Newborn Chest Ultrasound Transducer Array for Automated Cardiac Screening
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current ultrasound imaging technologies face challenges in accessing and effectively screening newborn hearts, particularly in rural or underdeveloped areas, due to the need for trained professionals and the complexity of cardiac anatomy in newborns, leading to delays in identifying critical heart defects that can be fatal.
Innovation Solution
A portable ultrasound system with a transducer array device that features a semi-rigid concave shape conforming to the newborn's chest, allowing easy placement and secure attachment, combined with automated imaging and detection capabilities, enabling untrained personnel to acquire and analyze images, and a computing device that automatically identifies potential heart defects during imaging.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional ultrasound systems are used for newborn imaging, then image quality can be maintained, but the need for trained professionals increases and delays in detection occur
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs self-diagnosis through automated image analysis algorithms that automatically detect cardiac defects without requiring trained professionals to interpret the images. The device serves itself by incorporating AI-based analysis that identifies abnormalities directly from the captured ultrasound images, eliminating the time delay between image acquisition and diagnosis.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the manual mechanical process of professional image interpretation with an automated computational system. The mechanical action of a trained technician analyzing images is substituted with an automated algorithm that processes images and detects defects, maintaining measurement precision while eliminating detection delays.
2Ease of operation
If portable ultrasound systems are deployed to rural areas, then access to imaging is improved, but image acquisition reliability decreases without trained personnel
Solution Approach 1:
The portable system incorporates automated defect detection algorithms that enable the device to perform diagnostic functions independently. Untrained personnel can operate the device simply by acquiring images, while the embedded AI system automatically analyzes the images and identifies cardiac defects, ensuring reliable diagnosis without requiring trained operators at the point of care.
Solution Approach 2:
The automated image analysis algorithm acts as an intermediary between the untrained operator and the diagnostic decision. The algorithm translates raw ultrasound images into actionable diagnostic information, bridging the gap between simple device operation and accurate medical diagnosis, thereby maintaining reliability while improving accessibility.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple transducers are used to improve imaging coverage, then the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a single transducer array that is designed to perform multiple imaging functions and capture various cardiac views. The transducer array is configured with elements arranged to provide wide-angle imaging coverage, allowing one device to replace what would traditionally require multiple separate transducers, thereby maintaining imaging versatility while reducing device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The transducer array utilizes a two-dimensional arrangement of sensing elements that provides three-dimensional imaging capability. By organizing transducers in a planar array with specific geometric patterns, the system achieves comprehensive cardiac coverage through spatial dimensionality, eliminating the need for multiple physical transducers while maintaining adaptability.
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 solution increases access to ultrasound imaging for newborns, reduces the need for trained professionals, and accelerates the detection of critical heart defects, potentially saving lives by allowing immediate medical attention.
Implementation Method 1
Ultrasound, which is an oscillating sound pressure wave, has applications in many different fields. For example, ultrasonic systems are used to detect objects and measure distances and ultrasonic imaging is used in medicine to produce images of, for example subject's internal organs, such as a heart.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques of this disclosure are for a transducer array device, method and system. An ultrasound wrap for securing an array of piezoelectric transducers at a thoracic cavity anterior for echocardiology imaging, the ultrasound wrap including a transducer portion having an array of piezoelectric transducers mounted to an inner concave surface of a semi-rigid structure, and a securing portion extending from the transducer portion and comprising flexible material securely fitting around the thorax of a patient limiting the movement of the transducer portion.