Elastography Device Transient Pulse Guidance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current elastography devices face challenges in accurately positioning the probe due to sensitivity to reflections and artifacts, leading to degraded measurements, especially when the probe is close to the liver boundaries, which can result in erroneous tissue stiffness assessments.
Innovation Solution
The elastography device employs a transient-pulses guidance mode that delivers low-frequency, transient mechanical pulses for initial positioning, allowing for more accurate pre-estimation of tissue stiffness and improved homogeneity assessment, reducing discomfort and ultrasound exposure, and enabling real-time guidance with reduced acoustic power.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If continuous periodic vibration is used for probe positioning guidance, then the operator can visualize tissue strain to determine probe position, but the guidance becomes sensitive to reflections and artifacts especially near liver boundaries
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies periodic transient pulses instead of continuous vibration. The guidance mode delivers repeated transient mechanical pulses at a defined repetition rate, allowing visualization of tissue strain while avoiding the boundary sensitivity issues of continuous periodic vibration. This periodic pulsed action maintains the guidance functionality while improving reliability near liver boundaries.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the guidance function from the measurement function by using separate transient pulses for guidance rather than relying on the measurement vibration itself. This separation allows optimized parameters for guidance (lower amplitude, different timing) without compromising the quality of the subsequent elastography measurement.
2Reliability
If transient pulses are used for guidance instead of continuous vibration, then boundary sensitivity is reduced and measurement reliability improves, but the guidance information may be less continuous
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves this contradiction by implementing periodic transient pulses with optimized repetition rates. The pulses are delivered repeatedly at a frequency that provides sufficient temporal sampling for continuous visual feedback while maintaining the transient nature that reduces boundary sensitivity. This creates a balance between reliability and operational ease.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent maintains continuous useful action during guidance by delivering repeated transient pulses that provide ongoing tissue strain visualization. The guidance mode operates continuously with pulsed excitation, ensuring the operator has continuous feedback while the transient nature of each pulse maintains measurement reliability.
3Ease of operation
If high amplitude vibration is used for guidance to improve signal visibility, then probe positioning becomes easier, but subject discomfort and ultrasound exposure increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by using transient pulses with amplitudes optimized specifically for guidance rather than full measurement amplitude. The guidance pulses provide sufficient tissue strain visualization for positioning while using lower energy, reducing both subject discomfort and ultrasound exposure. The full measurement amplitude is reserved for the actual elastography measurement phase.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the operation into distinct guidance and measurement phases. The guidance phase uses lower amplitude transient pulses for positioning, and only after proper positioning is confirmed does the system proceed to the measurement phase with higher amplitude pulses. This segmentation allows optimized parameters for each phase, minimizing harmful effects during guidance.
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
This approach provides more accurate and comfortable guidance, enhancing the precision of tissue stiffness measurements by minimizing the impact of reflections and artifacts, while reducing discomfort and ultrasound exposure, thus improving the reliability of elastography assessments.
Implementation Method 1
a low frequency vibrator, to deliver low frequency mechanical pulses to the body of a subject
Implementation Method 2
at least one ultrasound emitter and one ultrasound receiver arranged to emit ultrasound pulses and to receive corresponding echoes to track how the low frequency mechanical pulses travel in the body
Implementation Method 3
characterize tissue stiffness in the region of the body of the subject thus examined
Data Source
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AI summary
An elastography device comprising: a probe that comprises a protruding part to be applied against the body of a subject, a low frequency vibrator arranged to move the protruding part, at least one ultrasound emitter and one ultrasound receiver; and an electronic unit. The electronic unit is adapted to alternatively control the elastography device so that it operates a) in a guidance mode (S1) to determine whether the probe is correctly positioned in front of a region of the body to be probed to carry out a measurement of a mechanical property of the probed region and b) in a measurement mode (S2). In the guidance mode, the vibrator delivers a plurality of successive probing pulses (PRB), each being a transient, low frequency mechanical pulse, and the electronic unit determines a propagation quality indicator (Q) representative of an aptitude of the probed region to transmit the probing pulse.