Method and apparatus for non-invasive measurement of a temperature change in a subject
First Claim
1. A method for non-invasive measurement of a temperature change occurring between two points in time in a region of interest inside a subject, said method comprising the steps of:
- emitting a first ultrasound wave form, containing at least one ultrasound pulse, into said subject at a first point in time, said first ultrasound waveform being incident on said region of interest and said region of interest reflecting a corresponding first set of echo signals;
receiving said first set of echo signals and generating a first ultrasound image therefrom and storing said first ultrasound image;
emitting a second ultrasound waveform, identical to said first ultrasound waveform, into said subject at a second point in time, said second ultrasound waveform being incident on said region of interest and said region of interest reflecting a corresponding second set of echo signals;
receiving said second set of echo signals and generating a second ultrasound image therefrom;
generating a differential ultrasound image from said first and second ultrasound images; and
allocating a temperature change of in said region of interest to said comparison result identifying a temperature change occurring in said region of interest between said first and second points in time from said differential ultrasound image.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for non-destructively or non-invasively measuring a temperature change in the inside of a subject, in particular a living subject, identify the temperature change in a region of interest during the course of producing ultrasound images of the region by determining the change of the acoustic impedance of the region of interest, and allocating a temperature change to the impedance change. An installation for treating a living subject with heating radiation which employs the above method and apparatus for measuring the temperature change of a region of treatment, is also disclosed.
223 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A method for non-invasive measurement of a temperature change occurring between two points in time in a region of interest inside a subject, said method comprising the steps of:
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emitting a first ultrasound wave form, containing at least one ultrasound pulse, into said subject at a first point in time, said first ultrasound waveform being incident on said region of interest and said region of interest reflecting a corresponding first set of echo signals; receiving said first set of echo signals and generating a first ultrasound image therefrom and storing said first ultrasound image; emitting a second ultrasound waveform, identical to said first ultrasound waveform, into said subject at a second point in time, said second ultrasound waveform being incident on said region of interest and said region of interest reflecting a corresponding second set of echo signals; receiving said second set of echo signals and generating a second ultrasound image therefrom; generating a differential ultrasound image from said first and second ultrasound images; and allocating a temperature change of in said region of interest to said comparison result identifying a temperature change occurring in said region of interest between said first and second points in time from said differential ultrasound image. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A method for non-invasively localizing a temperature change occurring between two points in time in a region of treatment in the inside of a living subject, said subject having a region of interest at least partially containing said region of treatment, said method comprising the steps of:
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emitting a first ultrasound waveform, containing at least one ultrasound pulse, into said subject at a first point in time, said first ultrasound waveform being incident on said region of interest and said region of interest reflecting a corresponding first set of echo signals; receiving said first set of echo signals and generating a first ultrasound image therefrom and storing said first ultrasound image; emitting a second ultrasound waveform, identical to said first ultrasound waveform, into said subject at a second point in time, said second ultrasound waveform being incident at said region of interest and said region of interest reflecting a corresponding second set of echo signals; receiving said second set of echo signals and generating a second ultrasound image therefrom; generating a differential ultrasound image from said first and second ultrasound images; identifying from said differential ultrasound image whether a temperature change in said region of interest has occurred; and if a temperature change has occurred in said region of interest, determining from said differential ultrasound image whether said temperature change is within said region of treatment. - View Dependent Claims (4)
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5. An apparatus for non-invasively measuring a temperature change occurring between two successive points in time in a subject, comprising:
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means for generating and displaying a first ultrasound image of said subject at a first point in time and a second ultrasound image of said subject at a second point in time; means for storing said first ultrasound image; means for subtracting said second ultrasound image from said first ultrasound image to obtain a differential ultrasound image; and evaluation means for determining a temperature change occurring between said first and second points in time from said differential ultrasound image. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An apparatus for non-invasively measuring a temperature change occurring between two successive points in time in a subject, comprising:
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means for generating and displaying a first ultrasound image of said subject at a first point in time and a second ultrasound image of said subject at a second point in time; means for storing said first ultrasound image; means for subtracting said second ultrasound image from said first ultrasound image to obtain a differential ultrasound image; and evaluation means for determining the location of the temperature change occurring between said first and second points in time from said differential ultrasound image. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An installation for administering treatment to a living subject, said treatment elevating the temperature of at least an internal region of the body of said subject, said installation comprising:
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a radiation source for temperature-elevating radiation; means for generating and displaying a first ultrasound image of a region of interest of said subject at a first point in time, said region of interest at least partially containing a region of treatment at which said temperature-elevating radiation is to be directed, and for generating a second ultrasound image of said region of interest at a second point in time; means for storing said first ultrasound image; means for subtracting said second ultrasound image from said first ultrasound image to obtain a differential ultrasound image; and means for evaluating said differential ultrasound image for identifying temperature changes in said differential ultrasound image caused by said temperature-elevating radiation. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification