Ascertaining tissue thickness
AssigneeBiosense Webster (Israel) Ltd.
InventorsAssaf Govari, Andres Altmann, Dmitry Volkinshtein
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Embodiments described herein include apparatus that includes an electrical interface and a processor. The processor is configured to receive, via the electrical interface, a first signal that indicates a time-varying force that was applied to a portion of tissue, and one or more second signals that are derived from ultrasound reflections received from the portion of tissue. The processor is further configured to learn, from the first signal and the second signals, a dependency of a thickness of the portion of tissue on the force applied to the portion of tissue. Other embodiments are also described.
Claims20
Apparatus, comprising:
- a catheter having a force sensor, a position sensor and an ultrasonic transducer;
- an electrical interface;
- and
- a processor operatively connected to the catheter through the electrical interface, the processor configured:
- to receive, via the electrical interface:
- a first signal generated by the force sensor that indicates a time-varying force having a magnitude and a direction that was applied to a portion of tissue, and one or more second signals generated by the ultrasonic transducer that are derived from ultrasound reflections received from the portion of tissue corresponding to a time when the directionality of the force signal aligns with the direction of the one or more second signals generated by the ultrasonic transducer and indicative of the thickness of the portion of tissue in the direction of the time-varying force, and
- to learn, from the first signal and the second signals, a dependency of the thickness of the portion of tissue on the force applied to the portion of tissue.
A method, comprising:
- receiving a processor operatively connected to a catheter through an electrical interface, the catheter having a force sensor, a position sensor and an ultrasonic transducer:
- a first signal from the force sensor that indicates a time-varying force having a magnitude and a direction that was applied to a portion of tissue, and
- one or more second signals from the ultrasonic transducer that are derived from ultrasound reflections received from the portion of tissue corresponding to a time when the directionality of the force signal aligns with the direction of the one or more second signals generated by the ultrasonic transducer and indicative of the thickness of the portion of tissue in the direction of the time-varying force;
- learning, from the first signal and the second signals, a dependency of a thickness of the portion of tissue on the force applied to the portion of tissue;
- and
- generating an output that is based on the learned dependency.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.