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Abstract

A method and apparatus for high-speed ultrasonic imaging of very rapidly moving bodily structures. A transducer produces sequential data frames corresponding to sequential images of bodily cross-sections produced by periodically scanning a body with an ultrasound beam produced by the transducer. Reflected ultrasonic echo pulses are digitized and stored in a memory array in which each data frame is stored in a single segment of a plurality of memory segments which form the memory. The transducer periodically scans the body at a predetermined first rate, whereas the sequential display of the sequential data frames occurs at a second predetermined rate which is different from the first rate. The system permits acquisition of data at a rate which is greater than the perception rate of the human eye and display of the acquired data at a rate which can be visualized by a human observer. An electrocardiogram generates a first control signal for controlling the transducer scan rate and a second control signal for timing the data storage can be triggered to occur at a desired portion of a cardiac cycle, e.g., when an abnormal cardiac event occurs.

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First Claim