Intravascular ultrasound imaging apparatus and method
First Claim
1. In an ultrasound system for imaging biological tissue, including an array of ultrasound transducers connected to a transmit beamformer and a receive beamformer constructed to acquire an ultrasound image of a selected tissue region, an intravascular catheter comprising:
- a steerable guide sheath including a distal sheath part and a proximal sheath part constructed for insertion into a blood vessel, said distal sheath part including an articulation region constructed to assume a selected orientation;
an imaging core including a distal core part, located within said distal sheath part, and a proximal core part located within said proximal sheath part and being constructed for rotational motion inside said guide sheath, said imaging core including said ultrasound transducer array disposed longitudinally on said distal core part;
a positioning device constructed to control said selected orientation of said articulation region and thereby orient said ultrasound transducer array relative to the tissue region;
said ultrasound transducer array constructed to detect ultrasound data over an image sector defined by an azimuthal angular range; and
a rotation device constructed to rotationally displace, over an elevation angular range, said ultrasound transducer array about the apex of said image sector.
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Abstract
An ultrasound system and method for intravascular imaging is disclosed. The ultrasound system includes an intravascular catheter with an ultrasound transducer array, a transmit beamformer, a receive beamformer, and an image generator. The intravascular catheter has an elongated body made for insertion into a blood vessel and connected to a catheter handle. The catheter includes a catheter core located inside a steerable guide sheath, both having a proximal part and a distal part. The catheter includes an articulation region connected to a positioning device for positioning the transducer array to have a selected orientation relative to an examined tissue region. For each orientation of the transducer array, the transmit and receive beamformers acquire ultrasound data over an image plane of the examined tissue region. The catheter core is connected to a rotation device constructed and arranged to rotate, or oscillate over an angular range, the transducer array that acquires ultrasound data over a multiplicity of image planes. The image generator is constructed to form a selected tissue image based on the acquired ultrasound data.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. In an ultrasound system for imaging biological tissue, including an array of ultrasound transducers connected to a transmit beamformer and a receive beamformer constructed to acquire an ultrasound image of a selected tissue region, an intravascular catheter comprising:
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a steerable guide sheath including a distal sheath part and a proximal sheath part constructed for insertion into a blood vessel, said distal sheath part including an articulation region constructed to assume a selected orientation;
an imaging core including a distal core part, located within said distal sheath part, and a proximal core part located within said proximal sheath part and being constructed for rotational motion inside said guide sheath, said imaging core including said ultrasound transducer array disposed longitudinally on said distal core part;
a positioning device constructed to control said selected orientation of said articulation region and thereby orient said ultrasound transducer array relative to the tissue region;
said ultrasound transducer array constructed to detect ultrasound data over an image sector defined by an azimuthal angular range; and
a rotation device constructed to rotationally displace, over an elevation angular range, said ultrasound transducer array about the apex of said image sector. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. An ultrasound system for imaging biological tissue comprising:
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a catheter with a catheter handle and an elongated body for insertion into a blood vessel, said catheter including core means including an ultrasound transducer array disposed longitudinally on a distal part of said core means, guide sheath means for receiving said core means and enabling defined rotational movement of said core means, articulation means connected to positioning means for orienting said transducer array relative to tissue of interest, and rotation means, connected to said core means, for oscillating said transducer array over a selected elevation angular range;
a transmit beamformer and a receive beamformer connected to said transducer array and constructed to acquire, for each elevation angle of said transducer array, ultrasound data of an image sector defined by an azimuthal angular range; and
an image generator constructed to receive ultrasound data over a multiplicity of image sectors for different elevation angles within said elevation angular range, said image generator being arranged to form an image of said tissue of interest from said ultrasound data. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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Specification