Instantaneous ultrasonic measurement of bladder volume
First Claim
1. An apparatus configured to measure a fluid volume contained in a body cavity comprising:
- at least one transducer assembly positioned in view of the body cavity and configured to transmit ultrasound to the body cavity, receive at least one echo reflected from surfaces associated with the body cavity; and
a computer in signal communication with the at least one transducer assembly, the computer having access to a look-up table of data, the computer being configured to determine at least one harmonic energy level value associated with the at least one echo, the data describing a correspondence between the harmonic energy level value and the fluid volume, and to calculate the fluid volume contained in the body cavity based upon the data.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus and methods to quantify the volume of urine in a human bladder with a limited number of acoustic beams is disclosed. In a first version the apparatus is composed of a transducers assembly that transmits a plurality of narrow ultrasound beams in different directions towards the bladder and receives the returning ultrasound signals; a receiver detector for processing the returned signals; an analog-to-digital converter; a memory to store the digitized data and a volume display allowing to define the optimal position of the transducer assembly. The apparatus also includes a signal processing software that automatically determines the bladder Depth D and Height H and computes the volume of urine using an empirical formula corrected by specific, empirically measured, filling dependant correction factors. In a second version a single wide angle ultrasound beam transducer transmitting ultrasound signals at fundamental frequency is used to quantify the urine volume. Return signals originating from a depth beyond the usual position of the posterior wall depth of a filled bladder are analyzed for presence of higher harmonic signals which in turn are related to presence or absence of urine. Both methods or a combination thereof can be used us a simple warning device for presence of residual urine after voiding or indicate the presence of a critical bladder urine filling level.
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Citations
39 Claims
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1. An apparatus configured to measure a fluid volume contained in a body cavity comprising:
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at least one transducer assembly positioned in view of the body cavity and configured to transmit ultrasound to the body cavity, receive at least one echo reflected from surfaces associated with the body cavity; and a computer in signal communication with the at least one transducer assembly, the computer having access to a look-up table of data, the computer being configured to determine at least one harmonic energy level value associated with the at least one echo, the data describing a correspondence between the harmonic energy level value and the fluid volume, and to calculate the fluid volume contained in the body cavity based upon the data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method to determine a fluid volume occupying a body cavity comprising:
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positioning at least one transducer assembly in view of the body cavity; transmitting, with the at least one transducer assembly, ultrasound to the body cavity; receiving, with the at least one transducer assembly, at least one echo reflected from surfaces associated with the body cavity; accessing a look-up table of data; determining at least one harmonic energy level value associated with the at least one echo, the data describing a correspondence between the harmonic energy level value and the fluid volume; and calculating the fluid volume contained in the body cavity based upon the data. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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20. An apparatus to determine a fluid volume occupying a bladder comprising:
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at least one transducer assembly positioned in view of the bladder and configured to transmit ultrasound of at least one acoustic power having a fundamental frequency to the bladder, receive echoes having a harmonic frequency and the fundamental frequency reflected from surfaces associated with the bladder, convert the fundamental and harmonic frequency echoes into fundamental and harmonic signals, and identifying from the fundamental and harmonic signals those deriving from echoes having reflected from the posterior wall of the bladder and transiting through the fluid volume and anterior wall of the bladder; and a computer in signal communication with the at least one transducer assembly, the computer having access to a look-up table of calibration factors and executable signal processing software with programmed instructions to determine at least one harmonic energy level value associated with the echoes and to measure a bladder height and a bladder depth and to calculate the fluid volume contained in the bladder based upon the at least one harmonic energy level value associated with an echo having passed through the fluid as a function of associating the bladder height and the bladder depth with the calibration factors in the look-up table. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A method to determine a fluid volume occupying a body cavity comprising:
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positioning at least one transducer assembly in view of a body cavity; transmitting a fundamental ultrasound frequency of at least one acoustic power to the body cavity; receiving echoes having the fundamental ultrasound frequency and at least one harmonic frequency thereof associated with the body cavity; converting the received ultrasound echoes into fundamental signals and harmonic signals; identifying among the fundamental and harmonic signals those being associated with select echoes having reflected from the posterior wall of the body cavity and transited through the fluid contained within the body cavity and the anterior wall of the body cavity; determining at least one harmonic energy level value associated with the echoes; measuring a height and a depth of the body cavity from signals derived from the select echoes; and calculating a fluid volume contained in the cavity based upon the at least one harmonic energy level value associated the select echoes using calibration factors contained in a look-up table to convert the height and the depth to the fluid volume.
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38. A method for detecting a body cavity of a subject, measuring the volume of the body cavity and a fluid volume contained in the body cavity comprising:
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positioning at least one transducer assembly in view of the body cavity; transmitting a fundamental ultrasound frequency of at least one acoustic power to the body cavity; receiving echoes having the fundamental ultrasound frequency and at least one harmonic frequency thereof associated with the body cavity; converting the received ultrasound echoes into fundamental signals and harmonic signals; identifying among the fundamental and harmonic signals those being associated with select echoes having reflected from the posterior wall of the body cavity and transited through the fluid contained within the body cavity and the anterior wall of the body cavity; measuring a height and a depth of the body cavity from signals derived from the select echoes; determining boundary information of the cavity from the harmonic signals in terms of the depth, the height, and a correction factor, K obtainable from a look-up table; and calculating the fluid volume from a calibration curve obtainable from the look-up table. - View Dependent Claims (39)
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Specification