Coronary artery imaging system
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of determining flow in a blood vessel having a wall comprising the steps of:
- (a) measuring the geometry of said wall at a location in a segment of said blood vessel that may have an obstruction;
(b) measuring the volumetric flow rate at the location without interfering with the flow in said segment;
(c) determining the local fluid flow conditions at points within cross sections of said vessel at the location from the volumetric flow and geometric measurements.
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Abstract
A coronary artery imaging system is described in which a catheter is provided with a forward looking sonic transducer for measuring fluid flow in arteries without disturbing the flow and a side-looking sonic transducer for imaging the arterial walls.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method of determining flow in a blood vessel having a wall comprising the steps of:
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(a) measuring the geometry of said wall at a location in a segment of said blood vessel that may have an obstruction; (b) measuring the volumetric flow rate at the location without interfering with the flow in said segment; (c) determining the local fluid flow conditions at points within cross sections of said vessel at the location from the volumetric flow and geometric measurements. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method of determining flow in a blood vessel having a wall comprising the steps of:
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(a) introducing a catheter into the blood vessel and generating a geometric signal indicative of the geometry of the wall at positional location in a segment of said blood vessel that may have an obstruction in proximity to a tip of the catheter; (b) determining the positional location; (c) measuring the volumetric flow rate at the location without interfering with the flow in said segment; (d) determining the blood vessel wall geometry from the geometric signal and determining the local flow conditions at the positional location from the wall geometry determination and the measured volumetric flow. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. Apparatus for determining fluid flow within a blood vessel having a wall comprising:
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(a) geometric measurement means for measuring the geometry of said wall at a location in a segment of said blood vessel that may have an obstruction; (b) flow measurement means for measuring volumetric flow at the location without interfering with the flow in said segment; (c) computer means for determining local fluid flow conditions at points within cross sections of said vessel at the location from the volumetric flow and geometry measurements. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. An imaging system for providing a representation of a blood vessel having a wall comprising:
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a) a catheter for insertion into said blood vessel and having; (i) a first transducer for generating and receiving echo waves reflected from said wall and converting said echo waves into electrical imaging signals; (ii) a second transducer for generating doppler signals and receiving doppler echo signals indicative of fluid velocity within the blood vessel and converting said doppler signals into flow signals; and b) location means for deriving location signals indicative of the first transducer location and the second transducer location. c) an imaging circuit coupled to said first transducer for detecting the imaging signals; d) a flow circuit coupled to said second transducer for detecting the flow signals; e) a location circuit for detecting the location signals; f) a computer in which the basic equations for fluid flow are stored for processing the signals detected from the imaging circuit, flow circuit and location circuit and computing the three-dimensional location in space of the transducers, a three-dimensional representation of a blood vessel wall segment at predetermined locations and an analysis of the local fluid flow through said predetermined locations. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. An imaging system for providing a representation of a blood vessel having a wall comprising:
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a) a catheter for insertion into a blood vessel and having; (i) a first transducer for generating a first sonic beam and receiving echo waves reflected from said wall in a segment of said blood vessel that may have an obstruction and converting the echo waves into electrical image signals; (ii) a second transducer for generating a second sonic beam and receiving doppler echo signals indicative of fluid velocity within the blood vessel without interfering with the flow in said segment and converting said doppler signals into fluid velocity signals; and b) location means for determining the location of the transducers and generating an electrical location signal therefrom; c) an imaging circuit coupled to said first transducer for detecting the electrical image signals; d) a flow circuit coupled to said second transducer for detecting the fluid velocity signals and generating digital fluid velocity signals therefrom; e) a catheter location circuit coupled to said location means for detecting the location signal and generating a digital location signal therefrom; f) a computer for accepting the digital signals from the imaging circuit, flow circuit and catheter location circuit and computing the three-dimensional location in space of the catheter and a three-dimensional representation of a blood vessel wall segment at that location and an analysis of the local fluid flow through the segment. - View Dependent Claims (28)
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29. A method of creating a color flow image of fluid flow in a blood vessel having a wall comprising the steps of:
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(a) measuring the geometry of the wall at a location in a segment of said blood vessel that may have an obstruction; (b) measuring the volumetric flow rate at the location without interfering with the flow in said segment; (c) determining the local fluid flow conditions at points within cross sections of said vessel at the location from the volumetric flow and geometric measurements; and (d) color encoding local fluid flow such that image hue and intensity reflect direction and speed, respectively, so as to form said color flow image.
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30. Apparatus for creating a color flow image of fluid flow within a blood vessel having a wall comprising:
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(a) geometric measurement means for measuring the geometry of said wall at a location in a segment of said blood vessel that may have an obstruction; (b) flow measurement means for measuring volumetric flow at the location without interfering with the flow in said segment; (c) computer means for determining local fluid flow conditions at points within cross sections of said vessel at the location from the volumetric flow and geometry measurements; and (d) color encoding means for encoding local fluid flow such that image hue and intensity reflect direction and speed, respectively, so as to form said color flow image.
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Specification