Method and device for ultrasound imaging

US9329260B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE · FR
• INSERM (INSTITUT NATIONAL DE LA SANTÉ ET DE LA RECHERCHE MÉDICALE) · FR
• UNIVERSITÉ PARIS DIDEROT—PARIS 7 · FR

Inventors

• Olivier Couture · La Bruyère, FR
• Mickael Tanter · Paris, FR
• Mathias Fink · Meudon, FR

Key dates

• Filing date: Nov 29, 2011
• Grant date: May 3, 2016
• Expiry date: Apr 12, 2033

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01S7/52046
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A method of high-resolution ultrasound imaging, in which transducers are made to emit ultrasound waves in a field of observations containing micro bubbles, by making the micro bubbles burst one by one in tandem with the emissions of ultrasound waves. At each shot j of an ultrasound wave, raw reverberated signals Sj(i,t) picked up by each transducer i are recorded, and then differential signals Vj(i,t) representative of variations between successive raw signals are determined, a parabolic function Pj(x) is fitted to the differential signals corresponding to each shot j, and then a crest Aj(x0,y0) of this function Pj, corresponding to the position of the micro bubble destroyed between shots j−1 and j, is determined.