Methods and apparatus for the examination and treatment of internal organs
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for providing an image of the interior of a human organ or for visualising the flow of blood through it comprising the steps of:
- firing ultrasonic signals either from inside or outside the organ,detecting echo signals of said fired ultrasonic signals,digitising the echo signals,storing the digitised echo signals in a digital computer,manipulating the stored digitised echo signals in such a way as to provide an output from the computer which will give a three-dimensional visual representation of the interior of the organ, andenabling manipulation of the representation to enable the representation to be viewed from different aspects.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The internal examination of a human organ (3) is made by means of an ultrasonic probe (2) inserted into the organ (3), analogue echo signals from the probe being converted to digital signals (8) which are then stored in a digital computer (10) where they are manipulated to produce a variety of three-dimensional representations of the interior of the organ for display on a terminal (12) or as hard copy (13).
293 Citations
17 Claims
-
1. A method for providing an image of the interior of a human organ or for visualising the flow of blood through it comprising the steps of:
-
firing ultrasonic signals either from inside or outside the organ, detecting echo signals of said fired ultrasonic signals, digitising the echo signals, storing the digitised echo signals in a digital computer, manipulating the stored digitised echo signals in such a way as to provide an output from the computer which will give a three-dimensional visual representation of the interior of the organ, and enabling manipulation of the representation to enable the representation to be viewed from different aspects. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
-
-
5. Equipment for providing an image of the interior of a human organ within a human body, comprising:
-
(a) a catheter for insertion into the human body; (b) an ultrasonic transducer assembly mounted on the catheter; (c) means for energising the transducer assembly to generate ultrasonic signals; (d) means for receiving the resultant ultrasonic echo signals and converting them into digital signals; (e1) a digital computer; (e2) means for supplying the digital signals from said means for receiving to said digital computer; (f) means for manipulating the digital signals to enable a three-dimensional representation of the organ to be created and for enabling that representation to itself be manipulated to enable the representation to be viewed from different aspects and also to enable the structural make-up of tissue to be visually represented; and (g) means connected to the computer for visually displaying the three-dimensional representation. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A catheter for insertion into a human body and for use with equipment for providing an image of the interior of a human organ within a human body, the equipment including means for receiving resultant ultrasonic echo signals from ultrasonic signals generated by the catheter and for converting the echo signals into digital signals;
- a digital computer;
means for supplying the digital signals from said means for receiving to said digital computer;
means for manipulating the digital signals to enable a three-dimensional representation of the organ to be created and for enabling that representation to itself be manipulated to enable the representation to be viewed from different aspects and also to enable the structural make-up of tissue to be visually represented; and
means connected to the computer for visually displaying the three-dimensional representation, said catheter comprising;(a) a catheter tube; (b) a probe carried at one end of the catheter tube; (c) an ultrasonic transducer arrangement in the form of an annular assembly of transducer elements which encircle the probe at or near one of its ends; and (d) means for electrically connecting the transducer elements to the other end of the catheter tube, which means either incorporates a multiplexing/demultiplexing circuit or comprises a wiring arrangement which has the effect of acting in a multiplexing or demultiplexing way, either the circuit or the arrangement reducing the number of wires which run the length of the catheter tube. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
- a digital computer;
Specification