Ultrasound garment

• US 8,784,320 B2
• Filed: 11/20/2012
• Issued: 07/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Volusonics Medical Imaging Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Volusonics Medical Imaging Ltd.
• Inventors: Zwirn, Gil
• Primary Examiner(s): Cattungal, Sanjay
• Application Number:
  US13/682,155
• Publication Number:
  US 20130079641A1
• Time in Patent Office: 609 Days
• Field of Search: 600437-469
• US Class Current: 600/459
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0095 by applying light and detecting acoustic waves, i.e. photoacoustic measurements
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6804 Garments; Clothes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6805 Vests
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6831 Straps, bands or harnesses
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/745 using a holographic display
• 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 8/08 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 8/145 characterised by scanning multiple planes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4281 characterised by sound-transmitting media or devices for coupling the transducer to the tissue
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4416 related to combined acquisition of different diagnostic modalities, e.g. combination of ultrasound and X-ray acquisitions
• 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 8/485 involving measuring strain or elastic properties
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/488 involving Doppler signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/543 involving acquisition triggered by a physiological signal

Abstract

Disclosed is an ultrasound assembly. The ultrasound assembly includes a garment configured to be affixed to a portion of a living body, and at least one ultrasound transducer having a fixed position on the garment and configured to provide at least one of: produce and receive, ultrasound signals that pass through the living body. The ultrasound assembly further includes an ultrasound processing unit operatively associated with the at least one ultrasound transducer and configured to process the ultrasound signals following passage through the living body, and an ultrasound-interface unit operatively associated with the ultrasound processing unit and configured to provide information with respect to the ultrasound signals following passage through the living body.

Claims

1. An ultrasound assembly, comprising:

i. a garment configured to be affixed to a portion of a living body;

ii. at least one ultrasound transducer having a fixed position on said garment and configured to provide at least one of;

a) produce; and

b) receive ultrasound signals that pass through the living body;

iii. an ultrasound processing unit operatively associated with said at least one ultrasound transducer and configured to process said ultrasound signals following passage through the living body; and

iv. an ultrasound operator-interface unit operatively associated with said ultrasound processing unit and configured to provide information with respect to said ultrasound signals following passage through the living body, wherein said at least one transducer comprises at least one transducer array;

including an ultrasound beam-forming unit configured to produce ultrasound beam propagation wherein at least one of;

i. at least one sub-array;

ii. said at least one array;

iii. a plurality of transducer arrays; and

iv. said at least one transducer are configured to provide beams consisting of at least one of;

a. transmitting; and

b. receiving, and

said ultrasound processing unit includes a software module configured to process information from said provided beams, wherein said system includes at least one of;

i. a plurality of sub-arrays; and

ii. said plurality of transducer arrays, and

wherein said ultrasound processing unit includes a software module configured to compound signals received to produce at least one output dataset.

2. The assembly according to claim 1, including at least one rail juxtaposed along said garment and at least one of:

i. at least one sub-array;

ii. said at least one array;

iii. a plurality of transducer arrays; and

iv. said at least one transducer, are configured to move along said at least one rail.

3. The assembly according to claim 1, including at least one transducer-locating sensor operatively associated with said ultrasound processing unit, said at least one transducer-locating sensor occupying at least one position of:

i. on said garment; and

ii. at a distance from said garment, and

said ultrasound processing unit includes a second software module configured to process spatial information from said at least one transducer-locating sensor.

4. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein said at least one dataset comprises at least two data sets which are combined, thereby achieving at least one of:

i. extending a field of view;

ii. reducing speckle noise;

iii. improving signal-to-noise ratio;

iv. reducing shadowing artifacts;

v. reducing clutter artifacts;

vi. enhancing spatial resolution; and

vii. enhancing image contrast.

5. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein the software module is configured to produce output datasets from input datasets;

wherein said input datasets comprise information from said provided beams;

by;

i. interpolating data for each input dataset to a coordinate grid of every output dataset;

ii. calculating a weighted mean over all input datasets per output grid point, using input data sets whose field of view covers the relevant grid point.

6. The assembly according to claim 5, wherein the weights for said weighted mean may be computed according to various criteria, said various criteria comprising at least one of:

i. higher weights are assigned to input datasets whose nearby pixels provide better lateral resolution;

ii. weights are assigned in inverse proportion to the effective volume of the relevant pixels within an input dataset;

iii. weights are assigned according to a signal-to-noise ratio estimate per input dataset; and

iv. low weights are assigned to datasets in which the local signal level is significantly lower than in the other datasets.

7. The assembly according to claim 1, including at least one transducer, producing different waveforms, wherein said ultrasound processing unit includes a second software module configured to provide various functions of datasets acquired by said at least one transducer at different waveforms that are calculated, thereby providing information with respect to local tissue type.

8. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein said ultrasound beam-forming unit is configured to support at least one imaging mode comprising at least one of:

i. reflection-based volume imaging;

ii. reflection-based ultrasound computed tomography (UCT);

iii. reflection-based ultrasound diffraction tomography (UDT);

iv. reflection-based beam pairs;

v. transmission-based UCT; and

vi. transmission-based UDT.

9. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein said ultrasound processing unit includes a second software module configured to receive data from calibration beams, wherein said calibration beams include at least one of:

i. transmit beams; and

ii. receive beams, and

said second software module aligns said transmit beams and said receive beams.

10. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein multiple strong reflectors are embedded in known positions along said garment;

said strong reflectors comprising at least one of;

i. different shapes; and

ii. different reflection characteristics, and

said ultrasound processing unit includes a second software module configured to discriminate between said strong reflectors.

11. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein an array of high intensity transducers is integrated into said ultrasound garment and at least one said high intensity transducer is at least one of:

i. dedicated to high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) operation; and

ii. dedicated to imaging purposes, and

wherein said ultrasound processing unit includes a second software module configured to utilize at least one of;

i. the local measurements of ultrasound attenuation; and

ii. the local measurements of speed of sound, to adaptively optimize the beam-forming parameters of said high intensity transducers.

12. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein said garment comprises at least one apparel comprising at least one of:

a belt;

a shirt; and

a pair of pants.

13. An ultrasound assembly, comprising:

i. a garment configured to be affixed to a portion of a living body;

ii. at least one ultrasound transducer having a fixed position on said garment and configured to provide at least one of;

a) produce; and

b) receive ultrasound signals that pass through the living body;

iii. an ultrasound processing unit operatively associated with said at least one ultrasound transducer and configured to process said ultrasound signals following passage through the living body; and

iv. an ultrasound operator-interface unit operatively associated with said ultrasound processing unit and configured to provide information with respect to said ultrasound signals following passage through the living body, wherein said at least one transducer comprises at least one transducer array;

including an ultrasound beam-forming unit configured to produce ultrasound beam propagation wherein at least one of;

i. at least one sub-array;

ii. said at least one array;

iii. a plurality of transducer arrays; and

iv. said at least one transducer are configured to provide beams consisting of at least one of;

a. transmitting; and

b. receiving, and

said ultrasound processing unit includes a software module configured to process information from said provided beams, wherein said ultrasound processing unit is configured to receive input datasets acquired from multiple directions, and, for at least one small target region located in more than one of said input datasets, apply an elastic registration process to relevant measurements in said input datasets.

14. The assembly according to claim 13, wherein said ultrasound processing unit extracts from outputs of said elastic registration process at least one of:

i. local attenuation coefficient measurements;

wherein said elastic registration process is applied to at least two of said input data sets undergoing cumulative attenuation along different paths;

wherein said cumulative attenuation results from local attenuation within said living body; and

ii. local speed of sound measurements;

wherein said elastic registration process is applied to at least two of said input data sets undergoing cumulative time delays along different paths;

wherein said cumulative time delays result from local attenuation within said living body.

15. An ultrasound assembly, comprising:

i. a garment configured to be affixed to a portion of a living body;

ii. at least one ultrasound transducer having a fixed position on said garment and configured to provide at least one of;

a) produce; and

b) receive ultrasound signals that pass through the living body;

iii. an ultrasound processing unit operatively associated with said at least one ultrasound transducer and configured to process said ultrasound signals following passage through the living body; and

iv. an ultrasound operator-interface unit operatively associated with said ultrasound processing unit and configured to provide information with respect to said ultrasound signals following passage through the living body, wherein said at least one transducer comprises at least one transducer array;

including an ultrasound beam-forming unit configured to produce ultrasound beam propagation wherein at least one of;

i. at least one sub-array;

ii. said at least one array;

iii. a plurality of transducer arrays; and

iv. said at least one transducer are configured to provide beams consisting of at least one of;

a. transmitting; and

b. receiving, and

said ultrasound processing unit includes a software module configured to process information from said provided beams, wherein said ultrasound processing unit includes a software module based process configured to reduce clutter effects by carrying out an operation, comprising;

i. acquiring at least one frame of data for the target volume; and

ii. for each sample range-gate at each beam position calculating a beam pattern for the current range, with respect to an applicable scanning apex, at all other beam positions;

wherein said beam pattern is normalized so that the peak value is 1.0.

16. The assembly according to claim 15, wherein said software module-based process is further configured to subtract from said sample range-gate measurement values at the same range, with respect to said applicable scanning apex, for a group of other beam positions, where each measurement value is multiplied by the corresponding said beam pattern value, and wherein said group of other beam positions comprises beam positions for which at least one value is high, said high value comprising at least one of:

i. a measurement; and

ii. said beam pattern.

17. An ultrasound assembly, comprising:

i. a garment configured to be affixed to a portion of a living body;

ii. at least one ultrasound transducer having a fixed position on said garment and configured to provide at least one of;

a) produce; and

b) receive ultrasound signals that pass through the living body;

iii. an ultrasound processing unit operatively associated with said at least one ultrasound transducer and configured to process said ultrasound signals following passage through the living body; and

iv. an ultrasound operator-interface unit operatively associated with said ultrasound processing unit and configured to provide information with respect to said ultrasound signals following passage through the living body, wherein said at least one transducer comprises at least one transducer array;

including an ultrasound beam-forming unit configured to produce ultrasound beam propagation wherein at least one of;

i. at least one sub-array;

ii. said at least one array;

iii. a plurality of transducer arrays; and

iv. said at least one transducer are configured to provide beams consisting of at least one of;

a. transmitting; and

b. receiving, and

said ultrasound processing unit includes a software module configured to process information from said provided beams, wherein said ultrasound processing unit includes a software module configured to generate ultrasound computed tomography or ultrasound diffraction tomography images by geometrically transforming at least one of;

i. scanning processing parameters; and

ii. signal processing parameters;

to obtain samples equivalent to those obtained using at least one of;

a. cylindrical geometry; and

b. spherical geometry.

18. An ultrasound assembly, comprising:

i. a garment configured to be affixed to a portion of a living body;

ii. at least one ultrasound transducer having a fixed position on said garment and configured to provide at least one of;

a) produce; and

b) receive ultrasound signals that pass through the living body;

iii. an ultrasound processing unit operatively associated with said at least one ultrasound transducer and configured to process said ultrasound signals following passage through the living body; and

iv. an ultrasound operator-interface unit operatively associated with said ultrasound processing unit and configured to provide information with respect to said ultrasound signals following passage through the living body, wherein said at least one transducer comprises at least one transducer array;

including at least one electromagnetic radiation source, said at least one electromagnetic radiation source occupying at least one position of;

i. on said garment; and

ii. at a distance from said garment, and

said at least one electromagnetic radiation source includes at least one of;

a. light source; and

b. radio-frequency (RF) source,

wherein said ultrasound processing unit includes a software module configured to extract from ultrasonic reflections information regarding at least one of;

i. local optical absorption; and

ii. local RF absorption.

19. The assembly according to claim 18, wherein said ultrasound processing unit includes a software module-based process configured to perform at least one of the following techniques:

i. ultrasound computed tomography;

ii. ultrasound computed tomography with geometric transformation;

iii. attenuation correction using local attenuation coefficient measurements; and

iv. time-delay correction using local speed of sound measurements.