Method and apparatus for characterization of clot formation

A method of characterizing changes in at least one physical property of a biological material over time, said method comprising:

• generating a series of acoustic pulses and directing said series of pulses into the material such that at least one of the pulses is of sufficiently high intensity to induce physical displacement of the material and wherein each of said acoustic pulses is of finite duration and of brief duration relative to a duration of said generating and said directing;
• controlling a temperature of the material;
• estimating at least one physical property of the material based on measuring a displacement resulting from said induced physical displacement of the material;
• and
• repeating said generating and estimating steps after passage of a time interval.

A method of characterizing at least one physical property of a material, said method comprising:

• generating a series of acoustic pulses and directing said series of pulses into the material such that at least one of the pulses is of sufficiently high intensity to induce physical displacement of the material and wherein each of said acoustic pulses is of finite duration and of brief duration relative to a duration of said generating and said directing;
• controlling the temperature of the material;
• measuring a displacement, either directly or indirectly, of the material resulting from said induced physical displacement thereof, wherein said measuring comprises receiving optical reflections from the material as the material is being physically displaced;
• and
• estimating at least one characteristic of the physical displacement based on said measuring, wherein said estimating is based on the optical reflections received.

A method of characterizing at least one physical property of a biological material, said method comprising:

• generating a series of acoustic pulses and directing said series of pulses through skin of a subject, into the material such that at least one of the pulses is of sufficiently high intensity to induce physical displacement of the material and wherein each of said acoustic pulses is of finite duration and of brief duration relative to a duration of said generating and said directing;
• measuring a displacement, either directly or indirectly, of the material resulting from said induced physical displacement thereof;
• and
• estimating at least one characteristic of the physical displacement based on said measuring;
• and
• repeating said generating, measuring and estimating steps after passage of a time interval.

A method of characterizing at least one physical property of a material, said method comprising:

• generating a series of acoustic pulses and directing said series of pulses into the material such that at least one of the pulses is of sufficiently high intensity to induce physical displacement of the material and wherein each of said acoustic pulses is of finite duration and of brief duration relative to a duration of said generating and said directing;
• receiving an echo of at least said at least one of the pulses of sufficiently high intensity to induce physical displacement of the material;
• applying a signal processing algorithm to a signal transduced from said received echo;
• estimating a displacement of the material;
• and
• repeating said generating, receiving, applying and estimating steps after passage of a time interval.