Acuson Corporation

Hewlett-packard Company

Siemens Medical Solutions Usa, Inc.

Samuel H Maslak

John Alexander Hossack

Gregory L Holley

Ismayil M Guracar

Edward A Gardner

Paul E Chandler

John W Allison

David J Napolitano

John I Jackson

Laurence S McCabe

Arvind Jain

Hugh G Larsen

Christopher R Cole

John W Sliwa, Jr

J Nelson Wright

Albert Gee

Charles E Bradley

Joel S Chaffin

Amin M Hanafy

Stuart L Carp

David J Finger

Jay Sterling Plugge

Richard M Bennett

James W Arenson

Joseph Gerard Petrofsky

Donald R Langdon

Ian A Galton

Mehebub S Karmali

John N Wright

Bhaskar S Ramamurthy

Kutay F Ustuner

Igal Ladabaum

Danhua Zhao

David J Hedberg

D Grant Fash, Iii

Jeffrey S Hastings

Daniel E Need

Stirling S Dodd

Donald J Burch

Jeffrey M Greenberg

Mirsaid Seyed-Bolorforosh

Ken Sawatari

Thilaka S Sumanaweera

Sriram Krishnan

Patrick J Phillips

Lewis Jones Thomas, Iii

Thomas Hornak

Michael J Tierney

Lazar A Shifrin

Janice L Marshall

John J Corcoran

Carrie L Peressini

Shuwu Wu

Stanley S C Chim

Dave Hedberg

Stanley S Chim

The present invention provides a microfabricated ultrasonic transducer with curvature. The curvature is made possible by thinning the substrate such that it is flexible enough to be mounted on an assembly with the desired curvature. In one aspect of the invention, the substrate can contain electronic circuits. In another aspect, the assembly mounting can incorporate curved damping materials that serve to remove undesirable substrate modes.

MIcrofabricated ultrasonic transducers with curvature and method for making the same

The present invention provides a microfabricated ultrasonic transducers with curvature. The curvature is made possible by thinning the substrate such that it is flexible enough to be mounted on an assembly with the desired curvature. In one aspect of the invention, the substrate can contain electronic circuits. In another aspect, the assembly mounting can incorporate curved damping materials that serve to remove undesirable substrate modes.

Microfabricated ultrasonic transducers with curvature and method for making the same

Medical diagnostic ultrasound system and method for versatile processing

An ultrasound imaging system is programmed to acquire first ultrasonic image frames intermittently. These first frames, typically triggered frames synchronized with a selected portion of an ECG cycle, are optimized for high image quality of a contrast agent included in the tissue. The imaging system automatically acquires second ultrasonic image frames between at least some of the first frames. The second image frames are typically locator frames which are optimized for reduced degradation of the contrast agent. More of the second frames are acquired per unit time than first frames, and both the first and second frames are displayed, either superimposed over one another or in side-by-side relationship. In this way the user is provided with substantially continuous transducer locating information, yet contrast agent destruction between acquisitions of the first, triggered frames is reduced or eliminated.

Gated ultrasound imaging apparatus and method

A medical diagnostic ultrasound imaging system aligns substantially co-planar two-dimensional images to form an extended field of view using improved compounding methods. Using variations in characteristics for each component frame or sub-set of data, the extended field of view image is enhanced. For example, the steering angle or acquisition frequency associated with each component image is different.

Medical diagnostic ultrasound imaging methods for extended field of view

A method and system for reducing speckle for two and three-dimensional images is disclosed. For two-dimensional imaging, a one and a half or a two-dimensional transducer is used to obtain sequential, parallel or related frames of elevation spaced data. The frames are compounded to derive a two-dimensional image. For three-dimensional imaging, various pluralities of two-dimensional frames of data spaced in elevation are compounded into one plurality of spaced two-dimensional frames of data. The frames of data are then used to derive a three dimensional set of data, such as by interpolation. Alternatively, the various pluralities are used to derive a three-dimensional set of data. An anisotropic filter is applied to the set of data. The anisotropic filter filters at least along the elevation dimension. In either situation, various displays may be generated from the final three-dimensional set of data. A method and system for adjustably generating two and three-dimensional representations is also disclosed. For three-dimensional imaging, at least two sets of three-dimensional data corresponding respectively to two types of Doppler or B-mode data are generated. The sets of data are then combined. An image or a quantity may be obtained from the combined data. By combining after generating the three-dimensional sets of data, the same data (sets of data) may be combined multiple times pursuant to different relationships. Thus, a user may optimize the image or quantity. Likewise, frames of data may be combined pursuant to different persistence parameters, such as different finite impulse response filter size and coefficients. The frames of data may then be re-combined pursuant to different persistence parameters. Original ultrasound data may also be used to re-generate an imaging using the same ultrasound image processes as used for a previous image.

A medical diagnostic ultrasound imaging method fires a sequence of pulses into a body and then receives, beamforms, weights and sums the resulting echo signals to suppress first order echoes. The sequence of pulses includes at least two pulses that differ in amplitude and phase. In one form, no two pulses of the sequence have the same amplitude and opposite phase. In another form, only linear echoes are suppressed. In a third form, second and third order echoes are preserved while linear echoes are suppressed.

Medical diagnostic ultrasound system using contrast pulse sequence imaging

A three-state, pulse width modulated, bipolar waveform is constructed by summing a first component with an inverted, time-shifted version of the first component. By properly selecting the time interval for the time shift of the second component, frequency filtering benefits can be obtained. The three-state waveform is generated by a switched voltage source that provides a low, constant source impedance for all three voltage states.

Medical ultrasonic imaging system with three-state ultrasonic pulse and improved pulse generator

An ultrasonic imaging system includes an ultrasonic transducer having an image data array and a tracking array at each end of the image data array. The tracking arrays are oriented transversely to the image data array. Images from the image data array are used to reconstruct a three-dimensional representation of the target. The relative movement between respective frames of the image data is automatically estimated by a motion estimator, based on frames of data from the tracking arrays. As the transducer is rotated about the azimuthal axis of the image data array, features of the target remain within the image planes of the tracking arrays. Movements of these features in the image planes of the tracking arrays are used to estimate motion as required for the three-dimensional reconstruction. Similar techniques estimate motion within the plane of an image to create an extended field of view.

Multiple ultrasound image registration system, method and transducer

Ultrasound data is generated by a receive beamformer. Ultrasound image processing is applied to the ultrasound data for presentation of an image. Various ones of the ultrasound image processing steps may be reversed. For example, persistence processing may be reversed in order to obtain ultrasound data associated with data prior to persistence processing. This recovered data may be used to generate an image or for application of a different amount of persistence. Other processes that may be reversed to recover ultrasound data include focal and depth gain compensation, dynamic range compression, intensity or color mapping, and various filtering, such as persistence or spatial filtering.

Medical diagnostic ultrasound system and method for post processing

The invention is directed to improvements in diagnostic medical ultrasound contrast agent imaging. In a preferred embodiment, high pulse repetition frequency (HPRF) destruction pulses are fired at a rate higher than necessary for receiving returning echoes. Pulse parameters can also be changed between the plurality of contrast agent-destroying pulses. Other preferred embodiments of the invention are directed to simultaneous transmission of multiple beams of destruction pulses. Destruction frames that consist of a plurality of destruction pulses can be triggered and swept over the entire region of tissue being imaged and at a variety of focal depths from the transmitter. The destruction frames are fired at some time triggered from a timer or some fixed part of a physiological signal, such as an ECG signal. Other preferred embodiments of the invention are directed to continuous low power imaging pulses alternating with destruction pulses triggered at a fixed point of a physiological signal, and a comparison of the received signals from imaging pulses fired before and after the destruction pulses. Alternatively, destruction pulses are triggered at a fixed point on a physiological signal different from the fixed point of a physiological signal used to trigger imaging pulses. In another embodiment, triggered destruction frames are used to enable a comparison of imaging frames in order to determine physiological functions, such as perfusion of blood in cardiac tissue. Finally, in another embodiment, destruction pulses are combined with subharmonic imaging.

Contrast agent imaging with destruction pulses in diagnostic medical ultrasound

A method and apparatus for quantifying and displaying ultrasound signals in an ultrasonic system are provided. A first signal value for each of at least one spatial location in a region of interest is acquired at a first time, and the signal values are summed to obtain a first surface integral value. A second signal value for each of said at least one spatial location in said region of interest is acquired at a second time, and the second signal values are summed to obtain a second surface integral value. The first surface integral value is summed with the second surface integral value to obtain a time based integral. The time based integral is displayed. Other quantities based on any of various ultrasound parameters, such as Doppler energy, Doppler velocity and B-mode intensity, are calculated and displayed as quantities or as waveforms as a function of time. Furthermore, various comparisons of quantities and waveforms are provided. Image plane data or other ultrasound data are used in the calculations. Finally, a histogram data structure is provided to aid calculation of the various quantities.

Methods and apparatus for ultrasound image quantification

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Woodside, CA, United States of America

Samuel H Maslak