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:
Jul. 25, 2000
Filed:
Mar. 30, 1998
Katsuhiko Fujimoto, Urawa, JP;
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Kawasaki, JP;
Abstract
When an affected region is greater than a focal point of a therapy ultrasonic wave, a therapy region is set in a way to include the affected region. The focal point of the therapy ultrasonic wave is moved along a planned course designed based on the therapy region, so that it is possible to treat that whole affected region greater than the focal point. In the present invention, before an actual therapy, that is, before irradiation with the therapy ultrasonic wave, a therapy simulation is made to see whether or not a better treatment is carried out. In the therapy simulation, an applicator is moved in accordance with a planned course designed based on the therapy region. During the movement, the internal region of a human subject is continuously scanned and imaged by the ultrasonic probe. A cross-sectional image obtained is displayed together with a focal point marker representing the focal point. In this way, the applicator is moved along an actual planned course and, by observing a positional relation between the subject and the focal point, accurate checking is made to see whether or not the therapy region is set relative to the affected region.