An apparatus for controlling medical equipment is provided. The apparatus includes patient positioning equipment, and a control system coupled to the patient positioning equipment. The control system is configured to control a function of the medical equipment.

An ultrasonic diagnostic system includes elements disposed around a subject to transmit and/or receive ultrasonic waves. A controller controls the elements so that some of the elements disposed in a first region transmit ultrasonic waves at a first angle to a diagnosis target in the subject, some of the elements disposed in a second region receive reflected waves of the ultrasonic waves, which are reflected from the diagnosis target at a second angle, and some of the elements disposed in a third region receive reflected waves of the ultrasonic waves, which are reflected from the diagnosis target at a third angle distinct from the second angle. An operator calculates a velocity vector of the diagnosis target using the reflected waves received by the some of the elements disposed in the second region and the reflected waves received by the some of the elements disposed in the third region.

Provided is a breast slip prevention pad for preventing a breast of a patient from slipping between compression presses when using a compression press type ultrasonic breast scanner. The breast slip prevention pad for an ultrasonic breast scanner includes a mesh sheet formed of an ultrasonic-wave-permeable flexible synthetic resin, and a support plate fixed to one surface of the mesh sheet to support the mesh sheet in a tightly stretched state so that a part of the mesh sheet is exposed. The mesh sheet includes a plurality of transverse ribs and a plurality of longitudinal ribs arranged to extend in a direction perpendicular to the transverse ribs, and the height of the longitudinal ribs is set to be larger than the height of the transverse ribs.

An ultrasound diagnostic system includes a plurality of elements arranged around a test object and emitting and receiving ultrasound, a control unit controlling such that at least one of the elements emits ultrasound and at least some of the elements receive scattered waves, a collection unit collecting measurement data obtained from the elements, a calculation unit that calculates, for a plurality of division regions into which an imaging region is divided, a scattered sound pressure intensity of each division region based on a first factor and a second factor of the division region, the first factor being constituted by arrival times which are each a period from emission to reception of ultrasound that is emitted from a predetermined element, scattered by the test object in the division region, and received by a corresponding one of the plurality of elements, and an image generation unit that generates a scattering image.

A control device including: a control unit that, in a case in which continuous imaging that irradiates a breast of a subject with radiation emitted from a radiation source to capture a radiographic image in a compressed state in which the breast is compressed against an imaging table by a compression member and then captures an ultrasound image of the breast in the compressed state is performed, performs control to locate the radiation source at a non-facing position where the radiation source and the imaging table do not face each other.

A therapeutic ultrasound breast treatment device (101) is disclosed. The device (101) can include a receptacle (130) to receive a breast of a patient therein. The device (101) can also include an ultrasound transducer assembly disposed proximate the receptacle and oriented to direct a high intensity ultrasound transmission through an opening (168) of the receptacle (130) toward the breast. The device (101) can include a liner (1 60) disposed in the receptacle (130) to contain an ultrasound coupling fluid about the breast. The liner (160) can have an extension portion that extends through the opening (168) to form a seal with the ultrasound transducer assembly to prevent leakage of the ultrasound coupling fluid. A focus location of the ultrasound transmission can be adjustable and the device (101) can include a plurality of RF tracking coils to determine the focus location of the ultrasound transmission to facilitate adjustment of the focus location in an MRI environment.

An apparatus that acquires specific information on a subject on the basis of a signal originating from an acoustic wave which has propagated from the subject and propagated through an acoustic medium disposed between the subject and a receiving unit is provided. The apparatus includes: a wave number acquiring unit acquiring a spatial wave number component of the signal; a correcting unit correcting the spatial wave number component using parameters of a longitudinal wave velocity in the subject and a transverse wave velocity in the acoustic medium; and an information acquiring unit acquiring the specific information using the corrected spatial wave number component.

An automated system for selecting patient breast laterality is provided. A position sensor system using force or image sensors is coupled to a scanning bed or seated-type apparatus. Regardless of the size and weight of the patient, the position of patient at the time of scan will not be centered with respect to the center of the scanner. This relative difference in the position will be sensed as a difference in the transducer signal of an image sensor when comparing the right- and left-hand sides of the field of view or will be sensed as a difference in voltage when comparing the right and left-hand side outputs of a circuit using force or pressure sensor.

A device for ultrasound-assisted reflection and transmission tomography includes a measurement volume filled with an ultrasonic coupling medium and having an opening for inserting a body to be examined and a lateral surface remote from the opening, and a number of ultrasonic transducers arranged remotely from the opening of the measurement volume, arranged in direct contact with the ultrasonic coupling medium, and arranged oriented into the measurement volume. The arrangement of the ultrasonic transducers around the measurement volume aperiodically follows a random uniform distribution.

The medical imaging apparatus of the present invention includes a bath tank for accommodating a test subject, the test subject being at least a portion of a body of a human subject; a measurement device movable in a predetermined direction, the measurement device including ab group of elements to emit a radiation wave into the bath tank and receive a scattered radiation wave; and a control unit for measuring by the measurement device when at least one of a location of the test subject within a plane orthogonal to the predetermined direction, a location of the test subject in the predetermined direction, and continuity of data measured by the measurement device satisfies a predetermined condition. Because of this configuration, the medical imaging apparatus is able to acquire data covering the entire measurement target site.