Transmissive imaging and related apparatus and methods

• US 9,028,412 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2014
• Issued: 05/12/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BFLY Operations, Inc. (Butterfly Network, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Butterfly Network, Inc.
• Inventors: Rothberg, Jonathan M., Sanchez, Nevada J., Charvat, Gregory L., Ralston, Tyler S.
• Primary Examiner(s): ROZANSKI, MICHAEL T
• Application Number:
  US14/191,553
• Publication Number:
  US 20140180093A1
• Time in Patent Office: 439 Days
• Field of Search: 600/407, 600/438, 600/439, 600/443, 600/459, 601/2
• US Class Current: 600/438
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/320069 for ablating tissue
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/378 using ultrasound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/164 the sensor is mounted in or on a conformable substrate or carrier
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/015 By temperature mapping of body part
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/08 Detecting organic movements or changes, e.g. tumours, cysts, swellings A61B8/02 - A61B8/06 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/13 Tomography A61B8/10, A61B8/12 take precedence; tomography for radiation diagnosis A61B6/02
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4209 by using holders, e.g. positioning frames
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4245 involving determining the position of the probe, e.g. with respect to an external reference frame or to the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4254 using sensors mounted on the probe
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4263 using sensors not mounted on the probe, e.g. mounted on an external reference frame
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4477 using several separate ultrasound transducers or probes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4483 characterised by features of the ultrasound transducer
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4488 the transducer being a phased array
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4494 characterised by the arrangement of the transducer elements devices for short-range imaging using particular transducer elements arrangements under G01S15/8909; arrangements of transducers in generation of mechanical vibrations of infrasonic, sonic or ultrasonic frequency B06B1/0607
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/483 involving the acquisition of a 3D volume of data
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5207 involving processing of raw data to produce diagnostic data, e.g. for generating an image reconstruction G06T11/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/56 Details of data transmission or power supply
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/565 involving data transmission via a network
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 2007/0078 with multiple treatment transducers
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 7/00 Ultrasound therapy lithotripsy A61B17/22, A61B17/225; massage using supersonic vibration A61H23/00 ; using ultrasound for introducing media into the body A61M37/0092
• CPC Class Codes: A61N 7/02 : Localised ultrasound hyperthermia hyperthermia in general A61F7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 13/00 : Code division multiplex systems for frequency hopping H04B1/713

Abstract

Apparatus and methods are described that include ultrasound imaging devices, which may operate in a transmissive ultrasound imaging modality, and which may be used to detect properties of interest of a subject such as index of refraction, density and/or speed of sound. Devices suitable for performing high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), as well as HIFU and ultrasound imaging, are also described.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

accessing a plurality of measurements of a subject, the plurality of measurements resulting at least in part from detection of ultrasound radiation by an ultrasound imaging device comprising at least one source and at least one sensor and operating in a transmissive modality;

obtaining a system of linear equations based at least in part on geometry information indicating location of the at least one source and the at least one sensor; and

generating, using at least one processor, at least one volumetric image of the subject from the plurality of measurements by using a compressive sensing image reconstruction process involving identifying a solution to the system of linear equations.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the solution to the system of linear equations comprises using a sparsity constraint to identify the solution.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the solution to the system of linear equations comprises using a three-dimensional basis.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the three-dimensional basis is a three-dimensional discrete cosine basis, a three-dimensional discrete sine basis, or a three-dimensional wavelet basis.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one source includes a first source and the at least one sensor includes a first sensor, and wherein the ultrasound imaging device comprises a plurality of sources and a plurality of sensors, and wherein said generating comprises using geometry information indicating location of the first source and the first sensor.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one volumetric image comprises a plurality of voxels, and wherein said generating comprises using the geometry information to calculate a value indicative of a length of a portion of a line through a voxel in the plurality of voxels, wherein the line intersects the voxel, and wherein the line connects the first source and the first sensor.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of measurements comprises a plurality of time-of-flight measurements and/or a plurality of attenuation measurements.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the plurality of measurements comprises the plurality of time-of-flight measurements and the plurality of attenuation measurements, and wherein said generating comprises using Kramers-Kronig relations to calculate the at least one volumetric image.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of measurements resulted at least in part from the detection, by the ultrasound imaging device, of ultrasound radiation forward scattered from the subject.

10. A method, comprising:

accessing a plurality of measurements of a subject, the plurality of measurements resulting at least in part from detection of ultrasound radiation by an ultrasound imaging device having at least one source and at least one sensor and operating in a transmissive modality;

obtaining a system of equations based at least in part on location of the at least one source and the at least one sensor; and

generating, using at least one processor, at least one volumetric image of the subject from the plurality of measurements by using a compressive sensing image reconstruction process involving identifying a solution to the system of equations.