ULTRASONIC MEASUREMENT APPARATUS AND ULTRASONIC MEASUREMENT METHOD

• US 20150238169A1
• Filed: 02/12/2015
• Published: 08/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2014
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: MIZUKAMI, Hiromitsu
• Application Number:
  US14/620,623
• Publication Number:
  US 20150238169A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02141 Details of apparatus construction, e.g. pump units or housings therefor, cuff pressurising systems, arrangements of fluid conduits or circuits A61B5/02233, A61B5/0235 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0816 Measuring devices for examining respiratory frequency measuring frequency of electric signals G01R23/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/02 Measuring pulse or heart rate
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/085 for locating body or organic structures, e.g. tumours, calculi, blood vessels, nodules
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4416 related to combined acquisition of different diagnostic modalities, e.g. combination of ultrasound and X-ray acquisitions
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/485 involving measuring strain or elastic properties
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5223 for extracting a diagnostic or physiological parameter from medical diagnostic data for algorithms to analyse biomedical images G06T7/0012
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/58 Testing, adjusting or calibrating the diagnostic device
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment

Abstract

In an ultrasonic measurement apparatus, an ultrasonic sensor transmits an ultrasonic wave toward a blood vessel and receives a reflected wave. Then, in a processing unit of a main device, an ultrasonic measurement control section, a respiratory fluctuation component separation section, and a respiratory rate calculation section analyze the displacement of a vascular wall in a depth direction from the body surface using a received signal of the reflected wave, and detect the number of breaths per unit time using the analysis result. The unit time may be one minute or one second, for example.

Claims

1. An ultrasonic measurement apparatus, comprising:

a transmission and reception unit that transmits an ultrasonic wave toward a blood vessel and receives a reflected wave; and

a detection unit that analyzes displacement of the blood vessel using a received signal of the reflected wave and detects the number of breaths per unit time using the analysis result.

2. The ultrasonic measurement apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the detection unit detects the number of breaths by specifying a frequency of a respiratory fluctuation component by frequency analysis of the displacement of the blood vessel.

3. The ultrasonic measurement apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein the detection unit includes a heart rate calculation section that calculates a heart rate, and specifies a frequency of the respiratory fluctuation component by excluding a frequency corresponding to the heart rate from the frequency analysis result.

4. The ultrasonic measurement apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the detection unit detects the number of breaths based on displacement of one of a vascular front wall and a vascular rear wall.

5. The ultrasonic measurement apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the detection unit detects the number of breaths based on a temporal change in a received signal strength in the vascular wall.

6. The ultrasonic measurement apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the detection unit detects the number of breaths based on a temporal change in a vascular diameter that is determined by displacement of a vascular front wall and displacement of a vascular rear wall.

7. The ultrasonic measurement apparatus according to claim 6,

wherein the detection unit detects the number of breaths by performing frequency analysis of a vascular diameter variation from the temporal change in the vascular diameter, the vascular diameter variation indicating a temporal change in either a diastolic vascular diameter or a systolic vascular diameter.

8. The ultrasonic measurement apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the blood vessel is an artery.

9. An ultrasonic measurement method, comprising:

transmitting an ultrasonic wave toward a blood vessel and receiving a reflected wave; and

analyzing displacement of the blood vessel using a received signal of the reflected wave and detecting the number of breaths per unit time using the analysis result.