全乳房超音波磁波定位及影像儲存系統

Abstract

過去的超音波檢驗中，放射師如果發現了疑似腫瘤的組織，會用人工的方式去標記組織的方向跟距離，但這並不準確。這篇文章中介紹的是全乳房超音波磁波定位及影像儲存系統。這套系統利用磁波定位器 (magnetic tracker) 來取得超音波探頭的位置和方向，也使用螢幕擷取工具來取得超音波機器的螢幕影像。在系統運作的過程中，分成兩部分：第一部分是定位乳頭的位置及乳房的區域大小。第二部分是記錄整個超音波檢驗的過程，以及將探頭的資訊顯示在使用者介面上。藉由上面的流程，系統可以提供更準確地探頭資訊，以及清楚記錄檢驗的過程。所以，醫生可以利用系統提供的這些探頭資訊及記錄來提供更正確的診斷。模擬的結果顯示所有系統測量出來的距離跟真實情況的差異都小於0.1公分。而在真實的實驗中，我們測量出來的探頭資訊跟操作者標記的探頭資訊，他們的平均差異是0.61公分。綜合以上的結果，顯示這套系統具有準確性及有效提供更多資訊給醫生做診斷。

In past ultrasound examination, when the suspected lesion was found, the distance and the clock direction will be measured by a radiologist artificially. In this study, the whole breast ultrasound (US) with magnetic tracker and image storing system is proposed. The proposed system uses the magnetic tracker to get position and clock direction of the probe. More, the system uses the screen capture tool to get the screen of ultrasound machine. The system consists of two phases. First, the operator marks the nipple position and the breast 12 o’clock boundary. Next, our system can track the probe at the whole examination time and show the probe information in the user interface panel. Consequently, the system provides more precise position information about the probe and stores the progress of ultrasound examination. A physician can review the recorded US images with probe location to find the abnormalities conveniently. According to the simulation result, all the distance difference between the proposed system and ground truth are smaller than 0.1 cm. The experimental result shows the average probe’s position differences of the system and the operator is less than 0.61 (cm). In summary, the simulation and experimental results demonstrate the high efficiency and accuracy of the proposed system.