Method and apparatus combining diagnostic ultrasound with therapeutic ultrasound to enhance thrombolysis

An apparatus to treat a patient suffering from thrombosis, the apparatus comprising:

• a single ultrasound probe structured for positioning proximate to a region of a body of the patient to transmit pulsed ultrasound in a diagnostic mode and ultrasound in a therapeutic mode, the ultrasound having a characteristic in the therapeutic mode that is different from a characteristic of the pulsed ultrasound in the diagnostic mode, the single ultrasound probe having a diagnostic ultrasound beam source and a therapeutic ultrasound beam source from which the ultrasound in the respective modes originates, the diagnostic and therapeutic ultrasound beam sources arranged to produce an ultrasound beam in each mode that overlaps the other at the respective beam source;
• and
• a controller structured to switch the single ultrasound probe between the diagnostic and therapeutic modes and to process ultrasound Doppler signals returned by the single ultrasound probe during the diagnostic mode.

An apparatus to treat a patient suffering from thrombosis, the apparatus comprising:

• a single ultrasound probe structured to transmit pulsed ultrasound in a diagnostic mode along a diagnostic beam axis, the diagnostic beam axis originating at an ultrasound source and along which the pulsed ultrasound propagates and to transmit ultrasound in a therapeutic mode along the diagnostic beam axis, the ultrasound having a characteristic in the therapeutic mode that is different from a characteristic of the pulsed ultrasound in the diagnostic mode;
• and
• a controller structured to switch the single ultrasound probe between the diagnostic and therapeutic modes and to process ultrasound Doppler signals returned by the single ultrasound probe during the diagnostic mode.