Method and apparatus for applying synthetic aperture focusing techniques to a catheter based system for high frequency ultrasound imaging of small vessels
US5186177A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 5, 1991 |
| Grant date | Feb 16, 1993 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 5, 2011 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC A)Human Necessities
- CPC primaryA61B8/445
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A catheter based ultrasound imaging system is disclosed which is capable of providing images of coronary vessels at frequencies near 50 MHz. The catheter based system implements a Synthetic Aperture Focusing Technique (SAFT) by scanning through a miniature ultrasound transducer array to sequentially select and fully multiplex a subset of array elements to operate as a sub-aperture of the total synthetic aperture on each firing; thus reducing the number of required catheter interconnections. Each synthetic aperture array is dynamically and retrospectively focused to accommodate precision imaging at high frequency without conventional signal to noise losses.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.