What is claimed is:
1. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising:
a transmitter-receiver for transmitting an ultrasonic pulse and obtaining echo data;
a tomogram generator for forming a tomogram of a blood vessel based on the echo data;
a measurement line setting device for setting a measurement line in the tomogram;
a displacement calculator for calculating displacement of a blood vessel wall on the measurement line;
a sample gate generator for setting a sample gate using the measurement line as a reference;
a blood velocity calculator for calculating blood velocity at the sample gate; and
an evaluation value calculator for calculating an evaluation value based on the displacement of the blood vessel wall and the blood velocity.
2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
a displacement waveform corresponding to displacement of the blood vessel wall over time, and a velocity waveform indicative of change over time of the blood velocity are displayed together with the tomogram.
3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein
an evaluation value waveform indicative of change over time of the evaluation value is additionally displayed.
4. An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein
a bio-signal waveform is additionally displayed.
5. An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein
the displacement waveform, the velocity waveform, the evaluation value waveform, and the bio-signal waveform are displayed on a real time basis with their time axes aligned in parallel.
6. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
the evaluation value is wave intensity.
7. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
the measurement line setting device is an input device through which the user can designate the measurement line.
8. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising
a tracking circuit for tracking a position of the blood vessel wall on the measurement line, following any motion of the blood vessel wall,
wherein
the displacement of the blood vessel wall is calculated from a result of tracking of the position of the blood vessel wall.
9. An apparatus according to claim 8, wherein
the sample gate generator dynamically sets the sample gate within the blood vessel so as to follow the position of the blood vessel wall tracked.
10. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
a direction of the measurement line is determined as a first beam direction for displacement measurement, and
a direction passing through the sample gate and intersecting with the measurement line is determined as a second beam direction for Doppler measurement.
11. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein
the transmitter-receiver includes an array transducer comprising a plurality of ultrasonic transducer elements, and
the array transducer carries out transmission and reception of an ultrasonic beam in the first direction and transmission and reception of an ultrasonic beam in the second direction in a time sharing manner.
12. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising:
a transmitter-receiver for transmitting an ultrasonic pulse and obtaining echo data;
a tomogram generator for forming a tomogram of a blood vessel based on the echo data;
a measurement line setting device for setting a measurement line in the tomogram;
a blood vessel diameter calculator for calculating a blood vessel diameter along the measurement line;
a sample gate generator for setting a sample gate using the measurement line as a reference;
a blood velocity calculator for calculating blood velocity at the sample gate;
a blood pressure calculator for converting a change of the blood vessel diameter into a change of blood pressure using a maximum blood pressure value input and a minimum blood pressure value input, as a reference; and
an evaluation value calculator for calculating an evaluation value based on the blood pressure and the blood velocity.
13. An apparatus according to claim 12, wherein
the blood pressure calculator considers the largest blood vessel diameter to be the maximum blood pressure value and the smallest blood vessel diameter to be the minimum blood pressure value during conversion into blood pressure.
14. An apparatus according to claim 12, wherein
the maximum blood pressure value and the minimum blood pressure value are measured using a hemodynamometer applied to a specific part of a subject.
15. An apparatus according to claim 12, wherein
the evaluation value calculator calculates a time differential of the blood pressure and a time differential of the blood velocity, and the evaluation value calculator further calculates wave intensity based on the time differential of the blood pressure and the time differential of the blood velocity.
16. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising:
a transmitter-receiver for transmitting an ultrasonic pulse and obtaining echo data;
a calculator for calculating blood velocity at a measurement part within a blood vessel based on the echo data;
a calculator for calculating a time differential of the blood velocity;
a calculator for calculating blood pressure at the measurement part based on one or both of the echo data and a bio-measurement signal;
a calculator for calculating a time differential of the blood pressure; and
a calculator for multiplying the time differential of the blood velocity and the time differential of the blood pressure at a same moment to thereby calculate wave intensity.
17. An apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising:
a display device for forming a tomogram of the blood vessel based on the echo data, and displaying on a display screen the tomogram together with a waveform indicative of change over time of the blood velocity and another waveform indicative of change over time of the blood pressure; and
a mark indicator for displaying a mark indicative of the measurement part in the tomogram of the blood vessel displayed on the display screen.
18. An apparatus according to claim 17, wherein
the display device displays a waveform indicative of change of the wave intensity over time, together with the tomogram of the blood vessel.
19. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising:
a transmitter-receiver for setting a beam direction passing across a blood vessel, transmitting an ultrasonic pulse in the beam direction, and obtaining echo data in the beam direction;
a blood vessel wall specifying circuit for specifying positions of an anterior wall and a posterior wall of the blood vessel based on the echo data obtained in the beam direction;
a blood vessel diameter calculator for calculating a blood vessel diameter based on the positions of the anterior wall and the posterior wall of the blood vessel; and
a blood pressure calculator for converting a change over time of the blood vessel diameter to a change over time of a blood pressure value,
wherein
the blood pressure is used in at least one of image formation and data calculation.
20. An apparatus according to claim 19, wherein
the change over time of the blood vessel diameter is converted into a change over time of the blood pressure according to reference data.
21. An apparatus according to claim 20, wherein
the reference data is obtained using a hemodynamometer externally applied to a specific part of a subject.
22. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising:
a blood velocity calculator for preparing a blood velocity graph showing change over time of velocity of blood flowing in a blood vessel based on echo data;
a blood vessel diameter calculator for preparing a blood vessel diameter graph showing a change as time passes of a blood vessel diameter based on the echo data;
an evaluation value calculator for calculating an evaluation value from the blood velocity and the blood vessel diameter at a same moment and preparing an evaluation value graph showing a change as time passes of the evaluation value; and
a display device for simultaneously displaying the blood velocity graph, the blood vessel diameter graph, and the evaluation value graph.
23. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising:
a tomogram generator for forming a tomogram of a blood vessel based on echo data;
a blood velocity calculator for preparing a blood velocity graph showing change over time of the velocity of blood flowing in the blood vessel based on the echo data;
a blood vessel diameter calculator for preparing a blood vessel diameter graph showing change over time of a blood vessel diameter based on the echo data; and
a display device for simultaneously displaying the tomogram of the blood vessel, the blood velocity graph, and the blood vessel diameter graph.
24. An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus, comprising:
a transmitter-receiver for transmitting and receiving an ultrasonic pulse for ultrasonic beam scanning to obtain a received signal;
a first beam direction setting circuit for determining a first beam direction orthogonal to a blood vessel wall, based on the received signal, to set the first beam direction to the transmitter-receiver;
a displacement measurement circuit for measuring displacement of a blood vessel wall using the received signal corresponding to the first beam direction; and
an evaluation value calculator for calculating an evaluation value using the displacement of the blood vessel wall.
25. An apparatus according to claim 24, wherein
the predetermined angle is a right angle.
26. An apparatus according to claim 24, wherein
the first beam direction setting circuit, including a beam steering circuit for steering a beam direction, a characteristic signal detector for detecting a characteristic signal originated from the blood vessel wall from among received signals relative to each of the respective beam directions resulting from the steering; and
a characteristic signal comparison circuit for mutually comparing characteristic signals concerning the respective beam directions to determine the first beam direction based on a result of comparison.
27. An apparatus according to claim 24, further comprising:
a second beam direction setting circuit for setting a second beam direction for Doppler measurement to the transmitter-receiver, the second beam direction inclining with respect to the first beam direction; and
a blood velocity measurement circuit for measuring blood velocity using the received signal corresponding to the second beam direction.
28. An apparatus according to claim 27, wherein
the evaluation value calculator calculates the evaluation value from the displacement of the blood vessel wall and the blood velocity.
29. An apparatus according to claim 28, wherein
the evaluation value is wave intensity.
30. An apparatus according to claim 27, wherein
the second beam direction setting circuit sets a sample gate in the first beam direction within the blood vessel based on the characteristic signal, and further sets the second beam direction passing through the sample gate.
31. An apparatus according to claim 26, wherein
the characteristic signal comparison circuit mutually compares amplitudes of the characteristic signals among the respective received signals to determine the first beam direction.
32. An apparatus according to claim 31, wherein
the characteristic signal comparison circuit determines the first beam direction utilizing a fact that a characteristic signal has the maximum amplitude.
33. An apparatus according to claim 26, wherein
the characteristic signal comparison circuit determines the first beam direction through comparison of generation timing of the characteristic signals among the respective received signals.
34. An apparatus according to claim 33, wherein
the characteristic signal comparison circuit determines the first beam direction using a time period from transmission of the ultrasonic beam to reception of the character signal as the minimum.
35. An apparatus according to claim 26, wherein
the characteristic signal comparison circuit determines the first beam direction through comparison of generation timing and an amplitude of the characteristic signals among the respective received signals.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A therapeutic optical device for inducing change in the shape of a meridian of an eye,
wherein said device is configured to reshape the mid peripheral cornea such that an off-axis image field in said meridian is focused in a direction reshaping is preferred, with reference to the retina;
wherein said device is configured to vault the mid peripheral cornea; and
wherein said device is configured to focus a central image field on the retina in all meridians.
2. A therapeutic optical device according to claim 1, wherein said device is configured to focus a second off-axis image field in a second meridian in a direction reshaping is preferred, with reference to the retina.
3. A therapeutic optical device according to claim 1, further configured to provide rotational stability.
4. A therapeutic optical device according to claim 1, wherein said device comprises a central zone and a peripheral zone.
5. A therapeutic optical device according to claim 4, wherein said peripheral zone has a refractive power different relative to the central zone, wherein said refractive power is selected to focus said off-axis image field in said meridian in said direction reshaping is preferred, with reference to the retina.
6. A therapeutic optical device according to claim 4, wherein said peripheral zone is comprised of a birefringent material, wherein said birefringent material is selected to focus said off-axis image field in said meridian in said direction reshaping is preferred, with reference to the retina.
7. A therapeutic optical device according to claim 4, wherein said central zone is spherical.
8. A therapeutic optical device according to claim 4, wherein said central zone is aspherical.
9. A therapeutic optical device according to claim 4, wherein said central zone is toric.
10. A therapeutic optical device according to claim 4, wherein said central zone is multifocal.
11. A therapeutic optical device according to claim 4, wherein said central zone is rotationally non-symmetrical.
12. A therapeutic optical device,
wherein said device is configured to focus a first off-axis image field in a first meridian on or anterior or posterior to the retina;
wherein said device is configured to focus a second off-axis image field in a second meridian anterior or posterior to said first off-axis image field;
wherein said device is configured to create a wedge of clearance between said device and the mid peripheral cornea; and
wherein said device is configured to focus a central image field on the retina in at least one meridian.
13. A therapeutic optical device according to claim 12, wherein the device is configured to rest upon the cornea.
14. A therapeutic optical device according to claim 12, wherein the device is configured for placement within ocular tissue.