to be removed from the frequency bandwidth of the transmit pulse will be described. 
     As described above, the frequency band of a sum frequency component generated by the nonlinear acoustic propagation of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  whose frequency band is f t1  to f t2  is determined as a sum frequency component of all frequency components which forms the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  to be 2f t1  to 2f t2 . Further, the frequency band of a transmit difference-frequency component generated by the nonlinear acoustic propagation of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  whose frequency band is f t1  to f t2  is determined as a difference-frequency component of all frequency components which forms the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  to be DC to f t2 −f t1 . Therefore, a condition that generates the sum frequency tissue harmonic echoes  420  and  421  and the difference-frequency tissue harmonic echoes  520  and  521  out of the frequency band of the probe sensitivity band  10  is as follows:
 
 f   t1   ≧f   t2   −f   t1   f   t2 ≦2 f   t1  
 
     From the relational expression, the frequency bandwidth of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  is f t1  to 2f t1  at most. As long as the frequency band, which is f t1  to 2f t1  overlaps the frequency bandwidth of the probe sensitivity band  10 , the center frequency is not specifically limited. If it is represented by the fractional bandwidth B 1  of the transmit pulse,
 
 B   t =( f   t2   −f   t1 )/ f   tc =(2 f   t1   −f   t1 )/(( f   t1 +2 f   t1 )/2)=⅔.
 
In other words, a transmit pulse of ⅔ of the fractional bandwidth (approximately, 67%) may be the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2 . A frequency bands of the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  according to other three embodiments of the present invention that generate the sum or difference-frequency tissue harmonic echoes so as to be removed from the frequency band of the transmit pulse will be described with reference to  FIGS. 7 to 9 .
 
     (Case when Center Frequency of Transmit Pulse is Substantially Equal to Center Frequency of Probe Sensitivity Band) 
       FIG. 7  is a frequency spectrum illustrating a relationship of the transmit and receive pulse band and the ultrasound probe sensitivity band in the ultrasound diagnosis device of third and fourth aspects of the present invention. In this embodiment, the center frequency of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  is substantially equal to the center frequency of the probe sensitivity band  10  and the fractional bandwidth of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  is ⅔ (approximately, 67%). 
     Frequency bands of the frequency component  230  and the frequency component  231  are provided as fundamental components of the first transmit pulse P 1  at the first pulse sequence and the second transmit pulse P 2  at the second pulse sequence. A frequency component of the receive echo of the first transmit pulse P 1  immediately before being received by the probe  20  of the probe sensitivity band  10  is configured by a linear tissue echo component  330  for the fundamental component, a sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component  430  generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components  230  in the subject  30  that form the first transmit pulse P 1 , a difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo component  530  generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components  230  in the subject  30  that form the first transmit pulse P 1 , and a contrast echo component  630  generated by nonlinear vibration of the ultrasound contrast agent  32  excited by the first transmit pulse P 1  or reflection and scattering of the first transmit pulse P 1  by the ultrasound contrast agent  32 . Further, a frequency component of the receive echo of the second transmit pulse P 2  immediately before being received by the probe  20  is configured by a linear tissue echo component  331  for the fundamental component, a sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component  431  generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components  231  in the subject  30  that form the second transmit pulse P 2 , a difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo component  531  generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components  231  in the subject  30  that form the second transmit pulse P 2 , and a contrast echo component  631  generated by nonlinear vibration of the ultrasound contrast agent  32  excited by the second transmit pulse P 2  or reflection and scattering of the second transmit pulse P 2  by the ultrasound contrast agent  32 . 
     In order to obtain a high CTR ultrasound contrast image, it is considered to efficiently capture the contrast echo components  630  and  631  and efficiently suppress or exclude the linear tissue echo components  230  and  231  or nonlinear tissue echo components  430 ,  530 ,  431 , and  531 . However, in this embodiment, the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  is transmitted so as not to overlap the frequency band  230  of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the frequency band  231  of the second transmit pulse P 2  and the nonlinear tissue echo components  430 ,  530 ,  431 , and  531 , which cannot be removed using a linear operation such as the pulse inversion technique, and the received signal is filtered by a band pass filter having a frequency band  41  equal to the frequency band  230  of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the frequency band  231  of the second transmit pulse P 2 . Specifically, the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  are transmitted so as to generate the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo components  430  and  431  out of the high frequency band of the first frequency band  230  of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second frequency band  231  of the second transmit pulse P 2  and predetermined difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo components  530  and  531  out of the low frequency band of the first frequency band  230  of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second frequency band  231  of the second transmit pulse P 2  and the sum or difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo components are filtered and removed from the obtained receive echo R. 
     In the ultrasound diagnosis device of the third aspect of the invention, the second transmit pulse P 2  has an amplitude which is equal to that of a transmit pulse which is 1/n times (n&gt;0) of an amplitude of the first transmit pulse P 1  and as illustrated in  FIG. 5 , the receive echo R is obtained by the subtraction of the first receive echo R 1  and the second receive echo R 2 ′. Further, in the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the fourth aspect of the invention, the second transmit pulse P 2  is equal to a transmit pulse obtained by inversing the first transmit pulse P 1  (phase is rotated at 180 degrees) with an amplitude obtained by multiplying 1/n (n&gt;0) to the amplitude of the first transmit pulse P 1  and as illustrated in  FIG. 6 , the receive echo R is obtained by the addition of the first receive echo R 1  and the second receive echo R 2 ′. 
     The receive echo R obtained as described above is composed of components in which any of the linear tissue echo components  330  and  331  are removed by the linear operation and the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component  432 , the difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo component  532 , and the contrast echo component  632  are filtered in the probe sensitivity band  10 . However, in the frequency band corresponding to the frequency band  230  or  231  of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2 , only the contrast echo component  632  is present. By filtering the contrast echo component  632  by the band pass filter having a signal pass band  41 , it is possible to obtain a high CTR received signal. Simultaneously, it is possible to suppress electric noise because the band limitation by the band pass filter is applied also in the probe sensitivity band  10 . Therefore, the SN ratio with respect to the electric noise may be increased and a high CTR ultrasound contrast image may be obtained. 
     (Case when Lower Limit Frequency of Transmit Pulse is Substantially Equal to Lower Limit Frequency of Probe Sensitivity Band) 
       FIG. 8  is a frequency spectrum illustrating a relationship of a transmit and receive pulse band and an ultrasound probe sensitivity band in the ultrasound diagnosis device according to a fifth aspect of the invention. In this embodiment, the lower limit frequency of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  is substantially equal to the lower limit frequency of the probe sensitivity band  10  and the fractional bandwidth of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  is ⅔ (approximately 67%). 
     Frequency bands of the frequency component  240  and the frequency component  241  are provided as fundamental components of the first transmit pulse P 1  at the first pulse sequence and the second transmit pulse P 2  at the second pulse sequence. A frequency component of the receive echo of the first transmit pulse P 1  immediately before being received by the probe  20  of the probe sensitivity band  10  is configured by a linear tissue echo component  340  for the fundamental component, a sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component  440  generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components  240  in the subject  30  that form the first transmit pulse P 1 , a difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo component  540  generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency component  240  in the subject  30  that form the first transmit pulse P 1 , and a contrast echo component  640  generated by nonlinear vibration of the ultrasound contrast agent  32  excited by the first transmit pulse P 1  or reflection and scattering of the first transmit pulse P 1  by the ultrasound contrast agent  32 . Further, a frequency component of the receive echo of the second transmit pulse P 2  immediately before being received by the probe  20  is configured by a linear tissue echo component  341  for the fundamental component, a sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component  441  generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components  241  in the subject  30  that form the second transmit pulse P 2 , a difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo component  541  generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency component  241  in the subject  30  that form the second transmit pulse P 2 , and a contrast echo component  641  generated by nonlinear vibration of the ultrasound contrast agent  32  excited by the second transmit pulse P 2  or reflection and scattering of the second transmit pulse P 2  by the ultrasound contrast agent  32 . 
     In order to obtain a high CTR ultrasound contrast image, it is considered to efficiently capture the contrast echo components  640  and  641  and efficiently suppress or exclude the linear tissue echo components  240  and  241  or nonlinear tissue echo components  440 ,  540 ,  441 , and  541 . In this embodiment, the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  is transmitted so as not to overlap the frequency band  240  of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the frequency band  241  of the second transmit pulse P 2  and the nonlinear tissue echo components  440 ,  540 ,  441 , and  541 , which cannot be removed using a linear operation such as the pulse inversion technique, and the received signal is filtered by a low pass filter having a signal pass band  42  in which the upper limit frequency of the frequency band  240  of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the frequency band  241  of the second transmit pulse P 2  is a cut off frequency. Specifically, the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  are transmitted so as to generate the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo components  440  and  441  out of the high frequency band of the frequency band  240  of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the frequency band  241  of the second transmit pulse P 2  and predetermined difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo components  540  and  541  out of the low frequency band of the first frequency band  240  of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the frequency band  241  of the second transmit pulse P 2 , and the sum or difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo component is removed from the obtained receive echo R by filtering or band limitation by the probe sensitivity band  10 . Further, instead of the low pass filter, a band pass filter having the same signal pass band as the frequency band  240  of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the frequency band  241  of the second transmit pulse P 2  may be used for filtering. 
     In the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the fifth aspect of the invention, the second transmit pulse P 2  is equal to a transmit pulse having an amplitude which is 1/n times (n&gt;0) of an amplitude of the first transmit pulse P 1 . Similarly to the third or fourth aspect of the invention, the receive echo R is obtained by the subtraction processing of the first receive echo R 1  and the second receive echo R 2 ′ if the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  have the same phase. In contrast, if the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  have inverse phases, the receive echo R is obtained by the addition processing of the first receive echo R 1  and the second receive echo R 2 ′. 
     From the receive echo R obtained as described above, any of the linear tissue echo components  340  and  341  are removed by the linear operation and the difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo component  542  is removed by the band limitation of the probe sensitivity band  10 . Therefore, the receive echo R is composed by components obtained by filtering the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component  442  and the contrast echo component  632  in the probe sensitivity band  10 . However, in the frequency band corresponding to the frequency band  240  or  241  of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2 , only the contrast echo component  642  is present. By filtering the contrast echo component  642  by the low pass filter having a signal pass band  42 , it is possible to obtain a high CTR received signal. Simultaneously, it is possible to suppress electric noise because the band limitation by the low pass filter is applied also in the probe sensitivity band  10 . Therefore, the SN ratio with respect to the electric noise may be increased and a high CTR ultrasound contrast image may be obtained. Further, the contrast echo signal is obtained at the low frequency band side of the probe sensitivity band  10  so that an ultrasound contrast image having an excellent depth penetration may be obtained. 
     (Case when Upper Limit Frequency of Transmit Pulse is Substantially Equal to Upper Limit Frequency of Probe Sensitivity Band) 
       FIG. 9  is a frequency spectrum illustrating a relationship of a transmit and receive pulse band and an ultrasound probe sensitivity band in the ultrasound diagnosis device according to a sixth aspect of the invention. In this embodiment, the upper limit frequency of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  is substantially equal to the upper limit frequency of the probe sensitivity band  10  and the fractional bandwidth of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  is ⅔ (approximately 67%). 
     Frequency bands of the frequency component  250  and the frequency component  251  are provided as fundamental components of the first transmit pulse P 1  at the first pulse sequence and the second transmit pulse P 2  at the second pulse sequence. A frequency component of the receive echo of the first transmit pulse P 1  immediately before being received by the probe  20  of the probe sensitivity band  10  is configured by a linear tissue echo component  350  for the fundamental component, a sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component  450  generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components  250  in the subject  30  that form the first transmit pulse P 1 , a difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo component  550  generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components  250  in the subject  30  that form the first transmit pulse P 1 , and a contrast echo component  650  generated by nonlinear vibration of the ultrasound contrast agent  32  excited by the first transmit pulse P 1  or reflection and scattering of the first transmit pulse P 1  by the ultrasound contrast agent  32 . Further, a frequency component of the receive echo of the second transmit pulse P 2  immediately before being received by the probe  20  is configured by a linear tissue echo component  351  for the fundamental component, a sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component  451  generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components  251  in the subject  30  that form the second transmit pulse P 2 , a difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo component  551  generated by nonlinear interaction of the frequency components  251  in the subject  30  that form the second transmit pulse P 2 , and a contrast echo component  651  generated by nonlinear vibration of the ultrasound contrast agent  32  excited by the second transmit pulse P 2  or reflection and scattering of the second transmit pulse P 2  by the ultrasound contrast agent  32 . 
     In order to obtain a high CTR ultrasound contrast image, it is considered to efficiently capture the contrast echo components  650  and  651  and efficiently suppress or exclude the linear tissue echo components  250  and  251  or nonlinear tissue echo components  450 ,  550 ,  451 , and  551 . In this embodiment, the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  is transmitted so as not to overlap the frequency band  250  of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the frequency band  251  of the second transmit pulse P 2  and the nonlinear tissue echo components  450 ,  550 ,  451 , and  551 , which cannot be removed using a linear operation such as the pulse inversion technique, and the received signal is filtered by a high pass filter having a signal pass band  43  in which the lower limit frequency of the frequency band  250  of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the frequency band  251  of the second transmit pulse P 2  is a cut off frequency. Specifically, the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  are transmitted so as to generate the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo components  450  and  451  out of the high frequency band of the frequency band  250  of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the frequency band  251  of the second transmit pulse P 2  and predetermined difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo components  550  and  551  out of the low frequency band of the frequency band  250  of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the frequency band  251  of the second transmit pulse P 2 . The sum or difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo component is removed from the obtained receive echo R by filtering or band limitation by the probe sensitivity band  10 . Further, instead of the high pass filter, a band pass filter having the same signal pass band as the frequency band  250  of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the frequency band  251  of the second transmit pulse P 2  may be used for filtering. 
     In the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the sixth aspect of the invention, the second transmit pulse P 2  is equal to a transmit pulse having an amplitude which is 1/n times (n&gt;0) of an amplitude of the first transmit pulse P 1 . Similarly to the third or fourth aspect of the invention, the receive echo R is obtained by the subtraction processing of the first receive echo R 1  and the second receive echo R 2 ′ if the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  have the same phase. In contrast, if the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  have inverse phases, the receive echo R is obtained by the addition processing of the first receive echo R 1  and the second receive echo R 2 ′. 
     From the receive echo R obtained as described above, any of the linear tissue echo components  350  and  351  are removed by the linear operation and the sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component  452  is removed by the band limitation of the probe sensitivity band  10 . Therefore, the receive echo R is composed of components obtained by filtering the difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo component  552  and the contrast echo component  652  in the probe sensitivity band  10 . However, in the frequency band corresponding to the frequency band  250  or  251  of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2 , only the contrast echo component  652  is present. By filtering the contrast echo component  652  by the high pass filter having a signal pass band  43 , it is possible to obtain a high CTR received signal. Simultaneously, it is possible to suppress electric noise because the band limitation by the high pass filter is applied also in the probe sensitivity band  10 . Therefore, the SN ratio with respect to the electric noise may be increased and a high CTR ultrasound contrast image may be obtained. Further, the contrast echo signal is obtained at the high frequency band side of the probe sensitivity band  10  so that an ultrasound contrast image having an excellent spatial resolution may be obtained. 
     In order to check of the effect of the high CTR by the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the present invention described above, an ultrasound pulse response simulation of the ultrasound contrast agent based on a Keller-Miksis equation which considers a compressibility of surrounding fluid and nonlinear acoustic propagation simulation based on a KZK equation (Khokhlov-Zabolotskaya-Kuznetsov equation) are performed. A signal component represented by the contrast echo is evaluated by the former simulation and a noise component represented by the tissue echo is evaluated by the latter simulation to compare the CTRs obtained by the related art illustrated in  FIG. 3  and the method of the present invention illustrated in  FIG. 4 . The result thereof will be described below. 
     First, the probe sensitivity band is defined as if a filter in a Hanning window is created under the assumption of a frequency band in which the center frequency is 3 MHz and a fractional bandwidth is 100%. Further, in the related art, as a transmit pulse condition, it is assumed that the center frequency is 2 MHz and a wave number of a hanning weight is 4 (fractional bandwidth 50%), and a maximum sound pressure amplitude is 212 kPa. In contrast, in the present invention, as a transmit pulse condition, it is assumed that the center frequency is 3 MHz and a wave number of a hanning weight is 4 (fractional bandwidth 50%), a maximum sound pressure amplitude of the first transmit pulse P 1  is 520 kPa, a maximum sound pressure amplitude of the second transmit pulse P 2  is 260 kPa, and the phase of the first transmit pulse P 1  is equal to that of the second transmit pulse P 2 . The above condition is assumed such that a value of a mechanical index MI which is used as an index of a safety of the ultrasound wave for a biological body is the same in the method according to the related art and the method according to the present invention. In other words, MI is defined as MI=P 0 /√f c  from the center frequency f c  (MHz) of the transmit pulse and a maximum sound pressure amplitude P 0  (MPa) of a negative pressure and MI=0.3 both in the method according to the related art and the method according to the present invention under the above-mentioned condition. 
     As the ultrasound contrast agent, sonazoid is assumed. As for the sonazoid, it is assumed that a radius is 1 μm, a shell thickness is 10 nm, a shell shear modulus is 50 MPa, a shell viscous coefficient is 0.8 Pa·s. Further, as for gas in the contrast agent, it is assumed that a density is 1.61 kg/m 3 , a thermal conductivity is 26.2×10 −3  W/mk, a thermal capacity is 1007 J/kgK and a ratio of specific heats is 1.4. As for the surrounding fluid, a blood is assumed (a density is 1,025 kg/m 3 , a viscous coefficient is 4×10 −3  Pa·S, and a speed of sound is 1,570 m/s). Under this condition, in the method according to the related art, as for each of the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2 , a response for one ultrasound contrast agent is obtained by a simulation and after performing an addition processing of the response waveform for the first transmit pulse P 1  and the response waveform for the second transmit pulse P 2 , the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  are filtered under the condition of the above-mentioned probe sensitivity band to obtain a contrast echo component. In contrast, in the method according to the present invention, as for each of the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2 , a response for one ultrasound contrast agent is obtained by the simulation and after performing a subtraction processing of the response waveform for the first transmit pulse P 1  and a waveform obtained by increasing two times the response waveform for the second transmit pulse P 2 , the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  are filtered under the condition of the above-mentioned probe sensitivity band to obtain a contrast echo component. 
     Further, in the nonlinear acoustic propagation simulation, a uniform acoustic medium which is similar to the physical property of the biological body is assumed and it is assumed that the speed of sound is 1,540 m/s, the density is 1,000 kg/m 3 , a nonlinear parameter B/A is 7, and a frequency dependent absorption coefficient is 0.7 (dB/cm/MHz). In this nonlinear acoustic propagation simulation, two dimensional plane of the acoustic medium is assumed and a sound pressure waveform at a focal point is obtained by the simulation with an aperture of the probe of 10 mm and a focal distance of 80 mm. In contrast, in the method of the present invention, an aperture amplitude apodization of the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2 , as illustrated in  FIG. 10 , uses all apertures so that a sound pressure of the second transmit pulse P 2  is half of a sound pressure of the first transmit pulse P 1 . With this condition, in the method of the related art, the nonlinear acoustic propagation waveform for each of the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  is obtained by the simulation and after performing an addition processing of a waveform for the first transmit pulse P 1  and a waveform for the second transmit pulse P 2 , the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  are filtered under the condition of the above-mentioned probe sensitivity band to obtain a nonlinear tissue echo component. In contrast, according to a method of the present invention, after performing the subtraction processing of the waveform of the first transmit pulse P 1  and a waveform obtained by increasing two times the waveform of the second transmit pulse P 2 , the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  are filtered under the condition of the above-mentioned probe sensitivity band to obtain a nonlinear tissue echo component. 
     Hereinafter, a result of the simulation will be described. 
     First, a response of the ultrasound contrast agent will be described with reference to  FIG. 13 .  FIG. 13  is a frequency dependence view illustrating a contrast echo component of the ultrasound contrast agent according to methods in the related art and the present invention. In  FIG. 13 , a frequency band (normalized with a maximum sensitivity) corresponding to the probe sensitivity band and frequency bands (each normalized with a maximum strength) corresponding to the first transmit pulses P 1  in the methods of the related art and the present invention are illustrated. Since a sound pressure level for a response for one ultrasound contrast agent is very low, for the convenience of the display, the sound pressure level for the response for the ultrasound contrast agent is increased by 140 dB to be displayed. From this result, it is appreciated that the contrast echo component in the method of the present invention has slightly lower sound pressure level than that in the method of the related art, but the contrast echo component is generated all over the probe sensitivity band. Specifically, it is understood that the signal is significantly distributed toward the low frequency and formed of very broad band signal. In other words, according to the method of the present invention, the contrast echo component becomes broader, which improves the spatial resolution and the depth penetration of the ultrasound contrast image. 
     Next, a nonlinear tissue echo component obtained by the nonlinear acoustic propagation simulation will be described with reference to  FIG. 14 .  FIG. 14  is a frequency dependence view illustrating nonlinear tissue echo components in methods according to the related art and the present invention. In  FIG. 14 , a frequency band (normalized with a maximum sensitivity) corresponding to the probe sensitivity band and frequency bands (each normalized with a maximum strength) corresponding to the first transmit pulses P 1  in the methods of the related art and the present invention are illustrated. From this result, it is understood that a sound pressure level of the nonlinear tissue echo component in the method of the present invention is suppressed to be much smaller than that in the related art. In other words, in the method of the related art, since a region corresponding to a second harmonic wave of the transmit pulse is used to form an image, the nonlinear tissue echo component of the second harmonic area inevitably becomes larger. In contrast, in the method of the present invention, the first transmit pulse P 1  and the second transmit pulse P 2  are formed so as to generate a region corresponding to the second harmonic wave (sum frequency component) out of the high frequency band of the probe sensitivity band and a difference-frequency component generated region out of the low frequency band of the probe sensitivity band. Therefore, it is possible to entirely remove the nonlinear tissue echo component and obtain a high CTR ultrasound contrast image. 
     In order to find an effect for the CTR of the method of the present invention as compared with the method of the related art, from the above-mentioned simulation result, an envelope maximum amplitude of a waveform of the contrast echo component and an envelope maximum amplitude of a waveform of the nonlinear tissue echo component according to the methods in the related art and the present invention are compared and the result is illustrated in  FIG. 15 . As illustrated in  FIG. 15 , if the contrast echo components are compared for the methods of the related art and the present invention, the envelope maximum amplitudes are −157.36 dB in the method of the related art and −162.06 dB in the method of the present invention. The contrast echo component, which becomes a signal in the ultrasound contrast image, is by 4.7 dB lower in the method of the present invention than in the method of the related art. Further, if the nonlinear tissue echo components are similarly compared, the nonlinear tissue echo component are −25.65 dB in the method of the related art and −46.38 dB in the method of the present invention. Therefore, the nonlinear tissue echo component which becomes noise in the ultrasound contrast image is by 20.7 dB lower in the method of the present invention than in the method of the related art. Accordingly, if the CTRs are compared using the relative comparison of both the signal and the noise, the method of the present invention has the improved CTR as follows:
 
−4.7 dB−(−20.7 dB)=16.0 dB.
 
     Therefore, the high CTR effect according to the method of the present invention is confirmed. 
     A specific example of the operation at the time of ultrasound contrast diagnosis performed with the above-described configuration and under the condition will be described with reference to the drawings. 
       FIG. 12  is an operational conceptual view illustrating an embodiment of the ultrasound diagnosis device according to the invention. The ultrasound diagnosis device  1  includes a main body  100  of the device, a cable  22 , a probe  20 , an image display  3 , and a manipulation panel  101  that allows a user to input capturing conditions. Before intravenously injecting the ultrasound contrast agent, if an operator touches the subject  30  with the probe  20 , a captured image  702  is displayed on a display screen  701  of the image display  3 . In this case, a position of the representative area is indicated by a marker  703  so that the user manipulates the manipulation panel  101  to select the representative area. On the display screen  701 , brightness information in the representative area of the captured image  702  indicated by the marker  703  is displayed on a number display  704 . In the manipulation panel  101 , transmit waveform adjusting units  103  and  104  are manipulated to adjust the center frequency or the fractional bandwidth of the first transmit pulse P 1  or the second transmit pulse P 2  to change the transmit pulse waveform. In the manipulation panel  101 , an adjusting unit for an amplitude ratio n of the first receive echo R 1  and the second receive echo R 2  may be provided. 
     First, the user manipulates the marker  703  for the captured image of the subject  30  before intravenously injecting the ultrasound contrast agent using a trackball  102  and display a brightness of the tissue echo on the number display  704 . If the tissue echo is not sufficiently suppressed, the user manipulates the transmit waveform adjusting units  103  and  104  to adjust the transmit pulse so as to lower the brightness to be displayed on the number display  704 . By doing this, it is possible to set an optimal transmit pulse condition for the subject  30  so as to sufficiently suppress or exclude the tissue echo before obtaining the ultrasound contrast image. After determining the condition where the tissue echo is sufficiently suppressed, the ultrasound contrast agent is intravenously injected into the subject  30  to capture the ultrasound contrast image. Further, at the time of capturing the ultrasound contrast image, the transmit waveform adjusting units  103  and  104  are manipulated to search for better capturing conditions. 
     By the operation of the ultrasound diagnosis device as described above, an optimal CTR ultrasound contrast image may be obtained and a high quality diagnosis image may be obtained by fixing the setting condition even when the patient-dependency is strong. 
     REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 
     
         
         
           
               1  Ultrasound diagnosis device 
               2  External interface 
               3  Image display 
               10  Probe sensitivity band 
               20  Probe 
               21   a  to  21   z  Electro-acoustic conversion element 
               22  Cable 
               30  Subject 
               31  Blood vessel 
               32  Ultrasound contrast agent 
               41  Band pass filter signal pass band 
               42  Low pass filter signal pass band 
               43  High pass filter signal pass band 
               100  Main body 
               101  Manipulation panel 
               102  Trackball 
               103 ,  104  Transmit waveform adjusting unit 
               110  Main body component 
               111  Transmit amplifier 
               112  Waveform generator 
               113  Transmit and receive (T/R) switch 
               114  Receive amplifier 
               115  A/D converter 
               116  Receive delay circuit 
               117  Signal processor 
               118  Image processor 
               120  Controller 
               200 ,  210 ,  211 ,  220 ,  221 ,  230 ,  231 ,  240 ,  241 ,  250 ,  251  Frequency component of transmit pulse 
               300 ,  310 ,  311 ,  320 ,  321 ,  330 ,  331  Linear tissue echo component 
               400 ,  410  to  412 ,  420  to  422 ,  430  to  432 ,  440  to  442 ,  450  to  452  Sum frequency tissue harmonic echo component 
               500 ,  510  to  512 ,  520  to  522 ,  530  to  532 ,  540  to  542 ,  550  to  552  Difference-frequency tissue harmonic echo component 
               600 ,  610  to  612 ,  620  to  622 ,  630  to  632 ,  640  to  642 ,  650  to  652  Contrast echo component 
               701  Display screen 
               702  Captured image 
               703  Marker 
               704  Number display

Technology Category: g