The position and orientation of an ultrasound probe is tracked in three dimensions to provide highly-accurate three-dimensional bone surface images that can be used for anatomical assessment and/or procedure guidance. The position and orientation of a therapy applicator can be tracked in three dimensions to provide feedback to align the projected path of the therapy applicator with a desired path for the therapy applicator or to provide feedback to align the potential therapy field of a therapy applicator with a target anatomical site. The three-dimensional bone surface images can be fit to a three-dimensional model of the anatomical site to provide or display additional information to the user to improve the accuracy of the anatomical assessment and/or procedure guidance.

An ultrasound probe positioning system (100) comprises a positioning unit (102) for holding an ultrasound probe unit (104) and for moving the ultrasound probe unit and positioning it at a target position and a positioning control unit (106) configured to provide target positioning data indicative of a target position that establishes a mechanical contact of the ultrasound probe unit with an external object (110) and to control the mechanical positioning unit in moving and positioning the ultrasound probe at the target position. The positioning unit comprises a force actuation unit (108) configured to adapt a pressing force amount of a mechanical pressing force exerted on the object in response to a variation of a counterforce amount so as to maintain a predetermined net pressing force amount exerted by the mechanical pressing force against the counterforce.

A system and method for performing a non-fluoroscopic transseptal procedure may comprise a catheter and a device comprising a sheath, an introducer and a transducer embedded on the introducer and configured to perform a measurement during the non-fluoroscopic transseptal procedure. In this system, the transducer may be embedded on the outer surface of the introducer, or embedded on the inner surface of the introducer, or embedded within the introducer. The transducer may be a ring transducer or a circular transducer. The measurement is based on a plurality of ultrasonic pulses transmitted from the transducer, and the measurement determines a location of the catheter and/or a puncture location. In another embodiment, the transducer is embedded on a needle instead of an introducer.

A method and apparatus are disclosed herein for a thermally conductive layer for transducer face temperature reduction in an ultrasound transducer assembly. In one embodiment, the ultrasound transducer assembly comprises: a transducer layer configured to emit ultrasound energy; one or more matching layers overlaying the transducer layer; a thermally conductive layer overlaying the one or more matching layers; and a lens overlaying the thermally conductive layer.

The invention relates to a nasogastric tube (100) comprising a nasogastric tubing (102) having first and second ends (102a, 102b), a power supply part (106) located at or adjacent the first end, and a transducer part (104) located at or adjacent the second end for transmitting or receiving an ultrasound based signal. Also disclosed is a positioning system comprising the said nasogastric tube, and a control module comprising an at least one detection portion and a processor.

Systems and methods for treating a cognitive disease or disorder are provided. A treatment method comprises: selecting a target volume of brain tissue to be stimulated; identifying at least one avoidance volume of brain tissue; selecting a first stimulation lead comprising at least one stimulation element; identifying at least one proposed trajectory for placement of the first stimulation lead based on the target volume and the at least one avoidance volume; placing the first stimulation lead along a placement trajectory selected from the at least one proposed trajectory; attaching the first stimulation lead to a stimulator; and stimulating the target volume with the first stimulation lead at least one stimulation element to treat at least one of a cognitive disease or a cognitive disorder. Systems include a stimulator with one or more stimulation leads and an image analyzer for identifying a proposed trajectory for placing the stimulation leads.

A system may generally comprise a tracking device, an ultrasound device and a processing unit. A position and orientation of the ultrasound device may be traceable by the tracking device. The processing unit may be configured (i) to receive 3D information of a region of interest in relation to a marker, with both the region of interest and the marker being located within a body, (ii) to determine the position of the marker relative to the ultrasound device based on an ultrasound image of the body including the marker, and (iii) to determine the position and orientation of the ultrasound device relative to the tracking device. The system may further comprise a visualization device and the processing unit may further be configured to generate a visualization of the region of interest in relation to an outer surface of the body.

A guidance system is configured to detect a current pose of an ultrasound transducer and to determine a movement to achieve a desired pose associated with a desired view or imaging plane of a patients anatomy. In one embodiment, the guidance system includes a processor circuit in communication with the ultrasound transducer. The processor circuit is configured to: receive an input associated with a desired pose of the ultrasound transducer; receive ultrasound imaging data representative of a field of view of the ultrasound transducer in a current pose; determine a movement to align the current pose of the ultrasound transducer with the desired pose; and generate a graphical representation of the movement. The graphical representation shows both the current pose of the ultrasound transducer and the desired pose of the ultrasound transducer. The graphical representation is output to a display in communication with the processor circuit.

Ultrasound device configured to carry out a HIFU treatment and to detect in real time during the HIFU treatment the temperature distribution in the area of treatment, comprising: an ultrasound probe comprising at least an array of piezoelectric or CMUT transducers, —piloting means of said ultrasound probe, computing means configured to receive and store said raw ultrasound signals reflected by said tissues and acquired by each of said piezoelectric or CMUT transducers, to process said reflected raw ultrasound signals in order to generate an ultrasound image, as well as to carry out other processing on said raw ultrasound signals reflected by said tissues, characterized in that computer programs are loaded on said computing means, configured to carry out the method for determining the actual acoustic heating rate of tissues, comprising the following steps: a) identifying, inside an ultrasound image (14), a region of interest (15) inside which an area to be treated (16) is provided, b) assigning a starting temperature distribution, by means of which a temperature value is assigned to each point of ROI, c) emitting a high intensity ultrasound beam (100) focused on a focal point (11) contained in said ROI for a predetermined time interval, and subsequently a broadband ultrasound pulse (200), and detecting the ultrasound signal reflected and/or emitted by the tissues under treatment, d) carrying out the frequency transform of said reflected ultrasound signal in response to said broadband ultrasound pulse (200), in order to obtain a reference frequency spectrum (200s), e) repeating steps c) and d) iteratively, thus obtaining a frequency spectrum for each iteration, f) assuming that the temperature at the focus (11) is equal to a predetermined temperature and function of the tissue in the treatment step when the frequency spectrum (202s) detected in response to a broadband ultrasound pulse (202) comprises a plurality of peaks (2021) not provided in the reference frequency spectrum (200s), g) determining the actual acoustic heating rate Q as a function of said predetermined temperature, of the intensity of said high intensity ultrasound beam (100).

A distributed patient monitoring system comprises at least one standalone portable ultrasound imaging unit configured to be fixed to a stable position against the skin on a patient's body and capable of prolonged ultrasound data acquisition, including an ultrasound imaging array, transmit-receive circuitry, a beamformer, backend signal and image processing subsystem, power and communication subsystems, and a monitoring workstation connected to each standalone portable ultrasound imaging unit configured to request and receive ultrasound imaging information from each standalone portable ultrasound imaging unit, and configured to analyze and display acquired ultrasound information.