Fujifilm Corporation

Fujifilm Healthcare Corporation

Hirozumi Takeshima

Kenichi Kawabata

Ryo Imai

Hideki Yoshikawa

Tomohiko Tanaka

Teiichiro Ikeda

Misaki Maruyama

Provided is an acoustic coupler capable of achieving both low elastic modulus and high deformability required for ultrasound imaging. The acoustic coupler is disposed between a probe for transmitting ultrasound waves and a subject, the acoustic coupler comprising a hydrogel including a copolymer that contains water. The copolymer comprises a monofunctional monomer having one ethylenically unsaturated group and a polyfunctional monomer having two to six ethylenically unsaturated groups. The molar ratio of the monofunctional monomer to the polyfunctional monomer is more than 90 and less than or equal to 3500.

Acoustic coupler and ultrasound imaging method

A laser beam is applied to a photoacoustic wave generation source multiple times in a reception period of ultrasound waves during photoacoustic imaging. As a result, a plurality of photoacoustic waves are generated from the photoacoustic wave generation source in the reception period and received by a reception unit of an ultrasound imaging apparatus. The positions of the plurality of photoacoustic waves on a time axis is adjusted, and the plurality of photoacoustic waves are averaged. A photoacoustic image is generated based on a signal obtained through the averaging.

Ultrasound imaging apparatus

Provided are an ultrasound imaging apparatus and a surgical operation support system for obtaining position information of a device outside an imaging area and presenting the position information to a user together with an ultrasound image. The surgical operation support system includes the ultrasound imaging apparatus, an ultrasonic source fixed to a therapeutic tool to be inserted into a subject body, a display device for displaying the ultrasound image and the position of the ultrasonic source. The ultrasound imaging apparatus is provided with a position estimator for estimating the position information of the ultrasonic source, and the position estimator analyzes a grating lobe artifact (false image) that is generated by the ultrasonic wave emitted from the ultrasonic source outside the imaging area, to estimate the position information of the ultrasonic source with respect to the imaging area.

Ultrasound imaging apparatus that alternates between monitoring and imaging modes, surgical operation support system, and method using the same

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Tokyo, Japan

Hirozumi Takeshima