Echogenic Markers with Checkerboard Patterns for Ultrasound Visibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current medical imaging techniques using ultrasound for locating subcutaneously placed medical devices within the body face challenges due to image noise, making it difficult for physicians to precisely position these devices relative to body tissues and organs, and existing solutions do not adequately address the need for clear differentiation between devices and tissues.
Innovation Solution
The development of medical devices with echogenic regions and echolucent subregions arranged in patterns such as checkerboards, combined with features like microbubbles or resonators, to enhance ultrasound visibility and create distinct, differentiable images, utilizing materials with varying acoustic impedance to improve signal clarity and noise ratio during imaging.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If standard echogenic markers are used to increase the echogenicity of a medical device, then the visibility of the device is improved, but the image noise increases and the ability to differentiate between the device and body tissue deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The echogenic marker is segmented into multiple discrete reflectors arranged in a specific geometric pattern (e.g., alternating bright and dark segments). This segmentation creates a distinctive spatial signature that allows differentiation from random tissue noise while maintaining high echogenicity for visibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The marker employs asymmetric geometric patterns (such as non-circular shapes or specific angular arrangements of reflectors) that produce characteristic ultrasound reflection patterns. This asymmetry creates a unique acoustic fingerprint that distinguishes the marker from the symmetric, random nature of body tissue structures.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If ultrasound imaging is used to image medical devices within a body, then ionizing radiation exposure is reduced, but the inherent noise in ultrasound images increases making precise localization difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The marker creates artificial 'acoustic contrast' analogous to color changes in visual imaging. By using materials with vastly different acoustic impedances arranged in specific patterns, the marker produces high-contrast echogenic signatures that stand out clearly against the lower-contrast background of body tissues, enabling precise localization without ionizing radiation.
Solution Approach 2:
The marker extends the information dimension by using spatially distributed reflectors in specific geometric arrangements. This creates a multi-point signature pattern that provides positional and orientational information beyond simple presence detection, enhancing localization precision through pattern recognition in the ultrasound image.
3Measurement precision
If ultrasound image clarity is made reliant on a physician's ability to precisely position the ultrasound transducer, then imaging detail is improved, but the difficulty with obtaining usable images increases
Solution Approach 1:
The marker is designed with geometric patterns that produce consistent echogenic signatures across a range of transducer angles and positions. This dynamic robustness ensures that the marker remains clearly visible and locatable even when the transducer is not perfectly positioned, reducing the skill requirement for obtaining usable images while maintaining imaging detail.
Solution Approach 2:
The marker's geometric pattern creates stable acoustic interference patterns that maintain their characteristic signature across varying imaging conditions. The constructive and destructive interference of ultrasound waves from the distributed reflectors produces a robust pattern that persists through reasonable variations in transducer position and angle.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
These enhanced medical devices provide clear, distinct ultrasound images that allow for precise localization of medical devices within the body, reducing reliance on ionizing radiation and improving procedural accuracy by enhancing visibility and signal clarity through specific acoustic impedance differences and pattern arrangements.
Implementation Method 1
echogenic markers which are used for imaging medical devices within a body... ultrasound waves... echogenic markers (such as echotipping) can increase the echogencity of a medical device
Implementation Method 2
A mask is applied to the surface of the medical device, and portions of bare metal are exposed through the mask. The masked device is subjected to a process which removes material from the exposed portions. The resulting depressions enhance echogenicity of the device under ultrasound.
Data Source
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AI summary
Medical devices include echogenic subregions and echolucent subregions arranged in an alternating pattern and having exogenous features. Examples include metal printing and cast metal being applied to a plastic structure. Other examples include a fluid contrast agent including microbubbles housed in compartments within a structure. Additional examples include small resonators built into a structure for resonating at a specific frequency and imageable with a harmonic imaging mode of an ultrasound imaging system.