Method and apparatus for locating and distinguishing blood vessel

• US 8,764,663 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Issued: 07/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Smoke Signals, LLC, Stevens Institute Of Technology
• Original Assignee: Smoke Signals, LLC
• Inventors: Smok, Jeffrey, Blaise, Sheela, Coyle, Sean James, Mayer, Lauren, Schurmann, Matt, Velez, Daniel, McNair, Bruce, Hazelwood, Vikki
• Primary Examiner(s): ROZANSKI, MICHAEL T
• Application Number:
  US13/803,921
• Publication Number:
  US 20130197367A1
• Time in Patent Office: 474 Days
• Field of Search: 600/437, 600/441, 600/454, 600/455, 600/461, 128/916
• US Class Current: 600/454
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/06 Measuring blood flow measuring volume flow in general G01F, e.g. G01F1/66, G01F1/72; measuring speed of fluids in general G01P5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/085 for locating body or organic structures, e.g. tumours, calculi, blood vessels, nodules
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/461 Displaying means of special interest
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/462 characterised by constructional features of the display
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/488 involving Doppler signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/5223 for extracting a diagnostic or physiological parameter from medical diagnostic data for algorithms to analyse biomedical images G06T7/0012
• 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

Abstract

A apparatus and a method are disclosed for transmitting a signal directed to a blood vessel via a Doppler ultrasound waveform apparatus, receiving, by the Doppler ultrasound waveform apparatus, a reflected signal from the blood vessel; and determining, by a processing device, whether the blood vessel is an artery or a vein based on a blood flow velocity in the blood vessel.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

transmitting a signal directed to a blood vessel via a self-contained, battery operated, wireless, and autoclavable Doppler ultrasound waveform apparatus comprising a confidence gauge to indicate a confidence level of an artery or a vein, wherein the confidence gauge comprises a plurality of lights and wherein a number of illuminated lights of the plurality of lights indicates the confidence level;

receiving, by the Doppler ultrasound waveform apparatus, a reflected signal from the blood vessel;

determining, by a processing device, whether the blood vessel is an artery or a vein based on a blood flow velocity in the blood vessel;

determining, by the processing device, a confidence level as to whether the blood vessel is an artery or a vein; and

displaying the confidence level on the confidence gauge.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a phase of a Doppler shift and transmitting the results to a file.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the Doppler ultrasound waveform apparatus is a tone burst excitation differential Doppler apparatus, further comprising:

determining a location of the blood vessel; and

displaying an indication of the location of the blood vessel.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the blood vessel is located in a human arm, further comprising:

determining that the blood vessel is an artery when the blood flow velocity is between 60 cm/sec and 100 cm/sec; and

determining that the blood vessel is a vein when the blood flow velocity is between 10 cm/sec and 20 cm/sec.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining a high confidence level that the blood vessel is an artery when the blood flow velocity is between 75 cm/sec and 85 cm/sec; and

determining a high confidence level that the blood vessel is a vein when the blood flow velocity is between 14 cm/sec and 16 cm/sec.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the blood flow velocity based on an equation, wherein the equation is:

V_blood=(C_tissue/2 cos(α

))(f_o−

f_doppler)

wherein;

V_blood is the blood flow velocity in the blood vessel;

C_tissue is a speed of sound in soft tissue;

α

is an angle of incidence of the ultrasound waveform apparatus;

f_o is a resonant frequency of the ultrasound waveform apparatus; and

f_doppler is a frequency of Doppler shifted echo.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the resonant frequency is between and includes 1.0 MHz and 10.0 MHz.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

a processing device communicably coupled to the memory and to;

transmit a signal directed to a blood vessel via a Doppler ultrasound waveform;

receive a signal reflected from the blood vessel;

determine whether the blood vessel is an artery or a vein based on a blood flow velocity in the blood vessel;

determine a confidence level as to whether the blood vessel is an artery or a vein; and

display, on a confidence gauge to indicate a confidence level of an artery or a vein, an indication of whether the blood vessel is an artery or a vein and an indication of the confidence level, wherein the apparatus is a self-contained, battery operated, wireless, and autoclavable Doppler ultrasound waveform apparatus comprising the confidence gauge on the apparatus, wherein the confidence gauge comprises a plurality of lights and wherein a number of illuminated lights of the plurality of lights indicates the confidence level.

9. The apparatus claim 8, wherein the Doppler ultrasound waveform having a resonant frequency between and including 1.0 MHz and 10.0 MHz.

10. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:

transmitting a signal directed to a blood vessel via a self-contained, battery operated, wireless, and autoclavable Doppler ultrasound waveform apparatus comprising a confidence gauge to indicate a confidence level of an artery or a vein, wherein the confidence gauge comprises a plurality of lights and wherein a number of illuminated lights of the plurality of lights indicates the confidence level;

receiving, by the Doppler ultrasound waveform apparatus, a reflected signal from the blood vessel;

determining, by the processing device, whether the blood vessel is an artery or a vein based on a blood flow velocity in the blood vessel;

determining, by the processing device, a confidence level as to whether the blood vessel is an artery or a vein,

displaying the confidence level on the confidence gauge.