The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 01, 1978
Filed:
Mar. 22, 1977
Harmon J Aronson, Wayne, NJ (US);
Biosonics, Inc., Wayne, NJ (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for noninvasive, quantitative measurement of blood flow rate in a blood vessel includes a transducer array placed on the skin surface above the vessel of interest. The array is formed of transmitting and receiving elements for transmitting and receiving beams of ultrasonic energy. Pulsed ultrasonic energy is transmitted by the array into the body tissue and intercepts the flow in the blood vessel at a slant angle which is determined by electronically steering the transmitted beam, causing it to rotate through a predetermined angular change. The resulting Doppler frequency shifts of the received ultrasonic energy backscattered by moving particles of the blood flow associated with the angular orientation of the transmitted beam can then be measured. Through electronic range gating techniques, the Doppler frequency shifts at the determined slant angle are measured at various depths or ranges below the skin at different positions across the vessel cross-section. From the aforementioned Dopper frequency shifts and slant angle, the velocity profile of the blood through a cross-section of the vessel can be determined and the blood flow rate at any instance of time can thereby be quantitatively measured.