Determining material stiffness using multiple aperture ultrasound
US9339256B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 21, 2013 |
| Grant date | May 17, 2016 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 16, 2033 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01S15/8959
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
Changes in tissue stiffness have long been associated with disease. Systems and methods for determining the stiffness of tissues using ultrasonography may include a device for inducing a propagating shear wave in tissue and tracking the speed of propagation, which is directly related to tissue stiffness and density. The speed of a propagating shear wave may be detected by imaging a tissue at a high frame rate and detecting the propagating wave as a perturbance in successive image frames relative to a baseline image of the tissue in an undisturbed state. In some embodiments, sufficiently high frame rates may be achieved by using a ping-based ultrasound imaging technique in which unfocused omni-directional pings are transmitted (in an imaging plane or in a hemisphere) into a region of interest. Receiving echoes of the omnidirectional pings with multiple receive apertures allows for substantially improved lateral resolution.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.