Systems and methods for determining the electrical activity of a material

• US 8,391,949 B2
• Filed: 04/02/2008
• Issued: 03/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Schluter, Paul S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Casler, Brain
• Assistant Examiner(s): SHAHRESTANI, NASIR
• Application Number:
  US12/060,996
• Publication Number:
  US 20080183066A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,798 Days
• Field of Search: 600/508, 600/509, 600/407
• US Class Current: 600/407
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/05 Detecting, measuring or recording for diagnosis by means of electric currents or magnetic fields; Measuring using microwaves or radio waves impedance plethysmography A61B5/0295; measuring movement of the entire body or parts thereof A61B5/11; detecting, measuring or recording bioelectric or biomagnetic signals of the body or parts thereof A61B5/24
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/00 Diagnosis using ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves imaging of objects using sonar G01S15/00

Abstract

A system and method to map a biological tissue of alternating electrical polarity having a boundary between a depolarized portion and a polarized portion is provided. The system includes a computer, a transducer probe, and a receiver. The transducer probe is in communication with the computer and configured to transmit acoustic waves at a frequency through the biological tissue of alternating electrical polarity. The receiver is in communication with the computer and operable to detect a variation in an electrical activity at approximately the frequency of the acoustic waves. The computer creates a display of at least a portion of the variation in the electrical activity at approximately the frequency of the acoustic waves.

Claims

1. A method to map a biological tissue of alternating electrical polarity having a boundary between a depolarized portion and a polarized portion, the method comprising the steps of:

transmitting acoustic waves at a frequency through the biological tissue of alternating electrical polarity such that a magnetic field is generated in response to the compression and rarefaction of the boundary between the depolarized portion and the polarized portion;

measuring a variation in electrical activity at approximately the frequency, wherein the variation in electrical activity corresponds to the magnetic field generated in response to the compression and rarefaction of the boundary caused by the acoustic waves;

processing the measured variation to generate an output displaying at least a portion of the variation in the electrical activity at approximately the frequency of the acoustic waves; and

displaying the output for review.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of detecting and measuring a variation in the magnetic field at approximately the frequency of the acoustic waves generated by compression and rarefaction of the boundary caused by the acoustic waves.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the alternating polarity is produced by depolarization of the heart.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step combining the display of the variation in electrical activity with an ultrasound image of a structural representation of the biological tissue.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the ultrasound image of the structural representation of the biological tissue is generated from the step of transmitting the acoustic waves.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a majority of the acoustic waves have a frequency at or less than twenty thousand hertz.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a ferrite antenna is used to detect the magnetic field.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the frequency of the plurality of acoustic waves is at or above approximately one megahertz.

19. The method of claim 1, comprising:

estimating a displacement attributable to an acoustic pressure attributable to the acoustic waves, wherein the displacement corresponds to the compression and rarefaction of the boundary and to the generation of the magnetic field.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein measuring the variation in electrical activity utilizes the displacement.

9. A system comprising:

a computer comprising a display;

a transducer probe configured to transmit acoustic waves at a frequency through a biological tissue of alternating electrical polarity such that a magnetic field is generated in response to the compression and rarefaction of the boundary between the depolarized portion and the polarized portion, the transducer probe in communication with the computer; and

a receiver in communication with the computer, the receiver operable to detect a variation in an electrical activity at approximately the frequency of the acoustic waves, wherein the variation in the electrical activity corresponds to the magnetic field generated in response to compression and rarefaction of the biological tissue caused by the transmission of the acoustic waves through the biological tissue of alternating polarity, and wherein the computer creates and displays a display of at least a portion of the variation in the electrical activity at approximately the frequency of the acoustic waves.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer creates a display of at least a portion of a variation in a magnetic field at approximately the frequency of the acoustic waves transmitted from the transducer probe.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the display of the variation in the electrical activity is combined with a structural representation of the biological tissue.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the structural representation of the biological tissue includes an ultrasound image generated from the acoustic waves transmitted from the probe.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the variation in electrical activity at approximately the frequency of the acoustic waves is created by compression and rarefaction of a boundary portion of the biological tissue, the boundary portion located between a depolarized portion and a nondepolarized portion of the biological tissue.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the frequency of the acoustic waves is approximately at or less than twenty thousand hertz.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the frequency of the acoustic waves is approximately at or above one megahertz.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the receiver is positioned in approximate coaxial relation relative to the transducer probe.

17. The system of claim 9, wherein the receiver comprises a ferrite loop antenna.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the ferrite antenna is generally collinear with a direction of propagation of the plurality of acoustic waves transmitted from the transducer probe.