Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.v.

The General Hospital Corporation

Consejo Superior De Investigaciones Cientificas

Textron Systems Corporation

Fundacion Para El Conocimiento Madri+d

Brian W Anthony

Robin Singh

Matthew W Gilbertson

Anuradha Murthy Agarwal

Heng Yang

Danhao Ma

Peter X Su

Xian Du

Sheng-Wen Huang

Hua Xie

Man Nguyen

Petros Amestis Kotidis

Ian Butterworth

Daniel E Klimek

Dean Ljubicic

Athena Yeh Huang

Duane S Boning

Luis Elvira Segura

Galit Hocsman Frydman

Francisco Montero

Agostino Abbate

Jason Yang

Jonathan Randall Fincke

Aaron Michael Zakrzewski

John Haeseon Lee

Oscar Martinez Graullera

Felix Jan Van De Donk

Shiva Kant Shukla

Alexander Tyler Jaffe

Javier Jimenez

John Lee Haeseon

Maulik D Majmudar

Carlos Castro Gonzalez

Mohamad Ali Toufic Najia

Shih-Yu Sun

Zijun Wei

Ian Richard Butterworth

Luis Elvira Seguro

John Heason Lee

Javier JIMÉNEZ

ÓScar MARTÍNEZ Graullera

Systems and methods are provided for imaging of soft and hard tissues with ultrasound. Such systems and methods can provide for non-contact and quantitative ultrasound images of bone and soft tissue. A method for imaging a biological body segment of soft and hard tissues includes setting geometry and material properties according to a model of the biological body segment to thereby generate a simulated time series data set. The method further includes collecting reflective and transmissive time series data of the biological body segment to thereby form an experimental time series data set and minimizing a difference between the simulated time series data set and the experimental time series data set, thereby imaging the biological body segment. Regularizing travel-time and/or using full waveform tomographic techniques with level set methods enable recovery of cortical bone geometry.

Systems and methods for imaging cortical bone and soft tissue

A photonic aerosol particle sensor includes a microfluidic sensor chamber in which is disposed a plurality of photonic waveguide resonators each having a photonic waveguide on an underlying substrate, along a separate waveguide resonator path with a lateral width different than that of other photonic waveguide resonators. All waveguides in the plurality have a common vertical thickness of a common waveguide material having a refractive index that is larger than that of the underlying substrate material. An optical input connection couples light into the waveguide resonators. An aerosol particle input fluidically connected to the microfluidic chamber fluidically conveys aerosol particles to the chamber, and an aerosol particle output fluidically connected to the microfluidic chamber fluidically conveys aerosol particles out of the chamber. At least one optical output connection accepts light out of the plurality of photonic waveguide resonators to provide a signal indicative of at least one aerosol particle characteristic.

Physical and chemical characterization of aerosols with photonic waveguides

Systems and methods for ultrasound shear wave elastography (SWE) are described. According to examples, an ultrasound SWE system includes an ultrasound probe (), an actuation assembly () coupled to the probe and configured to apply an external force against a subject for generating a shear wave within a target region, a controller () coupled to the actuation assembly to control the actuation assembly to apply the force responsive to a trigger signal, and ultrasound scanner () configured to generate the trigger signal, and further configured to generate an elastography image based at least in part on echo signals received from the target region.

System and method for ultrasound shear wave elastography using external mechanical vibrations

A microscale photoacoustic sensor uses the detection of ultrasound waves generated by a sample in response to incident light absorption to perform photoacoustic spectroscopy, imaging, and microscopy. The microscale photoacoustic sensor, including components to excite a sample and detect ultrasound waves, may be integrated onto a single chip. The microscale photoacoustic sensor may excite a sample using a metasurface collimator. The metasurface collimator includes an array of diffraction grooves to collimate an excitation beam uniformly out of the plane of the sensor to create a wide and homogeneous beam spot. The microscale photoacoustic sensor may detect ultrasound waves using an optical photoacoustic transducer. The optical photoacoustic transducer includes a resonator on a mechanical membrane to detect ultrasound waves with high sensitivity. The microscale photoacoustic sensor may be used in applications such as deep-tissue neural imaging or microfluidic biological screening.

Microscale photoacoustic spectroscopy, imaging, and microscopy

A mechanical vibration source for a shear wave elastography system has a contact surface shaped to provide a point source of mechanical energy when striking a target surface of a medium. This point source usefully mitigates high frequency components and other artifacts in an induced shear wave. Other techniques may be used in combination with this mechanical energy source to improve shear wave elastography and facilitate miniaturization for deployment, e.g., within a handheld imaging device.

Methods and systems for shear wave elastography

A photonic aerosol particle sensor includes a plurality of photonic waveguide resonators each having a photonic waveguide disposed along a separate waveguide resonator path and each photonic waveguide having a lateral waveguide width different than the waveguide width of other photonic waveguide resonators in the plurality. All waveguides in the plurality of photonic waveguide resonators have a common vertical thickness and are formed of a common photonic waveguide material. An optical input connection couples light into the waveguide resonators. A particle input conveys aerosol particles toward the waveguide resonators and an aerosol particle output conveys aerosol particles away from the waveguide resonators. At least one optical output connection is optically connected to accept light out of the plurality of photonic waveguide resonators to provide a signal indicative of at least one characteristic of the aerosol particles to be analyzed.

Devices, systems, and methods of the present disclosure are directed to accurate and non-invasive assessments of anatomic vessels (e.g., the internal jugular vein (IJV)) of vertebrates. For example, a piezoelectric crystal may generate a signal and receive a pulse echo of the signal along an axis extending through the piezoelectric crystal and an anatomic vessel. A force sensor disposed relative to the piezoelectric crystal may measure a force exerted (e.g., along skin of the vertebrate) on the anatomic vessel along the axis. The pulse echo received by the piezoelectric crystal and the force measured by the force sensor may, in combination, non-invasively and accurately determine a force response of the anatomic vessel. In turn, the force response may be probative of any one or more of a variety of different characteristics of the anatomic vessel including, for example, location of the anatomic vessel and pressure of the anatomic vessel.

Non-invasive assessment of anatomic vessels

The systems and methods of the present disclosure are directed to ultrasound-based concentration measurement techniques in which both scatterer count and image volume are measured concurrently to provide absolute concentration measurements. In particular, through the techniques of the present disclosure, the effective thickness of an ultrasound beam can be determined based on the spreading of individual scatterers within ultrasound images. Based on the effective thickness of the ultrasound beam, the volume of the image and, thus, the concentration of particles in the image can be determined directly, without the need for estimation, approximation, or use of a reference sample.

Ultrasound image-based concentration measurement

A system for generating an image of a region of interest (ROI) of a target object, the system including a camera, a target stage configured to receive the target object, the target stage configured to provide a translational movement and a rotational movement of the target object, and a controller. The controller is configured to control the camera and target stage to iteratively shift the target along scan trajectories of sample locations to capture images of each of a plurality of concentric rings and sub-rings of a predefined radial pitch over the ROI, the sample locations represented by polar coordinates defining sectors of each of the sub-rings. The controller is further configured to extract super resolution (SR) pixels from the images to reconstruct an SR image of each of the rings in the polar coordinates, and project the SR images into Cartesian coordinate images.

Circular scanning technique for large area imaging

The present invention relates to a method for measuring circulating cells in superficial body fluids by means of high-frequency-based device. The method can be used for detecting circulating cells in the fluids of an individual without the necessity of extracting a sample of the individual, being useful as a diagnostic tool and for monitoring the effectiveness of a treatment administered to an individual suffering from a viral, protozoal, fungal and/or bacterial disease.

Method for detecting circulating cells in superficial body fluids

Described embodiments provide a method of generating an image of a region of interest of a target object. A plurality of concentric circular scan trajectories are determined to sample the region of interest. Each of the concentric circular scan trajectories have a radius incremented from an innermost concentric circular scan trajectory having a minimum radius to an outermost concentric circular scan trajectory having a maximum radius. A number of samples are determined for each of the concentric circular scan trajectories. A location of each sample is determined for each of the concentric circular scan trajectories. The locations of each sample are substantially uniformly distributed in a Cartesian coordinate system of the target object. The target object is iteratively rotated along each of the concentric circular scan trajectories and images are captured at the determined sample locations to generate a reconstructed image from the captured images.

Circular scanning technique for large area inspection

An ultrasound scanning system includes a graphical user interface that provides visually intuitive feedback to a user to assist the user in properly aligning an ultrasound scanner to a desired acquisition state. In addition to providing pose information, the feedback may direct the user as to a target contact force applied by the ultrasound scanner to a surface undergoing a scan.

User interface for ultrasound scanning system

A force-controlled ultrasound imaging device uses a linear drive system to maintain a suitable contact force with a subject. A combination of hardware and software limits on travel for the linear drive system provide intuitive user feedback while helping to ensure that the linear drive system remains active throughout the scan, while responding appropriately to initiation and termination of scans.

Ultrasound scanning system

System for measuring thickness and lateral position of a transparent object. The system includes a camera having a sensor for receiving light, the camera including an objective lens for focusing on an object plane and having an optical axis and a field of view. A source of light is provided to illuminate a surface having variations in reflected light intensity. The surface is spaced apart from the objective lens and disposed at an angle with respect to the optical axis of the objective lens. A transparent object disposed fully or partially between the objective lens and the surface will shift the position of the object plane, the shift in object plane being proportional to the thickness of the object, and the transparent object, when partially inserted between the objective lens and the surface, will focus a fraction of the light on a lower plane, this fraction of light being proportional to the fraction of the lens field of view occupied by the transparent object that is related to lateral position.

Sensor for simultaneous measurement of thickness and lateral position of a transparent object

A handheld ultrasound probe includes force detection and feedback to permit control and/or characterization of applied forces. The probe may, for example, be operated to maintain a substantially constant applied force over a period of use independent of a user's hand position, or to measure applied forces that might contribute to deformation of an imaging subject.

Handheld force-controlled ultrasound probe

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Cambridge, MA, United States of America

Brian W Anthony