US 7,803,116 B2 · Transcutaneous localization of arterial bleeding by two-dimensional ultrasonic imaging of tissue vibrations

Abstract

An ultrasound based technique for detecting and imaging vibrations in tissue caused by eddies produced during bleeding through punctured arteries or from organs. A clutter signal, normally suppressed in conventional color flow imaging, is employed to detect and characterize local tissue vibrations, to detect internal bleeding in an image, or as an audible or palpable signal, or a readout. Using a tissue vibration image, the origin and extent of vibrations relative to the underlying anatomy and blood flow can be visualized in real time, enabling measurements of vibration amplitude, frequency, and spatial distribution. Bleeding rate can be determined from the frequency and amplitude of the vibrations. Signal processing algorithms usable to identify tissue vibrations from an ensemble of 2D ultrasound data include those based on phase decomposition, spectral estimation using eigendecomposition, and spectral estimation using autoregressive modeling for isolating vibrations from clutter, blood flow, and noise.

Claims11

Dependent claims

Apparatus for detecting bleeding at an internal site using ultrasound, comprising:

(a) an ultrasound transducer
(b) a control system coupled to the ultrasound transducer to control its operation;
and
(c) a tissue vibration processor that processes the ultrasound to identify tissue vibrations caused by internal bleeding, producing a signal indicating the internal bleeding,
wherein the tissue vibration processor configured to identify the tissue vibrations, producing a tissue vibration signal, and filters the tissue vibration signal, producing a filtered signal from which any contribution to the tissue vibration from a source other than bleeding at the internal site has been substantially minimized,
and wherein the tissue vibration processor configured to identify tissue vibrations at the internal site by:
(a) estimating a correlation matrix from the color-flow signal;
(b) carrying out an eigen decomposition of the correlation matrix to identify a signal subspace and a noise subspace;
(c) estimating a frequency of dominant vibration components in the signal subspace and the noise subspace;
and
(a) based upon an estimate of the frequency of the dominant vibration components, determining a vibration amplitude estimate and a vibration frequency estimate, at least one of the vibration amplitude estimate and the vibration frequency estimate comprising the tissue vibration signal.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Transcutaneous localization of arterial bleeding by two-dimensional ultrasonic imaging of tissue vibrations

Life of this patent

Transcutaneous localization of arterial bleeding by two-dimensional ultrasonic imaging of tissue vibrations

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims11