Siemens Medical Solutions Usa, Inc.

Acuson Corporation

Boston Scientific Scimed, Inc.

Lewis J Thomas

Kutay F Ustuner

David J Napolitano

Charles E Bradley

Sriram Krishnan

John I Jackson

Patrick J Phillips

Peter Thornton, Jr

Ching-Hua Chou

Anming He Cai

John Douglas Marshall

John W Allison

Gregory L Holley

Constantine Simopoulos

Laurence S McCabe

D-l Donald Liu

Gaylin Mildred Yee

Cynthia L Kerby

David R DeWitt

Derrik Zimmerman

Joe Carioggia

Isaac J Zacharias

Ravi Kurse

Marc Stepkowski

Dushyant Shah

Issac J Zacharias

A catheter assembly for an ultrasound system can include an integrated pullback arrangement. For example, the catheter assembly can include a telescoping pullback section having a first telescope, a second telescope, a distal grip coupling one of the first or second telescope to the distal sheath of the distal section, and a proximal grip coupled to another of the first or second telescope so that the first telescope can be retracted into the second telescope and a sensor to determine a position of the first telescope. Another example includes the sensor and a pullback slider arrangement having a housing defining a slit, a coupler disposed within the housing, and a slider handle extending through the slit and coupled to the coupler. In another example, the coupler and housing can be gripped and slid relative to each other.

Intravascular ultrasound systems, catheters, and methods with a manual pullback arrangement

Aberration estimation uses cross correlation of receive-focused transmit element data. A set of sequentially fired broad transmit beams insonify an object from different steering angles. Each transmit beam emanates from an actual or a virtual transmit element. For every firing, a receive beamformer forms a transmit element image of the insonified region by focusing the received signals. An estimator estimates aberration by cross correlating or comparing the transmit element images. Where a virtual transmit element is used, the virtual transmit element images are back propagated to an actual transmit element position before aberration estimation. The estimations are used to form corrected transmit element images which are then summed pre-detection to form a high-resolution synthetic transmit aperture. Alternatively, the estimations are used to improve conventional focused-transmit imaging.

Aberration correction with broad transmit beams in medical ultrasound

A catheter assembly for an intravascular ultrasound system includes a catheter and an imaging core. The catheter includes a lumen extending along the longitudinal length of the catheter from the proximal end to the distal end and the imaging core is configured and arranged for inserting into the lumen. The imaging core includes a rotatable driveshaft, at least one transducer mounted to the distal end of the rotatable driveshaft, and a twisted wire cable coupled to the at least one transducer. In addition, a number of different transducer arrangements and methods of making transducers are presented.

Transducers, devices and systems containing the transducers, and methods of manufacture

Contrast agent destruction transmissions have reduced biological effect in medical diagnostic ultrasound. Ramping-up amplitude and/or ramping-down frequency reduce biological effect. The amplitude ramps up linearly or non-linearly. The change in amplitude or frequency occurs over a single waveform or over a sequence of separate transmissions. An envelope of the single waveform or the sequence of separate transmissions has a non-uniform, asymmetrical, symmetrical, rectangular or other shape. For example, the frequency ramp-down is provided with a non-Gaussian envelope. The amplitude ramp-up or frequency ramp-down is a progressively increasing destructive characteristic or ability, destroying contrast agent at different regions relative to focal regions with a minimum of acoustic energy.

Medical diagnostic ultrasound contrast agent destruction with reduced biological effect

Disclosed are a system and method of selecting one or more operational parameters of an ultrasonic imaging system. In particular, methods and means are disclosed for automatically or semi-automatically determining a best operating frequency, or for determining whether a system should operate in a fundamental imaging mode or a harmonic imaging mode.

Ultrasonic imaging system

Transducer with different array configurations and methods of using the transducers are provided. An electrode layer on one side of a transducer device defines a one-dimensional array of elements. An electrode layer on an opposite side of the transducer device defines a multi-dimensional array. For example, one transducer device may be used for both two-dimensional imaging and three-dimensional imaging in response to the one-dimensional array and multi-dimensional array electrode configurations. Real time three-dimensional imaging and two-dimensional imaging may be provided with a single transducer. As another example, elements defined by one electrode configuration have a different surface area than elements defined by another electrode configuration. The different configurations on opposite sides of the transducer devices may be a same type (e.g. both one-dimensional arrays) or different types.

Multiple pattern transducer array and method of use

The embodiments described herein relate to stepping through the stages of a protocol using an input device and a protocol controller for a medical diagnostic imaging system. The protocol controller may be operative to transition from one stage to a next stage in the protocol in response to no more than a single input from the input device. Thus, a single input from the input device may indicate to the protocol controller to transition to each of the stages of the protocol. In one embodiment, the same single input, such as a stage transition input, is received to transition to each stage of the at least two sequential stages. In another embodiment, different single input, such as different keys on a keyboard, may be used to transition to different stages of the at least two sequential stages. Other embodiments are provided, and each of the embodiments described herein can be used alone or in combination with one another.

Ultrasound system with protocol-driven user interface

A pulse echo beamforming system generates high spatial bandwidth ultrasound images using only a few transmit/receive events per frame. Each transmit/receive event consists of firing an unfocused or weakly focused wave and receiving and storing the echo on every receive channel. Each set of stored echoes is delayed and apodized to form component beams for each desired image point in the region insonified by that particular wave. The final images are synthesized by adding two or more of the component beams for each image point.

Method and apparatus for forming medical ultrasound images

A medical ultrasonic imaging method uses transmitted plane waves, or transmitted wavefronts that are substantially planar, to improve contrast agent imaging by generating peak pressures that are more uniform over depth. Depending on the type of contrast agent, the returned frequencies of interest, and the desired strength of the non-linear response, multiple wavefronts can be generated at substantially the same time to increase peak pressures.

A method and system for contrast agent image beamformation is provided. The acoustic energy of transmit beams is spread laterally to reduce contrast agent destruction. For example, a smaller aperture is provided for contrast agent imaging than for a default imaging mode. As another example, an apodization profile with a low amplitude for edge elements for contrast agent imaging is used as compared to the edge elements for a default imaging mode. As yet another example, the focal point used for contrast agent imaging is set to be outside of the region of interest (e.g. a shallow or deep focal point).

Medical diagnostic ultrasound system and method for contrast agent image beamformation

The preferred embodiments described herein provide a medical diagnostic ultrasound imaging system and method for determining an acoustic output parameter of a transmitted ultrasonic beam. In one preferred embodiment, the ultrasound system determines an acoustic output parameter of a transmitted ultrasonic beam in a user-selected region. In another preferred embodiment, the ultrasound system achieves a specified acoustic output parameter of a transmitted ultrasonic beam in a selected region by automatically adjusting an operating parameter of the ultrasound imaging system. In yet another preferred embodiment, a region is selected in the ultrasound image that does not contain a peak acoustic output parameter of a transmitted ultrasonic beam. The system then determines an acoustic output parameter of the transmitted ultrasonic beam in that region and provides an indication of the determined acoustic output parameter.

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Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Lewis J Thomas