System and method of aquiring blood-vessel data
First Claim
1. A system for acquiring blood-vessel data, comprising:
- a data-gathering probe adapted to acquire blood-vessel data;
a heart-monitoring device adapted to acquire heartbeat data;
a device adapted to move said data-gathering probe continuously through a blood vessel at a substantially constant speed, wherein the data-gathering probe gathers data while being continuously moved at the substantially constant speed; and
a data-gathering device connected to said data-gathering probe and said heart-monitoring device and adapted to;
acquire said heartbeat data;
identify a cyclical portion of said heartbeat data, said cyclical portion being substantially common to multiple sets of heartbeat data;
acquire said blood-vessel data during an interval substantially corresponding to said cyclical portion of said heartbeat data, wherein the data-gathering device is adapted to acquire said blood-vessel data only during the interval while the data-gathering probe is moved continuously through the blood vessel at the substantially constant speed in response to a probe-trigger marking a beginning of the cyclical portion; and
permit analysis of the blood vessel as if the blood vessel was standing still, wherein the analysis of the blood vessel is utilized to classify vascular plaque of the blood vessel.
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Abstract
A system and method is provided for substantially synchronizing the acquisition of blood-vessel data to an identifiable portion of heartbeat data. Specifically, a data-gathering device is adapted to acquire heartbeat data and blood-vessel data from a heart-monitoring device and a data-gathering probe, respectively. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the blood-vessel data is acquired during a cyclical portion of the heartbeat data. By identifying a cyclical (or commonly reoccurring) portion of the heartbeat data and acquiring blood-vessel data during this cyclical portion (or during an interval that substantially corresponds thereto), the blood vessel can be analyzed as if it were standing still—i.e., not expanding and relaxing. In one embodiment of the present invention, the heart-monitoring device includes an EKG device, the data-gathering device includes an intra-vascular ultrasound (IVUS) device and a computing device, and the data-gathering probe includes at least one transducer. In another embodiment of the present invention, the data-gathering system further includes a retraction device adapted to move the data-gathering probe though a blood vessel at a substantially steady speed.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. A system for acquiring blood-vessel data, comprising:
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a data-gathering probe adapted to acquire blood-vessel data; a heart-monitoring device adapted to acquire heartbeat data; a device adapted to move said data-gathering probe continuously through a blood vessel at a substantially constant speed, wherein the data-gathering probe gathers data while being continuously moved at the substantially constant speed; and a data-gathering device connected to said data-gathering probe and said heart-monitoring device and adapted to; acquire said heartbeat data; identify a cyclical portion of said heartbeat data, said cyclical portion being substantially common to multiple sets of heartbeat data; acquire said blood-vessel data during an interval substantially corresponding to said cyclical portion of said heartbeat data, wherein the data-gathering device is adapted to acquire said blood-vessel data only during the interval while the data-gathering probe is moved continuously through the blood vessel at the substantially constant speed in response to a probe-trigger marking a beginning of the cyclical portion; and permit analysis of the blood vessel as if the blood vessel was standing still, wherein the analysis of the blood vessel is utilized to classify vascular plaque of the blood vessel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A system for acquiring blood-vessel data, comprising:
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a computing device adapted to be connected to a data-gathering probe and a heart-monitoring device; a device adapted to move said data-gathering probe through a blood vessel continuously at a substantially constant speed, wherein the data-gathering probe gathers data while being moved at the substantially constant speed; and computer code stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium configured to cause said computing device to; acquire heartbeat data from said heart-monitoring device; acquire blood-vessel data while the data-gathering probe is continuously moved through the blood vessel at the substantially constant speed during an interval substantially corresponding to a cyclical portion of said heartbeat data, said cyclical portion being a commonly reoccurring portion of said heartbeat data, wherein the computing device is adapted to acquire said blood-vessel data only during the interval in response to a probe-trigger marking a beginning of the cyclical portion; and permit analysis of the blood vessel as if the blood vessel was standing. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method of acquiring blood-vessel data from a patient, comprising:
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inserting a data-gathering probe into a blood vessel of a patient; connecting said data-gathering probe to a data-gathering device; attaching at least one heart-monitoring device to said patient; connecting said at least one heart-monitoring device to said data-gathering device; moving said data-gathering probe through said blood vessel continuously at a substantially constant speed, wherein said data-gathering probe gathers data while being moved at the substantially constant speed; acquiring heartbeat data from said at least one heart-monitoring device; identifying a cyclical portion of said heartbeat data that is substantially common to more than one set of heartbeat data; acquiring blood-vessel data from said data-gathering probe during an interval that substantially corresponds to said cyclical portion of said heartbeat data, wherein the acquiring blood-vessel data step is performed only while the data-gathering probe is continuously moved through the blood vessel at the substantially constant speed and during the interval in response to a probe-trigger marking a beginning of the cyclical portion; and analyzing the blood vessel as if the blood vessel was standing still. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method of acquiring blood-vessel data, comprising:
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inserting a data-gathering probe into a blood vessel of a patient; connecting said data-gathering probe to a data-gathering device; attaching at least one heart-monitoring device to said patient; connecting said at least one heart-monitoring device to said data-gathering device; moving said data-gathering probe through said blood vessel continuously at a substantially constant speed, wherein the data-gathering probe gathers data while being moved at the substantially constant speed; acquiring heartbeat data from said at least one heart-monitoring device over multiple heart cycles; identifying a cyclical portion of said heartbeat data; and substantially synchronizing acquiring multiple sets of blood-vessel data to the cyclical portion of the heartbeat data, wherein the acquiring is performed while the data-gathering probe is continuously moved through the blood vessel at the substantially constant speed only during an interval in response to a probe-trigger marking a beginning of the cyclical portion. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A method for gated acquisition of intra-vascular ultrasound (IVUS) data, comprising the steps of:
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monitoring a physiological signal of a patient, where the physiological signal correlates with a cardiac cycle for the patient; advancing an IVUS catheter to a region of interest within a coronary artery; moving the catheter continuously at a substantially constant speed; acquiring data while the catheter is continuously moved at the substantially constant speed, wherein the acquiring is performed only during an interval in response to a probe-trigger marking a particular point in the cardiac cycle; and analyzing the coronary artery as if the coronary artery was standing still. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41)
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Specification