Instantaneous ultrasonic measurement of bladder volume
First Claim
1. An apparatus for measuring the volume of fluid in a human or animal body cavity using a non-invasive, ultrasound echo technique, comprising:
- a transducer assembly including a plurality of ultrasound transducers mounted thereon for transmitting and receiving a plurality of ultrasound signals into the body cavity at plural angles of incidence and/or from plural spatial locations;
means for activating the transducers to produce transmitted ultrasound signals;
means for detecting body cavity wall echoes from received ultrasound signals;
means for determining, from said received signals, a body cavity height H and depth D;
means for determining a specific measurement configuration corresponding to the body cavity filling degree from the ultrasound signals that intercept the fluid filled body cavity to thereby select an appropriate predetermined correction factor K corresponding to that specific measurement configuration, for optimal calculation of the volume; and
means for calculating the fluid volume according to the formula H×
D×
K.
1 Assignment
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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
47 Claims
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1. An apparatus for measuring the volume of fluid in a human or animal body cavity using a non-invasive, ultrasound echo technique, comprising:
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a transducer assembly including a plurality of ultrasound transducers mounted thereon for transmitting and receiving a plurality of ultrasound signals into the body cavity at plural angles of incidence and/or from plural spatial locations;
means for activating the transducers to produce transmitted ultrasound signals;
means for detecting body cavity wall echoes from received ultrasound signals;
means for determining, from said received signals, a body cavity height H and depth D;
means for determining a specific measurement configuration corresponding to the body cavity filling degree from the ultrasound signals that intercept the fluid filled body cavity to thereby select an appropriate predetermined correction factor K corresponding to that specific measurement configuration, for optimal calculation of the volume; and
means for calculating the fluid volume according to the formula H×
D×
K. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method for measuring the volume of fluid in a human or animal body cavity using a non-invasive, ultrasound echo technique, comprising the steps of:
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transmitting a plurality of ultrasonic beams into the region of the body containing the cavity at plural angles of incidence and/or from plural spatial locations;
receiving a plurality of ultrasonic signals from the body;
determining, from said received signals, a body cavity height H and depth D;
determining, from the received signals, a specific measurement configuration corresponding to the body cavity filling degree from the ultrasound signals that intercept the fluid filled body cavity to thereby select an appropriate predetermined correction factor K corresponding to that specific measurement configuration, for optimal calculation of the volume; and
calculating the fluid volume according to the formula H×
D×
K. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23)
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24. An apparatus for measuring the volume of fluid in a human or animal body cavity using a non-invasive, ultrasound echo technique, comprising:
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one or more transducers for transmitting at least one ultrasound beam into the body such that the at least one beam encompasses a substantial portion of the target body cavity, the beam having at least a first frequency;
means for receiving ultrasound echo signals from the body cavity and determining a measure of higher harmonic components of the first frequency in the received signals; and
means for determining a volume of fluid in the body cavity from the measured harmonic components. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 46)
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44. A method for measuring the volume of fluid in a human or animal body cavity using a non-invasive, ultrasound echo technique, comprising the steps of:
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positioning a transducer assembly including a plurality of ultrasound transducers mounted thereon for transmitting and receiving a plurality of ultrasound signals into the body cavity at plural angles of incidence and/or from plural spatial locations;
activating the transducers to produce transmitted ultrasound signals;
detecting body cavity wall echoes from received ultrasound signals;
determining, from said received signals, a body cavity height H and a depth D;
determining a specific measurement configuration corresponding to the body cavity filling degree from the ultrasound signals that intercept the fluid filled body cavity and thereby selecting an appropriate predetermined correction factor K corresponding to that specific measurement configuration, for optimal calculation of the volume; and
calculating the fluid volume according to the formula H×
D×
K.
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45. A method for measuring the volume of fluid in a human or animal body cavity using a non-invasive, ultrasound echo technique, comprising the steps of:
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using one or more transducers to transmit at least one ultrasound beam into the body such that the at least one beam encompasses a substantial portion of the target body cavity, the beam having at least a first frequency;
receiving ultrasound echo signals from the body cavity;
determining a measure of higher harmonic components of the first frequency in the received signals; and
determining a volume of fluid in the body cavity from the measured harmonic components.
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47. Apparatus substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Specification