3-D ultrasound coronarography, a non-ionizing and non-invasive technology for multi-scale anatomical and functional imaging of coronary circulation

US12408890B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• INSERM (INSTITUT NATIONAL DE LA SANTÉ ET DE LA RECHERCHE MÉDICALE) · FR
• CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE · FR
• ECOLE SUPERIEURE DE PHYSIQUE ET DE CHIMIE INDUSTRIELLES DE LA VILLE DE PARIS · FR

Inventors

• Mathieu Pernot · Paris, FR
• Mickael Tanter · Paris, FR
• Clément PAPADACCI · Paris, FR
• Oscar DEMEULENAERE · Paris, FR

Key dates

• Filing date: Apr 13, 2021
• Grant date: Sep 9, 2025
• Expiry date: May 8, 2042

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01S15/8993
• WIPO field: Medical technology
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of ultrasounds and imagining of the coronary blood flow of the heart. Patients with coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD) have poor prognostic with significantly higher rates of cardiovascular events, including hospitalization for heart failure, sudden cardiac death, and myocardial infarction (MI). Despite the urgent clinical need, there are no non-ionizing and non-invasive techniques available in clinic to directly visualize the coronary microvasculature and assess the local coronary microvascular system. Flow imaging remains a difficult task to perform in the heart because of the fast movements of this organ. In order to overcome the limitations of actual imaging methods for the coronary blood flow, the inventors proposed an ultrasound ultrafast imaging method that automatically detect the time periods in which the myocardium velocity is low and estimate the coronary flow velocity and the tissue velocity from the same data acquisition.