150 results about "Diagnostics ultrasound" patented technology

A handheld diagnostic ultrasound device is disclosed which is pocket sized, lightweight and is designed for clear imaging under adverse lighting conditions by utilizing a custom Head Mounted Display (HMD). The handheld diagnostic ultrasound device comprises a removable probe and a removable HMD that connects to the personal digital assistant (PDA) style control unit. The handheld diagnostic ultrasound device may be viewed on the VGA LCD Display on the diagnostic ultrasound device or on the HMD. Images obtained may be stored to a secure digital flash or transferred via USB (Universal Serial Bus) or wireless link to a remote computer system for further processing or archiving. The handheld diagnostic ultrasound device is based on a dual-core processor that achieves a level of integration not previously attainable in a handheld diagnostic ultrasound device.

An automated three dimensional mapping and display system for a diagnostic ultrasound system is presented. According to the invention, ultrasound probe position registration is automated, the position of each pixel in the ultrasound image in reference to selected anatomical references is calculated, and specified information is stored on command. The system, during real time ultrasound scanning, enables the ultrasound probe position and orientation to be continuously displayed over a body or body part diagram, thereby facilitating scanning and images interpretation of stored information. The system can then record single or multiple ultrasound free hand two-dimensional (also “2D”) frames in a video sequence (clip) or cine loop wherein multiple 2D frames of one or more video sequences corresponding to a scanned volume can be reconstructed in three-dimensional (also “3D”) volume images corresponding to the scanned region, using known 3D reconstruction algorithms. In later examinations, the exact location and position of the transducer can be recreated along three dimensional or two dimensional axis points enabling known targets to be viewed from an exact, known position.

This invention relates to a non-invasive, safer alternative to current lipoplasty procedures. The preferred embodiment of the invention is a multi-channel system that focuses the low mega Hertz ultrasound at user selectable depths, where fat cells are to be emulsified. The system has independent user control of the main emulsifying property, cavitation, and thermal heating, which can independently be used for skin tightening. One part of the system is a handheld transducer, in shape similar to a typical small diagnostic ultrasound transducer. The other part of the system includes a transmitter with internal tracking of procedure time and with a disabling feature.

An ultrasound imaging and therapy system is provided that includes an ultrasound probe and a diagnostic module to control the probe to obtain diagnostic ultrasound signals from a region of interest (ROI) of the patient. The ROI includes adipose tissue and the diagnostic module generates a diagnostic image of the ROI based on the ultrasound signals obtained. The system also includes a display to display the image of the ROI and a user interface to accept user inputs to designate a treatment space within the ROI that corresponds to the adipose tissue. The display displays the treatment space on the image. The system also includes a therapy module to control the probe to deliver, during a therapy session, a therapy to a treatment location based on a therapy parameter. The treatment location is within the treatment space defined by the user inputs.

This invention relates to a non-invasive, safer alternative to current lipoplasty procedures. The preferred embodiment of the invention is a multi-channel system that focuses the low mega Hertz ultrasound at user selectable depths, where fat cells are to be emulsified. The system offers independent user control of the main emulsifying property, cavitation, and thermal heating, which can independently be used for skin tightening. One part of the system is a handheld transducer, in shape similar to a typical small diagnostic ultrasound transducer. The other part of the system includes a transmitter with, for example, internal tracking of procedure time and with a disabling feature.

To carry out objective or definitive diagnosis on the basis of an elastic image regardless of experience and proficiency, a method of displaying an elastic image includes the steps of measuring ultrasound cross-section data of a cross-section region of a subject by applying pressuring to the subject, determining a physical value correlating with the elasticity of tissue in the cross-section region on the basis of the ultrasound cross-section data, generating an elastic image of the cross-section region on the basis of the physical value and displaying the elastic image on a display device, determine compression state information relating to the compression state of the cross-section region on the basis of the pressure applied to the subject, and displaying the compression state information together with the elastic image on the display device.

A diagnostic ultrasound system is provided for automatically displaying multiple planes from a 3-D ultrasound data set. The system comprises a user interface for designating a reference plane, wherein the user interface provides a safe view position option and a restore reference plane option. A processor module maps the reference plane into a 3D ultrasound data set and automatically calculates image planes based on the reference plane for a current view position and a prior view position. A display is provided to selectively display the image planes associated with the current and prior reference planes. Memory stores the prior reference plane in response to selection of the save reference plane option, while the display switches from display of the current reference plane to restore the prior reference plane in response to selection of the restore reference plane option. Optionally, the memory may store coordinates in connection with the current and prior reference planes.

An ultrasound transducer includes an array of PZT elements mounted on a non-recessed distal surface of a backing block. Between each element and the backing block is a conductive region formed as a portion of a metallic layer sputtered onto the distal surface. Traces on a longitudinally extending circuit board—preferably, a substantially rigid printed circuit board, which may be embedded within the block—connect the conductive region, and thus the PZT element, with any conventional external ultrasound imaging system. A substantially “T” or “inverted-L” shaped electrode is thereby formed for each element, with no need for soldering. At least one longitudinally extending metallic member mounted on a respective lateral surface of the backing block forms a heat sink and a common electrical ground. A thermally and electrically conductive layer, such as of foil, transfers heat from at least one matching layer mounted on the elements to the metallic member.

A method of diagnosing a subject by delivering ultrasound signals using shear waves includes applying a portion of an ultrasound mainbeam to a bone surface at an incident angle relative to the surface of the bone to induce shear waves in the bone, energy in the shear waves forming a substantial part of energy of first ultrasound waves at a desired region in the subject through the bone, detecting at least one of reflected and scattered energy of the applied ultrasound mainbeam, and analyzing the detected energy for a diagnostic purpose.

In a high-resolution flow mode, a diagnostic ultrasound apparatus and a diagnostic ultrasound method that provide an image of blood flow or perfusion is provided with higher sensitivity and high resolution, which makes it possible to precisely observe the presence of fine blood vessels. In this apparatus, by scanning means (81 to 83), with a ultrasound pulse having a wideband frequency characteristic transmitting at least two times in the same direction within an object, a cross section to be imaged therein is scanned to obtain an echo signal at each time of transmission. By processing means 84, highpass filtering or differential processing is performed with rows of data in the time axis direction of an echo signal acquired at each sample location in the cross section, so that signals from blood flow are extracted. By producing means 85, the processed signals are produced into data of luminance or power. This data is displayed by displaying means 86 as a high-resolution color (flow) image or grayscale flow image indicative of blood flow or perfusion.

An apparatus, system, and method where the ultrasound transducer position registration is automated, calculates the position of each pixel in the ultrasound image in reference to the predetermined anatomical reference points (AR) and can store the information on demand. The graphic interface associated with the ultrasound image allows for the instant display of selected targets position coordinates relative to anatomical reference points, in the ultrasound images. This system would significantly reduce the ultrasound examination time, by eliminating the time consuming manual labeling of images and speeding up the target finding at subsequent examinations, enhance correlation capability with other diagnostic imaging modalities like CT scans, MRI, mammograms, decrease human errors and fatigue, provide an easy, uniform, method of communicating the target position among healthcare providers.

An ultrasound imaging and therapy system that includes an ultrasound probe and an ultrasound diagnostic module to control the probe to obtain diagnostic ultrasound signals from a region of interest (ROI). The ROI includes adipose tissue and non-adipose tissue. The diagnostic module analyzes the diagnostic ultrasound signals and automatically differentiates adipose tissue from non-adipose tissue. The system also includes an ultrasound therapy module to control the probe to deliver, during a therapy session, a therapy at a treatment location based on a therapy parameter to the adipose tissue differentiated by the ultrasound diagnostic module. A method for delivering therapy to a region of interest (ROI) in a patient is also provided.

We describe a method for opening the blood-brain barrier (BBB) using ultrasound and preformed microbubbles. With this method, diagnostic or therapeutic agents may be administered to the brain. This method can open a focal region of the BBB and administer agents in a targeted fashion or the method can open large regions (or the entirety) of the brain for more global administration of agents. In one embodiment, the method can be used to administer contrast agents (e.g., agents that increase or decrease the magnetic resonance imaging signal) to the brain and thereby improve the quality or information content of imaging data. In another embodiment, a standard clinical diagnostic ultrasound scanner can be used to open specific regions of the BBB and administer diagnostic or therapeutic agents. Importantly, this invention can open the BBB in a non-destructive / non-invasive fashion, allowing the subject to be awake and suffer no detectable side effects.

In a diagnostic ultrasound apparatus, an ultrasound pulse signal is transmitted two times in each of the rasters on a region to be scanned. Subtraction between echo signals received at each time of transmission is made to obtain a difference signal. Either one of the echo signals and the difference signal are produced into individual tomographic images, independently of each other. The produced individual tomographic images are displayed with a superposed manner one on the other or parallel-arranged manner. This allows contrast echo imaging to be conducted on a rate subtraction imaging technique. Minute blood flows are depicted distinguishably from tissue surrounding those flows in a steady manner.

The present invention describes a system for use with a core module for diagnostic ultrasound, the system comprising at least one core module having a housing, system electronics package and a I / O port and one or more docking station(s) in electronic communication with a plurality of peripheral devices, the docking station capable of releasable connection to the core module. The invention further details the individual modular components of the system, being a receptacle connector, a docking station, a multiple transducer adaptor and a mobile docking station.

An ultrasound probe comprises therapeutic transducers which include a plurality of arrayed first transducer elements and emit therapeutic ultrasounds to a subject, and diagnostic transducers which include a plurality of arrayed second transducer elements and emit diagnostic ultrasounds to the subject and receive the diagnostic ultrasounds, wherein the therapeutic transducers are stacked over the diagnostic transducers.

A diagnostic ultrasound system includes an ultrasound transmitting and receiving system for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves to and from a object to be examined 10, an elasticity image capturing system for capturing an elasticity image related to body tissue of the object to be examined on the basis of a signal output from the ultrasound transmitting and receiving system, and a controlling and displaying system for capturing the elasticity image. The elasticity image capturing system obtains compression data related to the compression state of the object to be examined 10, determines the compression state of the body tissue on the basis of the compression data, and includes a compression direction and range evaluation unit 115 as a compression state evaluating means for reflecting the determination result to the elasticity image. In this way, more accurate diagnosis by objectively and quantitatively grasping the compression state of the body tissue is possible.

A protective thin film adhesive dressing 10 is disclosed for use during diagnostic ultrasound exams and therapeutic ultrasound treatments. Thin film dressing 10 accommodates and covers various shaped transducers 22 and provides a sterile contact surface between a transducer's acoustic window 24 and a body 34, human or animal. Thin film dressing 10 is transparent, ultra light weight and does not change the shape or dimensions of an ultrasound probe 22 during use. Ultrasound wave freely traverse thin film dressing 10 without have a contact media such a gel 20 between acoustic window 24 and the inner surface of thin film dressing 10.

A modular diagnostic ultrasound apparatus is provided comprising a core unit, system electronics and an I / O port. The core unit comprises a housing and a system electronics package within the housing. The system electronics has one or more concatenated filters, including a front end transmit / receive circuit, a processor, a back end circuit for scan conversion, a system clock and a programmable system memory device. There is at least one I / O port connected to the front end and the back end of the system electronics package and extending through the core unit housing wherein all system data processing information is transmitted or received through the I / O port.

A method of displaying an elastic image according to the present invention includes the steps of measuring ultrasound cross-section data of a cross-section region of a subject while applying compression to the subject 1 (2, 3, 4), determining distortion of tissue in the cross-section region on the basis of the ultrasound cross-section data, generating an elastic image of the cross-section region on the basis of the distortion, displaying the elastic image on a display device (7), setting a plurality of ROIs on the elastic image displayed on the display device, converting the distortion of each ROI into an index value (12), and displays the index value on the display device (8). In this way, the method enables quantitative evaluation of the hardness of body tissue of a region to be diagnosed.

A capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (cMUT) device, comprises: a cMUT obtained by processing a silicon substrate by using a silicon micromachining technique; and an oscillator circuit having the cMUT as a capacitor, and outputting a frequency modulation signal by modulating a frequency of an oscillation signal to be output on the basis of a change of capacitance of the cMUT.

To carry out objective or definitive diagnosis on the basis of an elastic image regardless of experience and proficiency, a method of displaying an elastic image includes the steps of measuring ultrasound cross-section data of a cross-section region of a subject by applying pressuring to the subject, determining a physical value correlating with the elasticity of tissue in the cross-section region on the basis of the ultrasound cross-section data, generating an elastic image of the cross-section region on the basis of the physical value and displaying the elastic image on a display device, determine compression state information relating to the compression state of the cross-section region on the basis of the pressure applied to the subject, and displaying the compression state information together with the elastic image on the display device.

Systems and methods for visualizing lesions in tissue are provided. The systems and the system and methods exploit the differential scattering of ultrasound waves by normal and lesioned tissues to image the lesions. Spectrum analysis of the harmonics in diagnostic ultrasound waves that are differentially backscattered from lesioned and normal tissues provides image contrast and resolution.

A diagnostic ultrasound system is provided for automatically displaying multiple planes from a volume of interest. The system comprises a transducer for acquiring ultrasound data associated with a volume of interest having a target object therein. They system further comprises a user interface for designating a reference plane within the volume on interest. A processor module receives patient specific information representative of at least one of a shape and size of the target object and maps the reference plane and the ultrasound data into a 3D reference coordinate system. The processor module automatically calculates at least one plane of interest within the 3D reference coordinate system based on the reference plane and the patient specific information.

A novel diagnostic ultrasound apparatus has a plurality of ultrasound probes 1, delay means pairs 4 and 7 arranged respectively in the plurality of ultrasound probes to electronically delay the timings of transmissions or receptions of ultrasonic waves by the ultrasonic transducers, position / orientation detecting means 10 and delay control signal generating means for generating a delay control signal to control signal delays of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers of the plurality of ultrasound probes, using information acquired from the means 10. The delay control signal is input to the delay means to control the timings of transmission of ultrasonic waves to a target object of examination.

A modular diagnostic ultrasound apparatus is provided comprising a core unit, system electronics and an I / O port. The core unit comprises a housing and a system electronics package within the housing. The system electronics has one or more concatenated filters, including a front end transmit / receive circuit, a processor, a back end circuit for scan conversion, a system clock and a programmable system memory device. There is at least one I / O port connected to the front end and the back end of the system electronics package and extending through the core unit housing wherein all system data processing information is transmitted or received through the I / O port.

An analog store-digital read (ASDR) ultrasound beamformer architecture performs the task of signal beamforming using a matrix of sample / hold cells to capture, store and process instantaneous samples of analog signals from ultrasound array elements and this architecture provides significant reduction in power consumption and the size of the diagnostic ultrasound imaging system such that the hardware build upon ASDR ultrasound beamformer architecture can be placed in one or few application specific integrated chips (ASIC) positioned next to the ultrasound array and the whole diagnostic ultrasound imaging system could fit in the handle of the ultrasonic probe while preserving most of the functionality of a cart-based system. The ASDR architecture provides improved signal-to-noise ratio and is scalable.