Ultrasonic catheter, system and method for two dimensional imaging or three-dimensional reconstruction
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An ultrasonic catheter comprising:
- a body having a longitudinal axis, a circumference and a distal end region;
a first ultrasonic transducer array disposed in the distal end region of the body; and
a second ultrasonic transducer array disposed in the distal end region of the body.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An ultrasonic catheter having at least two ultrasonic arrays is provided which has good near and far field resolution and provides an outline of the heart chamber which assists in understanding and interpreting the images obtained by the catheter. Also the ultrasonic catheter allows three dimensional images to be constructed of the region examined by the catheter in a precise but facile manner.
-
Citations
75 Claims
-
1. An ultrasonic catheter comprising:
-
a body having a longitudinal axis, a circumference and a distal end region; a first ultrasonic transducer array disposed in the distal end region of the body; and a second ultrasonic transducer array disposed in the distal end region of the body. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75)
-
-
7. An ultrasonic system comprising:
-
an ultrasonic catheter comprising a body having a longitudinal axis, a circumference and a distal end region, a first ultrasonic transducer array disposed in the distal end region of the body, and a second ultrasonic transducer array disposed in the distal end region of the body; and a transmit beamformer and a receive beamformer coupled to each of the first and second ultrasonic transducer arrays. - View Dependent Claims (8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 65)
-
-
15. A method for registering image information acquired from an interior region of a patient, said method comprising the steps of:
-
(a) inserting a catheter into a patient to image an interior region of the patient, the catheter having a body having a longitudinal axis, a circumference and a distal end region, a first ultrasonic transducer array disposed in the distal region of the body and a second phased ultrasonic transducer array disposed in the distal end region of the body; (b) acquiring a plurality of sets of image data in an image plane with the first ultrasonic transducer array, the first ultrasonic transducer array moved between acquisition of at least some of the sets of image data; (c) acquiring a plurality of sets of tracking data in a tracking plane oriented at a non-zero angle with respect to the image plane with the second ultrasonic transducer array, the second ultrasonic transducer array moved between acquisition of at least some of the sets of tracking data; (d) automatically determining a component of motion based on a comparison of at least a portion of the tracking sets acquired in step (c); and (e) automatically using the component of motion determined in step (d) to register select ones of the image data sets acquired in step (b). - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 66)
-
-
20. A method for imaging a cardiac structure, the method comprising the steps of:
-
(a) inserting a catheter having a body having a longitudinal axis, a circumference and a distal end region with a first phased ultrasonic transducer array and a second phased ultrasonic transducer array disposed thereon; (b) acquiring image information from the first phased ultrasonic transducer array; and (c) acquiring image information from the second phased ultrasonic transducer array. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 63, 64)
-
-
24. A method for registering image information acquired from an interior region of a patient, said method comprising the steps of:
-
(a) inserting an catheter having a body having a longitudinal axis, a circumference and a distal end region, a linear phased ultrasonic transducer array disposed in the distal region of the body and a first radial phased ultrasonic transducer array disposed around the circumference of the distal end region of the body into a patient to image an interior region of the patient; (b) acquiring first two-dimensional image information in an image plane with the radial phased ultrasonic transducer array; (c) acquiring tracking two-dimensional data information in a tracking plane oriented at a non-zero angle with respect to the image plane with the linear phased ultrasonic transducer array; (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) after moving the catheter along a direction having a component of motion in the tracking plane; (e) automatically determining the component of motion based on a comparison of the tracking two-dimensional data information acquired in steps (c) and (d); and (f) automatically using the component of motion determined in step (e) to register the first image information acquired in step (d) with the first image information acquired in step (b). - View Dependent Claims (25, 26)
-
Specification