Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080228231 | Acoustic Back-Scattering Sensing Screw for Preventing Spine Surgery Complications - A medical device having an implantable instrument configured to be implanted in bone tissue, the implantable instrument having an internal chamber configured to house at least one transducer; a transducer located within the internal chamber of the implantable instrument, the transducer configured to transmit a signal and to receive one or more reflections of that signal; and a signal processing system configured to process the signals transmitted and received by the transducer so as to provide information indicative of the acoustic impedance of matter in the vicinity of the implantable instrument after it is implanted into the bone tissue based on the signals transmitted and received by the transducer. | 09-18-2008 |
20080249412 | Preoperative and Intra-Operative Lens Hardness Measurement by Ultrasound - The present disclosure provides methods, systems, techniques and apparatus related to an instrumentation used to classify tissue before and/or during removal. The tissue can include any hard tissue/soft tissue interface, such as a cataract within a lens. Before an operation, an ultrasound image can be provided that gives a full scan of the targeted region, e.g., a lens, and provide a hardness profile. The profile could include a two or three dimensional map of the tissue hardness, assisting a surgeon to choose a suitable surgical procedure and strategy. During the operation, hardness measurements can be carried out real-time, in a constant manner, while the surgeon is working. This data can allow the handpiece to automatically adjust to the surgical conditions including the tissue hardness, increasing surgical performance, decreasing surgical procedure time and reducing the rate of complications. | 10-09-2008 |
20080262512 | Thrombolysis In Retinal Vessels With Ultrasound - Systems and methods are described providing for the use of ultrasound energy to effect the dislodging of one or more blood clots inside blood vessels. Such clots can include those inside retinal vessels, especially in patients with central retinal vein occlusion. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be used for any retinal arterial or venous occlusion. In exemplary embodiments, a small probe can be inserted into the eye of a patient and placed over the retinal vessels. Acoustic streaming created by the probe can be directed to an area or region including targeted blood vessels, resulting in increased flow in one or more retinal veins and facilitating or effecting mechanical dislodging of one or more blood clots in the targets blood vessels. Exemplary embodiments can utilize ultrasonic energy produced at a frequency of approximately 44 MHz to 46 MHz with pulse repetition frequencies of approximately 100 Hz to 100 kHz. | 10-23-2008 |
20080319319 | Intraocular Ultrasound Doppler Techniques - Systems and methods are disclosed providing for the use of ultrasound energy to measure blood flow within blood vessels by Doppler velocity measurement. Directional high-frequency pulsed-wave Doppler measurements can be made with a suitable ultrasonic needle transducers for in vivo measuring of blood flow. A needle probe can include a ultrasonic material such as PMN-PT. Such blood flow measurements can be made in any part of the body, e.g., in the central retinal vein and branch retinal veins. | 12-25-2008 |
20090203991 | MULTIPLE IMAGING AND/OR SPECTROSCOPIC MODALITY PROBE - The apparatus and methods described herein enable an operator to simultaneously collect images and spectroscopic information from a region(s) of interest using a multiple modality imaging and/or spectroscopic probe, configured as a catheter, endoscope, microscope, or hand held probe. The device may incorporate, for example, an ultrasonic transducer and a fiber optic probe to translate images and spectra. The apparatus and methods may be used in any suitable cavity, for example, the vascular system of a mammal. | 08-13-2009 |
20090240148 | ULTRASONIC APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR REAL-TIME SIMULTANEOUS THERAPY AND DIAGNOSIS - For noninvasive treatment of tissue using high intensity focused ultrasound, composite imaging and therapy acoustic techniques are described. Embodiments include an integrated multi-functional confocal array and a strategy to perform both imaging and therapy simultaneously with this array by using coded excitation techniques with/without a notch filter. An exemplary array embodiment includes a triple-row phased array with one array in the center row for imaging and two arrays in the outer rows for therapy. Different types of piezoelectric materials and stack configurations may be employed to maximize the respective therapy and imaging functionalities. Reflected therapeutic signals that would otherwise corrupt the quality of imaging signals received by the center-row array can be mitigated or removed by use of the coding and/or a notch filter when B-mode images are formed during therapy. A 13-bit Barker code is preferred for implementing coded excitation, although other codes or compression techniques may be used. | 09-24-2009 |
20100171395 | CURVED ULTRASONIC ARRAY TRANSDUCERS - An ultrasonic array transducer having an array of piezoelectric elements may be made with a curvature which may enable the piezoelectric elements to control the way in which ultrasonic energy is focused by the transducer. A substrate that has a set of element electrodes on a surface of the substrate may be created. Each element electrode may be electrically isolated from the others and configured to correspond to the location of one of the piezoelectric elements. A piezoelectric component which includes piezoelectric material may be bonded to the substrate such that each element electrode is juxtaposed next to the piezoelectric component. The surface of the substrate and/or to the piezoelectric material may have the curvature while they are separated and prior to the bonding. The bonding may be performed in a manner that results in the array of piezoelectric elements having the curvature. | 07-08-2010 |
20130139575 | ACOUSTIC PARTICLE SORTING IN MICROFLUIDIC CHANNELS - A method for sensing and sorting single tiny particles in microfluidic channels may comprise subjecting the particles to ultrasound; detecting scattering of the ultrasound from these particles; and pushing or sorting these particles using ultrasound based on the scattered ultrasound that is detected. | 06-06-2013 |
20140087411 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING TUMOR INVASIVENESS - A method of determining invasion potential of a tumor cell includes exposing a tumor cell to an activity sensor; after exposing the tumor cell to the activity sensor, stimulating the tumor cell to cause a response in the cell that is reported by the activity sensor; detecting the level of response after stimulation of the tumor cell; and determining the invasion potential of the tumor cell based on the response. A system for determining the invasion potential of a tumor cell includes a sample stage that supports the tumor cell; a stimulator that focuses energy on the tumor cell to stimulate the tumor cell; and an imaging apparatus that observes an effect of the beam on the tumor cell. | 03-27-2014 |
20140243712 | THROMBOLYSIS IN RETINAL VESSELS WITH ULTRASOUND - Systems and methods are described providing for the use of ultrasound energy to effect the dislodging of one or more blood clots inside blood vessels. Such clots can include those inside retinal vessels, especially in patients with central retinal vein occlusion. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be used for any retinal arterial or venous occlusion. In exemplary embodiments, a small probe can be inserted into the eye of a patient and placed over the retinal vessels. Acoustic streaming created by the probe can be directed to an area or region including targeted blood vessels, resulting in increased flow in one or more retinal veins and facilitating or effecting mechanical dislodging of one or more blood clots in the targets blood vessels. Exemplary embodiments can utilize ultrasonic energy produced at a frequency of approximately 44 MHz to 46 MHz with pulse repetition frequencies of approximately 100 Hz to 100 kHz. | 08-28-2014 |
20140316275 | HIGH FREQUENCY ULTRASONIC CONVEX ARRAY TRANSDUCERS AND TISSUE IMAGING - A high frequency ultrasonic transducer may include a plurality of adjacent ultrasonic transducer elements. The adjacent transducer elements may be sized and configured so as to resonate at a frequency that is at least 15 MHz. The adjacent transducer elements may collectively form an aperture that is substantially convex along a lateral dimension spanning the cascaded width of the adjacent transducer elements. The aperture may be substantially concave along an elevation spanning the height of each of the transducer elements. The ultrasonic transducer and an associated transmitter system may be configured so as to enable ultrasound that is radiated from the plurality of the transducer elements to be focused on and to scan across locations that are no more than 30 millimeters from the aperture and that span across a field of view of at least 50 degrees without movement of the ultrasonic transducer or tissue during the scanning. | 10-23-2014 |