An interposer with a spring on a surface of the interposer is disclosed. The spring may apply a force to a surface of a component adjacent to the interposer. The interposer may be secured to the surface by a fastener. The fastener may be offset from the center of the interposer. The fastener may be a fulcrum of a lever including the interposer and the spring. The spring may cause a portion of the interposer on the other side of the fastener from the spring to apply an increased amount of pressure to the surface to which the interposer is secured. A transesophageal exam ultrasound probe including an interposer is disclosed.

A puncture assistance system provides information on a collapse state of a blood vessel to be punctured, caused by pressing action of an ultrasonic probe, when ultrasonic images of the blood vessel are acquired. A puncture assistance system 10 includes: vascular diameter detecting means 18 for detecting a vascular diameter during acquisition of the ultrasonic images from an ultrasonic diagnostic device 11; puncture assistance information generating means 12 for generating puncture assistance information for determination of whether or not puncture is allowed to be performed based on a collapse state of a blood vessel B caused by pressing action of an ultrasonic probe 15 against skin S by comparing a current vascular diameter detected by the vascular diameter detecting means 18 with a standard vascular diameter stored in advance; and a monitor 19 that presents the puncture assistance information.

In accordance with one aspect of the present disclosure, an ultrasound imaging apparatus comprising: an ultrasonic probe for transmitting ultrasonic waves to a target object and receiving ultrasonic waves reflected from the object; a beamforming unit for beamforming the received ultrasonic wave and outputting a beamforming signal; a sampling unit for adjusting the number of sampling times of the beamforming signal according to the amount of motion of the object; and an image processing unit for matching and synthesizing the sampled signals.

Examples disclosed herein relate to determining a power difference in sensor signals. Examples include a first sensor to transmit a first ultrasonic signal into a pregnant woman and to receive a second ultrasonic signal; and a second sensor to transmit a third ultrasonic signal into the pregnant woman and to receive a fourth ultrasonic signal. A processing resource determines a first power difference of the first sensor according to a difference between respective powers of the first ultrasonic signal and the second ultrasonic signal and is to determine a second power difference of the second sensor according to a difference between respective power of the third ultrasonic signal and the fourth ultrasonic signal. In examples, the processing resource is to determine a relative location of the fetal heart according to a comparison of the first power difference and the second power difference.

A fractionated photoacoustic flow cytometry (PAFC) system and methods for the in vivo detection of target objects in biofluidic systems (e.g., blood, lymph, urine, or cerebrospinal fluid) of a living organism is described. The fractionated system includes a fractionated laser system, a fractionated optical system, a fractionated acoustic system, and combinations thereof. The fractionated laser system includes at least one laser or laser array for pulsing a target object within the circulatory vessel with fractionated focused laser beams. The fractionated optical system separates one or several laser beams into multiple beams in a spatial configuration on the skin above the circulatory vessel of the living organism. The fractionated acoustic system includes multiple focused ultrasound transducers for receiving photoacoustic signals emitted by the target object in response to the fractionated laser beams. The target objects have intrinsic photoacoustic contrast or may be labeled with photoswitchable or spaser-based probes. Fractioned beams may be used also for diagnostics with other spectroscopic methods (e.g., fluorescence, Raman or scattering) and energy sources both coherent and conventional such as lamp and LED in the broad spectral range from 10 Å to 1 cm (e.g., X-ray, UV, visible, NIR or microwaves) in continuous wave and pulse modes.

Apparatuses, systems, and methods for preclinical ultrasound imaging of subjects are provided. In one aspect, the apparatus can include a platform on which a subject is positionable and at least one motion stage for controlling a spatial position of at least one ultrasound transducer relative to the platform in order to acquire ultrasound image data of the subject. Methods for preclinical ultrasound raster scanning of at least one organ or tissue in a subject are also provided, where the at least one organ or tissue is a heart.

A system is for contrast agent-based medical imaging. In an embodiment, the system includes a gantry of a medical imaging device; a contrast agent injection device; and a support arm including a frame element, a first connecting element and a second connecting element. In an embodiment, the frame element is connected to a stationary support frame of the gantry via the first connecting element such that at least part of the frame element is mounted to be movable relative to the stationary support frame of the gantry, and the contrast agent injection device is connected to at least part of the frame element via the second connecting element such that the contrast agent injection device is mounted to be movable relative to at least part of the frame element.

Intelligent multi-scale image parsing determines the optimal size of each observation by an artificial agent at a given point in time while searching for the anatomical landmark. The artificial agent begins searching image data with a coarse field-of-view and iteratively decreases the field-of-view to locate the anatomical landmark. After searching at a coarse field-of view, the artificial agent increases resolution to a finer field-of-view to analyze context and appearance factors to converge on the anatomical landmark. The artificial agent determines applicable context and appearance factors at each effective scale.

A fixture for securing a sonography transducer in place against a test surface of a phantom has a cap having a cap surface, wherein the cap is formed to seat against an edge of the phantom and to maintain spacing between the cap surface and the test surface. One or more cutouts in the cap surface are dimensioned to accept the sonography transducer. One or more flexible supports within or adjacent the one or more cutouts are configured to stabilize at least one side of the transducer within the cutout.

A device and methods for performing a simulated CT biopsy on a region of interest on a patient. The device comprises a gantry (22) configured to mount an x-ray emitter (24) and CT detector (26) on opposing sides of the gantry, a motor (28) rotatably coupled to the gantry such that the gantry rotates horizontally about the region of interest, and a high resolution x-ray detector (172) positioned adjacent the CT detector in between the CT detector and the x-ray emitter.