Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080221453 | UNIVERSAL ULTRASOUND HOLDER AND ROTATION DEVICE - Provided herein are devices and methods for mounting variously configured medical imaging probes for imaging applications. In one aspect, a holding device allows for interfacing/holding most conventional ultrasound probes such that the probes may be attached to a positioning device using a common interface. As ultrasound probes come in various sizes and lengths, the device may adjust to different lengths, widths and shapes of different probes. Hence, the device may work in a substantially universal manner while securely holding probes with little wobble or other problems. | 09-11-2008 |
20080249403 | TRACKER HOLDER ASSEMBLY - Provided herein are devices and methods for mounting variously configured medical imaging probes to a tracker assembly for imaging applications. In one aspect, a tracker assembly provides multiple degrees of freedom for positioning a probe relative to a patient and/or maintaining a probe in a desired location for imaging purposes. The tracker generates location information that may be utilized as frame of reference information for acquired images. In another aspect a holding device allows for interfacing/holding differently configured probes in a common orientation to a predetermined frame of reference. | 10-09-2008 |
20090048515 | BIOPSY PLANNING SYSTEM - Guided biopsy is a commonly used method to remove suspicious tissues from an internal organ for pathological tests so that malignancy can be established. Provided herein are systems and methods (i.e., utilities) that allow for automated application of one or more predefined biopsy target plans to an acquired medical image including without limitation, an ultrasound prostate image. Due to different shapes and sizes of prostates as well as orientation of prostate with respect to an ultrasound probe during image, acquisition a simple prostate model (e.g., ellipse) with a fixed plan may not be sufficient. Accordingly, it has been determined that a deformable shape model with integrated biopsy target locations/sites may be fit to a prostate image to provide improved automated biopsy targeting. | 02-19-2009 |
20090103791 | IMAGE INTERPOLATION FOR MEDICAL IMAGING - Presented are systems and methods that allow for interpolation of a 3-D volume from arbitrarily oriented 2-D medical images. The interpolation of 3-D volume from arbitrarily oriented 2-D images reduces or eliminates most constraints on image acquisition thereby allowing for, inter alia, freehand manipulation of an image acquisition device (e.g. an ultrasound transducer). Related utilities involve the use of prior information about a specific object of interest to interpolate a surface (e.g., 3-D surface) of the object from limited information obtained from very few 2-D images. | 04-23-2009 |
20100004530 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR POSITION SENSING - An improved apparatus and method for position sensing of a medical tracker device are presented. The apparatus and method are designed to constrain, rotate, and track the position of a medical tool. o improve the position sensing of the tracker, a joint that provides two degrees of freedom may use a revolute gear pair together with a rotary sensor for angular motion sensing and a sliding/prismatic assembly together with a linear magnetic sensor for linear position sensing. Thus, the linear motion sensing and the angular motion sensing are decoupled. | 01-07-2010 |
20100016710 | PROSTATE TREATMENT APPARATUS - The presented invention aims to address these and/or additional issues by providing a tracked grid for brachytherapy applications that can adjust to changes in the prostate between original image acquisition. The grid is allowed to be moved around and even rotated under tracked conditions, such that it can be maneuvered to align with any target region. A virtual 3-D grid is displayed on a computer with respect to the actual anatomy of the patient. The tracked grid can be moved relative to the virtual 3-D grid, such that the brachytherapy, cryo therapy or any other type of image guided therapy may be performed in real 3-D or even 4-D, when motion compensation is embedded during the procedure. | 01-21-2010 |
20100172559 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROSTATE BIOPSY - The invention presents tools to improve a 3-D image aided biopsy or treatment procedure for prostate gland by providing additional functionality and additional visual cues on an output image of the prostate, which may be generated substantially in real-time. The tools include i) the identification of various parts of prostate to classify as per regular classification in pathological reports, ii) Computing and displaying the insertion depth of needle with respect to a selected target point during the procedure, iii) Computing and displaying the distance from needle tip to prostate surface following a procedure and, iv) Calibration for misalignment of a 2-D imaging transducer when used under tracked motion for a procedure. | 07-08-2010 |
20130116548 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROSTATE BIOPSY - The invention presents tools to improve a 3-D image aided biopsy or treatment procedure for prostate gland by providing additional functionality and additional visual cues on an output image of the prostate, which may be generated substantially in real-time. The tools include i) the identification of various parts of prostate to classify as per regular classification in pathological reports, ii) Computing and displaying the insertion depth of needle with respect to a selected target point during the procedure, iii) Computing and displaying the distance from needle tip to prostate surface following a procedure and, iv) Calibration for misalignment of a 2-D imaging transducer when used under tracked motion for a procedure. | 05-09-2013 |