Device and method for mapping and tracking blood flow and determining parameters of blood flow
First Claim
1. A method for determining a parameter of blood flow in a blood vessel of interest, comprising the steps of:
- a) providing an array of sonic transducer elements, wherein the element spacing in the array is greater than, equal or less than a half wavelength of the sonic energy produced by the elements, wherein at least one element transmits sonic energy, and a portion of the elements receive sonic energy;
b) directing sonic energy produced by the at least one element of the array into a volume of the subject'"'"'s body having the blood vessel of interest, c) receiving echoes of the sonic energy from the volume of the subject'"'"'s body having the blood vessel of interest;
d) reporting the echoes to a processor electrically connected to the elements of the array, wherein the processor is programmed to i) Doppler process the echoes to determine radial velocity of the blood flowing in the blood vessel of interest;
ii) determine a sum beam, an azimuth difference beam and an elevation difference beam from the echoes received from a portion of the blood vessel of interest;
iii) modulate the directions of the transmitted and received sonic energy based upon the sum, azimuth difference and elevation difference beams in order to lock on to the highest Doppler energy calculated from echoes from the flow of blood in the blood vessel of interest, iv) calculate the three dimensional position of the highest Doppler energy from the blood flow in the vessel of interest; and
v) calculate the parameter of blood flow in the blood vessel at the three dimensional position calculated in step (iv); and
(e) displaying the parameter on a display monitor that is electrically connected to the processor.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and device are provided for use in medical applications that permit affordable 3D imaging of blood flow using a low profile easily long-term unattended Doppler ultrasound monitoring in spite of motion of the patient or pad. The pad, and associated processor collects, Doppler processes ultrasound blood velocity data in a 3D region through the use of a planar phased array of piezoelectric elements. The invention locks onto, and tracks the points in 3D space that produce the locally maximum blood velocity signals. The integrated coordinates of points acquired by the accurate tracking process is used to form a 3D map of blood vessels, provide a display that can be used to select multiple points of interest for expanded data collection, for long-term continuous, and unattended blood flow monitoring.
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Citations
67 Claims
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1. A method for determining a parameter of blood flow in a blood vessel of interest, comprising the steps of:
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a) providing an array of sonic transducer elements, wherein the element spacing in the array is greater than, equal or less than a half wavelength of the sonic energy produced by the elements, wherein at least one element transmits sonic energy, and a portion of the elements receive sonic energy;
b) directing sonic energy produced by the at least one element of the array into a volume of the subject'"'"'s body having the blood vessel of interest, c) receiving echoes of the sonic energy from the volume of the subject'"'"'s body having the blood vessel of interest;
d) reporting the echoes to a processor electrically connected to the elements of the array, wherein the processor is programmed to i) Doppler process the echoes to determine radial velocity of the blood flowing in the blood vessel of interest;
ii) determine a sum beam, an azimuth difference beam and an elevation difference beam from the echoes received from a portion of the blood vessel of interest;
iii) modulate the directions of the transmitted and received sonic energy based upon the sum, azimuth difference and elevation difference beams in order to lock on to the highest Doppler energy calculated from echoes from the flow of blood in the blood vessel of interest, iv) calculate the three dimensional position of the highest Doppler energy from the blood flow in the vessel of interest; and
v) calculate the parameter of blood flow in the blood vessel at the three dimensional position calculated in step (iv); and
(e) displaying the parameter on a display monitor that is electrically connected to the processor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for determining a parameter of blood flow in a blood vessel of interest, comprising the steps of:
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a) providing an array of sonic transducer elements, wherein the element spacing in the array is greater than, equal to or less than a half wavelength of the sonic energy produced by the elements, wherein at least one element transmits sonic energy, and a portion of the elements receive sonic energy;
b) directing sonic energy produced by the at least one element of the array into a volume of the subject'"'"'s body having the blood vessel of interest, c) receiving echoes of the sonic energy from the volume of the subject'"'"'s body having the blood vessel of interest;
d) reporting the echoes to a processor programmed to i) Doppler process the echoes to determine radial velocity of the blood flowing in the blood vessel of interest;
ii) calculate a three dimensional position of blood flow in the vessel of interest; and
iii) calculate the parameter of blood flow in the blood vessel at the three dimensional position calculated in step (ii); and
(e) displaying the parameter on a display monitor that is electrically connected to the processor. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
i) determine a sum beam, an azimuth difference beam and an elevation difference beam from the echoes received from the blood vessel of interest;
ii) modulate the directions of the transmitted and received sonic energy based upon the sum, azimuth difference and elevation difference beams in order to lock on to the highest Doppler energy calculated from echoes from the flow of blood in the blood vessel of interest, and iii) calculate the three dimensional position of the highest Doppler energy from the blood flow in the vessel of interest.
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18. The method of claim 17, wherein the processor also determines at least one additional beam having an angle between the azimuth difference beam and the elevation difference beam prior to modulating the directions of the transmitted and received sonic energy, wherein the at least one additional beam is used to modulate the directions of the transmitted and received sonic energy.
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19. The method of claim 18, wherein the at least one additional beam is at an angle that is orthogonal to the blood vessel of interest.
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20. The method of claim 13, wherein the distance between the elements of the array is greater than ½
- the wavelength of the sonic energy generated by the at least one element.
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21. The method of claim 13, wherein steps (b) through (e) are periodically repeated so that the three dimensional position of blood flow in the vessel of interest is tracked, and the parameter of blood flow is periodically calculated and displayed on the display monitor.
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22. The method of claim 21, wherein the period of time between repeating steps (b) through (e) is sufficiently short so that the parameter being measured remains constant.
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23. The method of claim 22, wherein the period between repeating steps (b) through (e) is about 20 milliseconds.
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24. A method for determining a parameter of blood flow in a particular region of a blood vessel of interest, comprising the steps of:
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a) providing an array of sonic transducer elements, wherein the element spacing in the array is greater than, equal or less than a half wavelength of the sonic energy produced by the elements, wherein at least one element transmits sonic energy, and a portion of the elements receive sonic energy;
b) directing sonic energy produced by the at least one element of the array into a volume of the subject'"'"'s body having the particular region of the blood vessel of interest, c) receiving echoes of the sonic energy from the volume of the subject'"'"'s body having the particular region of the blood vessel of interest;
d) reporting the echoes to a processor programmed to i) Doppler process the echoes to determine radial velocity of the blood flowing in the particular region of the blood vessel of interest;
ii) calculate a three dimensional position of blood flow in the particular region of the blood vessel of interest; and
iii) calculate the parameter of blood flow in the particular region of the blood vessel of interest at the three dimensional position calculated in step (ii); and
(e) displaying the parameter on a display monitor that is electrically connected to the processor. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
i) determine a sum beam, an azimuth difference beam and an elevation difference beam from the echoes received from the particular region of the blood vessel of interest;
ii) modulate the directions of the transmitted and received sonic energy based upon the sum, azimuth difference and elevation difference beams in order to lock on to the highest Doppler energy calculated from echoes received from the flow of blood in the particular region of the blood vessel of interest, and iii) calculate the three dimensional position of the highest Doppler energy from the blood flow in the particular region of the blood vessel of interest.
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27. The method of claim 24, wherein the processor also determines at least one additional beam having an angle between the azimuth difference beam and the elevation difference beam prior to modulating the directions of the transmitted and received sonic energy, wherein the at least one additional beam is used to modulate the directions of the transmitted and received sonic energy.
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28. The method of claim 24, wherein the at least one additional beam is at an angle that is orthogonal to the blood vessel of interest.
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29. The method of claim 24, wherein the distance between the elements of the array is greater than ½
- the wavelength of the sonic energy generated by the at least one element.
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30. The method of claim 24, wherein steps (b) through (e) are periodically repeated so that the three dimensional position of blood flow in the particular region of the blood vessel of interest is tracked, and the parameter of blood flow is periodically calculated and displayed on the display monitor.
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31. The method of claim 30, wherein the period of time is sufficiently short of time so that the parameter remains constant.
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32. The method of claim 30, wherein the period between repeating steps (b) through (e) is about 20 milliseconds.
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33. A method for determining a parameter of blood flow in a blood vessel of interest, comprising the steps of:
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a) providing;
an array of sonic transducer elements, wherein the element spacing in the array is greater than, equal to or less than a half wavelength of the sonic energy produced by the elements, wherein at least one element transmits sonic energy, and a portion of the elements receive sonic energy;
b) directing sonic energy produced by the at least one element of the array into a volume of the subject'"'"'s body having the blood vessel of interest, c) receiving echoes of the sonic energy from the volume of the subject'"'"'s body having the blood vessel of interest;
d) reporting the echoes to a processor electrically connected to the elements of the array, wherein the processor is programmed to i) Doppler process the echoes to determine radial velocity of the blood flowing in the blood vessel of interest;
ii) determine a sum beam, an azimuth difference beam and an elevation difference beam from the echoes received from the blood vessel of interest;
iii) modulate the directions of the transmitted and received sonic energy based upon the sum, azimuth difference and elevation difference beams in order to lock on to the highest Doppler energy calculated from echoes from the flow of blood in the blood vessel of interest, iv) calculate the three dimensional position of the highest Doppler energy from the blood flow in the vessel of interest; and
v) calculate the parameter of blood flow in the blood vessel at the three dimensional position calculated in step (iv); and
(e) displaying the parameter on a display monitor that is electrically connected to the processor. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. A method for determining a parameter of blood flow in a particular region of a blood vessel of interest, comprising the steps of:
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a) providing an array of sonic transducer elements, wherein the element spacing in the array is greater than, equal or less than a half wavelength of the sonic energy produced by the elements, wherein at least one element transmits sonic energy, and a portion of the elements receive sonic energy;
b) directing sonic energy produced by the at least one element of the array into a volume of the subject'"'"'s body having the particular region of the blood vessel of interest, c) receiving echoes of the sonic energy from the volume of the subject'"'"'s body having the particular region of blood vessel of interest;
d) reporting the echoes to a processor electrically connected to the elements of the array, wherein the processor is programmed to i) Doppler process the echoes to determine radial velocity of the blood flowing in the particular region of the blood vessel of interest;
ii) determine a sum beam, an azimuth difference beam and an elevation difference beam from the echoes received from the particular region of the blood vessel of interest;
iii) modulate the directions of the transmitted and received sonic energy based upon the sum, azimuth difference and elevation difference beams in order to lock on to the highest Doppler energy calculated from echoes from the flow of blood in the particular region of the blood vessel of interest, iv) calculate the three dimensional position of the highest Doppler energy from the blood flow in the particular region of the blood vessel of interest; and
v) calculate the parameter of blood flow in the particular region of the blood vessel at the three dimensional position calculated in step (iv); and
(e) displaying the parameter on a display monitor that is electrically connected to the processor.
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41. A device for determining a parameter of blood flow in a blood vessel of interest, comprising:
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a) an array of sonic transducer elements, wherein the element spacing in the array is greater than, equal or less than a half wavelength of the sonic energy produced by the elements, and at least one element transmits sonic energy, and a portion of the elements receive sonic energy;
b) a processor electrically connected to the array so that echoes received from a volume of the subject'"'"'s body having the blood vessel of interest due to directing sonic energy produced by the at least one element of the array into the subject'"'"'s body is reported to the processor, wherein the processor is programmed to;
i) Doppler process the echoes to determine radial velocity of the blood flowing in the blood vessel of interest;
ii) calculate a three dimensional position of blood flow in the blood vessel of interest; and
iii) calculate the parameter of blood flow in the blood vessel of interest at the three dimensional position calculated in step (ii); and
c) a display monitor that is electrically connected to the processor which displays the parameter of blood flow calculated by the processor. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52)
i) determine a sum beam, an azimuth difference beam and an elevation difference beam from the echoes received from the blood vessel of interest after Doppler processing the echoes;
ii) modulate the directions of the transmitted and received sonic energy based upon the sum, azimuth difference and elevation difference beams in order to lock on to the highest Doppler energy calculated from echoes from the flow of blood in the blood vessel of interest, iii) calculate the three dimensional position of the highest Doppler energy from the blood flow in the vessel of interest; and
iv) calculate the parameter of blood flow in the blood vessel of interest at the three dimensional position calculated in (iii).
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44. The device of claim 43, wherein the parameter of blood flow is selected from the group consisting of vector velocity, blood flow volume, and Doppler spectral distribution.
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45. The device of claim 43, wherein the parameter being measured can be an instantaneous value, or an average value determined over a heart cycle.
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46. The device of claim 43, wherein the processor is further programmed to determine at least one additional beam having an angle between the azimuth difference beam and the elevation difference beam prior to modulating the directions of the transmitted and received sonic energy, wherein the at least one additional beam is used to modulate the directions of the transmitted and received sonic energy.
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47. The device of claim 46, wherein the at least one additional beam is at an angle that is orthogonal to the blood vessel of interest.
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48. The device of claim 43, wherein the distance between the elements of the array is greater than ½
- the wavelength of the sonic energy generated by the at least one element.
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49. The device of claim 41, wherein the parameter is determined for blood flowing in a particular region of the blood vessel of interest.
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50. The device of claim 41, wherein the parameter being measured can be an instantaneous value, or an average value determined over a heart cycle.
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51. The device of claim 41, wherein the processor is further programmed to determine at least one additional beam having an angle between the azimuth difference beam and the elevation difference beam prior to modulating the directions of the transmitted and received sonic energy, wherein the at least one additional beam is used to modulate the directions of the transmitted and received sonic energy.
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52. The device of claim 51, wherein the angle between the at least one additional beam is at an angle that is orthogonal to the blood vessel of interest.
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53. A method for generating a three dimensional image using sonic energy of a blood vessel of interest in a subject, the method comprising the steps of:
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a) providing an array of sonic transducer elements, wherein the element spacing in the array is greater than, equal or less than a half wavelength of the sonic energy produced by the elements, wherein at least one element transmits sonic energy, and a portion of the elements receive sonic energy;
b) directing sonic energy produced by the at least one element of the array into a volume of the subject'"'"'s body having the blood vessel of interest, c) receiving echoes of the sonic energy from the volume of the subject'"'"'s body having the blood vessel of interest;
d) reporting the echoes to a processor programmed to i) Doppler process the echoes to determine radial velocity of the blood flowing in the blood vessel of interest;
ii) calculate a three dimensional position of blood flow in the blood vessel of interest;
iii) repeat steps (i) through (ii) to generate a plurality of calculated three dimensional positions; and
vi) generate a three dimensional image of the blood vessel of interest from the plurality of calculated three dimensional positions; and
(e) displaying the three dimensional image on a display monitor that is electrically connected to the processor. - View Dependent Claims (54, 55, 56, 57, 58)
i) determine a sum beam, an azimuth difference beam and an elevation difference beam from the echoes received from the blood vessel of interest after Doppler processing the echoes;
ii) modulate the directions of the transmitted and received sonic energy based upon the sum, azimuth difference and elevation difference beams in order to lock on to the highest Doppler energy calculated from echoes from the flow of blood in the blood vessel of interest, and iii) calculate the three dimensional position of the highest Doppler energy from the blood flow in the vessel of interest, and iv) repeat steps (i) through (iii) to generate a plurality of calculated three dimensional positions.
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56. The method of claim 55, wherein the processor is also programmed to determine at least one additional beam having an angle between the azimuth difference beam and the elevation difference beam prior to modulating the directions of the transmitted and received sonic energy, and the at least one additional beam is also used to modulate the directions of the transmitted and received sonic energy, and calculate the three dimensional position of the highest Doppler energy.
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57. The method of claim 56, wherein the at least one additional beam is at an angle that is orthogonal to the blood vessel of interest.
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58. The method of claim 53, wherein the distance between the elements of the array is greater than ½
- the wavelength of the sonic energy generated by the at least one element.
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59. A method for generating a three dimensional image of a blood vessel of interest in a subject using sonic energy, the method comprising the steps of:
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a) providing an array of sonic transducer elements, wherein the element spacing in the array is greater than, equal or less than a half wavelength of the sonic energy produced by the elements, wherein at least one element transmits sonic energy, and a portion of the elements receive sonic energy;
b) directing sonic energy produced by the at least one element of the array into a volume of the subject'"'"'s body having the blood vessel of interest, c) receiving echoes of the sonic energy from the volume of the subject'"'"'s body having the blood vessel of interest;
d) reporting the echoes to a processor programmed to i) Doppler process the echoes to determine radial velocity of the blood flowing in the blood vessel of interest;
ii) determine a sum beam, an azimuth difference beam and an elevation difference beam from the echoes received from a portion of the blood vessel of interest;
iii) modulate the directions of the transmitted and received sonic energy based upon the sum, azimuth difference and elevation difference beams in order to lock on to the highest Doppler energy calculated from echoes from the flow of blood in the blood vessel of interest, iv) calculate the three dimensional position of the highest Doppler energy from the blood flow in the vessel of interest; and
v) repeat steps (i) through (iv) to generate a plurality of calculated three dimensional positions;
vi) generate a three dimensional image of the blood vessel of interest from the plurality of calculated three dimensional positions; and
(e) displaying the three dimensional image on a display monitor that is electrically connected to the processor. - View Dependent Claims (60, 61, 62, 63)
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64. A device for generating a three dimensional image of a blood vessel of interest in a subject using sonic energy, comprising:
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a) an array of sonic transducer elements, wherein the element spacing in the array is greater than, equal or less than a half wavelength of the sonic energy produced by the elements, and at least one element transmits sonic energy, and a portion of the elements receive sonic energy;
b) a processor electrically connected to the array so that echoes received from a volume of the subject'"'"'s body having the blood vessel of interest due to directing sonic energy produced by the at least one element of the array into the subject'"'"'s body is reported to the processor, wherein the processor is programmed to;
i) Doppler process the echoes to determine radial velocity of the blood flowing in the blood vessel of interest;
ii) determine a sum beam, an azimuth difference beam and an elevation difference beam from the echoes received from the blood vessel of interest;
iii) calculate the three dimensional position of the highest Doppler energy from the blood flow in the vessel of interest; and
iv) repeat steps (i) through (iii) in order to generate a plurality of calculated three dimensional positions used to generate the three dimensional image. - View Dependent Claims (65, 66, 67)
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Specification