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US 2004/0167403 A1Published application
Methods, systems, and computer program products for ultrasound measurements using receive mode parallel processing
AssigneeDuke University
InventorsKathryn R. Nightingale, Gregg E. Trahey
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A pushing pulse is delivered from an ultrasound transducer array having a plurality of elements to a target region within a medium to displace the target region to a displaced position. A tracking pulse is delivered from the ultrasound transducer array to the target region, and a plurality of tracking signals are received from locations in the target region, each tracking signal being responsive to the tracking pulse.
Claims88
An ultrasound method comprising:
- delivering a pushing pulse from an ultrasound transducer array having a plurality of elements to a target region within a medium to displace the target region to a displaced position;
- delivering a tracking pulse from the ultrasound transducer array to the target region;
- and
- receiving a plurality of tracking signals from locations in the target region, each tracking signal being responsive to the tracking pulse.
1 more element
An ultrasound method comprising the steps of:
- delivering a first tracking pulse from an ultrasound transducer array to a target region within a medium;
- receiving a first set of tracking signals from locations in the target region responsive to the tracking pulse in the target region at the ultrasound transducer array to detect an initial position for the target region;
- delivering a pushing pulse from the ultrasound transducer array to the target region to displace the target region to a displaced position;
- delivering a second tracking pulse from the ultrasound transducer array to the target region;
- receiving a second set of tracking signals from locations in the target region responsive to the second tracking pulse at the ultrasound transducer array to detect the displaced position of the target region;
- and
- repeating sequentially the delivering a first tracking pulse, receiving a first tracking signal, delivering a pushing pulse, delivering a second tracking pulse, and receiving a second tracking signal to provide a series of cycles, the pushing pulses being delivered to different target regions during the series of cycles providing a plurality of displaced positions.
4 more elements
A method for evaluating a blood vessel and/or cardiac tissue in a subject comprising:
- detecting a mechanical property of a vessel wall and/or cardiac tissue to provide at least first and second values associated with the mechanical property at at least two timing points during a cardiac cycle of the subject;
- and
- comparing the first and second values.
A method for evaluating a blood vessel and/or cardiac tissue in a subject comprising:
- detecting a first value associated with a mechanical property of a vessel wall and/or cardiac tissue at a first spatial point within a first layer of the vessel wall and/or cardiac tissue;
- detecting a second value associated with the mechanical property at a second spatial point of the vessel wall and/or cardiac tissue within a second layer of the vessel wall and/or cardiac tissue;
- and
- comparing the first and second values.
1 more element
A computer program product for controlling ultrasound signals comprising:
- a computer readable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code comprising:
- computer readable program code configured to deliver a pushing pulse from an ultrasound transducer array having a plurality of elements to a target region within a medium to displace the target region to a displaced position;
- computer readable program code configured to deliver a tracking pulse from the ultrasound transducer array to the target region;
- and
- computer readable program code configured to receive a plurality of tracking signals from locations in the target region, each tracking signal being responsive to the tracking pulse.
2 more elements
A computer program product for evaluating a blood vessel and/or cardiac tissue in a subject comprising:
- computer readable program code configured to detect a mechanical property of a vessel wall and/or cardiac tissue to provide at least first and second values associated with the mechanical property at at least two timing points during a cardiac cycle of the subject;
- and
- computer readable program code configured to compare the first and second values.
A computer readable program product for evaluating a blood vessel and/or cardiac tissue in a subject comprising:
- computer readable program code configured to detect a first value associated with a mechanical property of a vessel wall and/or cardiac tissue at a first spatial point within a first layer of the vessel wall and/or cardiac tissue;
- computer readable program code configured to detect a second value associated with the mechanical property at a second spatial point of the vessel wall and/or cardiac tissue within a second layer of the vessel wall and/or cardiac tissue;
- and
- computer readable program code configured to compare the first and second values.
1 more element
An ultrasound system comprising:
- an ultrasound transducer array controller configured to deliver a pushing pulse from an ultrasound transducer array having a plurality of elements to a target region within a medium to displace the target region to a displaced position, to deliver a tracking pulse from the ultrasound transducer array to the target region, and to receive a plurality of tracking signals from locations in the target region, each tracking signal being responsive to the tracking pulse.
A system for evaluating a blood vessel and/or cardiac tissue in a subject comprising:
- an ultrasound transducer array controller configured to detect a mechanical property of a vessel wall and/or cardiac tissue to provide at least first and second values associated with the mechanical property at at least two timing points during a cardiac cycle of the subject, and to compare the first and second values.
A system for evaluating a blood vessel and/or cardiac tissue in a subject comprising:
- an ultrasound transducer array controller configured to detect a first value associated with a mechanical property of a vessel wall and/or cardiac tissue at a first spatial point within a first layer of the vessel wall and/or cardiac tissue, to detect a second value associated with the mechanical property at a second spatial point of the vessel wall and/or cardiac tissue within a second layer of the vessel wall and/or cardiac tissue, to compare the first and second values.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.