Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090292199 | CATHETER - An improved catheter is provided. The catheter may include a deflectable member located at a distal end of the catheter. The deflectable member may comprise an ultrasound transducer array. The catheter may include a lumen extending from a proximal end of the catheter to the distal end. The lumen may be used to deliver an interventional device to a point distal to the distal end of the catheter. The deflectable member may be selectively deflectable in a pivot-like manner through an arc of at least 90 degrees. In embodiments where the deflectable member includes an ultrasound transducer array, the ultrasound transducer array may be operable to image both when aligned with the catheter and when pivoted relative to the catheter. When pivoted relative to the catheter, the ultrasound transducer array may have a field of view distal to the distal end of the catheter. | 11-26-2009 |
20100036258 | REAL TIME ULTRASOUND CATHETER PROBE - An ultrasound catheter probe assembly capable of scanning a three-dimensional volume is provided. The ultrasound catheter probe assembly contains a plurality of ultrasonic transducers disposed along a central axis of the ultrasound catheter probe assembly. The plurality of ultrasonic transducers is disposed on a mechanism operable to reciprocally pivot the plurality of ultrasonic transducers enabling the plurality of ultrasonic transducers to scan a three-dimensional volume. A helically disposed electrical interconnection member may be disposed about a pivot axis of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers and may electrically interconnect the plurality of ultrasonic transducers to an ultrasound imaging system. The ultrasound transducer catheter probe assembly may be fluid-filled and contain bubble position control and fluid expansion compensation features. | 02-11-2010 |
20100280316 | CATHETER - An improved catheter is provided. The catheter may include a deflectable member located at a distal end of a catheter body. The deflectable member may comprise an ultrasound transducer array. The deflectable member may be interconnected to the catheter body by a live hinge. The catheter may include a lumen extending from a proximal end of the catheter body to the distal end. The lumen may be used to deliver an interventional device to a point distal to the distal end of the catheter body. The deflectable member may be selectively deflectable in a pivot-like manner through an arc of at least 90 degrees. In embodiments where the deflectable member includes an ultrasound transducer array, the ultrasound transducer array may be operable to image both when aligned with the catheter body and when pivoted relative to the catheter body. | 11-04-2010 |
20110105907 | Real Time Ultrasound Probe - An external ultrasound probe assembly capable of scanning a three-dimensional volume is provided. The ultrasound probe assembly contains a plurality of ultrasonic transducers disposed along a longitudinal axis of the probe assembly. The plurality of ultrasonic transducers is disposed on a mechanism operable to reciprocally pivot the plurality of ultrasonic transducers enabling the plurality of ultrasonic transducers to scan the entire three-dimensional volume. A helically disposed electrical interconnection member may be disposed about a pivot axis of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers and may electrically interconnect the plurality of ultrasonic transducers to an ultrasound imaging system. The ultrasound probe assembly may be fluid filled and contain bubble position control and fluid expansion compensation features. | 05-05-2011 |
20110166455 | CATHETER - An improved catheter is provided. The catheter may include a deflectable member located at a distal end of the catheter. The deflectable member may comprise an ultrasound transducer array. In embodiments where the deflectable member includes an ultrasound transducer array, the ultrasound transducer array may be operable to image both when aligned with the catheter and when pivoted relative to the catheter. When pivoted relative to the catheter, the ultrasound transducer array may have a field of view distal to the distal end of the catheter. The ultrasound array may be interconnected to a motor to effectuate pivotal reciprocal motion of the ultrasound transducer array such that the catheter may be operable to produce real-time or near real-time three dimensional images. | 07-07-2011 |
20110237955 | Real Time Ultrasound Catheter Probe - An ultrasound catheter probe assembly capable of scanning a three-dimensional volume is provided. The ultrasound catheter probe assembly contains a plurality of ultrasonic transducers disposed along a central axis of the ultrasound catheter probe assembly. The plurality of ultrasonic transducers is disposed on a mechanism operable to reciprocally pivot the plurality of ultrasonic transducers enabling the plurality of ultrasonic transducers to scan a three-dimensional volume. A helically disposed electrical interconnection member may be disposed about a pivot axis of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers and may electrically interconnect the plurality of ultrasonic transducers to an ultrasound imaging system. The ultrasound transducer catheter probe assembly may be fluid-filled and contain bubble position control and fluid expansion compensation features. | 09-29-2011 |
20120108980 | CATHETER WITH SHAPE MEMORY ALLOY ACTUATOR - Actuators employable for oscillating movement of a load. An improved actuator may include at least a first shape memory member that is actuatable to affect at least a portion of the oscillating movement of the load. The actuator may further include a second shape memory member actuatable to affect at least a second portion of the oscillating movement of the load. The utilization of one or more shape memory members facilitates the realization of controllable and reliable oscillating movement of a load in a compact manner. Such actuators may be used in imaging catheters having an ultrasound transducer disposed for oscillating movement to scan across an internal region of interest. Such imaging catheters may be used in generating three dimensional and/or real-time three dimensional (4D) images. | 05-03-2012 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080242984 | Ultrasonic Attenuation Materials - Improved acoustic attenuation materials and applications are provided. An improved acoustic attenuation material may include a woven layer of fibers made of porous polymers, such as porous polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), that include interstitial space. An improved acoustic attenuation material may include sheets of porous polymers interleaved with layers of epoxy. The sheets of porous polymers may include through holes. An embodiment of an ultrasonic transducer that includes a backing with woven layers of porous PTFE fibers is provided. The ultrasonic transducer that includes a backing with woven layers of porous PTFE fibers may be used in a three-dimensional ultrasound imaging apparatus. An embodiment of an ultrasonic transducer that includes a plurality of sheets of porous PTFE interleaved with layers of epoxy is provided. The ultrasonic transducer that includes a plurality of sheets of porous PTFE may be used in an ultrasonic imaging catheter. | 10-02-2008 |
20080243001 | Ultrasonic Attentuation Materials - Improved acoustic attenuation materials and applications are provided. An improved acoustic attenuation material may include a woven layer of fibers made of porous polymers, such as porous polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), that include interstitial space. An improved acoustic attenuation material may include sheets of porous polymers interleaved with layers of epoxy. The sheets of porous polymers may include through holes. An embodiment of an ultrasonic transducer that includes a backing with woven layers of porous PTFE fibers is provided. The ultrasonic transducer that includes a backing with woven layers of porous PTFE fibers may be used in a three-dimensional ultrasound imaging apparatus. An embodiment of an ultrasonic transducer that includes a plurality of sheets of porous PTFE interleaved with layers of epoxy is provided. The ultrasonic transducer that includes a plurality of sheets of porous PTFE may be used in an ultrasonic imaging catheter. | 10-02-2008 |
20110198151 | Ultrasonic Attenuation Materials - Improved acoustic attenuation materials and applications are provided. An improved acoustic attenuation material may include a woven layer of fibers made of porous polymers, such as porous polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), that include interstitial space. An improved acoustic attenuation material may include sheets of porous polymers interleaved with layers of epoxy. The sheets of porous polymers may include through holes. An embodiment of an ultrasonic transducer that includes a backing with woven layers of porous PTFE fibers is provided. The ultrasonic transducer that includes a backing with woven layers of porous PTFE fibers may be used in a three-dimensional ultrasound imaging apparatus. An embodiment of an ultrasonic transducer that includes a plurality of sheets of porous PTFE interleaved with layers of epoxy is provided. The ultrasonic transducer that includes a plurality of sheets of porous PTFE may be used in an ultrasonic imaging catheter. | 08-18-2011 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100017225 | DIAGNOSTICIAN CUSTOMIZED MEDICAL DIAGNOSTIC APPARATUS USING A DIGITAL LIBRARY - The Customized Medical Diagnostic Apparatus operates under the control of a physician to implement a patient-specific instance of the apparatus by identifying medical information sources, retrieved from a Digital Library, which correlate to anomalies identified in a set of patient medical data relating to an identified patient or identified class of patient. The system includes a Digital Library for providing access to a plurality of information sources which relate to interpreting patient medical data and possible ailments associated with the patient medical data. A data characterization module calculates control variations of a set of patient medical data to identify anomalies. Based upon this statistical analysis, a Digital Library interface module searches the Digital Library for information sources relating to the set of patient medical data and interpretations of the identified anomalies. | 01-21-2010 |
20110015503 | MEDICAL APPARATUS FOR COLLECTING PATIENT ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAM (EEG) DATA - The EEG Processing Unit comprises a semi-rigid framework which substantially conforms to the Patient's head and supports a set of electrodes in predetermined loci on the Patient's head to ensure proper electrode placement. The EEG Processing Unit includes automated connectivity determination apparatus which can use pressure-sensitive electrode placement ensuring proper contact with Patient's scalp and also automatically verifies electrode placement via measurements of electrode impedance through automated impedance checking. Voltages generated by the electrodes are amplified and filtered before being transmitted to an analysis platform, which can be a Physician's laptop computer system, either wirelessly or via a set of tethering wires. The EEG Processing Unit includes an automatic artifacting capability which identifies when there is sufficient clean data compiled in the testing session. This process automatically eliminates muscle- or other physical-artifact-related voltages. Clean data, which represents real brain voltages as opposed to muscle- or physical-artifact-related voltages, thereby are produced. | 01-20-2011 |
20110015942 | PATIENT DATA MANAGEMENT APPARATUS FOR COMPARING PATIENT DATA WITH AILMENT ARCHETYPES TO DETERMINE CORRELATION WITH ESTABLISHED AILMENT BIOMARKERS - The Medical Diagnostic Apparatus implements a physician-operated medical data analysis system for assisting a physician in identifying ailments and conditions which correlate to anomalies identified in a set of patient medical data relating to an identified patient. This system includes a plurality of biomarkers which relate to interpreting patient medical data and possible ailments associated with patient medical data. A data characterization module displays biomarkers selected by a physician and a set of patient medical data, collected from and about an identified patient, to compare the set of patient medical data with biomarkers of known ailments to enable the physician to identify an ailment representative of the patient medical data. | 01-20-2011 |
20110099026 | DATA MANAGEMENT APPARATUS FOR COMPARING PATIENT DATA WITH AILMENT ARCHETYPES TO DETERMINE CORRELATION WITH ESTABLISHED AILMENT BIOMARKERS - The Patient Data Management System operates under the control of a physician to implement a patient-specific instance of the apparatus which is capable of accessing at least one data manipulation module, each defining at least one process for transforming patient medical data pursuant to a predefined schema. A patient medical data processor is responsive to the physician selecting a set of patient medical data, at least one of the data manipulation modules, and an order of applying the selected data manipulation modules to the selected patient medical data for processing the selected patient medical data using the selected data manipulation modules in the selected order to identify data indicative of a predetermined condition in the selected patient medical data. A display is available for presenting a visualization of the data indicative of a predetermined condition in the selected patient medical data. | 04-28-2011 |