An intraluminal sensing system is provided that includes an intraluminal device. The intraluminal device has a flexible elongate member configured to be positioned within a body lumen of a patient, and an ultrasound sensor at a distal portion of the flexible elongate member. The ultrasound sensor is configured to emit an ultrasound pulse in a longitudinal within the body lumen, and to receive Doppler-shifted echoes from the ultrasound pulse. A processor circuit in communication with the ultrasound sensor is configured to: compute a velocity spectrum of particles moving within the body lumen based on the Doppler-shifted echoes; identify features in the velocity spectrum indicative of a lateral position or angular alignment of the ultrasound sensor within the body lumen; and output, to a display in communication with the processor circuit, positioning guidance for the intraluminal device based on the identified features in the velocity spectrum.

An elastography device includes a probe with a single ultrasound transducer; or a plurality of ultrasound transducers, and a low frequency vibrator arranged to induce a displacement of said single ultrasound transducer or plurality of ultrasound transducers towards a tissue. The device is configured to emit a sequence of ultrasound pulses and to acquire echo signals received in response to track how elastic waves, induced by the displacement, travel in the tissue. The device is configured to generate, for one or more of the ultrasound pulses emitted a temporal offset upon emission, and/or a temporal offset upon reception, so that a difference thereof varies as a function of 2.d/.sub.Vus, where d is the displacement of the single transducer or plurality of ultrasound transducers, and where .sub.Vus is the speed of ultrasound in said tissue.

Ultrasound methods provide for the motion tracking of both vessel wall motion and blood flow (e.g., with use of high frame rate ultrasound pulse echo data and speckle tracking both wall motion and flow can be tracked simultaneously). Ultrasound systems provide for the motion tracking of both vessel wall motion and blood flow (e.g., with use of high frame rate ultrasound pulse echo data and speckle tracking both wall motion and flow can be tracked simultaneously).

A method is provided for measuring or estimating stress distributions on heart valve leaflets by obtaining three-dimensional images of the heart valve leaflets, segmenting the heart valve leaflets in the three-dimensional images by capturing locally varying thicknesses of the heart valve leaflets in three-dimensional image data to generate an image-derived patient-specific model of the heart valve leaflets, and applying the image-derived patient-specific model of the heart valve leaflets to a finite element analysis (FEA) algorithm to estimate stresses on the heart valve leaflets. The images of the heart valve leaflets may be obtained using real-time 3D transesophageal echocardiography (rt-3DTEE). Volumetric images of the mitral valve at mid-systole may be analyzed by user-initialized segmentation and 3D deformable modeling with continuous medial representation to obtain, a compact representation of shape. The regional leaflet stress distributions may be predicted in normal and diseased (regurgitant) mitral valves using the techniques of the invention.

Described herein are systems, devices, and methods for aiding a user to scroll through or otherwise manipulate a stack of medical and tissue images. A system as described herein may comprise: a foot controller, configured to detect one or more of vertical and horizontal motion of a user’s foot to control image navigation, review, positioning, and viewing, functions; a computer; and a user interface.

An ultrasound observation apparatus includes: a B-mode image generation unit; a region selection information input unit; a region-of-interest setting unit configured to set a region of interest of an ultrasound image to be subjected to processing suitable for an operation mode selected, in accordance with the input, from a plurality of operation modes for detecting a selected one of a plurality of pieces of characteristic biological information, by calculation using a region-of-interest setting method previously associated with the operation mode, based on a desired region selected in the region selection information; and a mode image composition unit configured to generate a mode composite image in which an operation mode image presented in two dimensions additional information obtained by performing processing suitable for the operation mode selected in accordance with the input on the region of interest is superimposed on a B-mode image generated by the B-mode image generation unit.

A device for vibration controlled transient elastography, in particular to quantify liver fibrosis, includes an ultrasound probe for elastography comprising a probe casing, at least one ultrasound transducer having a symmetry axis, a vibrator, and a force sensor, wherein the vibrator is arranged to induce a movement of the probe casing along the symmetry axis of the ultrasound transducer, the ultrasound transducer being bound to the probe casing with no motion of the ultrasound transducer relative to the probe casing, and wherein the device includes a signal generator configured to issue a contact ready signal when the force applied by the probe on the to-be-measured viscoelastic medium is greater than a minimum contact force threshold. The signal generator may further be configured to issue a measurement ready signal when the force is greater than a minimum measurement force threshold.

Aspects of the technology described herein relate to wirelessly offloading, from a wearable ultrasound device, ultrasound data sufficient for forming one or more ultrasound images therefrom. The wearable ultrasound device may include an ultrasound patch. Indications that may be monitored with such a device, and therapeutic uses that may be provided by such a device, are also described. Methods and apparatuses are also described for compounding multilines of ultrasound data on an ultrasound device configured to collect the ultrasound data. Additionally, certain aspects of the technology relate to non-uniform grouping of ultrasound transducers that share a transmit/receive circuit in an ultrasound device.

A device (1) for performing ultrasonic examinations and pressure measurements comprises an ultrasonic transducer (60), a pressure sensor (50), a housing (10) to accommodate the ultrasonic transducer (60) and the pressure sensor (50), a support plate (40) arranged in the housing (10) and a flexible membrane (21) arranged on the end face of the housing. A sealed chamber (47) for receiving a liquid medium is formed between the membrane (21) and the support plate (40), and the ultrasonic transducer (60) and the pressure sensor (50) are arranged on the support plate (40) in such a way that a first transmission surface of the ultrasonic transducer (60) and a second transmission surface of the pressure sensor (50) are directed towards the chamber (47).

The present disclosure describes ultrasound systems and methods configured to determine the elasticity of a target tissue. Systems can include an ultrasound transducer configured to acquire echoes responsive to ultrasound pulses transmitted toward the tissue, which may include a region of increased stiffness. Systems can also include a beamformer configured to control the transducer to transmit a push pulse into the tissue, thereby generating a shear wave in the region of increased stiffness. The beamformer can be configured to control the transducer to emit tracking pulses adjacent to the push pulse. Systems can further include a processor configured to determine a displacement amplitude of the shear wave and based on the amplitude, generate a qualitative tissue elasticity map of the tissue. The processor can combine the qualitative map with a quantitative map of the same tissue, and based on the combination, determine a boundary of the region of increased stiffness.