467 results about "Ultrasound scan" patented technology

The invention provides systems and methods for aligning or guiding instruments during image-guided interventions. A volumetric medical scan (image data) of a patient may first be registered to patient space data regarding the patient obtained using a tracking device. An ultrasound simulator fitted with position indicating elements whose location is tracked by the tracking device is introduced to the surface of the anatomy of the patient and used to determine an imaginary ultrasound scan plane for the ultrasound simulator. This scan plane is used to reformat the image data so that the image data can be displayed to a user in a manner analogous to a handheld ultrasound transducer by re-slicing the image data according to the location and orientation of the ultrasound simulator. The location of an instrument fitted with position indicating elements tracked by the tracking device may be projected onto the re-sliced scan data.

The present invention is directed to a system and method in which a portable medical device supports simultaneous imaging and monitoring applications. This portable device includes an external controller for receiving a PDA/MDA via a communication bus. An ultrasound scan head also is preferably attached to the external controller via an interconnect. In operation, real-time video feed of the patient may be acquired using the device and then displayed on the PDA/MDA. Using the ultrasound scan head in conjunction with the external controller, images may be acquired and displayed on the PDA/MDA, and vital sign monitoring of a single patient or multiple patients may be performed. Video feed, images and/or monitoring information may be transferred to a remote expert for review and analysis on the remote expert's communication device.

A handheld ultrasound instrument is disclosed having enhanced diagnostic modes including pulse/continuous wave Doppler, time-motion analysis, spectral analysis and tissue harmonic imaging. An external electrocardiograph (ECG) recording unit is also disclosed. The ECG unit is adaptable to be used with the handheld ultrasound instrument to provide for ECG monitoring while performing an ultrasound scan in B-mode, Doppler, color Doppler, M-mode, and CW/PW mode. The enhanced handheld ultrasound instrument further includes a security mechanism allowing any combination of the diagnostic modes to be enabled by the manufacturer, and later to enable or disable any one or group of the diagnostic modes. The invention also discloses a method for a manufacturer to maintain a database of handheld ultrasound instrument capabilities after the instruments enter the stream of commerce.

A method of presenting a suggested path for an ultrasound probe along a patient's surface includes obtaining a three-dimensional, non-ultrasound image of the patient and an ultrasound image of the patient. A treatment area is defined within the within the three-dimensional, non-ultrasound image, and using the images, defining a scanning site contour of an anatomical structure of interest within the patient and an external contour of the patient's surface. A preferred path of the ultrasound scan is projected onto the external contour such that an operator can reproduce the ultrasound scan without knowledge of the anatomical structure of interest.

An ultrasound scan probe and support mechanism are provided for use in a multi-modality mammography imaging system, such as a combined tomosynthesis and ultrasound imaging system. In one embodiment, the ultrasound components may be positioned and configured so as not to interfere with the tomosynthesis imaging operation, such as to remain out of the X-ray beam path. Further, the ultrasound probe and associated components may be configured to as to move and scan the breast tissue under compression, such as under the compression provided by one or more paddles used in the tomosynthesis imaging operation.

A receptacle for supporting a breast during ultrasonic scanning. The receptacle may include a contoured cup made of material that is substantially transparent to acoustical energy and have an open end into which the breast may be inserted and a narrowed end to receive a nipple of the breast. The receptacle may include spaced-apart elongated members, each made of material that is not substantially transparent to acoustical energy and each being mechanically coupled to the open end and to the narrow end of the cup. A fluid pump, impedance matching and a contoured tabletop are also disclosed.

Methods and apparatus for ultrasonically scanning cylinders are provided. The methods and apparatus employ as few as one ultrasonic sensor for full immersion scanning and defect detection. Self-centering fixturing spins the cylinder, reducing vibration, allowing for fast ultrasonic scans. To create the 45 degree angle beam shear waves for the circumferential scans, the ultrasonic sensor is offset from the centerline of the cylinder, creating the correct angle for excitation of the shear wave.

Generally speaking, the method of the present invention is performed by making various ultrasonic scans at preselected orientations along the length of a material being tested. Data from the scans are then plotted together with various calculated parameters that are calculated from this data. Lines or curves are then fitted to the respective plotted points. Review of these plotted curves allows the location and severity of defects within these sections to be determined and quantified. With this information various other decisions related to how, when or whether repair or replacement of a particular portion of a structure can be made.

An ultrasound-guided ablation method captures an objective area to be ablated in an ultrasound scan area of an ultrasound transducer and delineates the objective area on an ultrasound image; specifies an ablation target area to display the ablation target area with a margin necessary for ablating the objective area on the ultrasound image processed by an ultrasound observation device and displayed on a display device; ablates, by an ablation device, the ablation target area displayed on the ultrasound image; and checks, on the ultrasound image, that an ablated area ablated by the ablation device has reached the ablation target area displayed on the ultrasound image.

Three times of ultrasonic transmissions are executed in positive, negative and negative polarities with reference to a predetermined rate period, for each of a plurality of ultrasonic scan lines, and echo signals caused and generated by the ultrasonic waves of the respective transmissions are received at the same rates. At each scan line, the echo signal based on the positive-polarity ultrasonic wave of the first transmission and the echo signal based on the negative-polarity ultrasonic wave of the second transmission are added up, thereby to generate an ordinary mode image. Besides, at each scan line, the echo signal based on the positive-polarity ultrasonic wave of the first transmission and the echo signal based on the negative-polarity ultrasonic wave of the third transmission are added up, thereby to generate puncture mode image data. The generated ordinary mode image and puncture mode image are displayed in a predetermined aspect.

A method and apparatus for measuring acoustic energy applied to the head to detect increases in intracranial pressure. Acoustic eye patches are applied to a patient's eye or eyelid, and an ultrasonic sweep generator applies an acoustic signal across the patient's skull, the signal being swept across a predetermined range. The eye patches have piezoelectric film sensors for measuring the acoustic signal. In one embodiment the predetermined range is in the ultrasonic band and an analyzer determines from the output of the sensors a resonant frequency and a damping of acoustic amplitude at said resonant frequency, there being a correlation between said damping and intra cranial pressure. In another embodiment the predetermined range includes a range less than 20 kHz and the analyzer determines retinal artery pulsations, with pressure being applied to the eye until the pulsations disappear, such pressure being a measure of intra cranial pressure.

A longitudinal position translator includes a probe drive module and a linear translation module. The probe drive module is coupled operatively to an ultrasonic imaging probe assembly having a distally located ultrasound transducer subassembly in such a manner that longitudinal shifting of the transducer subassembly may be effected. The probe drive module is preferably mounted to the linear translation unit so as to be moveable between a condition whereby longitudinal shifting of the transducer subassembly can be conducted either manually or automatically. When in the automatically-operable condition, the probe drive module will be engaged with a motor-driven screw associated with the linear translation module so as to cause the probe drive module to be longitudinally displaced at a constant motor-driven rate. In this manner, the distally located ultrasound transducer is longitudinally shifted during an ultrasound scan of surrounding intravascular (or other) tissue to thereby allow axially-spaced 360 DEG data sample "slices" of the surrounding tissue to be obtained. The data samples may then be reconstructed into a three-dimensional or other two-dimensional representations of the scanned vessel to assist in diagnosis.

Ultrasonic scan data is displayed within a display (10) and is arranged in a plurality of two and three-dimensional colored displays (20, 30, 40, 50). A C-scan display (40) is a composite plot of a region of interest using color to designate echo amplitude. The composite plot (40) is time-gated to limit the range of depths of data presented and thereby limit the plot to a tin section such as a surface. Surface breaking discontinuities (100) are visible as highly colored echoes within this C-scan display (40). Within C-scan display (40), once a discontinuity such as a reflector is detected, additional gates (150-165) may be set which permit other specialized displays such as D-scan (50) and B-scan (20) windows to portray the discontinuities. The D-scan plots index direction (54) against time (52), and readily displays circumferential reflectors (130-145) therein, while also enabling rapid estimation of the depth (142) of these reflectors. A B-scan plot (20) which enables fine profiling of reflectors may be a single pane taken at a single axial location determined by an index cursor (168), or may alternatively be a composite plot. Various modifications to the basic system are disclosed that further enhance the utility of the display (10).

To detect a malignant tumor more accurately by detecting a feature of a cancerous tumor pulsation more appropriately, a tissue malignant tumor detection method according to the present invention includes: segmenting, into blocks, a region scanned with ultrasound (S100); estimating, based on a scan signal, a tissue pulsation that is a temporal variation in tissue displacement derived from pulsations of a tissue (S101); extracting, for each of the blocks, pulsation-related features that are parameters related to the tissue pulsation (S103); calculating distribution characteristics of the pulsation-related features for each of the blocks (S104); and classifying, based on the distribution characteristics, whether or not each of the blocks is a malignant block that is a block including the malignant tumor (S105).