Ultrasonic detection of contrast agents
US5456257A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 23, 1994 |
| Grant date | Oct 10, 1995 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 23, 2014 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01S7/52049
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An ultrasonic diagnostic system is provided which detects the presence of coated microbubble contrast agents in the body of a patient by transmitting ultrasonic energy which causes the destruction of the coated microbubbles and detects the microbubble destruction through phase insensitive detection and differentiation of echoes received from two consecutive ultrasonic transmissions. The destruction of a microbubble can also be used as a point source of acoustic energy for aberration correction, whereby the timing of the beamformer is adjusted from an analysis of beamformer signals resulting from a detected microbubble destruction event.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.