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US 11,534,630 B2Granted
Ultrasound guided opening of blood-brain barrier
AssigneeCordance Medical Inc.
InventorBhaskar Ramamurthy
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system for delivering drugs or other molecules to the brain comprises an ultrasound imaging transducer configured to image structures such as the circle of Willis within a patient's head by way of a low attenuation acoustic window. The system includes a processor configured to register the ultrasound images to previously obtained images which also include the structures. The system includes ultrasound transducer elements operable to deliver ultrasound energy to a target region to cause the blood brain barrier to open. The system may include a drug delivery system that may be operated to deliver a drug to the patient in coordination with opening the blood brain barrier. Coordinates of the target region relative to the ultrasound imaging transducer are determined using registration information.
Claims33
A system operable to deliver ultrasound energy to a patient's brain, the system comprising:
- at least one imaging ultrasound transducer comprising a plurality of imaging elements;
- at least one treatment ultrasound transducer comprising a plurality of treatment elements;
- wherein the at least one imaging ultrasound transducer and the at least one treatment ultrasound transducer are arranged to be supported to deliver ultrasound into the head of a patient at spatially separated locations with the at least one imaging ultrasound transducer at a location corresponding to an acoustic window in the patient's skull and the treatment elements of the at least one treatment ultrasound transducer located away from the acoustic window;
- an ultrasound machine connected to:
- operate the at least one imaging ultrasound transducer to transmit and receive ultrasound energy in a first frequency range to generate one or more ultrasound images of structures of the brain;
- and
- operate the at least one treatment ultrasound transducer to deliver ultrasound energy to at least one target region within the brain in a second frequency range lower than the first frequency range;
- a data store;
- a data processor configured to:
- process one of the ultrasound images with a corresponding previously obtained image in the data store to register the previously obtained image to the ultrasound image to yield a transformation relating coordinates in a frame of reference of the previously obtained image to coordinates in a frame of reference of the ultrasound image based on at least one of the structures of the brain as identified in the ultrasound image and as identified in the previously obtained image;
- using the transformation, determine coordinates of the at least one target region in the frame of reference of the ultrasound image, wherein the at least one target region is not imaged by the ultrasound image;
- and
- based on the coordinates of the at least one target region, determine a treatment ultrasound transducer location from which to deliver ultrasound energy from the treatment ultrasound transducer to the at least one target region;
- and
- control the at least one treatment ultrasound transducer to deliver treatment ultrasound energy from the treatment ultrasound transducer location to the at least one target region with an energy sufficient to open the blood brain barrier of the patient at the at least one target region.
12 more elements
A method for configuring an ultrasound system, the method comprising:
- obtaining an ultrasound image that includes one or more structures in a patient's brain using at least one imaging ultrasound transducer operating to transmit and receive ultrasound energy in a first frequency range and located at a location corresponding to an acoustic window in the patient's skull;
- by a data processor:
- registering a previously obtained image of the patient's brain to the ultrasound image to yield a transformation relating coordinates in a frame of reference of the previously obtained image to coordinates in a frame of reference of the ultrasound image, wherein the previously obtained image and the ultrasound image includes the one or more structures and the registering uses the one or more structures in the previously obtained image and in the ultrasound image;
- using the transformation determining coordinates of at least one target region within the brain in the frame of reference of the ultrasound image;
- and
- based on the coordinates of the at least one target region, determining at least one treatment ultrasound transducer location from which to deliver ultrasound energy in a second frequency range lower than the first frequency range from at least two treatment ultrasound transducers to the at least one target region, wherein the at least two treatment ultrasound transducers are spatially separated from the imaging ultrasound transducer and located away from locations of acoustic windows of the patient, the acoustic windows including the acoustic window, and includes a plurality of treatment transducer elements, wherein the locations of the acoustic windows of the patient include both temples, the back of the head, and behind the eyes of the patient;
- and
- controlling the at least two treatment ultrasound transducers to deliver and focus treatment ultrasound energy from the treatment ultrasound transducer location, which is located away from the locations corresponding with the acoustic windows, to the at least one target region with an energy sufficient to open the blood brain barrier of the patient selectively in the at least one target region.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.