Methods for performing non-invasive thrombolysis with ultrasound using, in some embodiments, one or more ultrasound transducers to focus or place a high intensity ultrasound beam onto a blood clot (thrombus) or other vascular inclusion or occlusion (e.g., clot in the dialysis graft, deep vein thrombosis, superficial vein thrombosis, arterial embolus, bypass graft thrombosis or embolization, pulmonary embolus) which would be ablated (eroded, mechanically fractionated, liquefied, or dissolved) by ultrasound energy. The process can employ one or more mechanisms, such as of cavitational, sonochemical, mechanical fractionation, or thermal processes depending on the acoustic parameters selected. This general process, including the examples of application set forth herein, is henceforth referred to as “Thrombolysis.”

Methods for performing non-invasive thrombolysis with ultrasound using, in some embodiments, one or more ultrasound transducers to focus or place a high intensity ultrasound beam onto a blood clot (thrombus) or other vascular inclusion or occlusion (e.g., clot in the dialysis graft, deep vein thrombosis, superficial vein thrombosis, arterial embolus, bypass graft thrombosis or embolization, pulmonary embolus) which would be ablated (eroded, mechanically fractionated, liquefied, or dissolved) by ultrasound energy. The process can employ one or more mechanisms, such as of cavitational, sonochemical, mechanical fractionation, or thermal processes depending on the acoustic parameters selected. This general process, including the examples of application set forth herein, is henceforth referred to as “Thrombolysis.”

An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus and a control program for an ultrasound diagnostic apparatus. According to an embodiment, the ultrasound diagnostic apparatus includes an ultrasound probe that transmits and receives ultrasound waves to and from a subject in three dimensional space, a position sensor, and a processor. The processor is configured to determine whether or not a first region and a second region configure the same three dimensional region across a first scanning surface and a second scanning surface. The processor is configured to perform, based on the determining result, processing to obtain information representing the size of the three dimensional region in a direction intersecting the first scanning surface and the second scanning surface. The processor is configured to perform control for notifying the information.

In part, the invention relates to a probe suitable for use with image data collection system. The probe, in one embodiment, includes an optical transceiver, such as a beam director, and an acoustic transceiver such as an ultrasound transducer. The optical transceiver is in optical communication with an optical fiber in optical communication with a beam director configured to transmit light and receive scattered light from a sample such as a wall of a blood vessel. The acoustic transceiver includes an ultrasound device or subsystem such as a piezoelectric element configured to generate acoustic waves and receive reflected acoustic waves from the sample.

A pulse signal corresponding to rotation of an imaging core is input, and a repetition frequency of the input pulse signal is converted in accordance with the number of radially-aligned lines of an ultrasound tomographic image. Based on the pulse signal of which the repetition frequency has been converted, a drive signal for an ultrasound transceiver is generated to obtain an ultrasound tomographic image with the number of lines. A valid pulse is determined in accordance with the number of lines from the pulse signal of which the repetition frequency has been converted. A signal having a pulse train selected, based on the valid pulse from a pulse signal representing a cycle of a light source of light for interfering with the light from an optical transceiver is generated as a pulse signal representing a timing of sampling of an optical coherence signal for generating an optical tomographic image.

An ultrasound imaging system and method includes acquiring ultrasound image data of an object while translating the ultrasound probe, where the ultrasound probe includes a scanning surface. The ultrasound imaging system and method includes displaying an acquisition view during the process of acquiring the panoramic ultrasound data. The ultrasound imaging system and method includes automatically determining acoustic contact of the scanning surface with the object while acquiring the panoramic ultrasound data and displaying a color-coded indicator at the same time as the acquisition view, where the color-coded indicator represents the acoustic contact of the scanning surface in real-time during the process of acquiring the panoramic ultrasound data.

A system for visualization and quantification of ultrasound imaging data may include a display unit, and a processor communicatively coupled to the display unit and to an ultrasound imaging apparatus for generating an image from ultrasound data representative of a bodily structure and fluid flowing within the bodily structure. The processor may be configured to generate vector field data corresponding to the fluid flow, wherein the vector field data comprises axial and lateral velocity components of the fluid, extract spatiotemporal information from the vector field data at one or more user-selected points within the image, and cause the display unit to concurrently display the spatiotemporal information at the one or more user-selected points with the image including a graphical representation of the vector field data overlaid on the image, wherein the spatiotemporal information includes at least one of a magnitude and an angle of the fluid flow.

A workflow is disclosed to accurately register ultrasound imaging to co-modality imaging. The ultrasound imaging is segmented with a convolutional neural network to detect a surface of the object. The ultrasound imaging is calibrated to reflect a variation in propagation speed of the ultrasound waves through the object by minimizing a cost function that sums the differences between the first and second steered frames, and compares the first and second steered frames of the ultrasound imaging with a third frame of the ultrasound imaging that is angled between the first and second steered frames. The ultrasound imaging is temporarily calibrated with respect to a tracking coordinate system by creating a point cloud of the surface and calculating a set of projection values of the point cloud to a vector. The ultrasound imaging, segmented and calibrated, is automatically registered to the co-modality imagine.

A fully automated ultrasound apparatus includes a sensor or probe which can be initially manually attached to a side of the neck of a patient, an ultrasound interface to control the sensor and periodically acquire raw ultrasound data, a signal and image processing system to autonomously convert the raw ultrasound data into a measurement that is useful to physicians, and a display to relay the current measurements and measurement history to provide data trends. The sensor can include one or more ultrasound transducers built into a housing. A disposable component can serve to secure the sensor to the neck of the patient and to provide a coupling medium between the sensor and the skin of the patient.

According to one embodiment, an analysis apparatus includes processing circuitry. The processing circuitry configured to generate a harmonic signal and a fundamental wave signal based on a reception signal that is collected by an ultrasound probe, the harmonic signal corresponding to a harmonic component of a reflected wave of a ultrasound generated in the subject, the fundamental wave signal corresponding to a fundamental wave component of the reflected wave, calculate a first index value indicating tissue properties of the subject based on the harmonic signal, and calculate a second index value indicating the tissue properties based on the fundamental wave signal, and display an analysis result based on the first index value and the second index value.