Ultrasound treatment apparatus

Abstract

An ultrasound treatment apparatus includes an ultrasound source for generating treatment ultrasound which is focused, a driving circuit for driving the ultrasound source to generate treatment ultrasound from the ultrasound source, and a controller for controlling to make the driving circuit drive the ultrasound source under an irradiation condition in which an optimization index obtained by the product of the focus intensity (W/cm 2 ), the irradiation period (sec), and the frequency (MHz) all of the treatment ultrasound falls within an appropriate range from 6,000 (inclusive) to 40,000 (inclusive).

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . An ultrasound treatment apparatus comprising: 
 an ultrasound source for generating treatment ultrasound which is focused;    a driving circuit for driving said ultrasound source to generate treatment ultrasound from said ultrasound source; and    a controller for controlling said driving circuit to cause said driving circuit to drive said ultrasound source under an irradiation condition in which an optimization index obtained by a product of a focus intensity (W/cm 2 ) of the treatment ultrasound, an irradiation period (sec) of the treatment ultrasound, and a frequency (MHz) of the treatment ultrasound falls within an appropriate range from 6,000 (inclusive) to 40,000 (inclusive).    
     
     
         2 . An apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein said controller controls said driving circuit to cause said driving circuit to drive said ultrasound source under an irradiation condition in which the focus intensity becomes not more than 2,000 (W/cm 2 ).  
     
     
         3 . An apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a console for inputting at least one of the focus intensity and the irradiation period, said controller determining the other of the focus intensity and the irradiation period on the basis of the input one of the focus intensity and the irradiation period and a frequency of the treatment ultrasound such that the optimization index falls within the appropriate range.  
     
     
         4 . An apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a console for inputting both the focus intensity and the irradiation period, and means for generating a warning when an optimization index obtained from the input focus intensity, the input irradiation time, and a frequency of the treatment ultrasound falls outside the appropriate range.  
     
     
         5 . An apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a memory storing an appropriate range of the optimization index for each internal organ.  
     
     
         6 . An apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising display means for graphically displaying the optimization range.  
     
     
         7 . An ultrasound treatment apparatus comprising: 
 an ultrasound source for generating treatment ultrasound which is focused;    a driving circuit for driving said ultrasound source to generate treatment ultrasound from said ultrasound source; and    a controller for determining an irradiation condition on the basis of an optimization index obtained from a product of a focus intensity (W/cm 2 ) of the treatment ultrasound, an irradiation period (sec) of the treatment ultrasound, and a frequency (MHz) of the treatment ultrasound, and controlling said driving circuit to cause said driving circuit to drive said ultrasound source under the determined irradiation condition.    
     
     
         8 . An ultrasound treatment apparatus comprising: 
 an ultrasound source for generating treatment ultrasound which is focused;    a driving circuit for driving said ultrasound source to generate treatment ultrasound from said ultrasound source; and    a controller for determining an irradiation condition on the basis of a focus intensity of the treatment ultrasound and an ultrasound intensity in at least one hyper Echoic region including a body surface of a patient between said ultrasound source and the focus, and controlling said driving circuit to cause said driving circuit to drive said ultrasound source under the determined irradiation condition.    
     
     
         9 . An apparatus according to  claim 8 , wherein said controller determines a comprehensive appropriate range on the basis of an appropriate range of a product of a focus intensity (W/cm 2 ) of the treatment ultrasound, an irradiation period (sec) of the treatment ultrasound, and a frequency (MHz) of the treatment ultrasound, and an upper limit of a product of an ultrasound intensity (W/cm 2 ) in the hyper Echoic region, the irradiation period (sec), and the frequency (MHz) of the treatment ultrasound.  
     
     
         10 . An apparatus according to  claim 9 , further comprising display means for graphically displaying the appropriate range, the upper limit, and the comprehensive appropriate range.  
     
     
         11 . An apparatus according to  claim 9 , further comprising a memory storing the appropriate range and the upper limit for each internal organ.  
     
     
         12 . An apparatus according to  claim 8 , further comprising means for automatically extracting the hyper Echoic region from B-mode image data associated with a cross-section including a focus of the treatment ultrasound.  
     
     
         13 . An ultrasound treatment apparatus comprising: 
 an ultrasound source for generating treatment ultrasound which is focused;    a driving circuit for driving said ultrasound source so as to alternately generate the treatment ultrasound and stop the treatment ultrasound;    an imaging ultrasound probe;    means for continuously scanning a cross-section including the focus of the treatment ultrasound with imaging ultrasound through said imaging ultrasound probe so as to sequentially generate B-mode image data; and    means for displaying the B-mode image data as a moving image and also displaying B-mode image data picked up in synchronism with stop periods of the treatment ultrasound.    
     
     
         14 . An apparatus according to  claim 13 , wherein a stop period of the treatment step is set to be longer than a time required to scan the cross-section.  
     
     
         15 . An apparatus according to  claim 13 , further comprising means for arbitrarily setting at least one of a generation period of the treatment ultrasound and a stop period of the treatment ultrasound.  
     
     
         16 . An apparatus according to  claim 13 , wherein said driving circuit adjusts an intensity of the treatment ultrasound in accordance with a stop period of the treatment ultrasound.  
     
     
         17 . An apparatus according to  claim 13 , further comprising means for measuring a progress of treatment of a tumor on the basis of a focus intensity of B-mode image data captured in synchronism with a stop period of the treatment ultrasound.  
     
     
         18 . An apparatus according to  claim 17 , wherein said driving circuit comprises means for adjusting a generation period of the treatment ultrasound and/or a stop period of the treatment ultrasound on the basis of the measured progress of treatment.  
     
     
         19 . An apparatus according to  claim 13 , further comprising means for displaying the picked-up B-mode image data in a list form.  
     
     
         20 . An ultrasound treatment apparatus comprising: 
 an ultrasound source for generating treatment ultrasound which is focused;    a driving circuit for driving said ultrasound source so as to alternately generate the treatment ultrasound and stop the treatment ultrasound;    an imaging ultrasound probe;    means for intermittently executing scanning operation of scanning a cross-section including a focus of the treatment ultrasound with image ultrasound through said imaging ultrasound probe so as to intermittently generate B-mode image data, periods of the scanning operation partly overlapping generation periods of the treatment ultrasound; and    means for displaying the B-mode image data as a skip image.    
     
     
         21 . An apparatus according to  claim 20 , wherein a first half portion of the scanning operation overlaps a generation period of the treatment ultrasound.  
     
     
         22 . An apparatus according to  claim 20 , wherein a second half portion of the scanning operation overlaps a generation period of the treatment ultrasound.  
     
     
         23 . An apparatus according to  claim 20 , wherein the first and second halves of the scanning operation excluding a central portion overlap a generation period of the treatment ultrasound.  
     
     
         24 . An apparatus according to  claim 20 , further comprising means for displaying the B-mode image in a list form.  
     
     
         25 . An ultrasound treatment apparatus comprising: 
 an ultrasound source for generating treatment ultrasound which is focused;    a driving circuit for driving said ultrasound source so as to alternately generate the treatment ultrasound and stop the treatment ultrasound;    an imaging ultrasound probe;    means for continuously executing scanning operation of continuously scanning a cross-section including the focus of the treatment ultrasound with imaging ultrasound through said imaging ultrasound probe so as to sequentially generate B-mode image data;    means for picking up B-mode image data from the B-mode image data such that periods of the scanning operation partly overlap generation periods of the treatment ultrasound; and    means for displaying the picked-up B-mode image as a skip image.    
     
     
         26 . An ultrasound treatment apparatus comprising: 
 an ultrasound source for generating treatment ultrasound which is focused;    a driving circuit for driving said ultrasound source so as to alternately generate the treatment ultrasound and stop the treatment ultrasound;    means for continuously inputting B-mode image data associated with a cross-section including a focus of the treatment ultrasound;    means for picking up B-mode image data corresponding to a stop period of the treatment ultrasound from the B-mode image data; and    means for displaying the picked-up B-mode image data as a skip image.    
     
     
         27 . An apparatus according to  claim 26 , further comprising means for displaying the picked-up B-mode image data in a list form.  
     
     
         28 . An ultrasound treatment apparatus comprising: 
 an ultrasound source for generating treatment ultrasound which is focused;    a driving circuit for driving said ultrasound source to generate the treatment ultrasound;    means for continuously inputting B-mode image data associated with a cross-section including a focus of the treatment ultrasound;    means for picking up the focus intensity from the B-mode image data; and    means for displaying the picked-up intensity as changes over time.    
     
     
         29 . An apparatus according to  claim 28 , further comprising means for spatially averaging the picked-up intensities.  
     
     
         30 . An apparatus according to  claim 28 , further comprising means for measuring a change amount from an initial value of the picked-up intensities, and means for stopping generation of the treatment ultrasound or decreasing an intensity of the treatment ultrasound when the change amount exceeds a predetermined threshold.  
     
     
         31 . An apparatus according to  claim 28 , further comprising means for measuring a change amount from an initial value of the picked-up intensities, and means for generating a warning when the change amount exceeds a predetermined threshold.