Ultrasound apparatus, system, and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016199029-A1
Application number	US-201414913280-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 19, 2014
Priority date	Aug 19, 2013
Publication date	Jul 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An ultrasound transducer system. The system includes at least three ultrasound transducer arrays including a central transducer array and at least two lateral transducer arrays located adjacent the central transducer array, wherein the at least three ultrasound transducer arrays are arranged such that ultrasound beam paths of the at least three ultrasound transducer arrays overlap in an approximately planar location.

First claim

1 . An ultrasound transducer system, comprising:
at least three ultrasound transducer arrays including a central transducer array and at least two lateral transducer arrays located adjacent the central transducer array, wherein the at least three ultrasound transducer arrays are arranged such that ultrasound beam paths of the at least three ultrasound transducer arrays overlap in an approximately planar location.

2 . The ultrasound transducer system of claim 1 , further comprising a controller in communication with the at least three ultrasound transducer arrays, wherein the controller is configured to obtain a two-dimensional image from within a subject using at least one of the at least three ultrasound transducer arrays.

3 . The ultrasound transducer system of claim 2 , further comprising a display in communication with the controller, wherein the controller is further configured to display the two-dimensional image on the display.

4 . The ultrasound transducer system of claim 3 , further comprising a user input in communication with the controller, wherein the controller is further configured to obtain a location within the subject using the user input, wherein the location indicates a center of a lumen of an aorta.

5 . The ultrasound transducer system of claim 4 , wherein the controller is further configured to generate a center array echo line from the central transducer array and a plurality of side array echo lines from each of the lateral transducer arrays, wherein each of the center array echo lines and the side array echo lines cross at the location.

6 . The ultrasound transducer system of claim 5 , wherein the controller is further configured to use electronic beam steering to generate the center array echo line and the plurality of side array echo lines.

7 . The ultrasound transducer system of claim 5 , wherein the controller is further configured to obtain ultrasound data from each of the center array echo line and the plurality of side array echo lines.

8 . The ultrasound transducer system of claim 7 , wherein the controller is further configured to obtain ultrasound data for a period of at least two seconds.

9 . The ultrasound transducer system of claim 7 , wherein the controller is further configured to obtain arterial blood flow and diameter waveforms at a sampling rate of between 80 Hz and 200 Hz.

10 . The ultrasound transducer system of claim 7 , wherein the controller is further configured to calculate at least one of heart rate, aortic wall thickness, time averaged aortic lumen diameter, pulse wave velocity, local aortic distensibility coefficient, aortic compliance coefficient, elastic modulus of the aortic wall, mean aortic blood flow, stroke volume, downstream peripheral resistance, compliance of the fetal vascular bed, systolic aortic blood pressure, diastolic aortic blood pressure, and mean aortic blood pressure based on the ultrasound data.

11 . An ultrasound transducer, comprising:
at least three ultrasound transducer arrays including a central transducer array and at least two lateral transducer arrays located adjacent the central transducer array, wherein the at least three ultrasound transducer arrays are arranged such that ultrasound beam paths of the at least three ultrasound transducer arrays overlap in an approximately planar location.

12 . The ultrasound transducer of claim 11 , wherein the at least three ultrasound transducer arrays are selected from the group consisting of: curvilinear array transducer, matrix transducer, linear array transducer, and phased array transducer.

13 . The ultrasound transducer of claim 11 , wherein the at least three ultrasound transducer arrays comprise curvilinear array transducers.

14 . The ultrasound transducer of claim 13 , wherein each of the at least three ultrasound transducer arrays includes at least 40 elements.

15 . The ultrasound transducer of claim 14 , wherein the at least three ultrasound transducer arrays are aligned in an approximately planar configuration.

16 . The ultrasound transducer of claim 11 , wherein each of the at least three ultrasound transducer arrays has a center frequency of between 2 MHz and 7 MHz.

17 . The ultrasound transducer of claim 11 ,
wherein the at least three transducer arrays are part of a single transducer having independently controllable elements.

18 . The ultrasound transducer of claim 11 , wherein the central transducer array comprises a curvilinear transducer and wherein the at least two lateral transducer arrays are phased array transducers.

19 . A method of measuring fetal blood pressure, comprising the steps of:
providing an ultrasound transducer having at least three ultrasound transducer arrays including a central transducer array and at least two lateral transducer arrays located adjacent the central transducer array, wherein the at least three ultrasound transducer arrays are arranged such that ultrasound beam paths of the at least three ultrasound transducer arrays overlap in an approximately planar location; obtaining a two-dimensional image of a fetal aorta lumen using the ultrasound transducer; displaying the two-dimensional image to a user; obtaining from a user a location of a center of the fetal aorta lumen; generating a center array echo line from the central transducer array and a plurality of side array echo lines from each of the lateral transducer arrays, wherein each of the center array echo lines and the side array echo lines cross at the location; obtaining ultrasound data from each of the center array echo line and the plurality of side array echo lines; and determining fetal blood pressure using the ultrasound data.

20 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising using electronic beam steering to generate the center array echo line and the plurality of side array echo lines.

21 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising adjusting a position of the ultrasound transducer such that a center beam of the curved array transducer is approximately perpendicular to a fetal aorta wall.

22 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising calculating at least one of heart rate, aortic wall thickness, time averaged aortic lumen diameter, pulse wave velocity, local aortic distensibility coefficient, aortic compliance coefficient, elastic modulus of the aortic wall, mean aortic blood flow, stroke volume, downstream peripheral resistance, compliance of the fetal vascular bed, systolic aortic blood pressure, and diastolic aortic blood pressure.

23 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising tracking at least one of a near wall of the fetal aorta and a far wall of the fetal aorta using the center array echo line.

24 . A method of determining a thickness of a fetal aorta wall, comprising the steps of:
obtaining a plurality of ultrasound scans through the fetal aorta wall, wherein each of the plurality of ultrasound scans has a near wall reflection point and a far wall reflection point; aligning each of the plurality of ultrasound scans according to the near wall reflection point in each of the plurality of ultrasound scans to produce a near wall alignment; determining a near wall reflection mean from the near wall alignment; decomposing the near wall reflection mean into a near wall inner Gaussian pulse and a near wall outer Gaussian pulse; and determining a thickness of the near wall based on the near wall inner Gaussian pulse and the near wall outer Gaussian pulse.

Assignees

• Univ Utah Res Found
• Stichting Katholieke Univ

Inventors

• Struijk Pieter C
• Clark Edward B

Classifications

• A61B8/0891

  for diagnosis of blood vessels · CPC title

• A61B8/4494

  characterised by the arrangement of the transducer elements · CPC title

• A61B8/14

  Echo-tomography · CPC title

• A61B8/02

  Measuring pulse or heart rate · CPC title

• A61B8/4477 Primary

  using several separate ultrasound transducers or probes · CPC title