Systems and methods for determining the electrical activity of a material

• US 20050154287A1
• Filed: 01/06/2004
• Published: 07/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Medical Systems Information Technologies Incorporated (General Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: GE Medical Systems Information Technologies Incorporated (General Electric Company)
• Inventors: Schluter, Paul S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,367,943 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/407
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/05 Detecting, measuring or recording for diagnosis by means of electric currents or magnetic fields; Measuring using microwaves or radio waves impedance plethysmography A61B5/0295; measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof A61B5/11; detecting, measuring or recording bioelectric or biomagnetic signals of the body or parts thereof A61B5/24
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/00 Diagnosis using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves imaging of objects using sonar G01S15/00

Abstract

The present description relates to a method comprising transmitting acoustic waves through a material of alternating electrical polarity to create a magnetic field and detecting the magnetic field.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

transmitting acoustic waves through a material of alternating electrical polarity to create a magnetic field; and

detecting the magnetic field.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining electrical activity of the material using the detected magnetic field.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the material is biological tissue.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the material comprises a heart and the alternating electrical polarity is produced by depolarization of the heart.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying an electrical map of the material, the electrical map being created using the detected magnetic field.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising displaying a structural representation of the material, the electrical map being overlaid on the structural representation.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the structural representation is acquired using the acoustic waves.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a majority of the acoustic waves have a frequency above approximately twenty thousand hertz.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a ferrite antenna is used to detect the magnetic field.

10. A method comprising:

(a) insonating at least a portion of a heart; and

(b) detecting a magnetic field created by step (a).

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising displaying an electrical map of the heart, the electrical map being created using the detected magnetic field.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising displaying a structural representation of the heart.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the magnetic field is created by the compression and rarefaction of a boundary portion of the heart, the boundary portion being between a depolarized portion and a nondepolarized portion of the heart.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein a majority of the waves used to insonate the portion of the heart have a frequency above approximately twenty thousand hertz.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein step (b) comprises using a ferrite antenna to detect the magnetic field.

16. A method comprising:

transmitting acoustic waves through at least a portion of a heart; and

detecting a potential difference on a surface of a body which includes the heart, the potential difference having substantially the same frequency as the acoustic waves.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising displaying an electrical map of the heart, the electrical map being created using the detected potential difference.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising displaying a structural representation of the heart.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the frequency is not less than approximately twenty thousand hertz.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the potential difference is created by the compression and rarefaction of a boundary portion of the heart, the boundary portion being between a depolarized portion and a nondepolarized portion of the heart.

21. A system comprising:

a computer;

a transducer probe configured to transmit acoustic waves through a material of alternating electrical polarity, the transducer probe being coupled to the computer; and

a receiver coupled to the computer, the receiver and computer being used to detect a magnetic field produced by transmitting the acoustic waves through the material.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising a display configured to display an electrical map of the material, the electrical map being created using the detected magnetic field.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the electrical map is overlaid on a structural representation of the material.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the structural representation is acquired using the acoustic waves.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the material comprises a heart.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the potential difference is created by the compression and rarefaction of a boundary portion of the heart, the boundary portion being between a depolarized portion and a nondepolarized portion of the heart.

27. The system of claim 21, wherein the receiver comprises a ferrite loop antenna.