Ultrasonic method for imaging blood flow including disruption or activation of contrast agent
First Claim
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1. An ultrasonic method for assessing flow characteristics in a vessel, said vessel comprising blood and a contrast agent, said method comprising the following steps:
- (a) transmitting sets of higher power ultrasonic signals into a first region of the vessel, said higher power ultrasonic signals operative to selectively disrupt the contrast agent in said first region of the vessel, to create a volume of blood in the vessel characterized by a reduced concentration of operative contrast agent; and
(b) imaging the contrast agent in a second region of the vessel, said second region including additional portions of the vessel not included in the first region and positioned downstream of the first region, said imaging step comprising the step of(b1) transmitting lower power ultrasonic signals into the second region of the vessel, said lower power ultrasonic signals disrupting the contrast agent to a lesser extent than said higher power ultrasonic signals.
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Abstract
An ultrasonic imaging system uses first and second perpendicular arrays. The first array is operated at high power to selectively destroy contrast agent suspended in flowing blood in discrete regions. The second array is used to image the alternating bands of contrast agent depleted blood and contrast image containing blood in order to allow blood flow characteristics to be assessed.
109 Citations
25 Claims
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1. An ultrasonic method for assessing flow characteristics in a vessel, said vessel comprising blood and a contrast agent, said method comprising the following steps:
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(a) transmitting sets of higher power ultrasonic signals into a first region of the vessel, said higher power ultrasonic signals operative to selectively disrupt the contrast agent in said first region of the vessel, to create a volume of blood in the vessel characterized by a reduced concentration of operative contrast agent; and (b) imaging the contrast agent in a second region of the vessel, said second region including additional portions of the vessel not included in the first region and positioned downstream of the first region, said imaging step comprising the step of (b1) transmitting lower power ultrasonic signals into the second region of the vessel, said lower power ultrasonic signals disrupting the contrast agent to a lesser extent than said higher power ultrasonic signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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4. An ultrasonic method for assessing flow characteristics in a vessel, said vessel comprising blood and a contrast agent, said method comprising the following steps:
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(a) transmitting sets of higher power ultrasonic signals into a first region of the vessel, said higher power ultrasonic signals operative to selectively activate the contrast agent in said first region of the vessel, to create a volume of blood in the vessel characterized by an enhanced concentration of operative contrast agent; and (b) imaging the contrast agent in a second region of the vessel, said second region including additional portions of the vessel not included in the first region and positioned downstream of the first region, said imaging step comprising the step of (b1) transmitting lower power ultrasonic signals into the second region of the vessel, said lower power ultrasonic signals activating the contrast agent to a lesser extent than said higher power ultrasonic signals.
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Specification