Rotatable ultrasound imaging catheter

Abstract

An ultrasound catheter including a flexible, torsionally-rigid elongate transducer cable having proximal and distal ends, with a transducer housing fixably connected proximate to the distal end. An ultrasound transducer, having a substantially planar surface and a scan plane substantially perpendicular to the planar surface, is fixably connected to a first side of the transducer housing to provide a predetermined two-dimensional cross-sectional image corresponding to an angular position of the ultrasound transducer. The transducer generates a series of successive two-dimensional cross-sectional images. In one embodiment, the ultrasound transducer is a linear array transducer which produces a substantially rectangular scan plane. A guide wire sleeve which is fixably connected to a second side of the housing substantially opposing the first side, causes the transducer to follow a predetermined rotational path around the guide wire when a torque is applied to the proximal end of the transducer cable. The guide wire sleeve is preferably configured to insure that the planar surface of the ultrasound transducer is maintained in substantial parallel relationship with the guide wire positioned within the sleeve. An ultrasound imaging system comprising the ultrasound catheter also includes a positioning system coupled to the proximal end of the transducer cable. The positioning system applies a torque to the proximal end of the cable to rotate the array about an axis defined by the guide wire channel. A controller rotates the array between successive image scans and forms a three-dimensional image using the plurality of two-dimensional cross-sectional images generated by the array.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.