A system for light based interrogation of a lung includes a memory, an electromagnetic (EM) board, an extended working channel (EWC), an EM sensor, a light source, a light receptor and a processor. The memory stores a 3D model and a pathway plan of a luminal network and the EM board generates an EM field. The EWC navigates a luminal network of a patient toward a target in accordance with the pathway plan and the EM sensor extends distally from a distal end of the EWC and is configured to sense the EM field. The light source is located at or around the EWC and is configured to emit light, and the light receptor is located at or around the EWC and is configured to sense reflected light from airway of the luminal network. The processor converts the reflected light into light based data and identifies a type of tissue.

A system for light based interrogation of a lung includes a memory, an electromagnetic (EM) board, an extended working channel (EWC), an EM sensor, a light source, a light receptor and a processor. The memory stores a 3D model and a pathway plan of a luminal network and the EM board generates an EM field. The EWC navigates a luminal network of a patient toward a target in accordance with the pathway plan and the EM sensor extends distally from a distal end of the EWC and is configured to sense the EM field. The light source is located at or around the EWC and is configured to emit light, and the light receptor is located at or around the EWC and is configured to sense reflected light from airway of the luminal network. The processor converts the reflected light into light based data and identifies a type of tissue.

A system and a method for detection of a respiratory status, wherein the system comprises a flexible patch being configured to be affixed to the skin of a patient's body, wherein the patch has at least one sensor arrangement for sensing a body activity of the patient's body when the patch is affixed to the skin, and wherein the sensor arrangement is configured to determine and/or output a sensor signal corresponding to said body activity. The system is configured to determine a respiratory airflow indicator based on the sensor signal. Alternatively, or additionally, the system has a re-usable add-on device that is attachable to and detachable from the patch and is adapted to provide energy to and/or receive the sensor signal from the patch.

A system and method for sensing sleep abnormality in a user is disclosed. The system can include an accelerometer sensor in contact with the skin of the user to measure the deflection of the body during respiration and generate a respiration waveform. A controller receives the respiration waveform from the accelerometer sensor to determine a sleep abnormality measurement as a function of the respiration waveform.

To identify exhalation and inhalation of a subject more accurately. A biological monitoring device (1) comprises: a monitoring unit (12) which monitors changes over time in the depth of feature points at one or a plurality of locations within a living body, on the basis of a received signal received from an ultrasonic sensor (2); and an exhalation/inhalation identifying unit (13) which identifies exhalation or inhalation on the basis of information relating to the depth of the feature points. Contraction and expansion of the lungs, in other words exhalation and inhalation, can be identified by applying ultrasound waves from between the ribs of a subject to monitor movements of biological tissue which moves together with the lungs.

To identify exhalation and inhalation of a subject more accurately. A biological monitoring device (1) comprises: a monitoring unit (12) which monitors changes over time in the depth of feature points at one or a plurality of locations within a living body, on the basis of a received signal received from an ultrasonic sensor (2); and an exhalation/inhalation identifying unit (13) which identifies exhalation or inhalation on the basis of information relating to the depth of the feature points. Contraction and expansion of the lungs, in other words exhalation and inhalation, can be identified by applying ultrasound waves from between the ribs of a subject to monitor movements of biological tissue which moves together with the lungs.

Provided is a technique in MRI to efficiently suppress downstream blood in a specific region in a blood vessel having a slow flow velocity, such as the portal vein. For this purpose, a plurality of Beam Sat pulses are applied so as to equally suppress signals of blood flowing into a desired imaging region from a desired blood vessel during the period from applying an IR pulse to starting main imaging. Downstream blood in a specific region in a blood vessel having a slow flow velocity, such as the portal vein, can be suppressed efficiently by determining application conditions of the plurality of Beam Sat pulses that achieve the above based on a flow velocity of blood in a desired blood vessel and T1 of the said blood.

Provided is a technique in MRI to efficiently suppress downstream blood in a specific region in a blood vessel having a slow flow velocity, such as the portal vein. For this purpose, a plurality of Beam Sat pulses are applied so as to equally suppress signals of blood flowing into a desired imaging region from a desired blood vessel during the period from applying an IR pulse to starting main imaging. Downstream blood in a specific region in a blood vessel having a slow flow velocity, such as the portal vein, can be suppressed efficiently by determining application conditions of the plurality of Beam Sat pulses that achieve the above based on a flow velocity of blood in a desired blood vessel and T1 of the said blood.

Systems, apparatuses, and/or methods to provide motion-gated medical imaging. An apparatus may identify a data capture range of a sensor device that is to capture motion of an object during a scan process by a medical imaging device. An apparatus may identify a prescribed scan range. An apparatus may focus motion detection to a region of interest in the data capture range based on the prescribed scan range.

A respiratory monitoring device comprises: a light source (30) arranged to generate a projected shadow (S) of an imaging subject (P) positioned for imaging by an imaging device (8); a video camera (40) arranged to acquire video of the projected shadow; and an electronic processor (42) programmed to extract a position of an edge of the projected shadow as a function of time from the acquired video. In some embodiments, the light source is arranged to project the shadow onto a bore wall (20) of the imaging device, and the video camera is arranged to acquire video of the projected shadow on the bore wall. The electronic processor may be programmed to extract the position of the edge (E) as a one-dimensional function of time (46) based on the position of the edge in each frame of the acquired video and time stamps of the video frames.