Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

Hans-Peter Heindel

Bernd Granz

Mario Bechtold

Fritz Breimesser

Bernd Gromoll

Bertram Sachs

Klaus Newerla

Andrea Heilingbrunner

Hermann Hammerbacher

A device provides ultrasonic therapy to a female breast. To this end, the breast is introduced into a container which, for a good acoustic coupling, is filled with at least one liquid. An ultrasonic transducer emits sound into the breast in a region which, in the positive and negative direction of rotation, related to the plane of the body of the female patient, covers angles of less than or equal to 50&deg;. In a preferred embodiment, a compression pad and a fixing membrane are provided for fixing a position of the breast.

Device for the ultrasonic therapy of a female breast with parallel sound direction

An ultrasound transmitting configuration includes at least one ultrasound generating device for exposing a medium which has an acoustic medium impedance and a medium speed of sound to ultrasonic waves. The ultrasound generating device has at least two ultrasound transducers which can be excited through actuating electrodes for emitting ultrasound and which have an acoustic transducer impedance. The ultrasound transducers are separated from one another and disposed alongside one another. An ultrasound lens which has an acoustic lens impedance and a lens speed of sound is disposed between the ultrasound generating device and the medium. The ultrasound generating device is acoustically coupled on a coupling side to the ultrasound lens. The ultrasound transducers extend toward the medium over a transducer depth, they extend toward one another over a transducer width, and they extend at right angles to both the transducer depth and the transducer width over a transducer length. The transducer width is maximally as great as the transducer depth, and the transducer length is considerably greater than the transducer depth. The ultrasound transducers are associated with a common actuating element for actuating the ultrasound transducers jointly and in the same way.

Ultrasound transmitting configuration

An apparatus for fixing a female breast for use in a variety of medical-technical applications such as, for example, ultrasound therapy, ultrasound diagnosis or biopsy. The fixing apparatus includes a container, into which the breast is introduced, a fixing diaphragm, and at least one compression cushion. The compression cushion presses the breast against the fixing diaphragm thereby achieving a fixed position of the breast.

Apparatus for fixing the female breast in medical-technical applications

An ultrasound transducer device with a one-dimensional or two-dimensional array of transducer elements (4.sub.j) has at least one plate-shaped component. This component contains an acoustical attenuation element (3), at one narrow side (3c) of which the transducer elements (4.sub.j) are arranged with piezoelectric oscillation elements and electrodes, as well as an electronic circuit part (17a) and connection leads (10a) between this circuit part and the electrodes. An electrode is arranged at each transducer element (4.sub.j) between its oscillation element and the attenuation element (3), which has a connection part for the connection leads (10a) which leads to a broad side (3a), and a strip-shaped carrier element (14) is connected with the attenuation element (3), with the electronic circuit (17a) located on the one broad side. Cooling channels (20, 21) may be used as a means for cooling the carrier element (14, 14.sub.k). Preferably, two components can form a common partial system (2) of the transducer device.

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Fürth, Germany

Hans-Peter Heindel