An ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system is gated to acquire images at different phases of a physiological cycle such as the heartbeat. At each successive heart cycle a trigger actuates the acquisition of a continuous sequence of images, starting at a particular phase of the heart cycle and ending when the next heart cycle begins. Multiple triggers are used, each starting at a different phase of the heart cycle and each acquiring images at uniform temporal spacing. After the first trigger is used a sequence of images has been captured which are temporally evenly spaced over the heart cycle, and as successive triggers are used uniform temporal spacing is maintained as the heart cycle is filled in with additional images for replay of an image loop of phase re-ordered images at a high frame rate of display.

An ultrasound system for identifying a vessel of a subject comprises: an ultrasound probe configured to simultaneously acquire a sequence of ultrasound blood flow data frames (such as a sequence of ultrasound Doppler data frames) and a sequence of ultrasound B-mode data frames of a region of interest including the vessel over a predetermined time period; a blood flow region selecting unit configured to select a blood flow region in the sequence of blood flow data frames; and a vessel segmenting unit configured to segment the vessel in at least one frame of the sequence of ultrasound B-mode data frames based on the selected blood flow region. Since there is no need to manually place any seed point for vessel segmentation any more, the user dependency is reduced and a fast measurement is made possible.

An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus that transmits an ultrasound beam using an ultrasound probe including transducers and generates acoustic line signal subframe data, includes: a transmitter that causes transmission transducer arrays to transmit the ultrasound beam; a receiver that generates a reception signal sequence; and a delay-and-sum part that performs delay-and-sum operation, wherein the receiver includes part receivers, the delay-and-sum part includes: part delay-and-sum parts that perform delay-and-sum to generate an acoustic line signal so as to generate acoustic line signal partial subframe data; part folding parts that extract an acoustic line signal sequence and arrange the acoustic line signals to generate acoustic line signal partial subframe folded data; a main summing part that sums the acoustic line signal partial subframe folded data to generate acoustic line signal subframe folded data; and a re-sequence part that re-sequences the acoustic line signals to generate the acoustic line signal subframe data.

Hemodynamic monitoring systems and methods are disclosed including a device comprising a first sensor configured to measure a velocity of blood flow in an adjacently-located portion of a superior vena cava of a mammalian patient using ultrasound waves; a second sensor configured to measure respiratory cycle data of the mammalian patient; and a computer configured to process the measured velocity of blood flow and the measured respiratory cycle data to provide hemodynamic parameters corresponding to the mammalian patient.

In one embodiment, a photoacoustic imaging system receives user input to specify one or more imaging wavelengths, and a target number of image frames to be taken of a target tissue region. The specified imaging wavelengths are set to capture at least two different photoabsorbing molecules in the target tissue. The photoacoustic imaging system takes image frames at the specified wavelengths, while the system also receives ECG and respiration data of the subject. Image frames are discarded based on the respiration data, and the other image frames are sorted into a plurality of slots corresponding to different points of the cardiac cycle from the ECG data. The system creates a composite image from the one or more wavelengths to show the target tissue of interest through the different points of the cardiac cycle.

A system and method for tracking an anatomical structure over time based on Pulsed-Wave (PW) Doppler signals of a Multi-Gated Doppler (MGD) signal is provided. The method may include identifying a gate corresponding with a selected anatomical structure. The method may include analyzing an MGD signal to track the selected anatomical structure over an extended period of time by selecting, at a plurality of sample times during the extended period of time, a PW Doppler signal from a plurality of PW Doppler signals of the MGD signal. Each of the selected PW Doppler corresponds with the selected anatomical structure at the particular sample time. The method may include presenting a continuous PW Doppler signal generated from each of the PW Doppler signals selected at each of the sample times during the extended period of time at a display system.

Systems, methods and devices for providing combined ultrasound, electrocardiography, and auscultation data are provided. One such system includes an ultrasound sensor, an electrocardiogram (EKG) sensor, an auscultation sensor, and a computing device. The computing device includes memory and a processor, and the processor receives signals from the ultrasound sensor, the EKG sensor, and the auscultation sensor. Artificial intelligence techniques may be employed for automatically analyzing the data obtained from the ultrasound sensor, the EKG sensor, and the auscultation sensor and producing a clinically-relevant determination based on a combined analysis of the data.

In some embodiments, a blood flow sensor device such as a non-invasive cardiac arrest monitor (NICAM) that uses ultrasound to detect blood flow is used to monitor blood flow during cardiopulmonary resuscitation. One or more gating signal generation devices transmit gating signals to a blood flow monitoring computing device. The blood flow monitoring computing device uses the gating signals to determine time periods during which blood flow information generated by the blood flow sensor device is most likely to be accurate. The blood flow monitoring computing device measures blood flow during the time periods. In some embodiments, the blood flow monitoring computing device presents the measured blood flow to a user. In some embodiments, the blood flow monitoring computing device transmits a command to a chest compression device based on the measured blood flow.

Various systems and methods for generating images are provided. In some embodiments, the techniques can include acquiring a medical image and an associated motion characterization. The motion characterization can then be used to generate a plurality of gated image data sets, sorted by phase in the motion cycle. A new amplitude-based motion characterization curve is derived from the association of phases with amplitude-based characteristics in the phase gated images. This newly derived amplitude-based motion characterization curve can then be used to re-sort data according to amplitude-based gating techniques known in the field or with data driven optimization techniques.

An ultrasound imaging system performs spectral Doppler processing in a manner that considers a physiological cycle of a subject. In one embodiment, gaps in a spectral Doppler signal are filled taking by a processor that analyzes changes in the spectral Doppler signal caused by a physiological cycle. Spectral Doppler data are scaled to fit with the data occurring before and after a gap. The firing order of an interleaved imaging mode can also be adjusted so that spectral Doppler imaging is not interrupted during pre-defined or user defined portions of a physiological cycle.