Ultrasound diagnosis and treatment apparatus

Abstract

The invention provides apparatus and methods for semi-automatic or automatic imaging or treatment of occlusions in vessels using pulsed or unpulsed focussed sound waves, preferably ultrasound, in Doppler technology. The apparatus comprises at least one sound transducer member including at least one sound-emitting element for producing at least one sound wave beam; means to adjust the parameters of said at least one sound wave beam; means to spatially locate said at least one sound-emitting element; means to move said at least one transducer member; means to control movement of said at least one transducer member automatically or semi-automatically; means to automatically or semi-automatically focus sound waves generated by said at least one sound-emitting element into a beam; and means to accept sound signals from sound-emitting element or elements. The invention provides method for semi-automatically or automatically locating an occlusion in a vessel, including the steps of identifying regions of a body in which emboli might be found are identified; selecting a region of interest for sonication; sonicating the region of interest with at least one sound wave beam by moving said sound beam across the region of interest; receiving reflected sound signals from the region of interest; and calculating the Doppler effect parameters of flow and turbulence from said reflected sound signals.