Vibrational doppler ultrasonic imaging
AssigneeDiasonics Ultrasound, Inc.
InventorGregory Sharat Lin
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system is disclosed for performing vibrational Doppler ultrasonic imaging. A vibrational wave of a first frequency is introduced into an area of a subject to be scanned. An ultrasound signal is simultaneously introduced into the area. The vibrational wave is of a sufficient frequency and amplitude to induce palpable vibrations in the tissue medium of the area being scanned. An ultrasonic Doppler imaging system detects these tissue vibrations and processes the resulting scanned data for display on a display device.
Claims22
An ultrasonic imaging apparatus comprising:
- a first transducer, said first transducer operable to transmit vibrational energy of a first frequency within a first frequency range into an area of a subject to be scanned;
- a second transducer coupled to said first transducer, said second transducer operable to transmit sound energy of a second frequency within a second frequency range into said area, said second frequency range including an ultrasonic frequency range;
- and
- a variable frequency signal generator coupled to said first transducer, said variable frequency generator operable to generate waveforms within said first frequency range to be transmitted by said first transducer;
- and wherein said first transducer causes a medium within said area to vibrate at a frequency related to said first frequency.
An method of performing ultrasonic imaging comprising the steps of:
- (a) generating and amplifying a first signal of a first frequency;
- (b) converting said first signal into vibrational energy;
- (c) introducing said first signal into an area a subject to be ultrasonically imaged;
- (d) generating beamforming ultrasound pulses;
- (e) converting said beamforming ultrasound pulses into focused ultrasonic beams;
- and
- (f) introducing said focused ultrasonic beams into said area.
An apparatus comprising:
- first transducer means for transmitting energy of a first frequency within a first frequency range into an area of a subject to be scanned;
- and
- second transducer means for transmitting energy of a second frequency within a second frequency range into said area, said second frequency range including an ultrasonic frequency range, said second transducer means coupled to said first transducer means;
- signal generator means for generating waveforms within said first frequency range to be transmitted by said first transducer means, said signal generator means coupled to said first transducer means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.