Method and system for Doppler ultrasound measurement of blood flow
First Claim
1. A Doppler ultrasound apparatus for measuring flow in a localized region within a vessel, said flow having an associated velocity, said apparatus comprising:
- an ultrasound probe for generating and detecting an incident and reflected ultrasound signal, respectively, said incident and reflected ultrasound signal including a Doppler ultrasound signal;
a position and orientation system which generates an orientation and position signal for said ultrasound probe; and
a processor which provides a corrected ultrasound signal representing said flow, based on said orientation and position signal, and on said ultrasound signal to generate a three-dimensional representation of said vessel for determining a three-dimensional flow direction for said localized region within the vessel;
wherein said corrected ultrasound signal compensates for errors in measuring said flow that are due to angular misalignment of said ultrasound probe relative to said velocity of said flow in said localized region.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for providing Doppler data that is corrected for misalignment between the flow direction within a vessel and the beam orientation of the ultrasound probe. A conventional ultrasonic Doppler color mapping system is adapted to include a system to measure and record the free space position and orientation of the ultrasonic probe, as well as a system to generate and record the experiment time. A set of 2D image planes is acquired, each plane labelled with time, position, and orientation data. A structural representation according to the acquired data is used to determine the flow direction for the imaged vessel structure. Based on this identified flow direction, and the orientation and position information for each acquired 2D slice, the 2D Doppler signals are appropriately transformed into corrected velocity values. These corrected velocity values may then be used to construct a 3D flow field as a function of time.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A Doppler ultrasound apparatus for measuring flow in a localized region within a vessel, said flow having an associated velocity, said apparatus comprising:
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an ultrasound probe for generating and detecting an incident and reflected ultrasound signal, respectively, said incident and reflected ultrasound signal including a Doppler ultrasound signal; a position and orientation system which generates an orientation and position signal for said ultrasound probe; and a processor which provides a corrected ultrasound signal representing said flow, based on said orientation and position signal, and on said ultrasound signal to generate a three-dimensional representation of said vessel for determining a three-dimensional flow direction for said localized region within the vessel; wherein said corrected ultrasound signal compensates for errors in measuring said flow that are due to angular misalignment of said ultrasound probe relative to said velocity of said flow in said localized region. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 20)
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12. A Doppler ultrasound apparatus for measuring flow velocity in a localized region within a vessel using Doppler ultrasound, said apparatus comprising:
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an ultrasound probe for generating and detecting an incident and reflected ultrasound signal, respectively, said incident and reflected ultrasound signal including a Doppler ultrasound signal; means for generating an orientation and position signal for said ultrasound probe; and means for processing said orientation and position signal, and said ultrasound signal into a corrected ultrasound signal representing said flow velocity based on generating a three-dimensional representation of said vessel for determining a three-dimensional flow direction for said localized region within the vessel; wherein said corrected ultrasound signal compensates for errors in measuring said flow that are due to angular misalignment of said ultrasound probe relative to said flow velocity in said localized region. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14)
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15. A method for measuring a flow in a localized region within a vessel using a Doppler ultrasound apparatus, said flow having an associated velocity, said method comprising the steps of:
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generating and detecting an incident and reflected ultrasound signal, respectively, using an ultrasound probe, said incident and reflected ultrasound signal including a Doppler ultrasound signal; generating an orientation and position signal for said ultrasound probe; and processing said orientation and position signal, and said ultrasound signal into a corrected ultrasound signal representing said flow by generating a three-dimensional representation of said vessel for determining a three-dimensional flow direction for said localized region within the vessel; wherein said corrected ultrasound signal compensates for errors in measuring said flow that are due to angular misalignment of said ultrasound probe relative to said velocity of said flow in said localized region. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification