Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.v.

Yan Shi

Jan Frederik Suijver

Ladislav Jankovic

Hua Xie

Vijay Thakur Shamdasani

Szabolcs Deladi

Nijs Cornelis Van Der Vaart

Roy B Peterson

Erik A Harks

Robert Randall Entrekin

Maya Ella Barley

Jean-Luc Robert

Anna Teresa Fernandez

Wouter Harry Rensen

Stein Kuiper

Sheng-Wen Huang

Ramon Quido Erkamp

Jean-Luc Francois-Marie Robert

Christopher Stephen Hall

Emil George Radulescu

Wouter Harry Jacinth Rensen

Khalid Shahzad

Maya E Barley

Anna Teresa Ferandez

The present invention relates to a monitoring apparatus for monitoring an ablation procedure. The monitoring apparatus comprises an ultrasound signal providing unit for providing an ultrasound signal that depends on received echo series of an object that is ablated. The monitoring apparatus further comprises an ablation depth determination unit for determining an ablation depth from the provided ultrasound signal. The ablation depth can be determined directly from the ultrasound signal and is an important parameter while performing an ablation procedure. For example, it can be used for determining the progress of ablation within the object and for determining when the ablation has reached a desired progression.

Monitoring apparatus for monitoring an ablation procedure

An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system produces an image of shear wave velocities by transmitting push pulses to generate shear waves. A plurality of tracking lines are transmitted and echoes received by a focusing beamformer adjacent to the location of the push pulses. The tracking lines are sampled in a time-interleaved manner. The echo data acquired along each tracking line is processed to determine the time of peak tissue displacement caused by the shear waves at points along the tracking line, and the times of peaks at adjacent tracking lines compared to compute a local shear wave velocity. The resultant map of shear wave velocity values is color-coded and displayed over an anatomical image of the region of interest.

Ultrasonic shear wave imaging with focused scanline beamforming

The present invention relates to a monitoring apparatus () for monitoring an ablation procedure. The monitoring apparatus () comprises an ultrasound signal providing unit for providing an ultrasound signal that depends on received echo series of an object () that is ablated. The monitoring apparatus () further comprises an ablation depth determination unit () for determining an ablation depth from the provided ultrasound signal. The ablation depth can be determined directly from the ultrasound signal and is an important parameter while performing an ablation procedure. For example, it can be used for determining the progress of ablation within the object () and for determining when the ablation has reached a desired progression.

A device and a method for computing a weighted-average-based position of a shear wave in a temporal domain based on a sampling of shear wave displacements along a propagation path of the shear wave. The weighted-average-based position is, for example, by displacement observed at a plurality of times that correspond to sampling, and represents a time of arrival of the shear wave at a location being sampled along the propagation path. Further, times of arrival of the shear wave at respective locations along the propagation path are functionally related to known inter-location distances to derive shear-wave group velocity. The derived shear-wave group velocity serves as an input into algorithms for estimating a shear elasticity of a medium, such as a body tissue, for purposes of a clinical diagnosis and therapy assessment.

Shear wave velocity estimation using center of mass

Functional imaging for localization in biological tissue entails measuring a response in the tissue () to electromagnetic radiation. A catheter () for real-time monitoring of cardiac ablation is employed to distinguish a hemorrhage zone () from the sandwiching necrotic and healthy tissue, or to distinguish exogenous photoacoustic contrast agent from bordering native tissue. A pair of wavelengths is selected for differential absorption () of the radiation in, correspondingly, the hemorrhage zone or where the contrast agent exists, and relatively similar absorption elsewhere. Near infrared laser or LED light may be used photoacoustically to serially acquire (S, S) the two datasets to be compared, each representative of a time waveform. Alternatively, acquisition is for a pair of wavelength bands of microwave-induced thermoacoustic data. In either case, the members of the dataset pair are combined () by subtraction or division to effect the piece-wise cancellation/enhancement for display () of the resulting signal in real time.

Photoacoustic catheter for functional-imaging-based ablation monitoring

An adjustable fluid type lens system is provided that allows e.g. ultrasound imaging through the lens during adjustment of the lens. The lens includes a container enclosing two immiscible fluids, e.g. water and oil, being in contact with each other at an interface. Incoming waves are then refracted at this interface. The shape of the interface, and thereby the refraction property, is adjustable by adjusting a voltage applied to the lens. The two fluids are selected such that they together exhibit a mechanical damping which is critical or near critical. A control circuit generates the electric voltage for adjusting the refraction from one value to another, the control circuit being arranged to change the electric voltage such that a rate of voltage change is limited to avoid oscillation of the interface, thereby adjusting refraction of incoming waves at the interface in a continuous manner. This makes it possible to use the lens while it is during adjustment from one refraction value to another, since the interface shape will at all time during the adjustment have a controlled shape. The voltage can be either a continuous voltage or a discrete stepwise (digital) voltage which is just controlled with respect to step size and temporal extension of the steps. The lens system has a number of applications e.g. within the medical field, e.g. for 'on the fly' high speed ultrasound imaging, or for ultrasound ablation applications where ablation can be performed during adjustment of the lens to follow a pre-defined trajectory.

Adjustable lens system for real-time applications

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White Plains, NY, United States of America

Yan Shi