ULTRASONIC IMAGING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MEASURING HARDNESS

• Main Authors: MARUOKA, Takashi, TANAKA, Tomohiko
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 11.12.2019
• Subjects: DIAGNOSIS; HUMAN NECESSITIES; HYGIENE; IDENTIFICATION; MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; SURGERY

[Problem] There is provided an ultrasonic imaging apparatus and method capable of measuring the hardness of an organ in consideration of the vibration mode of the organ. [Means for Resolution] When an ultrasonic signal is transmitted to an organ caused to vibrate and the hardness of the organ is measured by using an ultrasonic reception signal received from the organ, the speeds of at least two locations on the organ are calculated by using the ultrasonic reception signal, and the speeds of the two locations are analyzed to identify a plurality of vibration modes of the organ 30 and a vibration frequency in each of the vibration mode. On the other hand, a constant used to calculate the hardness is calculated in advance for each of the plurality of vibration modes. The hardness of the organ 30 is calculated by using the identified frequencies of the vibration modes, information on the size of the organ 30, and a constant calculated in advance for each of the plurality of vibration modes.