Elastography device and method
AssigneeEchosens
InventorsLaurent Sandrin, Stéphane Audiere
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Abstract
An elastography device to obtain a signal representative of variations of a mechanical property of a region of a body of a subject with time, includes an electronic unit adapted to determine, at a repetition rate of at least 4 measurements per second and for a duration of at least 1 second, measurements of the mechanical property, each measurement being associated with a respective time, wherein the signal representative of the variations of the mechanical property with time includes a plurality of the measurements of the mechanical property determined.
Claims20
An elastography device to obtain a signal representative of variations of a mechanical property of a region of a body of a subject with time, the region of the body being liver, spleen or brain, the elastography device comprising:
- a probe including a vibrator configured to generate a transient low-frequency mechanical pulse at a central frequency between 10 and 500 Hz in the body of the subject and at least one transducer configured to emit ultrasounds, the probe being further configured to acquire ultrasound echo signals to track a propagation of the transient low-frequency mechanical pulse in the body of the subject;
- an electronic unit in communication with the least one ultrasound transducer for controlling emission of the ultrasounds, the electronic unit comprising electronic circuitry adapted to
- process the ultrasound echo signals received by the probe and determine, in real time, at a repetition rate of at least 4 measurements per second and for a duration of at least 1 second, measurements of the mechanical property associated with liver, spleen or brain using the ultrasound echo signals received by the probe, each measurement of the mechanical property being associated with a respective time,
- generate, with said measurements, and in real time, the signal representative of the variations of the mechanical property of the region of the body, wherein the signal representative of the variations of the mechanical property with time comprises a plurality of the measurements of the mechanical property determined, and
- output a value representative of the mechanical property based on the generated signal.
An elastography method, implemented by an elastography device to obtain a signal representative of variations of a mechanical property of a region of a body of a subject with time, the region of the body being liver, spleen or brain, the elastography including a probe that includes a vibrator configured to generate a transient low-frequency mechanical pulse at a central frequency between 10 and 500 Hz in the body of the subject and at least one transducer configured to emit ultrasounds, the probe being further configured to acquire ultrasound echo signals to track a propagation of the transient low-frequency mechanical pulse in the body of the subject, and an electronic unit in communication with the least one ultrasound transducer for controlling emission of the ultrasounds, the method comprising:
- emitting by the at least one ultrasound transducer ultrasounds towards said region of the body,
- processing, by the electronic circuit, the ultrasound echo signals received by the probe and determining, by the electronic circuit, in real time, at a repetition rate of at least 4 measurements per second and for a duration of at least 1 second, measurements of the mechanical property associated with liver, spleen or brain using the ultrasound echo signals received by the probe, each measurement of the mechanical property being associated with a respective time,
- generating, by the electronic circuit and with said measurements, and in real time, the signal representative of the variations of the mechanical property of the region of the body, wherein the signal representative of the variations of the mechanical property with time comprises a plurality of the measurements of the mechanical property determined, and
- outputting a value representative of the mechanical property based on the generated signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.